"My cat demands better sleeping accommodations. This dive simply will not do. Nothing's too good for my wittle kitty." *smooch smooch smooch, Kivan makes kissy faces at Milo.*
This looks promising... a maniac human mage that talks to himself and a depressed elven one... The most normal in the group seems to be the big bald human that talks with a hamster... This must be some test of my faith sent by Arvoreen.
You walk outside and down the road, absorbing the life- and stinks, of the small village. Soon, the rank reek of the tanner is only a memory, and a fresh salt breeze blows in your face as you walk down the road. It seems mostly deserted, but the road rises towards a cliff, and there, you see your destination- a moldering manor house perched on the cliff.
An overgrown garden lies around the back and the side you are approaching from, and the fieldstone wall, once whitewashed and whole, is now much like the tavern Master's teeth- yellowed and with numerous gaps, some large, some small... a like number of holes and gaps in the roof and upper floors make you wonder why it hasn't collapsed long before, but it seems otherwise sturdy enough.
The house is in a rough L or T shape (impossible to tell without rounding to the other side of the house, and comprises two floors with a roof large enough to contain an attic. Windows, some retaining their original glass, are spaced almost equally around the house. A covered porch protects the door from rain and sun and appears to retain almost all of its slate roofing. From your current vantage place, you see only one entrance: the front door.
The wall is pierced at the road by a rusted iron gate, and rusty spikes are set into place atop the wall. They are no longer a barrier to entry or exit, however, as they hang wide, and several of the iron bars are missing or twisted out of true.
"This is the life," Minsc stated, thoroughly enjoying this little journey. "Camaraderie, adventure... Steel on steel." Well, the last bit was sure to happen, just as soon as steel-covered evil poked its head above the grass. "Stuff of legends! Right, Boo?" The others would surely agree, but it was the approval of Boo that Minsc wanted.
He clapped a firm, gauntleted hand upon the bony shoulders of Xan, probably a lot harder than necessary, and said, "We will find your fyo-til-tee and give it a swift kick. Right, Boo?"
Once you step through the gate, the steady breeze dies down, rustling in the undergrowth surrounds you, but there is still a gravel path to the front of the house. Kivan frowns and looks at the gravel. "Someone has been through here in the last several days."
"I do not smell any evil," Minsc stated, sniffing the air. "Boo?" After all, the senses of space hamsters were legendary throughout the realms. At least, that is what the shopkeep told him, which was why Minsc felt like he'd gotten such a bargain when he'd rescued Boo. So much so that there had been no need to haggle, especially given that the shopkeep was oh so small, while Minsc was huge.
"Boo says evil is afoot," Minsc stated, before withdrawing his sword. It was shiny, sharpened and raring to go, which was a good thing when evil was afoot. Only this evil was not making itself seen, thereby angering Minsc. "Stand back, Evil," he called. "Hero coming through!" That was the only warning Evil would receive on this day.
Despite its appearance of looking relatively intact, the porch is small and dank and smells of the rain that fell several nights ago. The door still looks fairly sturdy, but the lock is rusted and broken open, and door creaks open on hinges that haven't seen oil in a good, long while.
Immediately inside is a 30' by 30' room with a set of stairs leading up to the second floor on the eastern wall. The railing is broken, the stairs themselves look safe to climb. Directly north is a passage leading further back into the house, and there are similar hallways leading east and west (the eastern one under the staircase).
The room is musty and dirty, and pieces of wood show that the room once had small wooden tables in the corners near the front door.
Suddenly, you hear squeaking, and two giant rats (about 2' long) burst into the room from the western hallway. Their fur is ugly, sticky and discolored, and they don't look quite... well.
With a cry of "Go for the eyes, Boo!", Minsc steps forward and, owing to his brilliant decision to have sword in hand, is ready to strike at the closest of the clearly evil-ized rats.
"Perhaps it will be dysentery after all." Xan pulls his Moonblade from its scabbard and wields it, but makes no move towards the creatures. He's hoping that the flames will scare them away.
The first round of combat results in a miss for Minsc, but the rats don't come close to landing on him, either. In the second round, Yoshimo is able to kill one of them with a lucky arrow, while everyone else misses- and three more rats, slightly smaller, and likely babies of the first two, come to join them.
Dark eyes alight with subtle amusement, Tamoko adroitly maneuvers herself about the majority of the stumbling party with an ease more common among thieves and not clerics. Sizing up the rodent to her right, she brings her whip to bear upon it.
"Pitiful. Such things are almost beneath notice, but their deaths might prove a momentary respite from the banalities suffered so far."
Edwin stand well behind Minsc and watches closely as the large fool charges into battle. Let the oaf lead the way, and if he dies? Perhaps his sword would fetch a few silver back in a real town. A small grin plays upon Edwin's face.
In the third round, Mazzy connects on one of the babies, but while damaged, it's still in the fight, and Minsc kills another. The rats strike back on Kivan and Tamoko, for 1 point on Kivan and 2 on Tamoko. Lucky for both of you, neither catches a disease from the bite. In the last round, Minsc finishes off the damaged rat, Tamoko and her kitten kill the second, Tamoko knocking it down with a whip strike, and her kitten breaking the neck, and Yoshimo headshots the final one as Kivan nearly shoots himself in the foot with an arrow.
Maise slinks off from her kill, casting a glance at Kivan's feline that speaks volumes. Tamoko reaches into her pack and brings out a favourite treat and tosses it in her general direction. With no infection present she ignores the wound on her ankle and yes, even smiles at the ever present throbbing. Turning to the others she claps her hands and wanders off to inspect the northern hallway.
Xan sheaths his Moonblade and eyes the corpses of the diseased rats. "There's something...not right. What's wrong with them?" He examines them carefully, without touching them.
Down the northern hallway, she can see three doors. One to the east about 10' from where she is, one to the west 15' from the start of the hallway. And another where the hallway turns to the east about 25' from where she stands. The door is to the north.
Comments
"Elf, for once we are agreed."
Boo may be an exception.
An overgrown garden lies around the back and the side you are approaching from, and the fieldstone wall, once whitewashed and whole, is now much like the tavern Master's teeth- yellowed and with numerous gaps, some large, some small... a like number of holes and gaps in the roof and upper floors make you wonder why it hasn't collapsed long before, but it seems otherwise sturdy enough.
The house is in a rough L or T shape (impossible to tell without rounding to the other side of the house, and comprises two floors with a roof large enough to contain an attic. Windows, some retaining their original glass, are spaced almost equally around the house. A covered porch protects the door from rain and sun and appears to retain almost all of its slate roofing. From your current vantage place, you see only one entrance: the front door.
The wall is pierced at the road by a rusted iron gate, and rusty spikes are set into place atop the wall. They are no longer a barrier to entry or exit, however, as they hang wide, and several of the iron bars are missing or twisted out of true.
Edwin looks the rest of the group over.
"Well at least if we die here the world is at no big loss aside from myself."
He clapped a firm, gauntleted hand upon the bony shoulders of Xan, probably a lot harder than necessary, and said, "We will find your fyo-til-tee and give it a swift kick. Right, Boo?"
Immediately inside is a 30' by 30' room with a set of stairs leading up to the second floor on the eastern wall. The railing is broken, the stairs themselves look safe to climb. Directly north is a passage leading further back into the house, and there are similar hallways leading east and west (the eastern one under the staircase).
The room is musty and dirty, and pieces of wood show that the room once had small wooden tables in the corners near the front door.
Suddenly, you hear squeaking, and two giant rats (about 2' long) burst into the room from the western hallway. Their fur is ugly, sticky and discolored, and they don't look quite... well.
"Pitiful. Such things are almost beneath notice, but their deaths might prove a momentary respite from the banalities suffered so far."
"I am with you Minsc."
Edwin steeples his fingers.