The next morning Sapphira woke and headed to the shrine of Heronious for her daily prayers, while Durgyn and Landen met in the town center. While Landen looked around for the guard they were supposed to meet with, Durgyn expressed his hunger and looked for a food stand. Just them Landen spots a guard on his partrol and the two adventurers approached him.
“Can I help you citizens with something?”
“We’re looking for Elezar, we were supposed to meet him here on his patrol this morning.” Landen explained.
“Well let me know if you see him! I’m looking for him too, we’re supposed to be sharing this patrol. He didn’t show up to the barracks last night, and I expected to see him here this morning, but he didn’t show.”
The guard continued on his way as Landen and Durgyn gave a nod of thanks. Then Durgyn resumed his all important search… breakfast. The streets were not in their full hustle and bustle yet, because it was early morning and everyone was preparing for another day of the fair. Approaching the nearest food vender on Eastgate Way, Durgyn asks in his deep voice, “Whatcha got?”
“Morning! Meat pies, pastries, or some mead or ale to start your morning? We also have some fresh produce as you can see.” The merchant motioned to a display of apples and oranges.
“Meat pie,” Durgyn’s voice boomed.
“Right-o, that will be 3 silver.”
“Four of them.” The minotaur replied.
“Oh.. uh right. Well then…” The merchant reaches down into his fire oven and pulls three freshly made pies from its warm belly. He sets them on the counter and explains to the minotaur, “You caught me early, I’ll have to make up one more for you. It will be just a couple minutes.” The merchant turned around and scrambled to put the ingredients together, while Durgyn began to consume the pies he had. As the merchant had his busy back turned, Landen slid up and plucked an apple from the cart. Having most of his ingredients prepared, the merchant put the next meat pie into the oven.
“Anything I can get you sir?” He said turning to Landen. “Sorry, did you buy that apple?”
He just finished pretending to pull it from a pouch when the merchant turned around. Taking a big bite from the juicy fruit, Landen bluffed, “No…” crunch crunch “I had it.”
“Right… ok then.” He turned to Durgyn. “The pie’s in the oven now, it’ll just be a minute.” To his amazement, the impressive minotaur was finishing the last morsel of his third pie, with a ready and waiting look for the fourth. The merchant began preparing more pies for the morning rush, and when it was ready, he gave the hungry animal his fourth pie. “Thank you for your business.”

It wasn’t much longer that Sapphira showed up. When Landen asked what took her so long, she proudly explained she was paying her respects to Heronious. They went to the bell tower, knowing for sure something was not right with the guard missing. After some difficult attempts to enter made by Landen, Sapphira throws her grappling hook to the window 30 feet above and offers the sturdy rope to Landen. With a nod, he climbed into the window and using his rope climbed silently down the inside. Standing still he listened… and heard the snoring of the old man behind his bedroom door. Carrefully, Landen opened the front door and explained that he would quiet scope out the place for clues before the others come in. Sapphira and Durgyn agreed, as they weren’t as steathly as their elven friend.
Working his way up the dark stairway, Landen arrived to a door on the second floor. The stairs continued, but he decided to take a peek inside this door. Opening it slowly, he sees a small room with two doors littered with filth. Rat hair covers the room and is gathered in clumps with straw in the corners, and animal waste strongly hangs in the air. After seeing this, Landen closes the door and heads downstairs.
“This is the place. Come on, let’s take care of this infestation.” Landen motions the others inside, and despite their efforts to stay quiet, Sapphira’s armor clinks and echoes in the large antechamber. Landen listens closely, and hears the old man’s snore disrupted as he rises from his bed. Motioning to the others, they slink into the corners and shadows as the door infront of them opens.
“Who goes there!? I can hear you, come out!” The old man burst from the door into the chamber and looked around the dark, granite entry. With the entry door closed, any light that came into the window high above was quickly absorbed into the dark stone, so all three managed to hide from the old man’s eyes… but it wouldn’t last long in this small area.
Landen emerged from the shadows, both scimtars drawn to the old man’s throat; a rather rash action on a feeble tower keeper. “Where is Elizar, the guard?” Landen harshly asked with an intimidating tone. The old man trembled with fright, startled by Landen’s pounce from the shadows. Taking a step back, the old man’s body began to shrink. His hands formed into little clawed feet, and his face into the ugly snout of a dire rat! He scambled into his room screeching to alarm the nest, and climbed up a rope that dangled into his room from the ceiling.
Sapphira chased him into the room while Landen followed Durgyn as he darted up the stairs. The only light in the old man’s living space was provided by a dim lantern on a desk. His bed lay in the corner, and four ropes hung from a hole in the ceiling above, coiled on the floor; obviously what allows one old man to ring the large bells above.

The second and third floors were made of four small rooms that were obviously the sleeping quarters for the wererats. The rooms were so small, as one adventurer would enter, he would be surrounded by dire rats and wererats on either side, coming in from the other room, while the others had to wait in the hall behind. Durgyn took the second floor, while Landen helped from behind, and Sapphira ran to the third floor, finding the bulk of these nasty creatures. With a rat on the wall, and one on each side, Durgyn battled well under pressure. After using his longsword he dropped it for his warhammer, and rightfully so, because he smashed a wererat with a devistating blow. Turning to the other behind him, with a swing of the hammer he sent his reeling back into the wall. The beast fell to the ground, leaning against the wall and breathing with great difficulty, hanging onto his last thread of life.
“I’ve got a captive one here.” Durgyn grunted to Landen who was in the hallway, using his bow to drop a dire rat clinging on the wall above.

Upstairs Sapphira was surrounded by dire rats, but she faught them with no concern as they were obviously struggling to penetrate her armor. Killing one, in a matter of seconds, two more flooded into the room. She couldn’t tell how many would come from the other rooms on this level, so she had and idea and decided to go with it.

On the floor below, Landen entered the room with Durgyn and looked at the pitiful beast struggling to live, sitting on the floor propped against the wall. Putting his bow away, Landen pulled a scimtar from it’s sheath, and with a flourish, thrusted it into the wererat’s chest.
“Come on, Sapphira could need our help upstairs.” Landen ran from the room and Durgyn quickly followed, leaving their enemies in a heaping mess behind. Getting to the third floor they found Sapphira backing out of the room, fending many rats off with her mace. Raching into her bag, she lifts a glass bottle out over her shoulder and throws it into the room, producing a burst of flames. She slammed the door shut, and heard the fire burning the vermin. Landen and Durgyn continued up the stairs, and entering the door on the fourth floor, Landen sees the working of the bell tower. This large open room is criss-crossed by ropes, running through large pullies on the walls and above, with wood planks running at different levels through the ropes. The frantic squeaking of rats can be heard above…
“Get out of my Bell Tower!!” A shrill voice screamed from above. Sweaping on a rope and landing on a plank above, a wererat looked fiercely down upon Landen. Judging by his clothes and behavior, this was the leader of the pack. Durgyn ran to the floor above and found the four large bells hung in large archways that offered views to the city below. The room opened in the middle to the ropes and pulleys on the fourth floor, and looking down he could see Landen, the wererat, and two other rats scurrying in the ropes.

On the third floor, the door opens and a flaming wererat swings at Sapphira, but with a quick strike from her mace her attacker is stopped. One or two other dire rats attempt to bite at her, but it didn’t take long and the flames had consumed them all. Running up the stairs to join the others, she finds Landen in a sword dual with a wererat balancing on a rope above him. She enters the room and a dire rat climbing on th eropes above, slinks down before her and shows it’s yellow teeth.
Being at a disadvantage, Landen takes a few pokes from the rat leader’s rapier. Durgyn enters the room, returning from the floor above, and seeing Landen in a difficult situation, he runs over to help. Longsword drawn, the Minotaur swipes the the rope supporting the attacking wererat, cutting it clean from the pully and sending the rat to the ground. Just then, another dire rat drops from the ropes above, landing next to Durgyn. The minotaur turns toward the pest, fearlessly displaying his longsword and black horns to the comparitively small critter.
Angered, the rat leader rises and comes at Landen with a new vigor. Fiercely he strikes with his rapier, and lands a horrible blow to Landen’s throat, making him slump unconcious to the ground. With it’s victory, the beast turns to bite at Durgyn’s back, but moves too quickly to successfully hit him. Noticing Landen’s defeat, Sapphira casts a powerful cure spell, touching her fallen companion. Landen’s eyes open, and his wounds heal, and he stands pulling his scimtars up, ready for revenge.
The rat leader turns, angered that his defeated prey has risen to fight again. The wererat stabs him once more with his rapier, and bites firmly onto his arm. His teeth sunk deep, but in one motion Landen knocked the filthy beast off, and swinging with both scimtars cut his head clean off. Ready to end the battle, Durgyn lowers his sword… and his head. He charges at the menace before him and blows him back with a charging gore attack, leaving the rat in a crumpled pile. Sapphira makes quick work of the direrat battling her, and the tower grows silent. Catching their breath from running up so many stairs and battling so many foes, they examine the room around them, spotting a body in the corner. Quickly, they recognise the unfortunate victem as none other than the guard, Elizar. He must have come to investigate the tower, but being alone, the rats took him in, and killed him.