Travels to Paris- Autumn 1199

He holds forth his hammer, binding the oath. "The price is agreed, daughter of Egypt, you may pass" The door exits the workshop into an underground passage, which you take stairs down into what seems like an ancient and empty (and dry, thankfully!) sewer. You hear the sound of water ahead, and as you approach a swarm of rats charges at you from the other end of the tunnel.

Oh!Oh! No! Mireilla stops in her tracks, puts her scented kerchief so that it nearly covers her entire face, and starts retreating ever so slowly (as if in a horror movie) towards the stairs she just descended. In all probability her retreat is cut off by Jerome and grog

«'ey ... shh, Mireilla. Let them pass,» says Jerome, pushing her gently towards the wall beside him. He stands back against the wall, one hand at Mireilla's arm and one on his staff in front of him, watching the rats, praying that they will pass.

As the rats come closer you can see that they are comprised not of hair, flesh and presumably blood, but rather have a carapace of rock, and is they were carved from the cobbles of the sewer. The first launches itself at Jerome, for a final attack score of 12, and a hundred more follow close behind it.

Jerome swipes it easily away with his staff¹. He let's go of Mireilla's arm and quickly taps his right shoulder with the staff, to apply Wizard's sidestep. «I thought this was going to be a walk in the park,» he says accusingly. «If I had known I could have prepared for this. Can we get back out?»

¹ defence roll 35

As you cast three more rats attack where you actually are, carried by their momentum from before your spell, with values of 9, 9, and 15. Another rat gets to Mireilla and attacks with a value of 14.

Mireilla hisses at the grog. Monsieur, do not stand there and gape, defend your Master! Stomp the vile things!

(I am guessing she has absolutely no idea what is going on, these aren't associated with the glowing man, that she knows of, right? In any case, can she more or less orient herself in mundane Paris @silveroak? She rolled a 10 in Quik + Area Lore: Paris, and will spend Confidence to boost if nec.)

To Jerome Sir! You can berate me afterwards! Let's run this way!

OOC1. Not «cast» it is an effect in the talisman.
OOC2. Defences 12, 10, 7 ... so the last one is not so good, if the effect is not yet on.
OOC3. Spend a confidence point if it helps on the wound severity.

The grog does his best to stomp rats when he realises that they are attacking, but he was behind the
other two and needs time to move forward.

Jerome turns and runs after Mireilla. If he gets a chance, before they get out of harms way, he will tap her should with the talisman as well, to give her the sidestep too.

(Mireilla gets 16 for Defense: rolls 9-1 for Lingering Injury +2 Brawl (Dodge)+ 0 Quik + 3 Ways of the Town = 13, will spend a Confidence point to avoid the filthy, filthy rat! Poor Mireilla, she will not live it down if Jerome is injured!)

attack advantage 8, damage -14, total:-6, no damage to Jerome
the two flee with the rats in pursuit, while the hapless grog remains behind trying to stomp the critters, some of which turn on him instead...

Jerome turns briefly, «hey, Carles, come on. Don't get caught behind,» as he rushes after Mireilla.

[Added later]
Only a few more steps, and he turns and stop, starting on a loud incantation. He will try to conjure up a solid wall of (dead) ok behind the grog. Hopefully blocking the way for the hundreds of rats, leaving only a handful on their side.

OOC. Base 2. Voice range. Sun duration. Covering wall to wall and equally high and thick ideally 3-4' high. Not sure what that takes in size modifiers. If I run short, it is lower and thinner. Any excess is used for penetration. Roll 33 i.e. Size +0 with +7 penetration or Size +1 with +2 penetration.

the tunnel is roughly 10 paces wide and 4 paces high. Base individual is 1 pace in every direction. What you describe is a wall one pace thick, one pace high, and 10 paces wide, which would add one magnitude for size. The rats will also be able to climb over it quite easily, if they are like normal rats.

He has cast it, and he will observe how many rats have got past, on how good they are to climb.

If they do climb,¹ Jerome will attempt to cast another, similar spell, for another wall inclined 45° against the rats. For the edge to be 3' above ground, he can only afford 2' thick, approximately.²

Assuming that only a small number is past the walls, he shouts to Carles to stomp out those few, and he needs to take some as specimens, if he can.

¹ I have never seen a rat climb on smooth wood, but I'll take your word for it. Ready to learn from Jerome's mistakes :slight_smile:
² I'll hold off the roll till I know it's relevant, and maybe you want to tell me the aura? Or number of botch dice at least :slight_smile:

https://rodentguide.com/what-can-rats-climb/ rats can climb wood, no matter how smoothly finished, though they may gauge it in the process...

The rats clear the first wall in a matter of seconds, the second wall takes them longer, but they do all seem to be clearing the boundary. You notice that the gauges from their stone claws are deeper than what you might expect from a normal rat.

The aura is 6 in this regio

(Rolled 45/2 for the second wall).

The third wall is going to go all the way to the ceiling, as thick as the magnitude permits.¹

Jerome is thrilled, almost intoxicated, by the flow of magic in his veins. He loves the feeling. But he is nervous about those rats, and this is not a good time to pass out, so he pull himself together, letting three walls suffice for now.²

¹ Roll 0, one botch die, no both. Casting total is 34 (including -1 for fatigue), so level 15. Should suffice to block the tunnel with 9-10" thick wall, I think!?
² Rolled 15 to concentrate to control his Magic Addiction. (Including +6 for two extra spells cast.)

With the second wall delaying the bulk of the rats the third wall blocks the tunnel completely and the trio forces open a grate in the side to emerge into a forest path. From there it is a short walk to the pool which leads to the mundane world, past the group of naked women apparently sleeping in the meadow.
Walking into the pool you do not get wet, but instead wind up in the back of a furniture store in downtown Paris.

Are any of you hurt? After they respond negatively, she relaxes visibly
Oh, thank the Lord!

(Back of a furniture store? Is there an exit in the back? )

*edited to delete most of the comment

(please do not try and shortcut potential aspects of the adventure by deciding things not indicated about the setting)

As you look around for a chair to try and comment on and pass herself off she realizes this is a second hand furniture store, not somewhere people would send a servant to pick up anything... more like somewhere people might hang out while discussing criminal activity.

Jerome tugs one of the rats, thoroughly stomped out by Carles, in his hand¹, and ask, «euhm, Mireilla? Where are we now? In Lyon or in Paris?»

¹ I hope this is OK. I did mention the attempt.

We should be in Paris, let’s find some sunlight and my nose and eyes will confirm.