Duty Session 244: Obligatory Rat Cellar
In each of the starting cities, there are at least a couple of poor merchant landers who have developed mysterious rat problems. This is clearly bad for business! A worried looking Lander stands outside their shop, rubbing their hands together, looking anxious, flagging down any passing Adventurer they can find to help.
Difficulty: Easy
Rec. Party: 3+
Rewards: 3
World Rewards: None
Yeowang
Alne
Alne
Yeowang looks around this merchan't shop, and it seems clean enough up here. The Lander proprietor shows us to a stairway and Yeowang heads down, holding a torch, and descends into the musty air. The boxes and crates down here are water-damaged, with mold growing in places. There's no sign of rats, But there's chittering from within the vine and ivy-covered walls, it seems. Our first task, then, is to find out where these rats are.
Ayanna
Alne
Alne
Ayanna follows Yeowang down the ladder, wrinkling her nose at the smell of stale air and mold, but when her foot finally touches the soggy floor, she stiffles a cring of disgust. Maybe sandals weren't such a good everyday choice? "they're more afraid of me than I am afraid of them", she whispers softly to herself as a shiver runs down her spine.
Ayanna
Alne
Alne
Ayanna needs a moment to unclutch her fingers from Yeowang's arm and get over her list of phobias this cellar seems to have hit, trusting herself to be the actual big and scary creature in this cellar and stepping forward to glance around like she's the (wannabe) boss in this situation.
Yeowang
Alne
Alne
Yeowang looks around the crowded and musty cellar. She smirks to Ayanna, and says, "So, this is the part of the game where we overcome challenges and gain rewards. This one is ... not bright and clean, but not the worst I've seen, either. She smiles to Ayanna, and says with a smirk, "We're just doing a bit of exploration, don't go to pieces on me now." She taps on the wall in a few places, and finally she manages to shove one section of wall aside. It swings inward.
The tunnel opens into a long passageway, which looks rough, made by crude digging tools. Tunnels branch off here and there, making the path forward uncertain, made worse by the way some seem to loop back on themselves. It's a maze. Under that shop. Who knew?
The tunnel opens into a long passageway, which looks rough, made by crude digging tools. Tunnels branch off here and there, making the path forward uncertain, made worse by the way some seem to loop back on themselves. It's a maze. Under that shop. Who knew?
Ayanna
Alne
Alne
Ayanna blinks and fights a gag reflex from the stench in the tunnel. "I hate my sandals right now", she whines softly. Her clothes will most certainly need to be disinfected after crouching down the rat maze, unless it gets ripped. She waves her hand to banish the bad thoughts and follows Yeowang's torchlight.
Ayanna
Alne
Alne
Ayanna nearly loses her balance as she tries her best not to get her attire dirty or caught by something and grabs onto the hearest thing. It's a piece of root that once yanked on, causes a collapse in the tunnel, blocking their way back. Seems they'll have to dig their way or find another way back to the surface...
Yeowang
Alne
Alne
Yeowang looks around, sets down her torch, and says, "Hang on." She pulls her long hair back and ties it up in a thick, loose bun. "There's enough yuck here without dragging that in it. It'll be time for a bath after we're out of here in any event."
She is unable to find her way after the collapse, and after a few turnings, has lost any sense of where she is. She sighs, and admits, "Sorry about this, I'm lost. Any ideas?"
She continues on, though, not one to give up, and though it takes considerable time, we eventually hear the sound of squeaking and scurrying claws. The stink gets worse, and she leads the way into the worsening stink, guessing that our goak lies in that direction.
Then we find it: rats spread out among huge piles of refuse. Trash, decaying bodies, and yuck.
She is unable to find her way after the collapse, and after a few turnings, has lost any sense of where she is. She sighs, and admits, "Sorry about this, I'm lost. Any ideas?"
She continues on, though, not one to give up, and though it takes considerable time, we eventually hear the sound of squeaking and scurrying claws. The stink gets worse, and she leads the way into the worsening stink, guessing that our goak lies in that direction.
Then we find it: rats spread out among huge piles of refuse. Trash, decaying bodies, and yuck.
Ayanna
Alne
Alne
Ayanna was about to reply to Yeowang, especially since taking and hearing friendly voices is really helpful now in order to avoid panic, as well as to hopefully scare off the vermin but right then, a squeak, and this time it wasn't her... Quickly though, especially since she's half crawling behind Yeowang, she releases a shielding spell, just in case these rats don't follow her own forced logic and didn't realize THEY'RE the ones supposed to be afraid in this situation.
Yeowang
Alne
Alne
Yeowang wrinkles her nose and tries to hold her breath in the worstening stink. "I'm going to try and clear the air," she explains, but this magic system isn't her thing, she's just not very good with it, and rather than clearing the air, she winds up in a coughing fit, the wind she creates swirling and eddying to no net effect. Luckily, Ayanna's shield deters the rats, and we can proceed through to where the air is clearer.
Yeowang leads the way forward into a room the smaller rats seem to be avoiding. There is a huge, humanoid rat here wearing makeshift armor and a massive helm. It squeaks defiance and charges the party.
Yeowang leads the way forward into a room the smaller rats seem to be avoiding. There is a huge, humanoid rat here wearing makeshift armor and a massive helm. It squeaks defiance and charges the party.
Ayanna
Alne
Alne
Ayanna realizes now it's her turn to squeak and she does so, ear piercing shriek of horror at the ugly dirty once seen can never be unseen, I'm going to need therapy for the coming nightmares kind of abomination charging in their direction. Without thinking, she reaches to cover Yeowang's eyes (WTF!?) and shoot spell equivalent to a flashbang at the creature in hope of stopping it in its tracks.
Yeowang
Alne
Alne
Yeowang shows that she was indeed a martial artist before she came into this game, she advances, pulling away from Ayanna, and fearlessly launches a series of attacks and pummels the rat mercilessly as Ayanna's flashbang has left it dazed. It fights back when it can, but her own natural agility keeps her safe from it's counterattacks. She kicks fiercely, mostly body-blows, though when she can get a kick to the head, the rat is dazed for a moment, and she punches it savagely. Eventually, it's HP bar vanishes to nothing, and the rat bursts into pixels.
Another maze of passages is past the first rat, and it leads to a mostly untouched chamber with church-like iconography etched into the walls. In the center, though, a massive pile of bones has been gathered. When we enter, the bones seem to rise up, and hollow eye sockets flare with dark energy. This seems to be the source of the rat problem.
Another maze of passages is past the first rat, and it leads to a mostly untouched chamber with church-like iconography etched into the walls. In the center, though, a massive pile of bones has been gathered. When we enter, the bones seem to rise up, and hollow eye sockets flare with dark energy. This seems to be the source of the rat problem.
Ayanna
Alne
Alne
Ayanna was /NOT/ expecting undead here, not in a so called simple dispose of the vermin in my cellar job. She glances around, tyring to figure out how dangerous it might be to fight this creature to begin with. After the last collapse, winning or losing, she might end up getting buried alive with that... thing. Regardless, one trouble at a time, undead now, the rest after. She's an accolyte, she knows light and holy and.. That's all she needs, that's perfectly what she needs. A soft, timid sounding chant rises from her as her hands move on their own, calling a bright mandala of light in front of her, twisting and turning, doubling and merging into a three dimensional form and gathering more intense blinding light. As it grows, it drives forward, hurling itself forward and into the undead, flashing the cave with holy light and leaving disintegrated bones in its wake. When the light is gone, some other light can be seen from above, before the floor of a neighoring cellar collapses in.
Yeowang
Alne
Alne
Yeowang attempts to activate her own holy power to defeat the rat, but like so much of the game, the magic business seems to work poorly for her, and she's inneffective. She will have to fight it, though fighting the giant undead rat is not much use. Punches and kicks register no damage, though she at least holds its attention while Ayanna's holy light seems to hurt it quite effectively, and its HP sinks down lower and lower until it vanishes in a spray of pixels.
An unearthly sound seems to come from the hollow chest of the bone rat. It causes the walls to tremble, rocks falling down around them, toppling a few of the pillars in the process. Then, taking one shuddering step forward, the pile of bones collapses, the head rolling to lay awkwardly on one side, jaw open.
Left atop an altar on the far end of the room, is a series of strange icons which show an armored woman against a field of flame. It may represent whomever was once worshiped here, though it seems that time, decay, and the press of unnatural forces have tainted this place from its original intent.
Yeowang collects her reward, such as it is, and suggests, "Let's get out of here."
An unearthly sound seems to come from the hollow chest of the bone rat. It causes the walls to tremble, rocks falling down around them, toppling a few of the pillars in the process. Then, taking one shuddering step forward, the pile of bones collapses, the head rolling to lay awkwardly on one side, jaw open.
Left atop an altar on the far end of the room, is a series of strange icons which show an armored woman against a field of flame. It may represent whomever was once worshiped here, though it seems that time, decay, and the press of unnatural forces have tainted this place from its original intent.
Yeowang collects her reward, such as it is, and suggests, "Let's get out of here."
Ayanna
Alne
Alne
Ayanna nods in agreement, looking down at her now dirty and grimy form, setting a mental note to get new clothes and a decent shower ASAP