Mr. and Mrs. Bonnet, and their daughter Mathilda, are in a tizz. As you can see from the current state of the Hearth and Road business is very generous. You see they are actually the only Inn for many miles and today, it's drizzling with cold December rain that threatens to turn to ice tonight, or perhaps even snow. It's not great travel weather, for sure.

The smell of food is in the air. Hardtack, rich chicken broth, and what appears to be some kind of bread pudding is what's on the menu but all the employees look /tense/. Especially Mathilda who seems to be managing the place for the moment. She's the one over there giving you all the 'oh no' eyes. The deer in the lantern look. The fearful gaze. You get the picture.

She does, eventually, approach. Once you're all suitably well within the lodge. She gently rubs the back of her neck, nervously. "Hi. W-welcome to Hearth and Road. Will you be staying with us tonight?"

If not for the star iron torc's at throat and bicep Cahal might almost pass for a mercenary. His armor is leather and horn and he's got an easy smile and friendly manner with commoner and Prince alike. Rather than answering Mathilda's question he sweeps his eyes around the room before bouncing back to the fearful look in her eyes. "Looks like you're having a rough time"

Audgrim shakes off some of the rain from his cloak before entering, but keeps the cowl up as he watches the place with the sort of scrutiny born from always being slightly paranoid. He stares at Mathilda with a squint, as if the question doesn't make sense to him at first. "Probably," he murmurs. "But we're here for the rats. Crimson Blades and associates."

The wool wrap is undone from his head and face to reveal a full head of puffy snow-white hair, then the long running scar in the middle of his face, then lips curled into a smirk. Zakhar takes a deep breath in by way of sniffing at the air and nodding to Mathilda, completely forgetting that there might be others along with. "Aye, two...nay. Three bowls of whatever that deliciousness is, a pint of something frothy..." He then looks to Audgrim, "And whatever he's rambling about. Though the food first."

Raimon grins at Zakhar's usual methods, bows his head politely to the innkeepers, and adopts a relaxed manner and posture to perhaps help set them at ease

Cahal checks perception at normal. Cahal is successful.

Audgrim checks perception and investigation at normal. Critical Success! Audgrim is spectacularly successful.

Zakhar checks perception and investigation at normal. Zakhar marginally fails.

Raimon checks perception and empathy at normal. Raimon is successful.

Mathilda looks over her shoulder and calls up a serving girl and asks her to please seat our intrepid heroes and to take their orders. Zakhar, already, has placed his.

They are all seated round a fireside table and soon their food comes out and is placed on their table.

Mathilda joins them a moment later having found her relif.

"The rats are getting worse day by day." She keeps her voice almost to a pleading whisper, "We're going to start losing customers soon, I fear... They've taken over the basement."

Painbow, a militant pygmy goat arrives, delivering a message to Razija before departing.

Audgrim nods to Mathilda, then starts circling the place - he's not interested in eating, he wants to get the job done. "I'll check the kitchen," he informs Mathilda and seeing the cellar door, he takes some time to examine the walls too before returning to the inn itself. "Any idea where they come from?" he asks Mathilda, at least having the decency in keeping his voice low.

"Thats why we're here." Cahal says cheerfully. "We'll head on downstairs and clear them all out for you. All we ask is that you sing our praises, toss that broth out before some poor sap eats it, and pay whatever it was you promise to pay. Shame I dont have any cats to sell. Seems like you're gonna need them."

Raimon looks toward Zakhar once again at this mention. Zakhar has cats. Usually. Also, usually, . . . a -lot- of them. Many Cats. Cats could well be -just- the ticket here! Dogs, too, if the rats are, uh . . . bigger. Raimon grins at Cahal's optimism. OK then! Onward! It's not 'Onwards and Upwards!

(( because it's the basement ))

... so Onwards, alone, must be the sentiment.

Zakhar nods for the soup and proceeds to slurp it down as an old warrior might. Quick, messy, and well... gone. He wipes at his chin, then looks to Audgrim, Cahal, and Raimon. "Really, learn to have some food before working. You'll feel better, and have the energy to deal with any problems." He watches Audgrim go right into the job at hand. Then looks to Cahal. "Aye. fine." The bowls are stacked and placed to the middle of the table. "Basement. What's the foundation made of?"

"I don't eat food from a rat infested inn," Audgrim replies to Zakhar, staring pointedly at his now empty bowl. "Though nothing wrong with rat, in a pinch."

Cahal blanches as Zakhar slurps that broth down. "Can't say I'm hungry."

"Aye, They come pouring through the walls. It's an unfinished cellar and we did have cats." Mathilda swallows hard and bwos her head. "Poor dears. They even ate the bones, the rats. All the gnawing. We heard it for hours." She fidgets with her apron, "We tried plugging the holes first, then we bricked up the basement. They gnawed through that, too..." She watches Zakhar eat the broth, looking worried at first but then-well she was happy he was happy with it.

"We hear sounds down there now... And now we don't go down there. We figure all our supply has been eaten anyway."

Zakhar shakes his head, "That just won't do. Can't have you out of supplies" He looks over to the rest then to the basement door. He looks back to Mathilda, "No, kits wouldn't have been a match for what yer describing." He hangs his head for a moment, then turns to the others "Should I go play meat shield, again?" He's not really asking as he kicks the chair back and stands up.

Raimon makes the "Eeeeeee" -type grit-toothed grimace of sympathy when the fate of the cats is revealed. Oh dear. Perhaps not even dogs will do here. Wolves? Yikes. What's -down- there, anyway? Part of Raimon's mind wonders how exactly big these rats -are-. The saner part of Raimon's mind tells that other part to just shut up about it. Presumably, they'll all know soon. Soon enough, anyway. Raimon looks around the inn and scans his memory of the environs for anything that could be used to make rat traps. A dicey proposition at best. Oh wait, Zak's already moving? Hm. Oh. Raimon stands and moves to a position to guard Zakhar's flank. Just like old times. Maybe. Never been swarmed by rats before. . . well, at least, not rats -this- big!

Cahal asks "They dont talk do they? Giant cat eating rats sound bad enough but if they're gonna try and hold a conversation then i'm not sure I wanna play. The wolf was bad enough."

"You could burn the place down and build a new," Audgrim suggests helpfully. "Though... the problem is where they come from originally. Got to find the source and exterminate it there. Or.. I wonder if their original food source died out." He scans the room, his expression blank as he thinks about something. "Did something change in the area recently? I mean, a larger change. More hunting, whatever."

With not much hassle, the employees part and move pointedly away from the cellar door, clearing a path for the four of them but they are not making a move to remove the blockade. Looks like they may be on their own there.

As if on cue, the sound of a bottle smashing into the floor can be heard from the cellar. (Presumably, unless the rats have learned how to throw of course).

Mathilda is following up the group and provides two oil lanterns. "You'll need this," and she offers them both to the four, leaving it up to them who arms themselves with light.

"I'm not sure. The Inn was just built in April. We started having problems in October, when the weather started getting cold. We have a rural home just outside of the Redoubt, we are used to a *few* rats trying to keep warm for the winter but never quite like this. If they do much structural damage, yes, we will have to rebuild. We would like to avoid such an expense, though..."

Cahal makes no move to take a lantern and instead starts hauling things away from the barricade. "Burning it down wont work anyway. Not if they're coming in from somewhere else. Might be a tunnel or something. Wont know till we get in there anyhow. Maybe they just need mightier cats." he grunts as he picks up a barrel and starts shuffling it aside. Still sounding way to cheerful for someone about to tangle with giant rodents he adds. "Good thing we came armed for bear!"

Raimon reasons: "Rats, Big ones, -do- get on ships. After which, it's hell to get them out. Except when your boat sinks. Then they -do- leave . . . rather promptly." Raimon remembers. "Based on that, could we . . . flood them out? Is there a mill or a stream to dam up? Goodness knows, it's raining enough. Give them a rope to escape on, if you're the kind to not want to drown them." Raimon doubts that any here are that kind. Still. Completeness. And, not knowing the area, he just throws that out there. If there's a tunnel, but it's full of water --- still good. (Except ofc, not for the rats)

Zakhar steps closer to Audgrim, "If they built in April, they could have built onto of a nest and not even known about it until now as they are all seeking warmth." He looks back to Mathilda with a soft nod and faint smile, "Nothing an Eswynd wouldn't look at as additional protein." Then looking to Cahal with a small laugh, "Bear? Naw. We just always come prepared with options." Though he does wink back to the lad, as he looks to the lantern. "I can carry one as being in front if the lads would like to have access to their weapons."

"I prefer using my bow but seems impractical in a basement." Audgrim draws his sword, and eyes the lantern - then grabs one of them in his left hand. "Drowning them? I like it," he says, nodding at Raimon. There's a glance at Mathilda there, to see if she has any input.

"Should be lantern hooks." Cahal points out. "Suppose I could carry one for a bit. I reckon i'm gonna need to use my axe anyway." he gives his spear a lingering look before grinning at Raimon. "And here I was gonna just charge in and start chopping." his expression actually gets serious for a moment. "How're we gonna get that much water? Is there a stream we can divert?"

The poor girl looks worried, and then back around at the other employees. She lowers her voice and nods, "I guess it could be scooped out with buckets. Sounds better than fire and... rats. Everywhere. The outpost here has a well, so there must be some spring nearby. There's a bath house to the north, maybe up there, there's an above ground spring?"

Anyway. It's time. The door before the four is still blocked up, but its nothing that can't be moved. A towel has even been stuffed around the edges of the door to maybe.. prevent the buggers from squeezing out there?

(If you guys are ready to go down, just tell me your marching order for posterity - the stairs are wide enough for you to walk two by 2 if you like).

Raimon wields Lighter Pilum.

Audgrim wields Risk, a diamondplate and cupridium shortsword.

Cahal wields Cloudspite, a rubicund waraxe.

The moment the door opens, it reveals the stench of a rat's nest. Which means it's a thick, musky ammonia smell so strong it almost burns the nose hair right off.

A few steps further and the four of them have been *detected*. There's an obvious uptick of movement and the sound of scurries. When the lantern light hits the floor? Well.

It appears as if the floor is thickly carpeted. A writhing mess. The light causes them to scratch and move and yelp.

Several holes chewed through the bricks are like a highway of rodent movement. For each one they scare out, there seems to be two more slithering in.

Thousands. There are literal thousands.

Perception + Investigation checks at normal please!

Cahal checks perception and investigation at normal. Cahal marginally fails.

Zakhar checks perception and investigation at normal. Zakhar fails.

Audgrim checks perception and investigation at normal. Audgrim is successful.

Raimon checks perception and investigation at normal. Raimon is successful.

"There," Audgrim says and points to the center of the writhing mass - he's paused, cause how the heck do you fight thousands and thousands of rats, with a sword? "I saw a large eye. A bigger rat. Do rats have uh, leaders?" He does not look too interested in diving into this rat-hoard.

Rai has two pilums. Pili? Spears? We'll go with spears, yeah, sure. Any-the-way, 'special spears,' build to go through stuff. Hitting other stuff, behind the stuff. Because those romans, boy they were smart. Especially about the killing-of-things. And Arxmans aren't too far behind. Rai pauses in his descent of the staircase, balances, and tries to nail the big one. Through the small ones, if need be. Great big eyes make great round targets. A shame you can only carry two pilamacallits. _Spears_. Yes. Spears. Don't miss, Rai! Or, at least, yeah, don't miss -twice-. 'Cause then it's time to go swimming in rats. How fun is that? None very. "There's a King Rat." Raimon explains.

Cahal almost waded all the way in before Audgrim's 'there' pulls him up short. "Huh." He takes a step back as he lifts the lantern to cast light over the horde. "Drowning them suddenly seems like a great idea."

Zakhar blinks, then waves the lantern over the lovely wriggling dark mass of carpeted cellar he's seen in some time. Looking over his shoulder to the rest, "What's that?" Though the concept of stopping didn't reach into his mind far enough and he proceeds to walk into the nest as everyone else is discussing them.

"A very large rat, but I can't see it now. It's somewhere in the heap though," Audgrim says. He takes a few steps further down and hooks the lantern up on anything available on the wall, amber eyes shining in the light as he scans the room in the hopes of finding the large one again.

Raimon checks dexterity and huge wpn at hard. Raimon marginally fails.

Zakhar looks back to his feet, "Rats?" Swinging the light over top of where he stands and possibly clicking on all cylinders and now... now, he's reaching for a weapon. eyeballer? The frying pan? Spoon?! No, no, and alas no. He comes back with a stick that is covered in teeth, or what looks to be teeth. And grins at the no longer carpet, taking a swing at whatever is in front of him.

Cahal checks dexterity and medium wpn at easy. Cahal is successful.

Zakhar checks dexterity and small wpn at easy. Zakhar is successful.

Audgrim checks perception and investigation at hard. Audgrim is successful.

Audgrim checks dexterity and medium wpn at hard. Audgrim fails.

"There!" Audgrim says and he leaps forward with his short-sword, trying to stab the bigger rat - but he misses, instead maybe skewering a few of the smaller rats in the process.

Cahal mutters "This is fine. Totally fine." as he starts moving forward again, this time to set the lantern onto one of the hooks that are surely present (assuming the rats didnt redecorate yet) He shifts the axe in his grip as he moves, mumbling. "Good thing I remembered my gloves. And my good boots. And my beard. And my helm. But why didn't I bring a codpiece. Please Gloria. Dont make me need one." He shifts his grip on the axe again, eying the surrounding hordes. "So glad I brought my axe. Wouldnt wanna do this with a spear. Hey! GET OFF!" He shakes a rat off his boot before bringing his axe down to cut the offending rodent apart with his waraxe.. "Wait?!? Theres a big one?" Chop. Another rat departs with life. "Where?" This time his axe narrowly missed decapitating a third as he searches the horde for the mystery king-rat. "I dont see it."

Raimon checks perception and investigation at hard. Raimon marginally fails.

Raimon calls out to Cahal: "About 4 inches left of ... where the ... rats, it moved ... at least it -was- there ..." Raimon sounds a bit disappointed. Well. Some times hard things aren't easy. "It's tricky to spot!" Raimon cautions. Blast it. Where did the beast go? Raimon squints in the abysmal lighting of the twin lanterns. Where -are- you, you monster?

Audgrim checks luck at easy. Audgrim is successful.

Little rats and their pieces go flying, but the big rat king remains quite elusive.

But uhm. Now the little rats are pretty pissed off and like any other animal backed into a corner (or a basement) some of them begin to flee out the holes. The others, well. They are fighting back. Against all of you. At once. Mind your ankles! Give me some wiggle checks please? Dexterity + Dodge. (Or if you want to beat them off and risk lopping your foot off. Or. If you have another idea, please go for it before you all find out you ALL needed those codpieces.

Cahal checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Cahal marginally fails.

Audgrim checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Audgrim is successful.

Raimon checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Raimon is successful.

Zakhar checks dexterity and small wpn at normal. Zakhar is successful.

Zakhar grins softly back at the swarm and swings harder as they rush to his feet and shins, weather he misses or not, he's more making sure to bat them away from him and any that might get the idea to go after others. Either way Mister Bitey has snacks on the menu, and Zakhar is seeking more tails for some pies.

It's easy to shake off most of them but one slips up Cahal's leg and gives him a nasty bite on his thigh. It's a pinch, it doesn't seem like it's broken the skin - yet.

Next round!

Meanwhile, there's developments while they are distracted. The small rats have begun to work themselves into a froth and eventually, annoyed by the chaos, the Rat King appears. Half because of the clearing of the scurrying little oens and half because he bursts out.

No more Perception/Investigation rolls needed. He's just a 'hard' attack/to hit.

Cahal checks strength and medium wpn at hard. Cahal fails.

Audgrim checks dexterity and medium wpn at hard. Audgrim marginally fails.

Zakhar checks dexterity and small wpn at hard. Zakhar is successful.

Raimon checks dexterity and huge wpn at hard. Raimon is successful.

Audgrim's motions are half dance and half trying to dislodge rats by shaking or kicking - and he lunges now at the bigger rat that is coming out of hiding so to speak. His sword narrowly misses the target.

Cahal youches as the more aggressive rodents swarm up his legs. Most of them bite at the heavy leather parts of his combat pants but one lucky rat manages to wriggle its way into the gap between knee and greave and bite softer leather. "Where?" He says as he dances about trying to stamp rodents away from his body. "What. Oh! I see it!" he sweeps some rodents off his legs with the haft of his waraxe and starts moving with determination towards the big king rat. He swings in its direction but the blade of his waraxe bites into the edge of a barrel before bouncing off the metal bands instead of drawing rodent blood.

Raimon shouts: "There he is!" and throws. "Found him! He's the one with the big spear sticking out of him," Raimon deadpans, ?helpfully? Raimon shakes his head in wonder at the marvel that the beast won't die. That's an extremely tough 'rat king,' no doubt about it, kudos to him. Raimon draws another weapon. 'Onward.'

Zakhar's eyes go big as the king rat makes its presence known, he peers at it for a moment, muttering at the beast of a rat before lifting Mister Bitey up over his head to swing down hard as Raimon shouts what to look for.

Hissss! The Rat King angry. Rat King need meat! Meatiest man, closest man! He lunges at Audgrim!

Everyone else, the little rodents are determined to finish you off.

Audgrim, Dodge me at normal. The rest, at easy.

Zakhar checks dexterity and dodge at easy. Zakhar is successful.

Raimon checks dexterity and dodge at easy. Raimon is successful.

Cahal checks dexterity and dodge at easy. Cahal is successful.

Audgrim checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Audgrim is successful.

This is not going the rats' way. They may be beasts with the intelligence of beasts but they definitely know when things are not going their way at all.

They begin to scatter and in their panic, they leave themselves more open to attack.

You can attack the rat king at normal as he begins to run for his fat little life (or the swarm at easy).

Audgrim checks dexterity and medium wpn at normal. Audgrim is successful.

Zakhar checks dexterity and small wpn at easy. Zakhar is successful.

Raimon checks dexterity and huge wpn at normal. Raimon is successful.

Cahal checks strength and medium wpn at normal. Cahal is successful.

"...errrk," Audgrim says and manages to do enough acrobatics to avoid being bitten by the giant rat, a fate he'd rather not suffer. "Gah, it stinks here," he says and counters by going low and stabbing for the Rat King from another angle, maybe crushing a smaller rat in the process. "He's running!"

"Stop. trying. to. bite. me. ankles! you fuckers!" Zakhar continues to swing at the rats, from the king to the smaller ones. Mister Bitey is getting a workout and Zakhar looks to be getting angry at the animals.

There's a screetch - a ratty death knell. The majority of the small rats escape or manage to hide but the Rat King, when all attention was focused upon him, fell.

Audgrim is right. It really doesn't smell good here. And, being able to take a look around they can see why. Rats are not very hygienic (at least by human standards). Everything is sticky if they dare to touch it. Including the floor. Their boots make sounds that may haunt them forever.

Everything in the basement has been gnawed at. Demolished. Bottles are broken. Barrels were gnawed into to make nests. Entire cheese wheels are gone. Stores of dried meat? Not even the scent remains.

One second passes. Another. Five. Then - screaming. From above.

Cahal is just about to murmur "Where did they go?" when the screaming starts. He looks at the other three and then up the stairs in the direction of the screaming. "Well." he says slowly, grinning sheepishly. "Oops. Guess we shoulda barricaded the door behind us."

Raimon follows up on Augrim's off-angle attack, using the distraction this other wound to catch the rat king with a hit from the original angle. This is why it is extremely inconvenient to fight multiple people. The rat king understands. Raimon looks about at the carnage, eyes squinting, elbow folded over his nose. Until. the Scream. Oh no! Raimon hurries back up the stairs . . .

. . . is everyone OK up there?

"I don't know how to get the smell out," Audgrim mutters - but then there's that scream and he shoots to the stairs as well. "I bet they're going to lose some customers. Or a lot."

"Thieves oil." Zakhar shoots over to Audgrim just before the screaming starts above them. "Doesn't smell any better, though will get the stick and most of the stench." Then the screaming starts. "Fuck..." He simply looks up at the rafters above them.

Fire will get that smell out real good. Just saying.

Upstairs, there are rats bursting through from the walls and flooding the dining room. Customers are all clamoring upon tables to avoid the deluge - and out the door they are fleeing right into the rainy night.

Mathilda has fainted, propped up by the podium at the front door. A confused young rat stands on her head and sniffs the air before leaping off to join his extended family.

"They in danger?" Cahal calls after Raimon.

Raimon breathes out a long, low sigh. Raimon calls on down the stairs: "Guys ... better get up here ... " Raimon just stares. Yup that is a LOT of rats. Maybe . . . Audgrim's fire plan? Raimon fetches a log from the fireplace. Dubiously, he starts waving off rats with it. Better than nothing, which is all he could think of right now.

Audgrim checks composure at hard. Audgrim fails.

Audgrim rushes into the dining room and whirls around as rats run around there - but seeing that they are heading outside, he just helps chase them out as best as he can. Despite Mathilda having fainted, he can't stop himself from snickering quite loudly and amusedly at the sight of the rat on her head before it too leaves. Not very professional!

Cahal bounds up the stairs two at a time after Raimon's call for them to join them. "Wh.." he starts to ask before also noting that the rats are leaving. Helpfully he shouts "And dont come back!" after them.

Zakhar takes the stairs slow as he listens to the scurrying and heavy footsteps of the others chasing after the rats. Getting to the top of the stairs with a sigh, then looking around in the kitchen for any that might be left.

Cahal checks intellect and survival at normal. Cahal is successful.

Audgrim checks intellect and survival at normal. Audgrim is successful.

Zakhar checks intellect and survival at normal. Botch! Zakhar fails completely.

Raimon checks intellect and survival at normal. Raimon is successful.

The Inn is safe. Maybe for a night. Maybe two but within a week, the rats will likely be returning. (Sorry Cahal).

There may be a few stragglers hanging about (easily gotten rid of).

Zakhar has somehow confused them with the legendary water hamster. They're obviously returning to the mother ship or something!

Raimon reasons: "Well, they're gone. But, odds are, they'll be back. If you guys can help me gather up some of the dead ones, and some food, we can leave poison traps to discourage them. Or cut down on the numbers at least" (( aka The Lycene Solution )). Raimon wanders about the kitchen, collecting food scraps and dead rats to bait. A lonely silence descends upon the Inn, what with the customers gone

"Dibs on the big one." Cahal says enthusiastically before disappearing back into the cellar to retrieve his trophy-corpse.

Raimon checked dexterity + alchemy at difficulty -1, rolling 29 higher.

Raimon drops rat poison.

Raimon checks intellect and survival at normal. Raimon is successful.

Audgrim checks intellect and survival at normal. Audgrim is successful.

Zakhar checks intellect and survival at normal. Zakhar is successful.

Raimon gets rat poison.

What's poisonous to humans is also poisonous to rats. However, the problem might be disguising it. Does anyone have any Legerdemain?

Raimon drops Rat Poison.

Zakhar checks wits and legerdemain at normal. Zakhar fails.

Audgrim checks dexterity and legerdemain at normal. Audgrim is successful.

Mathilda, the next morning, quits. All the guests have left by dawn and if the four are still around to hear about it, it's a loud fight. Raimon cooks up a deadly poison and it's all laid out, disguised properly. Cahal gets his trophy corpse (You ever seen the princess bride's ROUSs? There you go).

Even before their stay at the Hearth and Road Inn is fully come to a conclusion they can see the effects the poison has. It starts with one or two. Then ten or twenty.

They can be thankful Razija told them to 'exterminate' rather than 'exterminate and clean up'. Which is what these poor employees are now doing.

Best. Night. Sleep. Ever. And while the staff are in a row, Zakhar takes to the kitchen to fry up some 'bacon' of meats that he's not saying where he got them. Though they are small slices. Tossed with potatoes and heavy in grease, the old man then takes a good look at the Hearth and Road Inn, then to anyone at all. "This might be a good way to retire."

Cahal has the rodent corpse wrapped up in a blanket and slung over his horses saddle like some massive fabric sausage. At least it looks better than I did before. "This." he pats the blanket, announcing his intent to the world despite the fact nobody asked. "Is gonna be the reward for the next person who says i'm getting fat. Tell your Captain that I had fun and she's forgiven for upsetting the Duke. For now."

Audgrim spends some time sorting out where to hide the poison, and has some surprisingly good ideas. But day after, sleeping restlessly himself, he watches all the dead rats with a dark mood. He has a pet rat, maybe he likes them a little. "Well," he says, "we cleaned the rats out. Donno if that will matter for the inn, but maybe they can start over in a few weeks." He squints at Cahal, then just nods - confused. "Aight." And, it's time to make it to the next mission...