After a series of summonings that were typical of my time with Jack, ranging from him telling me stories of his world and the wonders performed by the one called Matt Damon to general scouting and other mundane activities, I was introduced to two more of his friends, Geoe and Topher. They seemed like the good sort, but they shared Jack’s ability to root out trouble wherever it tried to hide. No trouble was safe from Jack! And when I was summoned this time, this first time the group fought as a party of four, it was no exception.

I popped into Rigara and could immediately sense that Jack was in danger. Not willing to let harm come to my friend I quickly jumped onto his leg as he was forced to pay attention to some rather foul-smelling humanoid creatures. While I would later learn that they were a form of creature that bridged the divide between life and death, it was obvious that they presently posed a clear threat to Jack’s party of adventurers. Even worse, there was a zombie currently on top of Jack! Thinking fast, I scrambled up Jack’s leg until found a good spot to jump onto the foul creature. There’s no time like the present to try out this Burrower perk. This is going to make a mess!

Taking a deep breath and cringing a moment at the thought of what was going to happen next, I set my jaw and went to work. Opening wide, I bit down hard into the grey skin of the undead for. Spitting it out and not thinking about what I just had in my mouth, I began to burrow. I hadn’t been much of a digger, runner, or anything else physical before, but this came naturally to me. I bit and tore through flesh, muscle, organs and bone alike, single-minded in reaching my goal, its head. I didn’t even have time to be surprised at how fast I could tunnel when I popped out of its next and found myself face to face with Jack. With a quick salute and feeling the creature slump, I went back through my newly created exit and bored up through the neck and into the brain, ensuring the kill. Not wanting to spend more time inside another’s skull than I had to, I exited in haste, just in time to see Jack’s expression turn from confusion to outright laughter. I cried in triumph, howling with an epic battle cry!

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Feeling better about the situation, I took stock of my surroundings and the chaos of the battle that raged from my perch atop the dead zombie’s head. Gooch was holding his own, but Geoe looked in trouble and Topher looked worse, a pair of these zombies, which had rather unpleasant blood-sucking appendages where their mouths should have been, chowing down on him like wolves on the corpse of a deer. I made the call to see what I could do to help him and scampered in his direction. By the time I got near, which was no time at all, really, Jack was next to his fallen friend, trying and failing to kiss him back to life? Let it be known that I, Rat Damon, do not judge the relationships and cultures of others and stood in the background while he performed his amorous resurrection attempt and stayed out of the way, silent and respectful, when he ultimately failed. But that, as they say, is not my story to tell.

Shortly after that, I was dismissed home realized quickly that I needed to come to terms with something that had been bothering me; my life in the warren just wasn’t enough. After getting a taste for the danger and excitement of adventure, the feeling of wanderlust would not go away. I needed to make a change. The thought of never having seen what was outside the vicinity of the warren crossed my mind and I couldn’t not shake it. I needed to remedy this.

So, it was with no dramatic symbolic action, other than packing some useful tools into my newly acquired Satchel of Adventuring slung around my torso, which I received at the time of joining the system, that I headed out of the warren. I left no indication of my departure other than leaving a note for Diller, perhaps the only rat that would worry when I didn’t come back. When I reached the edge of the meadow, the same one I ambushed Jerald long ago, I looked back for only a moment before heading into the forest.