Gameplay 1b - Rats in the Woodwork

Gerald follow the tracks through the street. They lead straight to a sewer grate, which although in place has been forced upward at some point and no longer sits securely in the road.

"Well we've already had breakfast so seeing it again might be soon in our future, does anyone have a lantern..."

"I have candles." Cecily pulls out two to confirm she does in fact possess them.

All I have is flint and steel and no kindling... Gerald replies, trying to make light of the situation.

You could grab a lamp from the murder house. It's probably not cursed or anything.

Not fearing a curse (especially when one could study and learn from it) Cecily will do just that. No one was using it anyways.

You lift the grate and are struck immediately by the smell. The old sewers reek of decay, with a hint of something altogether more sinister masked by the foul odor. A ladder leads down into the stone tunnels.

Ataan heads down after apply a handkerchief face mask.

Your characters would likely know that you'll need to dampen the rag for it to be effective at reducing smells.

"I'd say we're on the right track, call it intuition. Now just to be clear we're doing this right now?"

Gerald spits into his kerchief and covers his mouth and nose, following Ataan and Cecily.

Masked up, you enter the sewers.

The sewers aren’t very big. The walls are ancient, built long before the port, and appear to have been used for some other purpose before the river broke through and flooded them. The walls show faint traces of mosaics, and the floor is paved. The entire area is filled with several inches of water and is extremely slippery.

One way stops immediately. You follow the other way down 30 yards or so, where it turns to the right. Shortly thereafter, you reach a crossroads. You peer and listen in either direction, though you can't see terribly far even with lantern light.

Notice checks please.

Hmmm. Looks like we got a decision to make.

Gerald peers down the passages as far as he can see which isn't much. He listens for some kind of clue or hint as to which way to go.

"Shh." Cecily closes her eyes and listens for what may be in store for them.

Ataan looks of signs of blood or recent traffic down the various directions.

Those who succeed hear frantic squeaking from up ahead, moving in their direction. Characters who were successful are on Hold.

Seconds later, a swarm of rats bursts around the nearest corner and surges toward the heroes in a writhing, chattering wave of teeth and fur.

Those of you on hold (not Cecily) can act before the rat wave hits you.

"Miss Cecily don't be alarmed but it seems rats have noticed us first." Ataan states moving up to attack the rats when they get closer to him.

Successful attack, roll damage

Ataan successfully kills one out of the hundreds of rats.

Gerald is up (with a Held action) then I'll flip action cards