Duty Session 99: Obligatory Rat Cellar

It seems that where Adventurers go, so do the rats. Though many have seen and faced the terrors of the tunnels below Alne, it looks as if the rat problem continues here in Breg Epona. A worried shopkeeper flags down passing Adventurers, explaining that he needs the rats cleared out before the tournament begins. Otherwise, he could lose a lot of business!

Rylen is one of those who just so happens to be passing by. The resident Beastmaster and circus performer seems happy enough to help. "So, we just take care of the rats and we're golden, right?" He asks, a smile on his elven face, "Shouldn't be a problem."

Goldenblade is golden in any event. She's here for the tournament, but had come to the shop to shop. Hearing the shopkeeper's problems, she volunteers, "I can help. Rats have to be easier than fighting floor bosses, yes?" She's not sure, but it stands to reason, right? She hopes.

    Well, it was time to do another mission, Merek was dressed in his dark attire, with the beltcape about the waist as well as the hood up, taking a moment to check on his status screen. He then equips what looks like two golden twin blades, twirling them about while he equips the weapon. It looks like he would prefer speed for dealing with this, then he nods to the party a little bit. "Should be simple."

Rats aren't usually a big problem. But if they're going to be disrupting shops and what not, that's a big problem. Especially when Breg Epona is about to become a big center for activity with the tournament close at hand. But that's okay, because Vertina is all for some excersize before the big event. The Salamander martial artist cracks her knuckles as she strolls up. "I could use a warm-up session before the tourny, count me in."

Cyrus, recently having signed up for the tournament, is looking to get that last little bit of experience that could make all of the difference in combat. Descending into the tunnels along with his sudden allies, who've picked up the same quest. The snow leopard Cait Sith glances around as the trio that has formed. He doesn't particularly recognize them, or know them by name - outside of the details that Inspect might give to him. "Definitely easier than a floor boss." He chimes in as Goldenblade comments on the recent deeds.

"I'm an Astrologian - so I'll try to keep you all well healed up." He promises the crew, before adding; "Cyrus."

"Rylen Corvus. Beastmaster. At your service." As Cyrus introduces himself, Rylen does the same, bowing in the process in a way that seems best matched to a performer. Then, with the permission of the storekeeper, they head down into the cellar below.

As they arrive, dust hangs in the air, tickling the lungs and making it harder to breathe. Thick spiderwebs line the walls. At first, there doesn't seem to be a source for the rats, but there is squeaking that sounds from somewhere behind one of the web-covered walls.

    Merek seems to be considering the webs, while he spins both of his weapons about, then he swings them into the webs, though it doesn't look like he's making a lot of progress, flames shifting along the set of weapons. "Right well, we'll get to it eventually," he notes.

"Ugh, it always smells awful down here." The Snow Leopard remarks as they make their way down. He's sticking closer to the backlines, as may be expected of someone of his role. Sticking near Rylen at first, he makes for a small bow of his head. "So what's got you here in Breg Epona. Also here for the tournament?" He asks before noting the spiderwebs.

"Last time I fixed this by just..." He grabs a potion, and then lazily throws it towards one of the groupings of webs. The vial explodes and creates a small eddy of air that tries to suck away the webs to create a clear path.

Vertina chips in a quick, "Vertina Ketobasu, Martial Artist," as everyone seems to be doing a quick introduction as they make their way down into the cellars. Which are full of cobwebs already. "I thought we were looking for rats..." she mutters, then shrugs. She uses her clawed fingertips to pull apart the webs and make her way through the dust coated clusters of silk.

Goldenblade has both weapons out and uses them to cut through the webs in sweeping strikes, cutting through the webs with ease, even as they get thicker further in. "I can hear the sounds of rats, but I don't see anything yet." It's just like cutting through jungle with a mechete, not that she knows much about that, but she can imagine it's about like cutting through these spiderwebs.

"I'm Goldenblade, by the way," she adds belatedly. "Not that I've got one yet. It's kind of a plan."

Merek's weapons scrape against stone walls, not seeming to find any sort of gap in the webbing. It does, however, frighten some of the spiders, which start to scurry away into darker parts of the room. Rylen tries to make a few clicking sounds under his breath, the game responding by highlighting a few spiders in a blue aura, but he doesn't seem to be able to get them to respond. "Huh, too many here for my animal control to handle."

Cyrus's bottle pulls a good chunk of webbing away from the wall, starting to reveal the passageway beyond. It falls to the ground with a sickening sound, little black forms scurrying away from it. Vertina's clawed hands and Goldenblade's weapons make short work of the rest of it.

"Yes and no." Rylen replies, chuckling to himself. "The tournament draws crowds, and crowds bring money. I'm a performer." He admits, a wry grin on his fair features, "Though I do have a few friends competing that I'll be cheering on."  

With the way forward revealed, it extends into a long passageway which seems to branch off at various points. The whole thing looks like a maze, with rat footprints leading in all directions, some older than others. It looks like they need to track the most recent passage, or otherwise map their way through.

    Once he's through the webs, Merek looks to the place, then nods a bit. "Well, I'm pretty good with mazes, let's go this way to begin with," he notes, nodding with a little bit of pointing, then begins walking along that way, sheathing his weapons while he seems to consider. He draws two new blades, red and black which he twirls while he begins to move along, sweeping the maze.

"I'm here for the tournament. Need to scratch my more competitive itches," Vertina adds, the pauses as they make their way into the disjointed set of passages. "Hmm." She leans forward a little, and while she doesn't have the experience hunting that Salamanders that have held to their nomadic traditions do, she manages to pick up on a fresher looking trail while following Merek. "Here." She pulls a tuff of rat hair out of a jagged crack between stones. "Something has been down this way recently."

Goldenblade boggles as things get a bit confusing. "Wait, wait, check me on this: We're under some shop, right? Only, his basement seems ... kind of disused, didn't it? With all the spiderwebs? And now, /where/ are we? This doesn't seem like underneath some shop. And which way do we go? Did he dig through his cellar into some underground complex?" As she speaks, she wanders, and then, looking around, realizes she's drifted away from the others and is talking to herself. She acks in alarm, and calls out, "Hey, hey, wait for me!" and will rush back to rejoin the party.

"Ah, a performer." Cyrus repeats that term, and then nods to Rylen. It looks like Cyrus is taking it pretty easy through this quest for the time being. "I suppose the Landers have got to love that right now." He proposes. "What kind of performances do you do? I assume athletic ones? Maybe with some fire breathing?" He adds that last bit as a bit of a curiousity. He then nods to Goldenblade and Vertina. "I'm sure the rats will be further in. It's a dusty old cellar, and they probably have their warren deeper in."

The youth continues to move along, now that the webbing is out of the way.

"Oh no... a maze. Ehm. I don't really have a map to these tunnels. But I suppose I can try mapping it out as we make our way through." He proposes, taking out a piece of paper, a 'pencil', and begins to mark as they begin to move.

As they move, he looks to Vertina. "Oh, maybe we'll have to face eachother then. I best not show too many of my best tricks." He remarks, attaching his cane onto his belt, as they go forward.

During the early parts of the maze, Merek has the right idea of it. He sticks to the right-hand side, managing to get quite a ways down the weaving tunnels before the way becomes unclear. It's at that point that Vertina picks up the trail, picking out the right way in a room with many passageways.

However, that's where things start to fall appart. Goldenblade, alas, is completely turned around by the tunnels. Cyrus' map seems to turn in on itself, looking more like a mess of spaghetti than a proper map. Even Rylen seems to be unable to help much in the way of tracking as they seem to be stymied by their own footprints disrupting those of the rats.

Eventually, though, after what seems like an agonizingly long time, they find their way to the end of the tunnels. "Okay, next time I should bring an animal with proper tracking skills, that might have helped back there." He nods as they walk, "Acrobatics. Got a whole group of us who perform together. Like a makeshift circus."

As they come around a corner, the next room is certainly... odd looking. There, the rats seem to have formed into two equally mutated groups. One white-furred and one black. They almost seem to be fighting over the territory. "Not something you see every day..."

"Sorry guys, I guess my map making skills still take some work." Cyrus appologizes as they finally make their way to the end of the tunnels. "I don't know where I messed up. I guess the tunnels just look so much the same, I get the distances wrong." He sends the paper and pencil back to his inventory with a few motions of his hand, before nodding to Rylen. "Oh, more than one? Anyone I know, perhaps?" Not that Rylen would know who Cyrus knows, but he's basically asking for names.

That's when they come upon the two colored rat groups. "That's... odd." He seems to say at about the same time as Rylen. "I'll try to capture a few of them." He then notes, grabbing one of his potions and throwing it at the dark group - as you do. The moment it hits the ground, vines grow out of it and try to snag and cage the various ratlets.

    Merek looks to those fighting while he takes a moment to consider it. There's a lift of his brow while he seems to consider, then he places both hands together while he begins a chant. It's not the usual game standard, his class shouldn't even have access to Light Magic, then he offers a hand up, "By the goddesses that protect our land, I call upon you to heal!"
    There's light that begins swirling around each of the party while it begins to heal each of them, "Ol Repth!" He then swings that into each member, drawing their HP back up to full each strike they take.

Goldenblade is lost and confused, straggling along after the group and pointing out where she thinks we probably need to check out. Luckily, she's ignored. On seeing the rats, she boggles. "What in the world?" she gasps. She peers at the groups, and wonders, "can we just let them finish fighting, and then kill the survivors?" But as the others advance, she will, too, and the fight is joined. She slashes and cuts and skewers rats quickly with twirling slashes of the twin blades she carries.

"A rat civil war! That's something new!" Vertina's brief amusement at the sight fades when both kinds of rat are quick to turn on anyone that tries to get through them. "Fine then. If they're not going to discriminate..." The Salamander leaps forward into the fray, lauching herself into a spinning charge that keeps one of her feet whipping around repeatedly in a manic dervish. "CYCLONE KICK!" It's just a fancy spinning kick that keeps moving, but if you're going to live in a video game why not have fun with it?!

Besides, it proves to be effective in flinging both dark and light rats away from her and help clear a path through.

"Of the performers? Hrm." Rylen seems thoughtful, glancing first at the rats and then back at Cyrus. "Uta Furore is sort of a new apprentice to the craft. Enthusiastic lass." He grins then, "If you know anyone else who might be interested, we're always looking for more prospects. The money is good and it's less dangerous than boss fights."

Then, the group begins to attempt dealing with the rats blocking their path. Cyrus manages to snag a few, but only manages to capture one, which squeaks and keeps attempting to bite anything that comes remotely close. This draws some of the attention onto them, but luckily Merek's healing keeps them all topped up. Goldenblade manages to take out some of them, despite her confusion at the situation. Vertina and Rylen seem to have the same idea, though, both charging in and utilizing some meanner of martial arts to fling rats this way and that.

"It's a dungeon, lass. Don't try to think about it too hard." Rylen explains, giving Goldenblade a wink as the group moves forward.

What they run into next certainly looks like it belongs in a dungeon. A large rat, easily the size of multiple Adventurers, wearing what looks like iron armor. It has a horrific sounding roar, rearing back at their arrival. "Looks like it's time to crack some armor." The giant rat starts barreling towards them, snapping jaws at the party.

    Merek follows along to face that armored rat king, taking a moment to look to it. Then he nods along to the party, while he sheathes both of his weapons. "Alright, I'm going to play a little bit of that defense for you all," he states. Then he spins those hands about into gestures, while he draws a shield upon each of the party members, though that takes a moment.
    The man begins walking forward along to that rat, while he tries to tank a bit, sweeping along a little bit.

"Not sure any of my regular party is the acrobatics kind." Cyrus admits, "But hey, I know Uta. That's the one who is obsessed about Slimes right? I admit, I only know the Adventurer called 'Uta'. I don't know if they are the same as 'Uta Furore'." After all, people having the same first name doesn't mean they are the same person!

"Thanks for the healing, Merek." Cyrus calls out during the battle, keeping the rats as well controlled as he can. When that's all done and over with, he rolls hi sshoulders and grins at the Armored Rat. "Ahhh, finally, a challenge." The youth pulls out this green looking potion.

"I've been brewing this up for a while now. An anti-armor acid potion. Alleeey-OOP!" Cyrus flicks the potion between his fingers, and then spins and throws the potion right for its body!

Goldenblade acks as the huge rat rushes the party. It's no giant sandworm, but down here, it's pretty fearsome. Is it intelligent? It's wearing armor, sort of. But it just looks like a big rat. She advances warily, using her offhand blade defensively, striking with one sword, using the other to swat at jaws and claws that come too close, sending them back ... well, not bloody, because that's not a thing here. But that's how she thinks about these things, even in the face of evidence.

As she clears the horde Vertina drops her foot down to drag on the floor and brake her momentum. "This is just the sort of workout I needed before the big fights!" She's probably enjoying this a bit more than she should, but that's a thrillseeker for you.

Getting into the next room doesn't do much to taper it off. The Salamander roars not nearly as loud as the rat does, and rushes directly into the fray. "Yeeeaaah--OOW!" She lunges for a thrusting knee into the rat's gut... and seems to have realized too late that it's wearing heavier armor than she expected. She hops back, barely managing to skip out of the way of the assault, but she's semi-hopping on one foot until her knee stops stinging.

As the giant rat comes barreling towards them, Merek's shielding spell helps ward off much of the damage. Claws seem to scrape on thin air, the shields highlighting in the air before fading again.

Cyrus' potion, however, doesn't quite hit the mark. The rat moves at the last minute, reacting to Vertina's attack. The potion falls to the ground, shattering and sizzling into the earth beneath, while Vertina ends up kicking right towards the most armored part of the rat.

Goldenblade's shield holding strong against the rat is enough to give Rylen an opening. The acrobat actually leaps over her, runs along the rat's back, and then drops a powerful kick, using his own body weight as he falls, right to the armored head. It *clangs* audibly, causing the rat to wobble, and then fall to the side, clearly stunned.

"Let's go while we can." Rylen motions to the rest, urging them out of the mini-boss' chambers.

However, what they find seems to be much, much worse. A room filled with large bones. Bones which react the moment they step inside, forming into an even larger, more fearsome looking creature. An undead skeletal rat, which stomps towards them, dark magic glowing from empty eye-sockets.

"Dangit! Why won't you just stand still and take my potion attacks like you used to!" He complains at the Armored Rat. "Enemies didn't used to move this much when you threw ability attacks at them back in the day. It's really throwing off some of my aim." Cyrus remarks, motioning his hand as he throws a few quick healing potions around - noting that the enemy is luckily being taken care of by the others.

Moving on, it's time to head further in.. where there's bones. So, many, many bones. "Shit, undead. Best use some Light magic here!" He calls out. Being the healer, he at least has access to some of that. Grabbing onto a potion, he soon throws a few of those right for its head, while trying to avoid those darned bones! All while watching Vertina - trying to learn of her tactics.

    Merek looks to that rat when the party arrives within that room. The man nods a bit, while he seems to think about it, then he places a hand to his back before he draws a sword which is the size of five feet, red and black while covered in what seems to be runes. Then he charges forward, "Alright, it's time to win!" he calls, beginning to sweep his weapon along.
    The weapon sweeps those red shimmering lights from the enemy while he spins around to sweep along upward, flames trailing along in that dance. The way he's been fighting might make one think. He then swings a few firebolts up into that rat, nodding to the party. "You're welcome!" Back to Cyrus, while he then would begin to dance along to assist in what's essentially an assault full on with the party.

Goldenblade is a practical person, and there's a time for hitting with swords, and there's a time for Kill It With Fire. This seems to her like a Kill It With Fire situation. She lights a torch with flint and steel, that's another thing she's happy to have learned in Boy Scouts back in the 1950's, and she will advance on the undead rat with fire, stabbing and smacking it with the burning torch.

Vertina needs to work on her techniques for dealing with armored foes. REally if she had taken her time she could of found a weak point to attack, but that's besides the point. Rylen suggests they move on while it's stunned, and she's quick to follow. Tactical withdrawl is not a bad combat strategy sometimes.

At least the hotheaded Salamander seems to have learned her lesson, as she doesn't immeadiately charge into action as the pile of bones rises up to reform itself into a giant skeletal rat with eye sockets as empty as its lack of a soul. "Hey, does that count as undead?" She clenches her fists, causing flames to erupt around herself in a sort of aura as she draws on her inner fiery spirit. "Because if it does..."

Gleefully she runs a few steps for momentum and then leaps, twisting herself into a spinning motion that drives her feet cloaked in flames at the skeletal rat's thick skull. "DRAGON DRILLER!"

She doesn't need to shout names like that, but it really adds to the spirit of the moment.

Unlike in the last fight, Rylen seems to focus on defense, allowing the others to take the lead. He raises his arms to block the skeletal tail of the rat as it whips towards them, a move that drives him backwards slightly, but distracts the creature long enough for the others to get their own attacks in.

The skeletal beast actually snaps at one of Cyrus's potions catching it and then tossing it aside. Perhaps he is focusing too much on observing Vertina and not enough on where he is aiming those potions.

Merek's firebolts cause the creature to roar, causing the room to shudder slightly as it rears back, trying to avoid them, but to no avail. Dark sections appear and it's health begins to drop. Goldenblade seems to continue to exploit that same weakness, causing it to snarl in her direction, though more health is lost.

The last blow, however, goes to Vertina, as she all but drills fire right through the skeletal rat's skull. As the health drops fully to zero, it falls back down to the ground, returning to a pile of bones. The falling causes a few pillars to join it, toppling over. "Uh... looks like this place might not be very stable much longer."

Just then, the altar seems to glow, revealing their 'treasure', a series of small icon coins. "We should grab our loot and go, before the whole thing caves in on us."

"Are you kidding me, a structurally supporting boss?" Cyrus motions his hand out as the pillars begin to fall and topple. He quickly goes for the altar, grabbing his reward, and then begins to get the heck out. Staying around doesn't seem like a good idea right now!

    Merek picks up one of those rewards, while he checks that with his glove, nodding a bit. "Alright, time to get back to the city," he states. The man takes off while he makes to exit the place along with the party as well, "Alright!"

Goldenblade looks confused, but understands grabbing loot and running. She wouldn't even have grabbed the loot, but the others seemed to think there was time, so she will, too. She'll have to ask afterwards what it is, she stuffs it in her ... well, inventory for now, and will hustle off with the others.

Vertina lands from her flashy attack, only to have to backflip again as one of the pillars crumbles to the floor. "Oh snap, load bearing boss!" Vertina has either been around enough or read enough action stories to know the phrase. Probably a bit of both, considering the amount of time she did spend not getting out much in the real world due to injuries. The how or why isn't really relevant right now. She grabs one of the icons, and beats a hasty retreat for the exit. "Don't got to tell me twice!"