Scramble in the Sewers is the fourth episode of season 3, The Unsleeping City.
Recap[]
"We find them deep underground in the sewers of New York City. Grimy, filthy, smelling of shit and piss our heroes face the Rat King. Here, looking on this ancient cistern underneath the reservoir of New York, the aqueduct coming down into the city in Central Park, this ancient cistern, The Rat King's swarming, massive. So many hundreds and hundreds of rats with their tails all tied together in a knot, wearing a golden crown. You have entered this cistern and you see the door, boom, slam shut behind you and locks as the Rat King goes and presses this little panel over here on the wall next to him."
Synopsis[]
The party enter a cistern in the New York Sewers, and encounter the Rat King, a huge pile of rats with their tails tied together, wearing a crown. He slams the door shut behind them using a panel on the wall. Kugrash tells everyone that the Rat King is a piece of shit, and they all agree that he seems like he sucks.
A behind-the-scenes photo taken by Zac Oyama, shared on the Dropout Discord July 31, 2019: "getting ready"
As water begins to cascade in from the pipes and the water level in the sewers begins to rise, the team makes their way across the concrete platforms towards the Rat King. He summons four albino alligator guards from the water, shouting that they had been flushed down toilets and forgotten, and that they were now ready to serve him.
Pete uses the power of all the terrible fires from New York's history to cast Scorching Ray on the Rat King, obliterating a quarter of the rats, and revealing the hand of Em, the angel of Bethesda Fountain, trapped inside it. This triggers a Wild Magic surge, and an image of a scary dog appears. Pete tells the dog to attack the Rat King, and it turns into motes of light and swarms around him.
Sofia makes a beeline for the Rat King while Kugrash, Misty, Kingston and Ricky begin to fight the alligators. Misty controls one with Crown of Madness, and Ricky narrowly escapes the grapple of another with the help of Kingston's Command spell. Kugrash casts Mirror Image on himself and does his little dance with the illusory Kugrashes.
Sofia makes an incredible leap for the Rat King but falls down into the water and is frozen in place. Pete eventually makes it close enough to reach inside with the help of the strange dream dog, casts Shocking Grasp to free Em from the rats, but falls back and begins to sink into the sewer water, trapped underneath the unresponsive statue. Kugrash Misty Steps away from the gators, turns into a disgusting reef shark in the air and swims down to save Pete, doing his dance to try to communicate that it's him.
A behind-the-scenes photo of Zac Oyama and Lou Wilson posing with their minis before filming, taken by Zac and shared on the Dropout Discord July 31, 2019.
Ricky Commands the Rat King to reverse the flow of the water and the water level starts to fall.
Pete casts Detect Thoughts on Em, and finds himself floating in the Dream Realm and sees Nod again. Nod is able to wake Em, and she flies Pete out of the water, drops him on the platform with the Rat King and flies to the rest of the group to heal Ricky.
Sofia takes a comb to the Rat King's tails, trying to straighten out the tangles, and manages to disperse the rest of the rats. She grabs the Rat King's Crown and drops it onto Kugrash's head. Kugrash tells the alligators to stop attacking his friends, and they sadly allow themselves to be washed down the drain.
Em tells everyone that the Rat King dragged her into the sewers, but it must have been something else with powerful magic that tore her off the fountain.
Locations[]
Featured Characters[]
The Dream Team[]
Returning[]
Mentioned[]
Trivia[]
- Before being posted in-full on YouTube, this episode was initially posted in two parts, on August 20th and August 27th 2019. The videos were named "Murph Fights the Rat King" and "Rat King Rumble" respectively.