Deuce Traveler's Sewer Rats

Deuce Traveler's Sewer Rats
Chapter One: Collateral Damage

It was the yelling of the crowd that first caught your attention. You and many of the other Sewer Rats were sitting in Abe's Pub as dusk began to settle. The veterans (those that have stayed on for more than a couple years) were stopped from their comments on how business had slowed of late by roars of excitement from outside. As a group, all of your fellow drinkers went to the grimy windows that revealed the City streets, where a crowd of screaming fans followed a party of adventurers who were throwing copper pieces into the streets. Adventuring companies had a habit of throwing copper into the streets after a successful run through the many forgotten catacombs below the City. Forget your self-respect, make a spectacle of yourself, and collect enough of the copper while trailing in the adventurers' wake and you could gather the money for a decent supper and drink.

"Them's the Company of the Silver Blades," a scarred kobold says, pointing at the five companions. One was a tall, blonde elf in polished scale mail armor and with a yew bow. Two others followed her, both human dark and brooding males with scarlet cloaks, plate mail armor, round shields, and sabres at the hip. They looked as if they could be brothers. Another armored male with red hair was throwing the copper around, while he was bedecked in holy symbols along his armor and shield, while a mace rocked along his belt. Finally a hooded member of the company also threw coins, though his or her features were hidden under his or her cowl. The five tall folk that made up the company pulled a good trick. It was obvious that they had just come from the sewers as they had just enough grime to prove the fact. Yet they still somehow looked beautiful, with armor and shield glinting enough in the sunlight to make an impression, and expensive clothes that spoke for them of their successes. "They always make a mess of things, even more so then some of them other companies that pass through here. Guess we won't be bored no more. Gonna get work soon."

The silence that followed was broken by the door of the Pub being swung open and a messenger shouted into the Pub. "Sorry to break this up, gents, but the Boss Lady wants some teams put together. Sven! Yellow Toes! Sleepy Tom! Joe Joe! Burrfoot! Down those drinks and head to the office right now!" The Boss Lady was the clerk, Artemesia, of course. The Boss was Sir Silvershield, but Sewer Rats considered him more of the boss by authority of the City Council, and not really the brains. When Sir Silvershield gave orders, you nodded respectfully to him and then tried to find out what was really going on before sticking your neck out. When Artemesia needed you, you moved quickly and did exactly what she ordered, because following her orders gave a Sewer Rat the best chance of coming out alive and with some coin.

Well, that's what the old timers who had been at it for more than a couple of years told you. You still haven't been sent on a mission from her. Still haven't gotten a chance to prove yourself. You sigh as the Sewer Rats that were called down their last gulps of ale, shake hands with some of their friends, and head out the door.

Your melancholy is shattered, however. "Chernguk! Pickwick! Hardnose! Kurkaz! Down those drinks, go home and get geared up, and meet at the Sewer Rat office in half an hour. Congrats, rookies! Not sure why the Boss Lady wants a team made up entirely of newbies, but she must have her reasons."

Your thoughts and feelings are your own, but you move quickly and meet up with your new team members near the office as night fell. As you walked down the street together, you noticed a large, broad-shouldered man leave the Sewer Rats office. You could smell him from many feet away, a stench of rotteness that you would soon not forget. The man's body was completely covered by ragged clothing and a hood which hid his face. He acknowledged you in a cheerful tone as he passed, "Evening governors. Best of luck to you." The odd man passed you by on his way towards the slums, and you were glad to breathe fresher air once he was gone.

You entered the office and appeared in front of the desk of Miss Artemesia. She still looked young for a human, though her face seemed to possess a permanent frown as she stared in though at one of two chessboards near the wall. "Oh good, the new team is here. Please come closer," she requested as she pulled her eyes from the games. No Sewer Rat knew what two opponents she played against, but that one of the chess boards was white and light gray in color, while the other set was black and dark gray. The darker board was the one which had occupied her attention before you had entered.

"I'm truly sorry that we haven't had a chance to talk before. I do try to meet with new employees, on a one on one basis before I assign them to teams, but recent events have forced my hand. The Silver Blades just came back from a mission from the tunnels below the City. They fought some undead, though the mage of the party blasted some tunnel walls, it seems, and the rest might have damaged some piping. I just sent some Sewer Rats to find the damaged piping and protect some Union repairmen, while the pipes are fixed.

I have a different mission for you, if you are interested. Mr. Stinks is a trusted contact and knows the sewers pretty well. He just left this office with disturbing news. According to him, the Silver Blades broke into a chamber housing magical equipment owned by Mr. Stinks' employer, took a valuable gem from one magical tool, and left without realizing that the gem was used to contain the tool's power. Now rogue magic is seeping into the tunnels, and is posing a bit of a threat. I need your team to go in, guide a couple of Union repairmen to these chambers, and destroy the tool and protect the repairmen as they seal the chamber back up. Each of you will earn 500 gold coins for this job, before damages and other expenses that you may cause."

Pickwick, goblin devotee of the Great Brass Dragon Onatar, Lord of the Forge, chuckles aloud. "Serves dat Elf-Lips right. Always gabbin' about how great 'n powerful 'n magical dey are, but when it comes right down to it, dey don't have two clues about some little gem in some little tool..."

"And no cracks about little tools," Pickwick snaps as he adjusts his goggles between his huge pointed ears. "The only one of youse who can back dat up is the dwarf, 'n we don't want to see DAT again."

Chernguk licked his cracked lips, squinting with discomfort at the amount of light in the room. He flicked his eyes up to the large chessboards, and then around the room to the various items that adorn it.

In a quiet but somewhat gurgling voice, Chernguk asks "Mistress Boss Lady, what can we keep?" He quietly skulks forward to the front of the group, tilting his head away from the lights but keeping his pinprick pupils focused on Artemesia.

A familiar rookie Sewer Rat walks in during your discussion. It's Needles, a scrappy kobold that recently signed up, though he wasn't at the Pub at the time. He was probably working a shift as hired muscle somewhere.

"Very good, Needles is here now, so we can get into further details. Chernguk, you can keep everything you find, except for sewer equipment or other City equipment. For instance, if I ever hear of you boys stealing copper piping from the sewers to sell for scrap, I'll have you out of the Sewer Rats and into prison. Lost property gets washed up into the sewers from above all the time, so if you find something lost like this I don't mind you keeping it. Do not keep anything from the workshop that you are to seal up. Simply destroy the tool I am sending you to wreck, and be done. As I will show, this is for your own safety, as the items in that workshop are dangerous and should not be tampered with."

The clerk reaches down and picks up a sack that had been left next to her chair. With a look of disgust, stands, walks up to your group in the center of the room, and upturns the contents of the container. Out of the sack rolls out a dead rat, but of ridiculous size. It's as large as a small dog, with overly large incisors. The creature's fur has been split and had been bleeding in places where muscle tissue can be seen ripping out of flesh.

"The tool I am sending you to destroy is actually a portal. According to Mr. Stinks, the portal normally looks like a polished mirror with treated brass frame and a large gem in the center. The Silver Blades broke in and stole the gem. The gem, however, was magical and held back the power of the portal. Once the gem was removed the mirror became an entranceway to another world, one comprised entirely of a special form of energy. The beneficial priest consider this a form of holy energy, while the thinkers at the Wizard schools would dub it a Positive Energy Plane. Basically, it's raw life energy, with the power to heal in small doses, or to mutate life with extreme exposure. Mr. Stinks says that infrequently random pulses from this portal are mutating life around that portion of the sewers. The energy from the portal prevents the servants of Mr. Stinks employer from reaching the portal and solving this crisis on their own. He is asking us to handle the situation, and warns that if we do not, the power being released from this portal may start affecting citizens of the City so that they start looking like this." She nudges the rat carcass with her foot. "I have a gem given to me by Mr. Stinks. According to him, placing the gem into the center of the portal should destroy the portal and turn the tool back into a mirror. It is both my opinion, and (after some convincing) the opinion of Mr. Stinks employer, that the device should be destroyed after that. Shatter the glass and pound the frame into complete disrepair."

"So where do we meet the repairmen, how do we get to the chamber, do the repairmen know the way or have you a map?" Hardnose's gets carried away with having a proper job at last and starts to babble. Realising what he is doing, he stops talking and starts breathing deeply to get himself back under control. "Sorry" he says sheepishly.

Herobizkit said:

Pickwick, goblin devotee of the Great Brass Dragon Onatar, Lord of the Forge, chuckles aloud. "Serves dat Elf-Lips right. Always gabbin' about how great 'n powerful 'n magical dey are, but when it comes right down to it, dey don't have two clues about some little gem in some little tool..."

"And no cracks about little tools," Pickwick snaps as he adjusts his goggles between his huge pointed ears. "The only one of youse who can back dat up is the dwarf, 'n we don't want to see DAT again."

Click to expand...

"That's why goblins make good lockpickers; you carry a tiny tool around with you at all times. No lock too small" whispers Fergus out of the side of his mouth to Pickwick.


"Seems to me if should go take the original gems back from the Silverblades, seeing as they stole it." offers Fergus. "But I realize that isn't our decision or our job, we shall do as you have asked Mistress, and it shall be completed." adds Fergus.

Needles had seen the others before, loitering around the pub, awaiting an assignment just as he had been. Luckily, this was not his only form of work, as his recent job of making sure a certain gnome remembered his debt was one he relished. Now, he stands listening to the job at hand. He does breath a sigh of relief, as there were no gnomes in this band of Sewer Rats.

"This mirror... it causes those around it to mutate? Are we safe to get near the thing to put the gem on?" he asks, wondering if they had inadvertently gotten on the wrong side of someone and this was their way of dealing with the group.

Chernguk presses his thin lips into an eerie smile, and blinks his eyes slowly as he dips his head to Artemesia. Once Needles speaks, his attention is brought to the aspect of mutating like the rat, his eyes darting back and forth between the rat and his own hands, inspecting them as if imagining them to be warped.

A consternated frown twists Chernguk's pale face as he thinks about its possible effects. He eagerly looks to Artemesia for a response.

[OMENRPG]Ben said:

Chernguk presses his thin lips into an eerie smile, and blinks his eyes slowly as he dips his head to Artemesia. Once Needles speaks, his attention is brought to the aspect of mutating like the rat, his eyes darting back and forth between the rat and his own hands, inspecting them as if imagining them to be warped.

A consternated frown twists Chernguk's pale face as he thinks about its possible effects. He eagerly looks to Artemesia for a response.

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"Don't worry" says Fergus reassuringly, "You can't get any uglier" says the dwarf with a smile. "so any mutation will be an improvement"

Fenris said:

"Don't worry" says Fergus reassuringly, "You can't get any uglier" says the dwarf with a smile. "so any mutation will be an improvement"

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Chernguk grumbles something coarse and nearly inaudible in goblin about ugly bald dwarves.