Mission 7 - The Tunnels, Turn 3 *Turn Ends
11:59PM UTC, 17 March 2025.*
In order of initiative: Count, Kyp, (Rats), Argy, Grog'tial, Gilius, BenKii, (again) ... Baldbeard.
The Plan:
Count Karnstein: [+3 Strength lasts thru Turn 5] (roll dice*3) You step back from the portcullis briefly, hand at your saber's hilt. The portcullis looks to be holding against the rats battering it, but upon seeing the rats further gnawing the wood at the bottom you shoo at them,
poking one in the nose with your saber. It leaps back temporarily, pawing at its frozen nose.
Upon hearing BenKii's pleading you cease your actions, even though you consider him out of his mind and against your better judgment.
Kyp: (roll dice*4) You quickly stomp on the now again lifeless seeming dwarf skull, breaking off the jaw completely and kicking it far away before crushing the empty eye sockets and temples. You are not sure what the warning was for but you're sure there are evil intentions. After the skull lies in pieces, and seeing no other signs from it, you hear
Captain BenKii saying he is the captain of some starship again and think it must be an amazing crew or ship if your own Crew isn't enough to make him forget about it. Then
BenKii directs you to be kind to the rats. You don't have any food on you, not even a single fish head, but
you attempt to reach out with your mind to communicate with the rats.
*Fail* While you exhibit calm, unfortunately they are not sea creatures and your attempt to commune with them fails.
You draw your rapier and watch, keeping yourself ready to defend your crewmates.
(Roll dice)
Rats: The calmed rats are still calmed. The gnawing rat continues its attack upon the bars, now joined by the two battering rats. The rat on the rope chitters and the frozen nose rat also begins to bite and pull at the rope. The portcullis moves slightly up on one side, but the uneven balance of the pulling causes it to wedge temporarily in the side guide grooves.
Argy: (roll dice*2) You ready yourself to smash any rat that squeezes through the portcullis, then drop your jaw at hearing
Captain BenKii's plan: "Wh... what???" You prepare to reluctantly follow his instructions and
pull out the only food you and the Crew currently have for however long you may be stuck in this place, unless roasted rat becomes an available menu item. "If I get the tiniest bite on me, ye'll share the fate I had reserved fer them rats...", you whisper to
BenKii, subtly pointing with your chin to your dented pan.
Grog'tial: (roll dice*11) The music stops for a moment as you go slack jawed in disbelief as
Captain BenKii wanders away to check the door, not even bothering to draw his rapier which would be perfect to stab rats through the portcullis. You quickly shake it off and redouble your efforts, calming your thoughts while making motions to
Argy to grab your dirk. One of the rats chewing at the bottom of the portcullis pauses and stops, listening to the music. It slowly turns and joins the others as
the calmed rats begin to wander off back into the darkness of the tunnel from where they came. However your previous disbelief is nothing next to what you feel when
Captain BenKii returns and feeds the giant rats, persuading
Argy to do likewise. For a moment you wonder if this strange captain with his strange tales is some kind of druid, but doubt it. When
Gilius, an actual druid, speaks up a moment later you are intensely grateful for the sturdy bars between
Argy and the slobbering mouths of the giant rats!
You pour all your feelings into your playing, letting it calm your mind while you will
Argy to be safe, but
you are prepared to dash forward at the first sign of biting to assure the safety of fellow crew.
Halflings and half-dwarves first. Gilius: (roll dice*3) After seeing the rats are being kept out for now by the portcullis
Count lowered,
you focus your druid senses fully on them, trying to sense any magic.
*Success* While
you sense no magic, you do sense completely carnivorous hunger and need to rend and consume flesh. From this you understand them to be
a particularly vicious breed of carnivorous giant rat. After several seconds of concentration to be sure, and
upon hearing Captain BenKii's instructions to Argy and the Crew, you tell them, "These rats be not magically altered, an' they really be willin' to eat us fer lunch! I be afraid no parley with 'em will do any good,
BenKii!"
Captain BenKii: (roll dice*3) You curse when you observe the now bent lockpick. "Damn it, I'm a starship Captain not a locksmith." Turning back to the portcullis,
you see the giant rats gnawing and tearing at the splintered bottom of the gate. You aren't sure these are the same rats that Tanea calmed, there are 10 instead of 8, but you are sure Tanea would want you to try to find a non-lethal way of handling them.
You rush to the portcullis, whistling loudly not to hurt the rats. Several rats pause briefly at the sound, then renew their attack upon the portcullis.
You instruct everyone to stand back and disarm themselves, wanting everyone to show the rats they have no hostile intentions. Pulling from your farm background,
you talk calmly and walk slowly toward the portcullis, stopping 6 ft (1.8m) from it,
your arms held slightly open to show no weapons. One of the chewing rats stops and fixes its eyes on you, quivering in excitement.
"Hey there big guys," you say softly, "It's alright, we're your friends. Remember me? I was with a halfling called Tanea who sorta looks like that lady over there."
You point at Argy. "She's a nice halfling too just like her." You look at Argy as if to say 'please be nice' then slowly pull the potato from your pocket and show it to the rats. "You guys hungry? I've got this potato y'all can munch on. It's not much but y'all can have it. Here you go." You toss it underhand through the portcullis. Two rats sniff the air then continue the attack, ignoring the potato entirely. You whisper to
Argy, "
Argy, show them you have no hostile intent and give them a bit of food. They're scared and hungry. A little bit of food will go a long way to gaining their trust. Trust me, I used to be farmer. I have a lot of experience with animals."
(Roll dice) As
Argy reluctantly pulls what little food Crew has from her pack and begins to approach the portcullis closer, warning
Captain BenKii what will happen if she gets bit, the rats begin to go crazy. But their eyes are not focused on the food, but on
Argy herself. Just as
Gilius informs everyone that these rats are not magically altered and want the Crew itself for lunch, the rats renew their attack on the gate. Their sharp teeth tear away and shear off chunks of the weakened and splintered bottom wood violently in their frenzy to get to the Crew.
The Fight:
Count Karnstein: [+3 Strength lasts thru Turn 5] (roll dice*3) Your better judgment is proved correct as
Gilius informs the Crew of the rats' true nature and
Captain BenKii's actions only succeed in rousing the feral beasts more. As the rats tear away pieces of the portcullis, you quickly dash in and stab at them.
*Success + Crit!* You stab through the portcullis at one of the rats with its teeth in the wood aiming for its neck.
Your saber slices through the rat's jugular, freezing its blood and instantly killing it as you swiftly dodge back to avoid any possible blood spatter on your new cloak.
Kyp: (roll dice*3) You lunge forward to defend your mateys.
*Success* Your rapier stabs through the portcullis and slips between the ribs of one rat, through a lung and nicking the heart. As the rat rears back, your rapier tears free and the rat staggers away, to collapse after a few steps, dying.
Argy: (roll dice*4) You quickly reassess the rats' behaviour after hearing
Gilius and come to your own conclusion. "Capn'n potatogun and his absurd ideas..." *sigh* Mentioning out loud absurd ideas brings back a distant memory -
...absurd ideas, like the ones from the old mercenary's dwarven companion... wait, did he mention something about a skull and books...? yes, he said something about a floating skull that was giving away books because it didn't have hands to turn the pages... or was it a tale from his friend? could this one be the same dungeon?- You shake your head. "Blimey, let's focus on our task" Once the Crew have dealt with the rats and made their way out of the room, you'll have time to try to clear your mind and recall some useful info.
Bang! The instant a rat tries to push it's head through to bite
you swing your pan down hard on it's face. *Success* Your pan acquires a couple scratch marks as you knock a few of the rat's teeth out and stun it before
you are pulled suddenly backwards. At least you hold on to the carrot and apples tucked in your other hand and arm.
Grog'tial: (roll dice*5) You shove your flute in your pocket and leap to defend
Argy, triggering the release of your dirk into your hand.
*Success* You stab your dirk straight
through the eye and into the brain of the rat Argy stunned, pulling it back quickly so you are not disarmed. The last violent rat lunges and snaps at your hand. You miss being bitten, but
scrape the back of your hand on an edge of the wooden portcullis in your haste.
Captain BenKii: (roll dice*4) At
Gilius's words and the rats' reactions to your overtures, you realize your mistake. These are
not the same rats or transformed children, nor are they just the larger version of tamer rats found in towns or farms on your home world, these are a different breed of feral rat from this world and you are not a shaman or druid with spells. In Tanea's honor you tried, and
Grog'tial has already done well to calm half, but the rest are determined to gnaw their way in. One tries for a bite of
Argy, who brings her pan down across its face.
You quickly reach out to pull Argy back as Grog'tial finishes that rat off. Drawing your rapier and musket, you stab at the last attacking rat, but it turns and dodges at the last moment. On your second try
you stab through the rat's chest. Then you take careful aim and
shoot the collapsed and dying rat lying beyond reach as a mercy. Once the fight is done,
you give the bent lockpick to Grog'tial, hoping his brigand hands can unlock that door. You are about to go inspect the door to see if there are any markings or mechanisms for unlocking it when you hear a loud crack and the bang of an impact.
The Door:
Count Karnstein: [+3 Strength lasts thru Turn 5] (roll dice*2) With the rat situation taken care of, you turn your focus on exiting the room. With the rush of titanic strength coursing through you, you make your way to the door in the east wall. Without stopping, to not lose the momentum from the walk, you proceed to bring the heel of your boot next to the lock with a mighty kick.
The lock gives with a loud crack and the door flings open, banging back against the wall.
Before you lies a winding staircase leading upwards with a some lit torches spaced out along both sides.
You've all found no other way out of the room besides the door or the portcullis. After what seems like an eternity of proceeding carefully up the winding stairs with no traps found,
you all arrive on a narrow landing. Ahead of you is a large archway, ~5m (16.4ft) high and 10m (~33ft) wide,
leading into a dark room.
"Och, at last!" you hear a small lilting voice say. "Ye all be seemin' like capable lads and lassies. Could ye be lendin' me a wee bit o' help here? I ken the amount o' good luck comin' yer way be dependin' on yer willingness to act."
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Captain Baldbeard: (roll dice*8) "Reload the cannons, fire at will!" you roar, hoping it inspires your crew with more courage than fear. Your crew leaps to your orders, reloading the guns to fire again.
*Success* The Ice Elemental takes three hits. The last one blows it apart, but not before it comes close enough to launch one ice shard attack.
You dodge just in time, turning to see an ice shard stuck in the mast behind you. Two other shards tear the sails a little more and one shatters against a cannon leaving a slight dent, but otherwise you've escaped damage.
"Second mate!" you yell, "Git some of yer mates, take cloth from the treasure, our sheets, curtains from the Casino, whatever, and repair the sails so we can loose them! Time to fly!"
By the afternoon your crew has stitched together the sails, now striped colorfully. You slip your ship free through the channel you blasted, carefully nudging aside the several loose icy chunks along the way. All that remains is to determine your course.
You do not detect the scent of the Ship or Crew, nor see evidence of them through the spyglass your first mate hands you.
The lighthouse and island appear quiet and peaceful, surrounded by a light mist through which the lighthouse's light continues to pulse.
On the wind you detect the odor of another ship, one which you remember having scented very faintly once in the Smuggler's harbor when the Crew freed the prisoners. The scent of that ship is coming from the NE. (Choose your course.)
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Dungeon Tunnels: Argy, Bellandra, BenKii, Count, Gilius, Grog'tial, Kyp
Baldbeard's Ship: Baldbeard
???: Aylar, Devin, Cliodhna, Aeshma, Refyx, Rummyfangs
