We set our eyes on a place known only to the small, furry creatures of the dungeon, the ones who clean up the mess left by intruders and graciously liberate them of their valuables. Of course, this refers to the rats, rust-red fur, cute little eyes, and the best kleptomaniacs on the mountain. For this reason, their maker chose them for a specialized mission requiring great skill and precision.
Steal everything you find.
Glorious words that unfortunately didn’t translate perfectly, but that was alright, for the rats took it to mean that their maker wished them to be themselves, just a bit more intensely.
So, here they were in their burrow, planning their great heist.
“Squeak” A worm rider states, his plan is flawless.
”Squueeack?” Says a part collector, uncertain of the worm rider’s plans.
”Sque-”
But before their dialogue could continue, a newcomer barged in, barely fitting into the space with their massive form.
” Chitter.” Says the newcomer.
Oh, the assembly thought, a rat from the lower levels, big and fat from the power and feasts that were in abundance down there. It was a rare occasion for someone from below the second floor to come up this high, they always complained of the ‘not-air’ being too thin.
“Squeak?”
For what purpose does one of the deep-level rats come before the Assembly, they are in the middle of carrying out the maker’s wishes and are soon to take their leave.
“Hiss, chitter!”
Scandalous, but perhaps true. Indeed, the upper levels were many, but they lacked the power and ability to steal things worthwhile, the newcomer’s accusation was thus simple, but scandalous, the assembly of rats was insufficient to serve their master, such that this deep-level rat wished to challenge their leader for control of the Assembly. Many of those gathered whispered amongst each other, that such a thing had never happened before, and even more, how would it happen?
The assembly was formed by the first rats ever made, forming an assembly to reap the bounty of the outside world and order themselves. It was far from perfect though, often Assembly members would fight each other over minor issues, only for the lack of leadership to allow the issue to spiral out of control, resulting in messes like the… incident. Because of this, those gathered were uncertain as to how to respond to the large rat’s challenge, would they elect a champion, or all fight them?
”Squeak!”
It seems the choice was made for them then, a rat from the third floor had answered the challenge.
The two stood across from one another, each sizing the other up, a task that wasn’t terribly difficult for the newcomer seeing as they were still a good whisker’s length taller.
“Squeak?”
”Hiss.”
It was agreed, that their fight would be the mission their master gave them, whoever gets the most and best stuff would become the first-ever leader of the Rat Assembly.
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Third-Floor Rat, or Three as its brain simplified, had gathered the best thieves of the Assembly. Rats who were skilled in infiltration, distraction, and theft, each had cut their teeth on the valuables of the intruders, and each had proven their worth in the past. Its plan was simple, they had been ordered to take everything but for both the competition and their master it was better for them to focus on the true valuables.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
They began by sneaking through the friendly human’s den, the humans inside knew to not touch them, at first it was an order from their lord but quickly they learned why. Despite being rats themselves they never ate the fortress’ food nor spread disease, instead, they were often seen digging out regular rats and disposing of them, often taking them into the dungeon. For this reason, Three and his team maneuvered through without incident, making their way across the gap between the fortress and the road leading below.
Once they all got across, the plan had begun. Quickly they made their way to their target, ignoring the other human dens in favor of their target, a group with the image of a chain on their flag. Making their way around, through, under, and over the sentries, they found themselves in the room of what was surely an important human, he was covered in expensive clothing made from the best silks and embroidered with silver and gold, not that the rats knew this, all they saw was a pile of shiny equipment. Equipment they knew they wouldn’t be able to get away with while the human was here, asleep or not.
Getting to work, Three had their distractor begin to jostle the man awake, rapidly opening and closing a lampshade using a strange button on the side, flashing the sleeping man for a minute straight before he roused from his slumber.
“By the gods, the hell do you want?!”
”I-I don’t know what you mean lord-commander?”
The guard didn’t know why his superior was angry, only that it would be very, very bad for him.
” That flashing, someone’s doing it, and I certainly don’t see anyone but you, now answer.”
” We-well I-I…”
Three snickered, as easy as fly pie.
Still, the human was still too close, and thankfully the distractor was up to the task, they quickly scuttled stealthily to another and began to flash the duo again.
” Hmph, seems you are innocent of this, find the one who is doing that and bring them to me, and I’ll hold you accountable.”
The guard let out a pathetic noise, halfway between an actual word and a cry. He left his lord and began to head to the flashing lamp, leaving the paladin commander alone.
“Grumble, I’ll have to have Chancey recast the barrier, if some simpleton or child decided this is some game then I’ll show them the mercy of the lord of chains.”
With that he went back inside, his sleep-addled mind not noticing the retreating tails and hairs of the rats.
This human would be an issue and a big one at that. Their maker hadn't said it explicitly, but they very much understood that they needed to be quiet with this mission, something that wouldn't be possible if this man stayed in the tent. The damned part of it though, was that aside from the valuable shinies themselves there was little they could use to deal with him. Sniffing around, he couldn't help but notice a strange pungent odor coming from a nearby box, a terrible smell for a human, but delectably attractive for a rat, perhaps there was cheese in this box!
Three quickly knew he must see in this box, surely food was just as good as shinies, right?
But as he and his comrades started to work the lock and surrounding wood he found himself being thrown out, and standing by the human's smelly box was the deep-level rat surrounded by others from his level.
"Hiss!"
Beat it, in what could be called rat language.
Three and his team ran, rats they both were but the difference in strength was simply too large for him to risk his or his crew's life, they had pups to return to. That being said, they still needed to find something. Since their primary target was taken, they had little choice but to choose from the others, perhaps the shiny bird people would be worthwhile-
BANG
The rats were blasted far by a massive shockwave that came from their original target. Panicking, he and the others ran for cover, desperate to hide from the humans that had begun to swarm the blast site. Jumping into a shaken thatch hut their luck went from bad to worse.
Six humans in all-black clothing wielding knives stood there, a human wearing similar clothes to the ones they saw walking around was being hurt, strange Three thought, he believed humans would like each other like he did his siblings.
"...Familiars?"
The small lady-looking human spoke softly, almost silently. But as she started to understand what was before her the tallest of the group lunged for them.
"Stop you idiot...!"
But Three wouldn't waste time figuring out what that was or who they were. Running around and through the legs of rushing humans, he found himself in the center area of the human den. Seeing and smelling no one inside he and the others jumped down. Taking a moment to catch their breath and calm their nerves, they heard the humans begin to talk.
"-Avenge the lord-commander! We will not let this sin abide, so take up your spears, swords, and staves, we march on them now, for the lord-commander!"
Another lady human was yelling, what, the rats had little idea, but what interested them was what their noses had sniffed out. Ignoring the cries and yelling behind them, the tiny thieves couldn't believe their eyes. Before them was a pile of shinies, sharp ones, dull ones, ones made of paper, and others made of crystals. All manner of treasure laid there, all for someone like them to take! So, while a great and terrible battle took place outside, all the rats could think of was how long it would take to get this back to the den!