The Trial Of: Act III - The Kingdom of the Rats

ACT III: The Kingdom of the Rats

You, Sheriff Antony, and Scraps have been thrown into a jail cell deep within the underground Kingdom of the Rats. Rocksworth and Sheriff Antony's horse are still aboveground, presumably sleeping. While rock guys are great at sensing when other rock guys are in trouble, they are not so great at sensing when regular guys are in trouble. If you were to ask them about that, they would claim that it is their only weakness.
Your weapons and other potentially dangerous items have been confiscated. You still have your documents, clothing, and rags. The giant rats had tried to take away all of your rags, but gave up when they realised you had an infinite supply.

>Examine cell

The cell is actually pretty big; more than big enough for the three of you to serve your sentence comfortably. There are three brown walls, and one 'wall' of bars, where the door to the cell is located. You are currently facing the bars. To your right is a bunk-bed; Sheriff Antony has already called the top bunk and is currently peering down at you from said top bunk. Just in front of the bunk bed is a small puppy bed, which Scraps is currently sleeping in. On your left is a toilet and sink, both of which look clean. There is nothing but a blank wall behind you.

>Examine sink

The sink is reinforced, so no prisoner without strength comparable to a rock guy can remove any piece of it. Water comes out of the sink at a good rate, and appears to be clean and drinkable.

>Examine toilet

It's a toilet. It has two liftable seats, one with a large hole and one on top without. There is a metal lever that allows you to flush the toilet. The toilet's tank appears to be walled off, and tank maintenance is presumably performed in a separate room. To sum it up, you see nothing you can tamper with in or about the toilet.

>Examine Scraps's bed

Scraps's bed is a standard puppy bed with a soft lining. You consider bringing it with you when you escape, as it would be very nice to have if you ever have to camp outside, or even in an inn room.

>Examine top bunk

Sheriff Antony has crafted small rag guards at the top of the ladder to the top bunk out of some rags he'd taken from you while you were staring at the sink and toilet. You'd be outraged, but you've got an infinite supply, so you'll let it slide. You don't want to risk the rag guards' wrath, so you climb back down the ladder peacefully.

>Examine bottom bunk

The bottom bunk has one blanket, which seems like it would be pretty warm. It's soft to the touch, and you believe you could get some real sleeping done on this shit. The pillow is also pretty soft, but not so soft that your head sinks into it. The pillow is caseless, and you believe you can see a piece of paper sticking out from under it.

>Take paper

The paper has a bunch of words written on it, which would make it a note.

>Read note

The note says that there is a loose stone under the bed, and under that stone is a partially-completed escape tunnel. Unfortunately, the last prisoner was carried away and executed before he could finish it.

>Ask Sheriff Antony to search his bunk for a note

Sheriff Antony complies, confident that his rag guards will be able to hold the fort while he is distracted. Sure enough, Sheriff Antony finds a note underneath his own pillow, which he hands to you.

>Read second note

The note reads: "ur a faget"
A single tear involuntarily streams down your cheek.

>Examine the area outside of the bars

On the wall to the right of your cell is a plain wall with a door. It may be the door out of the prison area, but you can't be sure; it could just lead deeper into the prison.
To the left is a bunch of prison cells, stretching as far off as you can see. Giant rats are the majority of the other prisoners, but there are also some humans, rock guys, and more. After your cell, and every second cell after that, is a small wall with a door. Presumably, this is for maintenance.
Dead ahead is a desk, at which sits a sleeping giant rat in a police uniform.

>Examine desk

The desk is made of mahogany, and appears to be very expensive. There are many drawers, some of which have keyholes.
There are a bunch of papers on the desk, but you can't make out what's on them too well. There is also a lamp and a clock on the desk.

>Examine sleeping giant rat

His uniform is spotless. Dangling from his far hip is a billy club, but dangling from his near hip is a keyring upon which a few keys sit.

>Tie a bunch of rags together and attempt to grab they keys with them

You tie a bunch of rags together, but they're nowhere near close to solid enough to hook the keys. You could always whip the guard with them, but he'd be sure to wake up.

>Use the rags to clog the toilet

You shove as many rags as you can into the toilet and attempt to flush. Water begins to overflow from the toilet onto the floor. You're not entirely sure what this has accomplished until an alarm goes off and a giant rat with a plunger storms into your cell and begins plunging the toilet. He is so consumed by his plunging that he has left the door open.

>Escape with Sheriff Antony and Scraps

You motion for Sheriff Antony to follow you out of your cell. He nods and grabs Scraps's puppy bed before leaving.
Sheriff Antony reminds you that your confiscated equipment still needs to be recovered. He is very sentimentally attached to his hip flask, and would like to recover it.

>Take keys from guard's belt

You unhook the keyring from the guard's belt, careful not to wake him up. The keys are all old-style skeleton keys. You are unsure if they can open the door to a storeroom or an exit, but it never hurts to take them along.

>Rummage through desk drawers

You consider leaving then and there, but decide that leaving drawers unrummaged is a bad idea. Inside the drawers, you find a floor plan of the cell area (which is smaller than you'd imagined), as well as a large dagger. You are untrained in the use of daggers, however, and decide to leave it behind so you don't hurt yourself.

>Take floor plan

You grab the floor plan and notice that the contraband storage area is just around the corner.

>Round the corner and examine storage area door

It's a large steel door. It's locked.

>Try to unlock the door with keys

You try every key in the lock, and the last key of the bunch opens the door. Figures, doesn't it?

>Examine storage area

You look around inside the storage room. You find all of your confiscated equipment, as well as the confiscated equipment of the other prisoners.

>Take own confiscated equipment

You reclaim what is rightfully yours, and Sheriff Antony does the same. He tries to take a swig from his flask, but is thwarted by its emptiness.

>Examine other prisoners' confiscated equipment

Unfortunately, none of the other prisoners used weapon types that you are trained in. You spy a cutlass, an M4, a shovel, a magic wand, a splitting maul, and some kind of bomb.

>Give Sheriff Antony the shovel

You give the shovel to Sheriff Antony, and he begins to instinctively dig. He hits a gas line, which sounds an alarm through the entire building, and opens all of the doors.

>Arm bomb

Luckily, the bomb comes with An Idiot's Guide to Arming Bombs. You flip through the book, and decide to take it with you. You then arm the bomb, which will go off shortly.

>Run like hell

You, Sheriff Antony, and Scraps all run full-speed ahead out of the underground lair. You run and run and run, and manage to just barely escape the explosion of the facility. Unfortunately, you were seen by all of the security cameras, and are now an enemy of rat people everywhere.

>Exit lair

You leave the lair via ladder, and end up next to a big wall. There is a switch that is also next to the wall.

>Flip switch

Doing what anyone would do in this situation, you flip the switch. The wall slides away, revealing Rocksworth and Sheriff Antony's horse on the other side. It turns out that the impassable forest was actually just painted on the entire time.

>Reunite, share stories, and pass along the new skill book

You do just that. Everyone learns how to arm simple bombs, and also learns of the events of the night. Rocksworth dreamt that he had a girlfriend who revealed to him that she was a wood guy all along, breaking his heart. He has gained the "distrustful toward women" trait, which is a bit better than the "enemy of the rat people" trait you and Sheriff Antony gained during your adventures.

>Continue on toward the next adventure

You and your adventuresquad head off down the path, headed off to who knows where.
END OF ACT III





ACT III STATS:

Jakey's inventory:
RagSocks and Sandals
RagShirt
Bomber Jacket
Nice Khakis
Cufflinks
Upgraded Silver Ragpens (x2)

$1,530
Rags (infinite)
Flashlight (no batteries)
Lockpicks
Dry handkerchief
False moustache (Hans disguise)
A Guide to Guys (an encyclopedia on various Guys)
Bottom bunk note
Top bunk note
Adventure Pet Papers - Scraps

Jakey's abilities and equipment modifiers:
Dual Wielding - Ragpens (allows two ragpens to be wielded at once)
Weapons Training - Ragpenmanship (+15 damage with ragpen-type weapons)
Adventure Pet - Scraps (binds Scraps to Jakey)
Expert - Rope Bridges (allows rope bridges to be inspected for safety before crossing)
Basic French (+5 Charisma when dealing with French people)
Basic Lockpicking (allows picking of basic locks with a 100% success rate)
Remedial Bomb Arming (allows arming of remedial bombs with a 100% success rate)
Disguise - Hans (can disguise self as Hans with a 100% success rate)
Amnesia (disables memory before a certain point)
Enemy of the Rat People (-1,000 reputation with rat people)
Neutral Karma (able to communicate with characters regardless of alignment)
Canadian (+5 Charisma, +50 Cold Resistance, +50 Weakness to Heat, +25 Agility in snow)

Nice Khakis (+5 Charisma, +10 Exuberance)
Bomber Jacket (+5 Charisma, +10 Defense)
HIGH FASHION (+15 Charisma, +15 Style, allows entry to fancy parties and fashion shows)



Sheriff Antony's inventory:
Sheriff costume
Silver revolvers (x2)

Adventure Pet Papers - Sheriff Antony's horse
Hip flask (empty)
Saltwater taffy
Puppy bed

Sheriff Antony's abilities and equipment modifiers:
Dual Wielding - Revolvers (allows two revolvers to be wielded at once)
Weapons Training - Revolvers (+15 damage with revolver-type weapons)
Adventure Pet - Sheriff Antony's Horse (binds Sheriff Antony's horse to Sheriff Antony)
Animal Training - Horse (allows horses to be ridden)
Sheriff Antony's Horse - Saddlebags (allows for storage of excess items) [INACTIVE]
Appraisal - Rocks (allows accurate appraisal of rocks)
Basic Lockpicking (allows picking of basic locks with a 100% success rate)
Remedial Bomb Arming (allows arming of remedial bombs with a 100% success rate)
Enemy of the Rat People (-1,000 reputation with rat people)
Good Karma (+50 reputation with "good" characters; -50 reputation with "evil" characters)
British (+25 Charisma, -20 Dental Hygiene, +25 Agility in rain)

Police Uniform (+5 Style, allows entry to restricted areas)



Rocksworth's inventory:
Rockington's rock hammer
Tuxedo
Pompadour wig
Cloak of -2 Sadness

Rocksworth's abilities and equipment modifiers:
Weapons Training - Rock Hammers (+15 damage with rock hammer-type weapons)
Made of Rock or Maybe Some Cleverly-Disguised Wood (+50 Strength, +50 Defense, immunity to disease and poison)
Basic Lockpicking (allows picking of basic locks with a 100% success rate)
Remedial Bomb Arming (allows arming of remedial bombs with a 100% success rate)
Neutral Karma (able to communicate with characters regardless of alignment)
Distrustful Toward Women (unable to take anything female characters say at face value)
Rock Guy (+50 Charisma when dealing with Rock Guys, -50 Charisma when dealing with other Guys)

In Memoriam (+20 damage when using Rockington's hammer)
Formal Attire (+10 Style, allows entry to fancy parties)
-2 Sadness (-2 Sadness)



In the saddlebags:
Ordinary Ragpens (x2)
RagPants
Revolvers (x2)
Beginner's Guide to Lockpicking
An Idiot's Guide to Arming Bombs
+1 cloak of -1 everything