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Welcome to thread number two! We rejoin our heroes on a dark Delberz night, having recently discovered a secret tunnel system and some rather peculiar rats...
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THE HOUR AFTER MIDNIGHT
Chapter III:The Wages of Heresy
Continued...
Lothar, Pieter and the elves had not travelled far from Helstrum's Ward when they saw a familiar figure coming the other way - it was Raffy, alone, and still just as rat-bitten and bedraggled as the other two who had escaped the sewers. The silhouette of a young man carrying a gun might have been intimidating on a dark night such as this - that is, if the flared bell of the blunderbuss and the distinctive smell of their subterranean adventures had not made his identity abundantly clear.
Illiiya closed the distance between them quickly and hugged her wayward companion. To those who could not see well in the dark, it perhaps looked like she was a little TOO eager to hug random wanderers in the street... but she had seen whom he was just fine.
We need to get you to a doctor. All of you. Or you're going to get sick.
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We have to meet with the playwright tomorrow... right? And tonight... I don't know. We could try and see the man the hounds took, but I doubt they'd let us.
She finally let go of Raffy, and stepped back a bit.
And I... still plan to talk to Maria if tomorrow doesn't accomplish anything.
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Raffy accepts the hug from Illiiya though he is too sore to huge back properly. He accepts her statement about Maria placidly but his eyebrow rises at something else she said:
"Who did the Hounds take?"
And, as he is in agreement about seeing a doctor, he will gladly walk toward the physician's place as they talk.
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In real life I quit my job and left my home to become a professional adventurer. The Great Adventure
"Apparently," explained Pieter, "one of the tunnels led to the basement of a house near the well. The Hounds arrested the owner for interrogation. But I doubt he has anything to do with this."
He let out a weary sigh.
"I think we should see a doctor, take a bath and call it a day. We'll be busy enough tomorrow."
As they approach the dotcor's house ((I hope)), Raffy listens to the account and says, "How'd the Hounds know to search there? Could they be connected?"
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In real life I quit my job and left my home to become a professional adventurer. The Great Adventure
'The tunnel led to the celler of his house. Worse, it was the Landlord who Puderbrand bunked with, the one we talked to who said he owed him rent.' Ithelus shook his head, 'poor man, he probably didn't even know about the tunnel.'
'The Hounds were with us in the tunnel. When we went to Marius he told us all his guards were out on patrol to try and catch the killer... so he went to the Hounds and got them to provide back-up. Said something about them finally pulling their weight.'
"I, for one, prefer when the Hounds just sit on their asses. It's when they go sniffing around that they're dangerous. At least, now we know there are several ways in. Even if the slavers collapse the three we know of, it's safe to assume there are more."
He had not abandoned his plan to go down there and rescue the slaves. The rats were merely a setback.
"Hnh. I don't trust 'em. But this innkeep- the one who said the man owed him rent- weren't we IN that basement? Or was that some other basement. Puderbrand musta rented places from half the landlords o' the city... But if it's the one I'm thinkin' of, there wasn't no tunnel there before."
Lothar rubbed his head. "This thing is getting messier the deeper we dig. I have a headache."
__________________ Games:
[WFRP] The Lord of Lost Heart, reprising Lothar Fischer, Nordlander deserter.
When the Hounds' role is explained, Raffy simply raises his eyebrows and says nothing.
To Lothar he comments: "No, I think they mean the other place... where he just rented an upper room. Not our basement." He looks at Ithelus. "Right?"
To Pieter: "Right then. We need to get a lot of flammable material. And shovels and some lumber in case we have to dig through an area and shore it up. The Doc can take care of us tonight, then first thing in the morning we'll need to get the supplies to go down there and free those slaves."
Earlier he told Pieter to stop tagging along with the group, but he makes no mention of that now, for some reason. He seems to assume Pieter will be coming with them.
((OOC: Did we borrow or buy the tools? I can't remember, but Raffy may need to return his pry bar. And a lamp that no longer exists.))
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In real life I quit my job and left my home to become a professional adventurer. The Great Adventure
"The murders are a more pressing matter, I think," said Pieter with obvious reluctance. "First thing tomorrow, we'll have to meet Felix. I have no idea if it's related to our investigation, but it shouldn't take too much time."
"We're not accusing her of anything. But we have an anonymous friend who says she's not what she seems, and according to Illiiya she's possibly a hedge witch."
He grimaced.
"And herr Jagrun doesn't like her. So even if she has nothing to do with all of this, she might get in trouble. We should at least have a talk with her, after we're done with Felix."
Illiiya smiled at Pieter, feeling for the first time in a while that someone other than Ithelus believed in her. Perhaps the humans would accept her after all... or at least one of them. She felt lighter, somehow.
Well... we have a meeting tomorrow. But... after that, we can see her. She said with a tone that was oddly... happy, And... thank you.
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Ithelus looks around slightly sheepishly, 'I um.... I have a prior engagement tomorrow. Not that I don't want to help but an arangement is an arangement.'
Pieter smiled back at Illiiya, but the mystery surrounding Maria troubled him deeply. He fervently hoped the Elven girl was wrong about this... yet he could no longer just dismiss her claims as foolish ramblings.
Quote:
'I um.... I have a prior engagement tomorrow. Not that I don't want to help but an arangement is an arangement.'
"That shouldn't be a problem," he told Ithelus. Then he raised an eyebrow. "As long as it's important."
Reaching the Doctor’s house, they saw a light in an upstairs window – it flickered and moved away when they knocked.
After some time, they heard a muffled grumbling, and footsteps on the stairs inside. The door creaked open, Doctor Rasen looking out at them with a candle in one hand. His expression changed as he saw the state of Raffy, Lothar and Pieter.
“Gods’ blood,” he said, “what happened to you this time?” He blinked, looking twice at Pieter. “And who’s this?”
"The name's Rudiger," Pieter introduced himself, as always reluctant to give his true name to a man he barely knew and did not plan to meet again. "I'm the new guy."
He stepped aside to let his friends enter before him.
"Excuse the smell, good sir, we've been wading in some unpleasant places. Rafale and Lothar here are wounded."
It was quiet along the way to the doctor's. Very quiet. Illiiya seemed... oddly content and free of worry now that her wayward friends were together again. Apparently the frequent murders, chaos infestation and voices in her head didn't mean as much as knowing that everyone she cared about was all right. She didn't even seem nervous around the doctor.
Hello doctor. She said, almost nonchalantly, as she stepped inside, We're sorry to trouble you so late.
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Lothar barked a rough laugh. "He's a fool, 'swhat 'e is. You oughta take a look at his injuries 'swell, Doc- we've been mucking about in sewers, fightin' bizarre rat-mutant things." The soldier shuddered and made a drinking motion.
"I need a bath in whiskey, and to burn my boots. No idea what kinda filth those gits had coatin' their teeth..."
He looked up from fiddling with his boots, a disgusted expression on his face. "Raffy an' I were lookin' into that infected well, hoping to clean it up. Found tunnels, mutant tracks, an' real freaky little rat-bastards. Pi- ah, Rudiger- there also found some humans trapped in cages down there. I think the pl- um. I think the... illness you've encountered is related to our mutant problem." He finally managed to remove his boots, and shook his hands. The soldier's bearded face wrinkled up as he tried to clean some of the muck from his hands on the corner of the building.
__________________ Games:
[WFRP] The Lord of Lost Heart, reprising Lothar Fischer, Nordlander deserter.
"Got training," Pieter said curtly. "I can help with the details."
When the soldier began to recount what happened down the sewers, he tried to discreetly step on his toes to silence him, but the soldier had already said too much.
Gods damn it, Lothar. And you're the one who calls me a fool?
“Rat... mutant... things,” repeated Rasen. “I see. Well, I’ll see what I can do.” He paused. “You were trying to clean the well? That’s very good of you. Come on, this way.”
Quote:
"Got training," Pieter said curtly. "I can help with the details."
“Well, thank you, but I think I can manage myself,” said the doctor, evidently sceptical of ‘Rudiger’s’ claim.
Leading the way inside, the doctor opened the door into the now-familiar, dingy room with the scarred wooden table and the cabinet of instruments. Setting out a needle, thread, a bottle of amber liquid, a clean cloth, a pair of long-handled tweezers and a roll of bandage, he turned back to his sudden guests, gesturing for Raffy to sit up on the table. Inspecting the youth’s wounds, the man gave a whistling intake of breath through his teeth.
“Dear gods, they’re all over you,” he said. Turning around, he picked up the bottle and cloth. “Right, you had best take off your clothes. Perhaps the rest of you could wait outside?”
One by one, he cleaned their wounds, a few requiring stitches or bandages to halt the bleeding: he seemed less than impressed by Pieter’s poultice, peeling the stinking mess away and throwing it out without a word. Rat-bites stinging from the spirits he had swabbed over the cuts, they filtered back out one by one into the corridor, the doctor following last.
“I’ve done what I can, but you seem to have managed to avoid serious harm in the first place,” said Rasen. “If these are rat-bites, though, there’s a strong chance that you could have fleas, or some other vermin of the blood. They’ll hide in your clothes, so make sure to get them properly cleaned, as well as yourself. And avoid... touching things, particularly other people, until you have.”
“Before you go, however – you said there were tunnels? In the well? That the sickness was related to these, ah, mutants? Has the Captain dealt with them?”
OOC: As before, those being seen to by the doctor may halve their current Wounds deficit, rounding up.
Lothar threw Pieter a scornful look, clearly ignoring the con-man's attempt to quiet him. "Aye, rat-mutant things. A whole pack, acting like one -- and not afraid of fire, or 'powder or anythin' of the sort." The soldier plucked at his clothes.
"Fire oughta take care of this, right? I'm pretty sure this stuff is wrecked anyhow." He openly shuddered.
__________________ Games:
[WFRP] The Lord of Lost Heart, reprising Lothar Fischer, Nordlander deserter.
"Well, yes - I mean, if you don't intend on keeping them," said the doctor. "If you'll excuse my asking, how were they, um... mutated?" Despite the man's educated air, Lothar detected a human appetite for a grisly tale. "Lots of eyes and things? Was it them tainting the water?"
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[WFRP] The Hour After Midnight (II)
