Zephyr looked at her father, but he just kept smiling at her. He was actually serious.

Taking a deep breath, Zephyr asked the others, "OK. Status check - is anyone injured?

Ozzy shrugged. "He hit me with the flat of the blade; just bruised me for 10 points."

Zephyr handed him a Potion of Minimum Healing. "Drink that. If no one is injured - then I need to know how prepared everyone is. I have a full load of concussion bombs, firebombs, acid bombs, and a couple of sleep bombs. A dozen basic healing and mana potions, and 4 stamina potions - plus, various buffs and utilities. I'll be the second line I guess, but if they come at me, I'm just defensive with my staff and covering for the backline. I have full health and mana. Dad?"

Aleister pointed to his bandolier and pouch on his side. "A full load of all my potions; my spatial inventory carries a good amount of advanced healing and mana potions, along with a few dozen utility potions of the standard sort. I have only six small concussion bombs, as for some reason all of my stock seems to have been pilfered. Luckily I had extra firebombs to grab. I'll be backline. I don't use as much offense as either of you and can't throw as far as Zephyr can with her staff sling. My health is full, as is mana and stamina."

Ozzy was amused by the way the two alchemists went through their predungeon checklist. Aleister had most likely done some adventuring at some point in his career and approached it professionally. Zephyr had been trained in the same style.

Ozzy spoke when Aleister was done. "I'm full up on my stats now that the potion healed 10 points I mentioned. I'll be trying to use this new weapon to attune to it, but if we run into more than a couple of rats I'll start swinging with my fists. My cleavers only get used on meat, bone, or undead creatures."

Zephyr looked at Ozzy. He had the size of a tank, but what he wore was barely leather armor. She was pretty worried about him getting torn up. But of the three of them, he was the obvious the front-line fighter. She didn't like the whole 'party leader' thing. It felt like a big weight of responsibility.

"Do you have any spells or special abilities, Ozzy? Suzette has some magic, and I heard Rolly is crazy when he goes full Shepherd on people."

"Spells? Not really. A couple of cantrips - one light, one dark. I took one called 'Cleansing' from the list of light magic cantrips - saves a ton of time after work cleaning my clothes; probably good to use it on wounds. For my curse, I took 'Weakness'. It gives one creature vulnerability to one attack form for a minute. Just an extra 10 points of damage per hit, but every bit helps."

"Not much else. I can see a bit in darkness, look menacing, and insult their mothers. Oh, and I'm somewhat fire-resistant if I know I'm about to burn."

This was starting to worry Zephyr. They didn't have much of a party here. But Dad always stressed that you 'played with what you got,' so they'd have to make do. "Dad, give Ozzy three each of your advanced stamina and healing potions. Use those when you need them Ozzy; dad probably has a bunch."

Ozzy took the three healing potions but shook his head at the stamina. "Keep those, I won't need them. Contract Workers have a lot of stamina, and we regen fast."

Zephyr frowned at that. A warrior always needed more stamina. "You'll be using a lot, fighting. How much do you have at this point?"

Ozzy brought up his sheet. "I slaughtered a lot of cows this week before we got rudely interrupted by that daemon, and then had to work hard to refill the new smokehouse. That gave me enough experience to get to Level. The big bonus from killing that thing put me up an entire Level. That upped my stamina to nearly over three thousand. I'm sitting at 3210 stamina and my health is at 1070."

That brought a surprised squeak out of Zephyr. "Oh my god!! How do you have that much? I've got a little over 300 stamina and health at level 4."

Aleister cleared his throat. "Now dear, it's generally rude to be asking someone for their abilities. Although I am astounded by that stamina number, I think I know why you have so much. Suzette had said all the workers had been given a set of advantages that traded off many of your primary skills for increased statistics. This just confirms it. I'd think based on his physique that he also has a very high CON and STR for his level."

Ozzy shrugged, "I don't have a lot of reference for what counts as strong, but the Legion recruiter was impressed. I have 9 each of CON and STR now."

"Impressive, and well on your way to becoming a solid warrior. But since you were forthcoming with your numbers, I'll let you know that at Level 8 I now have over 600 health and stamina. That's considered high for a spell caster. But, of course, my build is a bit of a hybrid. Alchemists tend to have high CON. And I have very high mental stats; I'm proud to say I have over 1000 mana. That usually isn't achieved by most mages until the third tier.

Zephyr laughed. "1080 to be exact, he may have mentioned it to me or Mom a few times."

Ozzy looked puzzled. "Now that's interesting. I'm a little above 800."

Zephyr looked stunned. But Aleister was completely flabbergasted. "800??!! But how? You're a Butcher!"

"What my rude father is trying to say is: "My good sir, that is an impressive feat. We don't mean to pry, but perhaps you could explain?" Zephyr felt that as party leader, she should set a good example for her father.

Ozzy looked at his sheet and then dismissed it. "Not much to explain. Contract workers get 200 health, stamina, and mana at level 0 and it goes up 200 each level after that. It comes in handy. We don't get tired, and we can work long shifts. If we get small injuries, it's no big deal. And some skills use cantrips. Suzette does all the brewing now for Derek. He can barely do two casks a day, and he's drained. She was going to do 10 this morning before we got sidetracked by rats. "

Aleister shook his head sadly. "Thirty years of studying, level 8, and a 17 Intelligence, and I'm barely ahead of you. Alchemists aren't given as much mana as spellcasters, but you have the mana of a mage twice your level, but you can only use it for cantrips."

Zephyr bounced up from where she was sitting. Her father could talk theory all day long. "Come on, Daddy, let’s go kill some rats! That will make you feel better!"

Moving down the large hallway, they all wondered at the architecture. The stones were quarried and shaped but not polished like the interior of most buildings. Every ten yards there were half pillars on each wall supporting elaborate arches. The ceiling in between them rose a couple of feet higher up and was rougher as it was hewn from solid stone. Each pillar had a brazier attached to it, throwing mostly shadows and not lighting even as far as the ceiling.

Some of the stones seemed to have carvings on them, but they were so worn that you could never quite make them out. Now and then, a gargoyle stared down from an arch or perched next to a sconce. Ozzy made a habit of tapping their heads with his weapon, just in case. After roughly three hundred feet, they came to a crossroads. The muddy footprints of the rat-kin turned right. They heard nothing from any direction.

Both men looked at Zephyr. "You’re making me pick? Fine, let’s go to the left then and see what we find besides rats."

This corridor seemed almost identical to the first. But about fifty feet in, Ozzy felt a flagstone move under his foot and emit a tell-tale 'click' sound. He yelled, "Trap!" and started to step back, but before he could, the jaws of a steel trap shut on his leg, immobilizing him.

Zephyr saw small cracks open in the stone, and large centipedes poured out. "Dad. Small firebombs, take the right!" Ozzy couldn't stomp bugs with his right foot immobilized at an odd angle. He was trying vainly to swat them away with the billhook, but it was poorly suited to the task. The firebombs went off to either side of him. Forewarned, he took no damage and burned a bit of stamina. Most of the bugs were incinerated, but there had been dozens.

[Your party has killed 37 giant centipedes.

You have been bitten 13 times for 13 points of physical damage and 169...I mean, 0 poison damage.]

Zephyr yelled, "Again, on top of him, just you!" Aleister put another fire bomb at Ozzy's feet, and it exploded in flame.

[Your party has killed a total of 68 giant centipeds.

You have taken another 68 points of physical damage and 0 points of poison damage.

You gained 100 points of experience in your skill Resist Minor Poison and 100 experience in CON.

CON is now at Rank 6.

You have taken 0 points of fire damage and expended 200 stamina.

Active Fire Resistance has gained 20 experience points.]

The remainder of the insects died. Ozzy inspected the trap. Its jaws were blunt. It was meant to hold the victim and not break bones, different from how a saw-toothed trap would bite down. Taking hold of both sides, he was able to pull the jaws apart until he heard a loud snap as the mechanism was broken and the pressure was relieved.

Zephyr looked at him wide-eyed. He'd said he had 9 STR, but she didn't have experience with anyone that strong. "Are you alright? Take a healing potion? Is your leg ok? We can leave now if you are hurt too badly."

Ozzy tested his weight on the foot. "Naw, all good. Just let me quaff one of these little ones and use a cleanse to get rid of the soot. The bug bites hurt, but the poison was pretty weak and didn't affect me at all. Rolly and I have been chowing down on sedgebeast for a couple of weeks to raise our poison resistance."

The alchemists looked at him in horror. Zephyr made a face, "How can you eat that stuff? It smells horrible."

Ozzy smiled at her, "No pain, no gain. It is horrible, but I gained Minor Poison Resistance and that means those poisonous centipedes were like mosquitoes to me. Fire Resistance helped, too. I didn't take damage from your bombs."

Aleister picked up a few of the least burnt centipedes and put them in a pouch. "I suspect it could have been much worse. Without resistance, these can cause substantial damage with each bite. That was a deadly trap for anyone without some protection from poison or an area of effect spell to clear the centipedes. Let’s be very careful."

He turned to Zephyr, "Remember my lesson on resistance abilities? Many of my colleagues never take those skills or work to raise their resistance, claiming that they are researchers, not adventurers. I've always disagreed since even lab work is dangerous. I've earned both Minor Acid and Minor Explosion Resistances, but I can see that I need to branch out more. I seem to remember a young lady arguing about wanting offensive abilities and that defensive skills were wasted since you'd be behind a line of tanks."

Zephyr rolled her eyes. "That was before we got a dungeon! But as team leader, I say less talk and more exploring."

They continued on down the passageway. Ozzy spent a lot of time tapping the area before him with his new weapon. The heavy head made it good for triggering the loose stones. They came upon two more of the same type of trap. At the first one, Ozzy triggered it with his weapon and backed up as the insects came from the walls. The two alchemists threw web bombs to either side of the wide passage to trap the bugs. Then they followed up with fire. The party took no damage.

Aleister found a still-moving centipede in the webs. "As I thought; these aren't alive, they are animated. It was hard to tell from the burnt ones; this one is unharmed but long dead and still moving."

The second trap had an occupant. The rat-kin it held was barely alive. Its left leg was broken and it was covered in bites, the skin turning black and puffy around each wound. It wasn't suffering at least, being comatose. Zephyr moved near it. "What do we think? Put it out of its misery? Or might that trigger more bugs? "

"A good question; let’s leave it for now. But I'm wondering more and more what's down here. It has traps to take things more or less alive and is animating insects. It could be nasty. If it looks overwhelming, we shouldn't be afraid to run. That's your job, Group Leader."

"I don't like being group leader anymore."

They walked down the hallway that took first a left turn, then a right. At the last corner, they saw a pile of bodies: several dozen dead rat-kin, two mummified lizards, and dozens of dead and decrepit rabbits in a pile. Aleister stopped, took out a knife, and cut through the paper-thin skin to the decayed muscle. "These had blood in them when they were killed."

"Don't most things?" Ozzy wasn't following his logic.

"So, not a vampire?" Zephyr seemed to have some idea of what Aleister was getting at.

"Exactly. Not a vampire. If these had been drained by a vampire or similar creature, there would be no blood. But these creatures were drained of their life force. The effect can look similar, a withered body being all that remains, but it's a different beast entirely. Possibly a necromancer of some sort."

Ozzy made sure his cleavers were loose in their scabbards. "Well, that would explain the animated bugs. Let’s do this then. I doubt the minions go far to dump drained bodies."

And true to his guess, the next turn in the hall revealed a large room, roughly 50’ x 100’. At the end of it was a throne with what appeared to be a dead ratkin in a tattered red robe sitting on it. Rotted red draperies concealed alcoves, and a large ornate chest was sitting in front of the throne. All three people whispered at once.

"Trap."

"Alcoves have guards in them."

"Probably starts talking once we get halfway there."

Zephyr considered. "Ozzy, you'll need to go first. If it's a boss, taunt it or keep it talking. Daddy, when it looks like combat is starting, lead with a couple of your biggest bombs to the right side; I'll do the same. Let’s take out half the guards if we can. Do you have a Holy Hand Grenade?"

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Aleister nodded, then explained for Ozzy's sake. "A minor explosive surrounded by powdered silver and vials of holy water. The holy water converts to steam and any undead gets a nasty surprise. Tends to disorient them and do quite a bit of damage."

Zephyr was nervous but trying not to show it. "Identify the boss as fast as you can, Dad. It shouldn't be higher than Tier 1. If it is, we run right away, tossing webbing behind us."

Ozzy walked forward, bearing a bit to his left and avoiding the center of the room where a carpet ran. Good odds there was a trap in the rug somewhere.

Zephyr and Aleister moved a bit to either side, just inside the doorway, and then stayed 30' behind Ozzy. When Ozzy got halfway across the room, the rat-kin necromancer sat up. Its eyes glowed, and its jaw worked comically. Having neither lips nor lungs, it seemed to be trying to fake talking. A disembodied voice boomed out.

"Oh, you thought yourselves sneaky-clever to avoid my traps? But I have outsmarted you, worthless, no-tail humans."

Ozzy wasn't terribly put off by not having a tail. But if the thing wanted to talk, it was time to start getting its attention. "Bah, you got no plan! What are you going to do? Invade the village and take all the cheese?"

"YES!... I mean…NO! But yes...eventually!!...but first I will become powerful! The most powerful! I will suck out your lives and add them to my own, becoming bloated on power. And then I will conquer the world! And then the village. And then all the cheeses will be mine. Good plan!"

Ozzy noticed a slight movement in the curtains. "Bad plan. No cheese in the village. Lots of beer, though. "

"We do not like stupid beer, stupid human! "

Ozzy feigned surprise. "Really, but your mother loved beer."

"Lies! and more Lies! My mother hated beer; she loved cheese. And me! Loved me more than all the others!"

Ozzy motioned with his hand to be ready. "Not what I heard. I heard she put on army boots and a fake beard and went to a dwarf dance hall on Thursday nights. I heard she loved beer. Or maybe she just loved dwarves. You look a little short there, bunky. Are you part dwarf, maybe? Probably don't even like cheese!"

"You will die for that human! Mama didn't like wearing army boots!"

The curtains on the right and left were pushed back. On the right side, a trio of skeletal rat-kin warriors in rotted armor appeared bearing spears. On the left, two skeletal rat shamans started making hand motions as power formed in their hands. They looked odd, with back curving horns like some type of antelope. The necromancer on the throne simply laughed. "Fooled you!"

A portcullis dropped in the entryway, blocking their retreat. "Fooled you twice! Double Fools you!"

Zephyr yelled, "Throw!" and two explosives hit the feet of the skeletal rat-kin, followed by another two explosions only two seconds later.

Ozzy charged the throne, and his thrust went into the upper chest, caving it in. The head leaped in the air, then bobbled back and forth, held up by a large spring.

"Fooled you, Thrice! You lose." A mummified rat-shaman leaped to the top of the throne from behind it. He wore ornate red robes trimmed in gold. A glowing rod made from greenish crystal was in one hand. From his skull, long back curving horns grew, carved with runes and inset with bits of gems.

A blast from the rod hit Ozzy at the same time the rays from the two shamans on the side hit him. It hurt. It hurt very badly. Like something was being ripped out of him.

[You have been life-drained for 2D100 damage. You have lost 97 Health. Your health is temporarily reduced by 97 points.

You have been life-drained for 1D100 damage. You have lost 31 Health. Your health is temporarily reduced by 31 points.

You have been life-drained for 1D100 damage. You have lost 95 Health. Your health is temporarily reduced by 95 points.]

As the smoke from the explosions cleared, two of the skeletal rat-kin from the right staggered forth, badly injured. The third had been reduced to parts and wasn't moving. Both staggered towards Ozzy. His taunts had worked and all the hatred in the room was concentrated on him; not necessarily a good thing.

Aleister tried to get a look at the capering necromancer perched on the top of his throne. It was an elite at the top of Tier 1.

[Snik'tik Lifethief Elite Level 5 Boss

Cunning, Strong Minions, Health Drain, Mana Drain, High Evasion, Speed, Leaping, Undead

Health 800 Mana 1400/1600]

"The boss looks like a strong Tier 1 Elite! He'll be hard to pin down and has some drain abilities."

Ozzy thought this could be a problem. Drainers could endlessly fight as long as they had people to keep pulling health and mana from. But the guy was undead, that helped. Ozzy drew his cleavers. The boss was in a tough place for him to reach, so instead, he turned on the skeletal warriors bearing down on him. Each broken bone pile took a hit, and each was reduced to pieces. These were the easiest of foes to deal with, only level 2. The rest were much harder.

The boss took the opportunity to leap and skitter behind the two shamans. All three targeted Ozzy again.

[You have been life drained for 2D100 damage. You have lost 140 Health. Your health is temporarily reduced by 140 points.

You have been life-drained for 1D100 damage. You have lost 98 Health. Your health is temporarily reduced by 98 points.

You have been life-drained for 1D100 damage. You have lost 58 Health. Your health is temporarily reduced by 58 points.]

Ozzy was in a hell of a lot of pain. This was far worse than the Charnel Daemon. Still, better him taking the hits than Aleister or Zephyr. "I got to admit, I'm starting to like you. But then, I went to those same dances your mom did, and I was very fond of her. She'd do anything for a mug of beer. How about it, son, you see the family resemblance?"

Snik'tik jumped up and down in rage. "You...you...no! No son. No resemblance. But you funny, I keep you around when dead. Stuff you full of eyeballs, make you into my new throne-puppet." Furious at the large human, the necromancer didn't even see the two grenades thrown by the father/daughter team of battle alchemists.

The first was, of course, a Holy Hand Grenade. The explosive propellent did very little damage. Its job was to burst the Blessed Water held inside and turn it into a cloud of steam. At the same time, small silver shards were propelled everywhere, lodging into the bones and rotten flesh. The undead had their vision obscured, and the spells about to be cast were disrupted. This gave Ozzy a couple of seconds of respite.

"We have to finish this fast. Throw fire, lots of fire. Don't worry about me. I think I can negate most of the damage from your firebombs. I'm going to start working on the end shaman. We hit it until it's dead. Otherwise, it will heal itself. They are whittling me away and healing me won't help." Ozzy ran to the last shaman and started chopping with both cleavers.

Hack undead had been a good attack when he fought the rabbits. Since then, it had gotten much better. His STR was higher and he even had earned some RAD to toss in the mix.

His chance to hit in combat only had a base of 30%, equivalent to normal attacks made with mundane weapons. But his STR added 45%, and his level added another 30% giving him an attack chance of 100% minus the monster’s evasion. Rats dodge well, undead don't. His chance of missing the level 3 rat-kin Shamans was very small.

STR and RAD added +50 to his damage. The base damage of 30 was increased to 80 and another 15 from Hack Undead points on the average hit, and he could attack twice with his cleavers doing 95 points of damage per hit.

The shaman in front of him had started the day with 200 health. Any small damage it had taken in the fight had been healed when it cast its Life Drain spell at Ozzy. But undead fear Holy Hand Grenades for good reason. The Blessed Water had done 50 points to each of the undead, followed by the silver doing another 10d6 for 39 damage; then a small firebomb for 25 more. Eighty-six health wasn't enough when two cleavers hacked through your neck and chest. The first shaman dropped, immediately followed by the second. The Necromance screamed as his creations were destroyed.

Fire grenades went off next, burning the undead again but Snik'tik leaped to safety and avoided most of it.

Back on top of his throne, he focused on his foes. It had been a long time since he'd had to work so hard. The minions who had been out scouting for prey were returning quickly. He just had to whittle these down and buy time. He'd start with the little one.

He pointed his wand and unleashed another Life Drain but the little one was quick! It must be part rat! It rolled forward to avoid his blast, but in doing so stepped on the carpet in the middle of the room. SNAP! His clever trap held her and he could now finish her off at any time; no more dodging!!

Zephyr heard the sound of the trap and cringed. The steel jaws closed on her leg. With only light leather armor, the trap did its job well. The small bone in her lower leg snapped and the ends ground together. Her father heard her scream, causing the bomb he was throwing to miss and do no damage.

Ozzy was worried about Zephyr, but also about any of them getting out alive. The minions had worn him down and the boss was essentially unhurt. Zephyr was a sitting duck and out of the fight. After finishing the shamans, he turned to see the boss perched on its throne like some obscene vulture. Zephyr was drinking a healing potion and crying from the pain in her leg. Aleister was trying to get to her and shield her with his own body. He didn't get there in time.

Snik'tik easily hit her with his life drain, nearly killing her. At level 3, she barely had 250 health in total, and some of that was already gone from the trap. She only had a handful of health left and one more shot would kill her.

Aleister pulled out a thick metal rod that he hadn't used before. Bracing himself, he prepared to shoot it at the necromancer. Snik'tik was watching the human bring up the clumsy-looking wand and shaking his head. Never let your opponent know what you are doing. Concentration and cunning are what won the day! He prepared to dodge.

Ozzy picked up the skull of the shaman he'd just killed and tossed it at Snik'tik. The rat easily dodged but it made him split his attention between Ozzy and Aleister. Aleister held out his arm and yelled "Shazam!"

Snik'tik leaped, landing on the opposite side of the room.

Two things were unfortunate about this spot. The first was the firebomb Zephyr had casually rolled over in that direction a couple of seconds before. The second was that Aleister didn't fire the Concussion Rod when he yelled. Now he did fire, at the area where the necromancer was about to land. The Concussion Rod shot out a large blast of force that covered a ten-foot diameter circle. It also set off the firebomb.

The rat was thrown back against the wall and fell to the floor. Ozzy took two steps and jumped, coming down on top of him.

Now it was a race to see who could out-damage the other guy. Ozzy had to stay on top of Snik'tik to keep him pinned, but that meant Snik'tik couldn't miss with a life drain. Zephyr and Aleister took Ozzy at his word and started throwing firebomb after firebomb. Zephyr rolled hers underhand, unable to throw well from the pain of her leg, and counted on her Father's bombs to trigger hers. Each one did a negligible amount of damage from the concussion, hurting both Ozzy and the Necromance for 5 damage each as they unleashed the equivalent of a low-level Wizard's fireball. Ozzy was negating most of the damage and wasn't worried about his stamina. The rat would kill him long before it ran out. He did what he could to make his shots count

"Weaken, asshole."

Ozzy hacked away, ignoring notices from the game. He'd either die or he wouldn't. He concentrated on what he did best: Hack flesh, and chop bone. Ozzy hacked, the rat burned and then healed as he drained Ozzy. The cycle repeated several times.

Snik'tik heard the clatter of bone and metal coming down the hallway. A veritable army of undead rat-kin and other humanoids had come around the last corner to charge into the room. This was good news for the great Snik'tik, the mightiest of necromancers. He only had two spells left and was slowly losing this fight. The cheating human had far too much health and was doing more damage than he could steal. Worse, the constant pounding of the cursed cleavers was disrupting his spells. Snik'tik hated cheaters!

"And now you will die! My minions approach. My cunning plan is revealed." He threw one of his last spells at Ozzy.

Ozzy felt very, very bad. His arms were sluggish and looked thin with loose skin hanging down. A tooth was loose in his mouth and fell out.

[You have been life drained for 2D100 damage. You have lost 150 Health. Your health is temporarily reduced by 150 points. Health 109/109.]

But he smiled at the sight of the approaching undead horde.

Zephyr yelled out. "Hey, Half-Dwarf! You left the portcullis down, idiot, they can't get in."

"What??? NO!...stupid minions! the lever…" Ozzy's cleavers came down on his skull, splitting it and doing enough damage to take away Snik'tiks' last 85 points of health.

[You have slain Snik'tik, a Level 5 Elite Rat-kin Necromancer!

Each party member receives 500 experience points towards leveling their class. They also receive 500 experience points that may be applied to any stat that was used during this fight.

Zephyr: DEX, INT, CHA, AGI

Aleister: DEX, INT, WIS

Ozzy: STR, CON, RAD, INT, COR

Zephyr has gained the Skill: Dungeon Leader (CHA).

Each party member receives 10 Enhancement Points.]

A Tier 1 Loot Chest is waiting for you at the dungeon entrance.]

The world was spinning for Ozzy. He slumped against the wall. He heard the undead pounding at the gate and saw Zephyr crying in pain as Aleister tried to disable the trap holding her. It wasn't a good time to nap, but he wasn't being given a choice.