Summary 8/7/22
Table Talk:
I dulled out XP to everyone for finishing the quest.
I also gave out a “Mrs. Rush: Italian Medley, seasoning blend (with no salt)” leather sachet for Ashley to keep all her fancy herbs in.
The only real question this time was for Ashley and Diedrik; Do you want me to tell you what the dreams and holy symbol crack were – or do you want to figure it out on your own?
They both said they want to figure it out in real time with their characters, so with that we’re off.
"Safety First!"
"Well no, It's just... Stupidity last."
-Nile Red (Nigel Braun), “Liquid rocket Slow-mo adventure”
Book 2: Employment
Pulgrok stands before you, sweating profusely. He is making notations on his clipboard and you can see him shaking a bit as he writes. “So, with the returning of those tools and supplies, *gggrrrroak* plus with Bostra’s generous covering of the wall damages, your current debt is now only” He pauses and croaks then licks his huge lips. “175 gold, and 6 copper. Would you like to pay any of that now or…” he drifts off as his eyes make little circles around the room.
Our group muttered a half confused and half concerned agreement.
“Excellent. In that case,” He croaks loudly and starts frantically putting things back in his various pockets, “I will see you all in my office to finish the final paperwork.” He lets out another loud croak that echoes around the walls of the room for a moment like a sneeze in a theatre. He croaks again loudly then quickly (for him) says “To get there, just leave these god awful tunnels and head north, my office is the first door on the left. I- I have to go, these angles are making me… sweaty.”
After Pulgrok slowly backs out of the room, Our group slowly turns a confused look on Bostra as he slurps some purple.
With a noisy wet slllllluuuuuurp Bostra looks at everyone and sighs. “Let me explain. The bullywugs here are all very neat…” he pauses to think for a second about a vision of pockets and mismatched buttons, “about certain things.” He lifts another glob to his mouth and then continues, “Have you noticed that the tunnels the Thug gang made are all different from the sewer tunnels?
“I mean yeah, the walls are all wooden slats, and they’re not really finished like the sewers.”
“Aside from the obvious,” Bostra sighs, setting down his mug. “You all have been mapping things out as you go, right? What have you noticed?”
Everyone sheepishly looks side to side and then at the ground before Ari quietly confesses… “I found a map of the sewers..”
Bostra gives them an admonishing look. “Think about looking down at everywhere you’ve been from a bird's eye view... or I guess a street’s eye view for us. What would make the tunnels in the-”
“The angles!” Cypress and Sorin say together.
“Exactly.” Bostra says with a small burp as he gets out a stained rag from somewhere. “All the Thug tunnels go at odd angles compared to the established sewer hallways,” Bostra says, pouring a bit of water from his canteen in the empty mug. “And that was very much on purpose. Not just to make the most of the space they could carve out.” He swirls the water around and starts running the rag around the inside of the mug to clean it. “The bullywugs here really dislike anything not in line to the path of the sun, so that’s east and west, or the path of magnets, so north and south. It’s something in their blood, I think. Walking in a northeast or southwest line makes them itch and squirm – kinda like being in a desert or in a field of snow would make you uncomfortably hot or cold.” Bostra pours a bit more water into the mug saying, “Most bullywugs will avoid it if they can. So the Thugs dug their tunnels in a way that the sewer crews wouldn’t even want to go into, even if they did discover them. It works as an added defense, being hidden in a way that people don’t even want to find you.” Bostra takes a big drink of the water then ties the mug back to his belt. He smacks his hands on the table and pushes himself to stand up. “Well that’s enough breakfast chat. I’d say it’s time to get to work.”
With that explanation out of the way everyone stands up and preps for the day. Sorin bookmarks a few useful spells, Cypress refills canteens, Ari and Rae roll up their gear. We all strap on our packs and look around for anything we missed, and then we head down the hall in the direction Pulgrok went.
Because she was checking for foot prints, to make sure we’re going the right way, Ari is looking at the floor when we come to a trap hole dug in the floor. With a sigh, she points it out, and we all make our way around the ledge and into a new room.
We follow the hallway into the next Thug room, and again we’re stuck by just how long this gang must’ve been set up here. The walls are all half worked cobblestone. As we look around, we roll Con Checks (everyone passes and no one gets sick). Around the room are several cages of various sizes. A large cage in the corner is almost big enough to be a small jail cell, whereas the small cages could only house two small dogs. There is also a round gibbet-style cage with a wooden beam and a coil of rope on top of it. We think we can make out some animal bones in a few of the cages.
But the reason for the Con check? The smell. Every part of this room reeks of blood. There are blood stains on the floor and bars of some of the cages, as well as bits of flesh and tufts of fur stuck to some parts. As we look back the way we came, we see a starburst pattern of blood near the base of the wall, right about the height a head would be if someone had been sitting there. We also see a bloody boot print and a drag trail of blood.
“Um, guys, let’s all try never to piss off Bostra.”
We leave this room with no one really in the mood to try and loot after a scene like that.
Down the hall, we come across a section of transparent red bricks with a tinted view of the sewers on the other side. After a somewhat annoyed discussion about fees and penalties, Ari and Rae dismantle the bricks, just enough to pass through, and then put them back into place once everyone is through.
We head north up an unfamiliar hallway, and soon come to a branch in the tunnel to the right… that is glowing green. Down this hall is the glow of a green light that is very close to 4DD569 green, but not quite. Like moths with ADHD, the group as a whole goes “OOooooOOooo,” and starts walking toward the green glow until there is a throat clearing sound and we all remember we have an appointment.
Dejected, everyone slumps their shoulders and starts back on the path north until we come to the next left turn.
We turn to see two thin french doors with plagues reading “Sewer Pulgrok Office Inside.”
After a moment’s head scratching, we realize it is supposed to be read as “Sewer Office: Pulgrok Inside”.
Chapter 1: Office Full of Frogs
🎲🗡️🔔✨🌿
Chapter 1: Office Full of Frogs 🎲🗡️🔔✨🌿
We open the small double doors to a room the size of most of the mechanical rooms we’ve been in. Unlike those however, this one is well lit and dare i say almost homey. Right in front of us is a large wooden table, the edges are a little cracked and warped, but it’s not in too bad of shape overall. Around the table is one tall bar stool and two chairs. On top of the table is… well, clutter. A few scrolls, an open book with a cracked spine, some stacks of paper held down with bricks and metal lumps, and somewhere beneath all of this is a map showing straight lines and rectangles that we think are the sewers. To the right of the table are some pots with large scrolls sticking out and a simple wooden tool chest – a very familiar crowbar sitting on top. Next to this is either a cabinet or a dresser that someone decided to repurpose. There are a few open drawers and a large set of fish fins on top next to some rags. At the north end of the room is a large sewer pipe next to some crates and burlap sacks. Across the room from us, hanging high on the wall is a gargoyle head, with another pot of scrolls underneath.
With a good perception roll, Rae notices the gargoyle head give everyone a wink. She stares at it, unblinking.
The far wall is covered in a mass of chest high book shelves with various tools, gears, and large metal screws mixed in with book titles like “Magic Sewers for People with Low Wisdom Scores” and “Mechanical Engineering in a 5 Dimensional Plane (Now With Knowledge for Necrovalve Operations in No-Light Space”. Beyond that is another cluttered table with books and some door handles piled atop another map. The three wooden chairs around this table look a bit dusty as if they haven’t been used in a while. On the other side of the table is a wooden “L” shaped wall that doesn’t quite reach the ceiling. And another sewer pipe going out the south wall in the corner.
As i said, this room is much brighter than the rest of the sewers. In fact, in the middle of the room has a small wagon-wheel chandelier with six oil lamps burning on it. The last bit of interest to point out here is the rug. Under the chandelier on the floor is a large alligator skin. It’s about eight feet long and has some large fangs sticking out the side of its upper jaw. The skin is flat and well worn with boot treads on it, but the bright green skin is still shiny and blue ridges catch the eye in the lamp light.
Pulgrok comes out from behind the partition at the end of the room looking much more comfortable, and possibly even smiling (it’s hard to tell on a mouth that’s that wide). “Welcome to my office. This is where I would like for you to come and report any vermin you take care of, and to get paid.” With an embarrassed croak he says, “Bostra will remain camping in those tunnels so you’ll have to go there to report Thugs to him.”
Pulgrok starts shuffling through some papers to find the last documents for you all. While he is searching the table, Sorin takes the opportunity to peruse the books on the shelves behind him.
“In order to establish your line of credit and pay *croak* you, I will need a group name for you all.” Pulgrok says looking up at Ari and Cypress with a pen hovering over the paper.
Various comments like “oh” and “ that’s right the thing we were supposed to think about all week” pass around the table in the midst of a very long silence.
“uh…..”
“um…..”
“er……”
“I’ll just leave that blank for now shall I?” he says with a sigh, “Though please know, I will need a title before tomorrow morning in order to be able to pay you.”
As all this is happening, Raelle-the-Unblinking is having a staring contest with the gargoyle head and is slowly becoming Raelle-the-Water-Eyed. With a bad Con roll, she blinks her eyes for a second. When she does, she is almost certain she sees the gargoyle stick its tongue out at her. Rae stares intensely at it, deciding that getting into a staring contest with a literal statue is apparently the best use of her time.
While Cypress is taking a look at the buried sewer maps, Ari turns to Pulgrok and asks, “Um, you said you’d be able to give us some keys so that we don’t have to keep breaking your locks?”
“Ah yes, let me just-”
Pulgrok waddles over to the tool chest by the entrance to the room and Ari gets a good look at that familiar looking crowbar sitting on top. She stops herself from reaching out, but stares sadly as he opens the chest. Inside she sees a tray of small tools, and tucked into the chest lid is a line of bent hooks with keys hanging from each. Pulgrok unhooks one and closes the lid.
Explaining that the key will get into most of the standard locks in the sewers, but not the Thug’s locks, Pulgrok hands the key to Ari as she stares longing past him at the crowbar.
Meanwhile, Rae is still staring into the stone eyes of the gargoyle when Sorin distracts her. “Hey, Rae, I found a book for you.”
The title i came up with in the moment is lost to time, but it was something about helping dummies.
Rae turns to glare at the wizard and hears a gravelly chuckle from overhead.
“Now then. The little one must be Cypress Underhill, yes?” Pulgrok says as he walks behind the L shaped wall and returns holding a few cups and a pitcher of water. “Bostra has informed me of your special circumstance, but I am not Bostra, and I want to know what it is you are looking for down in my sewers.”
Cypress stares back, debating whether to interrupt and correct their name, or to be polite and let it go.
I’m actually gonna leave off here. We actually did a bit more that day, but i think we’re gonna do some small back-tracking, so this will make a good stopping point for today.
“‘Who the fuck doesn't say what they mean?'
'Most people?' He asked.
'Most people are morons.'
-Bitch (Rachel), Wildbow [J. C. McCray], “Worm: Chapter E.4”
Table talk:
The only table talk we left off with was a reminder to think of an official group name. As we were closing down Diedrik chimed in with a perfect name, which honestly i love and i hope everyone picks. So hopefully next week our heroes will have a line of bank credit in the name of… the Thug Muggers.
