34 – Bonus Opportunities

  Andy stood before the warped wooden door, his spear held ready as Omar gripped the handle and looked at him. He nodded, and Omar yanked on the door, pulling it away from the frame with a rough scrape. Andy peered into the dark, his eyes gleaming with the effects of his Ember Vision. All he saw was a dusty, cobweb-strewn stairwell leading down.

  The steps were rough wooden planks with ancient, rusty nails poking out of the dry wood, but when he advanced and took a few steps, they seemed sturdy enough. They’d agreed on a marching order—Andy, Bella, Lucy, Bea, and Omar bringing up the rear. The only problem with Andy’s new Cloak of Shifting Smoke spell was that it ate twenty-five mana a minute. Combined with Ember Vision—necessary if he was going to be on the lookout for traps or enemies in the dark buildings—it was enough to stop his regeneration cold. That said, he only intended to use it for short bursts.

  Descending the stairwell seemed like a good time, so he cast the spell, and as he felt the warm sensation of the smoke cloaking his body, he continued down. Bella knew that if he faded from sight, she was to give him a ten-count to get ahead. Andy padded down the steps, his movements muffled by his magic, and when he came to a landing—the third floor of the three-story building—he paused and put his eye up to a wide crack in the door there.

  He caught his breath when he saw a hulking ratman walking toward the door. He had to be more than six feet tall, and his girth made him an easy 250 pounds. The creature was carrying a heavy-looking, rusted mace and wore leather armor made up of brass-studded straps. All in all, the creature was significantly more dangerous-looking than any of the rat-people they’d faced back in the tunnels under the mesa.

  The huge ratman was about halfway down a long corridor and approaching, its faintly red eyes glancing left to right as it passed doorways. Andy turned to the stairs, only to see Bella almost down to the landing. He hurried closer and whispered, “Big ratman coming.”

  She nodded, her naked sword glinting in Bea’s light. “Fight?”

  Andy wondered how big the fight would become; would it just be the one ratman, or would ten or a hundred other rats come running? His mind raced, knowing every second brought the big ratman closer. Could he realistically expect their party to sneak through the city? He knew the answer was no. “Okay, get down on the landing—give Lucy a clear shot.”

  Bella nodded, and then Andy slipped forward past the door, hoping to get the ratman’s back when he came through. As he readied himself, he saw Lucy ready herself on the stairs, an arrow nocked to her bow. Meanwhile, Omar stepped forward, putting himself between Bea and the others. Andy was relieved to see he wasn’t trying to push his way down onto the landing to join the upcoming melee.

  It was a small landing, and he had to put one foot back onto a step, but he was ready, spear leveled, when the handle rattled, the door swung open, and the huge, man-shaped rat stepped through. It immediately saw Bella, but it didn’t matter; she was already driving her sword toward its belly, pushing the point between a gap in its leather straps.

  The thrust hit, but the ratman was fast. It stepped back and hacked its heavy club at Bella’s extended arm. She barely pulled it back in time to avoid the blow. Even so, the enchantments Andy had put on the sword triggered, and even from behind the monster, he heard the hiss of venom and heard the ratman grumble a strange curse. Meanwhile, Andy didn’t wait—he let his Critical Mastery guide his spear as he drove it at the ratman’s lower back.

  The black flames limning his spearhead slipped through leather and flesh alike, and Andy felt the ratman’s innards give way before his powerful stab. The ratman didn’t just grumble in pain this time; he screamed a terrific roar and tried to whirl. Andy didn’t let up, though, pushing the ratman forward as one of Lucy’s arrows slammed into its chest, erupting in a fountain of fire that set its fur alight.

  In a panic, the ratman dropped its heavy club with a thud and slapped its clawed paws at its head. Bella capitalized and drove her sword into its belly again, this time much deeper. Andy pulled back his spear and stabbed again, and another arrow pounded into the creature. It was done. With a long, wheezing sigh, it collapsed, shaking the wooden landing to the point that Andy feared it might separate from the wall and fall down the stairwell.

  He leaped for the doorway, getting his feet onto the stone-floored hallway, just in case, but the landing held. While Bella scrambled over the ratman’s corpse to stand beside him, Andy stared down the hallway, straining his ears to see if any more rats were en route. He heard distant noises—scratches, squeaks, even roars coming from beyond the building’s walls, but nothing that sounded like reinforcements rushing their way.

  ***Scarag Heights – Optional Quest: Reduce the Baron’s Forces, Stage One: 14/400.***

  “Fourteen?” Bella asked, looking up at Andy.

  He heard the others moving behind them, so Andy turned to face them. “You all saw that?”

  “Maybe that sound we heard was other people fighting the ratmen,” Bella guessed. “Didn’t it say other people from other, um, entrances could be in here with us?”

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  Andy nodded. “Yeah. That makes sense, I guess.”

  “Reminds me of a game,” Bella said. “Like, the ‘stage one’ stuff.”

  “I’ve never played games like that,” Bea said, “but it makes me wonder if reducing the baron’s forces will make things easier for us when we fight him.”

  “Yeah,” Andy replied. “It would make sense, wouldn’t it?”

  “I think I’m going to spend some Improvement Points,” the older woman said. “I just got another level, and I think I can get my cleansing water to morph into something better—the System gave me a hint a couple levels ago.”

  Andy looked at the others, then pointed toward the hallway. “Let me scout this way. I’ll come back and report.”

  Omar stepped forward, gingerly testing the landing. “I want to search this thing. That mace looks interesting.”

  “What about the armor?” Bella asked.

  Andy turned back to the hallway, leaving them to it. Casting Cloak of Shifting Smoke, he crept forward. The hallway ran the length of the building, and he counted five doors—two on the left and three on the right. None were closed; in fact, three of them were missing. The first two rooms revealed by the doorways were filled with junk; the third was piled high with barrels, and the fourth had a great hole where the floor should be. It was in the last room that he found what he thought was the huge ratman’s quarters; a musty mattress piled with old blankets sat against one wall and a large wooden chest occupied another.

  Finding nothing else of interest and no impending threats, Andy cancelled his cloak spell and hurried back to the others. When he slipped through the door, he found Omar weighing the ratman’s mace in one hand, frowning at his spear. Andy had to admit, the mace looked formidable next to his spear—it was much punier than Andy’s. “Gonna use that?”

  Omar nodded. “It’s solid metal under that rust. Heavy as hell.”

  “I found a chest. Let’s check it out.” He turned to Bea. “All set?”

  “I am! My cleansing spell will now ‘invigorate allies caught in its radius.’ I just need to have water to sprinkle in the air when I cast it.” She patted the canteen on her hip.

  Andy hefted his magical waterskin, also hanging from his belt. “If you run out, just say so.”

  “Nothing much else on this guy,” Bella said. “I don’t want this armor—it reeks.”

  “Follow me, then.” Andy led the way back to the room with the chest, and when they’d all gathered, he nudged the square, iron-strapped box with his spear. “Doesn’t seem like it has a trap.”

  “You think these vermin use traps?” Bea asked.

  Omar shrugged. “Seems like something rats would do.”

  “I’ve got pretty high perception,” Andy said, moving around the chest, looking at every visible angle. “I don’t see anything.”

  “You’re the fastest,” Bella said. “Wanna open it?”

  Andy raised an eyebrow, considering. She had a point. “Stand in the hallway, everyone, but don’t crowd the door; I’m gonna run through it.”

  He handed his spear to Bella, and she took it, nodding. When they’d all gone through the doorway, Andy leaned forward, grasped the metal latch on the chest, and after silently counting to three, he threw it open and dove for the door. He was out before the lid clanged against the wall. When nothing exploded and he didn’t feel any sudden pains, he stopped in the doorway and turned to look. The chest was wide open, and nothing seemed amiss.

  “Nice job, Andy.” Omar clapped him on the shoulder, and Bella handed him his spear. Andy walked back to the chest and peered inside. “Huh,” he said when he saw a small leather bag, a pair of leather boots, and a neatly folded gray blanket.

  “No way that rat guy folded that blanket like that,” Lucy whispered.

  Bella chuckled. “I agree.”

  “Maybe the System put them here,” Andy said, picking up the boots. “They look unused.” They were too small for him by a couple of inches, but they were nicely made with heavy stitching and some kind of fibrous sole that reminded him of cork. “Hey, is this cork?” He handed the boots to Bea, who was leaning close.

  She stepped back, turning the boots—laces tied together—this way and that. “Not cork, but something similar. They might fit me—” She looked at Bella’s and Lucy’s feet. “Maybe you two as well.”

  While they took turns holding the boots up to their feet, Andy picked up the pouch. It was heavy, and it jangled with the telltale sound of coins. When he opened the drawstring, he found a handful of silver coins and about twenty tarnished copper ones. Grinning, he tossed it to Omar, then picked up the blanket. As far as he could tell, it was just that—a fairly clean, woolen blanket. “Anyone want this?”

  “I brought one,” Bella said, grunting as she pulled one of her new leather boots on. Everyone echoed the sentiment, so Andy shrugged and set it back in the chest.

  “Those fit?”

  “They feel great,” she said, tugging on the second one’s uppers until her heel popped down into the boot.

  “Ready? We’ve got a long damn way to go before we get to that keep.” Andy started for the door and everyone followed. When he got back to the stairwell, he turned, waiting for them to come through. “I’ll go ahead again.”

  Casting his cloak spell, he glided down the steps, pausing on the next stairwell to peer through the doorway again. This time, he didn’t see any movement, and decided to keep going. The ground floor was quiet also, and a little exploring led him to an open doorway—the doors were broken to pieces on the ground—and he paused there to wait for the others.

  While he waited, he hunkered in the shadows against the wall and canceled his vision and cloak spells, allowing his mana to regenerate. He waited only a few seconds before Bella came into view, and by the time she caught up to him, the others were on the way. Andy gestured to the doorway. “It’s outside next. I have a feeling things aren’t going to stay this quiet for long.”

  Though the building was dark, the outside street was bathed in sunlight, and Andy couldn’t think of an easy way to make it through the town without being seen. He shrugged and said, “I guess we can try to, like, run from alley to alley, but there are rats in those buildings, and if they look out the windows…” He trailed off, shrugging.

  When everyone looked at the doorway, and no one spoke right away, Andy gestured to Lucy. “She can sneak around with that cloak. Maybe together we could at least do some scout—”

  The unmistakable cadence of boots marching on cobbles interrupted Andy’s train of thought, and then a deep, gravelly voice bellowed something in a language that had never been uttered on Earth. A moment later, the System sent them their second message of the day:

  ***Scarag Heights – Optional Quest: Jarqar the Butcher – One of the Baron’s lieutenants is wandering nearby with his squadron of twenty Blitz-Rat Troopers. Defeat them for bonus experience and treasure.***