Session 3: The Rat’s Nest Tavern - part 1#

Summary#

The party set out to rescue Petra Lang from the Rat’s Nest Tavern, navigating Shepherd’s Way through a tense standoff between a troll and a harpy before locating the tavern on Scrag Lane. Descending into the sewer warren beneath the ruined building, they fought through ratling barricades and traps to reach an inner sanctum housing a Rat God shrine. They killed the ratling warlock and his guards, but found no sign of Petra and were forced to retreat before the warren could be fully cleared.

What Happened#

Scene 1: Morning Check-In with Ansom Lang#

The party made for the Watchtower to get more precise directions to the Rat’s Nest Tavern. Theobroma reminded everyone they were only on their second day in Drakkenheim and urged caution. The delerium node was a tempting objective, but people should come first.

Ansom was at the same desk, looking worse for wear. Forty-eight hours had passed since Petra disappeared at this point. “I fear that might be longer than she can survive,” he said flatly. The party reassured him, and were given more specific directions: enter via Shepherd’s Way, take the southern fork, then search the block just north of the road before the inner city walls — on a street called Scrag Lane.

Scene 2: The Troll and the Harpy#

The route around the city’s outskirts was quiet. Entering Drakkenheim along Shepherd’s Way, the party spotted two creatures brawling in the road ahead.

A troll was grappling with a flying harpy. The troll could regenerate wounds on the spot — a crossbow bolt fell out and sealed over within seconds. The harpy was highly agile and clearly motivated more by what was in the troll’s pack than by fighting.

The harpy spotted the party and alerted the troll. The party retreated while Margareta switched to speaking in Giant, calling out to the troll as a fellow creature of immense stature. The troll was not interested in diplomacy. “I only require one arm,” it reasoned. “Your left one. You don’t need that one, right? Are you left-handed or right-handed?” Margareta replied that she used a two-handed weapon. The troll found this inconvenient.

Cory’s wounded the harpy enough with a shot from her crossbow to drive her off. She broke away but turned to Cory: “You shouldn’t be fighting us. You should be joining us — your feathered sisterhood.” When Cory didn’t follow, the harpy climbed into the haze: “If you ever change your mind, meet us at the cosmological clock tower. We will be waiting for you there.”

With the harpy no longer available as a meal, the troll demanded compensation. Margareta held firm speaking in Giant and offered a single gold coin. The troll accepted grudgingly and lumbered off.

Scene 3: Finding the Rat’s Nest#

Another hour through the haze brought them along narrow streets hemmed in by collapsed tenements. A painted sign jutted from a building wall: a fat rat sprawled on a plate, grinning. Rat’s Nest Tavern.

The building was almost entirely obliterated — first-floor walls barely chest-high, roof and upper floors caved into a rubble-filled crater. A tunnel at the back of the crater led downward, a faint octarine glow shimmering from somewhere below.

Then Heda noticed something wrong with the walls. They seemed to breathe. Eyes appeared in the masonry at the corner of his vision. Before anyone could investigate, a piece of stonework broke free — it had a mouth full of teeth and eyes in places you wouldn’t expect them to be.

The party dropped into a nearby sewer grate and pulled it shut behind them. The sewer was pitch black and cold so Theobroma conjured dancing lights. Cory stepped into the water and immediately felt the sting of contamination — she pulled her foot back fast and warned the others. She scouted ahead in the dark, spotted a tripwire connected to a pail of acid overhead, and disarmed it without a sound. Beyond a barricade of sharpened logs, ratling voices bickered in the dark.

“He gets more shiny because he’s got purple teeth.” “Won’t argue with the guy who can summon monsters and magic spells.” “I’m just hungry.”

Scene 4: Battle at the Barricades#

Theobroma’s dancing lights rounded the corner and gave the party away. “There’s something in the sewers!” A burly ratling at the barricade — referred to as Booger by his companions — leveled a toxic-sludge-coated spear.

The room beyond the barricades held Booger and six regular ratlings with slings. Margareta’s Cloud Rune deflected a sling stone mid-air, redirecting it into a ratling. Cory landed a critical rapier strike, the ratling gone in a single clean hit. Booger shoved Heda prone into the contaminated water; Theobroma immediately pulled him back out with a Telekinetic Shove before the contamination could take hold.

Margareta finished Booger with a Fire Rune maul strike, the rune erupting in bright red flame as it connected. His companions went quiet. Then: “Shit, shit, shit — they killed Booger!” The surviving ratlings used their Ratling Cunning to disengage and flee.

The tunnels were low — six feet at most — and Margareta and Heda moved with heads ducked throughout. The retreating ratlings had left the place riddled with hazards. Cory barely avoided a tripwire that brought a section of ceiling down. Margareta dropped into a spike pit around a blind corner. A spiked log trap was deliberately triggered by the ratlings as Cory came around a bend with them screaming “Get out of our home!”

Scene 5: The Rat God’s Sanctum#

The passage opened into a chamber and Theobroma led the way but was immediately knocked unconscious, extinguising her dancing lights and plunging the party into darkness. Heda activated Sacred Weapon — his longsword burning with white flame — so they could see what was coming at them.

Against one wall: a large nest basket draped with stitched-together finery and wigs. A rough stone plinth holding a silvery rock with a delerium crystal embedded in its surface, dressed in rubble, mud, and rat droppings to resemble a demonic obese rat. Skulls, bone daggers, and small delerium fragments lay at its feet as offerings. The Rat God shrine.

Standing before it: a ratling warlock who opened with Eldritch Blast, then Burning Hands that knocked Theobroma down to a single hit point. Margareta poured her healing potion into Theobroma to keep her standing. The warlock then conjured eight giant rats from thin air; they swarmed the chamber instantly.

Theobroma, barely on her feet, conjured a Flaming Sphere and used it like a bowling ball — crashing it through rats and into the warlock again and again. Margareta and Cory both went down but Heda’s Lay on Hands brought them back. Finally Theobroma rammed the sphere into the warlock with everything she had. He collapsed. All of the conjured giant rats vanished simultaneously.

The last ratling looked at the empty chamber. “The Rat God has forsaken us!” It ran.

Scene 6: Extraction Attempt and Retreat#

The party called out for Petra Lang. Silence.

The delerium crystal in the plinth was the largest piece any of them had ever seen — roughly two pounds, four times bigger than the fragments from their first expedition. Margareta started working at it with a pickaxe. About thirty minutes of work needed to extract cleanly.

Fifteen minutes in, voices echoed from the passage. Ratlings, returning. “Do you think they’re still here? The boss will be mad if we let them steal our stuff.”

The party pulled back leaving the delerium behind. They found an intact ruin nearby, boarded it up, and settled in for a short rest around 6:30pm. The warren wasn’t cleared. Petra wasn’t found. And the node was still down there.

Key Discoveries#

  • The Rat’s Nest Tavern is on Scrag Lane: Enter the city via Shepherd’s Way, southern fork when the road splits, north of the road before the inner city walls
  • Something lives in the tavern walls: The stonework breathes, eyes appear in the masonry, and at least one creature animates the building exterior — nature unknown
  • The Rat God: The ratlings worship a rat deity and their warlock wielded magic in its name. With him dead, survivors fled — but the warren extends further
  • Delerium node found: ~2 lbs, used as the Rat God idol. Partially extracted, still in place
  • Harpies at the Cosmological Clock Tower: A harpy extended a standing invitation — addressing Cory specifically as part of a “feathered sisterhood”
  • No sign of Petra: The explored sections held no captives. The search continues

Loot & Rewards#

  • Ratling Warlock: brain (uncommon monstrosity organ), skull (uncommon monstrosity bone)
  • 730 XP each — running total: 1,830 XP (Level 4 at 2,700 XP)

Memorable Moments#

“We didn’t have the equipment, my friend. We just bought our equipment yesterday. You know how the city is.” — Heda, to Ansom Lang

“I use a two-handed weapon, Mr. Troll.” — Margareta, negotiating with the troll on which arm he could eat

“Don’t worry, Mr. Troll. This is a gift.” — Theobroma, casting Faerie Fire on the troll mid-negotiation

“Feathers but no flight.” — Cory, when asked if she could fly

“I see six ratlings and one ratling who might be using steroids.” — Margareta, scouting report

“Shit, shit, shit — they killed Booger!” — Ratlings

Session 2: Into the Haze Forward