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Post by Stix on Jun 3, 2008 16:07:43 GMT -5
"They were using what we use to poison them to poison -us-" Raking her hair back with a shaky hand, she noisily clears her throat, and mutters. "I... see." Wraith pauses, chosing her words carefully. " Those bastards!" says the aggressive man, his anger easily redirected in his thirst for vengeance. " Let's toss the place! I'll give two coppers for every dead rat!" True to his word, he fishes out two coins and slaps them down on the table nearest John. " Good work, blood," is all he says before hurrying to the darker corners of the room and looking for rats. Fifteen more men and women do the same. "Right, here's what will happen. Pick Foster up - carefully - and sit him down over there." She points at the nearest table. Perhaps I can still save face, and solve this riddle at the same time. "I want to talk to him." If he's innocent, perhaps I can spare the man, and maybe, if he was the one I caught sneaking away, I can find out why. But if he's guilty, and he's working with the rats... I personally will see to it that he does not get away with this. [/color][/quote] The two men who'd held Foster to the wall obediently pick up the ailing half-elf, moving him as best they can to a table. They back away slowly, shame in their eyes. " Run to your mother, child!" Hadrian exclaims as he claps a hand down on Aerin's shoulder and gently pushes the boy towards the stairs. It was no longer safe in the cellars, especially with John out of the room. Pausing just long enough to watch his charge scamper up into relative safety, the aasimar shuts his eyes tightly while invoking a latent talent bestowed upon him by his Father and patron. When his azure orbs open again a moment later, they blaze with a brilliant nascent flame and all arcane energies are laid bare to his sight like the threads of a ghostly tapestry. No longer fearing that the rats might take him unawares, Hadrian crosses over to the burrow hole and plugs the gap with a large sack of grain. There would be no second chances for the creatures. Aerin snaps out of his catatonia and lurches in the direction of the stairs, scampering up carefully but quickly with the glowing tridrone miniature tucked against his chest. Now alone in the once again pitch-black cellar, Hadrian relies on the deep grayscale and black-on-black hues of his darkvision to locate the rats' hole and shove one of the heavy sacks in front of it. While it isn't a perfect barricade by far, it will at least take the rats some time to move or chew through. The Bleaker lifts his gaze to the shelves as he stands, and finds himself nearly nose-to-nose with a rat. Backing away reflexively in surprise, Hadrian takes in the rest of the room. Between twenty and thirty cranium rats now sit in the open without fear -- on the stairs, on the shelves, even on the floor and nearly underfoot. Yet, despite their aggressive nature, they remain curiously still, their darting eyes and twitching tails the only indication of life.... |
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Post by john on Jun 3, 2008 16:11:42 GMT -5
John lays a greasy hand on the copper and puts it away in his coinbag almost instantly, a practiced gesture. He smiles bitterly and comments to Wraith. "Bubbers." The word is full of contempt and anger, as someone who practices moderation with every vice but physical thuggery can have for those who abuse their minds and bodies with overindulgence with drink. He crosses his arms, unaware of just how pear-shaped things have gone for Hadrian.
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Post by exile on Jun 3, 2008 16:58:58 GMT -5
(OOC: Looks like I’ve managed to get into trouble on not just one, but two threads  )Finding himself under the beady-eyed stare of an unexpected horde of the devilish vermin, Hadrian takes a few careful steps towards the center of the room. Concentrating on the collective consciousness arrayed before him, the Bleaker tries to determine through his augmented sight just what manner of threat the entity poses. Addressing a solitary creature perched high on an upturned barrel, he speaks. “ You can understand me, I expect?” (OOC: Using Arcane Sight to identify the collective's highest ranking spell or spell like ability.)
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Post by Uathach Blackmantle on Jun 10, 2008 23:28:36 GMT -5
Wraith ignores John's crass remark, and his grumbling. Her attention is turned toward the two men who carry Foster to the table, and sit him down, as she instructed. Frowning at each of the men with lips tightly compressed, she nods - her only indication of gratitude - and sits down beside the half-elf.
Unaware of the goings-on in the cellar, she examines Foster with a critical eye. The men and women that rushed off to take care of the rats seemed to have everything in order, she supposed. At least it was one less thing she had to worry about, now that the worst of the crisis appeared to be over.
Wraith silently prays that the situation doesn't get any worse from here. Apollo knew they needed a little luck in turning this whole debacle in their favour...
Knowledge: Medicine check [to determine Foster's condition]
[dice=20]
+17
Also, is Foster still conscious?[rand=031552363118705795509417464797850787437682310974331650376992370458]
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Post by Stix on Jun 13, 2008 13:07:07 GMT -5
Finding himself under the beady-eyed stare of an unexpected horde of the devilish vermin, Hadrian takes a few careful steps towards the center of the room. Concentrating on the collective consciousness arrayed before him, the Bleaker tries to determine through his augmented sight just what manner of threat the entity poses. Addressing a solitary creature perched high on an upturned barrel, he speaks. “ You can understand me, I expect?” Points of bioluminescence spark around the room like malevolent, conniving fireflies. The cranium rats' false ganglia flare up in bilious yellow-green light as they give pause, then reply. " You," echo dozens of chittering whispers in Hadrian's skull. " Stop killing. Getting angry." Wraith ignores John's crass remark, and his grumbling. Her attention is turned toward the two men who carry Foster to the table, and sit him down, as she instructed. Frowning at each of the men with lips tightly compressed, she nods - her only indication of gratitude - and sits down beside the half-elf. (Foster is conscious, but got the wind knocked out of him; he'll recover in a minute or two. He isn't poisoned, nor does he show signs of other injury.) " Got one!" calls a soot-streaked, gap-toothed Godsman, picking up a squealing rat by the tail and thwacking it repeatedly against the edge of the nearest table. |
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Post by exile on Jun 13, 2008 19:56:43 GMT -5
“You come in to our home,” Hadrian counters calmly. “You come into our home and you poison us. Did you expect us to die quietly? I care not at all what happens to you, it is immaterial to me. All I want is the antidote, and my concerns with you will end.”
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Post by john on Jun 15, 2008 16:07:43 GMT -5
John nods and says, "Good. Kill them all." For the moment, he isn't exerting himself, fighting another pang of sickness and dizziness, it's all he can do to stand upright.
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Post by Stix on Jun 19, 2008 19:08:02 GMT -5
“ You come in to our home,” Hadrian counters calmly. “ You come into our home and you poison us. Did you expect us to die quietly? I care not at all what happens to you, it is immaterial to me. All I want is the antidote, and my concerns with you will end.” " We find food, you kill us with food-dust," the rats telepathically chitter in response. " Then we kill you with food-dust. Now, you let us keep food, no more food-dust, we give you antidote." |
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Post by exile on Jun 19, 2008 22:08:44 GMT -5
“You found food which belonged to us, in our home no less. Would you not defend your nest if we came to plunder it? Give me the antidote and you can take what food you can carry and be gone. But that is all I can offer; we will defend ourselves if you come back again.”
Diplomacy (if needed...)
[dice=20+9][rand=72395336580019967497164004051202276380854409956749279243456923232]
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Post by Uathach Blackmantle on Jun 23, 2008 21:52:25 GMT -5
Oblivious to the danger still at hand, Wraith sighs, relieved that Foster doesn't appear to be injured or poisoned; just winded and perhaps a bit worse for wear after his beating. She lays a comforting, if cool, hand apon his shoulder, waiting patiently until he catches his breath and returns to his senses.
"Foster, can you tell me much of what has happened?" She asks in her best soothing voice, and smiles gently for his sake. "I'm not here to hurt you. I just want this predicament to end. Anything you can tell me will be greatly appreciated." Waiting for his reply, she intently studies his face, searching for any outward sign of deception. After all she still wasn't entirely convinced that the cranium rats, as intelligent as they could be, were capable of staging this on their own.
Sense Motive [if applicable]
[dice=20]
+5
Diplomacy [if applicable]
[dice=20]
+4 [rand=9185946266513858279382839486524396939995870069814862324953188442]
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Post by Stix on Jul 4, 2008 1:24:51 GMT -5
"Foster, can you tell me much of what has happened?" She asks in her best soothing voice, and smiles gently for his sake. "I'm not here to hurt you. I just want this predicament to end. Anything you can tell me will be greatly appreciated." Waiting for his reply, she intently studies his face, searching for any outward sign of deception. After all she still wasn't entirely convinced that the cranium rats, as intelligent as they could be, were capable of staging this on their own. Foster lets out a pained groan before struggling to get out a reply. " I don' know what happened, nothin'. I wanted a closer look at th' bashers in the kitchen. Figured they mighta been up ta somethin'. That's all, I swear it!" He shudders and clutches his abdomen again, tightening up into a fetal position and wincing. “ You found food which belonged to us, in our home no less. Would you not defend your nest if we came to plunder it? Give me the antidote and you can take what food you can carry and be gone. But that is all I can offer; we will defend ourselves if you come back again.” A scattered few of the rats hiss menacingly. " You keep food in rat-hole, rats take food. You not use food in hole, we use. We eat. No food in hole, we eat you instead. Leave food, we let you live." |
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Post by exile on Jul 4, 2008 6:51:28 GMT -5
“Very well, get the antidote then. I will bring your proposal to the others and see what they say. Is that satisfactory to you?” Hadrian was acutely aware of the precariousness of his situation. He had never fought a nest of this size before and couldn’t predict how evenly or unevenly matched they were. Still, what the rats were asking for was out of the question. But did it matter? The cook and barkeep were almost certainly dead, would anyone protest?
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Post by Uathach Blackmantle on Jul 9, 2008 23:58:40 GMT -5
"Foster, can you tell me much of what has happened?" She asks in her best soothing voice, and smiles gently for his sake. "I'm not here to hurt you. I just want this predicament to end. Anything you can tell me will be greatly appreciated." Waiting for his reply, she intently studies his face, searching for any outward sign of deception. After all she still wasn't entirely convinced that the cranium rats, as intelligent as they could be, were capable of staging this on their own. Foster lets out a pained groan before struggling to get out a reply. " I don' know what happened, nothin'. I wanted a closer look at th' bashers in the kitchen. Figured they mighta been up ta somethin'. That's all, I swear it!" He shudders and clutches his abdomen again, tightening up into a fetal position and wincing. Wraith abandons her seat opposite the half-elf to kneel beside him. She comforts the man as best as she can, knowing there is very little else she can do for him here, and casts a wary glance about the room. It seemed like the situation was under control, of sorts. Those that weren't incapacitated were tearing the room apart in search of the cranium rats responsible. At least those she tended to appeared to be resting easily enough. But what was keeping Hadrian tied up for so long? And where was Aerin?! Her wide eyes scan the room again, this time falling upon the boy as he emerges from the kitchen. "I'll return shortly, Foster. Please, lie still and rest." Wraith wearily rises to her feet, intercepting her son as he shuffles toward her, and draws the boy close. "Stay close to my side." She whispers to him, bending slightly to kiss his forehead. Leading the way, she approaches John, who appears to be standing around, resting, if his condition was any indication of how ill he felt. "Where's Hadrian?" She inquires softly, turning her gaze back to the table where Foster was slumped in his seat. |
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Post by Stix on Jul 11, 2008 10:52:02 GMT -5
“ Very well, get the antidote then. I will bring your proposal to the others and see what they say. Is that satisfactory to you?” Hadrian was acutely aware of the precariousness of his situation. He had never fought a nest of this size before and couldn’t predict how evenly or unevenly matched they were. Still, what the rats were asking for was out of the question. But did it matter? The cook and barkeep were almost certainly dead, would anyone protest? " You go," the rats demand, clearing a path up the stairs for the Bleaker. " We bring antidote." |
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Post by exile on Jul 11, 2008 21:27:56 GMT -5
With a final considering look towards the mouth piece of his aggressors, Hadrian turned on his heels and made for the stairs. He took the steps deliberately one at a time, feeling the weight of dozens of eyes upon him at every stride. Reaching the top at last, he walked out of the cellars into the din and confusion of the kitchen.
“No one goes down there till I get back, bashers,” he announced to the room at large before passing on into the common room.
Spying John and Wraith speaking quietly off to one side of the room, and noting the unscathed Aerin blessedly nearby, Hadrian crossed over to join the discussion.
“I’m afraid it’s a lot worse than we feared, cutters. There’s a whole damn nest down there, biggest I’ve ever seen; I’d wager some two or three dozen all told. Whatever their number, its enough that they can communicate with us and also enough that they can cast. They can only manage first house mind, but that’s not insignificant in a fight.”
Pausing to take stock of their surroundings, Hadrian turned back a moment later with a tone of urgency. “Now here’s the dark, cutters: they sent me up to offer a trade. Seems they have an antidote for the poison, and they’re willing to give it to us. In return they want all the food in the larder, and they want the cook to stop laying down traps and poison for them. I think they also expect us to keep supplying them in the future; they claim they’ll attack us if the food runs out. I’ve bought us a bit of time by agreeing to take their offer topside, and they’ve gone to fetch the antidote meantime.”
The easy part was now in the open, it was his next few sentences that were most sensitive. The rats could be watching them right now; a single creature would be easy enough to miss amidst the walking wounded and one was all it took to alert the hive mind. Pointedly indicating the dead rodent in John’s hand, he cast his gaze about for eavesdroppers of all sizes.
Spot Check:
[dice=20+3]
Lowering his voice to a near whisper, he continued. “Here’s what I think, cutters. If we give into their demands in another month we won’t be dealing with a nest of thirty, it’ll be sixty, maybe even a hundred. I don’t like that prospect at all. At the same time, berks are going to die –today- without that antidote.”
[rand=239993810117608994647844742224363753587257942093746085393596854]
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Post by john on Jul 11, 2008 21:42:54 GMT -5
John considers this for a moment and says to the prospects of berks dying today vs. more later.
"An even trade. But I'm not sure I'm up for a fight, right now. And I need the antidote soon. What proof have you that they in fact possess it?"
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Post by exile on Jul 11, 2008 22:18:53 GMT -5
“None whatsoever, Taker, but what choice do we have but to believe them? If they didn’t have it, would you be in any better condition to challenge them? You raise a good point though, one we can possibly use to bargain with. We could ask for a show of good faith from the rats before we agree to their deal, let one man take their ‘antidote’ to prove its worth. What do you think, sister? And when do you suppose we should consult with the local colors?”
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Post by Uathach Blackmantle on Jul 14, 2008 6:38:47 GMT -5
"Do it." Wraith says firmly without a moment's hesitation, pursing her lips into a thoughtful line. She didn't like the prospect of aiding these vermin any more than the next man. But as a physician, and a parent, her first priority was ensuring the continued health and well-being of those in her care. If it meant giving into the Hive Mind's demands, in the meantime, so be it.
She could devise an effective measure of exterminating them at a later date, when she wasn't in such close proximity of their nest.
"Do whatever you must do, Hadrian, to ensure these people get out of here alive. I've exhausted all of my abilities for now. There's very little else I can do here, until I get a good night's rest." She adds, beckoning her son closer, and draws the boy against her side. "Do what must be done. You have my full support in this matter, Brother."
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Post by exile on Jul 14, 2008 20:32:41 GMT -5
“Very well,” Hadrian assented. “We will bargain with the rats then. Uathach, perhaps its best if you stay up here and keep tempers at bay. John, if you would please come with me cutter, just incase they decide to renege on their word. And sister, maybe we should keep quiet about the antidote until we have it in our hands. We don’t need a riot on top of everything else.”
Waiting only long enough for the Taker to swing in to step it as his side, Hadrian headed back for the kitchen and the cellars below. Pausing at the top of the stairs, Hadrian invoked a minor arcane protection lest the worst should occur.
“Just in case,” he remarked to John with a wink. “I don’t suppose you’d care for the same? First house, before you ask. We’ll call it twenty gold for the sake of your philosophy.”
(ooc: Casting protection from evil, duration 6 minutes)
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Post by john on Jul 14, 2008 22:08:13 GMT -5
"All right. I'll make sure we settle up as soon as we can leave here."
John winces, drawing his sword and laying it across his right shoulder, knowing he's probably walking back down into a trap, now.
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