When my wounds stopped aching and I finally opened my eyes again, I found a number of messages awaiting me.
You have defeated: Rat King (Advanced) — Level 9
400 XP, 1 Common Core, and 1 Red Quality Loot Box awarded.
Quest Completed — Vengeance!
Avenge user (Prometheus)’s fallen party members
Reward: 1,000 XP
User: Prometheus has left the party
At first, most of my attention was focused on the first two boxes. Why was it that bosses didn’t give any more experience than a regular monster? It didn’t really seem fair, given all of the effort that went in to defeating one. Then again, I hadn’t gotten anything but white quality loot boxes from regular monsters, and now I’d gotten a red one! That was the highest I’d seen yet, excepting the black quality box my grand quest was dangling in front of me.
Then the final message clicked. I leapt to my paws, staring at it a moment before turning my attention towards Prometheus. He kept glancing away, refusing to meet my eyes.
[Hey, what’s up?] I asked.
[I... I lied to you before. I’m sorry about that. It’s just that... I thought it was the only way.]
[You mean about the rat king?] I flicked my gaze towards the sludge stain, all that remained now of the boss. I suspected I already knew the answer, but I asked the question, anyway. [Is that what happened to your colony?]
He nodded. Then he told me everything.
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It seemed that after Prometheus and the five others had been initiated by the system, they’d set about organizing the rest of their colony, trying to teach them to read, gather supplies, build structures, that sort of thing. Turns out that even unawakened rats have a Mind value of at least one, so Prometheus and the others were able to communicate with them, albeit on a primitive level.
Yet I as a superior dog was rated at zero. How’s that for unfair?
They were also set upon by goblins fairly early after their initialization. While at first Prometheus found himself the center of attention thanks to his Treasure Seeker skill, afterwards it quickly became apparent that he couldn’t keep up with the others when it came to combat.
I hadn’t really thought about it earlier, but between his useless skill and a Power stat of only one, there was little Prometheus could do to help the other rats in combat. Without a bigger fighter like myself drawing the goblin’s attention, he quickly found himself needing to be rescued by his companions from one situation or another. Frustration built until finally, Prometheus was ordered to remain behind as a protector of the colony while the others continued fighting the goblin horde.
Prometheus had tried to do as the others bade him. He helped guide the non-sapient rats in building their new village between the walls, but eventually his resentment had gotten the best of him, and he’d stormed off to be alone.
While he was gone, the goblins had struck. One of their number had left some food by the entrance. When the other rats smelled it and came to eat, the good... changed them, somehow.
It corrupted them into the Rat King.
After Prometheus returned, he discovered the colony empty, the wall shattered by the rat king’s departure. He’d followed its trail, and eventually found the other awakened rats. They too had met the rat king, and fought it.
And died.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
One of their number, a rat by the name of Elicy, had still been alive, if barely. She was the one who told Prometheus what they’d seen happen, how their friends and family had transformed into that monster. With her last breath, she’d cursed him for abandoning the colony, condemned him for leaving everyone to a fate worse than death. Then she’d died, and Prometheus found himself alone. He’d remained alone since that day.
Right up until he’d spotted me chasing a goblin through the building.
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[The moment I saw you and the system informed me you were another user, I knew that you were my only hope for avenging my friends,] the little rat said with a sniffle. [I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth about all this right away. I was afraid if I did, if you found out what I’d done... you wouldn’t want anything to do with me.]
[I mean, I do wish you’d told me about the rat king, so I’d known what to expect from that fight,] I said. [But what happened with the colony wasn’t your fault. I remember what I was like before the system, and there’s no way you could have stopped me from eating some random found I found lying around, no matter how hard you tried.]
Prometheus sniffed, and a hint of a smile appeared on his face. [That’s why rats are better than dogs.]
[Hey now, let’s not say things we can’t take back.]
[So, you’re really not mad at me?] he asked, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
I opened my mouth, then hesitated. While I knew he must have been hurting something fierce after seeing his friends and family reanimated like that, I still couldn’t stop myself from speaking the truth.
[You still lied to me, Prometheus. Even when we first met. You acted like you didn’t know that I was sapient, that I was part of the system. Why?]
[Oh. That.] The little rat deflated, until I thought he’d fold in on himself.
[Yeah, that.]
[It just seemed... easier that way? I know that doesn’t make a lot of sense, but I was desperate. I knew I couldn’t afford to lose an opportunity for vengeance, and there you were. Everything I needed. I... I still helped you a lot, didn’t I? I taught you about items, and I gave you all those cores? Doesn’t that count for anything?]
[It does,] I admitted. [I’m not mad at you, Prometheus, just... disappointed.]
And, I admitted to myself, what had happened with his colony did weigh on me a bit. Dogs value loyalty above all else, after all. It’s in our blood. I was sure I could come to terms with it, given time.
The question was, could Prometheus?
[That’s about what I expected,] he said, scratching idly at his arm. [It’s why I left the party. I... need some time to myself. Maybe one day we can be friends. But for now, I think I’m better off alone.]
With that, he turned and scampered towards the exit. I watched him go. The abruptness of it caught me off-guard, but even so, I couldn’t say I didn’t understand his decision. Long, drawn-out goodbyes apparently aren’t a rat’s style any more than they are a dog’s.
Also, he was probably right. Some time to think and clear his head would do him good. Do me some good, too, while we’re at it.
Not that I needed much time to process. After all, the battle might have left some scars, but for me they were all physical. Now that I’d taken all that time to lay there and rest, I was ready to move on.
I didn’t make it far before I encountered the remains of the goblin chief. Honestly, I’d forgotten about him, but it occurred to me belatedly that he must have died at some point, or the quest would never have completed. Now, here was the proof of it in a smear of gray skin and purple blood.
From what I could tell, the rat king must have rolled over the chief moments before it would have rolled over me. The only reason I knew it was him was a single decrepit arm that had escaped unscathed, which now lay amid a pile of rocks next to the smear.
Well, good riddance.
By the time I made it to the front doors of the building, the sun had already slipped out of sight and the street was rapidly darkening. I debated leaving anyway, but in the end, my desire to not be wandering the streets at night outweighed my desire not to be crushed should the apartment building suddenly collapse entirely.
So I turned around, found an empty unit within sight of the entryway, and bedded down for the night.
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The next day I awoke with two warring desires inside of me: the desire to check all of my loot boxes that I’d forgotten about in my fatigue, and the desire to fill my belly until it exploded!
Unfortunately, I couldn’t do much about the latter problem. There was nothing in this apartment or the units around it, not even furniture, and from out on the street I couldn’t catch a whiff of anything remotely edible. So, I settled on opening my prizes first, and worrying about my rumbling stomach second.
I activated my interface. Before I could navigate to my inventory, several items drew my attention. The first was a new tab I’d never noticed before labeled ‘Conditions’. The second was a new modifier to my Speed stat.
-Stats-
Power: 18 (+5)
Speed: 5 (-5)
Agility: 15
Presence: 8 (+5)
Mind: 15 (+10)
Points Available: 0
A negative five? Negative??? That didn’t sound right. The longer I stared at it, the more I started to wonder if it wasn’t some system error. Perhaps my canid nature was causing another problem, like it had before I fully awakened. If so, I could only hope the system would notice and take corrective action soon.
Still pondering that oddity, I opened up the new Conditions tab.
-Conditions-
Blessings: *None*
Boons: *None*
Miracles: *None*
Diseases: Rat Rot (25%)
Curses: *None*
Blights: *None*
...Oh, doggy doo.