Swamped

"I think it was in Marshall's room."
"No, it sounded like Tom's room to me."
"Which Tom?"
"Oh, right. Eighth?"
"We were just there!"
"Ninth, then."
"Wait, I think I heard it coming from Mark's room."

Tom Eighth taps his foot impatiently.

"So no one actually has a clear idea on where the sound came from, then?"

Everyone shakes their heads.

"Right. Then we'll just have to pick a room and hope we find it. Juliet, take us to yours, we'll start there."

You have to admit you're a bit nervous about this, considering what you read in Juliet's book. Still, you were going to have to check the room sooner or later.

You head in, and you see a lot of Juliet's, um, artwork. It looks like it's been disturbed, but given her artistic style, you can't really say for sure.

"Is anything out of place, Juliet?" Tom Eighth asks. It seems he doesn't know either.

"Well, my muckdiver skeleton's been torn apart," she says.

"Muckdiver skeleton? You keep one in here?"

"It's a model! Made with plaster, not real bones. Though I think the greatrat couldn't tell the difference."

"Should I set out the bait?" Tom Ninth asks, holding up the pouch.

"In this mess? We'll be lucky to catch the rat again. We'll check the closet first, then see what we can do about the bed. Probably handle it the same way we did for my bed."

Everyone gets into position as Tom Eighth opens the closet. No greatrat pops out, but he does get buried under a pile of sketchpads.

"Yeah, that happens a lot," Juliet grumbles. "I'll pick them up after this is sorted out, don't worry about them for now."

"Right. The bed, then." Tom Eighth makes his way to the foot. "Conchway, you take the head."

Mark and Eighth tip the bed over, revealing a large hole under it.

"Well, shit," Eighth says. "This probably leads straight to the nest. We need to get word to Pest Control. For the moment, we want to block it up..."

"Um. I don't think now's the best time for that," you say, pointing at the greatrat that's just wandered in from the hall.

It's as fearsome-looking as you remember. It's at least as big as two of you, with enormous fangs and sharp claws.

"Damn." Eighth backs away from the bed. "Okay, we need to maneuver around and corner it so it doesn't escape. And be careful! Another one might come out from that hole."

"Good advice. So just how are we going to corner it?" Mark asks. "And what are we supposed to do about the hole?"

Tip the bed over again, to block the hole
[_] <---the bed should end up like this

the group will probably decide who is the least helpful in strength/combat but best in running out to fetch pest control, while the rest stays behind and flips the bed upside down and beats up the rat, making a total mess of juliet's room to her delight/somehow making it look better

the group will probably decide who is the least helpful in strength/combat but best in running out to fetch pest control

Hm. Who has the least amount of experience here and also maybe lost an arm?

Lets exchange some awkward glances. Everyone wants to be disability sensitive but also there is a greatrat right there and we need all hands on deck.

Aside from that...

Plug the hole with sketchbooks?

SpoilerShow

Just a quick note on weapons for potential strategic consideration.

Tom Eighth, Stacy, and Mark Conchway don't have weapons specified as of yet. Feel free to suggest them.
Tom Ninth has a dagger.
Juliet Corser has a battleaxe.
Marshall has a glove for improved throwing and a skyslicer (or, as we'd call it, a boomerang).

Stacy is the one we did swimming lessons with right? Give her some kind of water based weapon, like a sword that doesn't have any water resistance.

Eighth should have some kind of invention he made, maybe like an extending staff

No idea about conchway... i want to suggest a conch hahaha

Stacy wields a club, the simplest weapon available.

Mark Conchway wields a javelin!

Give Eighth a tazer

someone needs a sword, too

"Should we send a runner to alert pest control?" Mark asks. He seems unsure of how to attack; he's got his mudpike raised, and you can see it's modified to be more aerodynamic, but throwing it would leave him disarmed.

"Not safe," Tom Eighth replies, pulling a tiny stick off his belt. It starts extending into a quarterstaff. "There's probably more rats lurking around the halls, and a lone runner wouldn't stand a chance. And we need to block up the hole with something so we don't get flanked."

"What about the bed?" Stacy asks. "It's right there." She doesn't seem too concerned about the oncoming rat, even if she does have her aquablade drawn.

Juliet nods. "Not like I'm going to be getting much sleep tonight anyways." She shoves the bed over the hole, just in time for you to hear a loud growling in that direction.

"Seems we just missed the reinforcements," Tom Ninth says, relieved. He's looking at his dagger, probably thinking about how it would be nice if it had better range.

You've got your skyslicer out. You haven't had practice throwing it since you lost your arm, but it's not as if you used a two-handed throw in the first place. At least unlike Mark, you don't have to worry too much about retrieving your weapon most of the time.

"Right. Now that the hole's blocked, we want to get that thing cornered," Eighth says. "I've got the most range without throwing, so everyone stick behind me while I try to herd it."

"With just a big stick?" Mark asks, sounding doubtful. Still, he follows Eighth just like the rest of you as you maneuver around the stacks of, well, junk.

Eighth doesn't say anything in response. He just taps the greatrat with the edge of his staff once it turns towards him.

Then there's a strong flash of light as it connects. You can see some kind of spark on the end of the staff. The greatrat shrieks, and backs away, further into the room.

"Not quite cornered, but it's an improvement," he says.

"Can you just, do what you just did again?" Juliet asks. "That seemed pretty effective."

"Unfortunately, it discharges all the power at once, so that's all I've got right now. But your axe should be good enough to take it down, if we can keep it distracted long enough for you to make a clean slice. Anyone got any ideas on how to do that?"

you know what's really distracting? a skyslicer lodged in your eye-socket.
Mark might be able to get the other one if he's a decent shot

make a bunch of noise and stomp around, maybe also attacking it, while juliet sneaks up on it's flank

You don't have to just throw the skyslicer. Those throwing gloves can throw regular rats just as well.

Ask Juliet if she'd be okay if they threw that big hideous pot over there onto the rat and then axe it right after

Your first thought is to fling your skyslicer at the greatrat's eye - it's a sensitive spot, after all. Your slicer hits, and the greatrat shrieks in pain, but the slicer gets caught in the socket.

You're not looking forward to trying to get it back.

"I think Marshall's on to something," Mark says. He tosses his mudpike, aiming for the other eye. Unfortunately, he misses, though he does pin the greatrat's forepaw. It shrieks again, and struggles to swat away the pike with its other paw.

You notice that there's nothing special about Mark's gloves. Maybe you can ask him about that later. But in the meantime, you're looking for something else to throw - there's a lot of junk lying around here, after all.

Mark seems to have the same idea. He picks up a large pot.

"Juliet, mind if I try to get this on the rat? Could keep it busy long enough for you to get your strike in."

"Just don't break it if you can help it," Juliet grumbles. "Took me three weeks to sculpt that."

"Right. Um, everyone else cover me as best you can."

Tom Eighth keeps prodding the rat from a distance. As he does, Stacy dashes in and strikes it, though the aquablade isn't very strong - it's more designed for functionality in water, after all. Mark keeps trying to shove the pot on its head, but he keeps backing off as it swipes the air around it.

"If someone could just distract it for a moment!" he grumbles. "Hit it in the head, maybe. Getting this on is going to be easier than getting a good axe slice."

"It's more aware of the space around its head," Stacy says, poking it in the tail. "Even with its eyes wounded, it's still got ears and a nose warning it. Hard to get close whatever you've got."

"Well, then, Tom can throw his dagger or something!"

"Uh, I'm not much of a thrower," Tom Ninth says apologetically. "Plus, well, I might hit one of you."

"Well, do something!"

Ninth seems stumped. You want to comfort him, but you're not sure what to say.

Then you notice his squirming pouch and get an idea.

"No need to toss your dagger, Ninth."

You walk over and grab his pouch. Carefully, you fling it, rat and all, right at the Greatrat's nose.

The rat falls out of the pouch, and the greatrat seems to forget all its pain for a moment. It pounces on its prey, and lowers its head for a much-needed meal.

That's all it takes. Mark drops the pot over its head, and Juliet slices the beast's head off as it struggles to figure out what's going on.

You all breathe a sigh of relief.

"Right. We're telling Pest Control about the hole," Tom Eighth says. "Don't bother getting your weapons back right now; they'll have greatrat blood on them, and that stuff's not safe."

"What if we run into another one?" Mark protests.

"Well, it looks to me like Marshall just needs something to throw. And Ninth's not getting much use out of that dagger, so, we'll use that on the next one. Which hopefully won't be something we have to deal with."

"The little one didn't manage too well there," Tom Ninth notes. "Seems the greatrat had time to crush the poor thing."

"Pest Control would've just dealt with him anyways," Eighth mutters. "I wouldn't waste any pity."

You can't help but note that Juliet's grabbed a sketchbook and started drawing the greatrat's mangled corpse.

"You don't have time for that!" Eighth says, scowling.

"How many opportunities like this am I going to have to draw a freshly-dead greatrat?" Juliet asks. "I can't waste this one."

"Oh, for... Talk to pest control about it! We're done here for now. We can check the other rooms once the nest is dealt with."

You all head off to report to pest control. It seems there's not much for you to do now, except wait with the groups that have finished their checks and reflect on your first real experience in combat.

You're now Dean, or "The Dean" as you prefer to be called. You're heading the junior pest control squad.

You're working closer with the senior squads than you normally would. A greatrat nest is a serious problem, and they need every available recruit to help out.

You can see why. There's got to be dozens of the things, just laying around in a pile. You'd heard about this, but you'd never seen it for yourself before.

It's as fascinating as it is disturbing, at least for you. The rest of your team is just disturbed.

But you're not dealing with the pile directly. Three other squads are handling that. What you're charged with is watching the side tunnels for other rats making their way back here.

Still... you can't help but feel there's a problem with the main strike force's approach here. Something they're not catching. You'll need a moment to figure out just what it is you need to warn them about, though.

that's not just any greatrat pile

that's a GREATRAT KING

There's something other than just greatrats in here.

How come those side tunnels don't just go in a straight line towards/away from the nest like they normally would?

Funny how greatrats manage to have these burrows in the swamp. Some folks think they produce a coagulating enzyme in their saliva that helps them firm up the muck. No one's studied it much...or at least no one in the Bog Knights that is.

It occurs to you that the side tunnels go in a number of odd directions. Some of them even seem to loop back to here.

You haven't studied greatrats closely, but you've read up on them. Their tunnels tend to just go in straight lines. These tunnels are more like...

Oh, hell. You run up to the leader of the nearest squad.

"Burrowers," you whisper. "Make too much noise and you'll wake them."

"Burrowers? Here? There's barely any ground to burrow in the swamp, unless you go deep."

"Well, yeah, but the base was built on Bog Hill for pretty much that exact reason. This is about the most solid ground we've got here. If burrowers ended up in the swamp, where else would they be?"

"Well, damn. We're not equipped to fight burrowers if they're provoked. But how are we supposed to deal with the nest without making too much noise?"

POISON

firebomb the shit out of them, and smoke them out

Pour a caustic chemical down in there... but then we'll all have to be careful about going into the water until the next rain....

Let's...not dump a bunch of poison below the base...what with fumes and all. Anything toxic enough to kill a greatrat is strong enough to kill you.

Get out the stealth pikes. They kill fast, and if tuned right, release vibrations to cancel the noise from great-rat screams.

"If we were anywhere else, the thing to do would be smoke them out," you muse. "But fire and swamp gas don't mix well. Maybe the gas hasn't gotten this far down, but that's a big risk to take."

"Well, what else have we got? Poison? That's just going to work its way back to us, one way or another. And any dose strong enough to take down that many greatrats is definitely going to give us trouble."

You give a little smile.

"That's true of most poisons, but now that you mention it, I can think of one that's plentiful in the swamp, potent, and breaks down quickly when exposed to the elements."

"What, really?"

"Fly blood toxin."

"Oh, right! Yeah, the blood's deadly, but after less than a day it's safe enough to clean. Only trouble is, there may be a ton of fly eggs lying around out there in the muck, but it's not as if we can gather them up quickly. Unless you've got a plan for that."

Do you?

Mayhaps I've been collecting them from the laundry...and I have a very dangerous cache in my collection.