Helping the Rat King

Past the inhabited buildings and busy streets of harrowfen, hidden by shoddily placed wooden walls, are streets upon streets of long abandoned buildings, rotting and being occupied by junkies, homeless and those who cant even afford shelter in tents outside city walls. the streets are empty, except for the occasional tweaker roaming around. All around you shows the signs of some previous incident, arrow holes in the walls, burns along the stone road, slashes which run deep down even rock hard surfaces.

The Rat Kings leads you to what looks to be a former restaurant. tables and chairs are neatly arranged inside, and he invites you to take a seat

figures with faces covered by hoods watch yellow with piercing yellow eyes

"Listen, im gonna start you off real simple just to see if your up for it. im going to need you to get me 5, living prisoners. doesn't matter who, and i saw a gang of bandit scumbags robbing an old couple on the way here, just down west of the river if you still want to stay in the confines of the law. go do what you need to do, tie them up with some rope, (hands them some rope), bring them here and we can discuss matters further"

Along the river there will be a dirt path, surrounded by thick trees and shrubs. if a party member walks alone with the others hiding a bit along 2 people will begin walking towards them, and 3 behind. they will act menacingly but cocky "hey gnomey, you got anything in that purse of yours" "why dont you show us what's in that bag of yours" if all party members are on the road they will all run out the bush with their crossbows prepared and demand they hand over all their valuables.

### RETURN THE GUYS

When players arrive back at the lair, the rat king will be seated and talking to a tall half elf dressed in a blood stained medical apron.

"and perfect timing, their back! with just what we wanted"

she will turn to look at them before turning to Rezor "you didnt tell me you were introducing newcomers to the operation"

"there fine, there fine, its a mutually benefitting arrangement, GUARDS please escort away the 5 restrained assholes to their cells, Enzo you can do what you need to do ill be there in a second, i just need to discuss some things with these 3" Enzo and the guards escort the prisoners away

thanks for getting those guys, how'd it go?

"alright im sure your eager to see what you need to do next but this next task isn't going to be easy. remember that old coliseum i had going on under my legitimate circus business? well in the chaos of all my performers escaping i forgot to bring all my gold with me. theres a secret exit tunnel i had in case of emergency, its under a large rock north east of tunstead branded with the same symbol on your collarbones, Wenzel knows where it is, you know Wenzel ill send him with you. if you could use the tunnel to get back into my old lair, get all my gold locked away in a chest underneath my floorboards, and bring it back that would be great, ill even let you take a few handfuls from the stash as payment since your being so helpful. you should probably go soon before its all destroyed to dispose of evidence, and watch out for any guards who might be down there"

you recognize Wenzel as the owner of the tavern the rat king used to try and drug you. he watches you with a look of both spite and waryness, with greasy long hair and a hunched posture, it looks as if he has not taken recent events well

### RECOVER THE GOLD

"east of the river over the border is Norwich, next to Crulfield which experiences occasional breakouts. security is very high in that area"

###### OLDHAM

small patches of farmland are tended to by tired looking farmers. several homes are built side by side around a dirt road, which leads towards a manor on the hill

going through Oldham ranch, farmers and their families will all emerge from their homes and watch as you go by, with an untrusting look on their faces.

down the road you come across an empty caravan in the middle of the road, horses gone, with several barrels and a single chest in the back; in the chest is a painted portrait of a middle aged man with red hair, a woman, and a cat, deeds to a house in Ramshorn, a small lockbox with several pendants and rings inside, an engraved hammer with the initials 'A.R', and an empty copper candle clock with gold inlays.

1. barrel is full of handcrafted nails
2. various handcrafted metal tools, such as fire pokers, shovels, kitchen cutlery etc
3. more various tools
4. wooden plates bowls and cutlery, a tin of metal chess pieces, several bags of coal, and a bag of dried meat

south warren the path intersects into a town called south warren, a town which reeks of fish and salt, there seems to be a fair bit of commotion coming from around the large lake. a bullywog can be seen rowing on a small wooden raft, though hes so far away you can hardly see him.

"we just like watching him go, none of us know who he is or what he wants"

guards will be situated on the other side of the bridge, facing away from the party.

###### TRADERS REST.

while on your way you pass several unassuming individuals, travelling on foot or horseback, but a group travelling in your direction who join the path from another road catches your attention. they wear bright, colourful clothes, carry instruments Rafe recognises to be Impeccably made, and are all laughing and singing together. they claim they are here on holiday from Venetsia after graduating the Seicelio College of Bards. Rafe and Thokk can hear and appreciate how good the music is, but Rafe can truly pick up on the talent and skill they possess. each party member gains a 1d10 inspiration. partway through the song, a piercing shriek blairs from within the forest, a bloodcurdling cry of pure terror, but then the scream starts to turn to a cackling, and then laughing, as the sound seems to rise into the air and then stop. the bards all look white in the face, give you their farewells, then quickly ride off down the road.

uninterested guards wave people through the town gates, the tavern you recognise to be the one you took over is shut, and you can see a large concentration of guards over the other side of the town, checking in person in a large queue trying to cross the border to the stonewall province

"they think your still inside province borders" - Wenzel

~~~~

the forest is colourless and grey, smoke rises from the ashy white dirt and the black charred trees are missing their leaves. "its this way, im starting to remember, yeah this way" he leads you to a large boulder, with the matching symbol burnt into the side. Wenzel turns to thokk and maltik "maybe one of you could' he gestures to the rock. its lighter than you expect, and reveals a wooden ladder descending down a deep hole. it leads to a thin tunnel, carved into the rock. occasional jagged bits of stone cut and jab into thokk and maltik as they walk through. the tunnel ends at a polished wooden wall, which easily slides away into a closet filled with expensive clothing. the room is adorned with expensive furniture, polished wooden walls painted with patterns and quilted chairs and seats. on the walls a large paper flyer portrays a green and white circus tent behind a younger Ezor, staff in hand and a grin on his face, the flyer reads "if you dont see it you will never believe it, THE ENCHANTING EZORS CIRCUS OF RODENTS", next to it are several paintings, most by various artists portraying swarms of rats performing circus tricks, and one portrait of the young Ezor, signed by a Lupini.

Wenzel will immediately start tapping on the floorboards, and when he located a hollow point he will start stabbing and scraping at it with a dagger. underneath the floorboards an enormous pile of gold is piled inside of a hole, Wenzel will begin loading it into a sack.

a group of 4 elite guards and the city Sherriff will be inside the ruins. if confronted with the players they will try and bargain. they recognise the sheriff from when they escaped, and she tries to avoid conflict:

"times have changed, you were only our biggest concern when we had Ezor within city walls, but the fools done a runner. you aren't with any soldiers, and your working with *him*" she motions to Wenzel "so i assume your not here officially and you probably know where Ezor is. so how about we all make a deal, officially."

"news of what happened has got out, weve had some sniffing about trying to find Ezor, i need you to kill him. when you get the chance, kill Ezor. bring us back his staff as proof, and does 1000 gold each sound good, as well as the deeds to one of the finest Manors in tunstead. we all know without Ezor theres little proof that this ever happened, and if he gets captured it means bad news. all you need to do is kill him, and it benefits the both of us massively"

Wenzel begins to protest, "you traitorous bitch, how can you expect us to accept this offer", the sheriff motions and two crossbow bolts kill Wenzel

"do we have an agreement"

~~~

###### Got the Gold

guards on the way home will stop the players, looking down at a sheet of paper "sorry pals, got an order from the king some terrorists who failed an assassination attempt are trying to flee the province, this will only take a second, im looking for a dragonborn, a gnome and an orc"

### Upon returning

bandits will begin to emerge from their camps and start to trail the players as they walk towards the city. gradually they will start to surround them with a look of greed in their eyes, and some will attempt to grab some gold out of the sack. things will eventually get violent but city guards will come and deter the crowd

"Excellent, you've returned! but where's my dear Wenzel? ah, no matter, he was a bit simple anyway, we wont be needing him anymore." he motions to one of his guards and hands him a list "take this gold and this list and purchase all that's needed, also give a few hundred to Enro and dish out wages to all the elite guard" he turns to the players "friends you've been an amazing help, and im happy to say that my vision is starting to become realized. i just need to make some preparations before your next task so spend some time around town, its a great place, and meet back up with me tomorrow, and i assume you took your payment from the sack?"

The King Rat