Day 1, Evening (turn 5)
Doughty slides the panel open and throws the switch to open the secret door. The corridor outside is slick with water and sewage, and the smell of rats. A small handful of normal-sized rats wander about harmlessly here and there.
The giant rat carcasses are gathered up, their tails tied together for easier transport, and carried back to the Rat-On-A-Stick! stand. The painted sign hanging looks just as it did two hours ago:
Rat-on-a-Stick!
Jocular Joey, Fancy Francine & Wizardly Walt, Proprietors
Code: Select all
EATS DRINKS
Rat (plain, fried, or seasoned) Rat-o-Ade™ on a stick… 4sp
…on a stick 4sp Rat beer on a stick… 8sp
…on a big stick 8sp Rat sherry on a stick… 12sp
…on a really big stick 12sp
The party is greeted by Fancy Francine.
"Well, if it ain't our favorite customers! Here, take the special table." Her attention is distracted by the piles of rats thrown over your shoulders, and she calls out Wizardly Walt, the stand's treasurer.
"Walt! Did you order rats?"
Wizardly Walt pops his head out of the stand window and studies the scene. "No, but we're always in need of fresh supplies. I'll be out in a jiffy." When he approaches the party he is no longer wearing his pointy wizarding hat, but a green clerk's bill, and with punctilious airs he procures a four-column clipboard from somewhere within his robes.
"Now, let's see here… twenty rats, weighing, oh… 7 grubits each… carry the four… the Octopus constellation is in ascendancy… prorated for distance carried… Tuesday… — we can offer 20 silver pieces for the lot, take it or leave it."
Those who are wounded sidle up to the stand looking for some comfort food, and Jocular Joey leans out the window and explains amicably,
"A rat a day keeps the doctor away; but no more, that's it. Two rats does nothing. Some of you do look pretty beat up, though. Old Wizardly Walt over there might be willing to use his magic to patch you up, if you have the money. He usually charges a pretty fair fare." Spindlethrash retrieves two gold coins from somewhere unseemly and purchases a really big rat and a beer (
healing 3 Con).
(
of the injured, Biddle and Spindlethrash are the only two who can still heal today from a good meal. A rat & drink will heal 1-3 Con, depending on the size of the rat & quality of drink. Wizardly Walt has but 8 ST, so he can only heal 3 points of Con total across the party, for 1gp per 1 Con.)
Weeba's lantern goes out in Doughty's hands during the bargaining. The party will have to produce more light once they leave the Rat-On-A-Stick room, or they are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Actions?
Frobozz Magic Map:
https://campaignwiki.org/gridmapper.svg ... %26T%20PBP
Light sources: none
Biddle Spratt, Hypnotist Extraordinaire (Wiz, ST 12/12 LK 14 DEX 10 — Adds: +2/+2) CON: 11/11, poniard 2+0, leather
Digsby Mudfoot, Halfling Gardener (War, ST 7 LK 12 DEX 15 — Adds: +1/+4) CON: 20/20 — war shovel 4+3, leather
Doughty Doughball, Halfling Cook (Rog, ST 5 LK 7 DEX 15 — Adds: -3/+0) CON:
8/16
Spindlethrash, Halfling Ne'er-do-well (War, ST 5 LK 13 DEX 18 — Adds: +3/+9) CON:
15/32 — falchion 4+4
Weeba Zortz, Warrior in Triplet (War, ST 13 LK 10 DEX 17 — Adds: +6/+11) CON:
6/10 — elven sword 4+4, light bow & 20 arrows 2+0