The Ratmen's Defenses Revealed

Booker continues to look carefully into the cavern for a couple of minutes before he slowly rises up and then slowly and silently pads back to report:

"Listen good, dudes, 'cuz it looks like Booker found what you bin lookin' for. This looks like them ratcats' guardroom, if I ain't mistaken."

He pauses for a moment:

"Ahm tellin' you dudes that one o' them ratcats at least ain't so stupid, 'cuz they got themselves one mahty fahn defensive position up there."

He starts scratching in the dirt. First of all he draws a circle:

"That cavern's circular in shape, 'bout 100' in diameter. There's four passage's comin' off the cavern. If what the dwarf-dude says is right, we's comin' in from the southwest. In that case, there's passageways going northwest, northeast an' southeast off the cavern."

"That ain't what the problem is though. Y'see, the roof of this cavern's pretty tall, a good 50' at least. So what them sneaky ratcats have gone and done is dug themselves a little hideout above each of the passageways. I saw one o' these hideouts above each o' them. I don't know whether there's one above this passageway, 'cuz I'd have been seen if I'd gone in there. It's totally dark in there, so I was only able to spot anything 'cuz I can see in the dark. I don't reckon they know we're comin' yet 'cuz they didn't seem to be panicking nor nothin'."

"The hideouts above the passageways are just narrow slits in the rock, so they got good cover for throwin' down any kind o' shit that they fancy. I don't know how many o' the ratcats are in each o' the hideouts, 'cuz I just saw one pair of eyes looking out from each of them. But the slits are wide enough for a small group to be up there."

"I couldn't see down any of the passageways from where I was standin', so I don't know what's down the three of them."

He pauses:

"So that's what you've got to get through."

Winnacer nods:

"Good work Booker. You've earned your weight in gold today."

"Yo, thanks to the man," Booker replies. "My weight in gold's a little higher than ma usual fee, but usually I don't get ma blood sucked out by giant eyeballs."

"If yo could settle ma account with my main man, Porter, then that would be mahty fahn."

Booker's expression gives no indication as to whether he is serious or not.

Winnacer then turns to the rest of the party:

"Anybody have any suggestions on how we can get the drop on these guys?"

"Well how 'bout we start by getting into the nearest hideout by shaping a hole in their floor?" Yaz suggests. "Once we're up, we may find passageways that lead to the others. It's also a pretty good defensive position, I guess... It's gonna make noise if we do this, so we should be ready for them to start attacking."

"If I shape the ceiling under the hideout properly, I can make a little stone staircase down to our level, with a narrow opening, so everyone can get up. The challenge will just be getting everyone up without getting killed, huh?"

"But won't that just get us to the one above this corridor?" Aithne asks. "Booker said, I think, that there are just four little alcove-type things--one over each opening. So not really a warren or network. This can let us surprise and kill one pretty quick, but not more than one."

"Th' li'l lady's right," Booker growls. "All I could see is wide slits over each o' them passageways. I couldn't tell whether or not they were joined together behind the rock or not."

"They must connect to one another, else how do they get into 'em?" asks Joy.

"There must be a tunnel leading from each alcove, though," Rowan suggests. "If we can get into one, we'll be in a better position not only defensively, but also in terms of being able to penetrate further into their defenses. Perhaps it is something of a back door. And if all the alcoves interconnect, we can take them one at a time, at a considerably smaller disadvantage. From what Winnacer has said, if they have fire-spitting machines, they'd be loathe to use them at close range."

"We can't be sure that they have tunnels leading to the alcoves," Winnacer replies. "It is quite possible that they climb the walls into the spaces. We also haven't seen much evidence of them doing any large amounts of stone working, and I would imagine it would take a lot of mining to make a second set of tunnels above us."

Rowan gestures to the roughly-circular chamber ahead with its four evenly-spaced tunnels at compass points:

"This hardly seems like a natural formation to me, unlearned as I am in the ways of damp, smelly places such as this. If they are capable of making fire-spitting machines or glass globes filled with noxious gas, I would not put something as simple as crude stonework-- no offense, friend Timex-- past them. I had thought them stupid and simple, but you, having had more experience with them, wisely advised me that they are quite crafty, and I have seen and heard that this is indeed the case."

"I know little about stone working as well," the LawBringer adds, "but I would imagine that an excavation of this scale would have required some sort of shoring up of the walls. Thankfully, Spravedelna has placed Brother Timex in our path, his innate understanding of the rock should be able to answer this question. Hopefully, Brother Timex can investigate the rock as I have seen my old companion Gronk used to do. Can you sound out the rock so see if there is a passage above us or not?"

"I could tell whether there is another gallery above this passageway," Timex splutters in response, "but there's no way that I can tell whether they might be connected, as there will be a massive amount of rock between here and the passageway."

He looks up and sees that the ceiling is 10' high here. He looks to Winnacer:

"I wonder if you could perhaps lift me up, as I will need to tap on the ceiling."

Winnacer and Rowan together life the dwarf onto their shoulders. Timex takes his mace and taps very gently on the rock above him. He nods and then the pair of warriors bring him down.

"Yes, it's definitely hollow above here, so I believe that there is a fourth gallery up there. There is around 5' of rock between the ceiling of this passageway and the gallery. With the rock here being so compressed, that 5' of rock is plenty thick enough not to require any type of shoring."

"The setup sounds a lot like the one they used back in the Nemotz temple," the LawBringer continues. "There, they had a blind alcove from which they could dump boiling oil upon us once we passed the threshold. They had a small secret stairway leading up to the alcove then."

"Ah," Rowan says, nodding. "It could very well follow that the same manner of access exists here, as well. It would certainly make sense to have some ready means of entrance or egress that did not involve entering the central chamber."

"If the alcoves are as well covered as Booker suggests," the young Lord continues, "I doubt they would have the bulky flame machines there. It would be difficult to get a clean shot without completely exposing yourself. I would imagine they have something more portable that would not require a whole lot of accuracy, something like the poison gas globes they used against us last time. That could be a problem."

"Poison gas globes?" Joy inquires.

She pales as she thinks about what they might be facing.

"I guess another thing to do would just be to shape the whole floor out from under them, so they're surprised and drop down," Yaz adds. "But then we got no hideout ourselves."

Winnacer looks over at the druid:

"Despite how much I love your stone manipulating abilities Yaz, I think we should hold off for now."

Yaz shrugs, and lights up:

"I'm no tactician, but I've been watching you Civs enough to know what not to do, at least. And having cover to attack from is a pretty big deal I'd say, right?"

Aithne nods:

"I'm no tactician either," she agrees. "Ideally it would be good if we could somehow take out all four of them at the same time--maybe Joy could lend her cloak to Porter or something or some other form of stealth."

Joy looks somewhat reluctant at Aithne's statement, but replies:

"I guess I could loan it to Porter, if it is necessary to our welfare."

She gives a doubtful look to the man who has been rude to her. She tries to smile at him and says:

"I'm sorry I'm not more enthusiastic, but it was a blessing from my god."

"Or," Rowan says, continuing the thought, "Joy's shadow-beasts could provide a distraction. If the vermen are concentrating an attack on something out in the open, they'd be less likely to expect something from behind-- or from underneath, for that matter."

He looks appreciatively at his cousin:

"I've seen these shadow-creatures before; they truly are remarkable."

Joy manages a smile, even while thinking about the fight to occur, for her cousin.

"The problem with making an illusion of an attacker is that they may decide to sound a warren-wide alarm," Winnacer says. "That would be very bad, even if we can run this first gauntlet."

"I, too, had considered this," says Rowan, "but even confusion in their ranks could serve us now."

"What we may want to do instead is make an illusion of the ratman patrol which we slew and have them return," the young Lord continues. "They should be expecting them back and their return should distract them from having some of the stealthier members of the party sneaking in and getting in position to take out the guards in their hidey holes. If we could imitate their speech this may work very well."

Winnacer pauses for a moment, and then continues:

"Perhaps if some of the rats came back looking very injured, we could coax the guards out of their niches, assuming that they would try to help their own kind. That may be a large assumption, unfortunately."

"But if you guys want to make an illusion of a creature to attack the caves, I think that monstrosity we just fought would be the way to go. They know it is out there and they'll tend to believe it even more. And with its actual ability to float, it could drive the guards from their niches."

"But would that be believable?" Rowan asks. "The Watcher was a relatively short distance behind us; it seems to me that if it had been a constant threat so close to their home, either it would be dead or their home would have been relocated. Just an idea, of course. In any event, it would be as likely to raise an alarm as anything else."

"I think an illusionary distraction is the way to go here," the young Lord continues. "Although this would be so much easier with Faewen'il's powers of concealment."

"Although I don't know what those are, exactly, ANY powers of concealment would be of considerable assistance in this matter," Rowan agrees. "As it is, we will have to trust to what skill and minor enchantments we have, I suppose...."

Winnacer turns to the priestess of Zlodey:

"Joy, can your shadow creatures make sound if you prompt them? If they do, perhaps we can try this approach."

"Yaz has mentioned he had a spell that allowed for both creating speech with the rats as well as understanding of what they say. If we were to cast that spell on Joy, she can imbue the shadow rats with the ability of speech. Then we can join the illusionary creatures as they enter the caves, claiming to be allies of the Nemotz, bearing news about the destruction of the Nemotz temple and the ratmen stationed there. We can also say that we helped the rats destroy the floating eye on our way in, to explain our wounds. We then can request a meeting with Lord Skritchit or something like that. With Joy giving voice to the ratmen and imbued with the ability to understand what is said in response, we could pull it off."

"If a passageway up to the rat hidey holes exists, we can send the more stealthy members of the party up to neutralize them while they are busy parleying with the illusionary rats, perhaps with Yaz's stone shape giving us access."

"We know enough about the ratmen's plans and their relationship with the Nemotz to bluff our way in with an escort, if we can communicate with them. Of course, if we can't, this whole idea of thought is moot."

"Well, it's iffy if they'll believe the illusions," Joy comments. "I'd like to think they would, but you never know. If they see the illusion as what it is, we've got bad luck. Besides which, my power with this ability is quite limited. Since I summon some actual material from the shadow worlds, I can only summon a quantity that my god feels I'm able to handle. The good part is that, even if these creatures know my monsters for a fake, they can still suffer from my creation's hits because they are not FULLY illusional.

"A side benefit of having an illusion of a hostile creature," Rowan adds thoughtfully, "is that it would give us a chance to see what their defenses actually are before having to deal with them ourselves. In fact, if Fate were truly on our side-- and if they are unreasonably ill-equipped, of course-- they might even deplete what weapons they have fighting Joy's shadows."

"Shadow boxing, as it were," murmurs Aithne. "And, I think if the other group that attacked Joy were to appear suddenly here, it would draw quite a bit of suspicion, especially as none of us speak the language and the first thing they would likely do is ask them, 'what happened?'"

"If we can find secret ways up to them and/or over to them," Aithne continues, "either Porter or I could possibly get to each and finish it before it makes, er, a squeak. However, we don't know if they can see each other, so that may be a pipe dream also."

"And, if they have any sense of smell, the blood on us reeks," she adds, wrinkling her own nose in disgust.

"From what I've seen of their habitat, they must not rely too heavily on smell," Winnacer replies. "Their barracks at the Nemotz temple reeked of their own feces, which they used to mortar their nests together with. Nasty."

"Winn, Yaz, I ask you this because you seem the best informed, but do you know if these rat thingies are evil in nature?" asks Joy "I also have a prayer that protects against such beasties. Evil ones that is."

Yaz shakes his head:

"Na, they're not evil... not like Bosco's zombies, anyway. Nemotz is evil, so his priests might be... and really, that's who I'm interested in killing. These ratmen... they're just being used, I think. Once we're through fixing the disease of that village, I think we'll be able to leave them here to live the way their nature dictates."

Winnacer shakes his head in disagreement:

"Spravedelna senses the true evil that lies within their rodent hearts. I can feel it inside them, just like I felt Boscobelous' taint inside Faewen'il. I believe your spell, like my protective aura, will effect them. As for them being used, we will soon know for sure. But I would not be surprised if the Nemotz were really getting the worst part of this bargain. "

Joy nods understandingly:

"Good then. My prayer should work then."

"Booker, do you think bowfire would be possible into their hiding spaces?" asks Aithne. "It sounds like no, but..."

"The gaps in the rocks are quite wide, sistuh," replies Booker. "They are shaped like turrets of a castle, so the ratcats are gonna be able to hide behind the high parts of the wall and shoot from the low parts."

"Yo should be able to shoot into them, but them ratcats are gonna be pretty hard to hit, I'm tellin' ya."

Aithne shrugs and looks at the onyx dog:

"You're one hell of a scout, by the way."

Joy nods her agreement to Aithne's last statement and adds:

"We certainly couldn't have done this without you, Booker."

Booker starts wagging his tail furiously and then starts to roll on his back:

"Respect, sistuhs," he barks, "How 'bout a little tummy rub for tha King?"

Neither of them are too sure about this.

Winnacer and Yaz start to discuss the possibilities of entering the gallery above them using Yaz' ability to shape stone. While they are doing so, Rowan turns to Joy:

"Cousin, might I borrow your cloak temporarily? I will settle this matter once and for all."

"Of course," she replies, doffing the lightweight garment with a quizzical look. "Careful."

"Caution is the better part of valor," he says, "although it makes for poor storytelling."

Rowan looks up at the ceiling, clearly concentrating intently, Joy's cloak over one arm:

"There are six ratmen occupying the gallery. One of them is dressed in green robes, and appears to be similar to the shaman that accompanied the others to the village. Another one has a strange device, identical to the one that Winnacer carries. A third wears a wooden barrel strapped to his back, connected to a flexible pipe-like object that a fourth is carrying. One more is wearing a brass face mask and has a brass tank on his back; next to him are a number of fist-sized glass spheres. The final one has a bag of round purple rocks-- 'warpstone,' I presume. In addition to their weapons, there is also a brass gong at the back of the gallery... but no exit. A rope ladder lies on the floor."

He shakes his head and returns his gaze to the rest of the group, who wear expressions ranging from surprise and wonder to condscending disbelief:

"This is bad," he adds.

He quickly dons the cloak, virtually disappearing amidst the stone walls around him, and says:

"I shall return."

He is not gone for more than two or three nerve-wracking minutes when he suddenly reappears in the tunnel, removing the cloak:

"This is very, VERY bad. The other three alcoves are identical to this one and, of the three remaining tunnels, only the northeast one has an exit: a solid double-valved door of iron. However, there are four ratmen dressed in robes with armor underneath, all carrying over-sized morningstars which seem to have some some burning substance inside the heads, standing guard there. Along with them, partially hidden by the shadows is a sneaky- looking rat-- sneakier than most, at any rate-- dressed in black."

"The one heading northwest contains ten large black ratmen, armed and armored identically to the patrol that went to the village. They are in a small cavern around 30' in diameter with no other exits."

"The southeast corridor ends in a 40'-diameter cavern which reeks of filth and contains three huge, hideous creatures which can only be the ratogres of which Thrisk spoke. They are accompanied by a verman carrying a large scourge who appears to be their keeper. This one also has no other exits."

"They are indeed intelligent, I'll give them that. None of the occupants of the three tunnels can be seen from the main cavern; if we had gone in thinking we'd only be fighting those in the alcoves-- still an unmanageable number-- we would be in for a rude awakening. I know very little about stonework, but even I can tell that extensive crafting has been conducted on this cavern to make it the death-trap it is today. Its center is littered with rock-chips and small craters... not a friendly place at all, I'm afraid."

"Damn. I want a cloak like that," Aithne remarks, wide-eyed.

"Ask my cousin," Rowan replies with a grin, returning the cloak to Joy.

Joy gladfully dons the beautiful cloak and then replies:

"I'm afraid the only way you'll get this from me would be to do it in a way that my god would approve of and you should never steal from a Demarchess of Zlodey."

With that she gives Aithne a quick grin.

"As I told someone else earlier. I am not a thief," Aithne replies as she returns the grin, a quick twinkle appearing in her brown eyes.

Rowan turns more serious again. He runs a hand through his blond locks and sighs:

"I'm as willing to rush into peril as anyone, but I don't see how we can get past so many of them short of deceit. Now, I certainly have nothing against that, and I have every confidence that Joy's illusions will be utterly convincing but, if something goes wrong, we're done for."

Joy pales even further as Rowan finishes telling what he's seen:

"Cousin, can we lure them out here with my illusions?" she asks. "Perhaps setting up so that we can take down some of them without engaging in their death trap?"

"It is conceivable," Rowan answers, mulling the idea over, "but we have no way of knowing exactly what the protocol is here. If wounded ratmen enter the cavern, do the others emerge to help them? Or do they go right to the iron doors without delay? It's even possible that they have some sort of system of passwords or simple ciphers past which we might not be able to bluff. The more I think about it, the worse off we are, so I suggest we decide on a course of action and enact it quickly, before the consequences sink in too deeply."

Winnacer sits quiet in thought, running the different possibilities through his mind:

"If we are to look for a battle here, we can only lose," the LawBringer starts. "If we seek to draw them out, we will only deal with a pittance of the troops assembled, still leaving us with the problem with the alcoves as well as alerting them to a threat. I do not believe that is the way to go."

Winnacer looks to Joy:

"Can your illusion ensorcellment disguise us? I am beginning to believe that trickery will serve us better than boldness in this situation. We may as well be best served by posing as mercenary messengers."

Joy shakes her head and says:

"Sorry, but like I said earlier, I merely summon stuff from the shadows which is in its own way sort of real. Since it has a tangability, I can't summon it over us to disguise us."

The young Lord nods and then continues:

"I know some of you have skills that Spravedelna typically frowns upon. But perhaps here is an opportunity to show Her the value of such skills. I have samples of the handwriting of the Nemotz High Priest. If we could somehow write a letter in his penmanship explaining our presence and passing a false message of import to Lord Skritchit, we may be allowed to pass. Remember, we only need information enough to prevent Opava from being poisoned. We can come back to destroy these ratmen once and for all later, if need be."

Yaz looks at the LawBringer doubtfully:

"Uh, I don't think so, Winn... We're here to kill them. If we were trying to prevent Opava from becoming zombieland, we'd be in Opava right now."

He pauses:

"Either we do this now, or not at all... There's no coming back. By the time we return, they'll have found the corpses all along their front entrance and will have doubled their guards and stuff."

Winnacer quietly replies:

"I'm here because I believe the key to saving Opava lies with these ratmen. It will do us no good to be in Opava if they are poisoning the watertable beneath it. Finding the Nemotz before they strike would be looking for a needle in a haystack. The clues we have gathered, however, point here, to the Nemotz co-conspiritors. As much as I may be repulsed by the evil of these rat fiends, I am doubly concerned with the well being of the dwarves of Opava."

Aithne looks at Winnacer:

"I'm sorry. Unlike you, I have a problem with using any means to an end. I believe that actions show what type of person you are, not that a person can perform any act and be unaffected by it."

She looks distinctly uncomfortable.

"You have me wrong, Aithne," Winnacer replies. "I do not believe in 'any means to an end.' But there are many shades of gray where you must weigh the overall good against one's actions. Such inflexibility in thought of our ancestors kept them from working together to repulse the Nyemetz, as they felt the actions required to work together would taint them forever. Instead, they remained stubborn and allowed a true oppressor to truly squash all they believed in rather than compromise. At some point, we will all be called on to compromise for the betterment of all. I pray that, when that day comes, we will be able to place vanity second to the overall good."

"It is not vanity," Aithne says softly, "it is the whole more upon which I base my existence. But this is not the place to argue this point. So I will subside. Just know that I will not use such means. What you do is your choice, of course."

Yaz pauses, looking concerned and thoughtful. He speaks carefully:

"You are lucky, LawBringer, that your goddess is so lenient; that she doesn't care if you insult Her intelligence. If I told Prirodna that I knew better than her, I'd be a blob of yellow mold by now... or worse, a common Civ, condemned never to see the light of day. Her wrath is terrible... As you've seen."

Yaz half-smiles:

"Prirodna is all-knowing and all-seeing, creator and sustainer of life, architect of the cycles and keeper of the balance. I do not question that. But each god is different I suppose, and so each follower as well..."

"Unwise as I am in the ways of the gods," Rowan says, "I too am surprised. I was not aware LawBringers so readily employed poison in the course of their duties. Apparently I shall have to be more careful-- or just as lucky-- in the future."

"To create poisons specifically to slay one's foes is something I have objections to," Winnacer replies. "Allowing those wicked enough to create such vile potions to be felled by their own machinations is an ironic Justice."

"And if I could come up with a better way to provide for our safety, I would take it. But it seems that no easy answers are forthcoming, and the fate of a city lies heavy on our shoulders."

Joy smiles at this reply and nods:

"It is indeed fine to use poison in such a situation. Zlodey approves of such irony. Of course, Zlodey also will approve if this use of poison allows me, his loyal priestess, to live."

Winnacer reluctantly follows Yaz's conversation lead, his voice wistful:

"Spravedelna understands that skills and talents are devoid of intent. It is the nature of the person that make a simple act of copying either a good or a bad thing. I do not insult Spravedelna by questioning and reinterpreting Her rules, as that is the way She intended. She relies upon Her minions to keep the spirit of Her tenets alive in ever-evolving laws...flexible laws that allow for them to stay modern in a world of ever changing thought. As the Nature of civilization changes, so will She change to provide a better, more contemporary order to things. The older Gods have not Spravedelna's flexibility and have systematically perished with the rise of civilization."

"And Yaz, you HAVE questioned your Goddess," the LawBringer continues. "Eladria was vested with all of your powers derived from the same source as you, yet you fought bitterly against her. Eladria and yourself both had quite different views on the role of Prirodna's acolytes, yet neither of you became yellow mold or any other mold for that matter. It was more as She was testing different versions of Her word against each other, an experiment of sorts."

"I believe that all the Gods rely upon us to define them as much as the reverse is true. I often think that perhaps I am an experiment for Spravedelna, to see if unorthodox means are necessary in Her Law. Even after I disobeyed the laws of my family and the laws of the governing body to become the vigilante you met those months ago, She still found me suitable."

Winnacer allows himself a slight smile:

"If She wanted me to follow Her Laws strictly, She would have seen that I was accompanied with companions more interested in following Her ways. Instead, She stuck me with the likes of you."

Winnacer gives Yaz a playful tap on the shoulder.

Yaz looks a little uncomfortable:

"I guess I should have told you," he mutters, "I've been thinking of becoming a druidic lumberjack..."

"But all this talk is going to do a fat lot of good against the rats," the LawBringer continues. "Sorry about that."

Yaz smiles weakly:

"S'arright," he says, "I think I'm getting used to it."

He looks up at the warrior briefly.

Aithne looks up and sighs:

"Well, if we want to just sneak through, first cast silence on a person and then cast Joy's sneaky spell on them. Then have them walk through with someone in Joy's cloak. The person Joy's spell and the Silence spell is on runs back and hands the cloak to the next, until all are across. However, they'll still be waiting on our way out."

Joy sighs also and then replies:

"No can do for assurances there. You can't count on everything with shadowy spells. I don't think my spell that creates a cloak of shadows will hide the person. It's only called a cloak of shadows because the priestess who created it liked the description. What it does is make a sort of foggy area around a person. It makes them harder to hit, though the one blessed by Zlodey can still see clearly. It might be able to hide a person at night, but if that chamber is lit up we're in trouble. Even if it's not, I wouldn't want to count on our luck."

Rowan looks towards Aithne:

"M'lady, that would be a truly admirable plan," Rowan replies with a disarming smile, "were it not fraught with flaws."

Aithne smiles ruefully:

"As I said, I have no head for strategy."

"Strategy is not everything," he replies. "If beauty were all that were required here, however, I am certain our victory would be assured."

Aithne shakes her head and looks at Joy:

"Please make him stop," she whimpers.

Joy lightly taps Rowan on the arm and says:

"Think with your brain right now, dear cousin."

Rowan starts abruptly and takes a look around at the walls of the tunnel, as if noticing for the first time where he is:

"Ah... well... perhaps this is not the time for such talk, after all."

Winnacer then continues:

"Going back to the idea of forging a letter from Zdenyek Spalek, unfortunately, our story would not hold up under magickal scrutiny, and I wonder if they will note my aura as well. We're in a tight bind here."

"If we opt for an offensive plan, we should wait until the changing of the guard to make our move. The rats have to leave their alcoves eventually, descending that rope ladder. Their heavy equipment will have to stay behind."

He turns to face the swashbuckler:

"Rowan, is there enough room to house two units of the rats up there? If there is not, they may vacate the alcove above long enough for us to get there before the rat's replacements arrive. Then we'll be waiting for them with flame machine bared, and we'll have twice the targets in our range. And the fight of our lives on our hands."

Rowan shakes his head in response:

"No, there didn't seem to be a great deal of spare space up there. I can't believe that they would be able to get 12 vermen up there at any one time"

"The best part about fighting these guys the first time," Yaz says, "was when Fae threw that web at them, and it made their flame-throwing machine explode, killing them all. What if we just snuck into each hideyhole and clogged the hoses up with shit? Then all we'd have to do is get them pissed at us, and they're all dead."

Winnacer shakes his head:

"I'm not sure clogging the contraptions would do it," he replies. "The web allowed the barrel to catch fire once fired, which led to that quite impressive explosion. If you remember the contraption, Yaz, it had a wick on the nozzle. So clogging them is likely to keep them from working, but not cause them to explode."

"But we don't need to explode the tanks to incapacitate the vermin hiding in the alcoves," he continues. "If we just shatter the stores of glass globes, which should be easier to do, we release their own gas weapons upon themselves."

"The thing is that we just can't sneak up there so easily. Although....."

Winnacer falls quiet for a second:

"Just what can your shadow creatures do, Joy?" he asks, turning to face the Demarchess. "Do they need to stay within the range of your vision, or can you give them orders to follow? If they can affect real things enough to break them, perhaps a bunch of bats could sneak to all four alcoves. Then on Joy's signal they could break all of the glass globes stored in the alcoves with their attacks. The gas would affect all of the ratmen in the alcove, except the mask wearers, making our infiltration possible. How close were they standing to each other up there, Rowan? If this suggestion is possible, we could take out all four alcoves simultaneously, or at least throw them into chaos while we leap into action."

"They were standing fairly close together," Rowan replies. "As I've said, it's fairly cramped up there."

Joy, however, shakes her head again:

"They're real, but barely. It's more like a living shadow. They have some substance but not enough to affect those gas globes, I think. The only good thing is that if people really believe in them, they really get wounded."

"In addition to that," Winnacer continues, "we would have a bunch of options. We could throw oil and torches over crenalations, hoping to set fire to the explosive tanks. We could run out to meet the ratmen and their ogres. We could hold our breath and stone shape our way into the alcove above us, taking out whatever ratmen are still able and taking over the weapons within."

"I'm not positive how feasible all that is, but it would allow us to act on all four alcoves at once. It also would not reveal our position."

Yaz responds, unnaturally involved in this planning session:

"I like the idea of breaking the globes, but that would have to be done all at once, and with surprise. Another thing to do would be to sabotage the hoses to disable the wick and so they leak when they are fired. That could mean a big fire problem for them if we were to, say, lob flaming oil into the rooms. That's something a bird could do. Or a sneaky person with a cool cloak. Are the flame machines close to the openings, Rowan?"

Rowan nods:

"Yes, the niches are only 10' wide, and so everything is near to the openings,"

Yaz pauses:

"Or we could just run for it. How hard could it be to kill the guards in the hallway across, there? I doubt they'd get us with their guns if we just ran."

"But the Rat Priests may get us with those holding spells if we just run for it. After last time.....I prefer not to chance it."

"I'm nervous about trying to do anything sneaky with notes or illusions," the druid continues. "Those things always get messed up. We can't speak their language except one of us, for maybe an hour, and all it takes is for one of them to lose their trust and it's all over. I'm more for rushing the northeast hallway, with Winnacer in front using his Fear, than for fooling them with notes."

Yaz grins evilly:

"But if we can make all four alcoves explode at once, that's the best way of all..."

"Here we are agreed," the young Lord responds, nodding his head. "But what is the best and most guaranteed way? Can the shadow creatures perform this work, or are we going to have to split up and infiltrate? I'm not sure how you intend to make the flame machines leak, but if we can incapacitate them with their own gases, I have quite a bit of oil left."

Yaz then looks towards Joy:

"Just what does that cloak do, anyway, Joy? How come only Rowan could use it? How could he just walk in there? Can he see through walls? If he was wearing it, could he get into the alcoves without being seen? Or... Could I put it on then turn into a bird and do the same thing?

Joy looks confused by all the questions, but replies as best she can:

"All it does is conceal a person by making them blend into the background. It works best outdoors, but even in an environment such as this, it can work. So, a person can walk about without being seen if they're lucky. I can use the cloak also, obviously, but I allow Rowan to use it 'cause he is my kin and my friend. I don't think it's possible to turn into a bird while wearing it. I've never tried though."

"We'd have to get something to clog them with," the druid continues. "Did Jihan use the last of that glue stuff he had? If I could get outta here I could probly whip up something sticky if I had a few hours to scrounge for herbs and shit... But it's a long way out from here, unless I was flying."

"I could help you with that glue if you'd like," adds Joy. "I've some skill working with herbs to create different toxins and cures."

Winnacer looks at Timex:

"It sounds like we may be in need of your friend's services. What exactly can he do?"

Timex coughs and nods:

"If there is really no other solution, then I believe that summoning the servant of Zemnye may be our only solution."

They can all tell from the look on his face that Timex is less than enthusiastic regarding summoning the elemental.

"A servant of Zemnye has the ability of destroying rock, and so it is likely that it could destroy those that are stationed in the galleries. In addition, a servant is going to be very difficult for them to kill. Regular mortals have little chance of damaging one without magickal assistance. Also fire and poison gas are not going to have any effect upon it."

"The ratmen's gunnes, however, I believe could damage it; the ratogres too, if they are really as enormous and hideous as they have been described. Even so, the servant of Zemnye can take a great deal of damage before it returns to His realm."

He pauses, sneezes and then shakes his head:

"It would be an ideal solution were it not for the fact that my control of the Servant is so tenuous."

He gulps audibly:

"However, if summoning the Servant is perhaps the only way in which Litultovitze may be freed of its Curse, then I will perform such an action."

Porter, having been quiet for a while as he continues to take in the mess that he's gotten into, finally says:

"Well, we clearly don't have the firepower to take out everything in that room beyond us. If you want to fight it out, I suggest we try to get them to do some of the work for us, starting with the ratogres. The rat bastard back at the inn seemed very scared of them, and I doubt they are very controllable without their handler."

Porter continues:

"I would suggest making the illusionary creatures appear to be the rat bastards armed with the morningstars. Joy could use her cloak to get back into the room with the ratogres. Hopefully, I can have some better luck and sneak back there as well. Joy sends her rat bastards after the ratogres. While the ratogres' handler is occupied with that, I'll take him out. The illusionary creatures retreat back into the main room, drawing the ratogres back with them and hopefully against the real rat bastards with the smoking morningstars. If we pull that off, Joy and I sneak back out of there, and let all hell break loose without us risking ourselves in combat."

Porter finishes:

"Finally, I think that would be the perfect diversion for trying Yaz's stone shape. The guys in the alcoves will be watching the fireworks going on in the middle of the room. They probably wouldn't notice the hole in the floor forming. With a silence spell, Rowan, Aithne, and myself could get up there and hack them to pieces. I'd like to get my hands on some of their gear. From one of the alcoves, we'd be in a much better position to attack the others."

Porter then shrugs:

"Just my ideas."

As you continue to debate the final decision regarding whether or not to assault the ratmen's strongpoint or not, Booker speaks:

"Hey, listen up bruthas an' sistuhs, I gotta shoot now. Booker's six hours be up now and so I gotta be gettin' back to bein' a statue."

Porter nods:

"No problem, brother-man. I'll make sure I get your share from these cats. Peace."

"See y'all in a week, dudes," Booker finishes.

Aithne adds:

"Thanks, Booker. Hope to see you again next week."

With that, Booker's form starts to shimmer. He starts to shrink in size, while his furry coat starts to grow more and more smooth and glossy, until he reverts back to the onyx ornament that he was before Porter brought him to life. Porter gently picks up the onyx dog and places him in his pouch.

Just then, they hear some commotion coming from the cavern ahead.

Rowan immediately speaks to his cousin:

"Cousin, if you would be so kind as to loan me the cloak once more, then I shall find out what's going on."

Joy hands him the cloak and Rowan immediately throws it over his shoulder before heading into the shadows, all but disappearing in the process. The rest of them draw their weapons and hope that nothing has alerted the ratmen to their location.

Rowan is gone for around five minutes. As it becomes obvious that the ratmen are not coming for the party, they relax a little, but then start to get a little nervous as to Rowan's safety. It is thus with some relief that they see him removing the cloak from his shoulders and handing it back to Joy.

"It was just a guard change," Rowan explains. "Sixteen ratmen came from the northeast passageway. Ten of them were the black ratmen, while the other six consisted of a green-robed shaman, one wearing a mask, and another four brown rats. None of them were carrying anything other than swords."

"Once they were in the central cavern, the ten black ratmen came from the northwestern passageway. They spent a while squeaking with the new arrivals and then the fresh troops headed for the northwestern passageway while the ones that they relieved went back to the northeast. Once that was completed, a rope ladder came down from the northwestern gallery and the six occupants started to descend. They didn't bring any weapons apart from swords with them either."

"As with the black ratmen, they spent a couple of minutes squeaking to each other and then the relief force headed up to the gallery while the others headed after the black ratmen down the northeastern passageway."

"We may want to coordinate our assault with their guard change," Winnacer suggests. "The confluence of ratmen would make a nice target for an area effect spell and it would be nice to spare some of their equipment. I surely would not mind the use of one of their giant gunnes and I believe we would make good use of their flame machines. But coordinating our attack with their guard change may be more difficult than it would be worth."

Porter shakes his head:

"The last thing you want to do is coordinate any attack with a guard change. One, it gives them more numbers. Two, even if you take them all out, then the rest of the ratmen back in the warren are going to wonder where the relieved guards are. If anything, you want to time the attack for right after the guard change. That would give us the longest amount of time before anyone new came to investigate."

Winnacer smiles:

"Somehow I have a feeling they'll know we are around long before they have the time to send out a search party. It also may be to our benefit to attack the larger group, as we will hopefully be hitting them from surprise with some type of large conflagration. We will have to fight the replacements eventually, but at least this way we are picking the battleground."

"But your point is well made. If we cannot quickly neutralize the large number of troops, it would be best to go immediately after the guard change, perhaps utilizing the activity of the guards to aid in disguising our movements."

Winnacer sighs:

"Well, it very much looks like we don't have the spells to do what we want - which is to blow up everything at the same time then rush forward and beat up the ratlings. What we need to decide is do we want to backtrack and make camp and learn new spells and replenish abilities and so forth or not. As I see it, we have decent enough spells to adequately make a plan to blow up the cubby hole over us - if we were to use the shadow stuff as a distraction and shape the stone to allow us to come up behind them. I was thinking perhaps shadow carrion crawlers - as fake paralysis would be nice if the spell does that sort of thing and they logically would be able to climb up the walls and so forth."

"Blowing up the other three, I think, is out of our league. And if we are blowing things up - the gongs won't matter much. I'd like to sit back and see if we can better coordinate our spells so we can do want we want rather than push it. But if we want to give the cubby hole a try - then let's go."

Rowan nods:

"I think that we might be better off just resting for the night. Now that we know what we're up against, I think that we might have a chance against them, especially if we have Timex's stone servant working with us."

Aithne agrees:

"I think we should return to the village where we can get proper rest. I have a feeling we'd wake up a lot here."

Porter snaps:

"Oh, like we're not going to run into a ton a crap on the way out and on the way back in again. I'm for holing up here. If you want, I'll stand watch. I'll be allright."

Aithne rolls her eyes:

"Now who's the macho posturer in the group?" she mutters.

As soon as Porter looks away, she sticks her tongue out at him, rather childishly.

Porter looks back incredulously at Aithne, saying:

"What the hell is your problem? You just gotta disagree with everybody except lover-boy here, don't ya? I don't like the idea of crawling back through all the shit for another four hours and back down here for another four hours. I think we'll run into just as much problems leaving as staying, if not more. Keep rolling your eyes like that, and one day, somebody will just rip them right the f*** out."

Aithne smiles at Porter, displaying just the merest hint of sarcasm:

"Ah, your sweet words are music to my ears. Your sensitivity is disarming. However, I think we've taken out the main obstacles to getting back in here--mainly the 'shrooms and the eyeball thingy. So, other than having to travel a bit, I'd still rather rest where I might wake up without a rat bastard doing it for me. If we agree to stay here though, I'll be happy to watch as long as needed. My vote is just for the inn."

"Assuming I get a vote," she adds.

"How any creature can get even a wink of sleep in holes like this is beyond me," Yaz mutters. "If we ain't attacking," -- Yaz scowls in disappointment -- "I'm for flying the f*** outta here."

"But we should clean up on our way out. If there's a patrol and they find the corpses we've left lying around, we may come back to a lot of trouble. We can bury everything in the fungus room."

"I don't mind leading the way out," Yaz continues looking towards Porter, "unless you wanna do it."

"I don't want to leave this place until the job's done," Porter replies with a tinge of bitterness.

Rowan nods:

"As much as I'd love a hot bath and a warm bed," Rowan says, "the idea of crawling back and forth through cramped, filthy tunnels does not appeal to me in the least. As long as we set a watch, we should have no particular difficulty staying the night here."

Winnacer concurs:

"For once I agree with our pandering companion. We should be fine down here if we take adequate precautions. We should move the besmircher's body far from us, in the hope that other predators find it rather than us. I bet that, if we stick close to the rat caverns, they'll provide a measure of safety for us. I get the feeling that few creatures leave easily through their passages."

"We should keep two on guard at all times. Those who cannot see in the dark can use my helmet during their watch. No light when we sleep and we should try to stay out of the open if possible."

Aithne bows to the majority:

"Very well, then. At least I can see down here."

At seeing that the party seems to be totally split regarding whether to spend the next 18 hours or so holed up in a cavern or taking the long way home back up to the surface, Timex coughs and then speaks:

"I can see that you are undecided as to whether to go or stay," he says a little meekly. "If I have a vote, then I would very much like to return to Litultovitze tonight so that my brother does not worry unduly about our safety. He also may have some more ideas as to what to do regarding this matter."

With Timex having the casting vote, the decision is made to return to the surface, reluctantly in the case of Rowan and Porter.