Day seven, evening
Eva is still
crying, but she is laughing. The children are trying to all
tell their stories at once. The workers are unpacking boxes.
The apprentices are standing nearby with humbled expressions.
Everyone looks tired but content. The sun is setting and Eva
starts taking charge. She tells everyone which house they will
be staying in. The children with her, the wizards over there,
the workers in the big house. The apprentices say they need to
finish checking all the attics first.
They spread out, and everyone else stays at Evas. "Who
wants cookies?" she says. All the children respond with
glee. Even the workers say that would be great. Candles
are lit as darkness falls. All the apprentices are in one attic
or another. This is when the ground starts to shake.
The very ground rumbles. Everyone looks disturbed. They
must have been there all along but you never noticed them in grass.
Hundreds of rats come pouring out of the ground. Rat holes.
Rats live in nests in the ground. They pour from everywhere.
You immediately look and see that the workers do have holy symbols.
All of them.
The rats are not coming for
y'all. Faster than you can realize what happens they scramble
through the gate. They drag Father Thias' unconscious body with
them. Almost all of them get through. The gate starts
flickering as the apprentices come running down from the attics.
The rest of the rats get through. The gate collapses. The
apprentices gather around you. So does Omni. He says
"This is bad." One of the apprentices says, almost
absentmindedly. "I wish that hadn't happened."
Suprisingly the gate reappears. You're not paying attention any
more. You remember your conversation with the man in white.
Something he said that didn't make any sense at the time. You
say it out loud before you realize what you are saying. "Join
us or we will leave this place." Everyone turns to look at
you. "That's what he said. The vampire. He
said if I didn't join them they would leave this place. It
didn't make any sence at the time. Now I know. Those god
forsaken rats are loose in New Orleans."
This ends solo adventure one.