As members of “Zeni's Fellowship”, a traveling carnival, the party members find themselves in the town of Erimas, sitting in a rowdy Inn called “The Cock and Bear”. The four of them have come together because of their shared disappointment at their prospects in the carnival. So they sit amidst the jovial noise, dreaming and scheming about finding new, exciting opportunities elsewhere.

Inspired in part by his disillusionment (with help from a fair amount of ale), Quintin decides to try his hand at a local game known as “Giant's Feet” – where the combatants (with their hands tied behind them) try to knock each other off a plank spread out across a festering pit. Q's opponent is a sneaky looking fellow named “Edward”.

Seizing on the distraction, Barry starts picking the pockets of a few patrons. Sadly for him, the contest is over within seconds as Edward slams into Q and topples him into the muck.

Norm, who had placed a bet on Q to win, uses the cantrip Friends to get out of paying. Around the same time, Barry picks a tempting new target – but his attempt is noticed. As the “Friends” magic wears off and his target realizes what has happened, Norm suggests it is time to leave! Now! Barry, with a couple of burly bodyguards on his tail, enthusiastically agrees.

Q, fresh from crawling out of the pit, and Tan – mostly oblivious to what his colleagues have done – agree (despite their confusion), and the four of them run to the door. Aiding their escape is a mysterious figure who steps out of the crowd and interposes himself between the angry locals and the fleeing characters.

A minute later, as the four regroup outside, the mysterious stranger emerges and introduces himself. He is “Cyne” (like the river) and says he is a recruiter for a man known as “The Bull”. He suggests the party head over to an upscale Tavern named “The Beard & Barrels”. “The Bull”, he says, “is always looking for skilled people.”

Having no other opportunities – and since “The Beard & Barrels” is on the way back to the carnival – the four decide to take Cyne's advice.

Once there, they see that an armed and armored (and drunk) Half-Orc (“Threyzak”) has the entire room terrified. A Halfling woman (“Mimay”) is trying her best to calm the warrior down, but having only modest success.

Despite this drama, the party gets the attention of a man in the corner – who they quickly decide must be “The Bull”. They approach and tell him that Cyne sent them. As they trade small talk, Mimay gives up on placating Threyzak and leaves the Inn. As soon as she does, half the patrons opt to follow her out – sensing (rightly) that the boiling cauldron that is Threyzak is about to blow.

The party looks to “The Bull” and asks if they should do something about this. “If you can,” he suggests.

By the time Threyzak reaches for his Battleaxe, Tan has positioned himself to attack. Within a minute, the four have subdued and disarmed the raging warrior – impressing “The Bull” in the process. In the aftermath of the fight, Barry quickly secures the battleaxe, while others free him of his pocket change.

“The Bull” formally introduces himself as “Thommik” and asks the party what they know about “Rats”. He then sends one of his companions to find “Helga”.

A few minutes later, a Dwarven female (the eldest of the four sisters who own and operate this Brewhouse) enters and in a conspiratorial whisper tells the group that she has a problem with magical Giant Rats in her basement. After a brief back and forth, the party agrees to go into her basement to see if they can find out what's going on.

Downstairs, the party finds (and kills) four Diseased Giant Rats. During the fight, Q is bitten, but suffers no obvious ailment – and, in the end, the party manages to quickly dispatch the four creatures. When the bodies disappear after being killed, it confirms what Helga told them: that they were magical creatures – presumably summoned by someone.

While others focus on the rats and where they came from, Barry quietly removes several of the Everburning Torches that light the basement and stuffs them in his pack.

After exploring the room, they discover that the rats entered the basement via a small tunnel – behind a wall where one brick had been removed. However, when Norm puts his arm into the tunnel to explore it, he finds only a Swarm of Rats!

After another quick fight, the swarm is destroyed and the missing brick is found and restored to its place – blocking off the tunnel and making the room safe from future threats.

Satisfied that they have accomplished what they needed to do, the party heads back upstairs. However, Helga stops them and asks what they found. When they explain their actions, she insists they go back, re-open the tunnel, and ensure that the rats cannot re-enter. In the ensuing negotiation, the party gets her to agree on paying them 10 gold pieces each if they succeed in securing the room from future threats.

Back in the room, the party re-opens the tunnel – where they discover another Swarm of Rats and two more Diseased Giant Rats. Barry dumps a barrel of fine spirits into the tunnel (to Helga's dismay) and Norm alights it with his Fire Bolt cantrip. This weakens the swarm considerably and makes the resulting combat much easier.

When the last of the creatures are defeated, the party squeezes into the crowded tunnel, where they discover some kind of druidical ritual focus. Barry clears it away (casually) and continues beyond – where he discovers it reaches the surface behind some bushes a few dozen feet from the Brewhouse.

When the details of the druidic focus are explained to Helga and Thommik, they both immediately conclude that the culprit is none other than Mimay, the Halfling who was trying to placate her Half-Orc companion earlier that evening. Mimay is a Druid who buys spirits and ales from Helga and sells them in other towns. Some time ago, she and Helga had a disagreement over the terms of a deal – and apparently she holds a serious grudge!

With their skills proven, Thommik suggests that the party might be able to help him out with another, more serious, problem. There are some bandits harassing trade caravans in the area, and he has recently learned that they are using a ruined church about a mile or two out of town as their base of operations.

Perhaps this is that new, exciting opportunity the party has been dreaming of…

Only time will tell.

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