Uller nods and scribbles, "Writing... I'll see what I can find."
He cheers up considerably at the mention of Sabelina's disreputable friends. "Well, maybe you are the right folk for the job, then! But I gotta know you'll finish what you start when push comes to shove. Reputation is gold here and my name is on the line as well. Tell you what... Let's do a try-out. If you can handle a real sh!tty task like pros, you'll get first crack at that other piece of business. Sound good?"
"Here's the score. We've got us a fancy drainage system beneath the city. Periodically, it gets blocked with filth. Water starts to back up or pour out where it shouldn't. I need some folks to go in with tools and clear the muck from the upper level of the system. Just to make sure the water runs like it is supposed to. I supply the tools. You supply the muscle. Job shouldn't take more than half a day and pays 200 gold total plus whatever you find that's worth keeping. Are you in or out?"
"Yash in" the half-orc said with a toothy grin.
Senna shrugs, "Why not?"
Sabelina wonders if the sudden bait and switch in offered jobs is a result of her request for jobs involving writing or drawing. She concludes the change was more likely planned all along.
She fails to see the relationship between muck slogging and engaging with potentially dangerous people though.
Why do the underclasses hold doing filthy labor as a measure of moral rectitude? she asks herself, with no answer coming to mind.
She probably would have tried to negotiate for the originally offered job as a better test of their worth, but once Yash and Senna consent to the second job, her bargaining position is too eroded. Sabelina rolls her eyes at them but joins in. "Fine"
It can't be any worse than my husband after chili night. Let's get this over with.
Xing, who's been chafing at these tight confines, shrugs, "I've taken worse jobs. I will help."
The deal is struck…
… and so our heroes find themselves dressed in waxed canvas waders and armed with a variety of hoe and rake-like implements (in addition to their normal equipment). Below street-level somewhere on the border of Dockside and Low Gate, they stand in front of an arched stone doorway. Uller unlocks the iron gate and yanks it open as its rusted hinges squeal in protest.
”This sewer has two levels. There should be a large drain that leads to the lower part. Don’t go down it, no matter what. You go down it, you’ll never come back. I’m not joking. Any of yous been to Rappan Athuk? Same advice you get there: Do not go down the well. Good luck.”
He stands aside to let you all proceed into the gloom and fetid (not nauseating) smell of the sewer.
Looking to the others, Yash asks "Yash first?"
As he waits for an answer, he draws his greataxe in one hand while the other grasps a small bone hanging from a leather throng tied to his armor.
"Grandfather, light my way."
Mama takes up her steel tipped walking stick that some would call a longspear and takes a place near the center of the group. This isn't all that bad!
Meanwhile, Lady is curled up around Mama's shoulders like a living fur scarf with her nose tucked into her tail. Uuggggh. This place reeks. Why are the secret level jobs always the stickiest?
"Just to clarify: do you mean don't go down to the lower level? Or just don't go through the large drain?"
When the big orc volunteers to go first, Xing nods, then gives the group a considering look. "I will bring up the rear, watching behind. If trouble starts, I can move quickly when I want."
Sabelina is not happy. She stays close to Yash since she needs the light, while muttering foul things under her breath.
Meanwhile, Lady is curled up around Mama's shoulders like a living fur scarf with her nose tucked into her tail. Uuggggh. This place reeks. Why are the secret level jobs always the stickiest?
"I mean don't do either. The big drain leads to the lower level. You don't want to go down there - on accident or on purpose. There's beasts down there that eat garbage, flesh, bone, maybe even metal. And they ain't picky about what's what. If you get kill't, I gotta answer to the Cat and Council. I don't need that grief."
Senna admires Cookie’s living fox-fur stole then casts a glance at the hopeful pig. ”That’s not happening, not in this lifetime. Up ya go.”
She reaches out to Sausage. The pig hops at her and quickly begins to meld into her hand while shrinking. Unfortunately, the bulky pig doesn’t shrink fast enough. He becomes a large lump, swelling her skin to bursting and weighing her down even as the lump painfully slides up her arm and comes to rest as a hump on her shoulder that quickly shrinks enough to vanish. She shakes off the pain. ”I hate that part.”
Lady's head swings around to watch the process. Her head pulls back in a disturbed fashion as the pig slowly disappears. Please tell me you don't crap him out... she asks quietly.
Sabelina snorts mirthfully, but that doesn't mean her overall mood has improved any.
Xing shakes her head, "Today, I keep seeing new things. And please, oh, please do not crap out that pig." She takes a spot at the back of the group, trying to avoid stepping in anything she'll regret. "I have read many legends and stories on my travels. Heroes never have this ... mucking a sewer ... as their great quest."
And if you were writing a heroic fable about your own exploits, would you include this job, your first!, without hesitation? Mama asks with a little smile in her voice.
"I actually am doing exactly that, and no I will not."
Senna chuckles at the back and forth, adding brightly, "Would you write about it if I crapped out a pig? We do have a latrine big enough for the job right here."
You walk along the corridor until it emerges in a large, long room. Like the previous corridor, it is solidly built of flagstones and arched to a 20’ high ceiling. A wide trough of water fills the center of the room. Smaller trenches run from holes in the walls and feed into the trough. Water and debris run from the holes in the wall and periodically drip down from holes in the ceiling into the trenches or the main trough. The room itself is dark save small pools of reflected light cast from storm drains at street level.
While none of the trenches is fully dammed, you do see spots where debris and filth has piled up and slowed the flow of water into the trough. The job, as you see it, is to walk the length of the sewer system and clear the jams with the tools provided. It doesn’t seem a difficult task. The only wrinkle to the plan are the dog-sized cockroaches with filth-slicked mandibles standing on mounds of filth watching your team. They make no offensive move, yet.
Cookie eyes the giant cockroach... and the vermin eyes her back, saying "Hey, make me a sandwich."
Cookie blinks hard... clearly the fumes in the sewer are giving her brief hallucinations.
Cookie does recognize the giant cockroaches for what they are...
Careful. These things are quick and aggressive, but not overly smart or tough. Cookie says quietly.
"Fight...no fight? Yash asks, not sure how to handle such an infestation.
Xing snorts out a laugh, ”I don’t think we were hired to make more mess down here, but maybe I misunderstood.”
"I actually am doing exactly that, and no I will not."
Xing pauses in her tracks, a comical expression of surprise and delight coloring her usually-reserved features. ”You are a writer?! That is wonderful. I love books. Can I read what you have?”
At the elder halfling’s warning, Xing sobers back up, regarding the massive cock-roaches with wary eyes. ”Let’s not kill anything we don’t have to. I don’t believe that was what we were hired to do. I caution that we simply give them room when possible … but I will keep watch on them.”
"Would you write about it if I crapped out a pig? We do have a latrine big enough for the job right here."
I might, but placed in a different context. But it seems to me you're dodging the question. DO you crap the pig back out or not?"
”You are a writer?! That is wonderful. I love books. Can I read what you have?”
"You can when I have something. Right now I only have notes. We haven't done much yet."
"So where shall we start? Let's get this over with."
"But it seems to me you're dodging the question. DO you crap the pig back out or not?"
"Cost you a gold to get that answer, sailor, and three more to watch."
"I guess you're not in the book then" Sabelina replies nonchalantly.
As you file into the larger room and debate the assignment, the cockroaches click their mandibles, wave their antennae furiously, and scuttle across their filth piles in agitation.
Round 1
ORDER
Xing
Cookie
Sable
Senna
Cockroaches
Yash
CURRENT HP:
Cookie 24/24
Sable 26/26
Senna 18/18
Xing 20/20
Yash 22/22
”Let’s see if we can discourage these things a bit,” Xing mutters as she takes the initiative. She bursts forward, dodging between Sabelina and Yash to deliver a sliding, sweep of a kick intended to discourage (not kill).
Mama Cookie shifts in behind Yash and uses her spear to discourage the bugs' attacks.
Sabelina moves up close to Xing and takes up a defensive position, waiting to see what develops.
Senna sloshes through the mucky water while knocking an arrow. She takes a position with clearer sight-lines to cover her allies.
Xing’s sliding kick crunches into the roach’s head and sends it spinning off the refuse pile. It lands on its shell, unmoving. The other roach doesn’t take the intended warning and attacks, only to be immediately skewed on Sable’s rapier.
There is a sound of skittering as another roach emerges from a small side corridor. It tries to sink its mandibles in Xing’s leg but fails to connect as an arrow from the archer whistles between Xing and Sable. The arrow bites deeply but fails to kill the creature.
The wounded roach squeals and chitters loudly. There is a moment of silence before you hear so much chittering it sounds more like a tree rusting in the wind followed by an odd droning hum. A half dozen cockroaches fly in from the wider corridor at the far end of the room in an awkward formation on an intercept course with the intruders claiming their trash.
miss
Round 1
ORDER
Xing
Cookie
Sable
Senna
Cockroaches
Yash
CURRENT HP:
Cookie 24/24
Sable 26/26
Senna 18/18
Xing 20/20
Yash 22/22
"Grandfather, protect me."
Yash looked back over his shoulder briefly at Mama before he tromped through the water towards the oncoming wave of roaches. He silently hoped the bugs would not find a way around him to the back of their ranks. Standing near the others, his axe in hand, he waited for the giant bugs to come closer.
"Yash no like bugs!"
Strengthened by Grandfather, Yash trudges forward to form a rough line of fighters to face the hoard of flying. mandible-gnashing bugs…
Round 2
ORDER
Xing, Cookie, Sable, Senna, Cockroaches, Yash
CURRENT HP:
Cookie 24/24
Sable 26/26
Senna 18/18
Xing 20/20
Yash 22/22
Xing pivots smoothly from strike to strike, a hunter's mix of precision and aggression.
Right jab. Pivot. Heel stomp.
But as the horde of cockroaches rounds the corner, she moves towards a semi-retreat. ”Yash may have the right idea,” she mutters as she looks for a momentary respite. ”This may become a war of attrition.”
.
"You'd think he might have bothered to mention this when he made us take this job" Sabelina grumbles. For the moment she holds her position, letting the insects come to her.
Xing boots the wounded roach into unconsciousness with a single well-placed kick, then falls back behind Sable who holds her ground as the flying brigade approaches...
Come on, everyone, let's make our ancestors proud! Mama Cookie shouts. You suddenly feel more confident in your actions!
Senna glances at the lofting ceiling and their opponents, considering the tactical situation. Wings change everything. They can overfly and surround us… any of us. That’s what I’d do. Her eyes harden. Eat or be eaten.
The petite archer sprints forward, almost into the maw of the nearest roach. She weaves an arcane symbol while avoiding the snapping mandibles of the creature. Flames lash from her hand, scouring several of the bugs. Two dodge the worst of the blast but three others come away with blistered and smoking carapaces – grievously injured.
The archer looks vaguely dissatisfied, and a little concerned with where the wounded roaches might vent their anger. "Well, sh!t."
|
The bugs close in, swarming our heroes… some flying well over the group while others drop to the ground and charge in. Not being the smartest of creatures, the flying bugs instinctively land before attacking, giving our heroes a moment to strike beforehand. Mandibles gnash and bite!
Even more roaches enter the fray… two from the northern corridor and a sneaky one scuttling in from the nearest side corridor. It neatly dodges Sable’s prepared rapier stab as the swordswoman is distracted by rottweiler-sized bugs dropping practically on top of her.
Senna delivers a pathetic back-kick vaguely in the direction of the roach that drops on her back.
Sabelina curses at her miss and stabs at another stupid bug in her way.
Irori *facepalms* as both of 'his' monks whiff. "Don't look at me. I didn't train them."