Idalium Game 91: The Ratcatchers

Session date: Monday, February 12, 2018
Game date: Saturday, April 17, 210

PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 6, hp 37, xp 36173/70000
Caryatid, Magic-user 4, hp 19, xp 18041/20000   
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 3, hp 11, xp 6918/8000
Adrien, Fighter 3, hp 9, xp 6223/8000
Orehoe, Elf 1, hp 3, xp 497/4000

Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 3, hp 17, xp 6220/8000
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 3131/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 933/4000
Jack, Thief 2, hp 8, xp 1704/2400

Having recovered from their skirmish with the ratmen last week, the Infestation Managers prepared to head back done to loot their lair, and to mop up any remaining ratmen if necessary. At a jeweler's in the neighborhood of the Rusty Lantern tavern, they bought a handful of gemstones to feed to the old forgotten god (the talking stone column) on the third level. At the Temple of Hedonism, they knocked on the door and were let through by a group of nine partying hedonists (thankfully they were still at the toga-wearing portion of the party). They went to see the stone column and found that his chamber was occupied by nearly a dozen of the black-cloaked cultists. The cultists greeted the adventurers with smirks and sarcastic jibes, and brushed through them rudely on their way out. Their leader walked out in a curious pose; he seemed to be shielding his face from view with his cloak. Simon attempted to trip him as they passed, but rolled a 1 and managed to trip himself somehow. The cultists laughed and pointed ("haw haw!") and left the room.

The adventurers went in to talk to the judge, who was pleased to see them and said it had been an unusually busy day, what with the other folks visiting him as well.

"It's so rare that people come to see me. Usually I just stand here all alone..." he grumbled.

Gulleck told "the judge" that they had brought some "shiny stones" for him, and the column rotated noisily to turn to a hungry, greedy face. Gulleck gingerly reached forward with a polished piece of coral and fed it to the face, which crunched it into dust in savage frenzy.

"Ahhh, delicious!" he cried and his face turned to a pleased, satisfied expression. "What question can I answer for you?"
"Do the ratmen have any particular weaknesses?" asked Gulleck.
"They are vulnerable to silver," said the judge.

Simon fed a handful of gems to the judge and asked who has the largest treasure on this level.

"Hmm..." the judge considered. "Those people you just met must have a fair amount, as they sometimes trade shiny stones with me for information. And of course, the Queen of Nightmares, although thankfully she never comes to talk to me."

Adrien gave him a garnet and asked what the secret was to getting through the Goblin King's palace.

"It can be mapped," said the judge, somewhat unhelpfully.

Back to the wererat's temple they then went, and they found Father Jed and his gang of reformed bandits poking around in the room where they had killed the giant rats. They exchanged pleasantries, and Jed said that the door to the north seemed to be locked from the inside (Caryatid smirked, knowing that she had wizard locked it). Jed's Boys departed, and Caryatid opened the northern door and they entered a hallway beyond it. There were empty bedrooms with bunks on either side of the hall and they seem to have been evacuated in a hurry. At the end of the hall was a somewhat better appointed room, also clearly abandoned in a rush. A wooden chest stood open and empty. Gulleck found a pair of smelly shoes under the bed, but no treasure. Then Simon examined his map and deduced that there was an empty space between this room and the bedroom to the west. Jack searched for secret doors and found a camouflaged latch. He flipped it up and pulled open a portion of the stone wall, revealing a hidden closet containing some very ancient emergency supplies, now long rotten and crumbling. But in a tattered burlap sack were almost a thousand silver coins.

They took the coins and returned to the main room of the temple and proceeded down a hall to the east. A giant statue of a bipedal rat had been erected here, and a bloodstained altar squatted before it. They rummaged through their belongings looking for something to help destroy this idol, and Caryatid remembered she had been carrying around a very fine silk rope, that seemed to vibrate with magical power as she held it. She tossed it at the statue and it fell to the floor, but then thought to order the rope aloud to tie itself to the statue's neck. The rope wriggled with magical life and snaked its way across the floor and up the statue to tie itself securely around its neck.

Gulleck, wearing her "Hulk hands" (gauntlets of ogre strength), pulled the statue of St. Rathmus down singlehandedly. It toppled on its plinth, fell roughly across the altar in front of it, and smashed into several pieces on the stone floor. Several bags of copper and gold coins had been hidden in a compartment in its torso, and the adventurers gleefully collected these and left the wererats' temple for good.

They headed north to a hall lined with old paintings and tapestries, and investigated a door on the south side of the hall. This led to a small antechamber with doors leading east and west. Simon "listened" at the east door with his mindreading amulet, and coincidentally enough, discovered that this was the final hiding place of several wererats that had escaped the temple! Gulleck tried to boot in the door, but found that it a barricade of furniture had been assembled on the other side.

"OK, this is your one chance to surrender. Otherwise, I'm smashing this furniture to pieces and then you."
"Leave us alone! St. Rathmus shall curse you to a life of misery and wretchedness!"
"OK, I offered..."

And, having all the time in the world, Gulleck brought her battle axe to bear against the door and the barricade behind it. It took a little while, and the ratmen hurled curses and invective against her the entire time, but soon enough she broke down enough of the barricade to force the door open. ("Heeeeere's Gulleck!") The wererats lunged forward in their tiny room, snapping with fangs and claws at Gulleck, but between Gulleck's axe and Adrien's magical lycanthrope-killing sword, two of the ratmen were quickly killed, and the other two dropped to their knees and surrendered.

"Oh, now you want to surrender," grumbled Gulleck.

The wererats wanted to be let go and promised never to return to Idalium, in exchange for their treasure. This wasn't much of a deal to Gulleck, who counteroffered to take them to the Great Cathedral of Idalium to see if their wererat curse could be lifted.

"Never!" swore the ratman. "Those accursed priests will kill us!"

Well, the argument seemed to be going nowhere, so Caryatid cast Sleep on them. They were bound with rope, their treasure (many electrum pieces, four valuable pieces of jewelry, and many plans and maps detailing potential targets in the aboveground city of Idalium). Then they lifted the wererats and awkwardly carried them back through the dungeon, up towards the surface. In the Temple of Hedonism, the party had died down, leaving only a single young couple necking in a corner.

"Don't mind us!" chirped Caryatid as they carried the two unconscious ratmen through the temple den and up the stairs to the first level. They had almost made it home when the ratmen awoke. There were some squeals, and a sudden convulsion and then the ratmen were shrinking and falling through the ropes to the floor and scurrying away. But before they could escape, Orin cast his Sleep spell and the small rats stopped in their tracks. Adrien and Simon strolled up and drove their swords through the rats, and that was the sorry end of the Brotherhood of St. Rathmus beneath Idalium.

Player Journals from Session 90

Diary of Caryatid

Dear Granny,

I apologize for the long delay since my correspondence. I am well, so no worries there.

My conspiring adventurers are thriving, more or less. I was able to finally learn the magick to grace Marcel with wings. He continues to be a constant & fiercely loyal companion. He is truly a dedicated member of our troupe. Marcel is a severe contrast to the demon ferret that one of our members acquired at the Goblin market. I fear that at anytime this horrible creature could turn rogue at any moment and kill us all. I especially fear for the well-being of the half-ling in our group: surely to be the first eaten by the demon rodent should it no longer be linked to its owner.

We have discovered some very bizarre entities while adventuring in the depths below Idalium: one being a morose, eons-old deity of sorts who will trade knowledge only for valuable gem stones (to eat!) Finding treasure in the deeper levels has become scarce and I often wonder if we are pursuing folly. We did recover a Dark Magick book from an unlikely coven, that of which cannot be touched with bare hands. Instead of trying to investigate the Dark Magick, we agreed to sell that awful item for profit at the local auction house, and we received a fair price for it. I constantly hope to find magickal items whose powers are not Dark. I know you would disapprove, but I doubt that by ignoring Natural forces I may stumble upon similar gifts which have settled upon you through your sheer refusal to participate. I would love to have another wand.

Oh, did I tell you that the annoying Dwarf, Goo-lick, was resurrected as a she-dwarf! I love irony sometimes. “She” is still as stubborn as any Dwarf and refuses any of my excellent suggestions for a new identity such as Gullikina or Gulleka. I fear Dwarves may never evolve…good thing someone invented mountain caves for them to retreat into.

Deliver my best wishes to Nanny Ogg, You, and Magrit, I miss you all so very much.

Fondly,
Cary