Kroft gives the two a look somewhere between bemusement and mild irritation. "Yes, thank you, Lady Arkona." She turns to address all four present. "Reyhan is quite an information broker, as it turns out. She learned from one of her father's old contacts that there is a wererat warren in Korvosa's sewers, not far from the Gray District. While it's unlikely they're the culprits behind the plague, wererats are known disease carriers, so the existence of an entire warren is troubling, at best. Not to mention the Curse of Lycanthropy is no small matter."
Kroft steeples her fingers. "Still, I'd honestly be willing to let it rest, but Lady Arkona's informant told her their leader, Girrigz, is radicalizing. He's been filling his people's heads with talk of violent uprising against the 'surface folk.' Apparently he's looking to turn the current plague into an opportunity to... How did he put it, m'Lady? 'A chance to rise up to our rightful place?' Anyway, a radical lycanthrope is not what we need right now. See if you can find their warren and calm them down. And if not, evict them from the city. By force, if necessary. I won't have a group of dissidents causing more violence and mayhem in my streets, especially not when the citizens are so vulnerable. And while you're there, make sure to keep an eye out for more clues about the origin of Blood Veil. As I said, I doubt they're connected, but you never know." She glances at Reyhan. "I trust your informant gave you directions?"
Rey nods. "He did. And you can just call me Rey. It's fine, everybody does. For various reasons, I'm technically out of the running for nobility." She shrugs, seemingly unfazed by the fact. "Any questions, guys? I'll answer what I can. We can always go talk to my informant directly, too, if there's any info we need and I don't have."
Andakos shrugs. "Clean out a wererat nest, hope we find a connection to the plague. Seems pretty straightforward."
Golloriel shifts her weight between her feet uncomfortably. She doesn't doubt the intelligence, and she knows that wererats are inherently evil creatures and it should feel righteous to eliminate a threat that would take advantage of a plague to advance its own interests, but... she doesn't know.
She just hopes they take a few moments to try negotiation before the blades come out.
"Every minute we wait, another person dies from this thing. Let's get this done."
Andakos nods to Kroft and looks at Rey. "After you."
Kroft gives the party a curt nod. "Good luck."
You make your way through the streets of Korvosa toward the location Reyhan specifies. The avenues that had returned to being bustling with activity are now once again empty. Occasionally you pass by small clusters of people huddled around two figures: the tall, imposing steel silhouette of a Gray Maiden; and the significantly smaller, hook-nosed mask and silhouette of a Queen's Physician. Most of the people they inspect thoroughly then send away, but every two or three such civilians are directed somewhere northward, though you can't hear their low voices over the din of the gathered crowds to know where.
As you walk, Reyhan gives you a quick run-down. As it turns out, the radicalization of the local wererats wasn't entirely their fault; a local dockworker had discovered a wererat yesterday and, assuming it was to blame for the plague, murdered it on the spot. The Gray Maidens had no interest in arresting someone for killing a non-humanoid, and none of the dockhand's coworkers or neighbors were interested in testifying against him. With nothing but circumstantial evidence, and much bigger fish to fry, the Korvosan Guard were forced to move on, at least for the time being.
But, Reyhan continues, that was unfortunately not the end of it. Normally when humans stumble upon a wererat den, their reaction is to simply abandon it and find new lodgings elsewhere. However, their leader Girrigz decided enough was enough when six more humans entered the sewers to hunt down the rest of the wererats. Those humans have not returned since yesterday afternoon.
According to Reyhan, her informant is a fishmonger named Eries Yelloweyes. Eries has kept her wererat lineage a secret her whole life, and has lived in Korvosa over fifty years. She has seen government-sanctioned purges that wiped out many of her kind, and fears Girrigz's fearmongering will lead to yet another. She knows the many stigmas that surround her kind, and knows the surface-folk will not hesitate to murder every last one of her people if Girrigz isn't stopped.
The party reaches the sewer grate Eries directed, and with a bit of finagling, manages to pry it open and head down. The tunnels are devoid of light, save for a single bright spear pouring down from the open manhole. A river of sludge plods slowly along down the center of the tunnel, with narrow stone walkways on either side of it slicked with years of slime and mildew. The footing is treacherous, the odor is nearly overwhelming, and the darkness is impenetrable to those without Darkvision.
You do not have to travel far before you see a large opening in the worked stone of the wall up ahead. It appears to have collapsed from age, with a small pile of debris still lining the floor around it. Farther ahead, you see the tunnel bends eastward.
Before descending through the sewer grate, Andakos drinks his backwash extract to infuse himself with heroism, then waits a moment while the others prepare their own protective spells.
Caladaer uses his wand to give himself mage armor, then lights up whichever weapon Rae has at the ready.
Golloriel establishes a life link with each of her companions, lights up her shield, then draws her scimitar.
Satisfied that everyone is ready, Andakos leads the group down the sewer line until they reach the first opening. He looks and listens carefully into the space beyond.
+2 traps
Glowing dagger in hand, she slips along with the others. All this light makes it hard to keep out of sight, but then again, the paladin is loud enough to wake the dead so she supposes that option is out regardless. She tenses when Andakos peers around the corner, ready for danger.
Andakos peers around the corner. The flow of sewer filth oozes into this rough-hewn stone cave from the west, pooling to the south before continuing through a crude channel in the eastern wall. Fat black mushrooms and other disgusting fungus grow thick around the pool of slime. Several low alcoves are cut into the walls, each filled with moldering hay, filthy furs, and tiny bones.
Lounging on the furs are two wererats, currently in their lycanthrope forms, their humanoid forms covered in filthy, patchy fur, their mouths distorted by oversized yellowing teeth, rheumy eyes staring morosely about. A trio of horribly oversized rats wander about the area as well. None seem to have noticed the investigator yet.
Lycanthropy is not natural; it is a curse passed by the bite of another lycanthrope. The victim then has until the next full moon to break the curse or it becomes permanent. Each full moon, the victim will transform and lose themselves in their bestial form until dawn. Each time this happens, there is a chance that the victim completely loses themself to the curse and becomes one with their lycanthropic nature.
You also know, however, that those born with lycanthropy are not beholden to the curse in the same way. They can never be "cured," as their lycanthropy is inherent, but they are also not subject to losing themselves to the curse's nature.
You know conventional weaponry is nearly useless against lycanthropes. Their powerful bodies absorb all but the mightiest blows--unless that weapon is made of silver, which is anathema to lycanthropes.
One particularly large, purple mushroom stands a good eight inches taller than any of the black ones. It's a type of mushroom called a "Shrieker." It emits a piercing, high-pitched noise as a defense mechanism if creatures get too close. You think if you keep at least 5 feet from it, you should be safe from setting it off.
Andakos quickly waves the others back away from the alcove. He leads them back to the sewer entrance, where they can hopefully speak without being heard.
"I don't know why I didn't think of this until now, but if this encounter gets violent, we are going to need silver." He gestures for Golloriel and Rae to hold out their weapons, retrieves the silversheen from the party pack, and applies it to his spear, Golloriel's scimitar, and whichever weapon Rae presents.
"Don't let them bite you. Come on." He leads them back to the opening.
As they reach the opening in the sewer wall, Golloriel reaches out and touches Andakos's shoulder. She gestures for him to step aside, then steps fully into view of the alcove.
"Excuse me!" She catches her father shaking his head in disbelief out of the corner of her eye, but she ignores it. "We are looking for Girrigz! We mean you no harm unless you attack us; and trust me when I say that will not end well for you. We only wish to parley."
Rey pulls out a mithral dagger with a shrug. "I usually throw these things, but I can keep this one on hand. I guess you could hit this one with it." She holds out a second dagger; this one is of cold iron, and incredibly intricate make. Vudrani runes have been etched into the blade in tight, flowing script.
Once she has it coated in silversheen, she holds it in one hand and the mithral dagger in the other.
The two wererats scramble to their feet, crude, rusty daggers in hand, but hesitate at the paladin's words.
"Bullocks! You're intrudin' on our home! Yer here ta kill us like them other humans!" the first snarls.
His friend looks less certain. "I dunno, Rek," he mumbles. "The first ones jes' came in all stabby. Didn' wanna talk none. An' lookit 'er, mate! She looks like a whole lot more business 'en the last chumps."
The first wererat--Rek, apparently--scowls. "Ah, this whole thing is rotten! Bloody Girrigz is gonna get us killed! We kill this'n, ere's jes' gonna be more of 'em in a day or two. I en't stickin' 'round ta get lynched. Les' go, Mort. Mebbe we kin start a new warren in Magnimar, eh?"
Mort nods enthusiastically, sheathing his dagger. "Look, we don' want no trouble, yeah? You let us walk on by, we won't bother nobody again. We'll leave town. The others, though, I don' think you'll have as much luck wif them. Girrigz got them all fired up fer killin' some surface-folk. But not us! We'll leave peaceful-like, if you let us by. Them humies we killed, that were self-defense! They attacked us. We don' want no trouble. Let us pass an' you won' see us no more."
Rey shrugs at the others and mutters, "My vote is to let them go. Maybe if they'd started this rabble-rousing, but it seems like it's been mutual for the most part. Plus that's two less lycanthropes we'd have to fight." She figures the paladin will probably go for it for sure, but her dad looks... well, a little less scrupulous. She remembers Andakos being a fairly pragmatic kid; hopefully he's kept that particular personality trait.
Andakos nods. "I agree. Let them go." He looks at the wererats. "Leave Korvosa and do not return. We will find you if you do not."
Golloriel steps aside, gesturing for her father to follow suit. "Yes. Go and do not return. And disable this shrieking mushroom thing before you do."
Cal rolls his eyes but holds his hands up and moves aside.
The wererats look at Golloriel like she's an idiot. "It's a mushroom. You can't disable a mushroom, it's not a spiked pit trap. Anything we did to 'disable' it would set it off. Just don't get near it and you'll be fine." He shakes his head and rolls his eyes. "Surfacers."
The pair eye the party suspiciously, hands raised but looking ready to spring for their weapons at the slightest sign of treachery. After several long, tense moments of backing their way through the party, they finally pass the wizard.
Once behind the party, Rek calls, "Torque, Ladykiller, Geoffrey! Come." One by one the three giant rats that were with them trundle unhurriedly past the party, and the five figures vanish the way you'd come.
Before you lie two passageways: one to the north and one to the east. The east passage is a little trickier because you have to skirt around the shrieker, but you know as long as you keep a couple feet of distance you should be fine.
Rey seems to breathe a little easier once the wererats and their pets are well away from the party--and instantly regrets it, because she breathes in a lungful of fart juice and rotting meat.
"Gods," she mutters, "the sooner we're done here, the better. This place smells like a chamberpot."
She moves to the north end of the room and takes a look around, squeezing between the wall and the rocky outcropping to avoid the fat purple mushroom that apparently yells at people. Didn't have those in Vudra, she thinks irritably. She tries not to complain, though. She doesn't want to come off as pampered.
Andakos follows Rey and takes a look for himself.
+2 traps
Golloriel trusts her companions' observational skills, but she knows they can't see the entire northern chamber. She briefly concentrates and reaches out, looking for evil auras.
Neither Rey nor Andakos turn up anything useful, aside from wet piles of refuse that look like they're coated in what you hope is saliva. They do both hear scuttling and scraping noises from the area north of them.
Those sound like rat claws on stone. Not Medium-sized humanoid rat claws, just the regular kind. But from the sounds, probably dire rats as well as regular sewer rats.
Golloriel detects no evil auras to the north.
The entrance into the northern area is quite narrow; Rey and Cal think they could probably wriggle through without much effort, but Andakos and Lori, one being broader of shoulder and one being covered in heavy armor, might have a little more difficulty.
"Rats. We'll probably be attacked as soon as we squeeze through here, but I don't see how we have any choice. Those shrieker mushrooms will give us away if we go the other way."
He considers for a moment, stows his spear, reaches into his pack, and pulls out a few items. "Maybe this will help." He uses his flint and tinder to light a small stick on fire. It immediately begins to spew a thick, black smoke. He reaches his arm through the narrow opening and tosses it to the east, where the smoke begins to fill the chamber beyond.
He stashes the flint and tinder, redraws his spear, and waves the others along.
At first, Rey gives Andakos a quizzical look, but when he tosses the smokestick into the room beyond, she grins and nods approvingly. "Clever," she mutters, then follows them through into the smoky room beyond.
It's impossible to see through the barrier of smoke, but Ducky and Lori slide right through those crevices like they were coated in butter.
Unfortunately, as Cal wriggles through the gap, Ducky's movement is very suddenly stopped by a massive rat that looks just as surprised to see him as he is to see it. The dire rat hisses dangerously as a handful of its smaller cousins scurry about the floor, chittering in surprise and fear at the mysterious cloud of smoke that has invaded their home.
Then the handful of small rats becomes two handfuls.
Then a pile.
Within seconds, there is a wave of rats pouring down toward Andakos. Reyhan doesn't even get through the opening before all Hells breaks loose.
A second dire rat skitters through the smoke, following the sound of its brethren, and finds Andakos. It skitters forward and bites at him, but with the smoke and the suddenness of it all, the giant rat seems flustered and misses terribly.
Golloriel can hear something else scratching at the wet stone somewhere beyond her incredibly narrow field of vision.
ROUND 1
[color=green]
Rat 2 (0 dmg)
Golloriel (63/63 hp)
?? (0 dmg)
Rat 1 (0 dmg)
Rat Swarm (0 dmg)
Reyhan (54/54 hp)
Caladaer (36/36 hp)
Thulae (18/18 hp)
Andakos (38/38 hp)
[/color]
Golloriel swings her scimitar down on the rat in front of her.
Golloriel cleaves a nasty chunk out of the rat, but it's still up. It chitters angrily.
Yet another dire rat emerges from the teeming pile of its brethren to lash out at Andakos.
The third dire rat snaps at Andakos but misses terribly, not even coming close, but the rat in front of Golloriel is seriously cheesed off at her and digs its fangs into her leg. That mouth can not be clean...
To absolutely no one's surprise, she's fine.
... but then the rats swarm.
A writhing, chittering, shrieking mass of filthy rodents swarms over the trio. Thulae is safe, thanks to being perched up on Cal's shoulder, but the legs and waists of the three PCs are suddenly covered in painful bites, none of which look clean...
As always, the party is FINE.
ROUND 1
[color=green]
Rat 2 (0 dmg)
Golloriel (54/63 hp)
Rat 3 (0 dmg)
Rat 1 (4 dmg)
Rat Swarm (0 dmg)
Reyhan (54/54 hp)
Caladaer (32/36 hp)
Thulae (18/18 hp)
Andakos (37/38 hp)
[/color]
Rey is stuck in a cloud of smoke, coughing and wiping her eyes, unable to see anything but hearing the sounds of fighting almost right next to her.
She can't quite squeeze through the rocks with everyone in the way at the moment. Uncertain what else to do, she hesitates.
Caladaer's mind processes the situation in a split second. They can't go backwards. They can't go forwards. The rats below them will continue to chew away at their legs, and one or all of them will become diseased, or worse.
No other choice. "Brace," he says calmly to the others. He thinks he can avoid hitting them, but a warning can't hurt.
He watches the rat to his northeast closely as he begins an incantation.
He holds his hands, palm-out, directly at the middle of the swarm. Flames erupt from them, engulfing the rats and just missing his daughter and the tiefling.
Andakos knows the flames are letting off intense heat, but his ... heritage ... protects him from feeling it. He can't imagine Golloriel is comfortable, though.
These close quarters are not particularly suited to his fighting style. He studies the rat that Golloriel already hurt , holds his spear in his left hand, and slams down on its head with his spiked gauntlet.
With a great gout of flame and a series of hideous, ear-piercing shrieks of agony from the rats, both the northernmost dire rats practically disintegrate in flame and the rat swarm vanishes in the fire. The few remaining rats scatter in all directions, leaving only one dire rat left alive. Andakos punches it in the mouth, and its muzzle collapses inward, dropping the beast to the floor to writhe and squirm as it chokes on the bone fragments of its jaw.
And with that, all opponents are dead.
... Except for the fact that cries of alarm can be heard from somewhere beyond the smoke. Rey can hear them too, coming from the eastern corridor. Moments later, two wererats skitter through the east passage, and the small purple mushroom growing off the wall erupts in an ear-piercing shriek that continues unabated.
ROUND 2
[color=green]
Reyhan (54/54 hp, still delaying)
Golloriel (54/63 hp)
Caladaer (32/36 hp)
Thulae (18/18 hp)
Andakos (37/38 hp)
Wererat (0 dmg)
Wererat (0 dmg)
??
[/color]
At the sight of the wererats, Rey's eyes light up. "Finally, a target," she growls with an almost unnatural glee. Quick as a blink, two daggers disappear from her belt and fly toward the closer wererat.
Golloriel hears the commotion from the other chamber, sighs, and limps her way back through the narrow opening.
Andakos works his way back to the other chamber, quickly studies the closer wererat, and attacks with his spear.
Caladaer moves into the other chamber and magic missiles a wererat .
Reyhan whips out two daggers toward the oncoming enemies lightning-fast, but the first goes wide and the second deflects off the tough hide of the wererat and sails off to clink on the ground next to the shrieker mushroom, which erupts in another high-pitched, tinny wail that slowly dies away after a few seconds.
Lori has a helluva time getting through the opening, but finally manages to squeeze herself through after a lot of wriggling and frustration.
The first wererat hisses at Andakos, unfazed by the daggers and apparently unafraid of the burly tiefling. It leers arrogantly at him, as if to say, "come at me, fool!" Too late, he catches the glint of silver coating the spear tip that jabs forward and goes directly into the wererat's eye socket. The eyeball pops with a smoking hiss and a spray of orange-yellow fluid, quickly followed by a river of blood and gray matter from the ruptured brain. Ducky pulls his longspear away with a wet, slurping pop, and the wererat falls dead.
Cal immediately follows this up by slamming a series of force missiles into the other wererat, who takes the lumps hard. He looks pretty banged up already.
The wererat hesitates only a moment before gauging the old man to be the easiest target, and one that just earned his ire. He tumbles past the clumsy swings of both Reyhan and Andakos with ease, then bites at Caladaer with a seriously unhygienic-looking mouth. His teeth sink into Cal's arm . That wound looks dirty...
His positioning seems odd until yet another wererat bursts out of the smoke, squeezes easily through the opening in the rock wall, and flanks Cal, lashing out with a pitted shortsword. The wererat takes advantage of Cal's compromised position and stabs deep into his side . Things aren't looking great for the wizard...
Things look even worse when yet another wererat comes bounding into the opening to the east, shortsword in hand, looking ready to kill. He's almost immediately followed by a bigger, meaner, nearly rabid-looking wererat with a rapier. "Intruders! I knew you surface scum would come back to finish the job! You want blood? I'll give you blood!!" He begins circling around the pillar toward the party's southwest flank.
ROUND 3
[color=green]
Girrigz (0 dmg)
Reyhan (54/54 hp, still delaying)
Golloriel (49/63 hp)
Caladaer (23/36 hp, feeling mighty cursed)
Thulae (18/18 hp)
Andakos (37/38 hp)
Wererat 1[/s] (34 dmg, technically dying but basically toast)
Wererat 2 (0 dmg)
Wererat 3 (0 dmg)
Wererat 4 (14 dmg)
[/color]
Rey darts forward and slashes at the lone wererat with her mithral dagger, aiming for a soft spot.
Golloriel grits her teeth as some of her father's injuries magically pass to her . She can almost feel the filthiness of the bite and suppresses a small shudder. She turns her scimitar on #2 and attacks.
Caladaer is not at all happy with where he is currently standing. These things are filthy. He gathers up his robes and retreats past Andakos.
Andakos makes a little feint at #2 with his gauntlet, attempting to distract it just enough to help Golloriel take it down.
Then he turns to the more beefy looking wererat, carefully looks it over , and shoves his spearpoint into its face.
The damage from Golloriel's scimitar feels frustratingly low, but on the bright side, it cuts through the wererat's natural defenses like a hot knife through butter. The wererat yelps, and looks nervously from Golloriel to the bigger, nastier-looking wererat that just stepped onto the scene. His blade hesitates.
Meanwhile, Andakos takes advantage of the hesitation to leave a perfect opening for the paladin for her next attack, then returns his attention to the big newcomer. This has to be Girrigz, the leader the others mentioned who was rabble-rousing. His spear aims directly for the creature's eye socket--
--but gets turned away at the last second by an invisible, rippling barrier of force.
He's wearing very fancy studded leather armor, so it's unlikely to be a mage armor spell, but that was definitely a force effect. Probably the spell's divine cousin, shield of faith. Perhaps the wererat is a cleric, or perhaps he drank a potion or UMD'ed a scroll. It's impossible to say.
Girrigz is definitely a wererat, but despite his size, moves with a hideous, jerky speed and uncanny agility. He wields his rapier with a level of comfort and skill that marks him as a seasoned fighter, and his combat style (what you have seen so far) reminds Andakos a great deal of the late Adrin Laecus, though the lordling generally wielded his rapier in a more forceful, chopping manner, whereas this creature has a strange, jerky grace that looks entirely unreal.
Girrigz snaps at the hesitating wererat, "What are you waiting for?? For them to murder you, too?! Kill these invaders! Take vengeance for our sister they slaughtered in the street like an animal! WE WILL HAVE BLOODY SATISFACTION!"
That seems to spur the wererat into action, and he readies his blade, nodding to his nearby companion.
#4 tries to slip around Andakos' defenses, but leaves himself open to the gauntlet. He then squeezes himself against the wall, still brandishing his blade at Lori. Unfortunately his new position makes it impossible to get a proper thrust in and his blade doesn't even connect with her armor or shield, she simply easily sidesteps it.
#2 takes advantage of the flank and stabs at Lori, but it's clear his heart still isn't in it. His blade bounces off her shield.
#3 looks nervous, having no flank partner against Reyhan. The older man looks like a much easier target, so he tries to slip past Rey's defenses and go after him. He tumbles neatly past a clumsy swing from the surprised swashbuckler and lashes out with his blade at Cal's guts. Thankfully the blade turns aside at the last second; Cal's mage armor spell just saved his spleen from being ruptured.
With a sneer, Girrigz grumbles, "If you want something done right..." He steps out of the range of Ducky's longspear, pops a potion off his belt, and chugs it. Suddenly his form blurs and it's hard to tell exactly where the wererat is standing.
Yeah, that's blur.
Lori flinches as new wounds open up on her skin and vanish from her father.
ROUND 4
[color=green]
Girrigz (0 dmg, blurred)
Reyhan (54/54 hp)
Golloriel (44/63 hp)
Caladaer (28/36 hp, Life Linked)
Thulae (18/18 hp)
Andakos (37/38 hp, Life Linked)
Wererat 1 (34 dmg, technically dying but basically toast)
Wererat 2 (4 dmg)
Wererat 3 (0 dmg)
Wererat 4 (14 dmg)
[/color]
Scowling, Rey stabs at the wererat that just tumbled past her formidable reflexes. Well that's embarrassing, she thinks irritably as she tries to stab the slippery little bastard in the neck.
Golloriel concentrates for a brief moment and some of her inherited wounds close up.
Okay, one of her inherited wounds closes up.
Then she steps out of the flank and tries to take advantage of #2's momentary distraction (courtesy of Andakos).