by Phoenix Grey
Rat Tail
Quantity: 1
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 0.0 kg
Uses: Loot. Sell for coin.
“You better hope that more rats don’t come from behind,” Azure teased, prompting her to move further into the room.
Once they were done looting the bodies, the three Adventurers turned their attention to the chest. It was the size of a beer cooler, made of redwood and covered in ornate gold carvings that swirled along the edges. An oversized matching gold padlock kept it closed at the latch.
“This just smells of a trap,” Lonnell muttered, keeping his distance from the chest.
“Well, there’s only one way to find out.” Azure pushed forward, his greed getting the best of him. Whatever was inside, he wanted it.
“Be careful,” Janine warned, seeming indecisive about whether to hug the wall or stay close to her comrades. Nothing seemed safe.
“Careful’s my middle name.” Azure reached the chest and picked up the lock, examining it for a brief second before his eyes rose to wait for whatever touching the chest might unleash.
Nothing happened.
He gave the lock a few good tugs, but... what’s the point of having a lock if it doesn’t do its job.
“There’s more than one way to skin a cat.” Azure pulled his Black Dagger out, hoping he wouldn’t break it while he tried to pick the lock. Pushing the tip of the blade into the keyhole and turning produced no results.
“Here. Let me try.” Janine shouldered her way in. In her hand was a lock pick.
Lonnell’s mouth dropped. “Do you mean to tell me you’re a thief?”
She visibly cringed at his accusation before turning to him. “No. I got these for completing a quest. Jeez. Someone’s quick to jump to conclusions.” She shook her head at him before trying her luck with the lock to no avail, though it honestly didn’t seem like she knew what she was doing.
“I don’t think it works like that,” Azure told her before taking over, though he had no better luck.
“We could sure use Uden right about now,” Lonnell mumbled, his arms crossed over his chest.
“Yes, because your brother is the epitome of the rogue type. Before you think of being condescending toward her about her lock pick, maybe you should think about that,” Azure chastised him, effectively making Lonnell shut up. He didn’t doubt for one second that lock picking was in the half-imp’s skill set.
“This doesn’t seem like it’s going to work,” Janine stated the obvious after watching Azure fiddle with the lock for a few more minutes.
“No, but like I said, more than one way to skin a cat.” Fed up with going about opening the chest the hard way, Azure drew his Bergen’s Glaive. “Stand back.”
Lonnell and Janine gave him room. Azure attempted to cleave the lock off, but the metal didn’t want to give. He tried a second time, putting more weight into the swing, but the lock was stubborn, refusing to come off.
“This is the toughest gold I’ve ever seen,” he commented.
“Maybe I can do it.” Janine readied her ax.
“If I can’t do it, then I doubt you can do it.” Azure still stepped aside.
“Just because you have a penis doesn’t mean you’re stronger,” she bit back at him with narrowed eyes. “I’m a dwarf. We’re naturally more muscular than humans from what I’ve been told.”
Janine put all of her weight into a downward swing that probably could have cleaved the head of a horse clean off its body. A spark jumped from where metal hit metal, but there wasn’t even a knick left behind where her blade had kissed the clasp.
“Well, if that didn’t do it, I don’t know what would,” Lonnell said, clearly impressed by the force Janine had put behind the swing.
“I’m out of ideas.” The dwarven woman rested the eye of her ax on the floor.
“Maybe we could just take the whole thing,” Azure suggested, making it sound more like a question. “I bet Garion could get it open.”
“Maybe.” Lonnell rubbed his jaw.
“Come on. Help me.” Azure sheathed his sword and went to try to lift the chest. There was no space under it for his fingers, and when he tried to wiggle it off of the pedestal to gain purchase, it wouldn’t budge. It was like the chest was cemented in place. Either that or it weighed about a million pounds.
“Put your back into it.” Lonnell heaved with all of his might.
“You put your back into it. The damn thing obviously isn’t going to move.”
Letting out a breath of exhaustion, they both gave up, simply standing there staring at the chest again.
“Well, shit. I don’t know what else to do.” Azure’s eyes shifted to Lonnell.
“I’m not sure there’s anything we can do. We can’t open it, and we can’t move it. The fact that it has a lock means that there must be a key for it somewhere.”
“I’m going to take a shot in the dark that it’s in the other room.” Janine’s entire body slumped as she said it.
“That’s the only thing that makes sense.” Azure agreed.
The chest was a tease. Of course, nothing in The Realm came without effort. If they wanted the contents, they would have to work for them.
“So I guess we’re going into the other room.”
“I guess so,” Lonnell concurred grumpily before turning to Janine. “Are you coming with us or are you going to stay in here and cower?”
She arched an eyebrow. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re an asshole? Because you kind of are.”
Azure smirked. “Come on. Let’s go. We won’t know what horrors await until we enter the other room.” His eyes widened for dramatic effect.
CHAPTER FIVE
THE REALM – Day 73
As before, Lonnell took point. Azure stood behind him with his weapon ready, and Janine manned the rear, her eyes ever scanning the hallway for rats. Right now, they felt like more of a threat to her than anything else in the dungeon. That was...until Lonnell opened the door with the light streaming under it.
The room was quite a bit larger than the one with the chest, about the size of a master bedroom. Untouched by time, the paint was in perfect condition, and there were no holes at the base of the walls like there were in the hall and the other room. There was a sparse bit of, what Azure assumed to be, furniture covered with sheets. One piece looked like it might be a sofa. The other, he had no clue. Portraits of children decorated two of the walls. But they were not the focal point. Despite there being candles in sconces, the lighting was an eerie shade of blue which seemed to emanate from a ghostly figure standing at the back of the room. Its limbs were too long to be human, and it was shrouded in a white robe that completely covered its face and hung to the floor in smoky swirls. Thankfully, it made no attempt to attack as they stood outside staring at it.
“Oh, hell no,” Janine whispered behind Azure, backing away.
He quickly activated Analyze to get a better idea of what they were up against.
Level 11 Door Spirit.
“It’s only level 11,” Azure whispered to Lonnell. “We should be able to take it.”
“I’m not sure that will be necessary. It’s not attacking.”
For several seconds they all just stood there contemplating what to do. Then Azure stepped up beside Lonnell. “Spirit. You wouldn’t happen to know where the key to that chest is, would you?” He thumbed back to the other room.
“Enter if you dare,” came the reply in a heavy bass that sounded of pure doom and foreboding.
“I think we shouldn’t dare.” Janine tugged on Azure’s arm.
“I don’t think we have a choice,” Lonnell told her, his voice strangely calm.
“What happens if we enter?” Azure asked hesitantly.
The spirit did not reply.
“I think we have to defeat it to get the key,” Lonnell said.
That seemed f
airly obvious.
“Then, I guess we dare.”
Azure mustered up the courage to enter the room. As soon as he did, the ghostly form rushed forward. You’re going to regret that, he thought cockily, raising his hand to cast Dirty Move. Dirt flew through the spirit. If it had any effect, Azure couldn’t tell because the ghost swiped out at him, the blow to his chest knocking him off of his feet. His back hit the wall with near crushing force, causing him to exhale all the air in his lungs in a powerful gasp.
Level 11 Door Spirit delivers 55 damage.
Azure fell to the side, landing hard on his shoulder.
Lonnell rounded the spirit, striking at it from behind. His staff passed through the apparition as if he was fighting the wind.
A clawed backhand sent him sailing in the opposite direction, hitting one of the paintings and causing it to shake on its nail.
Clearly not threatened by them, the ghost waited for both Adventurers to right themselves. Facing Azure, it floated in the middle of the room.
Janine refused to enter, still standing outside looking in.
As soon as Azure was on his feet again, the spirit rushed forward, swiping at him a second time. He quickly drew his sword, trying to use it to block the attack, but the hand went right through, raking searing pain across his skin. Glancing down, Azure could see the marks left behind, his armor scored.
Critical Hit! Level 11 Door Spirit delivers 65 damage.
“Come at me!” Lonnell growled at the ghost, lunging forward with his staff. The power he put into the swing made him lose his balance when the weapon passed right through it, and he ended up standing in the middle of the spirit.
Panic welled up inside of Azure as he watched his friend convulse as if being electrocuted. He rushed forward, grabbing Lonnell by the arm to pull him away. As soon as Lonnell was dislodged for the ghost’s body, it swung at them again, hitting Azure’s right shoulder and sending them both toppling over like dominoes.
Level 11 Door Spirit delivers 55 damage.
“Retreat!” Azure cried to get Janine to move out of the way. His Health bar was blinking red in the corner of his vision, and he felt like he might pass out at any second. It was taking everything in him to get them to safety.
At some point, Lonnell recovered. Then it was him dragging Azure out of the room.
The spirit swiped at them a final time but missed thanks to Azure tripping from weakness. Had the hit landed, it would have been fatal.
As soon as they were in the hallway, Janine quickly slammed the door behind them, pressing her back against it in the hopes that it would keep the ghost locked inside. It seemed to work, because the monster didn’t give chase.
With Azure under his arm, Lonnell retreated toward the stairs. As if they couldn’t catch a break, two more rats came streaming from the holes in the walls. Lonnell’s eyes drifted to them. Now he was the one panicking. If they got to Azure before he was able to drink a healing potion, he wouldn’t survive.
Abandoning Azure on the stairs, Lonnell turned to face the oncoming enemies. It was strange to think that something so small was so dangerous, but that was the case with a lot of monsters in The Realm. Instead of going for the kill, Lonnell used his staff like a golf club and batted one of the rats down the hall before focusing his attention on the one that had just rushed past him, clearly going for their injured party member.
Azure had never seen him fight so viciously, slamming the butt of his staff down on the rat’s body thrice in quick succession. Time wasn’t on his side. The other rat would likely be on Lonnell before he turned around.
A war cry came from a few yards away, and they both looked to see Janine cleaving the second rat in half. If Azure wasn’t so busy stuffing his face hole with healing potions, he would have smiled.
“Are you all right?” Janine rushed to his side as soon as she was certain that the rat was dead.
Azure had just taken down his third Potion of Minor Healing. The dwarven woman reached into her bag for a fourth, offering it to him.
“You did it,” he praised her.
“I didn’t feel like I had a choice.” She ignored the pride in his voice, all focus on making sure that Azure got the healing he needed.
Lonnell started downing healing potions as well. That fight had been unexpectedly difficult.
Four healing potions had only managed to increase Azure’s Health to 145 points. He felt like he’d been hit by a freight train. His shoulder was bruised, there was a deep wound across his chest, and the pain in his ankle was still pulsing.
“This sucks,” he remarked plainly, resting back against the stairs.
Janine chuckled. “Yes, it most certainly does.” Then her expression went serious. “You need to heal up more.”
“I only have eighteen more healing items.”
She shook her head at him. “Do you always enter dungeons ill-prepared?”
“Yes, he does,” Lonnell answered for Azure with a bit of a smirk. “I seriously don’t know how he’s survived this long.”
“You and Uden have had a lot to do with it,” Azure confessed.
“It’s our job to help each other.” Lonnell turned his gaze to Janine. “Thank you for stepping up. I’m honestly not sure I would have been able to stop both rats in time.”
“Of course.” Janine gave a brief nod. “You both would have done the same for me.” She cocked her head to the side, thinking for a moment. “And you’re right,” she looked at Azure, “they’re not any different than killing anything else.”
“I’m glad you see that now.” He smiled for a moment before his face went slack. “Well, that was not as easy as I had thought it would be.”
“No. Not easy at all.” Lonnell knelt to loot the rat he had killed.
“At least it didn’t follow us out.” Janine watched Lonnell but made no move to loot her own downed foe.
“I think it’s bound to that room,” he told her.
“That’s lucky for us.” Azure huffed.
“Yes. But we didn’t get the key. I wonder if it's in a chest under one of those sheets.” Lonnell stood and faced the door. Light and a soft fog streamed out from beneath it again.
“Whatever the case, there’s no getting around that ghost. We need to figure out how to defeat it.”
Currently, Azure’s bigger concern was the rats. If this was like other dungeons, they’d re-spawn over time. Janine now being able to fight them should take some of the burden off of he and Lonnell, but Azure doubted they’d all get through another round unscathed. The sooner they could press on, the better.
“Did you notice anything interesting about the room?” Lonnell asked, his gaze distant as if he was thinking even as he spoke.
“Nothing but the covered furniture. But again, there’s no getting past that ghost. I don’t have enough Health to try a second time without depleting my potion supply, and that’s probably not a smart move on level one.”
“Maybe we should have searched the mansion for healing potions before we entered the dungeon,” Janine suggested. “Or at least have asked for some. I’m sure Radclyffe has some lying around somewhere.”
“So you are a thief!” Lonnell pointed at her.
“Oh, not this again.” She rolled her eyes.
“Most people don’t give handouts here,” Azure told her, trying to pull Janine away from the impending argument.
She placed a hand on her hip. “Maybe not to you, but I’m a girl.”
Now it was Azure fighting not to roll his eyes.
“Listen, we’re at the start of the dungeon anyway. I’m going to head back upstairs and see if I can find anything. We’re clearly going to need it. Meanwhile, you guys can figure out how to defeat that ghost.” Not waiting for a response, Janine moved past Azure up the stairs.
“You’re not going to loot your kill?” Azure’s gaze dropped to the rat that Janine had left behind.
She visibly shivered as she look
ed back down the stairs at the bloody corpse. “I’ll kill em’, but I ain’t touchin’ em.’ Help yourself,” Janine said before disappearing out the door.
“It’s all yours.” Azure gestured to the rat. Lonnell had earned the loot for saving him.
He didn’t argue, bending to cut the tail from the rat with his dagger. “If the first level of this dungeon is this hard, I hate to think what the rest of it is going to be like.”
“You and me both.” Azure hesitated. “Not having second thoughts, are you?”
“No.” Lonnell shook his head. “Every riddle has an answer.”
Not in his world. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
“Maybe we’re not meant to fight it,” Azure suggested.
“Maybe.” He stood and placed the tail in his Bag of Holding.
“Maybe you should go try to talk to it. It didn’t attack us when we opened the door. Only when we went inside.”
“True.” Lonnell’s head bobbed a few times.
“So...go talk to it.” Azure gestured for him to get on with it.
“What if it does attack?”
“Then run. And if I see you running and it follows you out of the room, I’ll run too.”
“Where would we run to?” His gaze shifted around the dungeon. “There aren’t many places to go.”
“Up the stairs.” Azure pointed behind him. It seemed like the obvious answer. “It definitely can’t get us up there.”
“We hope it can’t get us up there.” Lonnell let out a bitter laugh.
“Dungeon rules.” Azure lifted his eyebrows and pressed his lips together.
He sighed. “Let’s just hope it doesn’t attack.” And with that, Lonnell began walking back toward the door with the light streaming under it.
Azure watched from afar as his friend stood there, squaring his shoulders in preparation. It was like Lonnell already expected to have to run. The way he leaned over a bit too far to reach the handle was amusing. If the situation wasn’t so serious, Azure might have chuckled.
