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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Amaroq" data-source="post: 1440721" data-attributes="member: 15470">Issue #13: The Rat Man Warren, Pt I - Episode 2 of 5We walk for another two hours, maintaining a much more disciplined column. The humans are careful to step where the man in front had stepped, and the two other lizard men maintain an equal discipline. Only Goldpetal ranges afield, and that to a more limited degree. We can tell when we approach the rat man town. We can see rats, some small, others large, scurrying around. They flee the hard ground Hands of Fire leads us on, diving off into the water at either side. They’re adept swimmers.Hands of Fire puts his hand up in the air, bringing our little column to a halt. He sniffs the air and turns to Chuck. “Wind’s changed,” he says in Common. Chuck nods. “Yeah.” The breeze is now coming from the east, and we can smell a slight tang of the ocean. “And look,” he continues, pointing at the ground. “I can see lots of rat man tracks.”  “We’re close,” Hands of Fire says.  He shifts out of common, and says something in Draconic to Telryn and Fists of Fury, who both nod in agreement.“Hands of Fire says that the entrance to the warren is atop a small hill, and suggests we circle around to get down wind of the town,” Telryn informs the rest of us.We follow this sensible plan, spending half an hour working our way around the village. We are careful to stay out of sight, and Chuck works with one of the lizard men to try and obscure as much of our trail as possible. Hands of Fire stops the expedition at a little blind, where another lizard man is watching. “This the scout,” Hands of Fire says, “My friend Red Scale.” He quietly introduces us each in turn.Red Scale speaks in Draconic, which Telryn translates. “Red Scale tells us not much is going on,” he says. “He will show us a clearing, just to the south of us, where we can see the village.”  As Red Scale begins leading us toward the clearing, Telryn casts a quick incantation. “What was that?” whispers Miriel.“Mage armor,” he replies.The air is very thick and humid, and as we approach the warren, becomes ever-increasingly filled with flying insects. There are numerous rats diving out from underfoot. When we reach the edge of the clearing, we hide in a batch of thick reeds. Peering through the reeds, we can see a wide expanse of water, perhaps five hundred yards across. In the middle of the water is a small hill, and atop the hill we can see three little huts. There are some rat men walking around them, but it is hard to get a precise count at this long range. We watch for a few minutes, and then Hands of Fire motions us back away from the edge of the clearing.Red Scale leads us back to the blind. Through Hands of Fire and Telryn, he explains the situation and sketches a little map of the area in the dirt. “How many rat men are there?” Goldpetal asks Red Scale, through Telryn, “And is there anything growing in the area?”Red Scale speaks rapidly in Draconic. “He says recently he’s seen maybe twenty rat men at a time,” Telryn translates, “And the area is completely cleared.”“So, how do we want to do this?” Chuck asks. Novalia pats her trusty bow, and says, “I don’t like the idea of going into that warren. Let’s pelt them with arrows from a distance, and make them come to us.”“The swamp is their turf,” Goldpetal says, watching a distant bird. “So I think that's a bad idea.”“We’ll fight better on solid ground,” Miriel adds, by way of agreement.Paks nods. “Taking the hill is an advantage.” Hands of Fire says something to Telryn, who translates. “Hands of Fire says there might be too many of them, and inside a tunnel we can take them one at a time.”Paks studies the lay of the land, on the little dirt map, and stabs her finger at part of it. “Could we climb this hill?” she asks.Telryn explains to Red Scale, who nods his head yes.“Okay,” Paks says decisively. “Here’s a plan. If we circle around to the west, we stay downwind of them. When we get here, due south of the hill, that’s the closest approach we can make under cover, and if we’re lucky the ‘shadow’ of the hill will make it harder for them to see us as we cut across this open space. Then we rush up the steep south hill.”“That’s dangerous, if we get caught on the slope,” Chuck says, “But I think it makes good sense.”“We’ll just have to move quickly,” Paks says.Telryn has been explaining her words to Hands of Fire, who puts out his mammoth paw with the thumb up, nodding his head in approval, and so the plan is made.We circle around to the west, well out of sight of the hill town. To the south of the village, the swamp becomes thicker and more difficult to wade through, but we reach the position at the last of the vegetation to the south, perhaps fifty yards from the base of the hill, undetected.“Hold on a second,” Telryn says, before we step out into the open. The young mage pulls Paks aside and motions for her to stand still. Paks looks on with curiosity as he takes out a few hairs from a pouch on his waist and speaks some mysterious words. His spell cast, Telryn touches Paks’ shoulder, and she feels as if her armor is getting tighter. She feels invigorated and ready to fight. “This should help a bit with the upcoming battle,” he says. “What was that?” she asks, looking at her arms, which seem to bulge with muscle.“Bull’s strength,” he says with a big smile. “I’ve just figured out how to cast it.” While they talk, Novalia draws her bow and casts guidance on herself.We can’t see any rat men from where we are, and we hope that means that they can’t see us. We step out and begin crossing the clearing, making as quick a time as we can without making tremendous splashing. No alarm sounds.As we approach the hill, we come upon a muddy sewer of rat man waster. It is putrid, and likely to give us all disease, but we slog through it. Telryn grumbles, “If the gods are kind, we’ll spend the rest of our lives somewhere dry.” We start up the hill, and Paks motions us to spread out. We all have our bow, crossbow, javelin, or sling ready, and we lope quickly upwards. There’s still nobody in sight.We crest the hill, and to our great surprise, there’s nobody there.  The huts are fairly closely grouped. They appear to be made of straw and mud. They have small doors, covered with leather hangings, facing towards the central area.Goldpetal places his bow on his back, and draws his scimitar, quietly moving to the entrance of the furthest hut. Chuck puts away his bow and draws both swords, moving to the door of the nearest hut. No alarm sounds, and they motion the rest of us to join them. Swims with Fishes joins Goldpetal, while Fists of Fury joins Chuck. Paks moves to the third hut. We all have our melee weapons out now, save Telryn and Novalia, who wait where they have a clear line of fire to cover all three of the doors of the huts. The hawk and owl circle overhead, watching for any unpleasant surprises. Hands of Fire comes up alongside Paks, and gestures to Red Scale to circle around the outside. Red Scale loops around the back side of the huts, but he doesn’t see anything obscured behind them. He stops with Paks as Miriel comes up next to Chuck. Goldpetal motions to us to listen, and as we hold silent, we can all hear rat men talking inside the huts. Paks signals to Goldpetal and Chuck to go in, on her count. With her fingers she counts, one, two, three, and we all burst through the doors of the huts with weapons drawn. Telryn and Novalia wait outside, watching our backs. Goldpetal steps through the door into the first hut, scimitar drawn. It’s very musty inside, and larger than it looks from outside. There is little light, provided by some small lanterns, but his elven eyes can see clearly. Smoke is coiling up from one of two holes in the floor. Supports resembling a row of decaying trees brace the roof. There are three rat men working on things hanging from the ceiling. Before they can even react, Goldpetal steps to the closest one, swinging a scything blow with his scimitar. He hits it, chopping deeply through the neck, nearly severing its head with his first blow, and it collapses, dead. As the two ratmen turn towards their attacker, Swims With Fishes steps through the door behind him, and attacks the rat man closest to the holes. He cudgels it to the head, and it goes suddenly and senselessly limp.  Goldpetal steps to the last rat in his hut, but it dodges backwards, and he misses. Outnumbered, it backs away from them, trying to circle around towards one of the holes or the doorway. Swims with Fishes gets a solid blow to its chest, cracking a few ribs with his great club. Chattering in fear, or warning, it dives towards the smokeless hole, past Goldpetal. Goldpetal brings his scimitar down across its back, a deep wound, and it dies on the dirty floor just at the rim of the hole. Flushed with triumph, Goldpetal holds his scimitar aloft and casts a new spell he had not previously known. The ululating wailing of a wolf’s cry fills the air.Paks steps into the second hut. The hut is about thirty feet across, decorated with geometric designs made of wood, and full of containers and some small sledges. There are tools hanging from racks, and five rat men are working, hanging things along the far wall. Two holes in the ground promise entrance to their warren. Paks steps across the hut, and swings at the nearest one as it turns towards her. With the bull’s strength Telryn had cast on her, her sword bites deeply into its ribs, and it dies silently. Hands of Fire, just behind her, crosses the room and bludgeons a rat man in the center of the line. It gets its arms up to protect itself, but the crunching noise of a breaking bone echoes through the hut. Red Scale steps between them, and swings at the rat man nearest to Paks. He catches it solidly on the skull, and it collapses, unconscious or dead. The surviving ratmen have no weapons, but the counterattack is no less vicious as they leap with claw and tooth. Two attack Hands of Fire. The wounded one misses him, but the second bites him in the arm. The third one leaps at Red Scale, but he steps out of the way. Paks attacks the wounded one, and hits it hard, killing it. Hands of Fire swings at the rat man who had bitten him, and he kills it with a single blow.  Red Scale backs away from the last one, keeping it at bay with his club, but unable to hit it. Suddenly, the piercing howl of a wolf fills the air, sending chills down Paks’ spine, and startling the two lizard men. However, the effect on the rat man is dramatic. Its eyes go wide with terror, and it completely misses Red Scale with its attack. It begins backing towards the hole, looking wildly around for the wolf, and paying too little attention to the warriors already before it. It never sees Paks’ sword as her blow lops off its head. Chuck bursts into the third hut, tossing his viper to the packed earth floor. Like the other two, it is also about thirty feet across. This hut looks like a forest at night. It is cluttered with many things, hanging lanterns, clothing, a thresher, and metal items in reed baskets. There are five rat men, scattered through the hut, intent on their work. There is one hole in the ground, on the north side, far from the entrance. Chuck swings both swords at the rat man right in front of him, but it steps back in terror, and he misses. Fists of Fury clubs at the rat man Chuck attacked, hitting it and wounding it. Miriel steps in behind them, stabbing at the injured rat man with her peacock-feathered spear. She skewers it, and it collapses, dead. Chuck’s viper bites a second one, and as it looks down at this unexpected threat, Chuck rushes at it. His long sword thrusts deep into its chest, and it dies with a look of surprise on its face. Two of them rush at Miriel, while the one closest to the hole tries to dart down it. Miriel steps forward, exposing herself to the attacks of the onrushing rat men to try and prevent the third from getting into the hole. She wounds it, but doesn’t kill it, and Fists of Fury’s club hits the lip of the hole a moment to late as the rat man whips out of sight. The two attacking Miriel both hit her, and she is clawed once and bitten twice. She is nearly knocked down, but manages to throw off one of the ratmen, which crouches on all fours, snarling at her. Fists of Fury whirls to Miriel’s defense, engaging one, though his club bounces harmlessly off the hard-packed earth floor. Miriel wounds the crouching one, and yells “Okay, Chuck, get over here and kill this rat for me!” The rat man is about to leap when the terrifying howl of the wolf’s cry fills the air. It scares Chuck and Miriel, but it visibly raises the hackles on the two rat men, and the crouching rat man pauses. It is a fatal mistake, as Chuck steps between it and Miriel, and deals it a vicious stroke with his long sword. It collapses at his feet. The remaining rat man attacks Fists of Fury, and bites him on the shoulder. He tries to swing his club at it, but the range is too close, and he loses his grip on the club. The rat man bears him to the ground, but the heavy club falls right across the back of the rat man’s head, killing it.The noise of the wolf’s cry alone has probably alerted the entire warren, and the escapee from the third hut likewise. As the last rat man dies in each hut, we step to guard the rat holes with our weapons ready for any sign of the enemy. A minute of tense watching passes, with no sign of counterattack. Miriel slips out of her hut, and, leaving two guards in each hut to watch the holes, gathers Paks, Telryn, and Novalia. We convene in the center to discuss what to do. “Should we go down one of the passages?” asks Paks.“I’m not sure,” Miriel says. “They know the warren, and we don’t.”“We’re pretty exposed, up here,” Telryn points out.“Let’s collapse the buildings,” Novalia suggests. “Good idea,” Miriel says. While the others are talking, Chuck takes a closer look at the third hut. He finds lots of straw and mud and excrement. It looks like they make bricks and baskets here. They have some iron implements, and there are shoddy manacles hanging from the ceiling.Chuck steps out of the third hut and asks, “Does anyone have lamp oil?”Just as he does, a group of five rat men come up out of a secret hole behind the third hut. These rat men are different from the others. Their fur is lighter in color, and they're armed with scimitars and wearing leather armor. They rush towards us, screaming something in their rat tongue.Telryn and Miriel are the first to react, stepping towards them and beginning to cast spells. The rat men charge towards the two spell casters, but just before they can reach them, Telryn casts color spray. A cone of brilliant light, shimmering through all the shades of the rainbow, extends from his right hand, directly across the five ratmen. Two are knocked unconscious. Miriel casts sound burst and the explosive percussion of noise stuns the rest. Hands of Fire comes rushing out of the second hut, yelling his war cry. He charges at one of the stunned rat man, hitting it across the back. As Paks sees this, she yells to the rest of the group, “We have it under control! Keep watching your holes!” Fists of Fury comes running out of the third hut as she shouts this.Telryn echoes her order in Draconic as he loads his crossbow, and the command comes just in time, as all the other guards had just begun to step away from their holes towards the commotion outside.Paks steps between Miriel and the rat men to attack one of the stunned ratmen. Again, her bull’s strength makes her first blow lethal. Chuck steps from the doorway of the third hut with his bow out, and fires at the two rat men still standing. He wounds one. Fists of Fury rushes the stunned rat men, getting in between Novalia and her shot. He brings his club down in a great overhand strike, but misses badly.Telryn circles around behind the rat men. He fires his crossbow at one of the stunned vermin, piercing its heart. Miriel comes over with her short spear and finishes off one of the unconscious rat men. Chuck’s viper slithers up to the last conscious rat man, biting at its ankle. He shakes himself alert just in time to dodge the viper’s fangs, and takes off into the swamp at a dead run. Hands of Fire shouts an order in Draconic, and then chases after the fleeing rat man. Paks steps over to the outdoor hole, yelling to Novalia, “One is getting away!” Novalia was training her bow at it already. As the rat man dodges Hands of Fire and gets clear of the rest of the group, she unleashes a powerful shot. The arrow takes him through the back at a distance of over forty yards, and he tumbles into the muddy swamp. His fall splashes water in a great wave, and he lies still. When Hands of Fire gets there, he checks it, and stands up. “Dead,” he calls. Back on the hilltop, Fists of Fury kills the last unconscious rat man, and we regroup to plan again.</blockquote>

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