Ptolus: 165 Vock Row - "Rat-catchers"

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The head librarian has no time for Aeshen and brushes past him with a snort, heading to Mata and examining her papers.

"I-I could help you," comes a voice from around one bookshelf. Aeshen turns, expecting to see a teenaged girl, but finds himself looking up, up. It's as though someone took an ordinary 15-year-old girl, not particularly tall, although gangly with the shiny skin of someone her age, and expanded her in every dimension, scaling her up to almost six and a half feet tall. And, being a 15 year old girl, she tries to hide her height, slouching her shoulders and back, to no avail. "I'm Benris. What are you looking for?"

The girl blushes furiously as Aeshen stares at her.

Livbovic looks at Mata's papers, nodding, and leading her back.

"We can look in my index. As I already told the other dwarf, there hasn't been much delving so near to Dalenguard, but there may be some records in the various journals."

 

[Aeshen]

Aeshen flashes the tall girl a flattering smile, seemingly unaware of her massive proportions. "You are most kind, miss. I would very much appreciate your help, and your company", he says in a soft voice - his every word and action meant to put the girl at ease.

Aeshen tells her, "You see, miss, I fear I am horribly ignorant in scholarly things and I wouldn't know where to begin looking for the information I need. " He smiles at her sheepishly, yet again seeming to be unaware that he has to crane his neck to do so. "I find myself needing information about this very hall - particularly how it connects with the catacombs beneath the city, and, finally, how those tunnels interconnect with the sewers." He tells her quietly. "I would be very thankful for any help you might be able to offer, though regardless I have enjoyed spending this moment with you", he finishes, figuring this mammoth girl hasn't often been the target of such kindness.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

"Um, OK," Benris says, eyes on the floor. "You want to know about the Maproom?"

 

[Aeshen]

"I suppose, if you think that would be the best, though again, I'm sure that room is as intimidating as this one. Would you show me the way, Benris - and possibly help me find the maps my friends and I need?"

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

"N-no, this is the maproom and library. I don't think there's any way into the Dungeon from here, though. You'd have to go into the sewers or some other way down."

"No," Livbovic interjects, fixing Aeshen with a glare. "The Grand Master Delvers made the decision to seal this tower off from the Dungeon, to prevent robberies or break-ins from dark elves and the like. This gentleman is free to look at maps all he wishes, however. I believe I asked you to do some sorting on the second floor, Benris."

The girl nods, glances shyly at Aeshen and bustles off to a staircase hidden somewhere behind rows and rows of bookshelves.

 

[Aeshen]

Aeshen looks baffled for a moment before gaining enough state of mind to thank the large girl for her time. He looks around for a moment before shrugging slightly and moving off to the side of the room, allowing his more studious companions to gather the maps they require. When it seems the group has what they need and moves for the exist Aeshen falls in step behind them.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

After an hour of research, the apprentices and staff of Kunstlerhaus rub their eyes and look up from their respective books.
[sblock=Valana]Ratmen are a common form of monstrous humanoid that lurks beneath the streets of Ptolus. There are three main sizes of ratmen: Ratlings, who are as big as a gnome or a halfing, ratlords, who are as big as humans and ratbrutes, who are as big as ogres. More rare are albino ratmen, who are typically much smarter and more able than their peers and often lead nests of ratmen.[/sblock]
[sblock=Mairan]Mairan is unfortunately unable to make heads or tails of the various sewer schematics and Delvers' sketches of the dungeons beneath the city.[/sblock]
[sblock=Thurst]The good news is that maps of the sewers around Dalenguard are easy to find. The bad news is that an overly ambitious and optimistic engineer laid them out in a north-south-east-west grid around the fortress, thinking that's the way the city streets would also be laid out. And they aren't. Instead, the streets tend to flow around Dalenguard naturally, go off on diagonals or follow the contours of hills. Lining up which part of the city grid corresponds to Palace Road is difficult, and Thurst isn't sure he's done it.[/sblock]
[sblock=Mata]The Runewardens note that there's a subterranean shrine to the goddess Blurrah, the Goddess of Comfort in Sadness, in the vicinity of Dalenguard.

The Order of the Ancient Egg searched beneath Dalenguard for the laboratory of Verdivis, a powerful transmuter who fled to Ptolus in the days before the Edict of Deviltry was signed, as did many other arcanists, but they never found the location.[/sblock]
[sblock=Ella]The orcs note that the easiest ways from the Dungeon to the surface are through the sewer entrances on every street, through the basements of various buildings and through a crypt beneath Oldtown's Clock Tower, although the latter is a roundabout way.[/sblock]
[sblock=Aeshen]This room is very dusty and it smells like old man.[/sblock]

 

[Wool]

Something strange happens as Thurst pours over his documents, he actually gets quieter and quieter as time goes on. Logically implausible, to those nearby it seems as if the determined dwarf is actually sucking in all sound around him, creating a void of alarming silence. A few patrons nearby move away, not really understanding why. Thurst raises a single eyebrow.

"What kind of mollycoddled git is responsible for this rubbish! A bloomin' troll could create a'more ordered system than this!"

Upon receiving a warning glare from a nearby librarian, Thurst composes himself and decides to see what his companions have discovered. He has a few ideas on how to improve his research, but they can wait for later.

The first two group members Thurst sees are a painfully chipper Ella reading orcish aloud to herself, and Aeshen, whom he can't quite read. Realizing that this decision is a toss up, Thurst decides to approach the elf first.

"I saw you with yer bonnie lass. I hope she didnae break yer heart."

 

[Aeshen]

Aeshen chuckles lightly at the Dwarf's jibe. "Nay, though I'd give two copper to know what her story is, that's for sure." Aeshen sizes up Thurst appraisingly. He was Benris' opposite in every way. She was enormous but was unsure of herself, quiet, and generally uncomfortable - this creature was half his size yet had all the insecurity and quietness of a powderkeg.

"I was hoping she might provide us with information we wouldn't otherwise find, but I think I overestimated her" Aeshen tells his short companion, "No loss though, flattering her was making my neck hurt" Aeshen finishes, rubbing his neck and shoulder to emphasize his point. "I take it your search for knowledge was more effective then mine?" Aeshen says, "Anything interesting...?"

 

[Vdou]

"Well, apparently the Orcs have a real flair for the obvious." Ella sighs.

"Other than a few references to some Kobold named Reetinki and a can of swamp cheese, the papers will tell us little more than we already know. One thing of interest though, there would appear to be an entrance to the sewers through a crypt in the Oldtown's Clock Tower.

I suppose I should poke around some more."

Ella pauses a minute to wait for a reaction from her companions before heading back to the stacks.