[Channel Teaser]
How My Deranged Player Became The Undisputed
Rat King
Recently the players in my campaign were exploring
a sewer network where people had been disappearing.
Their goal was to find and save a local Priestess
down there who can remove a curse on an NPC
member of the party.
Deep within the labyrinthian sewer network
beneath the city the party is trudging through
piles of trash, refuse, and unspeakable smells.
The party rounded a bend to find four wererats
picking through piles of refuse and trash,
hunting for their next meal.
They are chattering to each other.
None of the wererats realized that the party
had stumbled upon their nest.
The Eldritch Knight, from here on out known
as EK, turned to me with a grin and told me,
“I cast Disguise Self.
I make myself look like a humanoid rat creature
and put a crown on my head.”
I am immediately concerned.
EK walked up to the four wererats calmly,
confidently.
“The time has come, my children.
Your King has arrived and I will lead you
to the surface to take what is rightfully
yours!
The time of digging through trash and filth
is over!
Follow me to food and to glory!”
The wererats lifted their noses into the air
using their keen sense of smell to determine
whether or not this stranger is in fact their
King or an imposter.
They approached cautiously, sniffing rapidly,
noses twitching.
They chatter to each other and bow their heads
in submission to EK, their king.
The rats fall in behind their king as he lead
the party deeper into the dark, dank tunnels
of the sewer.
The party proceeds through the dungeon trying
to find the kidnapped citizens while fighting
denizens of the dark.
I am secretly panicking as the rats are immune
to all non-magical damage.
Nothing in the dungeon can harm them…
including the boss.
The party quickly figured this out so an idea
popped into my head.
I decided to shoehorn in a Shambling Mound.
I have my players roll for initiative and
perfectly, EK commanded his rats to attack
the Shambling Mound.
The rats charge the Shambling Mound, clawing
and biting the Shambling Mound at the behest
of their King.
One by one the Shambling Mound pulled the
rats into its body, trying to suffocate them.
Panicked, EK rushed to the shambling mound
and plunged his arm deep into the Shambling
Mound’s fingers, desperately searching for
his rats.
The entire party stacked Help action after
Help action after Help action to aid EK.
He grabbed a hold of slimy wet fur and pulled.
With a wet sucking sound a wererat is pulled
free from the shambling mound.
EK dove back in without hesitation and pulled
out two more of the rats.
The party is doing their best to fight the
Shambling Mound and managed to kill it, but
unfortunately they were too late to save the
last rat.
EK pulled out the motionless rat and laid
it down gently on the sewer floor.
That's when I let EK know that his magical
disguise had worn off.
The three wererats stared at him in shock
and awe.
EK began to cry; heavy chest wracking sobs
ripped out of him as he mourned over the corpse
of the wererat that perished.
And of course he rolled a natural 20 on his
performance check.
I desperately roll insight with advantage
on the three remaining rats, hoping for a
natural 20 too.
None of them roll above 15.
The rats squeak amongst themselves and approach
the crying knight.
One placed a paw on EK’s shoulder and they
all share a moment of silence over their fallen
comrade.
The party happened upon the survivors and
the kidnapped villagers, and most importantly
the local priestess before getting to the
boss.
There are 20 survivors in total.
EK turned to his three wererats and commanded
them to attack the survivors.
WHAT?
“My wererats bite all of the survivors.
I need every one of them to make Constitution
Saving throws against a DC 12 or be cursed
with wererat lycanthropy.
Any of them that succeed attack again,”
EK said.
I turned to the player in shock.
The rest of the party is furious.
EK calmly explained to the party as if it
is completely obvious.
They already know that the priestess knows
the Remove Curse spell.
When the boss is killed and it is all over,
she can un-curse herself and all of the survivors.
The curse will make it easier to keep them
alive as well.
The party agreed, but on the condition the
Priestess remains uncursed.
EK nodded but he can’t hide the grin spreading
across his face.
“Get ‘em boys.”
He now has 22 wererats following him.
The party nears the boss room and internally
I am screaming.
In my final act of desperation I alter the
boss’s statistics so that they have several
attacks which deal acid damage and several
AOEs.
Anything that makes sense.
The party enters the boss room and I have
everyone roll for initiative.
The small platoon of wererats swarm the boss,
tanking every hit the boss dished out.
Several of the rats are performing Help actions
on the players and things are looking extremely
one-sided.
Five rounds into combat and none of them have
taken any meaningful amounts of damage.
EK and the rest of the party are holding back,
watching the carnage unfold.
I stop and smile.
I have an idea.
One of the wererats realized that only the
wererats are fighting the boss.
He begins to squeak rapidly and gestures to
the party standing away from the melee.
The other rats’ black beady eyes focused
on the party and realized that they are being
used.
Furious squeaks erupt from the pack of wererats
as they rally behind their new leader.
Teeth bared, they launch themselves at the
party.
I have everyone make Constitution Saving Throws.
Anything below a 12 means they are cursed
with wererat lycanthropy.
Miraculously, only EK failed the saving throws.
EK immediately begins to turn.
Black coarse fur ripped out of his flesh as
his bones began to shift beneath his transforming
flesh.
He embraced the curse to maintain control
of his mind.
Fully transformed, he challenged the rebellious
rat while the rest of the party, severely
wounded from the onslaught of rat bites, continued
to fight the boss.
EK slammed into his usurper, rending him with
claws and teeth.
The rest of the wererat pack form a circle
around the two battling rats.
The usurper sinks its teeth into EK’s shoulder,
eliciting a pained squeal.
EK kicked the rat off of himself; blood pumped
out of the gaping wound in his shoulder.
The usurper licked the blood covering his
snout and bared his teeth in confidence.
The usurper charged, thinking that it could
finish EK off with another flurry of attacks.
EK ducked the first swipe, rolled forward,
and grabbed the usurper’s tail as he rolled
past.
He pulled, HARD.
The usurper’s legs were pulled out from
underneath him and he smacked his face against
the stone floor, breaking a few teeth on impact.
EK had the usurper’s tail in both hands
and bit through the tail with a single horrible
chomp.
The usurper cried out in pain and tried to
pull himself away from EK.
EK pulled the tail taught between his hands
like a pink garrote and stepped over the cowering
rat beneath him.
He slipped the rat’s own tail around its
neck and pulled.
Claws raked over stone, legs kicked out desperately
as the rat’s eyes bulged.
The circle of rats watched in shocked silence
as their new leader was strangled to death
with its own tail.
The party finished off the boss as the 21
remaining wererats fell to their knees in
complete submission to EK.
I turned to EK and said, “Well…
The boss is dead.
You have 21 wererats at your command and you
yourself are also a wererat.
What do you do now?”
EK thought for a moment then addressed the
party, “Go on without me.
I’ll start a new society down here and you
can continue the quest without me while I
tend to my people.”
EK decided to stay down in the sewers with
the survivors while the party returned to
the surface with the priestess, ready to continue
the quest.
My player who played the Eldritch Knight rolled
a new character.
I asked him why he did that and he responded
with, “Nothing I could do from that point
on would ever be able to top that.”
I nodded.
All hail the rat king.
A DM can never plan for the crazy things players
will do.
What a fantastic example of a player thinking
outside the box to ruin even the best of plans.
Have you ever outmaneuvered your DM?
Please tell us of your experiences and comment
your reactions below!
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