Finding an entrance to the sewers proved to a fairly simple process for Gordo, he just asked the first city employee he found, this being a dirty street sweep who was passing by, pushing a cart before him. At first Gordo thought the old man was hunched over his cart as he pushed it, but realized when the man stopped to collect some dung that he suffered from a spinal disfiguration, for even standing as upright as he could, his back arched like a bow.

Talking to this taciturn character was a chore, for his monosyllabic responses required additional questions to be asked before anything of use could be learned. It took Gordo twenty of minutes before he finally managed to extract the location of a sewer entrance from him. This proved to be a main grate, designed so as to allow sewer access, placed in a small alley about five streets away from his current position. Quickly he navigated his way through the streets and entered the alley where it lay.

A small trickle of soiled and discoloured water ran down the middle of the alley, constantly fed from the streets at each end. Gordo carefully made his way down it, towards a darker patch he could see half way down. Upon reaching the grate Gordo stood over it, looking down at it, and was struck in the face by the warm fetid air that rose up from it, hearing the spatters and splashes as water fell through it, falling into the darkness beneath. Through the tears that the rising air brought to his eyes. He managed to locate the catch that held the grate in place, lifting it up once unlatched, allowing the little light that entered the alley to illuminate the hole.

With the grate out of the way, he could make out the top of a ladder that disappeared downwards into darkness, the metal pitted with corrosion and filth that had washed down over them, rungs layered with slime. They didn’t look too secure, and he was concerned about using them as a method of climbing down.

Peering down, in an attempt to see how far it went, he could just make out little red lights, like the glow from fiery embers. At first he wondered whether there was something on fire down there, then, as the red glows moved about, he came to the sudden realization that these weren’t embers, they were rat eyes, peering up at him. Shuddering at the thought of rats, he took a step backwards, serious reservations on continuing in this task. He hated rats, hated them beyond belief.

Realizing the importance of getting this task completed, as well as the countdown clock he knew was ticking down towards its failure, he slowly descended into the hole, stepping gingerly downwards until a seeking foot found the bottom of the ladder. Turning, he found himself standing on a stone step surrounded by slowly flowing water travelling along the bottom of the arched tunnel he now found himself in. He was amazed to find that the area was dimly illuminated by light from the fungus that grew from the ceiling, hanging down like tattered lace, moisture dripping occasionally from the lower ends.

The bioluminescence wasn’t that bright, only allowing him to see about fifteen foot in either direction along the tunnel, but enough for him to be able to see it was constructed of rough hewn stone, stained with a series of high water marks up its walls. Gordo looked at these, and hoped that the water wouldn’t rise up while he was down here. He then wondered at how deep the current contents were, for the only way for him to travel along the tunnels was by walking in the liquid that ran through it.

The tunnel ran from his right hand side, past him and continued on his left hand side, and thankfully, the rats seemed to have run off. Gordo discovered that the smell down here was rather pungent, too, , but could not hold a candle to the aroma that had permeated the air around the tanneries, so he found it bearable. Sighing in resignation, he decided it was time to enter the tunnels and hesitantly took a step off the platform he was standing on, and into the fluid.

At first his bare foot encountered the cold, polluted water, but as it sank further into it, he encountered the sludge hidden at the bottom. It was thick, and oozed thickly between his toes just the same way that mud does when you stand in it, but in his mind, he knew that this substance was not comprised of mud, cringing at the thought of where it had come from. The discolored water around his mid calf became cloudy as the sediment puffed up from where he had disturbed it, mixing freely with the liquid and increasing the strength of the aroma about him. Finally, his foot met the solid floor of the tunnel, one foot below the surface of the water.

Standing there, calf deep in what could only be kindly referred to as effluence, Gordo inspected each direction of the tunnel, considering which way he should choose to start what could only be referred to as a crappy task. Looking down the left hand side of the tunnel, which was heading in the direction of the grate he was seeking, Gordo could see a patch of brighter light coming from the roof of the tunnel about fifty foot along it. He couldn’t see anything similar to the right, so he chose to head towards this light, which he assumed showed the position of one of the street grates.

Gordo splashed his way along the tunnel, concentrating on making sure he lifted his feet properly, for the gunk he was wading through reluctantly released its grip each time he stepped forward. This made his advancement treacherous, for if he let his attention slip, he knew he would find himself face down in the muck and the mere thought of that made his stomach churn. This is too much realism, he decided, and vowed to inform the admins of exactly this when he was once again above ground. Playing in a realistic game world was fantastic, but there was a limit to the amount of realism a player would put up with before it became intolerable.

He finally made his way to the brighter patch, and, just like he had assumed, it was a grate on the road above allowing light to enter the tunnel. On the bricks of the tunnel wall beneath the opening, at about eye height, was carved 1215 West / 7522 South. He smiled, pleased that his hypothesis about the grate numbers being duplicated within the tunnels, matching the ones recorded above, seemed to be correct. A few more of these grate numbers, he thought, and It will be easy to work out the direction of the one I am after.

The chittering noise of rats could be heard echoing along the tunnel towards him, reminding him that he was not alone down here. Listening, he was unable to determine the direction the noise was coming from, or even how far away they may be, for the echoes interfered with any indication of each. Making sure he had his dagger ready for a quick hand equip, he continued his travel along the tunnel.

After a few more grates, and some backtracking, he had yet to sight any of the rats, but their chittering continued to dog him. He had, though, managed to work out from the grate numbers the right way he should go to reach the one he was seeking. He was thankful it hadn’t taken that long, for he had already been down here for what felt like a couple of hours, and he wanted to get this out of the way as soon as possible.

Two tunnels and a right hand turn into a third left him looking towards what he calculated should be the right grate, but his approach to this one was partially blocked by fallen brickwork, for the walls of this tunnel had collapsed, leaving him just enough room to crawl over the top of them. Something else also blocked him, something that revolted him, for rats were running about on the fallen stones, their wet fur looking oily as it stuck to their frames. It looked like he would have to battle though these rodents to get to the grate.

Sighing, he equipped the dagger, reached down into the foul water with his other hand and sifted through the muck with his fingers until he had located a small chunk of broken masonry. Lifting the stone, he threw it at the closest rat, missing it by a good twelve inches, but close enough for the rat to turn and attack him.

The rat, thankfully only a normal incarnation of this beast, lunged forward to sink its teeth into him, but one slice with his dagger sent it back, reeling, with a slash across its body, and three health points less. He quickly inspected the creature to see how injured it was.

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Rat, Normal.

Health: 2 / 5

Attack : teeth, Claws

Damage : 1-2

Special : 5% chance of infection if struck. Infection will cause 1 damage per five seconds. Infection will last for 1 minute.

Aha, Gordo thought, they only have five health points as the rat jumped at him in another attack. Swinging his dagger, he attempted to strike the rat again, but the no skill penalty came into play, and his attempt missed. The rat latched its teeth into his arm and bit down hard, sinking its yellow teeth deep into his flesh. ‘Rat bites you for two damage, health remaining 98 points.’

Gordo yanked his arms back instinctively from the pain of the bite. It stung, the pain similar to the time he had once been bitten by a dog. It almost made him drop his dagger, but he hung on grimly and swung the rat, which had not released its grip, against the tunnels wall, knocking it free of his arm and ripping a small lump of flesh away. Across his vision scrolled the words ‘Rat suffers four damage, you have killed a rat. Experience gained 2 points’ The rat lay on a small pile of rubble, unmoving, until it suddenly evaporated into nothing as he watched.

Inspecting the wound to his arms, Gordo was relieved to see that the infection feature of the rat had not activated when it bit him. He watched the blood ooze out of the wound and rundown his arm, shaking his head. Blood and excrement, he thought, and no filters available to lower this reality. What kind of hardware have they put him in, he wondered, the settings must be set to full. Another thing he had also learned that these rats only gave experience and had no treasure for him to gain. As his character was a new player, he knew that it would take two minutes to regain those lost health points but decided not to wait this time, and reached for another stone.

Twelve rats later, along with three stops to recover from being infected, he had cleared the rats that had been on the rubble slope in front of him. And now he sat, taking a breather while his health recovered from the last battle. He opened a window and saw that he was quarter the way towards gaining his first level. He was looking forward to seeing that first level, for it would take him of the big fat zero he had on his level count at the moment. Gaining that level would allow him to put one point into an attribute, of which all were also at the zero mark, but he had yet to decide which attribute he would advance.

Closing the window, he opened a second, this one displaying game stats, and located the stat showing his current position on the game players ladder.

Gordo. Level 0. Current standing : 7,754,398

This made his eyes open a little, for there had been less than five million players in the game when he had started. His eyes quickly located the number of currently registered players, and saw that the amount was now just greater than eight million, and ticking higher as he watched. He also saw that as the numbers of players rose, his position on the ladder became lower. No time to waste, he urgently realized, sitting here would only make his position even worse.

Hefting his dagger once again, he stood up and proceeded to climb the pile of loose stone in front of him. His accent was slow, hindered by the stones that turned beneath his feet, threatening to cause him damage and injury. Finally managing to reach the top uninjured, he took a peek to see what awaited him.

There, before him, about five foot away, was the grate exit he had been seeking and glittering in the sunlight that it directed down into the tunnel, was the ring he was sent to retrieve. Unfortunately this location was also occupied by what his sight told him was a huge rats nest, a pile made up of a variety of rubbish that had been pulled out of the water running down the tunnels around here., and poking its head above the mess was another rat, this one much larger than the ones he had already dispatched. He looked at it to identify the creature.

Rat, Queen

Health: 15 / 15

Attack : teeth, Claws, Breath

Damage : 1-5

Special : 15% chance of infection if struck. Infection will cause 5 damage per five seconds. Infection will last for 90 seconds.

Thankful that he had not yet been detected he carefully lowered himself down a bit. Shit, Gordo thought. Two bites with infection, and I am a goner, what the hell am I going to do now. Surprise, he thought, that’s my only chance. A surprise attack, if successful, will give me bonus damage, but I better make sure that first strike is a good one. Gordo prepared himself for a surprise attack, counted to three silently, then sprung into action.

Thrusting with all the might he had in his legs, he dove forward, over the top of the rocks hiding him, and towards the queen rat, dagger thrust out in front of him. The queen, who had been looking around for her missing pack, was caught unaware by this, and its momentary hesitation of surprise allowed Gordo that vital thrust with his dagger. It struck home successfully, wiping out six points of health from the rat and stunning it. This stun gave Gordo the chance to regain his feet and perform another successful strike before it recovered, another three points stripped from its health.

Unfortunately for Gordo, his attack on the queen rat, while a success at the beginning, had left him in easy reach of the creature when it recovered from the stun, and it took quick advantage of this by sinking it teeth into one of his legs, imparting the maximum damage it could.

You have been bitten for 5 Points of Damage. You have 95 health points remaining.

Grunting with the pain, Fordo took another swing at the rats head, but missed. The rat held on determinedly to his thigh sinking the teeth in even further until they were stopped by his femur. Thus occupied, it couldn’t avoid the next thrust of the dagger, which struck it in the back for two points damage, leaving it with four. The rat release its grip on his leg and backed up to gain the room for another attack, but slow enough Gordo had the time to thrust forward in an attempt to skewer the damn thing. Another miss, he realized as his blade inexplicable twitched to the left of the creature. Seeing its opponent off balance from the thrust, the rat scurried forward and again bit downwards on another limb, this one being his other leg.

Queen Rat bites you for 2 Points of Damage. You have 93 health points remaining. You have been infected.

Bring back his extended arm, he smashed the pommel of the dagger down on the rats head, not having the time to turn the weapon around to its bladed end. The pommel made a hollow thunk as it struck, causing the rat to suffer another two points damage. It was down to two point remaining and Gordo started to feel he had a fair chance of success here, but this was wiped from his mind when it clawed him with its back legs for three damage.

He shook the rats off, sending it flying back towards its nest, and stepped back to gain a few seconds respite. The fight hadn’t been going long, but he could see that his fatigue bar was only half full, indicating he would be slower and have a damage penalty against his attacks. He needed to finish this off quickly. Looking at his health, he was disheartened to see that he would fail this task, for as he watched another five points of health disappeared from his health, the result of the infection the rat had given him. At its current progress, it would run for another eighty five seconds, and impart eighty five damage in the time, but the real kicker was that he only had eighty five health left. He was going to die here, no matter the result of the fight.

The rat stood in front of him, about four foot away, snarling, displaying its long and yellowed teeth at him, waiting to see what this man would do next. Without looking Gordo slowly felt about himself for one of the rocks around him and closed a fist around the first hand sized one he felt. In one swift smooth movement, he flung the stone at the rat to distract it, while quickly advancing with his dagger.

What happened next was a relief to Gordo, for the rat tried to leap out of the path of the stone, but failing to do so, and the stone connected with its skull. A lucky throw that damaged the rat for two points of damage, just enough to kill it. His following thrust was a miss, sprawling Gordo face down on the loose rubble. Rolling onto his back, he lay there, watching his health bar slowly tick downwards towards zero and his death.

As his health bar dropped to thirty, something rather unexpected happened, it jumped back up to thirty one. At first he thought he was imagining it, but a second look proved this slight reversal as being accurate. In confusion he tried to work out where this bonus point had come from, the slapped himself in the head, but carefully so as not to give himself any damage. It was so obvious that he had overlooked it totally. It was his regeneration factor, he regained one point of health a minute.

He lay there, waiting for the infection to run its course, and then for his health to recover enough for him to continue on in his task, laughing loudly at his own stupidity. He heard a ding as he gained his first level advancement. He knew he was going to live.