""Anyone able to check for magic in the area? It could be an illusion to drive us away."
"I'm not sure it's supernatural or anything," Litsy gets down from her perch, now surveying her surroundings with increasing suspicion. "It's an old, abandoned building. Some kids may play there." Then, suddenly struck by an idea, she adds: "Bunch of little jokesters who think they're smarter than they really are!"
They may be quick and discreet, but hopefully they're touchy, and not immune to betray themselves when cut to the quick. Or at least that was the plan.
When Beorn starts singing, Litsy immediately turns to him with a look of bewilderment and something like horror on her face. Then, perhaps finally assessing the utter ridiculousness of the situation, she cracks up, loudly, her peal of laughter echoing in the empty room.
As Beorn finishes his baudy ballad the cup on the floor remains untouched and the air remains pensive, but silent, for now.
"Let's get going while nothing more is happening!"
Paquen makes her own attempt to get the key with no greater luck.
"Agreed! Perhaps those that make the giggling sounds are just trying to trick us in getting that signet ring. Maybe that is the joke to them."
Borgan moves over towards the grate and tries to see if it would budge.
"Who's got the key to this lock? Perhaps it's worth to see what's inside and what the room was used for."
"Hm. Say, Borgan, you look mighty sturdy. What if I stand on yer shoulders and we both give Tiny a boost to reach the damn thing?" Malgar eventually suggests when it appears the formerly mysterious laughing presence doesn't want to take his drink. "Seems a bit wasteful to just leave it behind."
"Reshin Freshin *fresh moonshine*! Reshin Freshin stupid illusion virgin mages an' paper bladders *Grumble Grumble*" he then mutters, or something similar, on the way to the ring.
Could I get a climb check as you scale his broad shoulders?
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I have a key here I found. Paquen you want to try it while we get this ring?
Should Malgar and Borgan’s attempt not work Variel grabs his grappling hook and a rope from his pack and goes some knots in the rope. He then tosses it up on to or over the rafter to set it before trying to climb up himself.
Throw hook
Try again
Climb knotted rope
Beorn helps to steady Variel
Litsy steps away from the signet ring, letting the men try their own luck. It's funnier to watch them struggle to reach the ring anyway.
After a while, she tires of it, and joins the tiefling to assess the locked door.
"I'll check it for traps," she tells Paquen. "You try the key."
With great effort and little regard for Borgans sensitive areas and sense of smell malgar manages to retrieve the signet ring from its nail on the ceiling. Rexus moves in away from the doorway and closer to the group seeking safety
Procurring the key and sure of no nasty surprises you open the grate. The dip of the floor into a drainage and the shape of the the gate on the otherside of the room betrays this rooms origins as a killing floor to a butchery. Takinf a moment further to rip open the door to the right you find an old workroom. This old workroom houses numerous old slaughterhouse tools, veterinary equipment, and woodworking tools, all of which are covered with a thick layer of dust through which strange tracks and patterns have been traced. Heavy mallets, crumbling ropes, and tools for restraining animals hang from pegs in the walls or rest atop leaning tables. To the southwest, a trap door sits ajar, propped open by a block of wood.
"Well done with the ring, guys! Can I look at it for a minute?" Litsy inspects it closely. Surely, if it's a signet ring belonging to a noble house, it must be expensive, right?
She certainly doesn't meet the slaughterhouse with the same fascination.
"Ugh. Looks like a torture chamber over here," she wrinkles her nose in disgust.
Suddenly and unexpectedly, she goes very still, shushing the rest of the group.
"Ssssh! Can you hear that?..... I can hear pipes."
She draws her shortbow and knocks an arrow, stepping closer to the ajar trap door. She silently signals to everyone else that the music she can hear comes from whatever lies below the trap door.
Pipes? Hmm... Nothing reaches my ears.
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Apparently if the horses in the livery were beyond help then they brought them here to end their suffering. The dust still indicateslong years of neglect. He stops talking though as Tiny mentions hearing a strange sound. The sounds must be at a frequency too high for Variel to hear yet he trusted Tiny's judgement. I still don't hear them but I believe you. I will open the door for you to shoot if there is anything there.
Variel opens the trap door and casts dancing lights to illuminate the area just below the door for Tiny to see into.
"I don't hear anything at all either. Perhaps it's the same kind of creatures that were giggling at us before?"
Borgan also moves towards the trap door and stands close to shield any of the others if anything nasty comes out of it.
He peers down the trap door with his darkvision.
Lifting the trapdoor up unleashes the atrocious stench of urine and feces into the room properly. Looking down it reveals a 15ft ladder leading into the basement below the livery. You can't make out anything betond the ladder and the atone floor below.
"I hear pipes too..."
The stench is almost more than Paquen can take. She can only think of one way to deal with it, speed in recovering the documents, if they're really there.
"Let's hurry with this and get out of here."
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Fort save gag reflex
Ariel drops the trap door lid as he hauls off towards the corner of the room where he heaved his breakfast into the corner. Remaining motionless for a while to makes sure he is composed he eventually gets control of himself and straightens up. Sorry about that. The smell got to me to quickly. Does anyone have a clean rag that I can use to cover my mouth and nose?
Much like Variel, Litsy immediately regrets getting so close to the trap door, as she has to rush to a corner of the room to retch. Not much comes out, though it is likely due to her not having eaten much that morning.
She cleanse her mouth and throat with some water from her flask, passing it charitably to Variel.
"I'm not going first," she finally manages to utter, gasping for breath. "Malgar, you do it-I'm sure you've had worse."
Cough cough cough! If only we had some scented clothes for our faces Beorn chokes a bit and sips some water.
Borgna likewise as the others recoils at the smell that is wafting up from down below.
"Ugh, that stench. Wouldn't have imagined that being used as a place to relieve yourself. Probably used after it was abandoned by the people that used to run this."
He turns round towards the others.
"Are we sure we need to go down there now? I'd hate for it to be a dead end and that we'd waded through muck for it to be for nothing. Shouldn't we check out the other rooms first to save this... dung pit.. for the last?"
Malgar shrugs at Tiny and takes the ladder down. "True. A lot better than the prison."
Rexus shakes his head at Borgans proposal. "She specified under. And well, I'm very thankful to Her that meals have been very light lately."
Malgar takes the initiative and clambers his way to the bottom. Giving a quick all clear the rest of the group make their way down with Rexus pointedly and hesistantly going last taking his time and trying very hard not to rain down his last meal on those below. He pauses for a moment and seems to concentrate before something in his hand starts to glow with faint white light.
The room itself is rather large. A shut iron door to the west hints at a larger co plex while all around are piled nests of garbage and other debtis line the walls. A table with wicked looking rusty tools sits to the south.
Before the group can spread out and explore activity among the nests catches your attention. Getting your guard up your in time to see nearly half a dozen large and frenzied rats erupt, scamper and squeeze their way out of their nests and rush you with predatory intent.
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VAriel was about to agree with Borgan and look around more of the livery and avoid the pit. However Malgar the Mad lived up to his name and entered the pit. Grimacing in disgust he uses the scimitar to slice off part of his shirt to tie around his mouth and nose. Alright looks like we are doing this. Variel follows down the ladder. Once down he directs the dancing lights around to see the layout of the basement.
His exploration was short lived though as the room erupted in chaos of fur and claws and teeth.
Init
"Yeah, let's all be real thankful to her," Litsy grumbles,still trying to suppress heaves.
Putting away her bow and arrow, she imitates Variel, climbibg down the ladder with one hand and keeping her nose and mouth under a piece of her shirt with the other.
It only takes a matter of seconds for her to regret not having her weapon in her hand when she touches ground to be met with a lot of bloated, filthy old rats with teeth like razors.
"And the day keeps getting better!"
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Beorn clambers down and scans the area with his Darkvision. Somehow this reminds me of old tales where great heroes must endure a period of humbleness by starting with inglorious tasks to teach them patience.
When the rats emerge, he draws his blade and prepares for battle.
Paquen follows Beorn down.
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Borgan follows the rest down as the group makes their way down into the decrepit room, trying to hold his breath until her can hold a hand under his nose again.
"It's not the fact that this smells foul...It's more that we will reek in the wind after it. It could draw a different kind of attention."
As he sees the rats, he sighs and lowers his arm from under his nose again.
"Something like that yes."
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Beorn clambers down and scans the area with his Darkvision. Somehow this reminds me of old tales where great heroes must endure a period of humbleness by starting with inglorious tasks to teach them patience.
[dice=Init]1d20+2
Yeah but why does humbleness have to equate to foul smelling? I mean digging trenches for a latrine is just as bad but doesn't smell like this?
Borgan follows the rest down as the group makes their way down into the decrepit room, trying to hold his breath until her can hold a hand under his nose again.
"It's not the fact that this smells foul...It's more that we will reek in the wind after it. It could draw a different kind of attention."
I have some soap with me that we can use to clean up with if anyone has water? Of course that is providing the soup doesn't turn rancid after being down here and we don't end up dead or worse.
Heroes: 13
Rats: 13.8
malgar
beorn
beorn
Variel
Paquen
Variel
Rushing forward the rats scramble over trash and each other to leap at you. Only one manages to get a solid bite in scoring a nasty bite on Variels hand before he manages to shake it off. Rexus screams a less than manly scream and dances on his toes jumping away from imaginary dangers.
Players up. Map is up.
"Get back, Rex, for f@##'s sake!" Litsy shouts over the aristocrat's scream. She draws her rapier in a less than smooth movement, feeling already overwhelmed by a faster enemy. "Climb on the ladder, get out of their way!"
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Fort save
Variel let’s out a curse as he is bitten on the hand by the rat. Foul disease ridden rodent bit me. I didn’t make it through the riot yesterday just to end up dinner for some rat!
Pulling forth some of his arcane power he imbues his weapon with it. Variel then tries to bring his scimitar down severing the rat in half.
Attack for
As the rat falls he kicks it into the corner of the room pissed off that it managed to bite him the first time.
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@Tiny: zoom all the way out and you'll find it in the bottom left. The map opens on the ground floor map, so you'll need to move off it completely to the new in the bottom right corner.
By the time Paquen's feet are on the ground there are already rats all about. She skewers one of them with her rapier.
"Ugh! Whatever's down here better be worth all this!"
Litsy runs in the space left between Paquen and Variel, until she finds herself almost face to face with one of the hideous little monster.
Borgan whacks at the rat next to him and Beorn, hoping a hit with his heavy mace will make it go splat.
Borgan grimaces as he probably misses the agile creature on the ground.
Next time
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"Oh, Justin. Did you die only for your ilk to fall so needlessly...? Did you acrifice your flesh to my starving self in that dark place, only for me to betray your trust...?" Malgar asks no one in particular, then moves around the northernmost rat to stab it once.
"NO! I think not!" he cries, as he withdraws his thrust at the last moment.
Get out of here, you foul varmint!
Beorn slashes at the rat to the SW
Beorn believes he has engaged in enough rat abuse that he doesn't need to further mangle the corpse.
MAdgar
Beorn
Quickly getting cut down the rats are greatly reduced in number and without numbers there effectiveness goes down considerably leaving nothing left but for you to finish them off.
Players up.
Paquen goes to help Beorn with a rat.
Beorn dabs on a rat
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Variel moves over to flank with the overly crazy Malgar. He wasn’t sure if Malgar was going to kill the rat or try to befriend it or even try to eat it at this point. Better Variel make that decision now if possible.
Flank imbued weapon for
However the thought of Malgar eating a raw rat was not appealing and made him sick enough to almost drop his scimitar.
Borgan attempts to play 'Splat the Rat' another time and strikes at the one close to Malgar.
Malgar looks at the rat remorsefully as its kin are slain all around it. "Why... why did it have yo be this way. Just... flee brave survivor. Shoe! Get out of here 'fore they strike you down!"
He tries to nudge the rat aside with his rapier but tries not to harm it.
Since everyone in the room is apparently a certified rat killing machine, Litsy sheathes her rapier with a discreet sigh of relief. She'll pass on getting closer to these monstrosities.
The last of the rats are quickly put down leaving you in silence for but a moment. As everyone collects themselves the soft melody of pipes can be heard beyond interrupted violently by the sound of Rexus retching in the corner.
Perhaps those pipes are the reason the rats attacked us.
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As his shirt was already torn from cutting it to use as an impromptu mask Variel cut another piece off to wrap around his bleeding hand. Anyone else unlucky enough to get bit? Or was it just me?
Variel begins to relax when he hears the soft music playing and Beorn asking if he heard them as well. Yes Beorn I do hear them but I am in no rush to go searching for whatever is making the noise. It can wait while we search this room to make sure there are bother surprises waiting for us. Withat Variel begins to search the room they are currently in.
Take 20 for 25 perception or if not ok…