Chapter 25
As they filed in to the room Jay saw that it was rather wide but not very long. It looked as if it had been carved out of the ground itself and had a very unfinished appearance to it. The floor was made up of stone blocks, the walls and ceilings were packed dirt, and at the opposite end of the room there was a wide stone stage.
A large creature stood on the center of the stage with its back to the group. As it turned towards them Jay caught a glimpse of its face. It was eight feet tall and had the hairy head and arms of a rat but the body of a human – if that human were a giant that is. It held no weapons but its yellowing clawed hands would probably do the trick.
It wore a simple tunic with a wide black belt and dark leather pants and spread its arms wide upon seeing the group.
C'nthia charged forward in a burst of speed striking the boss monster but not knocking it over. She circled the creature while delivering painful strikes to its legs and ankles. The boss was entirely focused on C'nthia and opened its mouth to roar but a high pitched squeal came out instead.
Jay was caught unawares and dropped his staff and held his hands over his ears until it stopped. Looking around and hoping no one noticed him drop his weapon he quickly picked it back up while the Manrat was busy.
Jon faded to the left and let the monster focus on C'nthia and then jumped in from the side, striking the Manrat's left ankle with a crunch.
They were doing damage but even a low level boss was still a boss and wouldn't die easily.
M'tthew had moved to the right when the Manrat raised an arm. “Everyone run to the right!” M'tthew shouted as he carried P'trick to the side. C'nthia slid to the right as Jon took a running leap to reach the right side of the room. Only a moment after the Manrat's hand came down and sent a wave of large spiny barbs down the left side of the room with a thunderous crash.
They waited for the barbs to disappear and went back to their spots. C'nthia was a whirlwind of sword strikes and last moment dodges as she expertly handled the boss. The boss tilted it's head back and began to take a deep breath.
“Sides! Everyone to a side!” C'nthia yelled as the Manrat pawed the ground with one foot and charged.
The group all managed to dodge the boss and no one was hurt. C'nthia stayed put and after a moment the boss charged back across the room to his starting spot. C'nthia struck him with some heavy hits to regain his attention.
The boss monster had to choose who to attack and after a moment it returned to bashing at C'nthia with its claws. As long as C'nthia did more damage and no one did anything too flashy the boss should continue to concentrate on her.
Jay thought of trying to get one two hits on the boss but M'tthew caught the look on his face and yelled over to him “Don't even think about it! Concentrate on dodging and staying alive!!”
Jay replied with a grin as Jon yelled, “LEFT SIDE,” as the boss raised an arm to attack.
It was close this time as Jay hadn't been paying enough attention. He refocused on watching the boss for his tells.
M'tthew wasn't even attacking the boss and finally handed P'trick off to Jay. “Stay in the center until it's time to dodge, that way you'll have a short run either way. Don't run all the way to the sides or you could get caught in an attack.”
“Ok!” shouted Jay as he slung P'trick over his shoulder and moved to the center of the room.
M'tthew drew his bow and began firing a stream of arrows at the boss and along with Jon and C'nthia the group finally was able to put some damage on it. The Manrat looked unsteady on its feet for a moment but did not fall, instead raising an arm.
“Left!” yelled C'nthia.
They ran left and Jay followed as well, moving a bit slower due to holding P'trick. Jay still made it but it was close. Immediately after the wave passed Jon yelled “Right!” as the Manrat raised his other hand.
The group moved to the right just in time before C'nthia yelled “To the sides, he's going to charge!”
She didn't even get to finish before the boss charged down the center of the room.
Jay half stumbled out of the way just in time but was breathing a little heavy from the added weight.
Manrat ran back up the center of the room and C'nthia reengaged it as she delivered a staggering blow to the monster's ankle causing it to tumble to the ground.
Jon and M'tthew quickly re-positioned themselves so they could rain blows down on to the monster but from behind which appeared to allow them to do extra damage.
This lasted for ten or so seconds during which Jay stood in the middle of the room panting.
The boss slowly began to stand up but the three Fighter types made short work of it. Once it was on the ground it was easy enough for them to finally kill it as they had a much easier time reaching its neck which ended the battle.
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As the boss died Jay received a number of notifications which he minimized for now.
Jay had dropped his staff again while carrying P'trick and set him down so he could go over and get it.
“Great work everyone!” C'nthia said. “What is even better is that was it! That's the dungeon! I can't wait to get us out of here. Beginner dungeon my ass.”
The boss's body went up in to motes of light and in its place was a small metallic green chest.
“Loot.” said M'tthew reverently.
C'nthia laughed and gave him a whack on his shoulder. “Aren't you a little too high level for this?”
She was right. The chest wouldn't contain anything that was an upgrade for him but it was still fun handing out loot.
Everyone's eyes looked off in to the distance as they received quest notifications all at once.
You have completed a quest! Manrat!: Defeat the Final Rat! You have been awarded 100xp!
Members of your party have failed a previous Ratman series quest and only qualify for the first quest in the series (P'trick) (Jon)
Congratulations! You have completed the final quest in the Ratman! series and will receive the following:
1000xp
Title: Exterminator – You have shown your ability to overcome vast numbers of rats! +1 STR. This title does not need to be visible for the bonus to take effect and is always active.
Everyone started talking at once and Jay wasn't sure what the excitement was about until they had calmed down enough for Jon to try to explain. “The +1 STR is nice but aside from early levels its not a big deal. To you, right now, an extra point in strength is a lot. That will quickly change. A quest given title however, its been ages since those were given out. There are quite a few theories on why quests and titles were no longer available. I guess we've found an actual answer.”
M'tthew looked up with a grin, the word 'Exterminator' hanging over his head in blue block letters.
Before C'nthia could ask Jay nodded, “Its a Traveler thing.”
C'nthia laughed, “I'll take it. I'm glad at least a few of us got the title as well.. You don't realize how cool this is. Everyone is going to want one of these and the fact you're the only one that can trigger the quest.. well, that just means titles will remain incredibly rare and well sought after. Lets just say you're about to get real popular.”
C'nthia took a moment to turn on her title and grinned when it appeared over her head as well. “Cool.”
Jon frowned. “This is some real bull crap right here. I want a title!” he said playfully.
“Tell you what,” Jay said. “If we can find the time and you can find a healer I'd love to run it again with you guys.”
C'nthia sighed, “I don't think I'll have a choice – Jon isn't going to let this rest until he has his title.”
Jon stared at her with puppy-dog eyes.
“I'm in basic training with The Guild right now but I think we get weekends off. We could go again next week or something.
Jon smiled, “We'll get in touch with you once the dungeon regenerates.”
“As for now though lets pack up that chest and sweep this room for any hidden loot. Then we're heading home via portal. Its a scheduled portal so we can't be late.” C'nthia stated returning to her more business like manner.
Jay handed P'trick over to M'tthew. P'trick snored as he got comfortable over M'tthew's shoulder.
They didn't find anything else and the group left the dungeon the way they came. The dungeon seemed much smaller on the way out. The rooms had seemed enormous and dangerous when they were being chased by rats but now they seemed almost disturbingly safe.
It was dark when they finally walked out of the dungeon back in to the open and Jay took a breath of fresh air. “That was fun. Other than the P'trick parts I mean.”
The rest of the group grinned, most of them sporting titles hovering over their heads.
They walked back through the stand of trees they had approached from and as they left the trees behind he was struck by the dark star studded sky above him. The stars were all different from Earth and Jay didn't recognize any constellations. He felt a bit of sadness for a moment but squashed it down. This was home now.
Thanks to C'nthia's prior planning the group arrived at a nondescript patch of grass early. They passed the time talking about the dungeon, what had gone right and what had went badly wrong. It helped to calm their nerves. During the dungeon run Jay had felt excited but never really entirely scared. Now that he was safe he noticed his arms shook a little bit and he realized how tense his body had been the entire time.
A pinprick of violet light formed at waist height before spinning and blossoming in to a portal which after a moment Jay could see through in to a room. Probably the one they had arrived from originally, Jay thought.
They walked through the portal with C'nthia being last and making sure everyone was through. As Jay passed through the pleasantly cool feeling portal he walked in to the room where the others waited. The portal snapped shut after C'nthia and the Mage who had cast it frowned in concern at seeing M'tthew carrying P'trick.
The Mage quickly rang a bell in a pattern that Jay hoped would summon a Healer. Although he was alive P'trick was still missing part of his left arm and was unable to use it. He looked dirty and bruised from being repeatedly dropped on to the ground. Blood stained his clothing from where he had been bitten. Although he was indeed alive and would recover physically he looked awful.
They went to the adjoining room where P'trick was set down on a chair at a table as he was checked over by Walter.
Suddenly turning around on one heel Walter stared at them with a furious expression. “What,” he said in a calm tone that sounded more like a man about to snap, “in Gaia's name happened to P'trick?”
And that was when P'trick woke up.