| Player | Characters |
|---|---|
| Corky | Kayla, Harlford |
| Jon | Victor, Crush |
| Andie | Hachi, Theo |
| NPC's | Rhonda |
She came stomping out from Meat Pies and Stuff headed straight for the Travelers Free Zone. Rhonda Moorehouse was older, dressed in her work attire, wielding nothing but her rolling pin. She stepped to the edge of area and announced she had a job, was looking for help and was paying. The crowd seemed not too interested until a few stragglers stepped forward to inquire about the job. After a few minutes there were 6 volunteers. Rhonda led them all back to the restaurant offering them a meal before they would set out on the task.
She laid out the problem. Her home in the carved out mountainside had become invaded by rats. And not just ordinary sized rats but rats in the 2 to 3 foot long range, not including their tails. A number of ideas were tossed around and one precaution was set up on. Rhonda was asked for a sack of the older food they could no longer sell to customers. They would take it with them as bait to lure out the rats. Having been fed and the details of the job described, Rhonda led the party to her home.
She lived in the mountain walls in an offshoot that comprised 8 or 10 residences. Rhoda’s was the last on the left. It occurred to ask if her neighbors had any issues and she spoke of her next door neighbor having problems. As for the neighbors across the way, well, Rhonda didn’t care much for them and tried to never speak to them unless necessary. Hearing this, they decided to call on the next door neighbor before trying Rhonda’s. Knocking on the door it took the neighbor a few to get there but eventually answered cautiously. After confirming the situation with Rhonda, she let some of the group in to examine the crack in her wall.
Crush knew these types of cracks well, having come from the mountains himself. They were natural and happened all the time. The opening created was triangular creating a gap wide enough for the rats to crawl through but not a person. It was also not big enough for the types of rats Rhonda had described. Looking around at the layout of the room and the furniture present, Hachi and Crush rearranged some to block the hole, placing a tall mirror directly in front of the hole so any creature approaching would see their reflection. A sofa was situated behind it to hold it in place.
They left the neighbor’s residence and moved down the hall to Rhonda’s when a larger rat was spotted in the hall. Crush dispatched the rat with but a single blow and tossed it at the foot of Rhonda’s nasty neighbor. And there is was left. At Rhonda’s door, she gave Victor the key and he attempted to open it but found the door stuck and difficult to open. A few extra pushes and a good lean in to it and the door reluctantly gave way. A stench wafted out of the residence and a look inside revealed that Rhonda was a hoarder. Her home was pile upon pile of anything and everything one could amass in a lifetime. There were her things and her husband’s things and things that left the group to wonder why she had them.
And amongst the piles was a path wide enough for one person to pass. The path led through each room of her home and led eventually to her bedroom which defied the décor of the remainder. It was spotless, organized and quite charming. Theo thought to ask if her husband had passed recently, which Rhonda confirmed through tear filled eyes. And that’s when the rats showed up. Several extremely large rats appeared from under one pile of garbage dashing to others. Theo caught one in the open and skewered it. Harlford followed the sound of scurrying as it moved among the piles. Several attacks were attempted but there was just no room to maneuver. So a decision was made to clear the back room of the piles in order to better operate. They might also find where the rats were getting in.
A fire brigade line was formed and slowly the materials were moved. Crush stood by ready to dispatch anything that moved that was not their group. Several times the opportunity arose but he had very little luck as he swung down through the piles with his battle axe. His luck went further south as on one swipe the axe broke as it struck the ground. Fortunately, Rhonda was able to replace the axe with one the belonged to her late husband she pulled form a random pile. The clearing continued and more rats were uncovered. Some attacked back hitting Theo and Crush, who were both afflicted by some after effect. But eventually the tight pile was cleared uncovering the large gaping hole in the wall that led to runs behind the wall.
They could not go upright but rather had to crawl in to the hole. One after the other they went in following the twists of the path findinga larger chamber where their infravision revealed a large pulsing heat source. When they brought up the lantern it revealed rats, but not the huge ones they were trying to find. The chamber had two other passages leading away. One similar in size to the entrance and a much smaller one. They skirted around the seething mass of rats and passed back down the larger path which led not much further on in to a good sized chamber that had another large heat source and several smaller ones strewn about.
As they entered Kayla cast a Bless to begin their effort. The ceiling of the chamber swept up as you approached the center allowing more room to operate normally. They moved in quickly and engaged the rats they could see. Crush continued to experience a rough start missing again and dropping his axe yet again. This time he changed tactics and jumped on the rat. One good blow in hand to hand and the rat was finished. Kayla loosed a Magic Missile in to the largest rat followed quickly with kills by Victor and Theo as they stabbed at more of them.
The next site caught Victor by surprise. One of the rats stepped over to the large heat source, a sizable blob, and while it stood there it began to grow. Harlford chose this moment to attempt a psionic blast on the creature but it was unsuccessful. Hachi’s arrow did not miss and the creature fell. Kayla and Theo struck with their attacks as the last rat seemed to tear open a small slit in the blob and crawl inside. The group stepped up and began mass attacks on the thing. It struck out with pseudopods of its form first grabbing Victor. Victor reacted by stepping back and away breaking contact with the thing as Kayla stepped forward and laid a Cure Light on Crush, who had been taking significant damage. Harlford tried his mental power again and this time the creature was stunned in to a sleep state. Theo sliced in to it and the blob split apart like a burst bubble. And with that, there were none left.
They retraced their steps back to the first chamber choosing to use their oil reserves to burn the creatures, leaving none they could see behind. They left Rhonda’s collecting their 25 gold each and making their way to the public works officials to report the infestation and the giant rat issue so the walls could be fixed and any further unwanted creatures could be destroyed. With that, they headed to the church to see about getting cures for the team members that had sustained likely disease inflicting wounds. A price was agreed upon, the party chipped in together to pay for the service and the spells were cast. Upon hearing about their further troubles, Rhonda offered them another meal and generously covered the cost of the healing spells.
The (hopefully sometime soon to be great) Bard Harlford enshrined this adventure in song....
Next time ...
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Bob Senkewicz / Howell, New Jersey / senk@optonline.net