She pushed up the steps and kept going. She heard another squeak at the second landing and her combat interface appeared. She prepared herself to fight another mouse maid, but this time the mouse had on coveralls with a screwdriver in one pocket and a wrench in its hand.
Let me guess. You are a Mechanical Mouse Mechanic. Let’s get this over with. Flor selected a heavy-handed move that combined five red runes. She and the mouse both glowed red, and Flor knocked her left fist into her right palm before raising her arms above her head and smashing down toward the mechanic. As her arms were coming down, the mouse swung the wrench side armed which landed against her knee just as she smashed into him. The mouse made a whirring sound and its head popped off, just as Flor noticed her health dropped by one.
Combat complete. +1 to Combat.
Attempt again? Yes/No?
Once is enough. Examining the mouse’s body, she found one coin and one ‘spring, over-wound.’
“We’ve got one of four pieces, at least. You take the next combat, Al. I’m down one health already.”
“Um, sure, but this body isn’t built for combat.”
“Well, do the math. So far we’ve got a fifty percent find rate, each of these things seems to have one or two health, so if we take on six more we should…maybe…find all the pieces to make the chrono.”
“Yeah, but that’s not the point I’m making. Like, can I even fight in this body?”
“It’s important to know. How about we fight a couple more mice, and then make and sell some chronos. Maybe we’ll find a recipe for a health potion or something, and then come back? Will that make you feel better? In the worst case, we buy the items for the chronos.”
“Sure, fine.” He took the lead in front of her walking up the stairs to the next landing. She observed as another mouse maid appeared and Alastair went into a trance. The interface took her a moment later, and she saw the normal five-by-seven rune grid, but this time there was a larger Alastair and a cartoon Flor. Alastair swapped a red rune for a blue, which gave him a block-and-hit combo. The mouse maid looked at him with wide eyes. Maybe it had selected a bone combo for the next turn because Alastair kicked at the mouse and it flew into the wall and shattered.
Coming out of their interfaces, Alastair said, “Huh?!” Flor didn’t get an indication that combat was done otherwise and went over to the mouse maid.
“Just another coin this time. Maybe it’s only the mechanics that have real loot?”
“We’ll see. That was easier than expected, so let’s do a few more and if either of us get to a single health, we can leave, yeah?”
She nodded, and he went up to the next floor. Expecting another mechanic, Flor was surprised when the next mouse had a brick and a trowel. “Mason…devs are surely going for alliteration.”
Alastair entered combat, and Flor did a moment behind him. The Mason mouse glowed red and blue, mimicking what Alastair had done the previous match. Expecting another blank stair, Alastair swapped for a heavy red strike. His fists glowed red and he went into a similar smashing action that Flor had done with the Mechanic. As Alastair’s hands came down, the mouse held up the brick like a shield while thrusting forward with the trowel. Alastair’s hand broke through the brick and smashed the Mason but not before taking the trowel to the knee. Flor saw his health decrease by one, and then combat ended.
Alistair bent to look at the smashed mouse and stood up with a tiny stone brick. “No idea what a brick will do for us, but I wonder if it’ll disappear if we don’t use it by tonight?”
“You want me to take the next one?”
“No, I’ll do at least one more and we’ll see how it goes.”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
At the next landing, it was another mechanic. After two full turns, Alastair came out in full health with another two coins.
“This loot drop rate is a bit low.”
“The merchant did warn us about that. It is for a relatively unique item.”
“But even things not associated with constructing the item. Like why are there only springs, gears, and escapements?”
The sixth landing had yet another mouse maid. This maid also kicked the bucket which flew into Alastair’s eye. Two points dropped from his health causing him to miss his attack. Did…did the last mouse maid save her critical for this fight? That’s a concerning concept.
{Flor considered this from two standpoints. First, is this indeed the same Mechanical Mouse Maid that has already been kicked and smashed? Second, if not the same, how could a critical be saved and transferred to another foe? Could it also work between her and Alastair? Or was it truly just a lucky critical strike? Was she reading too much into this? I think so.}
Alastair safely blocked and healed, and Flor flashed alongside him, adding some oomph to his actions. This caused him to restore up to three health and block the maid’s next jab. On turn three, he simultaneously blocked and attacked, and Flor added to the motion, so the Maid flew into the landing’s wall and shattered.
A bit shaken, Alastair went to loot the Maid. “Woot! Another spring!”
“Maybe we can trade that for one of the other pieces, or maybe it’s needed for another craft?”
“Do you want me to take the next mouse?”
“No, I’m at three and you’re probably at two. Let’s be safe and I’ll take it.”
“Fair dinkum.” She walked up the stairs behind him. “You think it’s mice all the way up, rather than turtles all the way down? {Some say elephants all the way down, but this narrator follows the world turtle theory, because why not?}
“I hope not. The mice wouldn’t challenge us if we were stronger.”
Alastair stepped on the next landing and Flor followed him. The walls began to glow a bit of yellow and shimmered, and Flor looked behind her to see the same shimmer run all around the landing, including at the stairs.
“What’s this mean, Alastair?”
“Uh, mini-boss? What landing is this?”
“Seven.”
“So seven sides and the seventh landing is a mini-boss…” A thud shook the tower around them. “Not sure I’m ready for this.”
A second thud shook them, and some mortar fell from the walls while the ensconced lights flickered. Flor looked around for the cause. The floor shuddered again. Flor noticed something emerge from a hole in the wall. A squat mouse rode in a mechanical contraption with one heavy pneumatic hammer-shaped arm and another shaped like a drill. This contraption stood halfway up Alastair’s torso. “This might be a bit more challenging. Focus on blocking to start,” Flor said just before Alastair entered the combat daze. She entered a moment later.
Alastair took Flor’s advice and set up a block of five runes. She decided to wait, not knowing how many oomphs she could add. The mouse glowed red as it pushed and pulled at levers and dials. The mech rushed forward and punched, first with the hammer and then the drill. Alastair blocked both of the mech’s attacks. Alastair selected another block and hit combo, and Flor poured some oomph into it, hoping to get this fight over sooner rather than later.
Alastair, red and blue, punched at the mouse then whirled around to the backside where he threw a second jab at the drill arm. That arm sparked at the joint before the drill whirled and swung toward him. Alastair’s defense caused the drill to slide right past. The mouse squared up again while Alastair selected a full five attack. Flor oomphed the attack, and Alastair raised both fists to crush down on the mech. The mouse glowed green and blue, and as Alastair’s fists slammed down, Flor noticed a second little mechanical mouse had come out from somewhere on the mech with a blowtorch and was doing something to the joint that Alastair had jabbed. {Think R2D2 fixing an x-wing mid-fight.} The mouse threw both arms up to block the blow, but based on the strength and oomph, took the blow right in the cockpit. It crumbled before them.
Coming out of combat, Alastair and Flor breathed a sigh of relief. Alastair sat against the landing wall, which had stopped glowing yellow, while Flor looted. “Want to guess the title of this one?”
“How about mechanical mouse miner?”
“Not far off, but not elaborate enough. Mechanized Mechanical Mouse Miner. And it dropped both a case and a gear set. That’s four of four items. Should we call it an afternoon of dungeon climbing?”
“Yeah. I’m not excited to see what’s at the next landing until we can get stronger. Let’s spend the rest of the day crafting and making money, then head to the Cricket.”
----------------------------------------
Congratulations! You have pet a cat!
You have met Pedro. {Cat 022 is a Cyprus named Pedro. He’s a pretty cat who likes to nap anywhere possible, especially in the woodpile at the back of the clock tower where he can watch the mechanical workings.}
Create Fast Chrono? Estimated cost 60 minutes and 4 energy. This uses one case, one spring, one escapement, and one gear set? Yes/No?
Puzzle complete. +4 to Nonograms.
Attempt puzzle again? Yes/No?
You don’t have enough materials.