DM's Note: This was the final session of the intro adventure in the Sewers of Glome. The party is accompanied by a NPC, Tully the Rat Hunter, and their surviving retainers.
After questioning Kaman, the wounded prisoner, the party decides to let the desperate man accompany them. Zed gives Kaman a dagger. Big Mac performs a bardic song of healing on Kaman and the party. The healing magic is only partially effective on Kaman's unusual wound; it still looks nasty.
Further up the tunnel, they find a side cave with another ragged curtain. Squeals and squeaks can be heard within. The characters discuss setting up another ambush with flaming oil, when five Rat Man creep up from the east. Luckily, the party isn't surprised, and Zed casts Sleep and puts them all in a magical slumber.
Zed asks Kaman to slit the sleeping Rat Men's throats as a test of loyalty. The butcher is slightly hesitant, but he does the dirty work.
Strangely, the noise from the combat does not seem to attract the rat occupants of the side cave. Curious, Hayabusa peeks in and sees a disgusting sight. A colossal sized female giant rat takes up nearly half the chamber. The thing is so bloated and pregnant it can barely move. The rest of the cave floor is writhing with newborn giant rats and hairless ratmen infants, all fighting to feed from the mother.
Party lights three flasks of oil and lights the rat litter up. The blaze consumes the mother and her brood. The cave reeks of smoke and burnt rat fur. The PCs cut off the mother's four foot long tail and leave.
The party explores a long tunnel to the north that loops around to the cesspool. They explore to the west and find empty caves filled with rat dung. They discuss leaving the caves, but Tully says he doesn't think they've destroyed the entire nest. "There has to be a leader somewhere. I've heard rumors of a Rat King. Maybe we should keep searching."
The party agrees and finds an unexplored passage heading east. They round a corner and suddenly stumble upon a large gathering of giant rats and rat men! The rodents are gathered in front of a man-sized stone idol of a Rat God. The idol has gems set in the eye-sockets that gleam in the light of the party's lantern.
Standing before the idol is an ugly weasel-ish man with a scarred face. His clothes are filthy and torn. A swarm of hundreds of rats scurry at his feet. Dozens of the rodents crawl over his body.
The crawling horde of vermin squeal at the sudden light. The ravenous rats immediately turn toward the scent of the party's warm flesh.
"Look my children!" The scarred man cries. "You were hungry for blood and meat, and look what the Rat God has blessed us with. A feast of flesh awaits! Eat my children. Kill them!"
The beggar hunches over and twists in agony, as he mutates. Hairy grows on his back and his face elongates into something not human- a wererat!
Rat Men and Giant Rats rush to attack, but they are slowed by a barrage of flaming oil. A few Giant Rats are incinerated, and more of the vermin panic at the sight of fire. Tully blasts one with his pistol, and then pulls out his two swords. "Watch how it's done, boys," he says with a laugh as he fights duel weapon style.
But the flaming oil does not last. Zed and Harlack throw more flasks and miss their targets poorly. A few ill-thrown flasks of oil burst harmlessly against the cavern wall. Hayabusa, Tully, Harlack, and Orlan quickly find themselves holding the front line against a wave of gnashing rats. Hob, who is a wizard's apprentice, casts his one spell and blasts the wererat leader with a single magic missile.
At the rear of the party, Kaman, the wounded prisoner, looks dazed. The power of the Rat Idol quickens the evil infection within his body, and he too begins a horrible transformation. Zed approaches Kaman feigning concern, then attempts to stab Kaman in the neck with a dagger. But the non-silvered blade does not even pierce the creature's skin. Kaman is also a lycanthrope!
The battle grows desperate. The party's fighters and even Tully fare poorly against the slippery Rat Men. The ravenous vermin rip away at any exposed flesh. Small wounds begin to add up. Even Zed, the party's illusionist (with AC 9), is forced to join the melee. The party is out of flaming oil and spells. Some of them fend off rats with torches; Hob dips his crossbow bolts in lamp oil and fires flaming bolts.
Big Mac sees one last desperate chance. The halfling opens his backpack and takes out a bottle of good whiskey. It pains him to lose a bottle of rare vintage, but he stuffs it with a rag and lights it on fire. The bard drops a rhyme and hurls his makeshift bomb right at the wererat leader.
The flaming whiskey catches the lycanthrope right in the face and explodes (Sky rolled a natural 20). The wererat flails, shrieking, as his body ignites. The fire panics the rat swarm, which disburses and flees. Meanwhile, Ortan stabs a Rat Man through the chest with a spear, and Harlack grapples the wererat which was formerly Kaman. Then Zed and the others shove torches at him and burn the wererat to death.
The wererat leader staggers to the exit, still on fire. The flames consume the creature, and the charred body transforms back into its human form. The last of the rats flee and the party gives a collective sigh of relief.
[DM's Note: a few more rounds it could have been a TPK.]
Hob investigates the Rat Idol, searching for traps. Two rubies set into the eye sockets sparkle. Hob thinks they are worth at least 300 gp each. As he draws nearer, an overwhelming sense of evil washes over him. The taint sickens him, and the thief immediately back off.
Big Mac and Harlack, however, are not deterred by Hob's warning. Each of them pries out one of the Idol's gems and pockets them.
The party thinks there must be more treasure hidden nearby. They enter a muddy cave to the north. Harlack pokes around in the mud with his 10' foot pole. He gets unlucky, however, and he falls into a concealed pit.
Past the pit, the party encounters a mutated creature- half-rat, half-lizard, thing the size of a bear with two heads and three tentacles glistening with slime. Tully and Harlack are struck by the tentacles and paralyzed by the poison.
The party slays the creature and moves on after their paralyzed companions recover. In the next chamber, they find a throne-like chair made of human bones and skulls. In a side chamber, they discover an old staff leaning against the wall and a chest.
Big Mac searches the chest and doesn't find any traps. Luckily, the party has two thieves, and Hob spots strange holes on the reverse side of the chest. Big Mac, being a former candlemaker, has the idea to stuff the holes with wax.
[DM's note: Good thing he did. The chest was trapped with poisonous save-or-die gas!].
Hob picks the lock. Inside the chest, they find 892 gp, 1,017 sp, a jeweled cloak pin, 6 crossbow bolts, and a dagger with a pommel shaped like an orc's skull.
The party gathers the loot and slowly makes the return journey through the sewers to the surface. They return to the Sleeping Dog boarding house and immediately collapse.
The next morning Harlack's Filth Fever disease takes a bad turn. He is severely ill and near death. Zed also has contracted Filth Fever after being bit by a rat man. [DM's Note: Good old RTDs!].
Big Mac insists they spend the party's treasure on paying for Cure Disease spells at a Temple. Tully says, "Uh-uh. Not so fast. I'm entitled to a full share. Remember? Why should I have to pay for them?"
Big Mac uses his best diplomacy. He says, "Tully, why don't you take one of the gems we got from the Rat Idol, and then you'll get a share of whatever is left after we pay to have our friends healed." Tully hesitates, but then his eyes widen at the sight of the gem. "Alright, done!"
The party sells the other gem to the Jeweler's Guild and exchanges the copper and silver at the Von Merovech Bank. They pay a total of a 1,000 gp to have Harlack and Zed cured at the Shining Cathedral, a temple of the Lord of Light. The High Priest Khorlon of the Ever-Burning Flame casts Cure Disease on both of them.
Afterward, the adventurers celebrate. Big Mac blows most of his loot on drinks for everyone. While they party at the Dripping Tap, they gather a few rumors about the Temporal Vaults of the Horned Sorceress. They receive the following rumors:
-There is at least one dragon on the first level, perhaps several dragons.
-Bands of crazed berserkers in horned helms roam the dungeon. They are insane with bloodlust.
-A wizard named Malachist the Mystical entered the dungeon nearly a month ago. He has not been seen since.
-Beware of killer bees! The insects are nearly a foot long and if you are stung, you die.
Zed identifies the dagger as a +1 dagger, +2 vs. orcs and goblins. The staff and crossbow bolts are also magical, but the party can't afford the 100 gp gem material components for Identification spells.
Tully says goodbye and wishes them well. He's just a simple rat hunter and no adventurer. He leaves an address in Wormlock where they can find him. The party rests for the next week.
DM's Note: They survived their first adventure, but what evil have they unknowingly unleashed upon Glome?
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