Part 3 of our players adventures in Freeport. Previous parts can be found here.
The Characters
Nienna Roughtide - Level 1 Halfling Warrior with Battle Axe, Crossbow, Short Sword, Dagger and Heavy Leather Armour. Nienna is pretty please that things went her way with the Barkeeper, she didn't get to burn the tavern down but he is dead.
Petra Cobbles - Level 1 Gnome Mage with Quarterstaff and a Novice of Healing and Lightning Arcana. Petra didn't want the Barkeeper dead and is the most suspicious of Finn in the group. If this job is so easy why is Finn willing to pay them to do it instead of doing it himself?
Volraith - Level 1 Half-Orc Warrior with Bastard Sword, Maul, Throwing Axe and Heavy Leather Armour. Having just tagged along with Petra and Nienna because they offered him the chance to scare someone Volraith now finds himself involved with Freeport's criminal underworld, but at least he might get paid again.
Captain Robin Rumguzzler - Level 1 Human Rouge with Pistol, Short Sword and Light Leather Armour. A pirate Captain without a ship or crew, like most of the people in the city Robin was in Freeport looking for a way to reverse her recent poor fortune. Could that be with Nienna, Petra and Volraith?
The Game
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| The City of Freeport |
Having taken Finn's advice about non-humans not going into Scurvytown at night the group spent the night in their inn deciding what to do the next day. By morning they had decided it was probably best to get a Human to come with them, figuring they would have a much better chance finding their way around the district with a Human to ask directions instead of them. Following the main road from the Field of Honour towards Scurvytown they spot Captain Robin and ask her if she can help them get around for 5 silver pieces. She agrees and the group head off into Scurvytown.
Scurvytown
As they get into Scurvytown the group notice that people are giving them some dirty looks, particularly Volraith. Robin approaches someone and asks for directions to the Dead Pelican, the man she asks looks at the rest of the group, mumbles something and ignores her. Next time they ask for directions Robin approaches alone and this time they are more helpful. The woman she asks gives her directions to the Dead Pelican and Robin is able to lead the rest of the party there.
As they approach and find the Tavern it is a seedy little pub that doesn't really stand out from the 100s of others that line the streets of Scurvytown.
The Dead Pelican
As the group open the door they hear a man shout "Rats? What about the rats? Yer a big tough pirate, ain't ye? Forget about the rats and drink yer rum. How about a pie to go with it? I'll give ya one fer free if you shut up about the rats". Looking around there are a few people sitting around drinking and the man who just shouted is behind the bar. On the bar are two large plates of pies which look to be completely untouched, even the man that was just offered a free pie has refused the offer.
The Party approach the bar and the Barman smiles at them. They order a drink each and Volraith gets a dirty look when he tries to order water, he changes his mind and orders beer. The Barman is an ugly man with crocked teeth and scaring over his face, every time he is serving or talking to one of the female party members he gives them a creepy smile and offers them a free pie with their drink. "Best pies in Scurvytown, I buys them from the Bakery down the road every morning". Volraith decides to try and get back in the Barman's good books and buys a pie. As he takes it off the plate they notice people in the tavern as staring at him shocked.
They ask the Barman for Shingle. "What do you want with Shingle?" says the barman suspiciously.
"We have been sent by Finn to speak to him".
"Finn? What does he want with Shingle?"
"He has an offer for him that might make Shingle some money"
"Well why didn't you say. I'm Shingle and I own The Dead Pelican" As he says that Shingle pulled a small knife out of his belt and throws it hard down the bar at a rat that was running along towards the pies, pinning it to the bar.
The party explain Finn's offer to Shingle, let Finn use his cellars as an entrance/exit to the tunnels that run below it and Finn will pay Shingle each time something is brought through. Shingle is excited about the chance to get some coin for no work on his part and says he will agree but there is a problem that they will need to help him with first. Shingle tells them that there are a lot of rats in the tavern and he thinks they are putting people off his pies. They are coming in from the tunnels below the cellar and if he opens that tunnel up for Finn he is only going to get more coming in, he asks if the group can clear the rats nest out of the tunnel below so he can start selling his pies. They agree to try and are shown down to the cellar. Before they head down, Volraith eats his pie and sees actual fear on the faces of people in the tavern, one man even gags but Shingle looks really pleased. The rest of the group ask Volraith how the pie was and he says it was one of the best he has ever eaten.
Down in the cellars there is a patch of floor that looks like it has been filled in much more recently than the rest off the floor and done much cheaper as well. Guessing that is where the entrance to the tunnels are Volraith walks over and stamps hard on the floor and it starts to give way, a few more blows and the floor shatters opening up a hole into the dark tunnel below. Robin is first to jump down the hole with a touch in her hand followed by Nienna. Volraith then jumps down and when he reaches the bottom takes a length of rope out of his pack which he throws up to Petra to help him get down since he is much smaller than any of the other party members. As he throws up the rope Nienna and Robin just stare at him "Why didn't you do that at the top so we could all climb down it?". Petra climbs down the rope and they are all in the tunnels.
The Tunnels
The tunnels are an abandoned sewer system. Unlike the large sewers they tracked the thieves through which had a river of sewage and walkways on either side these are small and round. There is no walkway but they clearly aren't being used and have dried out although a layer of dirt and horrible smell still remain. They are made of grey stone but there is a hole at the top where some bricks had been removed that lead to the Dead Pelican cellar that had just been boarded over rather than properly filled first.
Ahead they can see the tunnel is blocked and from behind it they can hear even more squeaking and scratching. Realising they have gone about this the wrong way they head back to the Dead Pelican to properly equip themselves for taking on swarms of rats.
The Dead Pelican
Back in the Tavern Cellars Petra heals the injuries he received from the rats and then meditates while the rest of the party stock up. Speaking to Shingle they buy 3 bottles of his strongest rum and with and make 3 fire bombs they can use to clear the rats much faster.
Volraith also buys himself another two pies and again sees the horror on the faces of the customers of the tavern as he picks them off the plate and puts them into his pack.
Feeling better equipped now and with Petra's worst injuries mended they head back down into the tunnels.
The Tunnels
They reach the area where the tunnel is blocked again. It has been blocked up with stones and rocks but it doesn't look like it collapsed, more like someone put the stones there on purpose. Pulling the stones out they make it through to the other side and are faced with a horrible sight.
In the tunnel beyond are hordes of rats. Some seem to have human faces twisted into snarls as they squeak at the intruders. As well as the human faced rats and normal rats there are also 5 much larger rats (3 about the size of a large cat and 2 easily the size of a dog). Around the rest of the tunnel human bodies have been dumped in a pile, now just skeletons, there are also piles of clothes and packs stacked up around and what looks like cooking equipment, rusty cleavers, pots, pans and pie tins, just lying around.
Robin picks up Petra again and he climbs onto her shoulders as the biggest rats run towards them. One of the dog sized rats charges towards Nienna while a cat sized rat attacks Volraith. Robin is the first to throw her Fire Vial down into the tunnel killing loads of the smaller rats and injuring some of the bigger ones in the blast. Volraith follows her lead and ignores the oversized rat attacking him and throws his Fire Vial down the tunnel as well blowing apart one of the cat sized rats and setting the biggest rat alight as it charges towards him. Swinging his bastard sword he cuts the head off the flaming rat.
On Robin's shoulders Petra is spraying lightning all over the tunnel electrocuting rats by the dozen including the large rat that was attacking Nienna. Robin has her pistol drawn and is shooting at the biggest rats, everything is now too close for her to risk using her last Fire Vial.
Petra finally zaps the last of the normal sized rats (including those that have human faces) and Nienna and Volraith cut down the two larger rats they were fighting. With all the rats dead they can start to look around. Most of the clothes and packs that were in the tunnels when they came in are now burnt or on fire, picking through what they can they find a couple of coins but everything else is either burnt or too rusted to be of any use.
The Dead Pelican
Back in the tavern they tell Shingle that the rats have been dealt with. He gives them a couple of coins (which they give to Robin as the payment they owe her) and a pie each, which everyone but Volraith turns down.
Deciding to find out why everyone is so scared of the pies before they leave they ask one of the customers. He tells them the story of the taverns previous owner, Jamison.
Before coming to Freeport Jamison was a pirate and was stranded on an island with his crew. Only Jamison survived long enough to be rescued and it is said that he ate the other members of his crew. When he came to Freeport he set up The Dead Pelican and started serving cheap rum and good pies. However it turned out that he had also set up a cult based the the tavern than was eating the organs of people to satisfy some evil spirit that had saved Jamison from that island, but they were only eating the organs so were having to get rid of the rest another way, the pies. When the riots happened a few years ago the cult got brave and started kill more people than normal, they got found out and quickly lynched. Even the homeless people couldn't say in The Dead Pelican after that because they complained of nightmares and rats, until Shingle brought the place. Even now most people only come in here because he offers the drinks so cheap.
The party tell the man that the evil spirit is gone and that is all just a rumour and then buy a load of pies to help Shingle out. They decide that they are going to try and spread the word around Scurvytown that his pies are the best and the whole cannibal cult thing is just a rumour.
They head back to The Halfling Benevolent Society to let Finn know Shingle accepted his offer.
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