Session 2

One week after the events at Attwen Manor, our plucky heroes are in Old Byron no longer. They have made their way northwest at the behest of Justicar Wargreaves, who asked to meet them in the small church town of Tomara to provide them their reward for capturing Alkamer as well as discuss a pertinent issue. After arriving in Tomara, the team discovered two important things: firstly, the Justicar had not arrived in town, and secondly, they were broke. To pay for their lodging and foodstuffs, the group began to take on small odd jobs. Our story returns as Harlan, Irene, Vireya, and Lorien enter the house of the village blacksmith to clear it of venomous scorpos, large scorpions about the size of a chihuahua.

Upon entering, Irene and Harlan immediately spot the first scorpo in the entranceway, as if awaiting them. As Irene dodged towards the interior of the building, the scorpo jabbed Harlan directly through the chainmail protecting his calf, dealing a painful blow and injecting copious amounts of venom into his body. The blacksmith had given the group a tube of antivenom, but Vireya was determined to hold onto it at all costs. The group spread out through the building, spotting more scorpos lying in the shadows.

Luckily, the small creatures proved quite frail as Irene and Harlan managed to kill almost every scorpo in a single blow, especially after Lorien highlighted a group with faerie fire. Harlan was the target of a few more attacks, but continued his mogging streak but not only resisting a second venom injection, but defeating it so thoroughly that he cleared himself of his previous affliction without antivenom. Savoring the moment, Harlan also laid hands on himself out of view of the rest of the party (but the sounds remained quite audible). After a few more eldritch blasts, some French mockery, and a Ganondorf-like F-Smash attack from Harlan, the smithy was clear of pests, though certainly not of blood.

Emerging out into the streets of Tomara, the group realized their patron was nowhere to be seen. After accosting some passerby who informed them that Alessandro (the blacksmith) had made his way to the central market in expectation that the extermination would take longer. Enjoying the time they saved by not cleaning up, YFPB sauntered down a central causeway into an open plaza full of hawking merchants. The civil war and invasion has hit Tomara hard, and few merchants are selling goods for anything resembling cheap. One tavernkeeper did offer a free sample of beer, which Harlan took and downed gratefully. A small disguised merchant called Vireya over, raving about how shockingly easy it is for any magic user to mind control someone without magical protection with the Level 1 Charm spell. After finishing his rant, he offered an Anti-Charm Charm for 500g, but the group combined had less than 100g between them. They were also quite skeptical of the Charm’s efficacy.

The group then spotted Alessandro, who, while surprised the group finished so quickly, paid the agreed upon reward of 5g per person. Although disappointed in the amount, the group approached a “Po-ti-on” Seller, who offered his wares at a significant discount to the general economy, let alone during wartime rationing. Despite this discount, Vireya opted to haggle with the little creature and attempt to buy illicit drugs for half the price. She managed to bring the price of El’s Blood, a potent but toxic drug, to 18g from 30g, but took such a hardline stance that she (along with Irene) threatened to both call a city guard and strangle the poor merchant. Fleeing in fear, the Potion Seller eventually agreed to sell Vireya El’s Blood for 17g. Vireya then chose to buy nothing. Harlan, on the other hand, bought two lesser healing potions for 5g each.

It was then that the Justicar entered the merchant circle and spotted the team. Approaching them, he once again thanked them for their help at Attwen Manor, and gifted them a rare and valuable reward: a Revival Gem. In Serulea, ancient revival magics have begun to fail, so attempts at subverting non-natural deaths require special gemstones. Lorien claimed the gem after the rest of his party seemed somewhat disinterested (Vireya allowed this with the intention of claiming more valuable rewards in the future). The Justicar then revealed some unfortunate news: Alkamer had escaped from his transport to prison, and is now on the loose. He then led the group to a nearby quest board, where he explained that Alkamer was likely hiding out with Buzzblade, a goblin bandit leader with a large bounty on his head.

Justicar Wargreaves told the group that his plan was to stick around town for another week (about 5 weeks in real life time) to recruit about 4 more adventurers for the eventual assault on Buzzblade’s camp. In the meantime, YFPB was left to their own devices. They were initially interested in the poster asking to return a talking sheep to its owner, but after the phantom railroad tracks reminded them that they had no idea where to find one specific sheep, they opted to follow the large, central rat-related quest that had an address attached. The address led them to a tavern, where the owner was waiting outside to flag down strong-looking adventurers.

The owner informed YFPB that in attempts to expand their cellar, they broke into a hidden alcove from which several giant rats poured out and attacked his construction workers. Fearing a halt to his business, the owner promised the group members 20g each and free beer if they clear out the cellar. Excited by the potential of gold, Vireya rushed into the cellar before realizing Harlan and Irene could not see in the dark as she and Lorien could. Harlan then lit his lamp and descended into the dark cellar first. Once the group was in the cellar, they spotted a rat against the far wall, and they readied their weapons. Vireya and Irene briefly discussed the potential of keeping some of the rats as lab pets to run experiments on, and decided to capture some alive (and dismembered) if they could.

Before attacking, Vireya attempted to commune with the animals, who were not particularly receptive after their home had been broken into and called her an intruder. Offended, Vireya blasted the rat’s brains out with a magic blast in response. Communicating to the rest of the rats, Vireya threatened the rest with death if they did not surrender. Unsurprisingly, the rats advanced to attack. Lorien, who could see only one rat in the far corner, conjured an illusionary wheel of gouda to entice, or at least distract, some of the pests. The cheese did successfully confuse one of the rats, but two others ran to attack Harlan. Despite their pack advantage, only one of the rats managed to navigate Harlan’s chainmail, delivering a small but sharp bite to the shin.

Irene noticed the rat that had begun sniffing the illusionary cheese, and in a mirror attack of Vireya’s eldritch blast, blew the rat’s brains out with her own magic. Harlan stepped forward to give his team breathing room before once ahead smashing the rat that bit him into the floor with a powerful overhead swing of his mace. It was at this point that two more rats revealed themselves behind the rest of the group by emerging from the distilling barrels. One rat bit Vireya extremely hard on the foot, dealing damage even through her boots. Harlan and Irene, on the other hand, easily rebuffed the rodent teeth of the rats attacking them with their metal armor.

In a rage, Vireya stabbed down at the rat that bit her but missed as a result of her reaction to her bite. She leapt away from the capable rat, inciting further attack, but she was acrobatic enough to avoid any more damage. Lorien mocked the rat that had failed to damage Irene, crippling its feeble mind before Irene stabbed it through the eye with her spear. Harlan crushed another rat in a single blow before both the remaining rat and one revealing itself from a final hiding place failed to pierce his metal chain. Vireya exacted her revenge on the rat that had bitten her by melting half of its body with her magic, and Lorien finished the job with his dagger. Irene without hesitation exploded the rat nearest to her and Harlan, leaving behind nothing but another bloodstain before Harlan crushes the final rat into the concrete with such force that its blood covers the walls (and Harlan).

The group celebrated their near-flawless success, but heard skittering beyond the rubble. Seeking to truly complete their job, they entered the passageway that had been revealed by the construction. As they entered, they spied a final rat fleeing in terror down the narrow corridor. As the rat turned a corner, they heard the sound of a sawblade and meaty gore splatter the hallway beyond. The group turned the corner and immediately spotted the same rat, now dead and in two pieces on a mural taking up the entire hallway. Some writing on the wall gave them a clue where they could safely walk (which the rat clearly did not follow).

Harlan immediately tested the corridor with one of his javelins, tapping parts of the floor to elicit a reaction. And a reaction he did elicit, for as he tapped the mosaic landscape, a sawblade screamed from the ceiling to cut his weapon in half. Lorien thought for a moment, then cast Mage Hand to telekinetically grab the back half of the dead rat. He then compared the landscape on the mosaic to the poem on the wall, and, while using the rat ahead of himself to test for traps, crossed the mosaic without harm. His grateful teammates quickly followed.

The four found two doors at the end of the hallway, one locked and one unlocked. Because no one in the group is yet capable of picking locks, they decided to explore the unlocked room. Upon entering, the group noticed a well in the center of the room with something gleaming in its bucket. As they raised the bucket up quickly, and loudly, they discovered that inside the bucket was a small, rusty key. Unfortunately, the noise they made bringing the bucket up the well also brought up three giant centipedes. Vireya exclaimed in disgust and immediately backed up against the far corner, while the stoic Harlan remained in place and commented on the amount of “giant” pests they’d been finding.

Lorien was first to act, hesitating before eventually moving against the wall with Harlan and blasting the centipedes away with a thunderclap. Luckily for him, and unluckily for Vireya, two of the centipedes were blasted clear out of the wall and directly in front of Vireya in her corner, mortally wounded. After cursing her position, Vireya sliced the centipede nearest to her in half with her scythe, splattering its green blood on her outfit. Its companion attempted to bite Vireya, but was so injured by Lorien’s attack that it managed only to flop around pitifully. The centipede that remained in the well attempted to grab Harlan and pull him into the well, but failed to grasp him through the chainmail just as the rats had.

Irene rescued Vireya from her situation by spearing the dying centipede, and Harlan for the third time that evening destroyed his final foe in a single, crushing blow. The group had taken no damage from the centipedes, but were nonetheless relieved that the battle was over quickly. Exploring the rest of the room, YFPB noticed some silverware that had been recently touched but unused. Vireya, sensing profit, immediately pocketed the silverware. Satisfied with their investigation, the group returned to the only remaining door. Using their acquired key, the door swung open on rusty hinges to reveal a dark, spacious research room. On the far end of the room, illuminated by Harlan’s sputtering lamp, was a 2 foot tall rat-like creature…wearing clothing.

The rattling “monk” was shocked to see humanoids in the room, jumping up onto the table and chastising them for invading the space his brethren were settling. After some failed negotiation, Lorien and Irene noticed that the rattling kept looking up into the shadowy rafters of the room. Irene could not pierce the darkness, but Lorien’s elf eyes outlined the shape of a massive red spider crawling across the ceiling. The rattling then revealed his plan, having positioned himself against the far wall as the spider came from the southern side of the room.

As the final fight began, the rattling monk began to warm up his Rattling Death Barrage by striking Harlan once in the chest before backflipping away. Irene and Vireya viewed the Giant Inferno Spider as the greater threat, and the two began peppering the beast with eldritch blasts (though Vireya’s first attack did not connect). Lorien followed these attacks with a powerful Dissonant Whispers, which slipped past the spider’s mentally defense to deal significant mental damage. The spider was so afraid of the Elven bard after this attack that it skittered up the wall to flee from him. It then attempted to shoot a burning web at Vireya, but in its fear missed her completely.

By this time, Harlan, having borne the brunt of previous scorpo, rat, and centipede attacks, was near unconsciousness after the rattling’s small punch. Despite this, he crossed the room in a few small strides and swung his mace against the rattling with such force (augmented by a glowing divine energy) that he dealt nearly half of its health pool in a single blow, slamming him 10 feet away into a bookshelf. It is worth noting that by this point, the rest of the group had decided to allow the paladin and the monk to fight unburdened as they took on the spider. The rattling respected the honor of the duel, leaping from the crushed bookshelf and striking Harlan twice this time, landing another single blow before disengaging and hiding against the corner of the room.

It is at this point worth mentioning that Lorien had been using his musical talents to inspire each of his teammates and imbue them with extra strength. To great effect, all three other members used their inspiration to strike blows that they would have otherwise missed. Irene again blasted the spider, and again Vireya missed, but this time miscalculated so badly that she broke the ceiling above the spider and caused it to land directly in front of her. Lorien mocked the spider in vicious French, dealing damage and attempting to distract it from its prey. Unfortunately, the spider managed to chomp down on Virey’s exposed shoulderblade, dealing heavy damage. Luckily, or perhaps because of her strange origins, she managed to resist being burned by its dripping lava.

Harlan, wounded by battle but determined to win on his own, approached the rattling monk again and struck a light blow, weakened by his blood loss, before once again laying hands on his own body directly in front of his foe. After a triple Rattling Death Barrage, the monk managed to land only another single blow. Irene and Vireya finally struck together, Irene with a third magical blast and Vireya resorting to her strange-looking scythe. The attacks together managed to mortally wound the spider. It failed for the umpteenth time to resist Lorien’s mockeries before again missing an inferno web shot against him. It began to flee upwards into the shadows of the ceiling again, not knowing that half of YFPB could see in the dark.

Harlan missed his first attack of the night in the most critical moment, giving the rattling a chance to use a quadruple Death Barrage, landing three blows and bringing Harlan within a light breeze away from unconsciousness. Irene and Vireya coordinated a combined attempt to knock the spider off the ceiling, but only Vireya could see well enough to land the attack. This attack successfully brought the spider to the ground, writhing in a deathrattle, in front of Lorien. Lorien stabbed his dagger directly into the lava sac of the spider, spraying hot goop all over him and the room, and ending the creature. With perfect timing, Harlan strikes his own final blow, knocking the rattling monk to the ground without repose.

The rattling monk conceded the duel, and accepted his death. Although Vireya wanted to keep him as a decapitated pet, Harlan persuaded the group to allow the honorable fighter to flee in exchange for him bringing the rest of his kind out from the cellar. The rattling monk, who the group named either Woodchip, Ratty, Mr. Cheese, or Stuart, swore a life debt to Harlan before escaping. The group then explored the final room of the cellar, where the rattling monk explained the rats gained their size and his sentience.

Upon entering the trashed potion storage room, the group found several potions, notably one of giant-creation, fire elementals, and some swirling dark red liquid. Irene and Vireya found potions, but Irene dropped hers and broke it on the ground. Upon exiting the cellar, the brewery owner thanked them for their hard work and paid them their reward and gifted them some beer. He was also kind enough, after Harlan warned him of the mosaic trap, to explain that the red liquid they’d found was in fact a sample of El’s Blood. Tired and bloodied, the group retired to the nearest inn to rest for the night.