Rats Raiding Kowiri

The morning after the Contemplation of Calm, new Freelancer Elwin, a Cloud elf, was having breakfast with two other relatively new Freelancers: Sofiya, a tall, thin firbolg who'd been raised in Hindmarsh, and Nahele, a compact Rain sagani who'd joined Freelancers but was a bit dubious about how adventuresome things actually were.  These two had been in Freelancers perhaps 2½ primes.

Ricardo was sitting at a nearby table, eating breakfast and still writing in his journal.  Perhaps he should have used a pencil; he kept scratching out what he was writing.  Elwin asked what was going on and the other two explained what they'd learned from Peb, about Ricardo's pegasus getting killed.  Ricardo put his pen down and listened as they talked.

In the conversation, Nahele realized that the mission they were describing really did sound adventuresome, and was inspired.  She proposed they go ask for a mission, and the others agreed.  Somewhat to all their surprise, Ricardo put his journal away and declared he would also come.  So they went up the stairs to Arnari's office.

Elwin had not been there nor met Arnari before; he'd joined Freelancers by talking to Tomtom, the deputy leader.  He was a bit surprised at how haphazard the office was, but not fooled into thinking the arrangement of papers on the desk and mismatched chairs was unintentional.  He looked around the office at the knickknacks etc, and leaned against the wall instead of sitting down.

Sofiya sat as close to Arnari's desk as possible; perhaps the firbolg, who was honing bardic skills, was a bit starstruck by Arnari.  Ricardo, exuding a confidence he'd not shown in the last few days, spun the chair next to Sofiya backwards and straddled it, looking at Arnari expectantly.  Nahele, whose mother was at the Bardic Conservatory, sat at ease in the back row of chairs, making sure Sofiya was not blocking her view.

Arnari, glancing at the 4 Freelancers, especially Elwin, looked through multiple papers on her desk.  She murmured, "The pollution mission is not on offer; the Freelancers Mia, Murai, Minji, Lorcan, Manu, and Dominic have been sent to examine the origin of it all."

She raised her voice and spoke more decisively.  "Given your relative experience levels, I have 3 missions available."

1st – you could possibly handle, you need to be careful [to Elwin:  "now remember, not dying is part of collecting pay"], Collect hippogryph eggs in the Haven Hills to the south.  100 eagles per egg, or, you get 10 eggs for one riding hippogryph.  If you find fancier eggs, might pay more.

2nd – go to Ophelia, a small farming village between Cliffgate and Three Rivers; provide them aid.  Their cattle herds are being attacked by lions.  This will pay 100 eagles per person.

Sofiya:  not flatland flowers, this time?
Arnari:  no; it's carnivorous, actual lions

3rd – is more local.  The Kowiri Music & Tavern has reported… weird vermin?  Well, a bunch of weird holes in the walls of the tavern.  They keep patching the walls, but the holes reappear.

Elwin <sarcastically>:  lions, tigers, or bears, o my
Nahele:  we're all slower than an angry hippogryph
Sofiya:  the lions are also far away
Nahele:  not that far away
Ricardo:  it's definitely trouble, outrunning hippogryphs.  Lions would be the more heroic options, but given our relative experience, maybe stay closer to home.
<Ricardo seemed slightly anxious that he was the most senior Freelancer.>
Sofiya:  perhaps filling holes is our heroics for today.
Elwin:  seems the most appropriate.

Arnari, visibly relieved, set the other papers aside, and read the last one more carefully.  Then she said, "Okay, let me give you some information.  Martin is the human who runs this; he has tannish skin, blond hair, blue eyes.  He is pioneering bardificery in Cliffshadow."  She leaned back and looked at the gathered group.  "Freelancers have done several missions for him before; they were bouncing for the tavern opening, and escorted a new instrument from Gemhallow.  Head over there, check it out, take steps."

Nahele:  are they open?
Arnari:  probably not?  They'll be open for you.
Ricardo:  seems the obvious first thing to do.
Sofiya:  do we know when the holes are appearing?
Nahele:  do we have syrup in the kitchen?
Arnari:  why?
Nahele:  sticky footprints.
Elwin:  could use flour.
Nahele:  won't stick
Elwin:  have you tried it?
Nahele:  no

Arguing, they left Arnari's office, and the argument was distracting enough they just headed over to Kowiri Music & Tavern without stopping at the kitchen.

The tavern, on the leading edge of the skylith south of the docks and the cliff, was pretty easy to find.  Of course it was closed, so the Freelancers knocked on the door.  A human man answered, and when they told him they were Freelancers, he let them in and introduced himself as Simon, one of the bardificers, and explained he was working on a construct.  They saw the construct, and tools, and parts, scattered all over the stage.

Simon:  Martin said you'd be here to take a look.  Don't touch my stuff.
Nahele:  does this place have a basement?
Simon <to barkeep>:  can you come over here
<The human barkeep comes over, and introduced himself as Jingle.>
Ricardo:  as in, Jingle Heimer?
Jingle <sighed>:  my parents called me that; please just call me Jingle.
Ricardo:  anyway Jingle, can you show us these holes
Nahele:  can you show us one of the patched holes too?
<Simon walked back to his construct.>
Nahele:  oh yeah, is there a basement?
Jingle:  a small basement, stairs are in the storage room.

Jingle walked the Freelancers around the ground floor to see the holes:  behind the bar, in the storage room, in the privies.  The holes did not connect to the neighbour's building.  Ricardo kept chatting with Jingle the entire time, but the other Freelancers were looking closely at the holes.  They were maybe 4" across, too big to be mouse holes.  They were gnawed and had signs of grey fur; they originated outside.

Elwin and Nahele glanced at each other, and went outside.  "We should check if the neighbours have problems," Nahele said earnestly, but Elwin wanted to look for patterns, hole height from the ground, and footprints first.  They walked around the building, looking.  They found the holes were done in cover, so were not obvious to passing foot traffic; the pavers stopped any footprints; and they were at ground level, gnawed, obviously from rodent teeth.

Afterwards, the two Freelancers looked for evidence of similar damage to nearby buildings, but saw nothing of the sort.

Meanwhile, Ricardo was asking Jingle questions, while Sofiya was trying to figure out where these rodents went when they got in.  Ricardo was pretty methodical:  how many holes showed up at once?  how long between episodes?  how long ago did it start?  anything else going wrong?

Jingle didn't have all these answers, and explained it started out small; he was unsure when it started, but nobody's seen any evidence of vermin.  He explained there had been sabotage, especially with privies, and Sofiya had him show her, then also the storage rooms.  Jingle noted almost idly they've not messed with the bardificer instruments.

Ricardo:  does Martin have competitors wishing him or his bardificery things ill?
Jingle:  you'd best ask him that directly; he's in his office, go up the stairs to the second floor, then the office is in the other corner.

As they headed for the stairs, Nahele and Elwin came back inside, so all 4 Freelancers went upstairs and knocked on Martin's door.  Several locks slid back and the door swung open to reveal Martin, a desk, a couple chairs, and a safe.

Martin:  oh.  Freelancers.  I'm–actually glad you're here.  What have you found thus far?
Ricardo:  seems rodent, rather large, we are trying to figure out why you're being targeted.
Martin:  I personally love the music that we have; I don't see why others wouldn't, but we picked this location near the docks to not bug anyone.
Ricardo:  have you received any threats or complaints?
Martin:  we've had to chase off Goose saboteurs
Sofiya:  what?!
<Here, Martin explained the latest shenanigans by followers of the Goose.  Apparently sabotaging Kowiri is a popular way to prove themselves.>
Sofiya:  seems strange, becuase they are not going after food.  They are going after toilets, storage bins, and so forth.
Martin <surprised>:  HUH
Elwin:  anyone have detect magic?
Sofiya:  I do; where should I cast it?

Sofiya cast detect magic and did another tour of the facility.  She saw the anti-fire abjuration magic on the building; the bardificery construct lit up; magic on Martin's shoes and vest; illusions on the privies; traces of magic on some of the alcohol.  The holes, however, were not magic.

Ricardo:  encountered any disgruntled flautist lately?
Martin <smiled>:  no, they know not to apply here
Sofiya:  when did the holes start appearing?
Martin:  not sure.  They come more and more, patches are not helping.
Ricardo:  how many at a time?
Martin:  they don't chew new ones if there are any existing
Nahele:  have you thought about putting a trap around an open hole?
Martin:  tried it, doesn't work
Ricardo:  when are they appearing?
Martin:  we see in the morning.
Nahele:  maybe we should keep a watch?
Elwin:  yeah
Ricardo:  stake out is a good idea.  Some in, some out?
Nahele:  when holes are patched, do they make new holes?
Martin:  depends on the patch
Nahele:  what if we patch badly and watch?
Elwin:  we already know what to watch; what if we get some small bells?
Nahele:  Untz Untz Untz
Elwin <stiffly>:  I didn't realize they were coming while open
Martin:  we don't know; we see in the morning.

The Freelancers checked out the holes again, discussing the stakeout.  There were three holes currently:  in the privies, the storage, and in the back, all on the 1st floor.  They circled outside, so they could see where the entry points were.

They realized Elwin was the only one of them with darkvision.  <Narrator voice:  at this point, the players all learned that Fabio once killed a goose with his face.>  The streets would be lit at night, and Ricardo had message, so Ricardo and Sofiya would position themselves inside, and Nahele and Elwin would be outside, where they could see the holes.  They would put flour around the holes to track where the rats went.

That evening, the club opened, and the Freelancers took up their positions, watching as the untz untz untz of the music thumped through the night.

In the dark of the evening, Elwin and Nahele saw some rats behaving… oddly.  They were moving more intelligently than a rat should?  They headed for the holes.  They saw the two Freelancers, but ignored them and went in the holes.

Ricardo, perched in the storage room, crouched in a batman-squat on a shelf, saw the movement of the rats, and was so startled, he fell off the shelf.  Outside, Nahele heard some thumps that did not match the beat of the music.  Inside, the rat in the storage room froze as Ricardo cursed.  The bard watched the rat consider, then turn and scurry back out the hole.

Nahele saw it emerge, and tried to track it.  The rat headed westward, then went under a fence, into the Trade District.  The Rain sagani observed it was acting more and more like a normal rat, so she turned around and returned to Kowiri.  By this time it was late enough that the club was starting to shut down, and the Freelancers consulted with each other.

Nahele:  what do we do?
Ricardo:  I'll get on the roof, over a hole.
Sofiya:  what are we trying to do?  Stop, or source them?
Ricardo:  source.
Elwin:  I think the rats are druids.
Sofiya:  how can we tell?
Elwin:  catch it in a cage trap and wait
Ricardo:  I have suggestion
Elwin:  I should be on the inside
Ricardo:  put the flour
Elwin:  it won't work if they are intelligent
Ricardo:  the lights will be out
Nahele:  they have to either walk through it, or turn around

So the club finished shutting down, and Elwin waited inside, trying to watch the holes but not be obvious.  Sofiya waited up the street in the direction Nahele had tracked the rat.  Ricardo climbed onto the roof, looking down on one of the holes, totally not noticing that meant he was well-backlit for anyone who'd look up.  Nahele waited in the shadows, watching the two holes that weren't under Ricardo.  She could see where Sofiya was waiting.

Ricardo and Nahele saw, but Elwin did not, the organized stream of rats come around the corner near the Sofiya, with 2 very much bigger than normal, almost the size of a raccoon.  Sofiya's eyes widened in shock.

Ricardo leapt off the roof, and then realized he was neither riding Legend, nor the caped crusader.  "Oh," he said out loud, then cast feather fall on himself.  When he landed, he moved to the closest large rat and cast suggestion, "You should sleep in my nice, warm, safe backpack until dawn."  Nothing happened, to his disappointment, so he turned to Sofiya and said confidently, "We'll get to the bottom of this, I'm sure it will be simple," granting her bardic inspiration.

• The giant rat Ricardo had spoken to bit the bard.  It appeared extra dirty too.  <Narrator voice:  Kylie saved against disease.>
• The other giant rat bit Sofiya.
• Sofiya hated rats, and here she was surrounded by them, and bit by a giant one.  She did not consider that it was after midnight in a city, she stomped her foot and cast thunderwave, the boom echoing down the streets.
  • All the rats but the giant one that'd bitten Ricardo were pushed directly away from her.  No, wait, the furthest away little ones weren't affected.
  • Sofiya backed up to where Nahele was, calling out "You can do it, Ricardo!  I believe in you!"
• Nahele moved to the building corner, pulling out a military dart from the quiver on her back.  She threw it at the giant rat that'd bitten Ricardo, and missed.  Then she moved back to where she'd been.
• Elwin hadn't seen anything, but he'd certainly heard the boom of the thunderwave.  He went out the back door of the Kowiri Music & Tavern, to discover Ricardo confronting a giant rat and many other rats occupying the street.
  • The Cloud elf cast toll the dead on the giant rat attacking Ricardo, the bells jingling in a familiar tune.  The resulting necrosis killed the giant rat.
• The little rats swarmed.  The closest group swarmed on Ricardo and bit him.  The next closest group ran to Sofiya and swarmed on her.
  • The furthest group ran past Ricardo to swarm on Nahele.  Ricardo stabbied at the rats with his rapier as they dashed by, skewering some of them.

Ricardo moved back towards Nahele, the swarming rats sticking with him.  "Aim for the center of mass," he advised, "I don't care if it makes sense, just do it."  Both Nahele and Sofiya nodded, but Ricardo turned his attention to the remaining giant rat.  He really could not tell if it was intelligent, so he again cast suggestion, "You should sleep in my nice, warm, safe backpack until dawn."

Ricardo:  I don't think they are as smart as you thought they were
Nahele:  perhaps they just don't understand that language
<The giant rat bounded up to Ricardo.  Instead of jumping into his backpack, it tried to bite him.>
Sofiya <sadly>:  can't use thunderwave
Nahele:  totally can
Sofiya:  but, it will hit you!
Nahele:  totally worth it

Sofiya shifted, and stomped another thunderwave, catching both Nahele and Ricardo as well as various rats.  The Freelancers were inconvenienced, the rats on Nahele were slightly injured, and rats on Ricardo were boomed off him, and the giant rat died.  Probably by now, anyone nearby who had been trying to sleep was sleeping no longer.

• Nahele drew her kukri and used it deftly on the rats swarmed on Sofiya, slashing many of them, and marking the remainder as a favoured foe.
• Elwin cast toll the dead on the rats swarmed on Sofiya, the cheerful bells a ludicrous counterpoint to the boom of the thunderwave.  Rats were dying of necrosis and falling off the tall firbolg.  "Euw euw euw euw!" she exclaimed in horror.
• The rats who were not slain bit Sofiya, so she was horrified all over again.  The rats on Nahele critfailed and got pinched in her studded leathers.  The rats knocked off Ricardo swarmed on him again, but failed to bite him.

"Enough of this," Ricardo whispered at the rats on Sofiya, and his words became dissonant whispers, causing the rats to flee… to Elwin.  Sofiya drew her rapier and skewered some of them in the process.  "Stand still, we'll get them off you," he said confidently to Nahele.

• Sofiya tried to skewer the rats on Nahele but missed.
• Nahele used the kukri to slash the rats swarming her person, and marked these as a favoured foe.
  • She moved to the intersection, and noticed lights on in windows, and heard people who were awakened by the disturbance and annoyed.
• Elwin cast toll the dead on the rats swarming Nahele.
  • <Narrator voice:  the GM rolled a nat 20 on the save, but> Sofiya cast silvery barbs on those rats, so they were afflicted by necrosis anyhow.
  • Nahele muttered, "Lions would've been cleaner."
• The rats on Nahele somehow just couldn't bite her, but those on Ricardo sure bit him.

Ricardo advised Nahele to be sure to hit the rats about to exit her person, then used dissonant whispers to cause these rats to flee.  As they tumbled off the Rain sagani, the last of the rats dropped dead.

• Sofiya turned and struck the rats on Ricardo with her rapier, skewering some of them.
• Nahele slashed some of the same rats with her kukri.
• Elwin cast toll the dead on the remaining rats, who succumbed to the necrosis.

The Freelancers had exterminated the rats, but by this time there were many annoyed persons awakened by the ruckus.

Nahele <to Ricardo>: do you need a heal potion?
Ricardo:  no, no, it's okay
Nahele:  we should leave before everyone comes
Ricardo:  show him the giant rats.  <quickly>  Not it.

Nahele picked up one of the giant rats, and when Ricardo said "Not it," she picked up the other one, and the Freelancers got out of there.

Sticking with the plan, the next morning the Freelancers showed back up at Kowiri Music and Tavern, and showed Martin the giant rats.  His displeasure wasn't enough, so they showed him the other rats in the street, too.

They went back inside to his office, and Martin gave each of them 100 eagles.  "Please give Arnari 10%," he instructed them, "Unless we all want to be in hiding."

Then he sat down at his desk and begane to write a missive, in small but confidently precise black in.  "I'm telling you to give this to Arnari, to send more people," he told them, "and also please track those rats back down, whatever is causing this to happen!"

Ricardo smiled and murmured, "Disgruntled flautist."

Then the Freelancers took their leave of Martin, taking the missive and 2 dead giant rats with them.  But then they were out on the street, with many dead rats, and checked the corpses over in the light of day.

Sofiya and Ricardo just kind of shrugged.  They were rats, with 2 giant rats.  Elwin was more confident.  "I've read about these rats, and there are astrological implications!" he exclaimed, "This is the work of the Rat Bastard!"

Nahele just shook her head, and looked closely at the rats.  "These rats are not healthy," she noted, then turned to check Ricardo, since he was bitten a lot.  However he was okay.

Disposing of the giant rat carcasses, they returned to Freelancers Tavern and reported on these events to Arnari, giving her the missive and also 10 eagles each, per Martin's admonishments.

• Elwin → lvl 1 artificer!