“The Order of the Heavy Hammer helps the local watch and adventurers protect the city,” said the Mother Superior. “Our nuns are some of the finest clerics in the world. We are having a problem with the sewer, and we need someone to look around down there and come up with a working solution.”

“What kind of solution?,” asked Parzifal. He hooked his thumbs in his belt.

“Something is punching holes in the walls down there,” said the Mother Superior. “No one can figure out what it is, and why it is attacking the sewer system. We need an experienced group to figure out what's going on and deal with it.”

“I don't think this is the job for us,” said Parzifal. “We already plan to clean out a dungeon outside the city.”

“You will have to do it without Sister Boudicca,” said the Mother Superior. “You may leave.”

“You can't just take our cleric,” said Houndin. “We need her.”

“I need this problem taken care of in a timely fashion,” said the Mother Superior. “My need is greater than yours. My need wins.”

“Jed no happy with this,” said the barbarian.

“Neither am I,” said Sister Boudicca. “I don't think I have to acknowledge this order.”

“Sister,” said the Mother Superior. “I need this done, and I have the authority to do as much as I see fit until it gets done. You can resign and lose your powers if you disagree.”

“You can't take my cleric abilities,” said Boudicca. “They're mine.”

“Arness gives you her blessing,” said the Mother Superior. “You possess them at her discretion. Part of that is a vow of obedience.”

“Where did you last see this menace?,” asked Ardath. “We'll deal with it.”

(“We will?,” asked Katie.

“Gary has us over a barrel,” said Don. “We could split the party but why bother? There's no point losing our cleric before we even start dealing with the middle of the adventure.”

“I guess that's fair,” said Katie. “I don't like the railroading.”

“I need to keep things on track since this is a one shot,” said Gary. “We have to take down the quests if we want to win the prize.”

“So we're going along?,” asked Adam.

The table gave their consent with that question.)

“The last reliable report we received placed the creature on the North Side, beyond the Adventurers' hall,” said the ancient nun. “That's where you should start your search.”

“No problem,” said Ardath. He stood. “We'll take care of it for you.”

He left before anyone could start haggling the price. It was obvious that the Mother Superior thought they should volunteer their services. He didn't know how serious the threat of excommunication was for Boudicca, but the cleric would be lost without her powers in his estimation.

And if she couldn't get into another order, her problem would just keep mushrooming until she found something that wanted her worship more than her obedience.

He led the way out of the temple and started toward the Adventurers' Hall. He tried to imagine what could live underground and be a threat to the city's infrastructure. The best he could come up with was some kind of hydra.

He hoped it wasn't a hydra. They were hard to kill and capable of unleashing a stream of poison for each head they had.

Maybe some kind of ogre was down there. They were strong and capable of holding off adventurers while taking care of their business.

“I don't think you should of just agreed to this without talking to the rest of us,” said Parzifal.

“We need Boudicca to help us clear the Dungeon,” said Ardath. “We were in real danger of losing our only cleric, and that cleric of losing her power for good. It's better if I try to track this thing down, and then see if it will lead me to a lair. If we can catch it in its lair, it might be easier to kill.”

“What if it isn't easy to kill?,” asked Parzifal.

“Then we'll have to round up anyone who will help us and take this thing down before it becomes a problem for the whole city,” said Ardath. “If we can't take it, then a similar range party wouldn't be able to do the job either.”

“I'm not used to you putting forth a plan like this,” said Parzifal.

(“That's because he tends to improvise molotovs,” said Will.

“Shut up, barbarian swine,” said Don, grinning. “And I like to burn things down if I can. It makes killing them easier.”)

Ardath walked the streets, listening in places. He didn't want to go underground, but that seemed the best way to get started in their search.

He paused at a manhole cover that looked big enough for a man to get through. He tried to lift the hunk of metal out of the way. Jed pulled the thing out of the way with a shrug of his massive shoulders.

“Jed doesn't like the dark,” said the barbarian.

“Neither do I,” said Ardath. He slipped down the ladder and paused at the bottom. He started down the tunnel.

“We can't let him go by himself,” said Sister Boudicca. She clambered down the ladder with less stealth. She splashed after the ranger.

“Jed will stay in the open,” said the Barbarian. “Reserve.”

Parzifal gave him a look of disbelief. This was the first time the giant didn't want to wade into trouble.

“Let's go, Andrea and Houdin,” said Parzifal. “We can't let the others get too far ahead of us.”

“I'm fine with being a reserve,” said the magician.

“Jed already called it,” said the barbarian. “Jed is smart.”

“He did call it,” said Andrea. She slid silently into the darkness. They didn't hear her moving away from the ladder.

“I really don't like this,” said Houdin. He noisily climbed down the ladder. Parzifal watched him to the end. Then he started down himself.

Jed started following Boudicca's complaints from the surface as his friends walked through the large sewer tunnels. Eventually they would run into something that would require his large axe. Until then, he planned to keep his boots dry.

Avoiding unpleasant problems was the real work of a hero like him.

Ardath made sure to walk to one side and ahead of the nun. Her loud complaints was bound to attract the wrong type of attention. He wanted to be in a position where the monster went for her while he struck from the shadows. It was a strategy he liked to use because the monster's attention was on someone else when he put in the blade.

If things didn't go as planned, he would think of setting things on fire and seeing what that got him.

If a backstab, or a fire, didn't work, he would flee to the nearest manhole and try to get out of the tunnels. The others would have to make their own way from there.

If one of them survived, that person could go back to the mother superior and tell her what was down in the sewers.

Of course it looked like the one of them that would survive would be the one that didn't see the monster.

“Shh,” Andrea said to Boudicca. “You're letting the thing know we're here. Wait. Keep doing that. It will try to eat you first.”

“I'm ready for it,” said the nun. She brandished her hammer.

“Jed will love that as a secondary weapon,” said Andrea. “Make noise when Ardath wants you.”

Houdin and Parzifal brought up the back of the line. The magician grimaced at each step. When he got out of the tunnels, he would clean everything as thoroughly as magic would allow.

The knight had his hand on the hilt of his sword. He didn't draw it yet. He was counting on Boudicca buying him enough time to do that if the line ran into the monster first. If the thing snuck up on them, he didn't want to lose his sword in the muck if he was hit from behind.

He expected the group to break into ten different directions and leave him fighting on his own until something happened to get them back together to do something about the situation. He wasn't going to tell them that. They might do something he didn't expect and get killed.

They had surprised him before this, but usually it ended in flames and running around with their hair on fire because of something Ardath or Houdin had done to get out of the fight fast.

“Something is ahead,” said Boudicca. “I'm sensing danger.”

Parzifal drew his sword then. Whatever had triggered Boudicca had to be close by. Her range for danger was not that good yet.

“I'll take the lead,” said Ardath. “Andrea, follow. Everyone else, get ready in case we can lead it back this way.”

Parzifal grimaced. He had to defend Boudicca and Houdin until they got their spells working. That could lead to them getting killed if he couldn't hold the line on his own.

He decided to defend Houdin. The magician was a poorer hand to hand combatant, and could do some serious damage in a fight. The nun could protect herself with her hammer, and she had holy spells that could deal with a lot of threats on their own.

He had to trust Ardath and Andrea to deal with any threat they could face on their own.

Ardath paused when he saw a golem walking through the tunnel ahead of him. It hadn't seemed to have heard them. What was it doing in the sewer?

(“Gary just played the Golem card,” said Ted. “We thought we were going to be chasing rats, and instead we're fighting a robot death dealer.”

“We could still be chasing the rats,” said Don. “Don't count your chickens before they're hatched. I think Andrea and I should back off. I don't know if we can win if we attack this thing.”

“Does any of us have monster lore?,” asked Tonia.

“I do,” said Ted. “Golems can only be beaten if you render the word on their forehead unreadable. Hits anywhere else do less damage, and it's not stunned or knocked out no matter how hard it gets hit.”

“If we take out the legs, we can erase the name and stop the golem,” said Tonia. “We would need a textbook perfect ambush for that to happen.”

“Nothing we've ever done has been textbook perfect, especially not ambushes,” said Don.

“Just lead it back to where the rest of us are waiting,” said Adam. “I'll handle the rest.”

“Are you sure?,” asked Don.

“I'll hold it off while Houdin and Boudicca take the legs out,” said Adam. “It's the only thing we can do except for leaving it alone down here and letting the Mother Superior and the City Guard know a rogue golem is punching holes in the underground.”

“I'm totally for not letting my character die in a sewer,” said Ted.

“Don't be a wuss,” said Katie. “We can handle a golem. We're good enough for that. Just follow my lead.”

“Let me see if I can knock the word out of play with an arrow first,” said Don. “If that doesn't work, we can go to plan b.”

“I'm going to move out of the way and hide in the shadows,” said Tonia. “I want it to concentrate on Don so I can try to take it out from behind before it kills everybody.”

“Don and Tonia are going to have roll initiative with the golem,” said Gary. “I'm good with saying the second party doesn't have to roll because they aren't fighting yet. As soon as the golem gets within attack range, that's when you roll.”

“Can Katie and I get a sneak attack, Gary?,” asked Ted. “I would like to get a called lightning in before it gets inside grappling range.”

“I would like to try super telekinesis,” said Katie. “If I can get it off its feet, the rest of the fight will be super easy.”

“I'll let Katie go first,” said Ted. “Lifting it out of the water will keep me from electrocuting everyone with call lightning.”

“Thank you for the consideration,” said Adam.

He refrained from mentioning that Ted could be frying himself with the lightning bolt as well as the rest of the party. He also didn't want to mention out loud that Ted could be setting fire to the sewer which would also be bad for them.

Gary might not have thought about that, and if he hadn't, why give him ammunition? It was better not to say anything and hope for the best.

And this might be one of those convention stories that could get him a free drink when he was old and gray.

I was there when the test for the first RAILS system was done and our wizard blew us up with a lightning bolt.

“Is there anything else before we get started?,” asked Gary.

“Is there a reward for this?,” asked Tonia.

“The Order of the Heavy Hammer's undying gratitude,” said Gary.

“So no,” said Tonia.

“Roll for initiative,” said Gary.)