Reliquary of the Rat
RoomDCC 74 · p.29
Open source p.29Area 2-3 – Reliquary of the Rat
The stench of rotting flesh hangs in the greasy air, like a foul miasma that coats your skin, tongue, and lungs. The rough-hewn chamber is awash in a sea of rats. They swarm in and out of the chamber through hundreds of holes burrowed in the walls and floor. The rats cluster around a single severed foot, ornamented with jewels and platinum bands, feasting on the flesh like supplicants, before vanishing back into the swarm.
The rats are the spirit of Disease. The decorated foot is another of the Abbot’s reliquaries. If any of the gore spawn (from area 2-2) fled here, all that remains are freshly gnawed bones.
Upon closer inspection it is apparent that all of the rats are diseased: Open sores, puckering abscesses, oozing scabs, patches of bare flesh, stunted limbs, pus-filled eyes, and literally thousands of fleas. The flesh of the Abbot’s Foot is endless, regenerating as quickly as the rats devour the rancid meat.
So long as the PCs do not approach or disturb the Foot, the rats pay them no heed. However, when provoked, the rats are a ravening wave, eager to rend flesh from bone. Characters caught in the tide must make a DC 15 Ref save or take damage as they are swarmed by rats; further, anyone bit by rats must make a DC 10 Fort save or contract a divine wasting disease, suffering points of Stamina damage every day until magically healed.
The rats fear open flame; the Reflex DC to avoid being bitten can be reduced by 5 if the PC spends his attack fighting off the rats with a torch. Others can aid allies by hurling their torches or flasks of oil, or taking similar steps to ward off the rats.
The floor of the chamber is riddled with tunnels, and can no longer support the weight of human-sized creatures (even more so when laden with armor, weapons, and gear). Each round a character spends in the chamber, the PC must succeed on a DC 10 Luck check. On a failed check, the PC falls through the floor, sliding 15’ down into a hollow abscess beneath the chamber; moments later a flood of angry rats comes sliding after.
Knee-deep in diseased rats, showered by more rodents from above, in an ink-black pit with crumbling walls, the PCs are almost certainly doomed. It requires quick thinking and courage on the part of the character if they hope to escape with their lives:
• Rats! Each round, characters in the pits must succeed on DC 20 Ref saves to avoid being bitten; as above, open flame reduces the DC by 5, per source. (Standing amid four burning torches would nearly ensure a PC’s safety, though a natural 1 is still a failure.)
• Climbing: Attempting to ascend the crumbling walls without aid is nearly impossible. Characters must either succeed on a DC 25 Climb or Agility check, or catch a rope lowered from above.
• When in Doubt, Aim Lower: Exceedingly desperate PCs might attempt to collapse the entire chamber – a feat readily accomplished by cutting and hacking at the undermined foundation. The collapse triggers a second cave-in as the floor of the pit gives way, dropping PCs and rats alike down a long, rotten chute to area 2-5. The characters arrive in a shower of stone and fleeing rats, but otherwise unharmed. The spirit of Disease, displaced from its reliquary, withdraws.
The Hoof: The Abbot’s Foot is looped with platinum bands and set with precious stones. See area 2-6 for mechanics on using the Hoof against the immortal Abbot.
Spirit of Disease (Rat Swarm): Init ; Atk see above; AC 5; HD ; hp 100; MV 30’ or climb 30’; Act -; SP wasting disease (DC 15 Ref save or hp + DC 10 Fort save or Sta damage); SV Fort , Ref , Will immune; AL C.