PrP Tunnel Trip

[Seraphina]

Looking to Circe, “I’m all for getting wet, but not here, in the tunnels.” A wink to the elf.

Laughing as Circe took out the glowstick, “I just saw in a movie where they used them to mark the path they had taken. But chalk would work too. Or lipstick.” That one was from Labyrinth. “The doors should be marked at some point, and looked at.” But she knew Circe knew that.

As the conversation flows into how Cassandra got good at navigating, the Nix was looking around them. They might not be in the Hedge, but they still needed to keep an eye open and watchful.

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-06-29 16:05:40	Seraphina rolls 5 to Keeping an eye out!(Wits+Comp)-1 Clarity (10 Again)	2, 10, 1, 4, 7, 8	2 successes

[Circe]

Narration: Seraphina and Circe are able to continue finding the stains on the walls. Cassandra and Liam seem distracted by their conversation. What is up ahead is not noticed until the last minute. Everyone notices the problem up ahead with the path. There is some wood detritus before a sizeable ditch.


Circe being in the lead however, encounters a surprise. With her foot, and it is not appreciated.


[roll=Squeaking rage!]88239[/dice]


Circe:


"Just don't go full superhero custome with it Cass," is her response to Cassandra liking her new moniker. That'd be a odd outfit. Seraphina however gets a giggle from the elf. "Spray paint next time, or more glowsticks. Cheap option and all that," Circe agrees with Seraphina.


Then it happened.


SQUEAK!


"Ow! Che cazzo, toglieti di mente!" The elf is suprised by the sudden bite on her person. From a rat with its tail under her boot.


Circe takes a kick at it with her other foot.

  

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2021-06-30 15:14:09		Circe rolls 1 to do something insignificant (10 Again, Chance)		5		failure

Stumbling away with the failed kick, Circe's boot is no longer on the rat's tail as it squeaks at her.

ooc: The rat has 4 Defense, now 3 thanks to Circe if you wish to attack. Or ignore it, which ever you prefer.

[Liam Gelt]

Cassandra's story had Liam engrossed; he could certainly relate to wanting to make up for past losses. He wondered about his own past in Arcadia, and how much he'd struggled to rebuild himself after his experience there. "Wow! That's really brave of you, to carry on like that after losing someone." He felt an amber tear being to build in his eye; he always was a sucker for noble heroes born from tragedy. It seemed to ring especially true for Lost like him.
It isn't until too late that he hears the squeak, followed by Circe's vibrant cursing. With the procession briefly halted, he takes stock of the ditch in front of them barely illuminated by the lanterns.

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-07-02 07:58:49	Liam Gelt rolls 4 to Calm Down Surprise Rat (Res + Animal Ken) (10 Again)	8, 8, 1, 4	2 successes

Liam stretches out a long arm towards the little rodent and speaks softly to it. "Hey little guy, what're you doing down here all alone?" Where there was one rat, there was bound to be more. And that meant the rats had either food, a shelter, or both. Any combination of which could be useful information for this tunnel expedition.

[Cassandra Reeding]

"Don't worry, I don't have a tendency to get too full of myself." She laughs a little bit. "What would be really cool is painting the walls with a bit of glow in the dark paint. Only problem is if somebody decide to pull a labyrinth." You just never know. And why ruin a perfectly good stick of lipstick?

"And thanks Liam. It's been an interesting journey, that's for sure."


Cassandra is startled by the rat and the debris for that matter. Sizable ditch huh? She marks that down on her map, letting Liam deal with the rat, Cassandra leans in to get a better look at the ditch. There is still a little bit of anxiety in her, kind of worried there are going to be more rats jumping out. She is pretty sure she can handle a rat, but still.


Turning her focus from the rat back to the ditch, she begins asking herself: Does it take up the entire walkway? Can it be crossed without need of instrument? How deep is it? Is it stable, or is it still in the midst of crumbling down?

inspect the ditch - 3 successes

3 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-07-02 12:18:54	Cassandra Reeding rolls 6 to Investigate the ditch int + survival (10 Again)	2, 10, 2, 6, 5, 3, 10, 10, 7	3 successes

So, one of those little bits of my bad. Cassandra has Direction Sense, so she can find her way back to any starting point and always knows the Cardinal directions.

[Seraphina]

The ditch wasn’t expected, but it didn’t strike her as being out of the ordinary. Afterall, if these tunnels were used for smuggling at some point, they were bound to find tons of weird and interesting things.

“We could also run lights down here. Figure things out enough, get some power down here.” Seemed like a good idea to her. "I have soo many extension cords from the Spring Coronation, we could get light down here."

It wasn’t the squeak that got her, but Circe’s sudden burst of Italian. Moving up beside her, “Are you ok?” shining her flashlight over the Summer’s body, looking for an injury. The rat was noted, but it was just that, a rat. Least this one wasn’t dead.

And…was Liam…talking…to the rat? It wasn’t too weird, her and Circe talked to Hedge Rabbits. But she didn’t think this rat was a Hedge rat.

Spotting Cassandra move toward the ditch, “Careful.” Concern in her voice as she moves her flashlight to shine at the ditch. An eye kept on the Winter. "Can we get across it?"

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-07-02 13:43:51	Seraphina rolls 3 to Ditch?(Int+Sur) (10 Again)	3, 7, 9	1 success

[Circe]

"Yeah," Circe growls to Seraphina as she examines her boot. The Summer was most displeased with a rat tearing into her boots! The elf looked around for it and, wait a minute. Why was Liam treating it like a pet instead of stomping it?! "Please tell me ya ain't naming it George," a surprising literary analogy from the Larcenist. Or she just might know the meme.


"Or do, if ya get the same results Lennie did," literary reference, Circe did read the book. The elf takes a moment to examine her boots. Not much damage to her, but the boots had a chunk missing from the fiberglass. The chunk was visible near her, so at least the rat didn't eat it. Circe is fingering her gun. Circe looks down into the ditch and wow at the results on the light.


"So, a wild rat's nest appears." Circe looks to Cassandra, "What is super effective against those?" Her eyes scan the area.

Doable

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-07-02 22:49:53	Circe rolls 4 to Int + Ath (10 Again)	10, 5, 6, 2, 3	1 success

Then she straightens up before stepping back from the ditch. Circe turns to Seraphina, "Depends. How good are ya at the long jump?"


Nar:
The rat hisses, but at Circe not Liam, it actually backs away from the elf towards Liam instead of towards the ditch. Liam is pretty sure it is just scared and hurt by Circe stepping on it rather then naturally hostile. There is more squeaking coming from the ditch.


Cassandra finds the ditch is quite wide, though not impassible. Only about 7 feet deep. But it is at least 12 feet across. There is filth and dirt caking the ditch, but it is solid stone. A sextet of rusted stakes in the ground indicate a bridge was used to cross the gap. They may want to restore this or at least set up a portable bridge. Easier to spot for both Cassandra and Circe is what is moving in the ditch. It is a rats' nest, with the vermin scurrying into and out of holes in at the ends of the ditch. Mostly into, fleeing the light.

Cassandra is sure climbing down may agitate the rats, as Circe just did, into attacking if one was not most cautious.


Crossing the ditch without building a bridge can be done by with Athletics. Climbing may be done with a +2 due to the foot and hand holds, but you'd risk triggering the rat swarm. Circe thinks that jumping could be done with a running jump to cross, which the Lost do have room to do, needing only 2 successes to make it. Or the Lost can get creative.

[Liam Gelt]

Liam sees the rat scurry towards him, and there's a satisfied grin that briefly crosses his face. "Oh, I don't know. All the good rodent names are for mice. Except maybe Templeton." Charlotte's Web had been a favorite of his growing up. But the rat was still wild, and he had no aspirations of it being any more friendly than it had to be. Although he did get an idea...
Reaching into his backpack, he broke a piece of one of his protein bars. "If more of these critters come up, then maybe I could distract them with some food." He palmed the morsel as he looked over the trio of Fairest at the ditch. Could I just stand in it?
In response to Circe. "I could make the jump no problem, but maybe I could just stand at the bottom and you guys could walk on my shoulders and arms across? I could even get a bit bigger if it would help. Then I could climb out easy peasy."
It was a stretch, and the rats could very well ignore any food he offered and try attacking. But at the end of the day they were rats and he was a Giant. He'd be fine.

Equipment: -1 protein bar

[Cassandra Reeding]

Cassandra gives a little nod of thanks as Sera shines further light her way and is careful as she is checking about. "It's definitely possible to get across, but it is a bit of a jump and you risk just going straight in anyway. I'm pretty decent at the athletics part, but I think it would be best to come up with something else."


"Effective against rats? They generally are more scared of us than we are of them. Fire would probably disperse them via their natural instincts to just run from it. At the same time, it's a nest and it is down in a seven foot hole."


She pauses, listening to Liam's suggestion, "That would just put you in the nest. They'll probably bite you that way. It's not a bad suggestion, but if we can avoid getting hurt, that would be best. Keep it on the table though. Personally, I feel like climbing would probably be our best option, but if anyone else has any other ideas?"


Cassandra tries to consider what she's brought with her, but nothing is quite helpful for this. She feels like she should have expected this though, finding ways that would stop them going forward. For some reason, she just didn't grab her climbing gear. But then... tunnels, maybe some Hedge.

She takes a look around then, trying to figure out if there's anything that might help them cross, but she doubts it. These tunnels have all been pretty clear and given the distraction and slight frustration she know could build, it doesn't help her gazing around.

Perception - Failure

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-07-03 02:33:16	Cassandra Reeding rolls 4 to Perception (Wits + Composure) -1 (10 Again)	1, 4, 1, 3	failure

[Seraphina]

Taking another look at the ditch, “Well, not sure. I know I could get away with the landing if it went bad. But I’m willing to give it a try.” This was more Sonnie’s territory than hers. “Now I could try what I did with the Briar Wolves if we were really concerned with the rats attacking us, but I don’t think they will if we’re careful.” Looking at the ditch again. “I don’t think my voice works on animals.” But she had also never tried.

“If we had something to make a bridge with it’d be easier. And even if the wood was old and rotted, I can make it new.” But she was still game to try jumping.

Looking to Liam, “That is an idea, I just hate putting you in harms way. They’re just rats, but enough could cause some pain and damage.” Though it would be easy enough to patch up.

To Cassandra, “Without wood or something, I agree, climbing would be the best option. Because if someone does jump, and falls, then we have to contend with the possibility of injuries.” Not ideal.

So she looks around as well, maybe there was some old wood around?

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-07-03 09:18:24	Seraphina rolls 5 to Any wood or materials?(Wits+Comp)-1 (10 Again)	4, 4, 10, 2, 9, 7	2 successes

[Circe]

Circe: "Dude," she says to Liam, "Ya ain't a balance beam and I ain't sure yer arms reach that far. Like stretch 'em out ta check if ya want." Circe didn't doubt it could work but didn't relish the idea of using a Liam as a stepping stone to hop scotch across. If the rats and ladies on top of him made him fall, that'd be bad. Oh, and Liam could get bitten too. He was big though, maybe he could throw the less athletic among them? Wait, "Fae bullshit healing works against rabies rightt?" That was a good question.


Circe scoffs at Cassandra mentions the cowardice of rats, "So are people, until they gather in a mob," she points down at the ditch, "That's a mob. Next time," she nods to herself, "I'll bring a literal torch with me. Or gasoline, Funderland might have a can, I think."

3 suxx

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-07-03 11:52:16	Circe rolls 6 to Int + Wits (10 Again)	7, 5, 3, 10, 9, 9, 5	3 successes

"Wait, do any of ya have matches? Rats go fire bad," yes she made a Frankenstein voice, "Scatter then we climb." A torch could be improvised to spook them right? But Circe had no matches and using gunpowder to do it was wasteful and time consuming to remove from a bullet. Seraphina admitting she couldn't charm rats gets a chuckle from Circe, "Guess animals are tone deaf, or maybe they prefer," she waves her hand to the ditch with its numerous holes, "The pipes."


As for the wood, "You and me both," when Seraphina mentions renewal of rotten wood. As for climbing into the swarm? Would food distract them for long? Or make them go into a feeding frenzy?

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-07-03 11:53:06	Circe rolls 5 to Int + Surv (10 Again)	2, 9, 7, 6, 10, 7	2 successes

Nar:


Templeton, name pending, accepts the offering from the gentle giant food giver. Despite Circe's question, it is unlikely to be rabid given the lack of aggression. It quickly scurries off somewhere out of sight with the food, hiding from the Lost and other rats. Liam's theory of entry could work, though Cassandra is probably right on the high risk of him being bitten. Circe can confirm that while the food may distract some, the rats won't go into a feeding frenzy because they are not shark like predators, which should be obvious to anyone. But some rats could still attack to protect their nest.

Liam's plan has benefits, it could make crossing easier (1 success instead of 2) for the women hopping instead of jumping across. Gymnastically crossing on Liam would require a Strength + Stamina roll by Liam to ensure he held up the woman on top of him, whilst the lady would still need 3 Athletics + Dexterity successes to use Liam as a balance beam.


Seraphina's search reveals the presence of quite a bit of oxidized iron. The stakes in the ground and extra hunks of rust on the walls. Clearly this area was well lit during prohibition, to ensure the populace would be too. But no wood. Seraphina recalls the only wood she has seen is in the cask room where Liam KO'd the door.


Circe recalls where spare gasoline cans are in Funderland: in the maintenance shed. It'd take maybe forty minutes to run and get one. She'd still need something to light it with. And whilst a torch might work to spook them, Circe is forgetting that while they do have cloth to burn, they need to make a haft for the torch. And Seraphina can confirm their is naught her for that.