“You have entered: The vermins pit, training dungeon, time to show those pests what you are made of”

The party found themselves in a in a massive cave with a series of small dark holes in the walls and ceiling with a large door directly in front of them.

“You have timed out on stat allocations, the following attributes have been allocated to you. Luck +1, Dexterity +1, Agility +2, Magic +1. Perk: Heroic leap, you can jump 4x higher and further than stats normally allow. Spell: Impact: for the next 1second x mag every attack you make creates a minor shockwave potentially disorienting targets. Cost 10 mana.”

Eric shook his head at the message “Next time” he whispered to himself

“Wave 1 will commence in 10 seconds”

“Get ready” Uruk said summoning a 2 handed axe into his hands, Annie waved a hand and a shimmering bubble of transparent barely visible blue energy formed around her, Fred did the same only his bubble was a light yellow colour, Astrid summoned a simple looking wooden shortbow. Eric pulled his club and shield just as the timer reached zero.

A single rat poked its head out of a hole, looked at the party and let out a loud squeak before charging towards them. It didn’t get very far before an arrow landed in his eye killing him instantly, shortly after a small bolt of fire landed on its corpse setting it on fire and almost immediately turning it into a pile of ash.

“Wave 1 completed, wave 2 commencing in 20 seconds”

“Well, that was easy.” Uruk stated lowering his axe

“Hope the next wave provides something close to a challenge”

“Be careful what you wish for” Fred replied, his whisp floating in a circle around the party

“Wave 2 commencing in 10, 9….Screw it NOW”

A series of scrabbling noises started and several rats started poking their heads out of holes, letting out their battle squeaks while charging towards the party from all directions. Uruk laughed and charged towards a small group of 3, Annie and Astrid started firing while Eric held back, putting himself between 2 other rats and Fred. They both pounced at him, he raised his shield blocking one while bringing his club down on the head of the other. The one he struck staggered back, he stepped forward with the goal of finishing it off when a sharp pain formed in his leg and he looked down to see a rat with its teeth sunk into him, he brought his shield down onto its back, the rat shrieked letting go of his leg, he stepped back trying to reposition but his injured leg buckled under his weight and he fell on his back. One of the rats bit down on his foot clamping down hard while the other bit into his mace arm pinning him down, he struggled to free himself when a piercing bolt of light went through the head of the one attached to his arm, killing it. His arm now free he swung down on the head of the rat still chewing at his leg, it let out a loud squeak and stepped back before being blasted by a bolt of light. Freds whisp floated above his head then his arm and leg started to glow with a bright yellow light, pain started to fade as his wounds closed up. He turned to look at Fred whos hand was glowing, his attention now on healing Uruk who had been bitten on the arm.

“Wave 3 will commence in 1 minute, I mean it this time you are going to need it.”

“Thats what I like to hear, get ready people” A massive grin spread on Uruks face as he shifted his axe into a ready position.

“We need to stick together this time.” Eric raised his shield standing in front of Fred

“Who died and made you boss??” Uruk moved to stand in front of him looking down at him, “Well??”

“What?? No one, I just think it would be better if we stayed near our healer so we can protect him and be within range if we need to be healed.”

“Your the guy with the shield, protecting them is your job not mine, just stay away from my axe, would hate to accidentally cut you in half or something.” After saying that Uruk took a few steps forward intentionally barging into Eric as he did.

Eric was about to open his mouth and say something when a hand gently grabbed his shoulder, he turned to see Fred shaking his head.

Astrid and Annie stepped forward “Annie and myself will stand near Fred and support you from behind”

“Yup, anything gets close an I will make it BURN!!!” to further emphasize the last word Annie briefly summoned a small bolt of fire in her hand before allowing it to dissipate.

“I’m sorry I am such a burden, maybe after gaining a few levels I will be able to hold my own.”

“Negative” Astrid responded, “Combat medics are always protected, as failure to do so always results in greater losses. You keep us alive, we keep you alive, is simple.”

“Yup, yup”

“What she said”

“5, 4, 3, 2, 1…ZEROOOOO!”

A grinding noise echoed through the cavern as a section of wall started to reshape itself into a large fancy looking balcony with fancy looking stone railings with a dark cavern leading away from it. A slow beating of drums came seemingly from nowhere followed by a series of trumpets announcing the presence of a large bear sized rat wearing a copper crown with a bright red cape draped across its back. It stepped forward, resting its front paws on the railings and looked down at the team of adventurers. It sniffed the air before scoffing at their impudence, this was followed by a series of scrabbling and several smaller rats exiting the holes and surrounding the party. Once they were surrounded the large rat started letting out a series of squeaks while waving his front paws around in seemingly grand gestures.

Annie pulled on Eric’s trousers, when he turned to look down at her she whispered

“I wonder what he’s saying”

“SQUEEAKK!” the piercing noise came followed by a loud crash as the giant rat hammered down on the stone railings crumbling them into dust, the rat stood there glaring at Annie who shuffled uncomfortably while apologizing. The rat huffed to itself before continuing its squeach, getting more and more excited as it went on, standing up straight and waving its feet around as if making grand proclamations. Until finally making one last loud squeak it slammed its front feet back down again to a chorus of squeaks from the surrounding rats. Then in jumped off the balcony landing in the middle of the room.

The words KING RAT floated in front of Erics vision before moving to the top then a long red bar formed under the name. 3…2…1…BOSS BATTLE, as if on cue the giant rat charged forward towards the party. Everyone moved behind Eric who raised his shield ready to meet the charge, Uruk however let out a loud warcry and charged straight towards the boss bringing his axe down onto its side, there was a loud screech and the rat stopped turning itself round knocking Uruk off balance, it then immediately lunged forward grabbing onto his leg and started swinging him around like a rag doll. Astrid unloaded a few arrows into its side so it spun round letting go of Uruk throwing him towards her, she tried to move out of the way but was a little too slow and a now unconscious Uruk crashed into her knocking her to the ground. Fred healed them both while his whisp fired its magic bolts at the rat who seemed content to just ignore them. That was when things got really bad, Annie decided to release a bolt of flame towards the rat, hitting it square in the side, its greasy fur catching fire and turning into a raging inferno. The rat let out another loud SQUEEEEAAAAKKKK! As its flesh started to burn away, the red bar below its name had been reduced to just under a quarter of its original size, the rat charged towards the walls of the room grabbing one of the spectator rats by the neck. Turning its head and throwing its prey into the air King rat used an ability called “Consume” its mouth opening wider than it should it caught the unfortunate rat in its mouth, somehow swallowing it whole, the health bar below its name started to refill as its burned skin started to mend. It was still on fire however so continued to burn, turning to face Fred it charged towards the old healer its flaming mouth open ready to bite down once it reached him. This was the moment when Eric decided to act, he charged forward with his shield bashing it in the side of the head knocking it off course a little and turning its attention towards him. He swung his club at it bashing it on the head annoying it even more, it stood up on its hind legs and charged into his raised shield knocking him to the ground and landing on top of him. It tried to bite down on his face but he raised his club in front of its mouth instead, its mouth clamped down and started shaking its head trying to pull the weapon from his hands, he held on as best he could until his shoulder dislocated. It turned its head tossing the club aside and turned to face him again its charred face still ablaze Eric felt the heat of the flames as it edged towards him. Then an arrow thunked into its eye socked causing it to turn and hiss, that arrow was closely followed by another, then an axe came down cleaving right into its skull.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The no longer burning rat fell on top of Eric, twitched a few times then lay still, he stared at its charcoaled face the smell of burned flesh filling his nose. Several hands grabbed hold of him and started to pull, dragging him out from under the rat, silence filled the room as he continued to stare at it. After a few seconds of silence the surrounding rats fell into a frenzy charging towards the giant rats corpse, they piled on top of it and immediately started ripping the charred flesh from its bones, dispersing shortly after leaving nothing more than a skeleton.

“CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE COMPLETED YOUR FIRST DUNGEON, LOOT CHESTS WILL SPAWN IN CENTER OF ROOM WHEN YOU ARE DONE CELEBRATING, ALSO AS THIS IS YOUR FIRST DUNGEON AND NOBODY DIED YOU GET AN EXTRA REWARD…..+5 TO YOUR WEAKEST STAT” The notification was immediately followed by a mass of confetti streamers and balloons being launched at the party, Eric just sat on the floor staring at the skeletal remains until his view was broken by a mass of colourful globes. Annies cheer also served to snap him out of his trance, he stood up looking around, everyone was covered in confetti and surrounded by a chest high mass of balloons, there were several flying around from the point where a completely submerged Annie was jumping, laughing and batting them around. Astrid had grabbed one out of the pile and was looking at it like it was a strange curiosity, she gave it a light squeeze then threw it up in the air and watched as it slowly floated back down towards her.

“Curious”, she said a thoughtful look on her face “What material is this?”

A grinning skull manifested in front of her, “like it do you? I could give you the materials molecular structure to take back with you if you complete the game, you will have to do something first”

Everyone except Astrid seemed surprised by the skulls sudden appearance who just seemed to behave like its manifestation was completely normal.

“What would I have to do Limbo?”

“Simply carry one with you, as an accessory, until you reach the end of the game, don’t destroy or remove it otherwise you lose”

“Simple enough, can I put it down while fighting?”

The skull shook side to side “not necessary” then it disappeared

A white balloon manifested floating in the air and above Astrids head, a thin piece of string hanging from its bottom, attached itself to her ear, then it just floated above her head bobbing lightly as she moved around.

“Okay, we are done celebrating, now where are these loot chests?” Uruk said while trying to clear the balloons away so he could see, then just like that, as quickly as they came the party decorations were all gone and right in the middle of the room where the rats corpse had been were 5 chests, each one was labeled with one of the party members names.

Eric along with the other party members moved towards their respective chests and opened them, there was a brief flash of light and he looked down to see the chest was empty.

“Huh” came his disappointed response, until he felt a sudden weight fall on his torso, looking down he saw what appeared to be a well fitted chainmail vest that covered his shouders and draped a little over the tops of his arms like a t-shirt. “Oh” he said smiling as he looked towards his party members.

Annie had a crimson short sleeved robe that went down to her knees with a belt round the torso. Fred had what looked like a bright white priestly robe with black outlines along the edges. Astrid had a leather vest that covered her chest and shoulders while leaving her arms and torso exposed. She was looking down at it running her fingers along the bottom edges.

“This exposure seems unnecessary”

“Huh what are you talking about?”

They turned to look at Uruk who seemed to be wearing a leather harness with what looked like a short wolf-skin cloak draped over his shoulders, barely any of his torso was covered at all and his arms were completely exposed. He turned and flexed showing off his rippling muscles, “the freedom of movement is great”

Astrid looked down at herself again before doing a few minor stretching exercises, seemingly satisfied she nodded her head.

“Point taken”