Rat Park
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ - Meremin
Another fruity beer. Less strong than previous ones from Time and Tide. Very nice.
Meremin said:
This reminded me of a tale told to me by my druid companion Mortiz. The adventuring party had been on the trail for days. A prominent citizen of Southguard had been kidnapped, and all clues pointed to a shady warehouse along the riverbank. The four companions—Moritz the druid, Robbie Knoblert the Gnome thief, Chaudfroid the Dragonborn sorcerer, and Mordechai Vilespawn the Tiefling warlock—crept through the shadows, eyes fixed on the rundown building. The moon cast an eerie glow on the water, making the warehouse seem even more ominous.
“Are we sure about this?” Chaudfroid whispered, adjusting his gleaming scales. “It looks… less than inviting.”
“Inviting or not, we need to get inside,” Mordechai replied, his eyes glowing faintly with infernal light. “We have no time to waste.”
They approached the entrance cautiously, but their nerves and urgency got the better of them. Bursting through the door, they found the warehouse owner, a wiry man with a shifty gaze.
“Where is the hostage?” Moritz demanded, the ground beneath his feet pulsing with life.
The man smirked and pulled a lever on the wall. The floor beneath the party gave way, and they plunged into darkness.
With a hard thud, they landed in a dank, stone cell. The smell of mildew and decay was overpowering. As they groaned and picked themselves up, they realized they were not alone. From the shadows emerged the rustling and squeaking of giant rats, their eyes glowing red in the dim light.
“Watch out!” Robbie shouted, drawing his nimble daggers.
The rats were enormous, bigger even than Robbie himself. Their yellowed teeth gnashed menacingly as they advanced. Moritz stepped forward, summoning a vine to lash at the nearest rat, its thorny tendrils wrapping tightly around the beast. Chaudfroid, with a roar, unleashed a blast of frost, freezing another rat in its tracks.
Mordechai, recovering from the fall, muttered an incantation. Eldritch energy crackled from his fingertips, striking the approaching rodents. The smell of burning fur filled the air as the rats shrieked in pain. But for every rat they struck down, more seemed to emerge from the shadows.
“We need to find a way out of here!” Robbie shouted, his daggers spinning in his hands as he parried a rat’s attack.
Moritz, using his connection with nature, felt for an exit. “There’s a hidden door here,” he said, moving towards a corner of the cell.
Robbie darted to the edges of the cell, his keen eyes searching for any cracks or hidden mechanisms. Amid the chaos, he noticed a faint outline of a door concealed behind a stack of crates. He hurriedly pushed the crates aside and found a rusty, iron door. “Here! Help me open this!”
Chaudfroid rushed to his side, channeling his draconic strength. Together, they heaved the door open, revealing a narrow tunnel. “This way!” Robbie called, motioning for the others.
The party fought their way through the remaining rats, retreating into the tunnel. The rodents hesitated, unwilling to leave their territory. The adventurers pressed forward, the sounds of the rats fading behind them.
The tunnel led them to another chamber, this one lined with cells. In the furthest cell, they saw the hostage, a disheveled man who looked up with a mixture of fear and hope.
“Hold on, we’ll get you out,” Mordechai assured him, using his infernal power to unlock the cell door.
As the door creaked open, the man stumbled out, thanking them profusely. “They took me days ago. I thought I was done for.”
“We need to get out of here before more trouble finds us,” Chaudfroid urged, casting a wary glance around the chamber.
Retracing their steps, they found a ladder leading back to the surface. One by one, they climbed up, emerging in a different part of the warehouse. The proprietor was nowhere to be seen, likely having fled when he realized his trap had failed.
The party quickly made their way out, the kidnapped man safely in tow. The cool night air was a relief after the stifling confines of the underground prison. As they returned to Southguard, they couldn’t help but feel a sense of triumph. They had faced the darkness, battled monstrous foes, and emerged victorious.
But as they walked back into the city, they knew that their journey was far from over. Southguard always seemed to have another mystery, another danger lurking just around the corner. And the party, bound by their friendship and duty, would be there to face whatever came next.