"Autumn!" Titus banged a fist on the door to the galley with one hand while holding a bowl of soup in the other, "can I at least have some seasoning? This is ridiculous!"

"We're on lockdown!" Autumn shouted back, sounding like she was on the other side of several walls.

"What do you mean, lockdown?" he called back.

After a few seconds of no reply, he scoffed and turned to walk away. As he did, he passed Iris and Victoria, both angrily approaching the galley with their own bowls.

"It's no use," Titus shook his head solemnly, "she's on 'lockdown' apparently."

"We'll handle this," Victoria assured him with a grave tone.

Iris blipped to the other side of the door as Victoria shifted into her ghostly form and glided through the wall beside it. Iris reappeared in what would usually be an empty space in front of the door, but instead her back was against a large rack of shelves and her feet were tangled in piles of rope, upturned buckets and other clutter. She tripped forward and barely managed to save herself from falling with a blip, but her bowl of soup was not so lucky. It was launched from her hand and clattered across the floor splashing plain, unseasoned soup all around.

"What the fuck is that about?" she threw a hand towards the barricaded door.

"And what the fuck is this?" Victoria said, returning to her physical form and shoving her bowl of soup towards Autumn.

The chef was clad in full body armor constructed of predominantly black marble with artistic white marble trim. Large shoulder spikes extended from either pauldron, and both legs were wrapped in rings of smaller spikes from the ankle to the knee. Behind her, Killup was standing on the counter and hunched over the sink scrubbing dishes, while Adan methodically opened one mostly-empty cupboard after another, cataloging what was inside each of them on a piece of paper.

"It's lunch," she answered.

"It's miscellaneous soup," Victoria corrected, "without any of the miscellaneous."

"It's basically broth," Iris agreed, "the whole crew is pissed."

That was a lie. Even Autumn's most basic gruel was better than most meals the crew was used to eating under the previous chef, and only her party and the other new recruits from Giantrock City were especially bothered by the disappointing soup.

"I'm doing the best I can right now," Autumn said grimly, "consider these war time rations."

"War time--?" Victoria faltered, "who can you possibly be at war with?"

Autumn tilted her head forward, loose bangs dropped in front of her face and a dark shadow fell over her eyes, "the rats."

Iris and Victoria gave her confused looks.

"Overreacting," Killup waved a dismissive hand, splashing soapy water across the counter as he did so, "rats do this sometimes."

Autumn moved to a nearby table -- one that was specifically lower than all the counter tops so she could actually work on it without reaching over her shoulders -- and slapped her hands down on it like a tired general at her war table, "they've taken over the supplies in the cargo hold and are refusing to negotiate."

"What about the stuff in my bag?" Iris asked, "and all the stock in the galley?"

"We've exhausted all of it," Autumn admitted, "this has been going on since we left the mountain. They've refused to negotiate."

"That isn't strictly true," Adan said, momentarily turning away from his inventory of the cabinets, "we've attempted negotiations multiple times, Autumn and the Rat King haven't found common ground, however."

"Common ground?" Autumn whirled on him, "they're asking for half of everything!"

"Well," Adan said cautiously, "currently they have all of everything."

Autumn harrumphed, "might as well be on their side."

"I would never betray my chef," Adan said matter-of-factly, "I am merely acknowledging the reality of our situation."

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"Guys, they're just rats," Victoria said, "it can't be that big of a deal."

"Did you say they have a king?" Iris asked.

Autumn looked at them with pity, "you have no idea what we're up against."

Iris and Victoria shared a disgruntled glance.

"Fine," Victoria said, "we'll go handle this. Be ready to cook an early dinner, because we're coming back with the supplies."

Iris nodded dutifully and blipped straight down to the deck below, and was soon followed by a ghostly Victoria sinking through the floor. The glow stones Iris wore abruptly lit up the cargo hold as she appeared amidst the darkness. It was quite a significant distance from her usual spots, which were much closer to the bow rather than near the stern where she appeared now.

"I don't even see any rats," Iris said.

"They see us," Victoria said ominously.

A chorus of tiny pitter-patters filled the hold as dozens of rats sprinted out from between crates, barrels and sacks. They ran on all fours, but rose to their hind legs when they came to a stop. Each of them carried large splinters of wood which they wielded like spears and swords, and a few even drew shield-like chunks from their backs which they held up against the pair of adventurers as they surrounded them.

"What the fuck?" Iris whispered.

"I have no idea," Victoria answered.

Sounds of tumbling debris and scraping wood came from above, followed by a slamming door and heavy stomps down the nearby stairs. Killup was the first to emerge from the stairwell, kicking off the wall and fluttering his wings in a brief flight before landing beside Iris and Victoria with a kitchen knife in either hand. Adan emerged a few seconds later, casually stepped over the perimeter of rat soldiers to take his place with the group.

"We have come to assist," he said simply.

"And murder," Killup added.

"Only if necessary," Adan corrected.

"Who's taking the lead?" Victoria asked.

Iris felt her stomach rumble and a determined fury rise from her gut, "I got this."

She blipped the walking stick directly from her bottomless bag into her hand, stepped up towards the ranks of rat soldiers, and slammed the end of the stick into the floor with a quick but powerful release of force. The effect was like a giant knocking on a door, and many of the rats took involuntary steps backward while a few actually scattered for cover.

"Take me to your king," Iris demanded.

The rats began to mimic her motion, slamming the ends of their splinters into the floor in an eerie -- if kind of adorable -- war drum. Their little heads turned towards the back of the cargo hold, where something stirred in the darkness. As the war drum chorus continued, a wooden bucket slowly bobbed out of the shadows and into the light. It was filled to the brim with rice, and atop the pile stood an otherwise normal looking rat with a scrap of brown canvas cloth as a cape and a crown fashioned from splinters and twine.

The bucket was carried by over a dozen rats who walked on their hind legs as their arms extended over their heads to support it. They came to a stop several feet in front of Iris, and the war drum ceased. The Rat King extended his arms out and over his head, and the ranks of rat soldiers bowed in unison.

"He expects us to bow," Adan explained.

Victoria scoffed.

Iris almost snarled, and pointed a finger towards the Rat King, "listen here you little shit, you're going to surrender the goods you've claimed or my friends and I are going to wipe this freaky little civilization of yours off the floor!"

"Not my job," Killup interjected, "just here for murder."

Iris faltered as she glanced back at him for a moment, "right. Adan's dad is going to wipe you off the floor -- we're just going to put you there. With murder."

The Rat King released a series of furious squeaks, waving his hands all about as he did so.

"I believe he's inviting you to try," Adan explained, "and saying something about having the greatest army ever known to rat kind."

"Can we stop for a moment?" Victoria asked, "are you trying to tell me that rat is actually speaking? What the actual fuck is going on?"

"Years ago," Killup explained, "strange artifact was found in a temple, brought aboard the ship, and forgotten. Rats found it -- unlocked its power."

"Oh great," Iris said, exasperated, "haunted rats."

"Not every strange power is ghosts," Victoria sighed.

The Rat King shouted an angry squeak, and his soldiers rose from their bows and returned to a readied position.

"Hey! You shut the fuck up!" Iris pointed at him again, taking a sudden step forward.

The Rat King squeaked loudly, and the rat soldiers stepped forward to tighten their perimeter as they raised their weapons towards the adventurers.

"Oh yeah? " Iris asked, extending her empty hand towards the Rat King.

He was blipped from his throne of rice and appeared in her hand, dangling by his cape. With desperate squirms and squeaks, the Rat King ripped the crown from his head and threw it towards the nearest soldiers. The first rat to reach it quickly donned the crown and sprinted towards the bucket of rice, where it climbed to the top and claimed the throne. A triumphant squeak came from the rat dangling from Iris’s grasp.

The new Rat King shouted an unmistakable war squeak, and dozens of rats revealed themselves atop the surrounding crates and barrels carrying splinters which they threw like javelins. A cloud of tiny splinters soared through the air towards the adventurers from every angle. They passed harmlessly through Victoria's ghost form, Adan was unbothered as they bounced off his metal skin, and Killup shouted in surprise and shielded himself with his wings -- his thick, stone-like skin guarding effortlessly against the attack. It was Iris who received the worst of it, the thick splinters pierced her robe and poked into her skin -- not enough to do any real damage, but enough to draw trickles of blood.

She blipped atop a distant barrel and snarled as her stomach once again rumbled, "fine," she said ominously as she tossed the rat aside.

Her leather armor blipped out of her bag and directly onto her body and several tentacles reached out of the void to pull the various straps tight.

"You want a war?" she shouted, "Abby, release the wyvern!"