Post by hubertbartels on Oct 22, 2018 14:13:57 GMT -5
So we moved to Midmeadow, just in time for the Winter of 592. We did have a townhouse in the city so we didn’t have to find lodgings in some inn or a rented house. Aerwyn moved into an upstairs room with her books, notes, paper, ink, and spellbooks. A large room with views over the city and a fireplace to keep it warm.
The first few weeks, the elf worked at her studying while outside, the weather turned cold and snowy. Sir Thabo worked on his herbal potions, Duncan helped with the orphans of Midmeadow and assisted at the shrine of Beory and Gideon disappeared into the city. Wolfram caroused and gambled and by winning big, getting into trouble with a gambler from the Sewer Rats.
Days turned into weeks. The view out of Aerwyn’s window was a snow and ice filled grey. The only way that the others knew that Aerwyn was still there were the piles of dirty dishes outside her door. Sir Thabo took to tossing the dishes back into the room.
After the third week of being snowed in, Aerwyn began to slack off, reading trashy novels and poems that she had found in Midmeadow’s market square or just staring out her window.
The city was completely snowed in. Old men in the city compared it to a famous blizzard of 580-something. There was nothing to do and Aerwyn could not sleep away the hours, being an elf. Then Wolfram came in with a problem. It was something to break the tedium.
Wolfram had been taking lessons in woodworking from an old carpenter, Jethro Jepson. One day, the carpenter asked Wolfram to look for his son, Mika. Mika was a bright lad who was interested in everything except woodworking.
Aerwyn suggested that we go down and talk to Jethro and look at Mika’s room and see what Mika’s latest fascination happened to be.
At the woodworking shop, we learned that Mika had been making more money than an apprentice woodworker should have and that he had been writing bad love poems to someone named Adele. From the other apprentices in the shop, we heard that Adele was a blonde waitress at the ‘Silver Mug’. Furthermore, Mika was known to be running with a gang known as the Silver Serpents.
The Silver Mug was a substantial, middle-class tavern just off the main square. A waiter at the Silver Mug told us that Adele works in the evenings – she has a string of admirers but nothing serious. The waiter also told us that the Serpents had been known to frequent the Silver Mug.
We decided to talk to some of the town watch to learn more about the gangs in Midmeadow. They mention the Sewer Rats, staying hidden and using the sewers to commit crimes and the Serpents, using intimidation and violence to run a protection racket.
Back at the Silver Mug, we finally met Adele. She remembers Mika and tells us he hasn’t been in for two days. The last she saw of him was when he got into a fight with Edgar Redbeard , a Sewer Rat. Mika and another Serpent known as Thomas took the fight out into the streets. Edgar was accompanied by a vicious female halfling named Willow.
Going outside into the cold, we searched for someone that had remembered the fight. Standing in the snow were a group of men, drinking heavily. One of them was Gailord Tentankard. Gailord remembered – they were in a nearby alley, one Serpent down while Mika fought with knives. Redbeard was holding him off while Willow came from behind, stabbed him in the kidneys and bit him. Gailord went into the tavern for a refill and came back out ten minutes later. Everyone was gone.
We moved over to the alley and began searching for signs of the fight. We found a sewer entrance. Sir Thabo helped lift the stone and we descended into the stink of Midmeadow. Aerwyn tried to ignore the stench as the other looked for some trail, something that would tell us where to go.
There were various places where the Sewer Rats locked up tools and supplies – but we finally found a place where they had failed to lock the door. It was trapped though. Wolfram undid the alarm and let us into a 10 x 10 chamber with another locked door. Wolfram again set to work, letting us into a tunnel leading further into the darkness. At the end, the tunnel was blocked with a woolen curtain. Dim light could be seen on the other side.
Pushing aside the curtain, we came across giant rats in the basement. Saphie slapped down a sleep spell to put most of them to sleep while we began to fight those still awake. From a wooden staircase leading up to the ground level, members of the Sewer Rat began to rush into the basement. As they came down, their form shifted into that of were-rats.
Aerwyn threw a fireball at the back of the room. The explosion killed the rats and weakened the were-rats. The staircase was in flames and the beams supporting the floor above were severely damaged. They began creaking and cracking.
Each of us had a were-rat or two on us. As we struggled with the were-rats, the burning wooden staircase fell down and the charred beams slowly bent under the weight of the building above.
Although we finally defeated the rats, each of us had gotten bitten once in the fight. There was just enough time to collect the purses off the bodies and flee as the charred floor beams began to fail. The building slowly collapsed , bringing the floor, walls and structure crashing into the basement.
Back in the sewers, with the sound of the collapse behind us, we decided to return to the streets above and find out who left the falling remains. Maybe, we could find Mika in the crowds. Moving quickly back towards the sewer entrance, we were delayed by an ooze that Wolfram, stepped on. By the time that we had dispatched the ooze and run through the streets, looking for a collapsed building, it was too late.
Off the main square, we found the remains of a 3 story building. It’s neighbor was leaning, about to fall into the same hole. There was a dwarf taking bets on whether the building would fall. When questioned, he told us that various people had run out after the initial explosion but he could not remember their faces. We would have to look for other Sewer Rat hideouts – even more important now that we know they are were-rats.
The first few weeks, the elf worked at her studying while outside, the weather turned cold and snowy. Sir Thabo worked on his herbal potions, Duncan helped with the orphans of Midmeadow and assisted at the shrine of Beory and Gideon disappeared into the city. Wolfram caroused and gambled and by winning big, getting into trouble with a gambler from the Sewer Rats.
Days turned into weeks. The view out of Aerwyn’s window was a snow and ice filled grey. The only way that the others knew that Aerwyn was still there were the piles of dirty dishes outside her door. Sir Thabo took to tossing the dishes back into the room.
After the third week of being snowed in, Aerwyn began to slack off, reading trashy novels and poems that she had found in Midmeadow’s market square or just staring out her window.
The city was completely snowed in. Old men in the city compared it to a famous blizzard of 580-something. There was nothing to do and Aerwyn could not sleep away the hours, being an elf. Then Wolfram came in with a problem. It was something to break the tedium.
Wolfram had been taking lessons in woodworking from an old carpenter, Jethro Jepson. One day, the carpenter asked Wolfram to look for his son, Mika. Mika was a bright lad who was interested in everything except woodworking.
Aerwyn suggested that we go down and talk to Jethro and look at Mika’s room and see what Mika’s latest fascination happened to be.
At the woodworking shop, we learned that Mika had been making more money than an apprentice woodworker should have and that he had been writing bad love poems to someone named Adele. From the other apprentices in the shop, we heard that Adele was a blonde waitress at the ‘Silver Mug’. Furthermore, Mika was known to be running with a gang known as the Silver Serpents.
The Silver Mug was a substantial, middle-class tavern just off the main square. A waiter at the Silver Mug told us that Adele works in the evenings – she has a string of admirers but nothing serious. The waiter also told us that the Serpents had been known to frequent the Silver Mug.
We decided to talk to some of the town watch to learn more about the gangs in Midmeadow. They mention the Sewer Rats, staying hidden and using the sewers to commit crimes and the Serpents, using intimidation and violence to run a protection racket.
Back at the Silver Mug, we finally met Adele. She remembers Mika and tells us he hasn’t been in for two days. The last she saw of him was when he got into a fight with Edgar Redbeard , a Sewer Rat. Mika and another Serpent known as Thomas took the fight out into the streets. Edgar was accompanied by a vicious female halfling named Willow.
Going outside into the cold, we searched for someone that had remembered the fight. Standing in the snow were a group of men, drinking heavily. One of them was Gailord Tentankard. Gailord remembered – they were in a nearby alley, one Serpent down while Mika fought with knives. Redbeard was holding him off while Willow came from behind, stabbed him in the kidneys and bit him. Gailord went into the tavern for a refill and came back out ten minutes later. Everyone was gone.
We moved over to the alley and began searching for signs of the fight. We found a sewer entrance. Sir Thabo helped lift the stone and we descended into the stink of Midmeadow. Aerwyn tried to ignore the stench as the other looked for some trail, something that would tell us where to go.
There were various places where the Sewer Rats locked up tools and supplies – but we finally found a place where they had failed to lock the door. It was trapped though. Wolfram undid the alarm and let us into a 10 x 10 chamber with another locked door. Wolfram again set to work, letting us into a tunnel leading further into the darkness. At the end, the tunnel was blocked with a woolen curtain. Dim light could be seen on the other side.
Pushing aside the curtain, we came across giant rats in the basement. Saphie slapped down a sleep spell to put most of them to sleep while we began to fight those still awake. From a wooden staircase leading up to the ground level, members of the Sewer Rat began to rush into the basement. As they came down, their form shifted into that of were-rats.
Aerwyn threw a fireball at the back of the room. The explosion killed the rats and weakened the were-rats. The staircase was in flames and the beams supporting the floor above were severely damaged. They began creaking and cracking.
Each of us had a were-rat or two on us. As we struggled with the were-rats, the burning wooden staircase fell down and the charred beams slowly bent under the weight of the building above.
Although we finally defeated the rats, each of us had gotten bitten once in the fight. There was just enough time to collect the purses off the bodies and flee as the charred floor beams began to fail. The building slowly collapsed , bringing the floor, walls and structure crashing into the basement.
Back in the sewers, with the sound of the collapse behind us, we decided to return to the streets above and find out who left the falling remains. Maybe, we could find Mika in the crowds. Moving quickly back towards the sewer entrance, we were delayed by an ooze that Wolfram, stepped on. By the time that we had dispatched the ooze and run through the streets, looking for a collapsed building, it was too late.
Off the main square, we found the remains of a 3 story building. It’s neighbor was leaning, about to fall into the same hole. There was a dwarf taking bets on whether the building would fall. When questioned, he told us that various people had run out after the initial explosion but he could not remember their faces. We would have to look for other Sewer Rat hideouts – even more important now that we know they are were-rats.