Bancroft held the door closed until the sounds of fighting died down. It didn’t take long, just enough time for a quick prayer to Sylvanus to heal Gravelgnasher and relight some torches. The fighting had ended, but there were still rats outside from the sounds, just not trying to open the secret door. In the relative quiet, Bancroft heard a metallic clanking and scraping coming from further into the room, below the floor. Suspecting a pit trap, he poked and prodded at the floor nearby, finding a section in the center of the room that pivoted. There was something moving in the pit.
Half an hour later, the rats were still outside. The room had been searched with no other traps found. The altar with its golden Jackal heads was ripe for plunder, but the heads themselves were heavy and hard to carry. They were also valuable Enough to be worth the trouble, so Gemma took both of them. Her job would be to run like hell past the rats and get the treasure to Helix. Those left behind would have to find a way to deal with the rats; simply waiting for the vermin to go away wasn’t working.
Finally, Druidly stepped forward. He claimed to have been studying magic in his spare time and thought he had figured out a spell or two. The others were skeptical, but he proved it by making the long rope he was carrying glow. Druidy claimed he could put the rats to sleep if we gave him the chance and opened the door, but the timing would be tight. Bancroft renewed his prayer to Silvanus for protection, Gravelgnasher set up behind the pit with his bow. Faolane and Gemma were ready to run, they just wanted out.
At first, it went according to plan. Bancroft opened the door, Druidly put most of the rats to sleep. Unfortunately, the biggest remained awake, And quickly began to wake his fellow rats. Bancroft rushed past the head rat, then turned and struck a heavy blow from behind. Gravel Gnasher followed up with an arrow that slew the leader, but in the confusion, Faolain had fallen to one of the smaller rats. Whong had too.
Bancroft made his way out of the borough, only to run into a dozen bandits making their way in from outside. He stopped, panting For breath, And asked them to run inside and save his friends from the giant rats. The opals inside the statue’s eyes would be a tempting reward. Bandits seemed interested at first, but as the rest of the group staggered out one by one, increasingly hostile, tempers frayed. Gemma, still carrying both Jackal heads, concealed herself behind one of the statues and waited for them to go past. Neither the rats nor the bandit spotted her. Druidly used some kind of magical missile to kill a rat, then fled toward the barrow entrance. He was pursued by more rats, but made it far enough to meet up with the bandits on their way in. The bandits killed one of the rats chasing him, but when Druidly mouthed off at the bandits, they took a few swings at him, too.
