Episode 25: I Think I Smell A Rat

...Rick Rats Out, Sewer Chase, Befriending a Nest of Rats, Sundering of a Styx-Swimmer

General Summary

Episode 25: I Think I Smell A Rat The party woke in the middle of their long rest to the sound of Rick's screams. He transformed before their eyes into a smaller wererat and attempted to escape the house, with only Jynx managing to slow him down with her shovel. After watching Rick jump into the Ditch, the rest of the party, mostly still in sleepwear, headed after him with Jynx the Giant Rat in lead, sniffing him out with her keen rat nose. The Heroes followed the trail into the Sewers and part of Undersigil, bypassing some rats and their giantkin by distracting them with rancid goat meats. Rick's scent led them further along the undercroft until they found one of the entrances into a fortified chamber known as the Rat's Nest. From the shadows, Debbie managed to execute one of the wererat guards and intimidate the other, but he ran away to raise the alarm. Debbie then used her belief points to dictate how the scene resolved. **The people of the Rat's Nest became friendly to the group and took them in, ending all hostilities, and brought out a now-cured Rick who showered Debbie with praise and respect.** They met the leader of this underground settlement, Rosie Whitemane, an albino ratfolk healer, who had many wards to tend to, as a Styx-Swimmer had recently started stalking her people in the tunnels to the west, eating them or leaving them wounded and delirious. The party offered their aid in taking care of this creature and returned back to the kip to finish resting and gathering up their gear. Along the way back to the Rat's Nest, the party stopped at the Magic Mouth they'd passed on the first trip down, where they inserted many things into the open orifice. When they eventually placed three coins into the mouth, it and the wall disappeared and revealed a strange statue of the gods Melora and Aoskar, and a portal to some starry plane with silver threads. Girryn marked the location for exploring later. Upon arriving to the Rat's Nest for the second time that day, Ness immediately put her restored healing powers to use on the wounded ratfolk and removed the curse on Rosie's daughter, Shelby. Shelby then recounted to the group that she was attacked not far from the western entrance but that the monster might have it's lair further west, in an underground water reserve. Debbie and the Jets headed out and, with the aid of Rick's Eye-Patch of Seeing, spotted the Styx-Swimmer waiting in ambush in the waters. After an intense battle, where the party dealt considerable damage in short time but were almost drowned, Big Ness got the killing blow with a bolt of pure divine energy. With the demon destroyed the episode ended.

Missions/Quests Completed

Main Quest: Getting Rick Back
~~ Avoided R.Swarm and G.Rats
~~ Defeated Wererat Guards
Side Quest: Rat's Nest Stalker
~~ Curing Shelby Whiteman
~~ Defeated Hydroloth
Side Side Quest: Solved Magic Mouth