With two coins in their collective purse, lunch in their belly, and four one-health potions in their inventory, Flor and Alastair were ready to enter the Carillon again. Alastair had decided to maximize potions, supposing they’d earn more coins fighting mechanical mice or other monsters.

The monsters seemed to be a bit randomized on the landings. Flor took the lead and plowed through the landings, defeating two Mechanical Mason Mice, Mechanical Mouse Maids, and Mechanical Mechanic Mice. Her gloves seemed to add one damage to each hit. She broke through each mouse’s defense easily. She came out of the Mechanized Mechanical Mouse Miner battle minus one health. Otherwise, it had taken them what seemed like ten minutes to get to the second, hexagonal floor landing rather than the thirty minutes it had taken the day before.

“Seems like the gloves were an effective purchase. We’ve already earned the coins invested in them back.”

“Absolutely. By the way, I think that rage reduction did wonders for me. I feel so much more clear-headed. I wonder if we can get a permanent rage reduction? Or cap it out. Or expend it. Something to release this frustration. I feel like the reduction will end shortly and I’ll be a grumpy cat, again.”

“Yeah. Curiously, the rage seems to affect you more than me. Don’t…don’t think about saying something about women, there,” she said, pointing a finger at him.

“I wasn’t. I wasn’t going to Little Mac.” {As in Little Mac from Nintendo’s 1987 hit game Mike Tyson’s Punch Out. }

“That’s not my name,” Flor said, smiling. “Let’s check out this landing then keep working our way up. Do we need anything else for more chronos?”

“No, we’re matched up on loot. We can mass produce and have nothing left over.”

“This landing is kinda boring. All these landings could use something other than just open space and a pit.” The pendulum and weights were visible, but the entire pit was fenced in with ornate brass fencing, likely as a safety precaution. “Let’s see what confronts us on the landings going up to level three.” They worked their way upstairs and walked up to the first landing.

A standing white rabbit dressed in a pencil skirt and crisp white shirt walked out of a hole in the wall of the landing. She had a cute little hat perched between her ears and froze upon seeing them. Before Alastair could think, the interface came up and Alastair was in combat. Oh well, I’ve got full health and we still have health potions. Hopefully, this isn’t too challenging.

Alastair, perhaps as part of the calming effect from the rage reduction, proceeded cautiously and selected a five-block. He glowed blue and saw the little cartoon animation of Flor nodding appreciatively. Perhaps it was fortunate he did because the rabbit glowed red. It then pulled a foot-long hairpin out from her hat and wielded it like she was about to stab him. {Which is part of the reason ‘hare pins’ existed.} She threw the hat at Alastair and thrust the pin at his chest. He blocked the attack easily. He saw the opportunity for a block and attack combo by swapping a blue and red rune and readied his attack. The rabbit also glowed red and blue, so perhaps this would be a wasted turn. The rabbit twirled the hairpin and started an overhand stab at Alastair, which he blocked easily before kicking out. The rabbit leaned to the side and his kick missed. Huh. We seem to be evenly matched. I need to go all out, and maybe get injured in the process.

Alastair combined five red runes and Flor added a bit of oomph to the attack. The bunny also glowed red, and Alastair expected he’d get injured once she attacked. He just hoped it wasn’t strong enough to take him out of the rest of today. Even if it does, we’ve learned a bit today. The rabbit twirled the hairpin again and crouched, then pounced forward with her powerful legs in a double kick. He was bringing both hands down in a smashing motion when her flying kick connected with his stomach and his arms crushed down on her head. Surprised and in pain, he doubled over. He thought it would be good to block and heal, but the rabbit remained down.

“Ouch. That looked like it should have hurt,” said Flor.

“Thankfully there isn’t a pain representation. Because, yeah.”

“You want to loot?”

Alastair knelt next to the rabbit and observed that it was a Robotic Receptionist Rabbit. He found two coins and one gear set in the loot. “Not terrible. It seems like these give more coins and maybe have a better drop rate for gear, even if they certainly are stronger. I’ll be more careful and let you take the lead from here on out.”

“Are you at one health? Use at least one of the potions, just in case. Maybe the enemies have an ambush feature and we don’t want to be surprised.”

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

“Sure. I’ll use one for now.” He pulled out the tiny red bottle from his inventory. It was a standard-looking potion vial with a cork. He pulled the cork and swallowed the solution quickly. “Hmm. Strawberry flavored. Not awful.”

“Three potions left. Let’s be mindful and play it safe, right?”

“Yeah, of course. Does it bother you that healing runes are green in the combat, but the health potions are red?”

“I hadn’t thought about it, so not really.”

Flor led the way to the next landing, where she faced a Robotic Rabbit Roofer. Her standing gambit was a general block and attack, while the Roofer fully attacked. Perhaps it was the new gloves, but Flor blocked the tile the Roofer threw at her and then jabbed him in the face. The rabbit looked dazed, then fell to the ground and stopped moving.

“Those gloves are pretty great.”

“Yeah. Perhaps we should consider spending the nine coins for the next level up, especially before we assault the Mayor.” Flor knelt to loot. “Robotic Rabbit Roofer. Come away with three more coins and a shingle. Never mind, the shingle crumbled. Great…”

Alastair nodded, and then a feeling of heat flashed through him.

Your temporary rage reduction has disappeared.

“I’m back to full rage. I’ll be mindful to try not to be a jerk.”

“How much further up should we go?”

“A few more. Let’s try to make it through the second mini-boss, assuming this is structured like the last group.”

They worked their way up, fighting two more Roofers and one more Receptionist. Flor was still in full health.

“I’m going to use another health potion, just in case something goes wonky, okay?” said Alastair. Flor shrugged, then waited while he chugged the potion. “And that one was watermelon… Alright. Let’s go face off against a rascally rabbit wrecker. Or whatever.”

Alastair noticed the walls glow yellow. After a moment, a hole in the wall opened and a large rabbit in a long thick leather smock walked out wearing a full-on heat-resistant mask and what had to be flame-resistant gloves. It carried a large prod in one hand. Flor took a fighting stance and was ready for the interface. The rabbit raised the prod like a baseball bat and took a swinging stance. Alastair wished he could oomph the first turn, but since it wasn’t allowed, he watched as Flor cautiously approached and swapped a blue and a green rune. The rabbit glowed red and took a swing, but Flor stepped back and avoided the force of it. Since she was already healthy, nothing occurred from the green runes. Then, surprisingly, the interface flashed red and a warning flashed up.

Warning. One turn until flare up.

What does that mean? Hopefully, Flor can finish this before we have to find out. She swapped a red rune for green to create a four-red rune combo. Alastair added his oomph. The rabbit glowed blue, however, and took a defensive stance as Flor rushed forward with a one-two-three jab uppercut combo. The rabbit blocked the first jab, took the second to the face, and twisted away from the uppercut. The screen flashed red.

Caution. Flare up! You take one heat damage!

Damn! That flare-up is awful. It got both of us, and I’m not even in combat. Finish this fast Flor. She must have been thinking the same since Alastair saw her take a health potion and chug it. How is she doing that in combat? And why can’t I? Maybe because I’m merely supporting.

With full health, Flor decided to be risky. She swapped a bone rune for a red, creating an L-shaped five-red combo. Alastair said Oomph! The rabbit glowed red and blue. It jabbed with its prod, striking Flor in the shoulder. She disregarded the blow and rushed the rabbit, picked it up, and slammed it head-first to the floor. She backed up and prepared to select her next move, but the rabbit didn’t get up. The interface disappeared and the yellow barrier fell.

“Wow! That was a bit more than the last one,” he said.

“I don’t have the stamina to go up another level today. Mentally, I mean. I’m tired.”

“I bet. Let’s loot this guy, get you to full health, and maybe consider seeing what the next level holds?”

“Maybe. Give me a couple of minutes for a breather. You loot?”

He moved over. “Reacting Robotized Rabbit Refractor. What’s a refractor? Someone who refracts?”

“Deals with boilers and kilns and high heat equipment. Maybe it makes sense that there was that heat blast. That was unexpected.”

“Well, this rabbit dropped three coins and three pieces of loot. Seems like this clock tower is the place to grind. So, one more landing? Just to see the monster? Come on, Little Mac, you know you have it in you. After this, we’ll call it a day. Head to the Cricket? Drink some wine?”

“Fine. One more.” The third floor was as barren as the second. They went directly to the stairs and started climbing, ensuring Flor was in the lead. “I’m going heavy-handed on this, because I want to be done, right?”

At the landing, a hooded figure looked into a vial of blue liquid and held another yellow vial in its other hand. “Sure. Finish this quick, Little Mac. Is that the nickname that’s going to stick?”

She approached the hooded figure and matched up a strong five-red lead. The hooded figure glowed blue, then swallowed the potion in its hand. It seemed to grow in size by about half again. That’s intimidating! But Flor once again rushed forward and with a strong roundhouse kick to the side, the hooded figure, buffed as it was, flew into the wall and crumbled, then melted back down to the original size.

“Okay. Go loot this thing and then let’s get out of here.”

Frightened at the show of Flor’s martial prowess, Alastair complied. “Huh. Automatic Apothecary Anteater. I would not have guessed much of that.” He pulled out another three coins and a small red vial. “Ooh, it dropped a health potion. Probably? It looks like the health potions we’ve been using.”

“Good. Let’s keep one on hand to see if it survives the night. Now, you mentioned wine? No more shenanigans. Or, if you choose to do more, you can do so without me.” Flor cracked her neck and started back down the stairs. Alastair followed sheepishly.