First, some housekeeping or recent discoveries:

• 1 Cloak of Resistance +1
• 3 Wands: Ray of Enfeeblement (17chg), Ray of Exhaustion (8chg), Scorching Ray (8chg)
• 4 Scrolls: Technomancy, Command Undead, 2x Animate Dead

Still in the now-former home of the Smilers, we decide to barricade door and stay for the night – I know that I certainly could use a recharge. I heal everyone, and head to Marrow’s room to retire, and since I have the luxury of a door, I close it behind me. Her bed seems to have least amount of bedbugs. I’ve slept in worse conditions to be honest.

I’d closed the door to reduce the snoring that always makes its way towards me – but it’s all for naught. In the middle of the night, a bomb goes off!!! I’m not exaggerating here – it sounded like an actual bomb, and with Ting!/Jacques, it’s a very real possibility. After a few moments, I angrily get up and walk over to the door, open it and yell “What in the name of Sarenrae is going on in there?“, and without waiting for an answer, slam the door and go back to sleep.

*Level Up*

I wake up and feel MUCH better – apparently some thoughtful member of our party had remembered that I’d been woken up, and let me sleep in so that I might fully recover.

Apparently it was Jacques’ bomb, and a warranted one – 3 Smilers had come through the secret tunnel last night. I guess we deserved that, by locking up the front but not the back door.

Feeling much better, we decide to head back. We notice though, that people are now looking at us with more fear than opportunity. Some with admiration. It would appear that our reputation and Scrapworth precedes us.

When we return to the Ratfolk’s domain, we meet with 3 Ratfolk. Redtooth (a she!) comes out, looks coldly at Whiskerfits, and motions me to her. She says only one word to me: “Explain.” So, I explain. I relay his story and opine on the plausibility of it, and say that if it was true, perhaps he did not deserve death. If it was not true, he could still be executed for cause and the end result would be the same. Redtooth looks around, and announces his trial. Logic and reason seems to have prevailed over what could have been an unpleasant situation.

When she asks of the status of the Smilers, I tell her that they’re headless, and while we can’t be certain there are any left, they’ll few, disorganized, and easily dispatched. Redtooth then asks about book that I found – that Whiskerfits was so despondent to have not reclaimed. I tell her that I have it, and not knowing exactly what it was but that it was highly prized, kept it to be dealt with properly later. I explain as I hand it over that I didn’t trust Whiskerfits just yet – this seemed best. Maybe it’s just me, but I seem to see respect for me in her eyes.

Apparently, I’m right as Redtooth announces that we’re allies – if we ever need anything, we’ll have it. We’re to be treated as members of the tribe. This is wonderful! She also asks that we come back after returning to Dinvaya with the hardware she needed. That shouldn’t be an issue, I just wonder what Redtooth has in store.

Before returning to Dinvaya’s, we head to the blacksmith first. On way there, passing through a narrow portion of Scrapwall, several toughs peel off of the walls and start heading towards us, like they want to fight. Once they realize who we are, melt back into wall. Except, Aakpesh doesn’t want to let that attempted aggression go and I think literally made their brown pants a bit more brown (he rolled an NAT20), tossing a little more Scrapworth onto the pile.

We make it to the blacksmith shop, and update Whiskerfits Jr. (Redtooth’s kid, Whisker’s nephew) on his Uncle and most of what’s happened. We ask, and he says that he’ll make replacement hinges for doors for our new encampment, and I then tell him we’re a part of tribe now. He give me a big, borderline inappropriate hug.

The Master Smith comes out from the back – he’s a big naked fiery guy, and is apparently making good progress on Aakpesh’s Earthbreaker and Jacques’ armor. I offer up my ability to perform masterwork transformation to help offset the sizable cost. There are 4 items he needs transformed, but they won’t be ready for a few days, which is just fine by me. And he’s okay with me being able to only do one per day – still saving him a good bit of time/work.

With us gaining Scrapworth, and killing Smilers, we may be drawing attention from the Lords of Rust. We decide to go talk to Sevroth Slade of of the Steel Hawks, to inform her of the apparent fate of the Smilers and the state of things. She’s trying hard to not sound enthusiastic, but is understandably not doing the greatest of jobs. She asks if we’re sure they’re all dead, and we again explain that we think so. She does look scared when we go over Marrow and her fate – necromancers are generally not a good thing. Obviously.

We most of our business handled, we finally make our way to Dinvaya’s. She’s happy to see us, tells us that she’s been hearing hears of rumors of our exploits. We give her the requested mechanical irises and she’s delighted – they’ll work perfectly. We need money though, and she says that maybe on other side of town (SE quadrant) is another dish that she could use. I mention the one in Torch, and she doesn’t seem surprised that they could be linked. She also says that we could talk to Redtooth about the best way to get there, and that the dish is marked by carrion birds that circle above.

Before returning to Redtooth, we get our new hinges, and ask about a lock, but it’ll take a day or two, so we go on to Redtooth. She says “Oh, the secret south passage” when asked about how to get to the dish. She’s not talked about it in years, and all have gone in never returned. So, we of course go in single file into the tight tunnel.

We make it through, and upon exiting find ourselves rolling for initiative, as we’ve exited to a MANTICORE LAIR. It wastes no time attacking us, and I waste no time countering the damage and casting Bullstrength on Aakpesh.

Session Date: 06/30, XP: 1080, title: Celtic Frost – Necromantical Screams