Session Six: Grab and Go
Continuing deeper into the wererat lair, the group avoids falling prey to another collapsing bridge trap. Rather than plunging you into the murky sewage that courses through this underground labyrinth, this fake bridge was intended to drop you into a sea of living rats. The side passageway of the sewer systems seems to have collapsed entirely at one point, possibly due to the same event that blew out the holes in the walls you use to move from one sub-basement to another in this strange lair. Much of the debris has been cleared away, leaving the sewage-free tunnel to serve as a basin for the massive swarm roiling below you. Using a bridge that doesn’t look like it’s set to give out, you bypass the rat carpet entirely and enter the basement of another building. Immediately, you are greeted by a pair of solid metal doors and an almost overwhelming odor of rat feces. The dilapidated pile of crates and barrels in this chamber are clearly serving as a rat’s nest and judging by the size of the burrow’s holes, these rats are considerably bigger than those out in the passageway.  Beneath the stairs that lead up and out of this room you find several new barrels of lantern oil. Deciding that one of these might come in handy, the group deposits it in their bag of holding before sending Klarh up the stairs to scout.
The gone-to-seed ranger sneaks up the stairs and finds himself in the basement of a building that is furnished more like a genuine house than the spartan accommodations he experienced below. During his recon he determines that there is a barracks-style room with someone snoring loudly, a room with a barred door that appears to be full of children, and some type of office where the shuffling of papers can be heard. Finding another set of stairs at the far end of the building, Klarh peeks down and is able to see what lies on the opposite side of the metal doors. It is a large chamber with six pits set at intervals in the floor. Two young lads are standing at one, holding onto the top of a ladder and yelling down into it. It’s unclear exactly what they are doing, but Klarh does notice that several of the other pits have small rings of fire around them, fueled by barrels of oil. Returning to the lower level to relay this information, Klarh recruits Cookie and Briel to help him deal with the snoring threat before proceeding further. After the three have knocked out and bound the brutish man sleeping in one of the bunk beds, they move to investigate the office. Bursting through the doors, they find a man dressed in black robes sitting behind a desk while a young wererat lad lies in a feverish sleep on the couch. Cookie’s charm spell washes harmlessly over the cleric of Cyric as he stands and begins to weave his own spells. A quick fight ensues, but in the end the group walks away with the cleric of murder’s holy symbol and a sick wererat hostage. Curiously, you also find some dust of disappearance, a small vial of a drug called Shiver, and a mysterious note from the drug’s producer. Not quite sure what to make of all this information, the group beats a stealthy escape through the house above, appearing back on the streets of the Docks Ward and leaving the room full of children and strange fire-ringed pits for someone else to sort out.
Returning to the House of the Moon, you deliver your wererat captive to Feluna and fill her in on the details of your raid. She seems disturbed by the fact that you did not fully eliminate the wererat lair and rushes off towards the Docks Ward with several of her fellow clergy in tow. Cookie’s granddaughter returns Korrigan’s cursed armor to Maren but seems quite sullen that she wasn’t brought along on the impromptu raid the church is executing. Weary from your foray into the seedy underbelly of Waterdeep, you retire to the Armored Pig for the night. Maren returns to her Aurilite contact but learns very little. It appears that the Plague Rats have been growing more industrious and mercantile across the city on multiple illicit fronts, but Cassandra has no solid leads for Maren to act on. Morning brings another message from Mawrbryn and the realization that Thunder has caught some kind of disease while down in the sewers. While he and Cookie return to the Temple of the Moon to be healed, the rest of the group heads to Curious Past to deliver the bones of the deceased Harper. After returning the bones and purchasing a potion of enlarge person, Maren accidentally reveals the group’s relationship to Heyla Brightwater and are quickly asked to leave. Reuniting with Cookie and Thunder, you hit the road, headed back to Daggerford.
The journey down the Trade Way is largely uneventful, save for a strange encounter one night with a particularly odd gnome merchant named Maurice. Rather than being pulled by horses, his cart is tugged along by two magically animated pieces of furniture; a dresser and a large chest. All of the goods he sells are of a similar nature and are magically animated version of everyday objects. He sells flying carpets, uncooperative quills, dancing swords, walking suits of armor, and even bird cages that will try to recapture anything that escapes from inside them. While the old gnome seems friendly enough, the group is quite unnerved by his daughter Belle. When Klarh goes to rekindle the group’s fire, he notices that the young gnome doesn’t appear to be blinking. After discretely learning this fact, Cookie reaches out with her uncanny powers and tries to ask the girl what’s the matter. After some pantomiming behind her father’s back, Belle seems to imply that she too is an animated construct like the rest of her father’s wares, though he is unaware of that fact. Rather than pursue things any further, the group lets Belle and Maurice pass on, though not before Maren is able to sell Korrigan’s cursed armor at an incredible discount. Our session ends as the party approaches the gates of Daggerford only a week later than they originally intended to.
