My life was Precious, my survival paramount. I was going to fight Literal tooth and claw to stay rat me as long as possible. No more head long sprints to the grave. The marathon started now. I almost believed it too.

Having learned The consequences for breaking the peace at a spawn point I wasn’t too worried anymore about getting immediately jumped by whatever spawned in after me. Still, I had a feeling that just setting up shop by a spawn for safety would be a bad idea. I was starting to put together that the Dungeon liked an orderly operation and things that might gum up the works were met with giant fucking snakes to the face. Mobs not scuttling off to do mob stuff in a timely enough manner would be just the kind of thing to trip that switch. My guess could be totally wrong but testing it wasn’t worth the risk to my beautiful new rat-based way of life. Not in a hurry but no undue Loitering. That was gonna be my spawn point policy till further notice.

I checked what I’d be working with for hopefully a good long time. My fur was a uniform ash grey that would blend well with most stone. Very sleek. I was undoubtedly handsome for a rat. Fingers and toes tipped with surprisingly sturdy looking hooked nails. More muscle than you might expect too. The tail was a new experience. It didn’t feel Particularly dextrous but there was a nice swing to it, so that was fine. My new Teeth I knew for a fact could gnaw holes in rock and Pierce boiled leathers.

I opened my status again to see what else I could glean.

[Rowanoak the Dauntless]

[Monster type: Red Eyed Rat]

[Level: 1 ] [Hp:5/5] [Mp:5/5]

[Title: Deceased Adventurer]

[Perks: Bound Soul, Heroic Legacy, Delver’s insight, Dungeon Babble, Rat bastard]

[Drawbacks: Outcast’s Brand ]

[Dungeon Points: 82 ]

Good balance of [Hp] and [Mp]. Only the one perk but no drawbacks, which sounded like a good trade off to me. Next step was to dig deeper.

[Monster Type] expand. [Rat bastard] expand.

[ Monster type: Red Eyed Rat ]

[The red eye rat is a monsterized rat. Marginally larger, tougher, and more powerful than its Mundane Counterparts. They are otherwise Unremarkable. ]

Yupp, dungeon rat. Common as common gets. Still underestimating something just because it’s common has been the end of more than a few adventurers.

[Perk: Rat Bastard ] [type: Active ] [Cost: Mp/Variable ]

[Spent [Mp] to temporarily enhance one or more of a rat’s natural abilities. ]

No wonder these things had always been such a pain to deal with. They all have their own little ratty version of Vitality burst. I knew better than most just how effective even a small boost could be when used properly. Hey, now I had rat vitality burst and Adventurer vitality burst. That definitely called for Experimentation At some point.

Satisfied with what I’d learned about rat me I let my status drop And turned my attention outward.

I was in a small irregularly shaped stone hollow. a vein of spawning crystal barely peeking out the ceiling. The only other feature in the space was a crack in the wall that looked chewed to the perfect width for a big rodent to squeeze its way out.

A rat hole plain and simple. Wasn’t much else to be learned here, unless…

I looked closely at the spawn point’s text.

[ Mob Spawn Point ]

[ Monster Types: Rats ]

[ Set as respawn location yes/no ?]

I focused and then Squeaked [ Delver’s Insight ] at it.

[ ??? : None ]

[ Restriction Checks: Title/Mob, Level/1-5, Type/Rat ]

[ Next respawn: 14% Complete ]

[ ??? ]

[ Enforcement Stage: ??? ]

Hot damn. It worked!

[Devlers insight ] had given me a peek behind the dungeon’s current.

“No secret is safe from Rowan the Rat!” I cittered in glee.

Sure, it really only confirmed some theories this time but the proof of function for [ Devler’s insight ] was a huge win all on its own. Shooting it right up to the number two spot on my favourite perks list.

It wasn’t perfect. What I got clearly had some holes in it and despite my best efforts couldn’t get it to expand any further. Still, it told me a hell of alot more than I’d gotten before. You can never have too much insider information to paw through.

That completion percentage for when respawns are about to pop off could also be handy. Had some implications beyond that too. There was no summoning circle active in the hollow. So the circles had to be just the last stage of how a respawn’s magical bullshit operated. After a bit more thought I decided it was an interesting tidbit to file away but not Immediately Relevant. It was time to move on. I had a settlement to find and points to spend.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

~~~~~

I was in a crypt dungeon by the looks of things. All Crumbling masonry and burnt out torches in holders bolted to the walls. If it followed the usual pattern the place would be packed with traps and annoying little monsters (like say rats). Maybe one or two vaults hiding big nasties and a bit of loot. I was thinking some flavour of giant spider here judging by the amount of webbing gunking up the place. The only illumination was the Occasional Dim-shroom growing up between the flagstones. Their eerie foxfire aura would let a human barely make out movement among the darkness. Dungeon rat’s as it happened, had excellent low light vision. I saw things just fine. Better than my old Pendent of Ever Watchful Midnight Eyes in fact. Despite the silly name that had been quality gear so I was Genuinely impressed by Rat-sight.

I spotted then routed around a few rudimentary spike traps as I shulked through the passages. I had called on my Light foot veil as soon as I’d left the rat hole. The skill needed very little mana to use. Just enough to soften my foot falls and silence my steps. The rest of the skill was all a matter of control, tamping my presense down to make it as Innocuous and unremarkable as possible. I’d actually taken to using it most times when I was casually out and about in the city. It didn’t stop me from being noticed but It Unconsciously Helped put people at ease with the towering adventurer roaming in their midst. Being big and Intimidating had plenty of advantages but folks constantly looking at you like you're about to try and eat them isn’t a great feeling. All that meant I’d kept in excellent practice.

My little rat paws barely Disturbed the dust as I went. I’d tired [ Delve’s Insight ] on the traps and walls as I went but hadn’t gotten any results from it. Before long I faced a junction where I had to decide between left and right both with bends to hide what Lay beyond. Not just a Crypt then, a maze Crypt. I signed, the old follow one wall trick that made green adventures think they were being clever was in fact a terrible idea. Dungeon mazes like this didn’t have a tidy end point to find, they were a tangled mess of dangers and the wall trick just ran you straight into more of the things trying to kill you. You deal with dungeon mazes step by step. Gather information, make an informed decision, move forward, secure, repeat until loot.

I closed my eyes to focus, trying to gain a hint of what might be down the divergent paths. My nose was just filled with dust and musk but there was something on the edge of my hearing. I strained and something clicked, the impressions sharpened. I could feel a slight drain on… something. I must have triggered [ Rat Bastard ]. I smiled. I’d always wanted a sense enhancing skill. The sound was the scrabble of bickering rats echoing down the left path. I dropped the perk and went right.

More traps. A Rusty sagging tripwire and Completely innocuous holes in the wall about human chest height. A pressure plate beyond that to trigger an already half collapsed deadfall. I scooted over the rubble without issue. The path twisted and turned as it went dotted here and there with more unimpressive and easily avoided traps. As a human they’d have barely slowed me, as a rat it would have taken Deliberate effort to trigger most of them. I didn’t find anything of interest till I happened upon a pair of half-rotted bronze studded wooden doors absolutely encrusted in webbing. A Conveniently rat-sized hole had been chewed out from the corner of one of the doors that was mostly clear of the webs. I silently thanked my fellows for easing the way.

My light foot veil going full tilt I crept forward to have a look. Large chamber, pillers, an altar, webs. Lots of webs. Inconveniently rat shaped cocoons hung among them. I made a note to not bother Attempting the Diplomacy with the spiders. I flashed [ delver's insight ] at what I could make out of the area from my spot under the surprisingly hefty door. Of course hanging on the back wall behind the altar I saw it.

[Open Passage: Yes/no]

I thought [yes] at it as loud as I could. Nothing. Probably too far away. Shit. No just making a break for it. Time to plan some spider Homicides.

~~~~~

I still wasn’t sure exactly what I was dealing with beyond, almost Definitely a big spider. Or spiders. I watched the chamber for a time but didn’t see anything other than a few twitches of the webs from something outside my view shifting.

What I needed was fire. Fire and a weapon. Tooth and claw were no placement for somewith with reach. Even better would be something with range. What I wouldn’t give for my old Dwarven steel-spring crossbow, but smaller I guess. Or mounted like a Ballista, yeah that would work. Twang! Dead spider. I chuckled at the image as I headed back down the way I came to see what I could Scrounge up in this dump of a dungeon.

My first stop was the saggy tripwire. I wanted to see what was in the totally not at all Suspicious holes. I reached up, grabbed the wire, and braced with My entrenched footing skill. The skill Anchored you to the ground as long as you had both feet planted, which let me tell you was way more useful then it might sound. I tugged hard, giving [ Rat Bastard ] abit of juice to make sure I had enough force. The Mechanism must have been a rusted pile of crap because it took a good few seconds of straining before something gave way and the trap went off.

Arrows lethargically sprung from a few of the perfectly safe and Ordinary holes, Clattering against the far wall. I was hoping for a ready made spear of spider murdering but I wasn’t so lucky. The arrows were riddled with dry rot and had all but shattered on impact. Still the arrows had been tipped with steel and had enough of an edge to be useful. I collected all four of them and used the roughest looking of the bunch to saw away the trip wire. It took some doing but I got it free and coiled it up. A line was always useful to have. If I could come up with a good hook it would make my next task a great deal easier. I sighed, buddled the rusted arrowheads under an arm and headed back to the doors.

I used the “tool” arrowhead To pry one of the bronze studs from the door. It pulled free from the decaying wood with Relative ease. Which was good because I Suspected the webbing that encrusted the door was covering at least one spider-sized opening and I didn’t want to draw their attention. Not yet. The studs weren’t large, really just fancy nails added for a touch Decorative flourish. My rat paw wrapped The head Comfortably, the whole thing being Less than two inches long total. A little work and it would be perfect.

I retreated back down the passage… again. The arrow trap going off hadn’t drawn any trouble so I Designated that area my workshop.

I braced the stud between the wall and floor and hammered on it with the butt of my trusty arrowhead of crafting. I got it bent into an Acceptable hook which i Secured to the end of the tripwire with a few knots and some more hammering to make the rusty wire behave.

After a Few satisfactory test throws I considered my Grappling hook a complete Success. I Latched the Nearest Torch holder and Scurried up. Could I have free climbed the wall? Definitely, yes. Rats climb real good, but I was going to have to ransack a lot of Sconces to get what I needed. A little work up front to get me the right tool for the job was going to save plenty of effort later. I also just felt naked without gear. Sure I’ve been literally naked since slime time but I missed gear way more than pants. Pockets would be nice though.

I investigated the torch. Mostly burned up pitch soaked rags wrapped around some scrap wood, maybe a chair leg. The mostly burned up being the important part there. I pulled the remaining scraps free and let them fall to the ground before sliding down the line myself. All it took was a Practised flick of my wrist to dislodge the hook and I was ready to do it all over again on the next torch over. Ample supply of Incendiary material, check.

Next I worked on the Pressure plate to the deadfall trap. Just to see what useful bits I could rip out of The mechanism. Crude springs all but disintegrated into rust, a half broken latch, a salvageable hunk of narrow chain shorter than my tail, and the Actual pressure plate that had been hidden under a loose Flagstone. Just A cheap iron disk warped with a slight Concave after being under tension for too long. Might have made an alright shield with some work but I had another use in mind.

With everything I needed, taking up my arrowhead I got to crafting in earnest.