Action Thread (Year 1153, Day 108) KEEPERS & CLAN

[atpollard]

Year 1153, Day 108: 5:00 AM [Chamber #7]

Father Hadrian rose before the sun. The sky had just begun to lighten and the sun, and the Clan would be rising in an hour. He enjoyed the quiet hours before the world awoke to another busy day. He softly tread through the empty Great Hall (#6) and out into the Courtyard to commune with Mielikki under the open sky. Thelor lay at your feet.


Year 1153, Day 108: 6:00 AM [Great Hall #6]
The sun rose and the Clan awoke to the smell of a fire being started for breakfast. The Clan decided what to do with the goods acquired the previous day and made preparations to continue exploring the West Wing after breakfast.

Through the doorways of the Great Hall (#6), you saw Father Hadrian approaching the Hawk’s Tower.

[Rex]

Aari

Aari grabs his stuff and heads after the father in case he needs assistance.

[Bluetongue]

Bogarde

Goes through his morning ablutions and devotions, erecting the small statuette that he found in one of the arrow slits and using it as a focus for his prayers.

He meets with Edralt and they decide after the initial meeting of the Clan, that they have been divinely prospered to arrive here unscathed and welcomed.

As folk go about their individual routines, the half-orc will take up the rogues offer to explore more of the ruin but rather than the trophy room he suggests the cellar.

"Trust me, the builders of this place erected secret chambers. Should a siege happen again here, the community will find a safer refuge than fleeing to the forest."

He will unstop the door secured against rats entering the place, "let the hawks or wolf cubs feast on them," and ventures to go below.

[Stirling]

Phaeus

Spends the previous evening sorting out the good stuff from the poorer quality.

He takes the crossbow and bolts (added to inventory). The scale armour looks good but will probably restrict his own talents for nimble Ness and stealth.

"Who wants some decent Scale Armour?" he asks. Most of the clan-folk are happy in leathers too,

"Hey Fergie, don this and come explore the cellars with me and the templar Bogarde."

He offers the armour (unless someone else expresses a preference) and goes to the cellar steps. I take a lantern in one hand to light the way.

[atpollard]

While we wait for “Father Hadrian” to announce his intended actions and words, let’s have some fun in the Great Hall …


Year 1153, Day 108: 7:30 AM [Great Hall]

Prayers were said, equipment was readied and plans were made. Phaeus holding a lantern and Light Crossbow [item 104] led Fergie wearing his new Scale Armor [item 104] towards the door to the rat-infested pantry. Breakfast in the Great Hall (#6) was brought to an abrupt end by the screams of women and children as Bogarde pulled open the door and a dozen lean and hungry rats streamed out and attacked the food on the table … biting at anyone that got in their way. The red eyes and sharp teeth of dozens more rats still lay within the dark storage room.

Clansmen and women begin clubbing, swatting and stomping the rats in the Hall with firewood, brooms and boots. Several rats nipped at you as they ran past, but none did more than scuff a boot.

The rats in the closet were clearly ready to swarm whoever entered first.

[Rex]

Aari

Aari will try and kill off or drive out the rats. Not risking using his bow with so many of the clan in harms way.

[atpollard]

FYI: an updated map of the First Floor (shown restored for reference)

[Bluetongue]

Bogarde

"Oops! A colony of rodents." he says bashing at a pesky critter as it scuttles by.

"Did our mage friend suggest he could cast a comatose invocation with a Sleep spell?"

Bogarde: melee using cudgel. [1d20+1] = 10+1 = 11 damage [1d6+3] = 5+3 = 8

[atpollard]

Year 1153, Day 108: 7:40 AM [Great Hall]

The dozen rats were swiftly dealt with with little trouble ... they were hopelessly outnumbered by the Clan. The issue of how to deal with the score of rats still waiting behind the door remained to be resolved. In the brief period between the opening and slamming of the storage room door, Bogarde observed that the "secret door" in the closet was not so secret since it had been wedged partially open.

(any player suggestions?)

[Rex]

Aari

"If everyone gets ready and we rig some sort of net or box trap we can try and trap them as they flee. Then we can feed them to the wolves, hawks and gator."

[thenewflesh]

Father Hadrian, blessed, and in suit, walks with Thelor (and whoever else would like to come along) at his right side to the tower, carefully walking up the spiral staircase. He pauses at the the threshold to make sure he can hear the sound of hawks.

[atpollard]

Father Hadrian, blessed, and in suit, walks with Thelor (and whoever else would like to come along) at his right side to the tower, carefully walking up the spiral staircase. He pauses at the the threshold to make sure he can hear the sound of hawks.

The hawks are quietly sitting in their nests and watching you intently.

[thenewflesh]

The Father murmurs something pious, then starts screeching. (To any onlookers, the effect is rather unpleasant.)

"Mielikki's blessings to you all!! I have been in negotiations with the wolf tribe so that they may live in the chamber below!! We seek your permission that they may do so!! If desirable to you, I can fit the staircase with a firm wooden frame to keep them separate from your living quarters!! No disruption to living quality would be effected by this transition!!"

How many of them are there? If at all possible, I would like to apply Animal Friendship to one of them.

[Stirling]

Phaeus

"Well someone or something has wedged the door open. Certainly not the rats."

It wasn't one of the Clan folk. We just barricaded the door when we arrived. Keep it open so you can pass by. Is someone down there, I am thinking of the last guardians here, fighting to the last man. Perhaps the last ones never really 'gave up the ghost'?

Casting sleep spell on the swarm means we can pass by unhindered and stop any melee with the rodents giving away our exploring below.

Can we do that rather than get the rats swarming the ruin hallways?

[Dram]

Grakluse prepares the spell on the swarm of rats. He will cast the spell when they into view.

[Bluetongue]

Bogarde

Takes the words from Phaeus as a warning to tread carefully. After the spell is cast (the sleepy rodents could be fed to the wolves or hawks?), he proceeds through the not so secret door and down the steps, wary of any person or creature lurking in the darkness below.

[atpollard]

Year 1153, Day 108: 7:30 AM [Tower #4]

Father Hadrian presented his request to the Flight of six Hawks. The Hawks only briefly discuss your request before strongly rejecting it … “Hawks do not nest in Wolf Den. Cubs threat to the nests. Young Hawks hunt small cubs.”

The visit was not completely unsuccessful. Other than an absolute rejection of sharing the tower, the Hawks were both rather pleasant and generally reasonable. The FLIGHT was willing to offer a concession “Flight leave tower when eggs can fly. The Flight seek new nest in forest or mountains. Wolves and Humans den in tower then.”

The Hawks were willing to leave and give you the Tower for the Wolves if that was what the Clan wanted. Hadrian was also able to cast Animal Friendship and bond with one of the three males. These Red-Tailed Hawks proved both friendly and trainable, with a 4’ wingspan and a 2 or 3 lb body mass (males being heavier). A quick chat with your male Hawk companion revealed that he needed to hunt daily for his mate who remained with the nest and watched over the eggs. This did not take much time now, but when the eggs hatched it would be a struggle to hunt and feed all of the hungry, growing mouths until they were able to hunt for themselves.

[atpollard]

Year 1153, Day 108: 7:40 AM [Storage Room #13]

Grakluse, the Elf, cast his sleep spell and the floor and shelves of the storage room were littered with the bodies of about a dozen sleeping rats. Two more rats darted out the door into the Great Hall and just kept running down the corridors. Another dozen or so rats fled through the secret door and down the stairs.

One rat just stood up on a shelf on its rear legs and stared at you with its nose twitching.

Bogarde took the lead, pulling the secret door wide open and heading down the stairs. Phaeus followed behind him with Grakluse next. Aari brought up the rear with the others hovering near the door to room #13.

[atpollard]

Year 1153, Day 108: 7:45 AM [Storage Room #13]

As you descend the stairs, the stench of rot becomes stronger. The bottom of the stair opens into a 10’ x 10’ area with the stair and a well on the North wall, an open wooden door to a ransacked sleeping area on the south wall and ceiling to floor metal bars on the east and west. Pressed against the bars on the East are the skeletal remains of a six Trollkin that died attempting to get past the bars to the stairs and freedom. The rats had long ago devoured any flesh from their bones and most of their cloth and leather had been chewed to shreds as well.

Bogarde had been warned about the trap. The bars were flush with the ceiling and painted to match. When one of the false doors (#18) were opened, the bars fell and locked sealing off the room. There was a secret door very well hidden in the back of the storage room (#24) that led to a lever to unlock the bars and a winch to raise them (#18 behind the well).

The area to the East of the stairs/bars seems to have been vandalized. The area to the West of the stairs/bars seems untouched.

Bogarde:

A secret door on the south wall of the next to last cell #22 connects to the Secret Temple Complex to provide emergency access to the other side of the bars.

[Rex]

Aari

Aari will gather up the sleeping rats and throw them to the hawks before returning to help search the basement.