"The Under-City of the Rat-King!" Chapter 19 of the Xanthus River Campaign

This week, the party fights a lot of Rat-Men, Valerius says "NOPE!" to a metal-eating grey ooze, some Carrion Crawlers almost make off with Absolom, Biscuit almost bites it from a Gelatinous Cube, and the party brings the pain to some Rat-Ogres!

Our party:

Player Characters

• Ser Valerius, Protector of Justica (Level 3 Human Paladin)
• Absolom, Priest of Justica (Level 3 Human Cleric)
• Jalani, Priestess of Amun-Tor (Level 3 Human Cleric)
• Gwen, Warrior (Level 2 Elf Fighter)
• Biscuit, Rogue/Prestidigitator (Level 1 Gnome Thief/Illusionist)
• Thaddeus, Runner (Level 1 Human Ranger)

Henchmen

• Babu the Evoker (Level 2 Human Magic User)
• Knott the Warrior (Level 2 Human Fighter)
• Brown Tom the Veteran (Level 1 Human Fighter, Squire of Valerius)

Hirelings

• Clench (Human Mercenary Heavy Infantryman)
• Squat (Human Mercenary Heavy Infantryman)
• Push (Human Mercenary Heavy Infantryman)
• "War Dog" (Valerius' War Dog)

Left back in town

• Favreau (Human Cook, Paula's spouse)
• Paula (Human Cook, Favreau's spouse)
• Donkey and Cart for Favreau and Paula's supplies

When we last left our party, they had taken on a job from the Path of Fear and Thunder, the thieves' guild of Swallow, and had discovered the secret parts of the sewer ruled by the Rat-Men. Knott was benched in the first fight so he limped back through the sewer to the surface. 

The Rat Patrol

After resting and taking stock of their options, the party explored the room they discovered. A large pool filled with thick grey liquid occupied the center of the room. The passage to the east was blocked up with rocks and debris but a small gap allowed observation. Through the gap Valerius espied what appeared to be the lair of a rat-man chieftain and his attendants. Babu took a look but was spotted. The gap was sealed up with additional stones. The party took a passage that led that direction.

As they entered the passage, they were met by a patrol of rat-men. The rat-men were taken completely by surprise and the party rushed into combat. Most of the archers, however, were forced to re-string their bows after their wet bow-strings broke. 

As the party pushed forward, a grey protoplasmic mass heaved itself from the pool in the room they left. As the ooze advanced, the party in the rear retreated. Once re-strung, the archers turned their arrows towards the grey ooze. Thaddeus charged the slime with his sword, killing it. The mass of the grey ooze, however, dissolved the sword, rending it useless. Luckily, the ooze was dead and drained away through the grate at the bottom of the pool, revealing a pile of gold and silver coins. 

The rat patrol, however, was quickly decimated. 

The Hoard of the Sub-Chief

The party advanced around the corner and encountered the forces of the sub-chief. Babu cast a sleep spell and knocked out most of the opponents. The rest were quickly dispatched. A lone survivor ran to open the gate to what appeared to be a barred prison cell. For his trouble, he was killed with arrows. 

The party shined their bulls-eye lanthorn into the prison chamber, showing stacked wooden crates and piles of stolen items stored like a warehouse. In the center of the room was a circle formed of iron rings hammered into the floor. Bones and body parts lay chained in the center of the circle. As they shined the lanthorn around, a large form skittered into the shadows behind the corner where the lanthorn could not reach. 

Valerius and Absolom cautiously entered the large cell and checked out the body. On the arms of the body were two forearm bracers of ancient manufacture. Prodding the body caused rot grubs to scurry harmlessly away.

The Crawling Horror

Suddenly, from the shadows emerged a large centipede-like creature the size of a bear. Eight writhing tentacles waved in front of its gruesome melon-sized head. It moved with surprising speed as it charged Absolom, attacking him with its tentacles. Absolom became immobilized as if overcome by some form of paralysis. Valerius backed away cautiously. The archers feared opening fire on the beast for the danger of hitting Absolom. As the giant insect began to drag Absolom back into the shadows, Valerius bravely rushed back in and engaged the creature. A few lucky arrow shots and the deadly sword of Valerius quickly felled the invertebrate horror before it could drag Absalom to his doom.

A Hideous Carrion Crawler!

The repositioned lanthorn revealed a second tentacled monstrosity was revealed in the shadows. The archers moved around for a different angle and soon killed the other creature.

Believing the warehouse secure, Biscuit set about opening the locked chest located in the back corner of the cell. He managed to unlock the chest but, as he did so, he was set upon by a large cube of clear gelatinous material that emerged from a dark passage in the back of the cell. Biscuit was immediately knocked unconscious and absorbed into the giant transparent cube. The rest of the party unleashed a deadly torrent of arrows against the beast, causing it to burst. The incapacitated Biscuit was deposited onto the stone floor with the semi-liquid mass of the dead creature, along with various bits of coin and other treasure. 

The team gathered all their treasure and withdrew to the chamber of the grey ooze to rest and re-group. Biscuit lay in a coma and Absolom remained paralyzed for nearly an hour. After an hour, Biscuit decided to take his chances following the party rather than limp back to the surface by himself. With that, the party chose one of the six exits they had found and set off into the darkness.

The Course of the Party's Exploration of the Sewers Below Swallow 

The Source of Foul Effluence

All My Rat-Men

After searching the sewers for an hour, the party found a passage from which loud squeaks, and the occasional heavy "SQUONK!" could be heard. Preparing for battle, Valerius consumed a potion of giant strength and charged down the passage, followed by his companions.

They were met by two cataphracts mounted on giant rats and over a dozen rat-men warriors. The chamber ahead was a confluence of three large pipes emitting foul effluence from the city above, forming the shape of a cross. Each channel could be crossed by a crudely fashioned wooden bridge. At the confluence of the passages were more rat-men: the Rat-King, the shaman of the rat-men, an assistant carrying a medium-sized gong, a rat-man carrying a bladed whip, and four rat-men bodyguards. 

As the party fought against the mounted rat-men The rat-man carrying the whip called forth two giant ogre-sized rat-men, which he led with the lash of his whip. The rest of the rat-men "nobility" hid behind the corners to avoid bow fire.

The first line of defense was soon overcome, though Gwen was incapacitated by a rat-ogre. The rest of the party advanced. 

As the party battled the bodyguards and additional rat-men soldiers, the gong-bearer began beating the gong. Suddenly, a mass of twenty giant rats emerged from the nearby pipe. Babu quickly responded, throwing one of the vials of Stinking Cloud powder into the mass of the rat-men, incapacitating several rat-men and the entire mass of giant rats. Absolom quickly followed up by pouring oil over the rats and setting them ablaze. 

The Shaman, his Assistant, and the Gong-Master

The rat-king, wielding a flaming sword, and his bodyguards ran down the opposite side of the passage and successfully flanked the party to attack its rear, but it was too late. The shaman, the rat-king, and the bodyguards were all killed after a fierce melee. Two surviving rat-men fled by diving into the sewage and swimming away. 

In the end, the party recovered the sword of the rat-king, the gong that summoned the rats, and a chest of treasure tied to a rope and submerged beneath the sewage.

TO BE CONTINUED

Next week, the party will return to Swallow with their loot, identify magic items, level-up, seek out training from superiors, etc. 

"Are You Sewer?" Chapter 18 of the Xanthus River Campaign

This week, the party returns to Swallow, consults with an arch-mage, and explore the sewers to fight some rat-men!

Our party:

Player characters

• Ser Valerius, Protector of Justica (Level 3 Human Paladin)
• Absolom, Priest of Justica (Level 3 Human Cleric)
• Jalani, Priestess of Amun-Tor (Level 3 Human Cleric)
• Gwen, Warrior (Level 2 Elf Fighter)

Henchmen

• Babu the Evoker (Level 2 Human Magic User)
• Knott the Warrior (Level 2 Human Fighter)
• Brown Tom the Veteran (Level 1 Human Fighter, Squire of Valerius)

Hirelings

• Clench (Human Mercenary Heavy Infantryman)
• Squat (Human Mercenary Heavy Infantryman)
• Push (Human Mercenary Heavy Infantryman)
• Favreau (Human Cook, Paula's spouse)
• Paula (Human Cook, Favreau's spouse)

Others

• "War Dog" (Valerius' War Dog)
• Donkey and Cart for Favreau and Paula's supplies

When we last left our party, they had cleared the first level of Duirnhold of its infestation by kobolds. They returned to the surface village of Duirndown to discuss their options. 

Wizards Only, Fools!

Wanting to know more about the mysterious Ogremoch and the protective spells placed upon Duirnhold by the Mages of Baakhru, they decide to go to Swallow to inquire about the mages at the wizard's guild there, an institution that operates within the only magic shop, "Wizards Only, Fools!".

The entourage travels to Swallow, a eight hour hike down river from Duirndown. They stop for lunch in Choke and Gwen catches up on the latest gossip from her friend Donnan of the town guard.

They arrived in Choke late that afternoon and split up for the evening. Valerius, Babu, Absalom, and Gwen head to Wizards Only, Fools! and ask about the Mages of Baakhru. The proprietor of the establishment, a thin wiry fellow, shrieked his objection, "Can't you people read? What does the sign outside say? WIZARDS ONLY, FOOLS!" Urso, the ghost of the dead wizard that haunts Babu, was visible to the proprietor, who recognized him. Urso managed to talk the proprietor into allowing the outsiders entry and asked him to hook up a meeting with Gaitex the Sporn, Disciple of the Roving Gortleflexiyon, and member of the Mages of Baakhru.

The proprietor led them into a back room containing three concentric silver circles inlaid into the stone floor. He motioned the party to stand in the center circle. Powder was poured into each of the four corners. They were then consumed by a flash of light and the strong smell of the color red. 

The Roving Gortleflexion of Emeril Lagasse

They found themselves standing on a similar circle on a stone platform outside a castle built atop a comet hurtling through space. The castle was built partly out of the comet and party inside the comet. A long fiery red coma trailed off into space as meteors, debris, and coruscating auroras whizzed by. 

An elf with long white hair, glowing green eyes, and blue and yellow robes manned an anachronistic steering wheel, one with rubber grips and chrome spokes like those on an old muscle car, on a platform jutting off the comet like the bowsprit of a ship. A small wooden marionette, a minute copy of the elf himself, clung to the elf's left shoulder, gently suckling green blood out of a wound on the elf's neck. 

They approached the elf, calling out the name "Gaitex". The elf spun around, startled! After calming down, he introduced himself. His name was Emeril Lagasse, Archmage of Nerath and Septarch of the Roving Gortleflexiyon. With a swoosh of his hand, he indicated that the comet was the roving Gotleflexiyon. He explained that Gaitex was a student of his and that this was his school of wizardry. Gaitex was unavailable but he would help him if he could.

They explained their quest, asking for information on the enchantments placed upon Duirnhold and about Ogremoch.

Emeril explained that Ogremoch was one of the Elemental Princes of Evil, confined to the Elemental Plane of Earth. He said that two thousand years ago, the dwarf Duirn had dug so deeply beneath his mountain that he opened a passage into the elemental plane of earth. Ogremoch utilized the breach to come forth into our world, corrupting the dwarfs of Duirnhold, turning them into evil Derros. The subterrene realm of Duirnhold fell to civil war. The derros called upon the help of the evil wizard Ezekiel and his army of orcs and goblins. The alliance of the derros and Ezekiel defeated the good dwarfs, who were forced to flee their land. 

The Mages of Baakhru were unable to defeat Ezekiel and his army and the derros, which they would need to do in order to seal the breach to the elemental plane of earth. So they cast a temporal enchantment on the entire mountain. Nothing within it would experience the passage of time. It was hoped that one day, a force powerful enough would return and defeat the armies of Ezekiel and the derro. But there was nothing to worry about, they had all the time in the world.

Absolom, Priest of Justica

Absolom explained that they had recently used the key to enter the mountain, and that time had, indeed, advanced, though at a slower rate than outside. Emeril expressed his disbelief and asked Absolom to allow him to touch the key so that he could inspect the mountain. Absolom presented the key and Emeril grabbed the other end. Suddenly, the two were zooming through space at the speed of thought. They approached the planet Earth and fell towards the continent of Agartha. They landed outside the entrance to Duirnhold with Absolom wretching and heaving from motion sickness. Emeril inspected the gate, commenting, "What? That's not possible!" Soon afterwards, they zoomed back through space, back towards the Gotleflexiyon. To the rest, the pair never left the platform.

Emeril explained that the spell was weakening and that time was accelerating. He estimated that Ogremoch will be free in roughly fifty years. At that time, Ogremoch will spread across the surface of the earth, covering Agartha under thousands of feet of rock. 

The party asked what they could do to stop Ogremoch. Emeril replied, "Get tougher." He explained that no army on Agartha would be enough to defeat the combined forces of Ezekiel and the derros. "However...", he pondered, "One might be able to take them on a little bit at a time, maybe."

Emeril explained that Duirnhold was constructed in such a way as to be easily compartmentalized. There were twenty-four checkpoints located throughout Duirnhold, and that as part of their enchantment, the twenty-four Mages of Baakhru had sealed each section with a separate key, and entrusted all twenty-four keys with the dwarf-lords of Duirnhold after their diaspora.  One could, conceivably, re-take the city one section at a time. 

The party thanked Emeril for the information and asked how they were to return home. Emeril said, "go inside and ask for a guy named Feldspar. He's the guy made of large ruby crystals. He's got a blue crystal dog named Component. Tell him where you'd like to go and he can send you there. As long as they have a dimensional gate." They did so and were soon back in Swallow.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party was looking for things to do in Swallow. They spied a flyer on the notice board posting a reward for those who could rid Swallow of the pestilence of Rat-Men. A reward was offered of 1500 gold pieces for eliminating the rat-men, plus 10 gold pieces per rat-man body. Interested parties were told to inquire with Black Tom Rittle in Worker's Row.

Black Tom Rittle

Reuniting with the rest, the entourage went to Worker's Row, a poor section of tenements and hovels guarded by thugs and ne'er-do-wells. Inquiring about the bounty, Valerius, Babu, Absolom, and Gwen were shown into the basement of one of the tenements where a shady fellow wearing all black held a sort of make-shift court of goons and bodyguards. He was Black Tom Rittle, leader of the crime syndicate known as the Path of Fear and Thunder. Black Tom explained that the Path would like to rid the town of the filthy vermin what have been stealing from the good fair folk of Swallow.

When asked why he cared, he replied, "They're the competition! They're unregulated! They keep going the way they're going, they're going ta' bring the law down on all of us! They has to be eliminated! We searched all over the sewer for them, but we ain't never found their lair, and I lost plenty of guys down there looking for it! Ain't none of my guys willing to go down there no more. So I has to hire you idiots!" 

Absolom took umbrage at the man's tone, calling him rude. "Of course I'm rude! I'm a fuckin' crime boss! Idiot!"

Absolom, offended, said that they wouldn't take the job until he was polite. Black Tom replied, "Okay. Pretty please. With sugar on top!" 

Absolom said that he tought Black Tom was being "Saccharinistic." 

"He's being what?" Everyone else replied.

"You know, Saccharinistic. When you say something sweet, but it's really fake!"

Black Tom, taken aback, said, "Okay, whatever. I'm sorry."

The party asked if any of Black Tom's men could at least guide them into the sewer. Black Tom called forward two fellows, a gnome thief/illusionist name Biscuit and a human ranger named Thaddeus.

At that, the team took the job. Biscuit and Thaddeus showed them the entrance into the sewer from the basement.

As the entourage filed past, Black Tom recognized his daughter, "Tomasina?!" She, caught off guard, replied, "Daddy?" He came forward but Brown Tom said "Gotta go!" and rushed forward down the stairs into the sewer. The gate was closed behind them.

Babu and Jilani

The party spent several hours exploring the sewers beneath Swallow, finding little. Thaddeus was able to locate spoor that indicated the path of the rat-men, but it led to a dead end. Jilani, however, located a secret door, a section of false wall that slid aside, revealing another section of sewer.

Sewer Rats!

Beyond the secret door was a patrol of eight rat-men with six large rats. The party entered into battle with the rat-men. The rat-men let out a loud piercing squeak that echoed throughout the dark sewers. The squeaks multiplied until there was a cacophony of rat-like squeals, accompanied by several deep gravelly "SQUONKS!"

Jilani looked at the Absolom, "What was THAT?"

Absolom grinned with cool anticipation, "Rat-Ogres!"

A second wave of rat-men, these riding massive dire-rat mounts, rode forth to engage each flank. These were followed by a third wave of rat-men.

The sewers ran red with the blood of rat-men! Valerius, his war-dog, and his hirelings Clench and Squat protected the left flank. Knott, Babu, and Jilani held the right flank. Gwen, Thaddeus, and Brown Tom provided cover fire. Knott soon fell to the carnage of the rat-men and Absolom rushed forward to provide aid. Babu cast a spell that put the entire right flank, save a few at the edge, to sleep. Absolom, Push, and Buscuit advanced around the corner to take out those that were not sleeping.

The First Battle of Swallow's Sewers

Eventually, all the rat-men were killed, though the sound of enraged squeaking echoed through the dark sewer passages, presaging the battles yet to come.

TO BE CONTINUED!

After-Action Report

The sewer battle was because my players wanted a break from Duirnhold. This being a sand-box game, they are free to pursue any story they wish. They could have tracked down the pirate's treasure, or freed the Defile of Castagon from marauding ogres, but they chose rat-men infesting the sewers of Swallow.

They were a little intimidated by the concept of fighting hordes of orcs and saving the world from Ogremoch so I gave them the staged approach with 25 challenging but winnable levels. This is what I sort-of had in mind anyway, but one of my players strongly suggested it, so I verified it for him to assuage his concerns. 

The rat-men fight was tough but fun, I thought. It was challenging. I only have like eight to ten skaven and were-rat minis (not counting plague-seers and rat-ogres). We're taking next week off so I'll use that time to paint more of my skaven miniatures so I'll have plenty next time.

Rat-men, by the way, have the same statistics as goblins in AD&D, but with the 5% per bite chance of infection. However, since rat-men usually use weapons, it is less a danger.

Rat-men leaders, like goblins, will be orcs and hobgoblins and will have better armor and weapons.

The rat-mounts were treated as dire-wolves. Rat-ogres, when encountered, will be treated as ogres.