May 2, 2009: A Possessed Giant Wererat Walks into a Bar

Dramatis Personae:
(Party name yet to be determined)
Rick - Teodahr—Elf ranger level 1 (party leader)Mark - River—Wolven warden level 1Matt - Vitrano—Deva avenger level 1Richard - Wudge—Goliath fighter level 1Jim - Mungo—Ratkin rogue level 1John - Raun Wildmoor (of the Brighton County Wildmoors)—Wolven cleric level 1Rick: Keothi—Goliath cleric level 1
Notable NPC’s
Rockchop—proprietor of Golgun’s BloodOrc Bard(?)Stonejaw—Orc “hero”, former gladiator, veteran of the Imperial Legions, known thug“Vinnie”—wererat/ratkin quisling
=Never Trust a Guy Named "Vinnie"=
We meet in Golgun’s Blood (Wudge, Mungo, Teodahr, Raun, Vitrano, and River). We get the rules of the place (if a fight breaks out, no weapons. Anyone with a weapon gets put on the ground by Rockchop the proprietor).
We spot a smallish fellow eyeballing us, who turns out to be an unofficial rep from the local ratmen clan. He explains that the boss isn’t acting normal, and that a lot of the local rat people don’t like where he’s been taking the clan. He tells us there is a raid planned and offers to provide us with a map to the nest.
Teodahr agrees to the scheme. The ratman says his name is Vinnie. Teodahr tells him that tomorrow nights raid should be out as long as possible.
A big orc (we later realize is Stonejaw) comes into the bar looking for Vinnie. “Where’s dat runt Vinnie? He owes me money!”
Teodahr attempts to intervene “He’s talking to me right now, you can have him when I’m done.” 
Stone jaw rallies the rest of the orcs in the bar “Dis elfie sez I gots to wait? Whadya tink boyz?”
And the fight starts.
==Bar Fight==
Round 1
19 - orcs rush our table, and (oh noes, punch Wudge), Raun
18 - Raun swings with a Righteous Brand (minion)
12 - Teo moves towards Stonejaw and hurls a chair, but it bounces off his armor. He also appears to be wearing heavy cestii.
12 - River shifts, hits two, both drop.
10 - Mungo goes to the door and opens it, speaks to the Stonejaw, swings, misses.
9 - Wudge swings and misses
6 - Vitrano strikes a pose (readies an action to use an AE)
Stonejaw is a renowned veteran from the Imperium, famous pit fighter. (AC 19) Everyone in the party experiences an odd effect where time seems to slow for them when engaged with “normal” combatants. Stonejaw seems unaffected.
Round 2
Two half orcs approach Mungo and hit him, then the big orc hits him (bloodied). More orcs go after Wudge, but don’t hit.
Raun slugs another minion.
Teo chucks another chair, which bounces off his armor (AC 17)
River jumps thru the window and tries a Thorn Strike on Stonejaw but misses.
Mungo exits via the door pulls his shortsword & makes rude gestures at Stonejaw.
Vitrano moves back to the doorway after dropping two or three minion types.
Round 3
Stonejaw shuts the door, then bloodies Vitrano. Orcs hit Teo, Raun, but miss Wudge
Raun swings at an orc (non-minion), misses.
Teo grabs a couple of mugs (missed by OA) and throws them but misses (AC18)
Wudge punches out another orc and starts working his way through the mob heading for Stonejaw.
Mungo opens the door, River throws a Thorn Strike (misses).
Vitrano swears an oath of enmity on Stonejaw and misses.
Round 4
Orcs hits Raun, Vitrano and Teo. Stonejaw shuts the door again, shifts away and hits Vitrano. 
Raun hits one of the orcs (6 pts.)
Teodahr moves out the window and calls everyone out into the street.
Wudge swings at Stonejaw but misses. 
Mungo opens and blocks the doors and takes a Second Wind.
Vinnie stabs an orc and runs out the window. 
Vitrano swings at that same orc and misses.
River hits with a thorn strike and drags Stonejaw closer to the door.
Round 5 
Orcs swing at Vitrano but all miss. One misses swinging at Raun. The orc Vinnie stabbed draws a hammer.
Rockchop enters the fight, charges the armed orc but misses.
Wudge swings at Stonejaw, but misses (giving River combat advantage)
Mungo throws a shuriken and hits Stone jaw (9 pts)
Vitrano comes out the window and pokes in at Stonejaw (misses, AP) hits. (16pts, bloodied)
Teodahr shoots thru the window and hits Stonejaw.
River clubs Stonejaw down with Wildblood Frenzy (non-lethal).
Round 6 
The armed orc drops his hammer, the other stands over Stonejaw and says “Anyone touches him dies.”Rockchop clobbers Teodahr for shooting into the bar. Teodahr yells for everyone to stand down. We stand down.
Rockchop throws all the combatants out.
Vinnie meets us out on the street and finishes drawing the map for us, and thanks us for covering for him. He claims not to know why Stonejaw was looking for him. When pressed he allows as how “Stonejaw thinks I owe him money, I’m sure it has nothing to do with what we’re planning.”
Next day, we head to the entrance that Mungo scouted, and is also on Vinnie’s map. Vinnie warned us that to go to the right will put us in the family warrens likely to be stoutly defended. Going to the left will put us in some graveyard they dug into. No one that knows anything about the area is aware of a graveyard on this side of town unless it belonged to the pre-Westmarch Celtic peoples that lived here before the first Kingdom of the West.
Once we get in the warrens, we realize that Vinnie’s map is almost useless.
After poking around a bit, we find a room with some huge freaking rats.
==Rat Bodyguard Fight==
Vague recollection
Teodahr shoots and hits one for 15pts.
River charges into the room and hit’s a Dire Rat for 9pts (bloodied)
The rest of the party is ambushed in the tunnel; River is surrounded in the room and bloodied. 
Raun runs into the room behind River, swings and misses.
Vitrano moves into the room, taking OA’s (1 hit, 1 miss) and bloodies a different dire rat.
Mungo takes a lot of attacks and drops. Raun kvetches something about a plan. No one knows what he's talking about.
Wudge stands over Mungo and starts bopping rats. 
Teodahr kills a dire rat; River kills her dire rat, and marks everything around her. 
Raun backs up Vitrano who drags his rat away. They kill it shortly.
Raun heads back into the corridor, kills a giant rat and heal’s Mungo.
Mungo flanks and kills a dire rat. 
We mop up.
Leaving the large chamber we find some stone doors that have older Celtic symbols on them. The corridor has large rat like foot prints. Wudge drags the door open and beyond is an enormous (size large) rat covered in swarms of smaller rats.
==Possessed Large Frakking Dire Were Rat plus Swarm Fight (Teodahr's Bane)==
Round 1
The wererat master uses his tail and tries to attack Raun, but misses (reach 2). A huge rat swarm attacks Wudge and Raun for regular and ongoing damage. (Close burst 2 rat attack + aura)
Teodahr shoots the The wererat master for 13 pts.
Mungo throws shuriken w/Sly Flourish, 9pts, and then uses King’s Castle for 14 pts.
Wudge hits with misses with knee breaker (13pts.)
Vitrano missed with Radiant Vengeance
Raun misses with Sacred Flame and moves back.
(The area around the wererat masteris difficult terrain.)
Round 2 
The wererat master drags Wudge into the room, and sidles into a corner, taking cover from the missile fire. The aura bloodies Raun.
River charges in and pokes the wererat master but misses horribly.
Teodahr runs in, triggering an OA which triggers a Warden’s Fury from River (10pts). Teodahr shoots twice for 16 and 21+5 ongoing.
Mungo misses with some shuriken.
Wudge hits it for some and marks it.
Vitrano runs into the room and takes an OA. Wudge misses the OA.
Raun takes a second wind.
Round 3
The wererat masterdoes a burst power that drops Teodahr and the tail drags him into the aura.
River misses and backs up out of the aura.
Teodahr slips closer to death but saves vs. ongoing
Mungo tries a Sly Flourish but misses. 
Wudge misses with his attack. 
Vitrano moves in, spends an AP to drag Teodahr out of the aura and triggers his Second Wind.
Raun uses Avenging Flame offsetting the rat’s regeneration.
Round 4
The wererat master bursts and hits everyone in range; tail attack drags River into the aura dropping her.
River doesn’t die, but saves vs. the ongoing. The wererat master drags her into the aura prone.
Teo doesn’t die but saves vs. ongoing
Mungo misses.
Wudge misses.
Vitrano misses.
Raun heals River and hits with a healing strike.
Round 5
The wererat master bursts and misses with its tail(?)
River uses her Second Wind and stands up.
Teodahr dies. 
Mungo hits with a thrown dagger and hides.
Wudge misses. 
Vitrano takes a second wind. 
Raun drops from Aura and Ongoing damage.
Round 6
The wererat master bursts; River is missed. The swarm attacks Vitrano taking the aura with it.
River shifts on top of Raun and misses her attack.
Mungo attacks from hiding and hits for 12pts. The wererat master is now bloodied?
Wudge misses.
Vitrano saves from being stunned and the swarm-aura returns to the rat.
Raun doesn’t die.
Round 7
The wererat master uses a bull rush on Wudge and pushes him into the doorway, then tries to tail wrap Vitrano, and misses.
River uses her healing potion on Raun and shifts away.
Mungo hits with a thrown dagger for 7pts.
Wudge misses.
Vitrano uses Aspect of Might and hits for 21 pts.
Raun stands and swings and misses.
Round 8
The wererat master hits with the tail and drags River in
River hits with Weight of Earth for 8 pts.
Mungo attacks from hiding and misses.
Wudge misses with a Brash strike.
Vitrano misses with Avenging Echo.
Raun moves around behind the rat, but misses with combat advantage.
Round 9
The wererat master attacks twice with its tail slash and drops Vitrano, dragging him into the aura.
River moves around behind and hit’s the rat.
Wudge drops it with a mighty blow.
The chamber it turns out to be a burial crypt where life extension cultists (pre-lich wanna live forever types) could linger on after death and possess an unsuspecting soul. While examining the room, we find a secret door in the back and some loot in the big Rat nest.
360 gp, 240 gp necklace, +1 Darkleaf armor, and a +1 Full blade (split 9 ways)
[There is a discussion started by John regarding loot splits. Go figure. The initial position is that we split the evening’s rewards 5 ways (Teodahar’s dead) which changes to, split the loot 6 ways if Teo can be raised, at which point John recommends that we should really be splitting 9 ways since it is unfair to those not present to decide loot split policy for them. Motion carries.]
Wudge opens the door, is dominated, turns and attacks Vitrano, bloodying him.
==Brain in a Jar Fight==
Round 1
A horde of animated body parts pours out of the secret room.
Raun turns undead destroying most of them.
River moves to flank Wudge, but misses
Round 2
Wudge goes for Raun but misses. River lands a Warden’s Fury.
Mungo flanks Wudge and sneak attacks him nearly dropping him (21pts [1 left])
Raun drops Wudge with a deft blow.
Keothi (temporary cleric played by Rick) enters the room and after a bit of RP dithering, engages the remaining animated minion.
Subsequent rounds
River enters the room, and Vitrano looks over her shoulder and realizes that the jars in the secret room have the parts of the life extension cultists. The brain of a cultist in a jar can dominate someone. River suddenly gets possessed.
Mungo spots a jar with a brain in it and attacks damaging the jar, but not destroying it. The brain fails to control River that round. Later rounds it has better luck. The brain in a jar is able to turn invisible and fly.
Keothi stabilizes Wudge. We chase the brain in a jar around and destroy it.
There is 60 gp in interesting materials (components) and the seal on the back of the door turns out to be a Razor Shield (heavy shield).
== The Spark of Heroes ==
We escape the rat warrens without further adventure (a good thing, everyone but Wudge is nearly out of healing surges). We haul Teodahr's body back to the fortress, and are directed to the temple of Hades. They explain that those with the spark of heroism can be revivified and agree to perform the ritual for a suitable (500g) donation. After we sell necklace and other non-item loot, we can cover the cost of the 'donation' and have some cash to spare. Teodahr is restored, but weakened. (Penalty for coming back from the dead is -1 for three milestones.)
Net gain gold-wise for the evening 18 gp per person after taking out for the cash needed to get a Raise Dead cast on Teodahr (500 gp/ 9 ways is 55gp each).
Item distribution: 
Raun - Holy symbol (spontaneously!) turned into a +1 Symbol of Hope 
River - Darkleaf Armor +1 (hide) and the Razor Shield (heavy) 
Vitrano - Fullblade +1
== Experience ==
Medium encounter: Bar fight (10%)
Medium encounter: Giant and Dire Rats (10%)
Hard encounter: Possessed wererat boss (20%)
Minor quest: Break up protection racket (5%)
Easy encounter: Cultist chamber (5%)
Minor quest: End possession threat to ratkin (5%)
Total this session: 55%
Running total: 95%
== Links ==
Previous Session: April 25, 2009: A Summons to Regis Vale
Next Session: May 23, 2009: Drakes of Wrath
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