Some secrets are darker than others[Solo]

[Rykanis Dakshata]

68 Spring 512 Rats. Rykanis did not mean that as a exclamation of anger, or disappointment. He meant it literally. Rats, the flea infested vermin that lived so much in Riverfall. That was what he was being sent out to find out about. Now what the petch, did the council want him investigating rats for? Of course, it had to be something odd. Rat burglaries. Made no sense, but that was the story. Almost half a dozen different people, in different homes, a few even openly robbed on the street, had said they had been robbed of jewelry and small things. And they all said it had been by rats. Possibly there were more people who had been robbed, but those were the only ones that had come forward. Normally, such a thing would be laughed at and passed on. But one of the witnesses had been a high standing citizen of Riverfall. A man with three generations of children under him, and three important sons. So the council had to be seen doing something. So they had passed the buck to Rykanis. Told him to find out the truth of what was going on. He could almost imagine them laughing to each other, that they had sent him on such a crazy thing. But he had his duties, and so Rykanis was off, looking around the city, talking to shadows in alleys, trying to find some trace of these elusive rats, which were thieves.

[Rykanis Dakshata]

To start off, he needed to find out more info about these rats. The final goal, was to know the entire story to them, to find out there purpose. But to do that, it was going to take a branch of intelligence gathering often overlooked, and not often fun to do. Infiltration. One of the common ways to gather intel, on a target, was to infiltrate them somehow. Now, since he could not turn into a rat, or go along with them, he could not infiltrate there robbery group. Which meant, he had to pretend to be one of there targets. He reasoned the only thing he could do was make himself bait, and let himself be attacked, in order to find out information on them. The first bit, was to find out were to go, to be attacked. So know he was meeting this member of Akalak society, at his home, to find out were exactly he had been attacked. The man was nice enough, at first glance, but not so nice once Rykanis got asking questions. But still, he went into the investiation, trying to question him, and find out all he could. "So. You were attacked by rats, and robbed? Were you hurt? What all did they take? Did you injure any of them?" The man threw himself up to his full indignant height, and snarled at Rykanis. "Yes I was attacked! And I fought them well, beat at them with my fists. But do you know how hard it is to punch a rat? There were tons of them! They swarmed me. Then I got dropped by one from behind, and when I came to, my moneypouch was gone." Rykanis pondered on this for a moment, trying to insert a bit of compassion into his voice, lest he anger the man any more. "I see... I am sure there was nothing you could do, against such dirty tactics. Very dishonorable of them to use. But did you by any chance see who it was that got you from behind? Was it a rat? And do you have any idea of why you were attacked?" The man still seemed angry, but a bit less so, when he gave his final bit of info. Perhaps he was assuaged a bit by Rykanis words. Or perhaps he just wanted to see justice, and knew that was what Rykanis was working for. "True... No, I did not see my attacker... And I do not know why I was targeted. Perhaps it was just the wrong place at the wrong time. It was dark out, so perhaps they thought they would not be seen, or known." Rykanis nodded to the man, and thanked him for his time... On to work, and find out the secret of this story...

[Rykanis Dakshata]

So, know he knew were and roughly when the attacks had occurred... Perhaps even how to be the next to be attacked... Though he had an edge... He had exceptional night vision, even for an Akalak. He would be much more likely to be able to make out his attacker. Next, he needed a disguise. Luckily, he had his hooded cloak he wore, and pulling it up, and keeping his face hidden, this simple disguise would hide who he was. He made sure to arrange it so that none of his face would show, even stooped a bit too disguise himself better. He would prefer to keep anonymous in this act, so that he could still try and gather intel later on it. If his identity was discovered, he would be sunk. His simple disguise in place, he had nothing to do but wait till it was dark... He would have to wander around the general area of were the man had been attacked, and hoped to chance upon the rats... If he was lucky, they would come after him... Though he had less to steal. No jewelry, and only 5 gm on him. Though it was mostly in smaller coins, so as to seem like he had more on him. Soon enough, it was dark out, and Rykanis was ready to go on the hunt... Or in this case, be hunted. Bait after all, was not about being offensive... Which is why he had long since slipped over to his other side. He was much more comfortable with long waits, not attacking, and such long term plans. He did however, keep his infravision on, once it got dark, to check for body heat... He did not want to be snuck up on... While he was expecting to be attacked and robbed, he could still put up a fight, and keep his eyes open to any detail the untrained eye might miss...

[Rykanis Dakshata]

It was while walking down a random street, that he finally made contact. He had not seen anything with his heat vision, nothing besides other people wandering around in a hurry. Nothing small and rodent like. Just people. Mostly Akalaks, some humans, a few woman out by themselves without an escort rarely, more often with a escort. Suddenly, he noticed the sound of his feet hitting the ground... He could not hear that before... And he noticed... He could not hear anything else... He had just noticed, it had gone oddly, eerily, quiet... That was not a good sign... Often sudden silence meant an attack was immanent... Petch, he really needed to work on picking up such details quickly, before it got him killed. He turned around to check out the surrounding area, to make sure there was no one close to him, no one attacking him. He was surprised to find a short man just behind him, about 4 and a half foot tall, a wooden club in hand, just about to smash him in from his blind spot. What the petch? Were had he come from? He had not even heard him come up. Rykanis acted instinctively, ducking just in time, to avoid the swipe at the side of his head. The small man, which Rykanis now noticed was naked, had jumped in the air aiming for his head. He was no expert in fighting hand to hand, or really fighting at all, but he had little other choice. He punched at the man, getting him once in the gut, his second punch missing as the man jumped back clutching his stomach, sweeping through empty air. Then insanity exploded into the street. The man made an odd high pitched screech, similar to the squeek of a rat, before glaring at him. Glaring above him... Rykanis looked up just in time, to see a good dozen rats come flying off rooftops, some smashing into him, some missing, but enough to knock him off his feet. Rykanis scrambled, managing to pull out one lakan, as the rats swarmed him, biting at his clothes, and scratching at his exposed flesh, one biting hard into his arm just above his left wrist. He retaliated, knocking one off with a sweep of his hand, and decapitating another with a slash of his lakan.

[Rykanis Dakshata]

Now that they were in a straight up fight, his main side took over. He stabbed at one of the rats, catching it in the side, and kicked another that was climbing up his leg, sending it flying into a wall. But more and more kept on coming. Really, in hindsight, this had not been the best plan... But infiltration, being bait, had seemed to be his only option... He made a slash at one, just missing taking off one of its legs, as another bit him, just below his knee, on the exposed area above the leather of his boot. Rykanis let out a yelp of pain, and punched the rat with a balled fist, hearing something snap as he did. He tried to get back up, but the fight was to intense. But really, he had fallen for a simple trick. The rats, were simply a distraction. He looked up, just in time to see the naked man from before, standing over him with his wooden club. He saw his face quickly, the long ratlike nose, the beady eyes, his short black hair, which looked similar to rat fur... Just as the aforementioned wooden club, embraced the side of his head. Stars and bits of light exploded in his eyes, before he blacked out. *** As he came to, the first thing he noticed, was that he was alive. He was bitten up in several spots, bits of his clothing torn... Scratched... But he was alive... He felt at his money pouch, to see that the 5 gm he had been carrying was gone... But it seemed like nothing else was... He slowly sat up, to another explosion of pain in the side of his head... He was going to have a serious headache for awhile... But all he could think of, was the face of that man he had seen, just before being knocked out... Replaying his features over and over... And how bad this had gone... He was going to have to think of another ploy. Another way of finding out info on these rats... And perhaps there leader... Which now that he had added things up, was likely a rat kelvic, able to speak, and command the rats... But was he the head of it? Or was the kelvic taking commands from someone else? Was he even sure he was a kelvic? He let out a sigh... He knew who he was going to have to contact... As much as he hated it... He hated bringing in others... But there was no other choice...

[Gossamer]

. Character: Rykanis Experience: Investigation +3, Planning +2, Interrogation +2, Subterfuge +1, Lakan +3 Lore: Questioning Duty But Doing It Nonetheless. Rykanis Does Not Like Rats. Asking The Best Questions To Gain The Most Information, Remaining Emotional Unattached During Interrogations, How To Fight Swarming Rats. Kelvics Can Be Pests. Additional Note: The only critique I have of this thread is that you really found the rats too soon. Riverfall is huge and really you should have been at it days locating them even though you did your homework well. Also, if you want to swap Subterfuge for Disguise, I can do that. I thought Subterfuge fit your PC better. Please deduct -5 GMs from your ledger. .