D&D is For Nerds - Fall from Grace: The City #2 An Investigative Inquiry

Episode Date: September 12, 2020

Sign up to our newsletter here. Join our facebook group here.You can now physically send us stuff to PO BOX 7127, Reservoir East, Victoria, 3073.Want to help support the show?Sanspants+ | Shop | TeesWant to get in contact with us?Email | Twitter | Website | Facebook | RedditOr individually at;Adam | Cass | Tom | Jackson | ZammitTheme music by the wonderfully talented Mia (AtomicCupcakes). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sands Pants Radio, Australia's most cowardly podcast network. Simply create your best D&D is for Nerds inspired artwork and either post it on Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag D&D Nerds Art or email it to us at sanspantsradio at gmail.com. Entries close September 30 and winners are announced October 9. Good luck! Once, many years ago, when the sun still shone brightly, there lived a brave and cunning adventurer named Sir Jordan Grace. Having just saved the town of Ampwick from the great and terrible Necro Wizard, he decided to celebrate with his good friends and companions. But, unbeknownst to him, something terrible was awakening deep beneath the earth, and his time in Ampwick was far from over.

Welcome to episode 2 of Fall from Grace, part 2, The City. Previously... You are here in Ampwick after a few days ago, you as a group slew the vile necro-wizard, Waiter Norton. You are awoken by screams. I'd like to roll out of bed and grab my spear in my hand. There's a lot of rat prints here. It's ruled by a noble aristocrat, Lady Enel, who was appointed by the king. But it still has a council of elders from when it was part of Blue Beach.

I don't know about you guys, but I don't really think we're done here. How can I help you? Sir Grace! Ah, of course! Grace's companions! Yeah, yeah, that's us. You got a city rat- I don't know if this is something every city has. You got a rat catcher? Lady Enel? Yes. She approaches you. She is

gorgeous. She's like the figure of nobility. You know that she is a distant relative of the king? Like a second or third cousin. You can tell that this flesh is the flesh of a long rotting corpse.

But it should have also been under the effects of the preserved body spell. They've contracted us to help them build their new headquarters out here. Headquarters West, they call it. Fellas, now that I've told your story, could you do something for me? So, Grace, you're talking

to the builders working on the new gnomish headquarters West. I'm currently, I guess, on a sort of a bit of a quest, you could call it, from a fine lady. Would we be helping you on a quest? In many ways, I would say you were. Like almost as if we were a member of Grace's companions.

You could call yourselves honorary members if you feel like it. They all look a bit chuffed. Unfortunately, we don't have any jackets, but consider yourselves honorary members. I'm sort of investigating some strangulations in the area. The dwarf gets kind of a dark look on his face. I'm aware of them. It's unfortunately

not one of those fun adventures with dragons and what have you. No, there's always a bit of danger, though. There always is. Took old Paul about a month back. Who's that? One of the workmen here. Paul, did you say his name was? Paul, P-A-U's that? One of the workmen here. Paul, did you say his name was?

Paul, P-A-U-L. Oh, Paul, I say. Not Paul. No, he wishes he was a Paul. They all look at a mighty man. Almost as big as where? Paul Knott. Thought you were going to be like, they all look at a Paul.

Don't be a pole. If you don't mind me asking, how did he, so strangled, was there anything? Did anybody here see it? Did anybody here find the body? Yeah, old Whippendoodle over there. He gestures to two people, one presumably named Whip, one presumably named Doodle. Can I speak to you, fellas?

I would say both of them are halflings. Okay. So look, hey, it's good that they're working. All right. Two halflings sit with you. Maybe I'll come in and I'll sit down on like an overturned crate or something. I am investigating some of the strangulations in the area. And I heard that you two found the body of Paul.

I just would love to know what state his body was in. I'm just trying to figure everything out at the moment. Figure out what's causing this. He was very dead when we found him yeah says doodle we um well yeah we definitely found a corpse i'd like to just start describing like the body of gary and the body of erp to just see if it if they agree with they shake their head no his his head was very intact when we found him. Yeah, when we found that body, his head was very intact. Was there red around his mouth at all?

Yes, yes. There was awful red marks. Like he was inflamed or something. Yeah, sure. Thanks very much, guys. You, um... And rats. Lots of rats.

You got much of a rat problem down at the docks i mean i guess that's where the rats come in with the boats wouldn't it not rats like that yeah thanks gentlemen um kind of not the question you can ask where you can be like where are the most rats at the dock but i'll go i'll leave them at the gnomish trading company and i'll just walk along the docks kind of just investigating the area i know it was a month ago but just to see if there's any i don't know not suspicious boats maybe i'll go can i um is there like a a what what would you call it like a like a ledger that'll show me everybody that's come into the docks recently yeah you can go

there'd be a Harbormaster. Yeah. You can speak to the Harbormaster. The Harbormaster is like a surly-looking half-elf. He's got like a long beard and he looks very overworked. Hi, I assume I'm interrupting, but could I have a moment of your time? Yeah, of course. I'm just looking into the people that have come through recently if i could have a look at your ledger of uh incomings and outgoings for the do you have a official do you

have official town council writ i don't have town council writ but i am good friends with the town guard captain are you going to try and leverage your position with Anded? Yeah, absolutely. All right. I'm going to make that a persuasion check. I'm good friends with Anded, so. Ooh, bad boy card for me. You do not persuade this half-elf. Come on, buddy. Unless you have a rip, you will not see this book. You're impeding, you're obstructing justice here, buddy, but.

Are we making an intimidation check now maybe i i like look out of the little harbormasters whatever room on the docks and i look back at like maybe i can see in the distance the area i would need to go to chat to the council and how long a walk that would be and i turn turn back and I'm like, buddy, what's it going to take? So is this an intimidation check? Yeah. He looks at you. He looks up and down.

He looks at you in your armor. He looks at the glittering spear in its holster. And he says, maybe his eyes dart to the door, the one exit which is behind you. And he says, all right, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to get up. I'm going to go take my break. You can stay here if you want.

I'll be my guest. Looks like you've been working hard. He gets up and he leaves. You're doing the right thing. All right. I'd like to open the ledger and try to find incomings and outgoings and see if there's just i mean like hey i'm no harbor master so i'm probably not going to be able to tell much but to be like any ships from strange foreign shores come in recently or anything like that you roll and you can't find anything unusual okay there's a lot of trade from blue beach coming down here and then

going back and there's a lot of trade out towards the dwarves and you notice that there are definitely a you can tell a noma ship name you can see it yeah you can see that there are maybe a handful of noma ships starting from i would say maybe a month and a week ago okay like five weeks ago sure. There would have been like maybe three visitations in total. Not a lot. Gnomish ship. I like to imagine reading the gnomish ship name like I'm tracing it with my finger

and I reach the edge of the page and fold out an extra bit. No, it curves down around onto the next line. The gnomish script requires you to write in one straight line, but you need to fold it around. Fold it, curve it like a snake. Yeah. Okay, cool. Well, I should probably go meet up with the rest of the gang,

see what they have found out. Okay. Put both hands down on the table, close the ledger, leave. Maybe. No, yeah, leave. The half-elf is outside smoking a pipe. Thanks a bunch. He nods. I'll head back to the tavern,

I guess. We never really arranged a place to meet. Well, I told them, I sent them to go investigate Earp's sister. Do I think they'd be done by now? It's been a while. Maybe I'll head back to the tavern. I'll head back to the tavern and consolidate.

You head back to Armora's village. You head back to the axe and lightning. The axe of lightning. Sorry. Don't get that name wrong. The bartender gets really mad when you do. The axe of lightning. Inside the axe of lightning, you see your three companions sitting around a table having a quiet chat.

I'd like to slide in and join them. What did you find out, Thudu says. Gosh, a lot. I relay everything I learned. Specifically to Zin, I'm like, the fine lady Enel, her brother has been one of the victims, and she permitted me to have a look at the body, but look, Zin, I'm not as skilled as you, so maybe i've sort of organized it so that if you go perhaps i'll

accompany you you're welcome to take a look at the body as well figure out what you can would she permit me to be alone with the body dina she didn't like the idea of me being alone but you're welcome to try your luck she seems reasonable no i mean would i be allowed to go without you oh um we didn't really discuss it but i assume it'd be fine because i think i might have found a lead as well oh please do tell well not really a lead but someone who can help us there's a a library around here i i was aware of it for a while or i have been aware of it for a while, or I have been aware of it for a while. It's staffed only by a human, a female, a sage by the name of Anen. She specializes in the study of mythology and the gods,

but she's a powerful diviner as well. Okay, fantastic. So she might be able to help us understand what happened. If we can bring her, the more information or the more personal effects we can bring her, the better. Yeah, okay. That we can do. Personal effects of, I guess, any of the deceased would probably be useful. Yes, anything to connect her to the scenes, to the person or to the scene of the event.

Well, Gary the lame, Gary, who is the brother of Lady Anel, he had on him a silver disc with a dragon on it. That's probably a good thing you could, if Lady Enel will let you bring it. Well, yes, then perhaps we go there first and then to Enel. Sounds good. Let's take a moment to try and figure out what we think we're dealing with here. Okay. I think that's probably worthwhile.

Before we get into anything, let's look at the, I don't know, the information we have. Where leans in? What do we know? We know that we have a series of murders, both, well, two varieties as far as I can see, possibly three. Strangulation, strangulation with some kind of inflammation or poisoning and a sort of mauling by many animals. Rats, found at the scene of all three, as far as I can tell.

Began about a month ago. Dudu, who has a journal that she started after you met her, that is very similar to yours, is noting all of this down in her one. Yeah. So we have murders about a month ago then what seems like possibly a break and then the murders have started again oh no no no zinwilin says we we've asked around we stopped at a few taverns she looks at where who burps loudly right uh for work and pleasure i suppose yeah and spoke to some of the locals there hasn't

been a break it seems if these strangulations if they are all connected they've been going on consistently for about a month have they been getting worse no it seems pretty consistent okay that's one every few days and this is, or whoever this is, they've not only been attacking nobility, they've been attacking the gentry and peasant folk alike, I mean. There seems to be no real differentiation. Some of the bodies were found in very public places. Yes, that is another great point, Zen.

Possibly some kind of, I'd like to flip open my journal, possibly some kind of invisibility involved or some kind of mind-altering sort of magic. I know that Helga, she somehow didn't see the body until she was right on top of it. She walked around it. So, Thudu pipes up,

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this does actually sound a bit like a vampire. Yeah, you're not wrong Thudu, which is crazy. Let's not ignore the fact that your prediction coming true is wild. Zinvaland and Richard

Ware, who are not privy to this prediction, look a little perplexed, but just go along with it. A vampire. And a vampire, I guess, especially with invisibility could hide here amongst the town for as long as they liked perhaps they arrived a month ago on a ship one of the gnomish ships and have been just slowly picking away at the people the question is thudu says why two people have had their heads basically caved in? You're right, Thudu.

That's very strange. Why them? And why rats? I mean, I guess rats are the sort of creatures of the night of the city, as it were. Where shakes his head vampires have no control over rats? You have no way to refute that. I'd like to, maybe with my quill or whatever I write in my journal, I'm chewing this pen now and be like, I guess.

Ware continues and says, if he were in the city, or she were in the city, be using bats, surely. Yeah. Yes. That's another thing. We should chat to the rat catchers in the city, see if they know anything. I'm going to write down a list of possible... It's also worth noting that this could just be

some kind of dark wizard. Just saying. I'm going to write down a list. You all nod. Vampire. Druid slash goblin shaman. Maybe Ware is leaning over you while you write that. I'm like, druid it and he's leaning over and

i'm like slash goblin shaman wizard uh and that's all we have so far i like how where is clearly kept here because he's good in a fight absolutely but i assume that we all we'd all die for each other we're we're a tight ride or die buddies. Yeah, exactly. Okay, let's go I suppose, do we want to go to Enel first or do we want to go to the library first? Or the Rattas.

Yeah. I reckon, Thudu says, I reckon we do Enel before we do the library because we do want that little token. That's true. Good point. Good point, Thudu.

All right, we'll go to Nell. We'll go to Nell. All right. As we're walking there, I'd like to be like, um... Where? Yeah, uh... Okay, so, hey, cards on the table. He looks at you the way a dog might look at its owner when it starts talking.

Cards on the table. She's very pretty. And she's very lovely so um oh where it says i know what this is where looks at zinwilin and thudu and says someone's got a crush look all i'm saying is that if everyone could be on their best behavior, I would appreciate it. Thudu and Zinwilin both give you wiry smiles, but they don't say anything. You're sure they will be on their best behavior?

Look, even where at this point you think you might be able to trust. The request is just not for Thudu or Zin. I'm just saying to everyone to be polite. All right. So you arrive back at Lady Enel's compound, and the gates are open. Pretty much the guards know you by sight or whatever. So as soon as they see you approaching,

they open the gates, and Lady Enel is waiting there. Like, she looks like a painting standing in the middle of the archway there's beautiful two figures of a man and a woman both with swords crossed carved as the archways right sort of centripes and she stands there quite clearly she's just come from the garden because she has a bouquet of different plants be still my beating heart so, she drops them and runs to you. I take her in my arms when she arrives. I've brought the wizard, like I said I would. Don't worry, we'll stay well away.

She nods. You, all four of you, head down into the crypt, and you, Sir Ware, and Thudu maintain a respectful distance while Xin Wulin approaches the corpse and weave some magic about it. Does she have any magic that can help? Damn it. She can't haste upon the corpse. Quicker corpse.

She doesn't have any like magic that can help, but she does know some incantations to understand things yeah she's just got a better eye for it than i do looking over the body she produces the same coin that you pulled out and she says to lady enel is this the symbol of your house and then l shakes her head no it's the symbol of a house near us okay physically i believe that is stolen zinvalin looks at you and says we don't need the coin then okay it might be important to the event but no totally yeah i'd like to when she's like we don't need the coin that i'd like to like explain myself to lady no we thought we thought we'd bring the coin to it to shakes her head it's okay i trust you sir knight uh zinwilin puts the puts the coin down back down next to the corpse and after inspecting the corpse she turns around

and says yes it looks very similar to what we found outside of the tavern i don't know if all of these cases are connected but these two definitely are okay there. There's, I don't know, emotion to this. She gestures at a bunch of things on the corpse that you don't think you would have ever noticed. And she says there's aggression, anger almost. Anger and something else. Something beyond anger. But whatever did this, did it maybe almost even out of spite would we and i can she gestures to the nose mouth and ears or what's left of them i can see red

discoloration there or red inflammation there would we be permitted i ask lady and l to take like a scrap of shirt or something to our seer or our scryer so that she may be able to discern something. Zinmalin turns around. Anything important to him? Yeah, it doesn't even have to be from the body. She nods. Yes, I can go get you some.

Thank you. She comes back with a ring. It was his. It's lovely. Is it lovely? It is. Oh, that's good. Tell her the truth.

It's very genuinely. Yeah, he was semi nobility yeah and his sister did look after her so it's a nice ring yeah we'll get this back as soon as we're done with it thank you no no thank you all right let's head to that library it would be somewhere in the south. It's around Southgate Market. Okay. So in Southgate Market, you find the home and personal library of a female sage named Anen. She specializes in, up the front, there's a big sign written in, probably written in draconic. It's not even written in common. So do you even understand it? I don't think so. No, you know draconic. It's not even written in common. So do you even understand it?

I don't think so. You, no, you know Draconic. Oh, hell yeah. You know a bunch. Oh, that's Zinmalin. You do not know Draconic. I was going to say. All right, cool.

That's very funny. I don't remember picking it up, but sweet. In Draconic, it says something. And Thudu maybe, because she's a bit more brash than zinmalin reads the sign out loud specializing in mythology and gods are you sure she can help us zinmalin nods i don't think anyone else can okay walk inside i assume there's a bell yeah there's like a heavy scent of incense throughout the entire place. This library has no real sense of organization to it. It's just books stacked upon books stacked upon books all over the place.

It's an absolute mess. Navigating through it, though, you see an absolute airiest human being you've ever imagined. She has very little flesh to her. Gosh. Um, and then, yes, is she old?

She's ancient. Okay. Very, very old. We were wondering, please call me. Oh, wait,

actually. Yes, that's fine. Right. I'm Sir Grace. This is my adventuring party. Yes, I've heard of you. In your visions, says Sir Wayne.

It's so funny just to see you. In your visions of us? No, just around down. I like to shoot Ware like a look, not like an angry look, just like a, what are you saying? We have come for a vision, as have everyone. Please come with me. Maybe then I give Ware another look like,

no, you know what, he was on the money. Ware gives you a smug look. He doesn't understand what happened. But he knows he somehow won. Yeah, he knows he has the upper hand, inherently. Like a dog will know when it has the upper hand. Yeah, absolutely.

Alright, you go with Anen into a back room. You can see from the dust on the floor, it is quite obvious that Anan does not get a lot of people curious about buying books. It would appear that most people want a vision. Yeah, look, that's fair. Then maybe her knowing we wanted a vision didn't come from any kind of preternatural ability. She's just taking a lucky guess.

Oh, no, definitely. Yeah, you definitely have come here presumably for a vision. yeah you sit down at a circular table in the center of the table there's like a it's a wooden table and in the center there's a bowl a natural bowl and in that bowl there's a like brackish brown water with like a green film on top of it. It looks absolutely disgusting. She, when all of you are sitting, reaches into it and pulls out three bones. When she pulls them out, the lights, there are like

dim candles all throughout this room. When she pulls them out, all of the candles snuff out and you're bathed in like a low darkness. Do you need the ring, I say? Yes. What do you wish to see?

I suppose this person's last moments. She extends her other hand for the ring. Am I blind? No, no, no. It's dark, but there's like heavy curtains, but you're kind of getting some light in through them. I put the ring in her hand and sit back. She puts the ring and the bones together in her hands,

and maybe you wince at like, that ring's got to come back. She's boned up the ring. She shakes them together, and she casts some spell upon all of them. When she finishes, she throws all of it into the air, and with four, all of them fall into finishes she throws all of it into the air and with four all of them fall into

the water okay the moment hangs and then the candles that went out the smoke the faint smoke coming off them slowly begins pouring into the bowl in the center of the table and you realize there is more smoke than there has any right to be the smoke slowly begins to coalesce and you notice that anen the seer she's like moving her hands in arcane gestures and fashions and you can see that she's she's like manipulating the smoke with her hands eventually the smoke begins to form into the figure of a human, and then it begins to take on color and aspects, and then it becomes like a smoky facsimile of presumably Gary. Gary is skulking out of a building. You see that in his hand he has a small sack, and he presses himself up against the wall keeping the sack tucked near his chest two guards walk past they come out of like nowhere and materialize as smoke figures

walk past one of them says to the other one did you hear that i'm certain i'm certain look there that door isn't meant to be open they walk past him and then he slowly slides out behind and past them. When he gets out into the street, you can see that it's a bit more public now. He begins to adopt a more, like, casual pose, and he tries to kind of, like, mingle in with regular street folk. Then he stops he jerks and you see that something like it's like the miss the smoke sort of begins to like wrap around him a little bit and when that happens and then hisses like a cat what no no she swats at the smoke and it all disappears. The final image is Gary reaching up and grabbing at something, some smoky figure before him as the smoke is like tendrils begins to reach

down at his face. Okay. I assume that didn't go well. I say, I read, I read what could be seen in the moment, but something did not want to be seen. Some powerful magic. A shroud. Not invisibility.

I know what invisibility looks like in a divination. No. This is something else. It's not any magic I've ever seen. Xenualyn leans in and says, When you mean it's not magic you've ever seen, what exactly do you mean about that? Like a spell you don't know, or? She shakes her head. No. There is divine

and arcane magics. This was neither. I write down new magic in my journal. I could, I saw it, and through the vision, it struck out at me. I have never known that to happen. The creature, wherever it is, is definitely very alive and awake

and was aware that I was scrying upon its history. It lashed out at me. The creature, it does not use my magic, but it understands arcane magic. Or perhaps it knows many magics. Well, we thank you for your time. Be careful. Whatever this creature is, it is powerful. I'd like to turn back to the crew.

We can handle it. All right, we'll leave and find ourselves, I guess, in the street, in the market. So I guess whatever we're up against is a might more difficult than we sort of first imagined. Not necessarily, as Invalyn says. It's just a might that we don't necessarily understand. That's true.

I wouldn't say that it's too strong. I would say that, well, you heard the seer. It's a magic that she doesn't understand. There are many types of magics outside divine and arcane. There is the magic of true naming. Sure. You're probably walking somewhere. Do you have a specific destination? Well, we might as well head to the rat. What time is it? It's pretty, like, oh no, it's in the afternoon, actually. It's not even not even

sundown yet yeah well we'll head to the rat catches then all right it whatever it is yes sorry there's the magic of true names to understand some things not not like title or birth name but the true name sort of the true nature of it would you describe the true nature of the being yes there's a magic about that there's a very abhorrent type of magic known as magic from the realms it is the energy that warlocks tap into well warlocks of specific patrons okay a warlock of maybe a patron from the great deep an old one sometimes even fey a fey warlock they can tap into this far magic it is not understand it's it's a strange and an awful magic but it is different from arcane there is psionic magic magics of the mind i'm writing this all down magics that creatures like um illithids practice yeah okay and then there is elemental magic there's magic of the four elements earth fire air and water

what of these magics would you suspect was the cause which of these magics i would not imagine elemental magic there's no such magic that could do what we saw just now. Psionic magic, potentially. Yeah. Their true naming seems sort of outside the realm. I would not rule out true naming. All right. But it is unlikely, yes.

But if you know someone, well, it would be a powerful true namer to understand. Do you think that whoever we were trying to scry would have been able to recognize us through the... This is something I should have asked the old woman. Yeah. Well, too late now. It might have. Yeah. If it understands arcane magic, perhaps it even knows some arcane spells and can scry us back

well that is a worry but it would be nice to see whatever this is face to face of course yeah and now a word from our sponsors also hey dnd is fun but if you're wishing that you could hear questions that no one ever thought to ask about pop culture you only kind of know then do i have news for you plumbing the death star is a show by zamit doucher and jackson where they as my dad calls it make a living while being a drain on society like you adam so if you like the sound of that or if you want to know why my dad doesn't believe in entertainment then head on down to sanspants radio.com and search for Plumbing the Death Star. Well, let's... There are, of course, other types of magic that I do not know.

So it could be something else even more. For sure. You head to the South Ratter. Right. It's a big, like, warehouse-type building. There's South Ratter written in cursive out the front, and the door is slightly ajar. Inside, you can hear swearing not like

like like someone angry swearing i'd like to give everyone a look like oh and then the door opens and the most flustered human being you have ever seen is standing there the ratter first off smells like rat shit second, he's wearing clothes that are stained in rat shit and blood, partially as well. You can see that he's nursing his arm and hand, which have bite marks all over them. I just don't know if that's unusual. Can I help you? So, Grace, Knight of the Realm. Well, we've been investigating some...

Wait, wait. I know you. Do you? Yes. your your grace's companions so richard ware leans in and says the light of the the light of the king he's always preferred that one but it makes us equal doesn't you know well the light of the king is the one that you got through him because he's very close to the king. That's true. I love him. Yeah. Yes, that's us.

Correct. Well, we were wondering if you could help us on our quest. Well, you can help me, yes. Okay, that's not what I asked, but go on. I've got a rat problem. Right, I think the whole city does. Thudoo laughs like can't contain it. Thudoo, shush. Yes.

And there's a great deal of rats, a great deal of many rats in the basement okay we can help you with rats that's i'd like to turn to the wall and be like rats guys they're like rats remember rats maybe we push past him in our reverie there are cages all over the place filled with many many rats they're all screaming you don't know rats very well but these rats look simply uncontainable they are in a absolute fury every single one of them is trying its dondest to get out of their cages they're gnawing they're slamming themselves against the cages. Several of the cages that have not been weighed down, and you can see makeshift weights

on several of the cages. Some of the cages that haven't been weighed down are like bang, bang, bang, bang, like slowly moving across the floor as the rats within them slam against them. You can see this impulse or this, these rats are acting not in self-interest. Several of them are literally killing themselves doing this.

I'd like to turn to the rat catcher. I don't know. The rat catcher looks at you like, yeah. So this is unusual. Yes. Yes, I would say this is unusual. I just wanted to check. I don't know rats.

In the basement, several of them have gotten loose. They did this. He holds up his arm or what's left of his mangled arm. His pinky and ring finger are bent at an odd angle that they should not be bendable at. You can see that his thumb is mostly bone at this point and there is exposed like you can see through an artery in his arm his heartbeat you should see a cleric i say peels off and says i'll deal with this man oh well it's just rats how hard could it be we'll head into the basement all right if well before we go that i'd be, if we take care of your rat problem, will you help us out?

Whatever you want. Great. Just wanted to double check. I'll carry your bags if you want. Okay, whatever. Cool. We'll head down into the basement. Without Thudu, you, Zinmalin, and Richard Ware head down into the basement.

So time to fight some rats. I know. As you take a step down into the basement all three of you look at each other when you hear a yell let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out what in the gods is that sound do any of us have a light uh is it dark in here zinbalin holds up her hand and a orb of light appears in her hand. Okay. She casts light. Can we see anything? Yeah, you can see

well, now like a shadowy set of stairs going down to an open doorway. Let me out, let me out, let me out, let me out, let me out, let me out. If that's a rat, I say to them, I'll shit. You take another step down.

The yelling continues. Xin Wulin stops. Where who was maybe up the back bumps into her. And she says, wait a minute. Can you hear it? You stop and you listen very intently. Let me out. Let me out.

Let me out. Let me out. You realize that the sound is not audible what you're hearing is a projection into your mind oh no i would like to whip out cinder and hold it very tightly um well okay maybe this is more than just rats let's proceed with. Thudu appears at the top of the stairs. I've got a, I've got an, I have a problem up here. Yes, I'd like to turn up to Thudu. The, the ratter, he attacked me.

I killed him. Okay. I will... Look, let's... Okay, let's take this... Thudu is covered in a lot of blood. Let's take this one step at a time. You notice specifically there's a lot of blood on Thudu's boots.

I will go up to Thudu. What exactly happened? Thudu gestures. You look inside. Now the top room, you can see the r router is lying slumped against the wall with through dues acts in his head. There are several open rat cages and rat corpses all about. I tried to kill a bunch of them,

but so what happened was he went crazy a little bit, right? I was trying to heal him. And then he started opening rat cages. Okay. I asked trying to heal him, and then he started opening rat cages. Okay. I asked him to stop, and when I grabbed him, he struck me.

You did the right thing. Don't worry about it. Okay. Now that you're up the top of the stairs, you really... No, actually, you would have noticed immediately. Yeah. When you get to the top of the stairs,

let me out, let me out, let... It just cuts off suddenly. Okay, so we... I'd When you get to the top of the stairs, let me out, let me out. But it just cuts off suddenly. Okay, so we, I'd like to look at the corpse and be like, we have a problem of our own, Thudu. Please, I'd like to take Thudu beyond the threshold. Thudu involuntarily shudders when she goes down like a couple of steps. Is that being said? What's going on?

No, I don't think so. I think it's being projected into our minds, which I can't explain. But it's kind of our duty to head down there and find out exactly what it is. Xin Wulin, who is inspecting the corpse, stands up. She gestures to the body. I don't know if you want to look at it now or later,

but I do have some things immediately I would like to show you. Please. You walk over to Zinwilin, kneel down near the corpse, and she gestures to his face, which is contorted in a picture of rage, which is not too unlike what he looked like when he opened the door. But when she gestures to the face, she also opens his eyes, and you can see like a red ring around his pupil. That is what happens to someone's eyes when they are slain while under the effects of a dominate spell.

Okay, so that either means, and I can't believe I'm saying this, the rats did it, or we are not alone. Everyone draws their weapons out of the corpse. If you are here, show yourself. A tremendous crashing sound is heard downstairs. And then you hear lots and lots and lots of tiny feet moving upstairs. Let me out. Let me out. Let me out.

Let me out. Let me out. Let me out. Let me out. Oh, no. Bursting out of the lower doorway, rats. Hundreds and hundreds of rats. Fuck.

Each rat. Actually, you know what? We'll leave that to the rounds of combat that we're about to get into. Oh, no. Because the rats have an interesting feature. Do they? I am afraid. A swarm.

Not just one, not just 10, not just one not just 10 not just 20 not even a hundred but maybe a thousand jesus rats pour up the stairs and out into the room every single one of them screeching into your mind let me out let me out let me out let me out let me out and let's go to initiative okay fuck fuck fuck. Oh, no. So first things first. One, two, three, four. I need to randomly pick one of you. Two. It's Thudu. Thudu's got this.

She's tough. She's tough as a piece of mutton. That's what we say. Thudu's from somewhere behind you, Sir Grace. Gives a cry of surprise. Not pain, but surprise. Then the rats swarm at you when they hit you you realize that all of them are giving off a faint illumination and you realize you can see

all of them every single one every single one of these rats has its brain exposed, and the exposed brain is shedding light. Exposed, exposed? Exposed as in open to the elements. Okay. Okay, and all right. The rats swarm you, and you are bit a thousand different times. Goddamn. You take.

Just touch their exposed brains, everybody. What have. You uh 16 points of damage all right okay it's just rats then it is your turn sir grace um okay i would like to i guess just i gotta i feel like i gotta do like as much damage to an area but i guess that's not really an option is it in 3.5 yes in 3.5 a swarm you had to use an aoe spell otherwise it actually didn't work gosh swarms in 3.5 were immune to spells that uh affected only an individual creature all right attacks i will just try to pierce two rats two of the thousands right. Or as many rats as I can. You can attack twice.

So you attack. You bring your spear down to bear and launch it into the swarm of rats twice. Both times you hear squealing and squeaking. Are you using one hand or two? I use two. Two? All right. Um, I'll use two. Two?

All right. You deal 11 and then eight points of damage back as you skewer rats with cinder. Cinder, when you draw and use it, you can see along its length little red cracks appear. The gaps where heat would issue forth if this weapon were a light. You're not sure whether or not the name Cinder is in some way

meant something else. Ascribed some meaning to it or accidentally enchanted it. Either way, the effect is the same, and you deal in total 19 points of damage to the swarm of rats killing them by the dozen however there are thousands of rats every time you kill a rat so many more appear it is sir richard ware's turn you hear behind you

of him cracking his knuckles and drawing his great sword peace ruin ah great great that's just him as a man peace ruin he swings once and twice bellowing in rage like a fury like a barbarian-esque like a barbaric yell yeah yeah describe it peace ruin cleaves through them he deals uh that will be 10 points of damage in his first swing and then plus six ten thirteen points of damage in his second swing. Cool. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. If you would destroy...

Oh, wait, the resistance. You only did half of your damage. The resistance to what? Weapons. Bludgeoning, piercing, and sla... Yeah, the resistance to your weapons. Fuck. You actually only did nine, and he actually only did eleven.

Yeah, you both slew off a great deal many rats, but there's just so many of them. Where laughs? He's loving it. Yeah, he routinely just kind of enjoys his job. Yeah, for sure. It's Zinwilin's turn. She backs up, swearing loudly,

and she will cast, maybe she casts Cloud of Daggers. Sure. It's Zin Wulin's turn. She backs up, swearing loudly, and she will cast... Maybe she casts Cloud of Daggers. Ah, clever. Except they're immune to daggers. She casts... Oh, wait. Zin, you fool! Actually, wait. She should roll the nine.

No, unfortunately she doesn't. That's fair. She's got no clue. She flicks a silver dagger into the center of the, no, a sliver of glass into the center of the group, reaching into a component pouch. The sliver of glass, as it streaks towards the rats, it splits into two. Then those two split into two.

Then those split into, and again, and again, and again, until some might say a cloud of daggers slice through the rats they scream and screech but she does not kill a lot of them no zinwilin looks in dismay as she deals a paltry four points of damage god damn god damn of damage goddamn goddamn it it had no effect it had zero effect thudu hefting her axe says oh this'll hurt it just won't we gotta think outside the box thudu casts also a spell. She casts Bless upon all of you. And you feel the power of her gods enter you. You feel the

strength of the Dwarven Kings, the intellect of the Dwarven Mages, and you feel the... as drunk as the Dwarven Heroes. Who do? Why? Um... the dwarf in the air whenever you make an attack roll or a saving throw before the spell ends you can roll a d4

and add the number roll to the attack or saving throw so basically you roll a d4 and add it on so that was Thudu, oh was that? yeah that was her action, so she wades into the fight so that she's on the front line as well but that's her turn then the rats then the rats once again get us the rats try to swarm where but he digs peace ruin into the ground in front of him and

tears floorboards out of the ground that's great making a trench in front of him that the rats pile into instead rats attack you and as they charge you peace ruin barrels past in front creating a trench in front of you as well much appreciated then it is your turn sir grace okay i'd like to quickly glance around to see obviously this this is a rat catcher, he has rat killing implements. Does he have any poisons or anything like that? There's a big set of rats. Sorry, there's a big set of rats. Oh no!

Hello, they say. One of us tells only truth, the other only lies. No, there's a big set of racks, and on which you can see thousands, not thousands, but dozens of rat traps. Okay. You can also see a table where industrial gnome-grade rat poison boxes lie. There's quite a few of those. Some of the boxes are open, some of the boxes are closed. I would like to pull out my longbow and fire at one of the boxes all right wait if we inhale rat poison will we be okay no we'll be fine i remember reading

about how rat poison works it's got something to do with what rats can't digest oh yeah rat poison it like clogs up their blood basically yeah did you know fun fact that rat poison works because rats can't throw up yeah Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's the thing. They can't get rid of it. Yeah. That's why if you give a person rat poison, it can't kill us because we throw it up. Yeah.

All right, well, I'll stab my spear into the ground, whip my bow out, plug one of the rat poisons. All right. You plug the rat poison, you get a critical hit, which is kind of irrelevant on the crate. But we'll say that the effect is that the the crate explodes it's actually uh it's actually made of pellets but somehow with your bow with the critical hit i'll say that's what it does it like it it powders it turns a bunch of it into powder and the powder lands upon the rats the rats uh do not appreciate that, and they're going to take 3d6 poison damage. I'll take it.

They take 10, 15 points of damage. Good. Good, good, good, good, good, good, good. However, you have destroyed the... I'll say there were two open boxes. Yeah. You're not sure how full they are. And one closed sealed box.

Yeah. You have broken open that sealed box okay rats start oh no they don't stop rats start collapsing all over the place and zinwalin vomits sorry sorry she looks up at you with a bit of drool coming out of her mouth with a not a happy look on her face but she she's like i get it, she's like, all right, fine. I might start saying pull back because there are just so many rats. All right. Pull back, pull back.

Do you also pull back? Yeah, I start moving towards the exit of the rat. Ware gets in a couple, or he tries to hit a couple times before he starts moving back. He only gets one, like his first swing gets into like a big mass of rats and he cuts like 20 rats in half. Hell yeah. His second swing though, the rats have learned to avoid peace ruin and they dart out in all directions whenever the sword comes near them. His first attack deals seven points of damage. Cool. Cool, cool, cool.

That's all right. And then he starts pulling back as well. Xin Wulin keeps, oh, I know she needs to make a concentration check. That's all right. And then he starts pulling back as well. Xin Wulin keeps, oh, I know she needs to make a concentration check. That's fine. Xin Wulin keeps the cloud of daggers, the glass shards in place, and they keep churning through the rats. Turning them into a delicious rat slurry. Of course.

She deals six points of damage. And she, well, that's just maintaining that spell. She can cast another one, which she will. What's she going to cast? What is good against rats? She hurls an orb of acid at Clever. When she reaches out with her hand, there's like a just like dripping, drooling acid in it. And she throws that.

a just like dripping drooling acid in it and she throws that the acid splashes all about and it looks like it makes short work of quite a lot of the rats well it doesn't do as well uh well maybe it doesn't at all look it's not like it does no damage one cluster of rats and they are defined it divided into clusters takes eight points of damage okay but the other one is is unaffected is fine all right that's yeah okay oh rats wake against acid they're not weak but it's not good for them that's good rats burn sizzle rats collapse of poison and rat like chunks made by peace ruin litter the floor gross then that was in lynn oh and she backs up as well through do oh wait i forgot to add the d4 yeah oh well you didn't need to yeah but so where's second attack would have also hit but it did not do a lot of damage but it's a bit more damage

So he does an extra four points of damage And then As Thudu's backing up She Are any of you wounded? Yeah you're wounded So Grace you feel a hand upon your back As Thudu channels healing energy into you Much appreciated

You recover Six hit points Cool cool cool cool and she backs up as well it's the rats turn the rats i know there's like so many powers these rats have yet to use it's the feeling i get so far they've just used the powers a basic rat has, not a brain rat. The rats screech into your mind, Sir Grace. It feels like every single rat before you all at once tries to overwhelm your mind with a cacophonous din of noise. You, thankfully, with the blessing upon you, you're able to throw off the effect, but you feel like your brain is exhausted. Oh, my God.

Then the other group of rats try to do the same to Sir Richard Ware. Oh, no. His brain is like putty. The famously hard-minded Richard Ware. He is stubborn. Maybe. Well, he would have failed if not. Oh, wait.

He would have failed if also not for the blessing okay thankfully and that is all the rats do they seem to be concentrating telepathy onto both of you god what even all right it is your turn sir grace um i would like to can i i would say zinvalin who is at the back of your formation, is at the door right now. Cool. Can I get Zin to open it and we barrel outside? Sure. Yeah.

Well, that'll be on her turn. Yeah, that's okay. That's okay. On my turn, maybe I'll fire an arrow at another one of the poison boxes. All right. Just to kind of thin them out a little bit. You strike the poison box and highs or lows? Highs.

You strike the poison box. However, unfortunately, it looks like the box was definitely not as full as previous. It still scatters a bunch of poison about, though. Yeah. But it only deals one point of damage. Ah, well, okay. You can't win them all. The rats do look like they're beginning to thin out, though.

Okay. It looks like you have the upper hand. You don't feel like, you feel like this is a fight you could win. Okay. Well, then maybe if I've realized that, I'll be like, maybe don't fall back. Defend the door. Defend the town.

Ware grips the sword tight, and he yells, For Ampwick! You've got to have that classic adventurer loyalty to whatever town you're in. I would die for Ampwick. Even with the blessing, Wes' first attack does not hit any of the rats. They are very wary of his blows.

Wait, no, holy shit. He's really good at fighting. No, he's fine. Oh my God. He kills a lot of rats this day. Fuck. He does six points of damage on his first swing and then five points of damage on his second swing. So Richard Ware, huffing and puffing,

kills the last of these strange rats. You okay? Dickie? Yes. Yes. Yes, I am. Okay. Dickie, that's a good name.

Yeah. All right. None of us expected that, but we're all okay. No rats got out. I'd like to bend down and pick one up all right so it looks for all intents and purposes it looks exactly like a regular rat except where there should be skin and skull and sinew and others over its domed head there is instead just like a cutaway and the brain of the rat is kind of bulging outwards.

It looks like the brain is swelled to an unnatural degree. It's literally like sitting like a muffin top on the rat's head. I'd like to, with it clasped in my hands, be like, Zin, do you, have you ever? Zin has a close look at it, and she says, I have never seen such a creature before. I'd like to take a brief glance, just to make sure that every single rat here is one of these brain rats.

Oh, when you kill the last of these strange brain rats, all the regular rats in cages calm down. What are these strange brain rats, and where do they fit into the larger mystery? Find out next time on Fall From Grace Part 2, The City. Thanks for listening. If you want to help support this show and all the other shows on the Sandspans Radio Network, just head to sandspansradio.com and consider joining the Sandspans Plus community.

There's over 20 bonus shows, a Sandspans Plus Discord, exclusive video content, and discounts on merch. Just head to sandspansradio.com and follow the links. Hey there, fellow adventurer. If you're picking up what we're putting down and want more D&D content, we have just what you need to scratch that itch. D&D is for Nerds+, the symbol, not the word, where you can listen to select campaigns that were once only available to Sandspants Plus members,

the further adventures of the Greyhill Free Company if you want shorter campaigns with beautiful guests, and D&D is for Nerds, not Ognot, where all our non-canon D&D adventures go to rest. Just search for D&D is for Nerds on your favourite podcast app of choice and join us on this epic quest of D&D podcast discovery.