In the basement of the office for hygiene a rat’s corpse sells for two copper pieces. Once sold the carcass is stripped of everything that might be of value, fat is rendered meat is fed to the dogs of the night watch and the paladins, the bones are boiled to make thin glues. The only parts which aren’t used are the tail, often saved as trophies by the rat catches, and the pelts which are simply discarded. Though this bounty originated as a way of keeping the city’s rat population down some rat catchers are rumoured to keep underground rat farms to make their living, as the rat catcher’s spend most of their time below street level and few people are inclined to go there this is a rumour that’s never been substantiated.
You know of one rat catcher, Glag the Piper. In your youth you would deliver rats the terrier had mangled to him, two rats a copper. Glag was one of the more sociable sort of rat catcher, who’d occasionally come up to the public house and play his pipes for ales, still you remember him as a bent old man with sallow waxy skin and a ratty look in his eyes. It’s very conceivable that he might have passed in the years since you met him- still you know where to find him in the underground labyrinth so it’s worth a go.
You make your way back to your old neighbourhood, through a shored up arch into a crumbling tunnel, take one of the torches left in an alcove and follow the chalk stick drawings of pan pipes (five vertical lines of varying lengths. It’s damp underfoot and the stone is slick, so you are careful to keep your free hand on the wall. The trip feels a lot shorter than it did in your youth, it still chills you but you spend the time wondering how many corpses might be forgotten down here, and how you might find them without getting horrifically lost.
Eventually you make it to an old wooden door in the tunnel and pull a string, it’s a good ten minutes before Glag answers, he looks the same to you, though it’s obvious he doesn’t recognise you.
“Got rats to sell have you boy?” He asks immediately. You shake your head.
“Actually I was wondering if I could buy one from you, I- “
He cuts you off immediately.
“5 coppers, the office doesn’t take kindly to selling rats off market- people ask questions.” “Actually, I’d like a living rat.
The old man squints at you suspiciously.
Now boy I didn’t have you down as an informer, you know I wouldn’t have no living rats to sell. “Look, I just need it for magical experiments ok, I don’t care how you get it. I’d pay good money for one and- “
“Look here boy, this isn’t the time for that sort of talk, maybe in a week or a month when the night watch isn’t poking their heads into everyone’s business. Maybe then I can save you a live one if you put a deposit down, say a silver piece, but until then if someone catches me with a caged rat I’d be barred from the office.” “Ok, look, a corpse will do just fine, the biggest one you’ve got please.”
The man gives you an odd look but disappears back into his tunnel for a small while, appearing with a rather portly scarred rat corpses.
“Here you go kid, that’ll be six coppers.”.You bite your lip, pay the money and stow the corpse in a pouch you bought especially for this purpose, as you do so you make small talk.
“So why is the night watch down here anyway?”
Glag shrugs,
“Rat’s further down have been getting testy, people have been getting swarmed, getting themselves killed. Night Watch have been asking questions getting an idea of where the deaths have been happening, taking the opportunity to poke around where they don’t belong while they’re at it.” You nod.
What do you do next?
Health: 10/10
Mana: 10/10
Will: 5
Skills:
Competent Magical Theorist (d8)
Competent Mage (d8)
Novice Necromancer (d6)
Proficient Scholar (d10)
Novice Handyman (d6)
Novice Negotiator (d6)
Items of import (ask about what else you might have that makes sense):
The Path to Power (+1 to summoning corporeal undead)
2 gold, 9 silver and 4 copper coins worth of coinage
Relationships:
Arbus the Sage (your mentor): Trusting, he has worked with you for many years and so trusts your capabilities and has insight into your character.
Bral the Labourer (Your father): Doting, he cares for all her children but has a special place in her heart for the son who will make something of himself even if he sees you rarely.
Ta the Labourer (your elder sister): Cordial, you still have contact with Ta who wants little from life, though she has always been wary of the lust for power she saw in you.
Jia the night watchman (your elder sister): Good, you two share the same drive to better yourselves you both recognise that in each other and respect it.
Ifeus the star mage: Unknown, she is an independent mage with whom Arbus corresponds with most often as such you have run some delivery’s to and from her tower
Valo apprentice to Apras the fire mage: admiration, Valo and Apras are in the employ of the temple. Valo is a couple of years younger than you and holds your magical knowledge in awe.
Cai apprentice to Didor the Druid: Rivalry. Cai and Didor are in the employ of the kingdom. Cai is about your age and she has a drive similar to yours, this has led to a sporting rivalry which has allowed you to pick up some practical magecraft and her to be schooled in more theoretical matters.
Spells:
Bind Corpse: Creates a skeleton or zombie servant of varying power. The power depends on the soul’s strength and the skill with which you cast the spell.
Cost 1 Mana.
Difficulty d4+number of bound undead servants.
Arcane Shield: Creates a shield which deflects the actions of spirits of a certain type.
Cost 1 Mana.
Difficulty d4+number of active shields
Detect Magic: Allows you to see the spirits in an area, determining their numbers and movement
Cost 1 Mana
Difficulty d4
Message: Compels the wind to carry something roughly the size and shape of a parchment a considerable distance
Cost 1 Mana
Difficulty d4
Slow blood: Thickens the blood of a living being, rendering it sluggish and eventually unconscious
Cost 1 Mana
Difficulty d4 or relevant skill
Vicious Growth: Accelerates and controls the growth of a nearby plant
Cost 1 mana
Difficulty d6
Light: Forms a ball of dim light that can be controlled for a while, will momentarily blind someone if summoned in their face.
Cost 1 mana
Difficulty d4
How do people prefer dice rolls to be communicated. Kept in the background, mentioned whether succeeded or failed or fully written out?