AnAdventurousIntroductionToLeilm part 7

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11/01/2002 - date gamed

(372yp)

The date is now the 24th of Zaral'a'mazi. We decide not to fence the goods of Doctor Milizaro until some time in the future.

Afalar goes out for a walk alone around the city. Sjer and Zali arm up and go out to scout the rat infested place. It started out as a promising idea, however Sjer was confused on which Island the rat place was, so they wasted some time on the royal island. While they were there Sjer almost got his purse stolen again. This time the thief was careless and Sjer noticed the attempt. Flying into a rage based on his past misfortune Sjer lunges after the thief, but fails to grab ahold of him. The thief made a run for it with Sjer and Zali in close pursuit. Through a lot of luck and little skill or practice Sjer managed to get within grabbing distance of the thief. Unfortunately, all Sjer ended up grabbing was a face full of dust as he tripped over a passerby just as he made his final attack. Zali'haro did not share Sjer's passion for thief catching and so decided to try to lassoe the thief instead of sticking a sword in him. It is a fact that physical skills need to sharpened on a regular basis to maintain ability levels. Apparently the two weeks we had spent in the city have not been good for Zali's roping and wrangling skills. Swinging his lassoe overhead he let fly at the thief in a confident and practiced motion. The thief took one look at Zali and the now roped Sjer and melted into the crowd in a confident and practiced motion. There ensued a brief struggle between the roper and the roped until Sjer managed to shake off Zali's lariat and head disgustedly back to the Sru'haro estate, grumbling the whole time about a city of damned thieves and pick-pockets.

Later that night the three compatriots decide to investigate the rat infested maze. Sjer and Zali'haro are keen on the subject while Afalar 'ail Asra accompanies them without conviction. The lantern and torches are gathered and the trio fully arms and equipes themselves with rope, grapple, and crowbar. As night falls the evening finds our adventurers on a boat with dinner just settling in their bellies. The stars begin to appear and night has really darkened when they land at the old dock. It is as Sjer remembers it, the dock itself is old and rotting and starts to sink under their combined weight. The rungs leading up from the dock to the gate are nailed into the wall, but they too are rusty and one comes out in Zali's grasp.

At the top, under lantern light, the courtyard appears as before. Some of the statues have broken and some have fallen over. The lock on the gate is much newer than the rest of the gate and walls. It gives Afalar a bit of trouble and he takes a few minutes to open it. Afalar says something about an extra tumbler. The other two are silent as their expertise does not fall into this category.

Once through the gate, the path leads Sjer, Zali, and Afalar down the middle of the courtyard. There are a couple of T intersections, but the three only have eyes for the building in the centre of the courtyard. After walking 100 yards towards the centre is starts to dawn on the three that they should have reached it by now. A few skitters in the dark remind of Sjer and Zali of their previous visit. Sjer begins to swing the lantern to and fro looking for those red eyes. He is rewarded for his efforts as the rats come pouring out of the darkness.

Youth and experience do not often accompany one another. And in this case a lack of experience truly showed itself as the rats rushed in and began feeding on the young adventurers. Afalar donated two bite sized portions towards the rats' dinner, Zali one, and Sjer one. Sjer, berating himself for not protecting the group before the attack commenced chose to put down as many as possible before the snacking could recommence. Four of the horrid large beasts fell over in a deep slumber, but that was only half of the current population. Before three of the last four had been dispatched by Zali and Afalar, Sjer was missing another piece of his thigh. The one rat remaining then ran off into the dark. No doubt he went to find his cousins to come and exact revenge. The whole episode took less than 20 seconds, and put a large damper on Sjer's opinion of himself. Muttering something about better late than never he limped over and touched his two companions on the shoulder. Immediately a slight sparkle and shimmer coalesced in the air around Zali and Afalar. "Just a little extra protection," Sjer said.

The three continue on to the building in the centre and find a big slab in the middle of the floor, obviously an entrance of some kind. They futz around and manage to get the slab open using the crowbar and a little patience. If there is a next time, two crowbars would be a great assistance. Under the slab is a circular staircase leading down.

After taking stock of their wounds they decide to go down. A slow descent downwards reveals only that the place is actually well used.

Seven steps up from the botton, Afalar stops Sjer and Zali from going any farther because of a discoloration in the sixth step. After closer inspection he decides nothing was wrong and steps down on it. Apparently he was right the first time because a shower of needles fly out of the wall and bury themselves into Afalar severely injuring him. Some of the needles seemed to bounce off of the protection that Sjer had place around Afalar, but not enough to prevent serious injury.

Will both Afalar and Sjer badly wounded, the Sru'haro team decide to withdraw. Unfortunately, the trip out was as eventful as the trip in. At the top of the stairs more rats are waiting. Word must have gotten around about the tasty treats walking about. Sjer, close to collapse anyways, received the first bite and fell back onto the stairs. Zali is bitten again, but quickly kills one rat and injures another. Afalar manages to avoid the needle sharp teeth this time. Zali is injured a couple of more times but he valiantly fight on. Eventually the rats scatter. Zali hefts the now unconcious Sjer and moves towards the back gate where the water is. As they reach the gate the rats descend once more. The battle is fierce, but Zali and Afalar seem to have the knack of it now and the rats retreat after a couple fall to the pair of fighters. Zafalar opens the gate once more and within one hour manages to hail a taxi. The same boatman who dropped them off agrees to take the three home for slightly more than twice what he was paid to drop them off.

At Doctor Vish'al Amara's place we are stitched up and healed accordingly. The doctor says that Sjer and Zali'haro might have contracted some disease so he wants to keep all three of us for a couple of days. After three days in the doctor's care we were let go on the evening of the 26th.

We finally return home, aching and tired and wondering whether we are tough enough for the rat place.

Sjer then fulfills his last obligation by returning to Haij the Stout's wineshop. Three rods are traded for three bottles of wine plus one taste sample. Sjer is somewhat suspicious of the sample bottle as it may contain something to assist Haij in recovering his wine or in exacting revenge if he truly suspects. Sjer ponders how to determine whether it is safe or not.

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