Here's my situation: first, ow. My leg hurts so much! It's hard to think! I force myself to look at it and wince at all the blood. Ugh, it's also full of rat drool, that's disgusting. I take a deep breath and move my leg. Argh! It's painful, but it moved just fine. Moving the foot is another story. I try to bend my ankle and the mangled muscles on my leg spasm in agony. Shit, that feels weird. I'm not sure I'll be able to walk. I look at the door, worrying if more rats are coming. If they come, I'm fucked.

Still, it's not all bad news. This is my first real fight in my life, and I won! I'm alive, and other than my leg I only have a few shallow scratches on my left arm. And the floating parchment with a picture of a rat is a really good sign! I'm almost 100% sure it means I'm being rewarded for killing the rat, although I can't make out what the reward is. Am I getting XP? Will I level up if I kill more rats? I can't imagine fighting another one in my current state. I wanna memorize what the parchment says, but I'm in too much pain to concentrate. So, I touch the glowing word near the bottom of the parchment and it goes away. One less distraction.

You know what would be really good right now? A healing potion. I pick up my lemon-flavoured potion and consider it. Are you gonna heal me, misterious potion? Aah, even if I'm in a terrible condition, I shouldn't drink misterious liquids. Instead, I could probably make a bandage out of... maybe my shirt? Or the food wrapper? Both seem unsanitary but better than just drinking from unlabeled vials. I take the backpack off my shoulders and start taking off my shirt, when I hear a sound. Something's scratching at the door. Something screeches, and I see the rat corpse moving, and a pink snout pushes through the door opening.

Shit shit nononono I'm not ready for another fight, I'm panicking and I grab my staff and the lemon potion and I see the head of a white and grey rat, larger then the one I killed, coming through the door. It looks straight at me and I see it preparing to squeeze through the half-opened door to attack me. Then I hear another screech coming from further away. I need to do something quick.

Please be a health potion, I think as I down the lemon-flavoured liquid.

Immediately, I feel something flowing through my body, like a cool wave. Everything tingles, in ways I've never felt before, and I'm suddenly aware of a part of me I didn't know I had. I feel hyper and clearheaded. I'm looking at the rat coming through the door, when I realize what I'm feeling. I can use this!

It's not a health potion, but a mana potion! This energy flowing in me is magic. And now that I know it's there, it should be like moving a muscle. I grab my mage staff and point it foward and push my mana through it. Ugh, go, mana, I know you can! The rat jumps towards me, claws extended. Argh, mana, GO!

YES! Like a dam breaking, the energy flows through the staff and goes out in a bolt of bright blue light, hitting the rat in the face and pushing it back towards the door. I can't believe I just used magic! The rat recovers and rushes me again, but I shoot another magic bolt at it. The second time is much easier, the mana moves when I want it to. Great! The only thing is, the staff vibrates when the mana goes through it, and a whiff of blue magic escapes through the crack in the shaft. This is bad. I move my hands to hold the crack closed; maybe I can keep it from breaking apart completely.

The rat is clearly in pain from the two magic bolts, and is hesitating instead of attacking blindly again. I don't wanna wait for the next rat to come, so I shoot another bolt. I'm glad the crack didn't open this time, but, the rat dodged the bolt and is coming for me! When it jumps to slash my face, my reflexes activate and I pull up my staff to protect me. My staff hits the rat in the chest, but the rat is too heavy and strong and it pushes me to the ground. Now the rat is standing over me, its giant pink snout and very sharp teeth are too near my face for comfort. I remember something from a self-defense class, and I grab one of its paws, so I can wrestle it to the ground. It hisses and bites my arm, clinging to it just like the other rat did with my leg. It hurts, and without thinking I use all my strength to roll to the side, pushing the rat towards the stair steps that are beside me. Lucky for me, the rat's head hits the corner of a step, and it's stunned. I twist my body to punch it on the face for good measure, and the rat stops moving. Then, I use my hand to open the rat's jaw, freeing my arm.

Ugh. Another disgusting bite full of rat spit. I never want to face a rat while laying on the floor again, that was terrifying. Before anymore rats can arrive, I force myself to stand and climb a few steps on the stair. My leg is screaming at me the whole time, and I almost fall, but I keep at it until I feel safe to sit, a couple of meters off the ground. Right in time, too, because a brown rat the size of a corgi is coming through the door.

I'm ready for it. I immediately grab my staff with both hands and push a mana bolt through it. But the mana seems to get stuck in the cracks of the staff, and the bolt sputters out, going awry. Damn it, the crack must have widened when I blocked the last rat's attack.

The brown rat is startled, but just for a moment, and then it comes for me again. What's with those rats and wanting to attack me, don't they have anything better to do?! I can feel the mana inside me is lessened, and I don't know how many more bolts I can shoot. Without mana, this staff is just a broken club.

The rat climbs the steps, and when it's close enough, I kick it with me left leg. I really wish I had a boot or something, buy my slippers are enough to push it over the edge of the steps, and it falls. I'm not even sure it took any damage. The rat climbs the steps again and I kick it off again, but this time, it takes my slipper away. Uh, sure, you can keep it, whatever. The third time, though, when I try to kick the rat off, it grabs my foot with both paws and doesn't let go. Argh, what's with these rats and clinging to things?! I see it opening its mouth and immediately I swing my staff club, hitting its head before it can bite me. That's my only working foot, you overgrown vermin! It hisses at me, and I feel its claws cutting into my skin. Ow.

Suddenly, I get an idea. I swing the staff again, but this time, when it's about to hit, I push every last drop of mana into it. The blue magic sputters out just as it connects to the rat's head, and the bolt hits at point blank. The rat is dazed enough that it lets go of my foot, and when I kick it down the stairs it falls headfirst on the floor. Go, melee mage move! That's something you don't usually see in a game.

I wait for a few tense seconds to see if the rat will get up again. When it doesn't, I relax a little, and two floating parchments unfurl in front of me. Huh, I wonder if they wait for me to be out of combat to appear? Well, I'm not ready to pay attention to notifications, though; first, I need to do something about these bleeding bite wounds. Going back to my previous plan, I take off my shirt, and wrap it tight around my leg. It's... not ideal, but it should help keep things in place for the time being. My arm is also bleeding, but I don't really wanna try to use the food wrapper, so I'll just keep it elevated for now. I rest my arm on a higher step on the stairs, and I can almost rest myself now. I also can't hear anymore rats coming, but... I keep my staff on hand, just in case.

Now, let's see those notifications. Both parchments have very similar texts and the same drawing of a rat. But, there are some small differences by the end. There's just a couple of symbols that are different. Unfortunately, I still don't have enough information to figure out what that means. I dismiss the parchments, and watch them furl and disappear. Cute animation, to be honest. Now, what do I need to do next?

First priority, find some place with clean water, both to clean my wounds, and to drink. I'm really worried about having an infected wound while in a dangerous dungeon. Of course, since there's magic in this world, a nice healing potion or spell would also work just fine. Second priority, either find a new weapon or figure out how to fix my staff. Actually, maybe make that first priority. I'm gonna die much faster from rat bites than infection. Third priority is, I guess, find an exit? Maybe there's a world outside the dungeon? I would be pretty happy about having magic powers if I hadn't had to fight for my life three times in quick succession. Make that my long-term goal.

I don't know yet what "long term" will mean. I've been here for under ten minutes and a lot has happened already. My only hope is things get a little easier from here on. Hah, now I've gone and jinxed it.

I gingerly get down the steps, groaning with pain. I avoid using my right leg as much as possible, because it hurts so much. I really must have torn a muscle. I pick up my backpack, and hop towards the door, then look outside very carefully, hoping I won't attract any more monsters. The corridor is empty. I sigh with relief, and go through the door, stepping around the black rat corpse. The corridor goes on for several meters and ends in a T intersection. I walk forwards, using the wall for support, until I get to the end and look both ways. One of the ways ends in darkness. Yeah, no, there's no way I'm going there. I try to pick up a torch from the wall, thinking I could light up the dark corridor,  but the torch doesn't come out of the sconce, like it's nailed to it. On the other side, the corridor turns after a few meters, and there's light coming from there. I go that way, although I keep my ears open for any sign of movement behind me.

When I get to the corner, I press my body to the wall and peek around it like they do in the movies.

Oh! That looks promising actually! Instead of certain doom (as I was expecting), what I see is a well-lit room with an ornate fountain in the middle. There are two doors on the farside wall, but they are closed. Other than that, the room is empty.

The fountain is a stone statue of a giant rat spitting a stream of water, which is... ironic, I guess. But the water seems clear, so I take the chance to clean myself and my wounds. First I put my left arm under the water, grimacing as I expect it will sting. But it doesn't hurt at all. In fact, I feel the freshness of the clear water washing the blood and muck away and filling me with a soothing energy. It feels good, so I go on to wash all my wounds. As I wash my rat bitten limbs, I feel the pain decreasing, and I think the rat scratches even closed on their own. Huh. Is this a magical healing fountain? I smile at the spitting rat, extremely thankful. I'm still on edge from all the fighting, but now I'm somewhat hopefull I'll make it. After a minute with my leg under the water, I can even put my weight in it again. I'm washing my shirt so I can use it again, when I hear a sound.

Instantly back to full flight or fight mode, I drop my shirt and pick up my staff, as I turn towards the sound. The door on the far side opens, and a creature is walking through it. It's... not a rat, but also not not a rat, you know? It's a ratman, standing on two legs and wearing clothes. Oh. It also has a knife on it's hands, that it... he? he drew as soon as he saw me.

I hesitate, thinking I don't wanna be the one to attack Master Splinter Jr unprovoked. He looks too much like a person, or at least that's what my brain raised on cartoons is telling me. For a moment, we're just staring at each other nervously. But then, a normal grey rat comes through the door, under his legs, screeching and sprinting towards me, and we both burst into action. I mean, I say "normal" but this rat is still the size of a dog. I immediately shoot my mana bolt at the rat, killing its momentum, and the ratman yells and sprints towards me with the knife raised. I shoot another mana bolt, but this one goes awry and hits the wall harmlessly, so I back away towards the corridor, trying to keep my distance as I prepare another shot. I hold the staff as securely as I can to stabilize it, and shoot the ratman in the face just as he's about to strike. The bolt knocks him down, and I back away some more before the rat gets to me again. Now I'm in the corridor, so it will be harder for them to come at me at the same time. The grey rat jumps at me and I bonk him in the head with my Melee Mana Bolt Special. It's super effective! The rat is sprawled on the floor, knocked out.

Meanwhile, Master Splinter Jr is screaming. He didn't even try to get up. I kind wanna try to steal his knife... but then I see three new rats coming into the room. Shit! They must have heard the noise! Damn you, ratman! I wield my staff in front of me and try to push mana into it, but the part of me that should do that is trembling like a tired muscle. Argh, I'm the weakest mage ever! I take a deep breath, resting for a second while the rats cross the room. Then, I put my all into one last push.

"Aaaargh!" I grunt as I swing my staff at the foremost rat. My melee bolt sends it flying into the rat behind it, and both hit the fountain with a loud crash. The third rat yelped and jumped out of the way, and soon it's turning back towards me with an angry hiss. "Hiss to you too", I say, swinging my staff at it.

This rat is fast. I get some glancing blows on it, but it dodges most of my swings and gets scratches on my hands and arms. It's ok though: if I can keep it at bay long enough, I can rest my mana and use a bolt to finish it off. As long as no other rats show up...

But of course, my luck runs out. The ratman has stopped screaming, and is getting up. The two rats that crashed into the fountain are up and seem completely fine. Did the fountain heal them too? I hadn't even considered that! Suddenly I'm facing four enemies at once.

Then, the small rat I'm fighting against jumps and clings into my arm. Ow. It hurts but, it's fine, now I can smash you into the wall! Except, another rat is on my back biting my shoulder. Where did you come from?! There are rats coming from behind me?! I swing at the wall anyway, but I immediatly regret it when the rats wet from the fountain use this change to grab my unprotected legs. This is bad... At least the smaller rat dropped from my arm, but, I have to do something before more rats cling to me and I'm can't move. I only have one more ace in the sleeve. Well, I hope it's an ace. It could very well be a two, or a three.

I swing my broken staff with one hand to keep the rats busy, and with the other hand, I retrieve the scroll from my pocket, and break the seal.