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Marysiel is an elf who grew up as an orphan among humans. She is a master at stowing away on ships and has called dozens of cities home, leaving one place for another after her human companions grew old and she stayed young. Marysiel has never met a problem that couldn’t be solved with a knife in one way or another. But when stabbing’s not the best solution, she makes up for it by being incredibly agile and skilled with small objects, such as lockpicks. Marysiel’s life experiences have taught her to enjoy things in the moment and to their fullest — it’s impossible to tell when the good times might end. She’s open and expressive with her thoughts and emotions, and while she’s always on the move and working on her latest batch of schemes for easy money, in the end all her plots come down to being faster than everyone else — either on her feet, or with her beloved blades. She wouldn’t have it any other way.
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Kyra is a priestess of Sarenrae, the sun goddess who teaches her followers to heal the wounded and destroy evil. Kyra grew up admiring the beautiful stained glass of Sarenrae’s temple and the graceful priestesses who practiced with their scimitars each dawn. When bandits attacked Kyra’s village, those priestesses fought to the death to protect the villagers, but the bandits were too many and the village burned. Kyra was one of the few survivors, and on the smoking ruins of the beautiful temple she swore her life and sword arm to Sarenrae, promising to protect those who could not protect themselves and to slay those who would harm the innocent. Kyra has a fierce will and is proud of her faith and her skill with the scimitar.
Ezren was raised as a younger son of a successful spice merchant. He enjoyed the comforts of a well-to-do family, lived in a neighborhood that was relatively free of crime, and had no lofty ambitions. However, when the church of the merchant god accused his father of heresy and corruption, ruining the family business, Ezren was determined to prove his father’s innocence. To his shock, the church’s accusations were true. Outraged, Ezren left his home and began studying magic on his own, as no wizard would take a 40-year-old as an apprentice.
Now he wants to travel the world and make a difference in other peoples’ lives. Ezren is skeptical of human nature, instead putting his trust in his own brilliant intellect and magical abilities.
The small seaside town of Otari is known for its fresh fish and skilled sailors, but above all, it's a big logging town, providing valuable wood to the nearby metropolis of Absalom. But for you, Otari is home. You grew up playing on the docks, getting lost in the nearby woods, and hearing the fantastical stories of travelers from faraway lands, tales of terrifying dragons and virtuous knights. Such adventures always seemed so distant - until today!
Word has begun to spread around Otari that there's a problem down at the Otari Fishery. Some are saying that some sort of beast is lurking in the basement, feeding on the stores of salted fish. Folks are worried that whatever is eating the fish might get hungry enough to eat the fishers next!
You've received a letter from Tamily Tanderveil, the owner of the Fishery. Inside is a desperate plea for help. With the town guard busy protecting the loggers, she needs a few brave souls to venture down into the basement of her warehouse and put an end to the beast that's feasting on her fish! Do you have the courage to face the menace under Otari?
"I heard something about about a monster eating the fish. Surely, that can't be true. What would a monster be doing here in Otari? And stories are of monsters eating people, not fish." Ezren rolls his eyes, but keeps his staff at hand.
Mary slides quietly into the fishery and looks around for Tamily. Finding her, she says, "Hey there Tamily. I hear you have some rats in the basement or something."
The owner of the fishery hadn't noticed Mary come in and jumps in fright at the sudden sound of the elf's voice. Mary makes a show of contrition. "Whoa there Tamily, it's only me, Mary. Sorry for the scare; sneaking about is a force of habit I guess. Next time I'll cough first or something, 'kay?"
Heading down to the basement with Tamily to see what's up, Mary says, "So Tamily, tell me what the problem is? I hear a lot of talk of beasts eating fish, but what exactly are we dealing with here?"
Once in the basement, she sees Ezren looking the place over. "Hey Ez; how's it hanging? Figured out anything yet?" When Kyra joins them, Mary says, "Oh, hi Kyra. You looking into this as well? If any more of the old gang shows up, it's going to get a bit crowded down here." She, Ezren and Kyra had known each other since they were children playing on the docks and getting lost in the nearby woods. They had all dreamed of going on great adventures, but instead were stuck in a backwater like Otari trying to make the best of it. Looks like now they got to do both, and Mary couldn't be happier at the prospect.
Mary sneaks ahead down the stairs. The stairs leading into the basement of the Otari Fishery creak with age as she makes your her downstairs to find the beast that has been eating all the fish. In the center of the room, between two stone pillars holding up the fishery overhead, are barrels filled with salted fish. Two of these barrels have been smashed open, spilling their contents on the floor. In the east wall is a large hole, opening into darkness.
Just a few hours ago, you gathered with a few other adventurers in the office of Tamily Tanderveil's office, where she offered you ten gold pieces each if you could put an end to this menace. She was thrilled when you agreed to help her with this simple task, but as you make your way downstairs, you can't help but wonder if this might be a lot more adventure than you bargained for.
As Mary heads down the stairs and into the basement, she sticks to the shadows and keeps out of sight in case there's something down there that likes elves as much as fish.
Seeing the large hole to one side of the room, she slides quietly along the walls until she reaches the north side of the opening. She listens carefully for anything around the corner; once she's satisfied that some horrible monster isn't about to tear her face off, she peeks around the corner to see if there's anything there.
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Ezren glances over at Marysiel, an odd look on his face. "Mary, you should know by now. I always figure things out. Just a matter of time and information." A small smiles cracks his serious gaze, and the older bearded man gives her a wink.
He turns to the bigger human, joining them. "Valeros. Nice of you to show up. If this indeed an oversized rat, I'll leave it to you and your oversized carving knife. Just minimize the mess. You know you can make some interesting spell components with rat guts and whiskers."
"Now, to the matter at hand. Tamily, have you heard or seen anything down here?" He moves over to the barrels of fish broken open. He kneels down and uses his staff to move pieces of the broken barrel aside. Then he gently probes through what's left of the fish again with the staff.
As the group of four go down the stairs to investigate, they explore the room. Ezren and Kyra examine the barrels of fish. Mary and Valeros move over to the ominous hole. Mary hears a strange chittering thats coming from the hole in the wall. Suddenly, a massive rat the size of a dog emerges from the darkness - and it isn't alone! The giant rats rush toward you, their huge teeth snapping.
Only Ezren is able to react in time!
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[u]Round 1[/u]
Ezren
Red rat
Kyra
Yellow rat
Mary
Green rat
Blue rat
Valeros
"Valeros, did you really order rats?! If you were hungry, we could have stopped for a snack earlier!" He motions with his staff and a frost ray leaps out to strike the first rat in line. The wizard spins his staff as he considers these overgrown vermin
Ezren knows that rats have a powerful bite and are quick, but relatively easy to hit and quick to die. He knows that because his ray of frost easily freezes the rat to death.
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[u]Round 1[/u]
Ezren
Red rat
Kyra
Yellow rat
Mary
Green rat
Blue rat
Valeros
Kyra moves up. Channeling the power of Sarenrae, a burst of fire fries the rats. Only one of them is able to withstand the brunt of the damage - the green one!
The yellow rat retaliates. It nips at Kyra once, finding a soft spot near the cleric's ankles (). The rat bites down again, finding Kyra's Achilles Heel (). It tries to bite down one more time, but gets a mouthful of boot instead.
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[u]Round 1[/u]
Ezren
Red rat
Kyra (5/21)
Yellow rat (-4 hp)
Mary
Green rat (-2 hp)
Blue rat (-4 hp)
Valeros
Mary sighs to herself when it becomes clear that her position is clearly known to all the rats. "This is not a good start to this adventure," she thinks to herself.
"Ugh! Rats! I hate rats! Someone call the exterminators. Never mind! We're already here."
And with that, she quickly whips out her rapier , and springs forward to engage the filthy creatures.
With an economical lack of flourish, she pokes her rapier at the nearest rat.
Mary dashes forward to exterminate the rats. One with a greenish hue lunges out at her, but she quickly stabs it with her rapier, killing it with one blow.
The blue rat scurries up and bites the rogue twice. One bite digs deep into her calf and Mary feels blood dripping down her leg. But the second bite, she's able to dodge out of the way.
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[u]Round 1[/u]
Ezren
Red rat
Kyra (5/21)
Yellow rat (-4 hp)
Mary (9/15)
Green rat
Blue rat (-4 hp)
Valeros
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[u]Round 2[/u]
Ezren
Red rat
Kyra (5/21)
Yellow rat (-4 hp)
Mary (9/15)
Green rat
Blue rat (-4 hp)
Valeros
Valeros must have a fear of rats indeed as he closes his eyes while slashing at the air in front of him.
Kyra channels the power of Sarenrae, stitching up her wounds. She holds aloft her shield, hopefully blocking any future attacks.
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[u]Round 2[/u]
Ezren
Red rat
Kyra (17/21)
Yellow rat (-4 hp)
Mary (9/15)
Green rat
Blue rat (-4 hp)
Valeros
Ezren grunts. "I can take care of one of them" He points his staff at one of the creatures. A blue bolt flies out and hits it seemingly at the wizard's whim.
Ezren blasts the yellow rat with a quick arcane gesture. One rodent left. With another flick of the wrist, Ezren blasts the blue rat with a blast of cold air - a ray of frost. It freezes, then shatters - dead!
Ezren dusts his hands off. "Well, excellent work! I suppose that's that, eh? Nothing a little magic couldn't handle. Nice spell work, Kyra!"
The wizard stretches his back and arms. "Well, shall we tell Tamily her basement is safe now? She should get the hole boarded up, but I think the fish are safe now. Anyone fancy some lunch?"
Mary is hopping about on one leg trying to see how bad the damage is on the back of the other. "Dang it! Those little furry devils have some nasty choppers on them. I think it went all the way to the bone." She looks up at the cleric. "Hey Kyra, you got any of that nice healing magic available before this goes septic on me?"
Looking over the dead rats, she says, "Nice job you did there Ez. To bad you killed the one that bit me; I would have enjoyed exacting my revenge on the filthy beast."
At Ezren's suggestion that they inform Tamily and have her board up the hole, Mary looks unconvinced. Looking down the opening, she says, "I don't know, Ez. Looks like this leads down to something. I don't think that just boarding this up will do the trick. This time it was giant rats, but next time it might be something worse."
She looks back at the others. "Whaddaya say? Shall we go down and check it out? I've got nothing better to do today."
While the others decide what to do, Mary gives the rat corpses and nearby rubble a quick going over to see if there's anything she can discover about them.
Ezren peers down the tunnel and then at Mary. He sighs. "If we must. But let me rest for a moment." He pulls out his spellbook, reviewing the arcane formulas to ready his mind for further preparations.
Kyra attempts to check on Mary's legs, but is unable to do anything about it... until she channels Sarenrae's power and heals everyone!
When Mary sees that Ezren and Kyra seem a little tired from their spellcasting, she shrugs. "No biggie; doesn't have to happen today. Let's go tell Tamily we took care of her rat problem and that we'll be back to finish the job later. By coincidence, my schedule for the next week or so is pretty clear."
Ezren looks back and forth between Kyra and Mary. "I'm not tired in the slightest! But good study is always worthwhile...."
He considers their options and then nods. "Let's tell Tamily what we found and that we're headed down the tunnel to see where it leads. That way, she will know where we went and if we do not return, she can alert others."
Mary shrugs again. "It's up to you guys; I'm good either way. But yeah. We should probably tell Tamily what we're doing. Otherwise she'll think the rats took us away or something."
She looks down the opening and squints. "It probably just ends at the rats' nest. We'll have to go down there and make sure they're all exterminated before Tamily and her fish'll be safe again."
Tamily comes down the stairs after a while. "Rats? I'm relieved to hear they are dead. But I'm certain rats couldn't have caused all this destruction. Look at it! Go in there and get to the bottom of this!" She turns to head back up the stairs, obviously a busy day upstairs.
Ezren looks up from his spellbook. He glances around suddenly realizing they were still in the basement. "Ah, right. The tunnel. Excellent. Yes, lead on!" He casts a spell and the tip of his staff begins to glow.
When Tamily pooh-poohs the idea that rats alone could have done the damage, Mary says, "I dunno Tamily. These rats were quite large, but I guess it can't hurt to check things out a little more."
Mary rolls her eyes a little when Valeros mentions torches. "I keep forgetting how limited humans can be sometimes." Once Kyra and Ezren shed some lights on the situation, Mary says, "Now that that's taken care of..." and she moves to the tunnel opening, preparing to lead the way. "... shall we proceed?"
Squeezing through the hole, you find yourself in a cavern that seems to stretch endlessly beneath the streets of Otari. Who knows what menace could be lurking down here? Up ahead, the passageway ends in a cliff that plunges sharply into the darkness.
The cliff is 10 feet tall, but slick with moisture. There are various stalagmites nearby.
Mary surveys the cliff with the help of Valeros's shield. With a tone dripping of sarcasm, she says, "Well that's just great, isn't it? One slip and we're at the bottom with a broken leg. What a fabulous way that would be to start this adventure."
She looks around for some other way down the cliff, but it's soon clear that no such route exists. She sighs in resignation. "Look like there's no help for it. Either we climb down or we call it a day. Here goes nothing."
She watches as Kyra works her way down and says, "That doesn't look so tough. Hold on, I'll come down with your rope."
"Easy-peasy. Didn't even need the rope." Calling up to Ezren and Valeros, she says, "Alright guys; your turn. Try not to let us ladies show you up, eh?"
Ezren looks down the sheer face of the cliff and the tenuous rope hanging from it. He could calculate the tension on the rope as he would climb down and the strain on his muscles. Whether his muscles would hold that strain was something entirely different. "There's no better...?" He sighs. Magic should solve problems like this. Like a giant Mage Hand, capable of lifting hundreds of pounds. Yes, in theory that could be done...
The wizard resigns himself that there is no such spell available in the next few minutes and begins trying to climb down the suddenly very thin and worn rope.
There is one terrifying moment when Ezren begins to lose his grip, but he manages to hold on and climb the rest of the way down.
Well, that was terrifying. Flying. Perhaps flying is the key.