War for the Crown Gameplay Part 1

Corey feeds the gishivit the potion and allows it to attach to him, rattling off all kinds of agricultural skills and information to it.

All the gishvit seem to perk up and skitter a bit side to side at Adelaide's offer, even as those transcribing continue to fill with new knowledge.

Walking over to the one she shot at, Josie quietly says, "Sorry for hurting you. If you'd like, I could teach you about archery to make up for it."

Adelaide giggles. ”Perfect! I promise I’ll tell you about lots of things as soon as we’re back home, then. Would you prefer to travel alongside us, or tuck away in a bag?”

"Probably best for them to be put away, or wait here," Sarina comments. "We might be going into more danger, and they're not the sturdiest."

The one Josie shot retracts its ribbon from Corey after he finishes explaining the basics of agriculture then wraps its ribbon around Josie's wrist to learn about archery. The one Adelaide had just finished dictating to flicks its ribbon at the bag.

Adelaide opens up her bag. ”It might be best to have multiple bags for this, if anyone has room to spare,” she says to the others.

"This seems really strange, but alright. I'll allow you to learn about herbalism. Don't touch anywhere funny, got it!?" Momo demands of her Gishvit.

Once the Gishvits learn their fill and get stashed away in backpacks and the group passes through the next door to the south, they see cold metal lockers lining the open spaces of this new room. Desiccated papers protrude from the few open units, while the rest of the lockers remain tightly shut. Thick metal bolts connect additional lockers to the walls here. Some of the lockers reach up to the ceiling about twenty feet above. Out from behind a locker flutters a robotic-looking one eyed being, who intones in a monotone, "Greetings. I am Factor 12, the curator of these archives. Are you here to make a withdrawal? Or perhaps store new artifacts?" its tone turns slightly hopeful at the second question.

Adelaide exchanges looks with the others, and finds them looking equally confused. ”Well, I suppose that depends on the current archives?” she answers.

Factor 12 opens up a few lockers to reveal an enchanted breastplate, battleaxe, boots, a wand, and a key. "You may only withdraw one item at a time. The policy was formerly two, but I have had to crack down after recent thefts."

"If we store an item here, may we take out an additional item?" Sarina asks.

"If the item you store is of sufficient value to be added to the archives, yes," Factor 12 replies.

Corey thinks for a moment, and after conferring with the rest of the group, pulls the darkwood crossbow from his back. "This here's Dignity's Barb," he explains as he holds it out in offering. "Famous fer bein' fired off blindly against a Kellid invasion, and hittin' the leader clean in the throat. They say it'll strike true even in the darkest night, and in the most vulnerable places."

Factor 12 examines it closely, then bobs up and down in the air. "That is an acceptable donation to the archives. You are welcome to withdraw two items."

The group also offers a magic shield they aren't using, which is considered an acceptable donation, and check out the key, the breastplate, and the handaxe. "Thank you for your help!" Adelaide says to Factor 12 as they leave.

"Of course. Please use them well," Factor 12 replies, moving the new items into lockers and labelling them as the group leaves.

Wide stairs descend into this tiered, circular chamber. Chairs stand in odd positions throughout the room, collected into circular patterns, even outside of the greater circular patterns of the hall itself. Circular gouges mar the surface of the wooden walls and floor here, some left to stand alone, while others are multiple circular scratches overlaying one another, joined by lines and scrawlings. The greatest concentration of circles gathers on the ceiling, some forty feet above, where multicolored circles inscribed with artistic fanaticism surround a five-foot-wide hole in the ceiling. Corey notices a few odd areas, and Adelaide tries to inspect them further.

A nasally, scratchy voice emanates from along the ceiling. "You have intruded upon my kingdom and my research into the Will of the Circles! This affront against I, Hierophant of the Arc, Archduke of Tangencies, the Beginning and the End, the Rat King, is punishable only by death! But do not mourn, your deaths will prove an excellent study into human mortality." With that, two rat swarms emerge from the little holes along the sides, hissing viciously.

Josie opens the fight by laying a couple arrows into the scurrying rat horde, spearing a few of them but only making a small dent in the swarm. Following that, a larger, tattooed rat appears on the western wall and launches an arrow of acid that strikes Sarina in the shoulder, burning at and clinging to her flesh. Momo quickly heals off those wounds herself, while Corey rushes the mage to threaten him and then the other swarm surges forwards. Adelaide quickly relays to the group that bludgeoning and large area attacks will have the greatest effect on these vermin, and to report any bites as rats carry disease, before ineffectively striking with her rapier.

A horde of rats swarms over Josie's legs as the archer prepares to fire once more. Suppressing the urge to vomit, she haphazardly tosses out a bottle of fire and splashes some of the offending rats. She looks around to see if she can run, but Momo and Sarina are too nearby, the latter looking quite worse for wear. Gritting her teeth, Josie holds her ground as the swarm continues to bite her legs and tear at the bottom of her dress.

Nearby, Corey trips up the Rat King and keeps him pinned before delivering a solid blow to keep the caster down, then steps forward to handle the second swarm of rats. Adelaide pulls out bottle after bottle of alchemical brews and tosses them into the surging rat piles. Sarina's spell is knocked from her concentration, and she tends to her wounds with Momo's aid.

Finally, only Josie's swarm remains, and as Adelaide calls out that they look weak, Josie steps out and neatly fires two arrows into the thickest of the rats, quelling the rest of the horde. Blinking back tears, Josie takes a deep breath and curtly announces, "I need a bath. And something to handle whatever horrid diseases those little bastards have. And then preferably something for all these damned bites on my legs."

"We've got a few bottles of antiplague, I think," Adelaide mentions, rummaging through her bag until she finds them. "Three, and I think some of the spellcasting items we found earlier remove disease. Is anyone here that was bitten particularly susceptible to illness, that they've noticed? Or, uh, who got bit the most?" Adelaide frowns at Josie’s state. ”Sorry, I’m not used to being in fights and a lot was happening.”

"Ah'm purty hardy mahself," Corey says. "Ah'll pass."

Too frustrated to bother finding the words for a reply, Josie stiffly limps over to Adelaide and snatches a bottle of antiplague, downing it a few steps away.

The other two bottles go to Adelaide and Sarina, and the items to remove diseases are given to Momo as further backup. Momo stabilizes the rat mage, but seeing no immediate need to question him, they decide to just add him to their load for now. That settled, checking down the trapdoor is next.

Dust-covered couches cover some of the walls in this rectangular chamber. Three doors exit the area, one to the east, another to the west, and the final to the south.

”It looks like this door also leads back to the last chamber,” Adelaide comments, frowning as she notices something. ”And good thing we came this way instead, else we’d have had a flurry of knives to greet us. Should probably try to disengage that.” She sets to doing so.