Caerth clears his throat, then starts, uncertainly.
"We-- I do not wish to fight," the half-orc says, dropping his spear and crossing his arms in what he hopes is a sign of non-hostility. "We have come to talk to you, concerning another wererat called Odilos. Do you know of him?"
The druid hopes Hornauer is ready to talk and not fight. He hasn't quite figured out yet what he'll do if things do escalate, or if he should tell the lycanthrope that the guards intend to capture him.
"we" , says Quinn encouragingly to the big druid. He keeps his hands empty and balled at just above his hips .. .. .. and his chain. He keeps a wary eye on the dire rats.
There is a long silence before the dire rats move forward, slowly and cautiously. The big rats do not attack but they come down the tower's outer starway and move to create a crescent moon shape around the group. Dozens of other smaller rats join them, coming out of hidden recesses and crevasses.
Hornauer steps not out of the doorway, but out of the shadow of the tower. Out of the doorway comes the same massive dire rat that you had encountered with him in the complex under the tower.
Sir Ghal begins to pull his blade out of his sheath but, surprisingly, the man he'd called Balorix stops him. The older warrior looks at the young knight and shakes his head.
"How do you know that name, druid!?" Hornauer demands.
"We must kill them, my love," the huge rat hisses in an oddly feminine voice. "If they know of Odilos, then they have come as assassins of the guild. Kill them, kill them now!"
The crescent moon of rats sway and hiss with her words. Sir Ghal tries to pull his blade again but the old man stops him once again.
"Nay, young knight," Balorix insists. "Do not provoke them. Let us be rational. This is why Lady Pendour sent for me—to consul her, and you. We do not know if this ratman had your father killed. Be mindful."
"I-it is a-as you wish, Master Balorix," the young knight seems shaken and bent on revenge.
"Horny, my love," the huge rat whines. "Let my babies eat them. They are sooo hungry."
"No, Lycia," Hornauer commands. "If we kill them outright without learning more, we won't learn what the guild knows. Now, who are these others that you have brought with you, hmm?" Hornauer points to Sir Ghal and the guards. "Your assassin squad. I can smell the silver on them."
"I," Balorix replies. "Am Sir Balorix, Master of Knightswall." The man pulls off his outer coat and reveals underneath a fine gray tunic emblazoned with two red crossed swords. "Honored member of the Crimson Blades."
"A Investigator of the Senate!" The huge rats screams. "We are doomed!"
"No, no, no, no," Hornauer says with fear. "How could you bring him here!" He yells at Caerth. (Caerth knows that Investigators are skilled interrogators who have the right to use almost any means at their disposal.)
"Please calm yourself, Mister Rat," the old knight says. "I am now retired from that order, and I was not called to Carnell because of you. And I assure you that the druid and his friends were not made aware of my true nature before coming here. I insisted to Sir Ghal that it be so."
"I am Sir Ghal Ebal," the young knight says to the wererat while trying not to look guilty in your eyes. "And I am here to make sure you aren't in league with the wererat, Odilos, who killed my father."
"I did not kill anyone!" Hornauer hisses. "And I would never work with that bastard. Well, now I wouldn't work with him. Y-you haven't told him where I am, have you?" The wererat looks very worried.
Sir Ghal is about to speak when Balorix holds up his hand. The young knight says nothing.
"We are not here to answer any more of your questions unless you answer ours first," the man insists. "Now, I believe the young half-orc here asked you a question. You know this other wererat. Tell us."
"No Horny," Lycia whines. "We must kill them all and feed! Then flee!"
"My love, please go back inside and take our brood with you," Hornauer says uneasily.
The huge rats hisses and gnashes her teeth but eventually relents. All but the biggest of the dire rats—four of them—either climb the stairs into the tower or receed back into the shadows where they came from.
"Believe that Lycia and I can call them back with only a thought," the wererat says to Sir Balorix.
"Oh, I believe you," he replies. "And believe me when I say it will take more than you and your rats to kill me."
"I- I believe you," Hornauer says glumly. He sighs and shifts from his hybrid form to his human form. The man stands stark naked, which doesn't rattle the old knight. Hornauer has a wry grin on his face but it soon disappears under the Investigator's scowl. He sighs again and goes to fetch a bundle of clothes from under a rock near the tower. The dire rats watch his back as he dones his worn garments. He speaks as he dresses. "Yes, I know Odilos, although I doubt that's his real name. That's his guild name."
"What guild?" The Investigator asks.
Hornauer turns and grins at the man. "You and your senate don't know about the guild, do you? Well, that's now my advantage, it seems. What do I get for this information?"
"You get to live," Sir Ghal replies. "But, somewhere else but here."
"You would evict me?"
"He has orders to do so," Sir Balorix replies. "But if you tell us everything you know about this guild, I might be inclined to speak to the Gerousia on you and your brood's behalf to find a more isolated place to live on the edge of the Strandlands."
"I'm not going to live in the southern badlands, old man," Hornauer says with menace. The biggest dire rat hisses at the Investigator. "I am the son a rat queen. I'm not a trail rat."
"There aren't any rat queens in the Strandlands," Sir Ghal insists. "The Silver Purge made sure of that."
"The Purge was a long time ago, knight, and my kind breeds quickly," Hornauer moves to the hissing rat and calms the beast. "The guild I speak of is the Rat Guild of Sandbreak. My mother is its leader and queen. History knows her as the Ash Witch."
"That's impossible! The Ash Witch was killed over 800 years ago—long before the Silver Purge!" Sir Ghal shouts.
The Investigator steps back at the news. His eyes are wide and he shakes his head in disbelief.
"It, it can't be true," Sir Ghal says to the old knight.
"I think I just came out of retirement," Sir Balorix says while looking first at Caerth and then at Quinn.
"Who Ash Queen?" Aureus asks.