Chapter 3 : Tragic Monsters

[BigRedRod]

Rain. Rain never changes.

Grey clouds hide the sun from the residents of Edinway. Clouds which are currently sprinkling tiny droplets of water down upon the city. Droplets so tiny that they seem to be largely ignored by gravity. Instead the droplets linger in the air making everything damp without any of the effort of actually exerting any kind of pressure on the four figures currently standing in a line watching something with interest.

Standing on a raised walkway, looking down between the ruined buildings, the tower that gives Broken Tower its name lies. Not returning the ancient key to the quarantined district would perhaps be a future topic of conversation with Cassio, the Ward-sheriff of Edinhumber. For now, it allowed the party back into the empty neighbourhood in order to try and claim their reward: The contents of the Broken Tower.

What the contents were had never been made clear, just that a wizard used to live there before the plague started to spread and the entire neighbourhood was sealed off. Those within were trapped and left to their fate, guards patrolled the borders with masked faces and crossbows for a week. Anybody trying to undermine the quarantine was put to death on the spot. An unpleasant business that most of Edinway tries to ignore as a necessary evil that is better left forgotten.

The four stare down at the remains of the tower. Once it stood aside from the squalid housing all around it, a paved circle with the tower at its centre and over ten feet between its door and its nearest neighbour. Now, however, rubble covers everything. The tower did not break neatly for the most part, odd bits of things can be seen in the rubble that hint at what kind of room it might once have been in. Half a rotted wooden table juts out of massive rocks that once would have been held tens of feet in the air by quality engineering.

Firmly holding its position is the ground floor, it remains as ever, a squat grey stone structure perhaps only twenty feet in diameter. Sat atop it are only the barest clues of the massive stricture that once used to climb up toward the sky, a few crumbling sections of wall.

A few other floors have held together and they support themselves against what might have once been a house or a shop, little remains of it now, just a pressed collection of wood and stone.

Of more immediate interest to the four damp figures standing on a raised walkway a little distance away are the brown shapes moving about around the tower. Rat people. Not an unheard of danger for the group. These are of the hulking brown variety that seem to favour tearing things apart with their claws and teeth than getting bogged down with weapons. A group of three of the creatures depart from the open doors of the tower and head out toward an unseen area of the quarantined area.

Four of them seem to have been set the job of guarding the remains of the tower. With one lurking at the door and the others prowling around, stopping every so often to paw at random pieces of debris or possible have a sit down. Their movements are lazy as if not expecting any trouble without some kind of warning. And at this distance the guards are highly unlikely to spot the party.

[Flagg Thornington]

Finn pauses as soon as he spots the man-sized rats. His blues eyes are active in their search for a suitable place for the party to take cover.
Better to watch them for a while and see what they're up to.

[BigRedRod]

Leading the party along the stone walkway for a moment, Finn passes by several buildings which press up against the raised street until he notices one which has largely collapsed leaving a handy wall to peer over toward the tower.

After a few minutes of watching the rats prowl, with the most memorable moment being one them suddenly pouncing at the ground and quickly pushing whatever unfortunate small animal it caught into its mouth, two more of the creatures emerge from the doorway one carrying a large stick.

As the pair pass by the door rat one of them leans out and offers him a heavy pat on the shoulder. At this distance it is difficult to tell whether they say anything in their horrible language of screeches and grunts, but eventually the two move off again heading with determination in the same general direction as the party.

Stopping just shy of where they would disappear behind a building, the two seem to have some kind of argument which eventually results in one throwing his stick upon the debris covered paving stones while the other turns around and beckons to one of the prowling guards.

Moving with the strange speed that the creatures seem able to muster, the rat takes only a moment to join his companions where with after a fairly animated discussion the three set off as a group with one stopping to retrieve the stick, leaving only three rats visibly protecting the ruined tower.

[The Alcotroll]

Ill at ease with waiting, Harald lays a hand on his sword pommel.

"Come on," he growls, "we can take them."

[Flagg Thornington]

Satisfied with what he has seen Finn turns to the eager warrior.
"Give me some time to get into a flanking position before you charge in there. We need to keep them from alerting whatever they are guarding. Don't attack untill you see my arrows flying."
Finn circles around trying to find another approach to the circle that surround the tower. He moves through building as needed and takes his time to avoid alerting the ratmen.

[The Alcotroll]

A few tense moments after Finn's departure, Harald turns to Sophia.

"So... how do we know he's in position...?" he asks, "As opposed to being eaten by rats?"

[BigRedRod]

With one of their number dissapearing in order to try and maxmize the ambush potential, the other three are left to trudge down the wet streets in order to reach the edge of the paved circle that the remains of the tower lie within.

Rounding yet another corner and taking care not to slip and fall on the slick cobblestones brings Meleaga, Sophia and Harald almost nose to nose with a trio of the ratmen.

It takes a fraction of a second to notice that one of the rats is holding a large stick. Or to be more accurate a metal staff almost six feet in length, a staff made of a very strange metal that seems to contain an entire spectrum of colours. Just a spectrum that specialises in the shades between black and brown. Aside from a single simple spiral engraved around the cylinder from top to bottom it bears no other marks.

But despite how impressive the staff that one of the creatures is holding might be it doesn't change the situation a single iota. Although the party does wonder how it didn't manage to even smell the filthly hulking beasts before they managed to get so close.

...

Not especially far away, Finn moves silently and carefully through the streets drawing ever closer to his destination and doing so without bumping into anything that might want to remove his throat to see what happens.

Initative
Harald
Rat #1
Meleaga
Sophia
Staff Rat
Rat #2

Map
Drop this text at http://www.irony.com/java/mmee
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*END 82jwup

[The Alcotroll]

Never one for formalities, Harald raises his shield to the guard position and chops his blade down hard on the staff-wielding creature's head.

[OOC: D20+7, D10+3]

[BigRedRod]

Moving with surprising speed, skill and grace the creature stoops backward while rotating his metal staff. Harald's blade comes down where it's head once was but instead strikes the metal pole. Dull red sparks fly as the heft blade runs perpendicular to the rat's weapon.

Pulling his blade back as to avoid making himself an easy target, Harald notices one of his target's companions attempting to bound past in the confusion. Pushing his sword around and sideways leaves the creature grasping at a gaping wound on its chest as it lands on the cobbles. Roaring in pain it lashes out with its free hand at Meleaga and catches him with a terrible blow. Thick claws tear chunks of skin of flesh from his cheek, shoulder and arm sending out a bloody spray across the wall of the nearby building.


Initative
Harald
Rat #1
Meleaga
Sophia
Staff Rat
Rat #2

Map
Drop this text at http://www.irony.com/java/mmee
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*END sh3wor

[Flagg Thornington]

The unmistakenably human scream sends shivers up Finn's spine. He quickens his pace to a careful trot pressing on toward the tower.
I hope I'm not too late.
He keeps his bow in hand as he hurries through the winding maze of the abandoned district. Finn keeps his bearing fixed on the ruined tower to avoid wasting precious time.

[SponkleofInfini]

Bastard...

Stepping back after the rat creatures blow; Meleaga grits his teeth and glances down at the injured creature. Casting his hand forward two magical balls of energy fire toward the fallen rat creature, however one of the balls veers toward the staff weilding rat.

(OOC: 5ft step backwood, cast magic missle having 1 missile hit R1 and the other at staff rat. Sorry if my lazy arse held you up.)

[Rockwolf]

Mace in hand, Sophia strikes quickly at the stave-wielding rat facing her and Harald, then steps in front of Meleaga to block the rat which assaulted him from doing any further harm to the soft and squishy arcanist.

[BigRedRod]

Still dripping blood as he steps backwards the wizard chants a few syllables of some language long forgotten to all but the necromancers of Hollowfaust and with a flick of his wrist spits two tiny globes of unstable blue and green energy outwards. Silently gliding forwards both suddenly make detours towards their intended targets striking with unerring accuracy, the first colliding with the wounded rats head sending it spasming backwards while the second meets with the staff bearer's shoulder.

Lunging forwards into a powerful sweep with her mace Harald weaves to his side slightly to allow Sophia a chance to strike at his foe. A slight miscalculation sends the weapon just a little too close to the building on the corner of the intersection. Rather than striking the rat the mace crushes through a thin layer of flaking plaster and destroys most of one of the bricks at the base of the wall. A shower of dust billows outward from the wall as it gives out a worrying creaking noise. Not deterred by her own attack missing, the cleric quickly takes up a position to defend the wounded Meleaga.

With one arm and half of its face covered in tiny brick particles, mortar and plaster like some kind of tribal warpaint the creature feints backwards leading Harald to overstep himself slightly and then capitalising on the warrior's error by dropping down to a crouched position and performing a two handed sweep of the heavy metal staff at knee-cap height. Luckily the unwieldiness of the weapon works in Harald's favour and he has time to bring his sword around and down in order to deflect the blow. Shedding red sparks the staff runs up Harald's blade before the owner whips it back and hops back to a hunched defensive position with the curious weapon clutched tightly in both hands.

The last of the creatures to join the fray suddenly appears on Harald's left a fraction of a second after his deflection of the staff sweep. All the Jarl can do is offer a clumsy dodge which allows the sharp claws of the creature to find purchase at his waist and tear between his bands of armour. Even without looking Harald knows that the creature drew blood.


Initative
Harald
Rat #1
Meleaga
Sophia
Staff Rat
Rat #2

Map
Drop this text at http://www.irony.com/java/mmee
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*END 6qnafz

[The Alcotroll]

Grunting in pain, Harald lays into the staff-wielder again, with a sweeping slash from his long blade.

[BigRedRod]

This time Harald's blade finds itself on a path toward its target with no length metal cylinders deciding to intervene. The blade slices upward from the top of the creature's thigh to halfway up its chest leaving a broad stroke of red in its wake. All the creature offers in return is an angry hiss.

Unable to reach Meleaga for a death stroke due to Sophia's positioning, the heavily wounded rat lashes out with its powerful jaw at Sophia although the attack is easily pushed aside by the cleric raising her shield. Sore from the impact the creature backs off slightly with one paw upon its snout. Sophia can't help but notice that its wounds have already stopped oozing blood despite Harald nearly splitting the creature open mere seconds ago.

A little closer than he was previously, Finn charges across slippery cobblestones towards the origin of the scream and the growing sounds of combat.

Initative
Harald
Rat #1
Meleaga
Sophia
Staff Rat
Rat #2

Map
Drop this text at http://www.irony.com/java/mmee
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*END -c1wcgn

[SponkleofInfini]

"Hmm..."

Deciding a little more of an effort is involved in killing the injured rat who had lashed out at Meleaga previously; he outstretches hishand and unleashes another two orbs of glowing energy, both directed at the one rat creature this time.

(OOC: Magic Missile on R1.)

[Rockwolf]

Meleaga safely behind the armored duo of Sophia and Harald, the priestess takes another swing at a different target, the ratman facing both her and Harald.

[Attacking R2]

[BigRedRod]

The twin bolts of raw force produced by the former student of Hollowfaust impact squarely on the target's torso. Already suffering significant wounds from the battle, Meleaga's magical assault proves to be the straw that broke the camel's back. Falling backwards, the rat lands hard on the cobbles and ceases all movement.

Sophia fetches the creature to her left a short sharp crack to the side of the head with her mace. Such a blow might have snapped a man's neck but the rat is made of sturdier stuff and battles on.

Despite being a skilled warrior with ample armour, fending off repeated bites, clawings and iron staff jabs proves just too much for Harald and eventually he fails to raise his shield quickly enough and receives a painful belt to the shoulder in return.



Initative
Harald
Meleaga
Sophia
Staff Rat
Rat #2

Map
Drop this text at http://www.irony.com/java/mmee
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@1o
*END 8yyfdn

[The Alcotroll]

Flagging now, Harald is becoming aware that his earlier confidence may have been premature.

I seem to be taking more punishment than I'm dishing out. That's not good.

He chances another slash at the creature, trying this time to avoid hitting that infernal staff.

[SponkleofInfini]

Meleaga snorts as the stubborn rat finally dies, he now turns his attention back to the staff wielding rat Harold is engaging. Raising his hand above his Meleaga summons an arrow which glows dimly of green light in the overcast of shadow; tiny dropplets fall from the conjured missile hitting the ground with a hiss. Meleaga throws his hand forward pointing at the staff weilding rat creature.

(OOC: Casting Melf's Acid Arrow on Staff Rat.)

[BigRedRod]

Relying more on skill than power, Harald feints a horizontal slash to force his opponent to bring around the staff in response and as he does so he suddenly raises his heavy sword and delivers a downwards slash. Fast, but not fast enough, the rat manages to react and dodge sideways just enough to prevent the blow from being fatal. Instead the sword cleaves down one arm, taking off a thin layer of skin and muscle from shoulder to elbow. Blood pours freely from the exposed flesh and the rat shrieks in pain, now gripping its weapon with only one hand.

From over Harald's shoulder, a glob of green is tossed toward the very same rat. The acidic mass collides with its neck burning away a patch of fur and skin with a disgusting hissing sound.

Reflexes sharpened by the pain of Sophia's previous blow, her opponent performs an impressive crouched dodge roll to avoid another. Letting the priestess step forwards into her own failed attack allows the creature to pounce forwards and clamp its powerful jaw on her forearm. Her armour prevents her skin from being punctured by the crushing power of the jaw remains both impressive and horribly painful.

Clearly still in agony, the heavily wounded rat bearing the metal staff takes on a more defensive stance. Harald can barely believe his eyes as he notices that the wound he just inflicted has already stopped bleeding.

[ooc: I reversed the two rat actions to make writing easier as it had no gameplay consequences]

Initative
Harald
Meleaga
Sophia
Staff Rat
Rat #2

Map
Drop this text at http://www.irony.com/java/mmee
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@1o
*END 8yyfdn

[Rockwolf]

Sophia, seeing Harald in pain, has a great desire to drop her mace and work her healing magics, but the close quarters and possibility of interruption by the rat facing her could turn a failure of that attempt into certain death for herself and her two companions.

So instead, she readies her mace to swing yet again against the creature.

[The Alcotroll]

Never a man burdened by an excess of originality, Harald swings his sword yet again from behind the relative safety of his shield. There's not much else he can do but keep swinging and hope to hit something vital before his opponent does.

[SponkleofInfini]

Feeling the effects of fatigue from the continued use of magic; Meleaga draws his crossbow reluctantly, his proficiency with it can be somewhat hazardous to fellow adventurers.

(OOC: Draw and load crossbow.)

[BigRedRod]

Perhaps the battling had already drained the creature's reserves, perhaps it was distracted for a moment or maybe Harald just got lucky. The reason didn't matter, the result did. Raising his shield to fend off another staff blow, the warrior thrusts forwards with his blade, it punches straight through the creature destroying both ribs and internal organs. Staggering backwards, the wounded rat drops its staff to the wet cobbles, letting it land with a loud clank and a few more of the red sparks that seem to be present whenever it strikes another object, and tries to run. After a single step it falls forward with both hands over its deep chest wound and falls into a spreading pile of gore.

Pulling his sword free, Harald twirls it upwards in a single handed slash. The attack comes within half an inch of burying itself in the remaining Ratman's head, instead it lops off one of his ears sending a spray of blood into the air.

Breathing heavily from his own efforts and injuries, Meleaga slides a bolt into place on his crossbow and sets about readying it to fire.

Once more, Sophia's mace rises into the air and is brought downwards in a sweeping arc. In response the creature hops backward but collides with the wall of the home the trio are fighting outside. The heavy metal head strikes its shoulder and there is a sick snapping noise as something unpleasant happens to the socket.

Aware that he is now alone and facing three, although injured, quite alive opponents the rat looks from left to right for an exit and instead chooses to throw itself at Harald, the man who just took one of his ears. There is another loud clang that echoes through the abandoned district as the Jarl's shield finds itself between a set of very large and very teeth and Harald's throat.

Initative
Harald
Meleaga
Sophia
Rat #2

Map
Drop this text at http://www.irony.com/java/mmee
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@3w 3c *s -1 4s 3g rs 0 0 4c 1w 4s 3g *s -1 5g 3g rs 0 0 50 10 5g
@2c 44 3g *s -1 6c 28 rs 0 0 44 20 6c 28 6c g *s -1 58 28 rs 0 0
@58 28 58 20 *s -3 6w 5t rs 0 H *s -3 7h 6i rs 0 M *s -3 7i 5u rs
@0 S *s -3 65 5s rs 0 SR *s -3 8s 4i rs 0 R1 *s -3 6t 57 rs 0 R2 *s
@-1 4o 2c rs 0 9y6tc 40 2c 4o 1o *s -1 4o 2c rs 0 9y6tc 4o 2c 40
@1o *s -1 3c 30 rs 0 9y6tc 2o 30 3c 2c *s -1 3c 30 rs 0 9y6tc 3c
@30 2o 2c
*END e8m1m1

[The Alcotroll]

Harald treats the rat to a ferral roar of rage and truimph, lashing out with all his strength at the the thing in an attempt to bring it down.

[OOC: I'll have a power attack please, Barman. Don't stint on the Grenadine.]