Rat In A Maze

Rat In A Maze is the title of the ninth episode episode of Jarren's Outpost Hustle, a D&D Is For Nerds Adventure.  It features Adam Carnevale as the Dungeon Master.  The episode was released on 29th July, 2017.  The introductory soundbite is "Sanspants radio: #blessed," spoken by Handsome Tom. The previous episode is Papa Littlelow and the following episode is O'Rourke's Eleven.

## Events

1. Leo struggles to complete his part of the plan.
2. Periwinkle gets his comrades on-board for the infiltration.
3. Captain Toltan meets Periwinkle in a bar and promises him a map.
4. Greg is picked up by his bookie and taken to the warehouse his spellbooks are kept in.
5. Shane transforms into a wererat and attacks him.
6. Greg alters himself to look like Shane, is bitten before he can escape.
7. When he gets out, the wererat gets out too. Shane's cab driver draws a gun.

## Players & Their Characters

* Jackson Baly as Greg Piss
* Joel Zammit as Leo Shadow, with Meatpie the magpie
* Handsome Tom as Periwinkle O'Rourke

## NPCs

* Little Little
* Periwinkle's comrades
* Captain Seymour Toltan
* Shane, Greg's gnome bookie
* Shane's cab driver

## Locations

* Jarren's Outpost
* Little Teaglaigh
* The Littlelow restaurant
* Militia HQ
* A militia-friendly bar
* Greg's warehouse in the gnome quarter

## Plot

Each of the party split up to accomplish their tasks. Leo speaks to Little Little about acquiring a boat while making a coffee. Little says they'd have to build one. Leo asks him to organise twelve men to throw some grappling hooks over the wall separating Little Teaglaigh and Eaton's estate, he complies... then Leo changes his mind. Little Little pretends to cross something off a piece of paper. They walk into a private room and Little Little starts to eat spaghetti. Leo tries to get a path cleared to the Eaton estate. Obviously, the Littlelows can only implore their own to do this, not the members of the other families. Hopelessly, Leo tries another angle.

He heads towards the docks and asks Meatpie to do some reconnaissance, planning to steal a boat.

Periwinkle returns to militia headquarters. He tells the "Periwinkle Nine" to meet at midnight. Before that, he wants them to spy on Eaton's patrol routine, they say they'll ask those who live nearby. He writes a letter to the captain, passes it to a member of the militia - asking him to meet him at a local militia-friendly bar. It's not long before Toltan meets him. Periwinkle asks him for a map of Rhodes Keep. Toltan gives him a sly look and interrogates him. Periwinkle challenges whether Toltan really wants to know, and he steps back, trusting him. He offers to draw the map, including the location of the treasure room, but advises that the vault door combination would require a master thief to crack. Periwinkle gets up to leave, downs his drink, and says "Seymour, if anything happens... look after my kids for me." He's guaranteed a map and reconnaissance. Periwinkle goes to pray.

Greg will figure something out. On the way to speak to the Sabers, a carriage - Greg casts confusion on the horse pulling it, and fails. The door opens and a gnome sticks his head out. Greg is told to get in. He recognises the voice of Shane, his gnome bookie. He tells Greg that he owes him a lot of money. It's a long carriage ride, Greg realises he is heading to the gnomish section of the city. They arrive at the warehouse Greg's spellbooks are (empty ones, for a scam Greg was planning). Greg unlocks it and they go in. Before Shane closes the door behind him, he tells his cab driver to kill Greg if he emerges alone. Shane threateningly suggests they light the place up, for he wants "to have a look at this place." Greg wants to get his books out. Shane asks how the grift works, and Greg explains that one would dress up as a wizard and claim to be getting rid of a spellbook, but that the spells in there can't be accessed until the wizard is truly gone; they wander around the maze of the warehouse, filled with empty spellbooks. Shane says he has another client by the name of Shim Sham Shalabim, a fellow gnome. He owes him as much money as Shane. The gnome told Shane that if Piss didn't have to pay, then why should he. Shane says he ate him alive, and that he'd do the same to Greg. He transforms into a wererat.

Greg tries to pull a precarious book out of the pile - it collapses on him instead of the wererat. The wererat leaps onto him, snarling and swinging, but Greg just about keeps him from dealing damage. Greg tries to confuse him. Shane's wererat eyes turn purple, and it begins to snarl strangely. Greg hits it with his lute. The wererat runs off. "A rat in a maze." Greg find's Shane's equipment, especially his flintlock. Greg alters himself to look as similar to Shane as he can and briskly jogs towards the exit. Out of nowhere, the wererat leaps from the top of a pile of books and lands on top of him. As it lands on him, so do several books, knocking it off him. Greg shoots a nearby brazier, it falls and alights a pile of spellbooks. The wererat leaps at Greg again, but as it does, it slips on some books.

Greg uses the opportunity to escape - as he gets to the door, he feels a bite on the back of his leg. Greg, looking like Shane bursts out of the door. Shane's assistant doesn't shoot him immediately. He slams the door shut and locks it. Greg impersonates, "an ugly fight!" and the door bursts open behind him. Greg grabs his paws as he tries to jump onto him and manages to throw him off. The cab driver draws a flintlock.

*Who will the driver shoot? Find out next time...*

## Quotes

* "You're gonna lose organs, man!" - Jackson to Leo
* "Is something going down sometime soon, is it? Something I should know about?" "Depends... *Do* you want to know about it?" - Captain Toltan and Periwinkle
* "Dammit, Periwinkle. All right." - Toltan
* "Time to use some non-offensive spells offensively!" - Greg
* "I'm not letting you take my eyes, Adam. Take a lung, take a finger, take an arm if you have to. You're not taking my eyes!" - Jackson

## Trivia

* At the beginning of this episode, Adam accidentally calls the Quietknife family "Quickknife".
* Greg owes 2,000 to the Thieves Guild, not to Shane. He owes 6,000gp to Shane. An easy mistake to make - Greg Piss owes a lot of money to a lot of bad people.