(November 17, 2002) Chronicler: Isaku
Month 8, Day 11, Year 1561 --
After hearing some rumors of an unusual amount of rat activity near the docks, our party decides to investigate. Zazu, Mulan and I went down to the docks and talked to the River Rats Tong (gang). They said the last warehouse was abandoned, last time they checked, and that the vacant lot beside it seemed to be teeming with rats, including some "rats of unusual size" (ROUS). Probably dire rats, and maybe some goblin rats?
We were invited to Zenako's Great Aunt's house for dinner, and all but Gorvak and Kit attended. While there, Hatori kindly presented Ashiko and myself with healing scrolls, in recognition for helping the party in general with our healing abilities (most of which was achieved through healing scrolls that we purchase from our share of the treasure). We gratefully accepted the unexpected gifts.
We then shared the info we had gathered on the town's rat problem. Noku had recieved an odd message from an undisclosed source, that was directed to Zenako. I don't remember the exact words, but it was something to the effect of: follow the water into a building (or under a pier?), go down the tunnels and concentrate on the bigger rats. It also said "the one with scepter mighty, source of anti-good."
Month 8, Day 12 --
Zenako informed Chief Constable Shiba Regaro of our plans to enlist his support. (It didn't seem like a good idea to break into a warehouse without his knowledge, especially when attempting to do something for the good of the town.) The chief agreed, in the hopes that we would find the source of the ROUS'. He drafted a warrant that we could pick up in the afternoon, and deputized Hatori for 1 week, to allow us to enter areas as needed (within reason). He requested that we keep the damage to a minimum, and said that we were not to remove anything we found in the warehouse itself, but we were entitled to anything we found in any tunnels underneath the building. He advised Hatori to use his best judgement.
Armed with our warrant and newly appointed deputy, we headed to the docks through a back alley, and approached the last warehouse. Ashi sensed for sources of air, and detected some sort of tunnel under the building. Mulan looked for tracks around the building, but found nothing of note - no tracks leading into walls or secret entrances.
Zazu listened at the door, and hearing nothing, picked the lock and opened the door. Nothing attacked, and there appeared to be no one in the desk area. Mulan found a set of month-old human tracks in the dust. Zazu opened the door to the next area, which appeared to be just as dusty. He looked at a set of sliding doors that covered a small cupboard in the wall, but found nothing unusual. The room in the corner contained a desk and some empty chests. Mulan noted that the chests may have been moved. It appeared that the owners had moved out in an orderly fashion, not leaving anything of value behind.
Ashi sensed a source of air underneath a palette. After some searching, we discovered a trapdoor under a bed, covering a stairway. Noku prepared a Ghostlight spell, and warned the party. We headed downstairs with Zazu in the lead. I followed him, carrying a lantern we had found upstairs in the warehouse. There were more dusty human tracks on the stairs.
Zazu found a set of keys in a barrel at the bottom of the stairs, and took the keys. He also searched some shelves and found a pouch of 8 copper coins with diagrams on them.
We found another stairway leading down to a room with a table and chairs. There was a human skeleton slumped in one chair, clothed in a tattered kimono. The skeleton didn't move as Zazu approached, and he noticed a fist-sized hole in the skull.
Mulan looked more closely, and noticed a ring under one foot of the skeleton. Before we moved anything, Noku cast Detect Magic. The ring did not appear to be magical, nor did anything else in the room. He also checked out the adjoining rooms, which were apparently a barracks and an equipment room. Nothing showed up as magical.
Hatori appraised the ring (without touching it), and determined that it was onyx, worth about 200 GP or so. He picked up the ring, and came face to face with the ghost of a beautiful woman, who moaned loudly. Everyone but Zazu, Zenako and Saru panicked and ran off in various directions. Zenako and Zazu, who had been in the other rooms, came back to investigate. Zenako picked up the ring, which Hatori had dropped, and attempted to hand it to the ghost. The ghost looked at Zenako mournfully, but did not take the ring.
After a while, the rest of us calmed down and returned to the room with the ghost. We eventually figured out that the ghost merely desired a decent burial, and disappeared when we promised to see to it. We collected the bones of the skeleton in a sack, and Ashi and I said a prayer for the woman's spirit.
Ashi said that she had found a passage beyond the racks in the equipment room (during her attempt to run from the ghost). It looked like a steep descent, and she thought she had heard the squeaking of rats.
Hatori determined that we were outside the bounds of the original property, so we could now take anything we found. We headed down the passage, and were attacked by rats coming out of the walls! All but Mulan and Hatori were caught by surprise.
The two end rats turned into bakemono/rat hybrids (goblin rats), and one of them knocked down Zazu. Zenako faced that goblin rat, while Ashi sprinkled dust over her and turned her into a cat-warrior. The goblin rat panicked at the sight of a huge cat, and Zenako chased it down and killed it. Mulan killed the other goblin rat. Noku slept a bunch of the dire rats. We fought of the rats that weren't slept in a few rounds. In all, we killed 20 dire rats and 2 goblin rats. I cast a CLW spell on Zazu to bring him around, and cast a couple CLW scrolls on myself and Raji.
We pushed on to the bottom of the passage, and found more rats. Hatori cast Elemental Burst on a few, Ashi cast Sleep on a few more, Noku cast Ghostlight to make an image of a tiger appear, and I cast Bless on the party. We finished those off, and pushed on.
As we turned around a bend to a large chamber, and Noku's tiger disappeared. Apparently someone up ahead had cast Dispel Magic. There were more rats in the chamber. Hatori cast Elemental Burst and killed 5 of them. The third and longest battle ensued...
There were several rats in the large chamber. Raji and I moved up and killed 4 rats, while Zazu noticed a female goblin rat floating in the air (a Fly spell?). The floater cast Unholy Blight on the party, but no one fell, fortunately. The floater then cast Shout, which deafened Mulan and knocked Gonji (Ashi's dog) down. Apparently a shamaness, probably of the Fury and Travel domains?
I moved forward and was attacked by a huge rat that jumped out from behind a wall. It took us a while, but Raji and I eventually killed it. Ashi blessed my butterfly sword (+1) so I would have a magic weapon to hit the goblin rats.
One of the goblin rat acolytes ran to a statue of a goblin rat in the corner of the chamber. It drew its own blood, apparently trying to animate the statue.
Zenako, Mulan and the others were busy with several goblin rats and dire rats. Apparently the shamaness had cast Invisibility to Enemies on herself, since some folks weren't able to see her. Zazu and I could see her, and tried to tell the others where she was.
Hatori was knocked down by a goblin rat champion, and Mulan was knocked down by the goblin rat shamaness. I managed to reach Mulan to cast a CLW scroll on her, and one on myself. I attempted to smite the shamaness, but missed. The shamaness ran to the statue, and I followed and cast Burning Hands on her, but it had no effect. Most likely she had cast Endure Elements vs. fire on herself. Zazu was able to splash her with acid, at least!
We eventually killed most of the shamaness' forces: 1 giant rat, 3 goblin rats, 1 acolyte (2nd level), 2 champions (5/6 level), and 44 dire rats. 2 acolytes turned into rat form and escaped into the walls, along with 10 dire rats.
That left the shamaness on her own, and she fled. We attempted to chase her, but couldn't keep up. We decided to gather what loot we could from the shrine/chamber, but left the statue alone at Noku's warning. We then left the warehouse to regroup, before the shamaness could return with reinforcements.
We found some loot left behind by the goblin rats, who lose anything they were carrying when they change to rat form. There were: 4 flasks of what appeared to be alchemists fire, 6 flasks of acid, 3 CLW potions, 1 Shugenja scroll with 3 spells, and several coins, bills and gems.
We decided to seek what aid we could, then go back down to finish off the shamaness before dusk, when she would probably get new spells. Gorvak agreed to join us, but Ashi was out of spells and decided to not to go back. Hatori led a group of constables in guarding the warehouse to make sure the shamaness didn't escape.