Morveya continued to watch, as Neo had suggested to her.

Some amused by the banter, wincing a little at the chopping sounds.  The collar truly was odd...did Proots keep these things as pets?

"Be gentle with her, Aendyr!  It's probably a bad hair day." 

"Too late," Korin grunts.

"Oh, garn. Well, that's a terrible end to her fable!  Don't recite that one to the children." 

Drostan tried hard to slay another rat, but the moving mass seemed to make it so that he was just a little behind the movement and missed everything but trash.
This message was last updated by the GM at 01:55, Wed 09 Feb 2022.

The room was a bit of utter chaos, with rats moving through the litter, making them difficult to see.  One of the rats snapped at Aendyr, causing him to step back to avoid the teeth, while Neo stabbed through one of the many rats.

The next rat was, at least perhaps in its rodent mind, a little more fortunate, managing to take a bite out of Aendyr (-2hp Aendyr) while Korin stepped back just in time to avoid being bitten.  Another rat attempted to bite Aendyr, who was not having any of that, having suffered one bite already, while Korin found that his step to evade one rat had brought him squarely into the teeth of another (-3hp Korin).  Drostan flailed at the rats with his sword, only managing to stir up trash in the process.

Three more rats attacked wildly, as the jewelry wearing rat retreated out of reach.  Another rat missed Drostan, while yet another managed to take a nip out of him (-1hp Drostan)

At this, Aendyr tried to strike rats, intent on the jewelry wearing rat, but the one who caught his blade was another one, but at least it was another dead rodent.

As another rat bit Neo (-2hp Neo), Qrox tried to slice through the rodents with the sickle, coming up empty.  While none of the other rats were able to put tooth on the elite soldiers of Trozan, Korin brought down another rat with a decisive move.

---

3 rats killed, 11 remaining

Injured:
Aendyr -2hp
Drostan -1hp (for a total of 4)
Korin -3hp
Neo -2hp

The bejewelled rat catches Neo's eye, thanks to Aendyr's efforts to skewer it.

The kuduk quickly throws both his daggers at the collared rat. The first is on target, the second skitters wide.

He then draws another pair of blades from the sheathes on his back.

---

Neo Shadowcloak rolled 20 for 4 damage; and 6 for a miss with thrown daggers.

"Bloody hell!" Aendyr exclaimed.  "The dodgy peddler who sold me this chainmail claimed a shark couldn't bite through it.  Sharks!  Nevermind rats.  I have half a mind to ride all the way back there and give him a vigorous thrashing."

The injury didn't seem to bother Aendyr near as much as his armor's failure.



"This fairytale is not over just yet, Morveya.  One of her royal bodyguards leapt in at the last second and valiantly sacrificed himself for her."

Aendyr was not deterred.  He continued to focus on the sparkly-collared rat, trying to put it to the sword, but settling for killing another bodyguard if it got in his way.

While his longsword was again rat-fatal, his shortsword was not doing as well.  Probably because the style he'd been taught was mostly for fighting other armed chaps and the occasional beast of the larger-than-rat sort.

---

21:49, Today: Aendyr rolled 2 using 1d10.  initiative.
21:47, Today: Aendyr rolled 21 using 1d20+4.  longsword to hit.
21:48, Today: Aendyr rolled 13 using 1d8+6.  longsword damage.
21:49, Today: Aendyr rolled 4 using 1d20+1.  shortsword to hit.

Qrox again tries to hit a rat with the sickle, again showing the Slith's priest like prowess on the battlefield and managing to sling the weapon across the floor.  The large lizard frowns as the weapon skitters away into the mass of rats.

"Ouch!" Korin exclaims. He glares down at the rat that just bit him and slashes at it with his sword, skewering it. "Whose next?" he demands.

OOC:
18:48, Today: Korin Redbeard rolled 22 using 1d20+2.  to hit rats.
18:48, Today: Korin Redbeard rolled 7 using 1d8+5.  damage. (+8 for Natural 20) =15

This message was last edited by the player at 23:55, Wed 09 Feb 2022.

Drostan set to trying to eliminate more rats, not being particular about which one he killed, just as long as a rat died, slicing through two of them.

---

22:43, Today: DM, on behalf of Drostan, rolled 4 using 1d10.
22:42, Today: DM, on behalf of Drostan, rolled 37 using 2d20 with rolls of 17,20.
22:42, Today: DM, on behalf of Drostan, rolled 11 using 1d8+5.
22:42, Today: DM, on behalf of Drostan, rolled 13 using 1d8+5.

While at least some of the group seemed fixated on a particular rat, the winnowing of the number of rodents proceeded apace regardless.

Neo threw his daggers, it seemed that the collared rat was no longer visible--but there was still a solid connection to bring down a rat.  At the same time, Korin taught the rat which had bit him a fatal lesson to not do that again.  Aendyr likewise tried to winnow the rapidly moving mass of rats, with a solid slice through the spine of another rat.

Drostan, working quickly, cut through two more rats, while the remaining rats were moving quickly through the debris.  Although the rats had tried to evade the sudden proliferation of sharp objects, near half of the rats were gone as Qrox meant to further bring down the rats, though the sickle slid away into the debris.

With squeals, the remaining rats seemed to have scuttled into holes away from the group.  A full dozen rats were dead--though not the collared rat, and the rest of the rats had retreated.

Neo retrieves his two thrown daggers and carefully wipes the blood and gore onto a rate corpse. He then sheathes all of his blades and unslings his bow, and nocks an arrow.

The kuduk carefully pushes any leaves out of the way with his foot, to check for covered pits before advancing.

Aendyr crouched down near one of the rats' escape holes.

"This isn't over, Rat Princess," he said ominously, holeward.

When Aendyr stood up and turned around he saw Neo readying his bow.  He sheathed his swords.

"It's bow time."

Aendyr unlimbered his longbow and drew an arrow, joining Neo in the lead, just a half step behind him and to the left.  He peered down the tunnel intent on shooting the first and probably the second kobold he saw.

---

How wide, tall, and long is this tunnel Aendyr is peering down?  What's the footing like?  Is it straight?  Sloped?

Drostan sheathed his sword, pausing to try to tie up something over the bleeding rat bites he had suffered, and then was ready to follow without drawing another weapon.  Those who remembered how he had dispatched the kobolds on the way to the fort knew that he was just as deadly with his hands.

The tunnel leading away from this room was perhaps seven feet wide, looking to be just over five feet tall.  There seemed to be a curve to the tunnel, but Aendyr could not be certain about whether there was a slope or not.  The ground looked to be mostly stone, with bits of mud and tracked leaves.

Sword still drawn, Korin goes over and carefully fetches the priest's sickle, ready to hack away should any rat suddenly appear. Once he grabs it, he cautiously backs up and returns to the group and hand's it to the priest. "It happens in combat sometimes," he grumbles to the priest.

He then tended to his wound and moved to join Aendyr.


Korin nods wordlessly, though he still has his sword drawn. Someone needed a melee weapon in hand, just in case. He started down the tunnel.

Making their way down the tunnel, it seemed that it had gotten almost too quiet.  After some time, they reached a point where another tunnel led away to the left, while the tunnel also continued straight ahead.

"Wait here. I'll take a quick look down this passage," Neo says as he heads down the left passage.

He will go about 60 feet, or until he comes to another intersection, relying on his infravision only.

---

Did Neo notice if any of the tunnels have been sloping? 75% chance.

Korin stood ready to charge down the tunnel. He was impressed by the Kuduk's courage though his skill at arms, he was less sure about. Regardless, being attacked by multiple opponents on multiple sides might be challenging for even a skilled warrior in the event he was ambushed. Perhaps not so much if it was kobolds, but there might be other things about.

Aendyr knew he should keep his eyes on the tunnel ahead of them, but he couldn't keep himself from looking off to the left at what Neo was doing.  He imagined the kuduk's careful scouting ending in the tunnel revealing itself to secretly have been the mouth and throat of a much larger beast.  CHOMP!  Have no fear.  Neo would still be all in one piece, just on the inside of the giant monster with the Trozanese Elite Vanguard rushing to his rescue.

Now THAT would be an adventure fit for Shenandoah Sam!  Alas, they were here to butcher proots and rats.

Aendyr turned his attention, what little there was, back to watching the tunnel ahead, ready to fire.

Qrox gives a quick and silent prayer to ask for the Kudok's well being.

---

"Hmmmm."

---

Morveya awaited to hear Neo's report.  Glad she yet had both sleep spells on tap.  The rat princess and her retinue were for sure not the worst threat they would face down here.

She strove to be as mindful and aware of detail as possible, knowing well their runt antagonists would rather kill them off in an ambush, or break their necks falling into a pit.