We stayed in the inn recommended by the outlaw geezers. One of their junior members came with us. He chatted with Stephan through the night and sketched out the local area. Magic is frowned upon and roving bands of ‘Diviners’ move around checking for supposedly ‘unholy’ behaviour.. He also gave us a sketch map of the area and indicated that the Master’s Temple is off to the west.
The cheeky little bastard then nicked some of our money in the night and buggered off!!
We journeyed on to the closest decent sized town and entered with no challenge from the guards. It’s the day before market day, so they’re dealing with lots of visitors. We establish ourselves at the ‘Newgate Inn’, which seems like a nice enough joint. Another merchant train arrived just before us, but we managed to secure a single loft room.
We eat a tasty dinner and supp some ale, but there doesn’t seem to be much action. I consider chatting to locals about any rumours, but Stephan is keen that we remain undercover. So we go to bed. And then the fun starts…
Alya and Magni have taken the first watch but both are unusually sleepy. Alya wakes to find that she’s been grabbed by an intruder!! Surely the door was locked, and we’d checked for secret passages and ceiling hatches!
She escapes the grapple and cries out. Vivec and Mordana are first to wake. They too find that they are being grappled by some sort of humanoid. Vivec is not happy about being grabbed uninvited and shakes off his assailant with some ease, he then leaps out of bed and roars in rage.
The seven (7!) intruders start to realise that things aren’t going their way and run for the door. Vivec grabs one and Mordana drops one with a Blight spell. Vivec punches the guy in the head a couple of times and in response he wriggles and transforms into a giant rat! The rat leaps out of Vivec’s arms and races for the chimney – Alya is now blocking the door. Vivec dives for the rat and manages to grab it again. After some more struggle, it gives up and morphs back into what is likely it’s normal form – a ratty faced, scrawny man. A wererat!
Alya and Mordana tie him up as the rest arise from their poisoned/drugged state. We’re all pretty miffed, to say the least. Vivec and Mordana head downstairs to find the innkeeper while Alya leads the interrogation/intimidation of our prisoner.
The innkeeper tells us a sorry tale of intimidation and extortion. He drugs new visitors and puts them in a attic room and the wererat gang robs them and leaves the inn intact. The prisoner doesn’t give too much away, and goes even quieter when Stephan casts Zone of Truth… The innkeeper is pushed into the zone and his story remains the same – he doesn’t know who leads the gang or where their hideout is. The ruffian is only persuaded to speak after Mordana cuts off his little finger with her silver dagger. He then agrees to lead us to their hideout.

We gag him and head out – I take the lead with Mordana, checking for watch patrols or wererat lookouts. Down the main street we spot two figures, and my innate urban knowledge guides me around behind them. I sidle up and drive my rapier through his chest. He drops in silence, his friend barely has a chance to react before Mordana fires an Eldritch blast in his face. He doesn’t drop immediately, but my superior reflexes allow me to skewer him in the blink of an eye.
Mordana and I drag the bodies down a sidestreet and dump them over a wall.

A few minutes later we’ve arrived at the hideout. Mordana casts Invisibility over the two of us and we check for more lookouts. There are two hapless saps waiting to be dropped.
Repeating our moves from earlier, I sidle up and execute my best assassinate move. My sudden appearance is the cue for Mordana to release another Eldritch blast. Again, it’s not quite powerful enough to drop the lookout, but he soon gets acquainted with the pointy end of my rapier.
There’s a hatch at the base of the wall of the hideout – this must be the entrance to the wererat hideout. Rat Catching Time….!!