Chapter 138
The group had finished their sandwiches but sat and talked with each other quietly while Jay searched the room with his Treasure Sense. He found nothing. The dungeon had been fairly boring so far for the group treasure wise. People used to come to this dungeon – but for what? Jay hoped to find out soon.
The next boss, if it followed the pattern, would drop five wrapped packages of armor. Hopefully that would give them the remaining pieces they needed to give each group member a full set, completing their quests.
Only then would they find out the next step, and with that, hopefully some further knowledge on what this dungeon was meant to provide to adventurers.
Finally Jay gave the all-clear signal and everyone stood up and once again got in to line. Everyone had gotten used to their place in line so the process went by very quickly.
“Ok, moving!” M'redith said to her group as she carefully opened the door.
The next room was a bit of a disappointment. It was a smaller square room with nothing but a winding staircase that led upward. Next to the stairs on the wall was written 2F in large letters. They had finally reached the end of floor two. That floor had seemed to take forever but it had really just been a balance beam, a trapped hallway, and finally the rat run. The last two had been all Jay, with the group waiting for him to finish his work before moving on. All the others really had to do throughout the entire floor was the balance beam.
They had watched Jay disarm all the traps and they had watched him handle all the rats.
They looked like they had been through a fight however. Each event along their journey through the second floor had affected the individual group members differently, no matter how much they may have participated in them. Some of the stress came from keeping an eye on Carly.
Carly had been forced to face the fact that being an adventurer was more than just looking good, playing politics, and knowing how to fight. It meant putting yourself in danger, over and over again. She could have gotten killed while crossing that balance beam at the start of the second floor. She still might on the way back if she wasn't careful. She wasn't entirely sure that she wanted to do this all the time, for a living. She was, however, determined to make it through this dungeon – alive.
“What I wouldn't give for a good old fight. No traps or pits full of black acid.” Aiden mumbled to himself as they all waited for Jay to search the room.
Jay searched for traps and then for treasure before again giving the all-clear signal. “There's nothing here. See Aiden? No traps!”
“You mean no traps you think.” Aiden said with a wink.
Jay grinned, “I'm pretty sure on this one. We're good to move upstairs.”
Getting back in line M'redith moved them to an almost identical looking room above them. The only real difference was the large 3F painted on the wall. Even the door was in the same place. As they were all in line and ready to go M'redith didn't pause for another break but slowly opened the door which revealed a large open space.
It was circular, the vast room they were in, and it had a column of water falling in the middle of the room. It dropped from the ceiling in a torrent before landing in a rock pool, the rocks making a low wall to contain the water. Somehow the water was then piped back up above to fall down once again. Or, alternatively, it was magic.
The sound of the waterfall filled the cavernous space and was just a bit relaxing if one could ignore the surroundings. Bright torches lined the walls allowing a clear view of the entire space.
The mound didn't move or make any sound and the group paused and stood uncertainly while looking at M'redith for guidance.
M'redith realized after a moment that everyone was looking at her and pulled herself together. “Right. I'm going to guess this is a boss fight and whatever that mound is will be the boss.”
“Mini-boss,” Aiden corrected her. Jay smiled at him.
“Rat.” Norri said and Carly paled next to her.
“Thank you Aiden – mini-boss. Norri, how do you know it's a rat?” M'redith asked.
Norri pointed where a tail poked up from the mound. “Rat tail.”
M'redith hadn't noticed the tail. No one else had either, there hadn't been much of it showing, just a lot of hair.
M'redith nodded at Jay, “What do we know?”
Jay smiled, “If you see poop kick it away – towards the outer walls. Keep the area around the waterfall clear. If the poop puts a debuff on you then you should run through the waterfall in the center of the room and then rejoin the fight. Sound good?”
“Are you making all of that up as you go?” Aiden asked after a brief pause.
“I'm guessing based on past experience, including the rat run we just went through. I could be wrong, it has happened before, but this one seems pretty cut and dry.” Jay insisted.
Carly looked at Aiden and then over towards Jay who sounded sure of himself.
M'redith nodded, “I can't argue with any of those points. I'll keep the boss busy, Norri is up front with me. Jay, keep an eye out for poop and kick away any you find. Aiden, you're on heals as usual. And Carly, you're our ranged damage dealer. You stay back near Aiden, help keep him safe, and help us kill the boss. Questions?”
There were none, but there were sighs of relief when everyone heard that Jay would be kicking the poop away. Jay chuckled but didn't mind too much – at least it didn't stick to his shoe or anything. Jay really was the best choice for the job as he put out the least damage and he didn't heal at all. Anyone else would have to stop doing damage or healing in order to take care of the poop – Jay was already available.
Carly didn't look thrilled at having to fight a giant rat but somehow the fact that it was so big made things feel better. It wasn't something that could crawl up a leg – it was big enough to knock a wall down from the look of the size of the motionless mound.
“Ok, no questions. Here we go. Give me ten seconds after we start to get the rat mad enough at me that he won't go after all of you, ok?” M'redith asked as she trotted forward and past the waterfall. Her group trailed behind her while giving her enough space to fight once she and the creature made contact.
The mound moved, perhaps sensing motion or the vibrations through the floor, and it struggled to its feet. This was not a baby rat.
The rat was fat. And old. Five feet high it rose and M'redith could look it straight in the eye without tilting her neck at all. Its hair was patchy and it's eyes clouded. A long tail curled behind it.
Jay watched as the rat ran towards M'redith and collided with her five-foot frame. Surprisingly M'redith didn't move an inch and the monster was stopped in its tracks.
The rat seemed confused at how something so small could have gotten in its way. It backed off a bit before snapping at M'redith with its jaws. M'redith responded with a rising sword cut that got under its chin and took a chunk out of one side of its face.
Norri, who had danced off to the side, managed to strike the rat in one eye with a whip of her arm, her staff shooting forward and burying itself in the rat's eye socket.
The rat screamed and rose on to its rear legs. It reared its head back before it came crashing back to the ground. It attempted to crush Norri under its descending body but Norri nimbly jumped aside. The rat hit the ground and turned. It ran away from the group at a fast pace and it was a moment before the group gave chase.
As the rat ran a volleyball-sized poop plopped on to the ground behind it and rolled slowly towards the group.
Everyone scattered and Jay ran forward. He gave it a kick towards the room's edge making sure to get his laces under the ball. He tried not to think about what the ball was made of. It was just a ball, he told himself.
The rat left additional balls of poop on the ground that Jay was forced to chase after.
While the rat ran Carly managed to fire off her one and only Class Ability, Starburst. A six inch star chased after the creature. For a minute Jay thought that the rat would outrun the star but the shining projectile slowly closed the gap until it finally shot forward in one last burst of speed and struck the rat with a wet sound.
The rat's tail was struck by the star before 100 tiny stars burst out of the wound. The tail was perforated all along its length before it finally came off entirely.
The rat wailed angrily and left another ball of poop behind it. This time however it turned right after pooping. Jay wasn't prepared for that. He had gotten in to the habit of just running after each ball immediately as he assumed the rat would continue running.
The rat swiped at Jay just after he managed to kick the ball towards the outer edge. The swipe made contact with a thud and shot Jay across the room and directly in to one of the green gaseous fields that had developed around the poop littering the outside edge of the cavern. He landed in a heap and Aiden adjusted his position before he triggered his second class ability.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Physician's Blast – rare – when activated shoots one bolt per rarity level (rare=3) in a forward facing cone. The bolts are green in color and glassy in appearance. The bolts do not interact with objects and will splash harmlessly against them. Any party member struck will have their wounds covered with a green gel and receive moderate healing. Any enemies struck will be blinded for two seconds and take moderate damage.
Aiden stood with his staff held out to one side, his other hand extended towards Jay, one finger pointing. Three glassy green bolts leapt from his finger and shot towards Jay.
Two bolts struck him and coated him with a green gel. The group could hear Jay make an ahhh sound of relief as the healing kicked in. Jay would be fine in just another moment thanks to Aiden.
The third bolt continued on and struck the rat on its left leg. The leg appeared to develop fresh wounds and the rat stumbled as if it couldn't see.
M'redith ran forward and hacked at the rat with repeated strikes, each drawing blood. The strikes still were not strong enough to fell the beast, merely injure it, and as the blindness wore off it turned and ran once again.
A ball of poop instantly dropped and rolled towards M'redith. Before she could do anything a green gas enveloped her. M'redith made a disgusted face but turned and kicked the poop ball towards the nearest edge. Once the ball was moved the gas followed it, leaving a clear space around M'redith.
She checked herself for debuffs.
Badass Rat's Gas – you have been covered in rat's gas and will move and attack slightly slower. Every exposure to rat's gas decreases your movement and attack speed further. This decrease may grow up to a 75% decrease in movement speed and attack speed but no more. This debuff will remain until removed. There are many ways to do so, discovering them is up to you!
M'redith cursed, “The debuff lowers movement speed AND attack speed!”
The boss was still running away from the group. Jay had gotten up and run through the waterfall. He was already back at the line of poop kicking balls towards the edges of the arena. M'redith didn't wait and ran to the waterfall. Holding her breath she stepped over the low rock wall and ran through the water.
The water was freezing cold and she gasped, almost swallowing water. She emerged from the other side soaking wet and hopped out of the rock pool. She ran back towards the boss. She had to be there when it stopped running so that she could keep its attention off of her group mates.
The healing waters from the waterfall has left you clean! Badass Rat's Gas has successfully been purged. 7 instances removed.
M'redith yelled to the others, “The waterfall works! My debuff is gone!” She looked about to see where to go next as she wiped water out of her eyes.
As Jay kicked poop balls he grew more and more hesitant before running towards them. He knew that at some point the rat would turn and attack, he just didn't know when. Finally M'redith arrived and ran alongside the boss, waiting for it to stop running.
Carly sent another Starburst shooting across the open space. It struck the hindquarters of the rat with a squelch and it screamed and pooped at the same time.
The last poop rolled a little further than the others and Jay didn't make it in time. He was covered with the gas but he kicked it away right after – the gas following the poop once it was gone.
The rat turned to fight and M'redith immediately struck at it with her sword, cutting long lines across its thick hairy hide. Norri caught up to them and began to deliver crushing blows on its joints and soft spots.
Jay ran, a little slower than usual, towards the waterfall and trudged through the water, emerging faster than before on the other side.
The healing waters from the waterfall has left you clean! Badass Rat's Gas has successfully been purged. 18 instances removed.
The rat tossed its head in an attempt to dodge Norri's staff, which was trying to poke it in the eye. As the head moved to the side M'redith met it from the opposite direction with her sword, the skull becoming trapped between the two as they both struck home.
They had done quite a lot of damage to the rat and had apparently triggered something. The rat stood on its hind legs and shrieked.
“It's changing! Look out!” M'redith tried to warn the rest of the group as the rat burst in to motion. The rat, now berserk, fought with no thought of itself or its safety. It thought only of offense, and its attacks came faster than before. It struck out at Norri as its body crashed to the ground, narrowly missing M'redith.
The rat used one paw to swat Norri across the room. She struck the wall and slid to the ground unconscious in a twisted heap, her staff poking out of her jumbled limbs at an odd angle.
Aiden stood as he had before with his staff held to the side and his hand extended. The rat noticed and was smart enough to figure out what he was doing. The rat charged towards Aiden and M'redith was too far to the side to stop it.
The rat snatched Aiden up in its jaws and shook him like a rag doll. Thankfully its teeth were unable to fully pierce his thick hide armor but left deep punctures in them instead. Growing frustrated the rat spat him out and then used a paw to swat him in to a wall. Aiden struck hard and appeared dazed.
M'redith charged towards the rat as it closed on Carly.
Carly fired off another Starburst which sizzled as struck and ate away at its chest. The wound popped like popcorn before a fresh burst of stars burrowed in to its hide. The rat coughed as the 100 stars exploded simultaneously.
It wasn't enough and the rat continued on inexorably drawing closer to Carly.
Carly tried to fire off another Starburst but couldn't concentrate, her thoughts scattered due to sheer terror. Still, she did not run.
The rat grew close enough to strike and its maw dripped spittle on to the ground below.
With a shout and a last burst of speed M'redith finally got within ten feet of the rat. She hurried and triggered her second Class Ability. It was the first time she had used it from behind an enemy instead of in front.
Fancy Doppelganger – very rare – The caster's body is replaced by an exact copy of itself that will continue to fight as the caster would. The caster is transported behind their enemy but turned so that they are facing the enemy so long as the enemy is within ten feet. Once transported behind their enemy their doppelganger explodes in to bright flashy glitter. The glitter hangs in the air and prevents spells being cast through it. The glitter lasts until the caster makes contact with their enemy or five seconds elapse, whichever happens first.
Suddenly there were two M'rediths. One, attacking the rat from behind, and another, standing with sword held high between the rat and the frightened Carly. Carly looked shocked at M'redith's attempt to rescue her. The M'redith behind the rat popped in to a display of glitter.
The rat was too surprised to react in time and M'redith hammered it with blows from left and right, knocking its head about from the sheer force of the impacts. As she did so the glitter disappeared.
Jay had run over to Norri and helped her up. She was unhurt but dazed. There was nothing Jay could do. He couldn't hurt the rat, and he couldn't help Norri. He could however possibly help Aiden. Or maybe he could help Norri...
He ran across the room and over to where Aiden lay. He helped him sit up and Aiden rubbed at his head. He had multiple wounds on his head and arms.
“Heal Norri!” Jay yelled and Aiden was confused. Aiden was the one that was hurt. Why shouldn't Aiden heal Aiden? Aiden thought that made perfect sense.
Jay grabbed Aiden and pointed over at Norri. “HEAL!”
Aiden nodded dumbly but sent a Physician's Blast careening wildly off towards Norri. The first bolt went wild and struck the ceiling. The second bolt missed her entirely and splashed harmlessly against the wall. The third rushed towards Norri's injured figure.
Jay was helping Aiden put his hands over his wounds as Aiden was too confused to do it himself. Jay started with his head as he convinced Aiden to cast Patchwork on himself. Slowly patches began to cover Aiden's head before he finally stood up a bit wobbly and took a good look at what was going on as his mind became clear once again.
Jay stood next to him and helped him to his feet. Norri stood uncertainly, clearly injured and dazed. A single Physician's Blast bolt had struck her and covered her head. She was now clear eyed and was looking about with a furious look in her eyes.
M'redith was standing between the giant rat and Carly, who had backed up against the outer edge. There was nowhere for them to go. Although M'redith was doing her best it was clear that the berserk rat would soon overwhelm her.
Norri hollered loudly as she ran across the room towards the rat. It started as a silly sounding girl's roar. As she ran her body went out of focus to Jay's eyes and her body seemed to lengthen. Her holler's pitch lowered once, and then again, until it became a deep rumble that Jay didn't just hear but felt in his very bones. It was fury, but in animal form.
Something in Jay's hindbrain felt the roar and was yelling at him to run. Everyone felt it.
The haze soon cleared from around Norri and when it did she was gone, replaced by a giant of a bear. This was not your normal bear – this bear weighed roughly twice what it should, the extra weight entirely comprised of muscle. Its body rippled as it moved, muscles straining.
It didn't move any slower though – if anything it moved much faster than you'd expect a bear to move. The bear was seven feet tall, and that was with all four paws on the ground. It was immense, with huge white eyes, their black irises focused on the rat's form which was about to snatch M'redith up in its jaws.
The bear, Norri, collided with the rat from the side and used its claws and teeth to strike out violently as it bodily checked the rat to the ground. The noises coming from the bear were as deafening as they were terrifying.
The bear gave out a furious roar and saliva dripped off of its mouth as its teeth tore off chunks from the rat. The bear appeared to dance in place for a moment as it trampled the rat repeatedly.
Still not satisfied, the bear took the rat's neck in its jaws and shook it. It raised the rat in to the air and with a sharp snap broke its neck and flung it to the ground again.
The bear roared and trampled the rat a second time before rising on to its rear feet, its front paws touching the ceiling. The bear came crashing down on to the rat and tore at it one last time with a massive paw before swinging its giant head until it was face to face with the rat. It let out one long giant roar that slicked the rat's hair back against its head from the force of the roar before it turned and walked off towards the waterfall.
The bear lay down next to the pool and went mostly still, its giant form still rising and falling with its breath, a quick rhythm that gradually slowed.
It took a few moments as it was Norri's first time using the ability but she finally figured out how to cancel the ability and the giant bear form went hazy as it shrank to a more Norri sized form, and then again to exactly Norri's form.
Norri was fully clothed and fully healed. She looked clean as well. It seemed the ability cleaned as well as healed when it finished. Norri however looked exhausted and closed her eyes to rest. She lay there quietly, the only sound being the waterfall echoing through the vast cavern.
Carly looked on in shock. “What was THAT?!”
Norri waved a hand lazily and sent her a copy of her second Class Ability description.
Ursine Rage – very rare – once per day the caster may transform in to a seven foot tall multi-ton bear. The bear form will be that of a fully grown adult regardless of the caster's size. Any clothing, armor, or belongings are magically stored until the form ends. Any restraints on the caster will be removed and will not be reapplied when the ability ends. The caster will for all intents and purposes be a bear until the end of this ability but will retain their mental faculties. The form may be maintained for one minute per rarity level (very rare=4) and may be ended at will by the caster. Any wounds of moderate severity or less will be fully healed once this ability concludes.
“Oh my Goddess.” Carly replied simply but with wide eyes.
Aiden groaned from off to one side but was smiling, “I know, right? Norri's a badass!”