March 4: Descent into the Under City - The Rodent Pilgrimage

[Mister-Kent]

Woundsday, March 4th
The Cistern and Aqueduct
Noon-time

Zachariah Rat
You depart your fellow delvers in the dwarven pipelines to scout ahead. Your destination: the Inverse Spire, one of the several purported stops on the way to the Urchin Queen's Court. Treating with the Urchin Queen, the mistress of Vornheim's beggars, will grant the Church of Vornheim a stronger defense against the White Way's incursion, but reaching the Queen will be fraught with buried dangers.

You know nothing of the Inverse Spire, save that your two fellow rats, now known to you as Fabus and Natter, claim the Rat King lives there. Upon finding you in the pipes, they've invited you to dinner there, so don't let's be late!



"Ey-oh! There's a bit of a swim here!" Fabus squeaks as the three of you slide down through the gargoyle's mouth and into the winding pipe.

"He don't mind I'm sure! He's a wharf-ratsy!" Natter calls.

With a PLOP, your three tiny bodies land within a large cave pool. The ceiling of the cave is vaulted, however, featuring man-carved archways. You swim towards the edge of the cistern, finding a cracked stone walkway encircling the entire body of water. The rushing of water nearby signals the presence of an ancient aqueduct.

Natter continues to squawk on, while Fabus resumes the sage task of leading the way. "We'll take the duct down Pool's-End-way, then through the Old Town, and then you'll have din with us at the Inverse Spire. I reckon you'll like Pool's End, especially if you're interested in--"

There is a long low rumble throughout the cistern, which Natter looks around for nervously.

[Pulpatoon]

Zacharias Rat: "A swim is no hardship, f'r as ye say, I'm weaned on saltwater and by currents led. And it is a fine thing for ye to invite me f'r vittles and th' company of th' king—what's that then?" As the rumbling starts, Zacharias stays close to his companions, ready to react as they do.

Did we previously establish that there is no spell casting while in animal form?

[Mister-Kent]

Indeed, it isn't an option for old Zac. It's not impossible, but only the greatest of archmagi can perform such feats...

Fabus presses on. "Rock-lions come to the water manytimes," he explains. "They roar real big--not loud so much, but you do feel it in the ground!"

"They love peoples and ratses to eat, so let's go!"

Up ahead you see waterl swiftly moving down a stone channel--the ancient aqueduct of Old Vornheim. Made of the same stone as the cistern, any possible dwarven contributions to the structure are not apparent.

A shape moves fast ahead, splashing through the aqueduct. It is sleek and white like limestone. Upon closer review, it resembles a large cat carved out of alabaster...

[Pulpatoon]

Zacharias commits the beasts shape to memory before sinking lower in the water. With just his nose and the tip of his ears protruding from the surface of the water, the wharf rat speeds, unrippling, through the water.

First chance he has to talk to the other rats, he asks, "Tell me, lads, of your people and your king and your ways. I'd not want to embarrass meself with dockside manners."

[Mister-Kent]

As the cat heads off toward the cistern's edge, it moves with a sound like stone scraping on stone. You see it bend its head to the water very gingerly to drink before the swift and sweeping rush of the duct's water carries you down.

"Ah, I'm sure you'll fit in fine, sea-friend!" Fabus assures you over the sound of spashes. "The rats of Inverse Spire take to visitors quite easy-like. So long as there's enough to eat for everyone, everyone's part of the pack!"

Natter sputters water and paddles diligently beside you. "Yes yes! The King isn't from here, and we like him anyhow! For one thing…he's bigger than the whole pack of us put together!"

The aqueduct washes out into a calmer channel, paved in similar fashion to the cistern. The channel surrounds what looks like a former city block--buildings half standing, some toppled, lightless windows staring at you like dark eyes. Unlike the ruins of the Old Nineteenth, where the man-made edifices were sunk into the earth by unnatural disaster, these structures appear to have been built here on purpose in ancient days.

"The Old City, what was the man-folk's home long ago. Dwarf-men and other man-types lived here together, they say," Fabus explains as he pulls himself up out of the water. He shakes the water from his fur, and then his whiskers twitch as he turns to you curiously. "Tight as a pack of rats, they was, but that was long times gone. They all went off on different roads--humans to the up-above, and dwarf-men to the north."

"Say--you seen the up-above? They got a man city up there, so I hear tell. Is it lots different from down here?"

[Pulpatoon]

Zacharias Rat: "I have walked with men in their city. It shares some qualities, but is under open sky. But they lack a rodents sense of community. Men dripping fat and riches step over the starving on their way to plot how to rake more of the city's wealth into their dens. Stone cats may make better predators. Easier to spot.

"The king is a whale among minnows, aye? How big? As big as that cat? As big as a man? "

[Mister-Kent]

You smell living beings in the ruins ahead, and see the faint outlines of soft, sinuous shapes. The rat guides tread carefully.

Davy's speaks quietly. "The King...he's a diff'rent kind rat, that's for sure. He don't call himself such but...it's as near a name we got for what he is."

The figures make their presence known with a sharp whistle. They seem to be calling to each other, and once the figures gather they speak to each other in a low tone. It sounds like goblin-tongue.

[Pulpatoon]

Zacharias chews his lip in regret for not learning the goblin-tongue. But he has spent time in many ports, and is used to communicating without a shared language. He pricks his rat ears for tone and gesture, hoping to gain any information he can.

Just in case a roll would be helpful: [1d20] = 18

[Mister-Kent]

You are able to indentify several unique voices among the gaggle of gobs. You estimate there at least twenty present, and one tall figure in a green robe. The figure leads the goblins into a ruined structure, once a modest home, and they follow with excited chatter.

"Spire's on yonder!" Fabus announces. In the distance across the ruins, you spy a palace of stalactites descending from the cave ceiling. The central mass is a great upside down mountain peak, its narrow tip embedded in the earth, widening as it extends up. You see windows and doorways carved into and through the protrusion.

[Pulpatoon]

Zacharias tries to get a glimpse of the goblins as they enter their domicile. Is it possible to recognize the goblin that quarreled with the dwarf among them? PAdding along after his hosts, he chitters appreciatively at the Spire: "She's a fine lookin' den, ye've got there. Be she rat-make, or rat-found?"

[Mister-Kent]

Their garb is similar, and they look to be of the same tribe with burnt orange skin, but you don't spot the one arguing with The Dwarf.

You enter the spire through a skull-sized hole on the narrow base, though nearby there is a man-sized entrance with a hinged iron door like a garden gate embedded in the rock. As a pack the three of you wander through rooms and halls carved out of the stalactite itself. There is furniture seemingly scavenged from the Old Vornheim ruins.

"Found found found," Fabus explains. "All of it here before us rats. We eat good though--that's what's important!"

You scurry past several occupied chambers with human occupants dressed in lavishly tailored clothes made of opulent fabrics mired by dirt and grime. They are hard at work preparing a sumptuous feast of fungi and root vegetables.

"Never mind them servants. The King's just up here," Natter explains, vaulting up a narrow stone staircase.

[Pulpatoon]

Zacharias eyes the servants carefully. "It's an unexpected galley, y'have, 'ere. Humans scrubbing vittles f'r rats? Never seen the like." Do they appear enchanted, enthralled, or stripped of will in any way? Do they comport themselves as humans under mundane bondage? Do they look fed and healthy? Is the food they are preparing wholesome in appearance and scent? Does Zacharias recognize any social signifiers to their clothes? Are these the fancy liveries of upper-class servants, or of the served? Do they come from a particular culture or time period?

[Mister-Kent]

Woundsday, March 4th
7:00 PM

The rats snicker as they approach a wide door. "S'how the King of all Rats prefers it," Fabus explains. "It's not how they live in the up-above. It's…the opposite."

The human servants don't look unhappy, but do look rather unwell, possibly underfed. The food they prepare looks perfectly fine--for fungus, tubers, and cave roots, of course. It even smells pretty good to your ratty senses--a ittle pang of hunger rumbles in your rodent belly. Their apparel appears of noble origin, the garb of lords and ladies, well worn. The fashions are an eclectic mix of Caligarian, Scarabaen, and Harrowfaustian styles.

A booming voice echoes through the hall as you three approach. "Are you going to stand outside my parlor and talk about me, or are you going to join the feast?"

The rats chuckle nervously and lead you through a knothole at bottom of the door.

[Pulpatoon]

Zacharias proceeds through the knothole, eager to get a glimpse of the Inverted King.

[Mister-Kent]

You pass beneath the door into an oblong chamber. The room is furnished with long tables with piles of food stacked directly onto the table. It's the same variety of fungal delicacies you witnessed the servants preparing. The piles are so massive they are spilling from the table and onto the stony floor. Immediately Fabus and Natter leave your side--at the sight of the feast, they momentarily forget about your existence, and do not introduce you to the massive being at the end of the room.

It's no matter, though. The King of Rats, Lord of the Inverse Spire, notices you all the same.

The figure is approximately the size of a bull, cloaked in a great cape of red satin trimmed with fur. They face away from you, and a long rat's tail undulates from beneath the cloak.

Without turning to face you or presenting its countenance, the being speaks up. "Ahh. A newcomer to the Inverse Spire?" he says in a deep otherworldy voice. "You're not one of mine, that's for sure. But, there is something about you, isn't there?"

Please roll a Spell Save!

[Pulpatoon]

Save vs. Spells (9): [1d20+1] = 8+1 = 9 Phew! Does ZT have any sense of the nature of enchantment at play?

Zacharias Tar, bowing and scrapping in the politest rat-manner: "Ye notice much, Yer Majesty. As I 'ave told yer subjects—and me new friends—I've traveled far. I 'ave walked with humans in their cities, and flown with gulls, and now I take the roads beneath the earth. Subject of the Sea be I, and slave to its vicissitudes, and wash upon th' shores of yer court as its Ambassador. I 'ave messages to bear. The human city proved deaf t'me words, and I 'ave come seeking wiser folk."

[Mister-Kent]

The King emerges from the shadows, sloughing off his royal raiment and turning to face you. He is a great black beast, a rodent in shape, save for the number of limbs--six meaty limbs culminating in nimble talons. Also notably different is his royal face. Upon the body of a rat, the King bears the broadly smiling face of a human being! Bald, with fat lips, his roaring mouth hangs open madly, malignant breath heaving from his throat.

"You speak with the eloquence of man," the King's says with a gravelly purr. "A clever rat! Welcome, my well-heeled new subject!"

"The human world will remain deaf no longer, little one--fear you not! For lo--the King of Rats has come from afar with a song to awaken their dull ears. A song to bring the walls of Vornheim to the feet of the Great Rat King." He flicks his tongue and tail excitedly, and clicks his talons. You now see that one of his clawed hands is curled around a long flute made of bone.

"You seek the wise, little rat? You stand before the wisest there is. Speak. What knowledge would you share, that the human world has shunned you so?"

Nice save! As far as ZT's level of awareness, he can definitely sense there's something off here--mystical, yes, but not of The World Between. The "King" is, to quote the song 99 Luftballoons--"something here from somewhere else."

[Mister-Kent]

"O ho ho!" the King bellows gleefully as a trio of human servants in once-fine raiment enter the chamber with bowls of food.

He claps two of his clawed hands together and licks his human lips. As the servants set the food on the ground, the King blows once upon his flute, issuing a brief shrieking note. At least two dozen rats emerge from some unknown crevice to partake in the fest.

Many of them see you but are more focused on gobbling up their share of the banquet.

[Pulpatoon]

Zacharias Rat surreptitiously eyes likely exits as the King blows his note.

"You'd rule above as well as below, would ye? A fine ambition. But ye'd do well t'be sure there's a Vornheim left t'rule. Fer I've got the prophecy of the Abyss about me, and th' visions b'fer me eyes are dark, indeed..."

Raising himself up to full ratty height, and spreading his little paws, Zacharias intones: "There was a fastness, once, girding this city with deep-rooted stone and ancient strength. Where is this fastness gone? Who has dismantled it? For, lo, there is rumbling, a distant sound, but drawing ever closer. A drop becomes a trickle, becomes a stream! A wave! A cataract! A hurricane! A flood! All will be swept, all will be swallowed, all will be drowned! Blue lips! Black eyes! Drowned rat-men and drowned rat-wives!

"There is salt upon the wind, King of Rats. Would ye heed the voice of prophecy?"