Zach looked up from the blue screen at Alexa and Andy waiting for their opinions on the quest. Andy smiled as he spoke, “Aye, let’s kill this pompous rat. Since it's timed, let me take point and I won’t hold back. Alexa, kill anything that gets pass me or tries to attack Zach. Zach, keep up with the long-range spells. Blast whatever you can and have Hayze back up Alexa. I need the both of you to keep together and stay in strategic locations. Ready?” Andy raised his finger above his blue screen, as both Zach and Alexa nodded their heads everyone accepted the quest.

**********

Zach sat on a pile of stones as he massaged his head. For an hour and a half, Alexa and himself had been chasing after Andy in a wild frenzy dash. Taking a moment to look at Alexa, he saw her tilting her head back to drink a health potion as open wounds sealed shut. The last battle had taken a lot out of everyone. Looking over to Andy, he stood vigil wrapped in blood and gore caked chains waiting for the potions to work on Zach and Alexa. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Zach thought back to what happened after they had pressed the accept button.

Andy became a whirling dervish with his chains causing death to monster they struck. He switched out weighted ends with blades and even attached two more chains to the main link fastened to the center of his back right before taking off on a mad dash. For most of the earlier hallways, Alexa and Zach had to run to the fight before Andy’s six chains killed everything in the area. As Grim auto-looted and called out directions for Andy to turn towards, Zach saw more and more corpses in the waterways and platforms. The bodies were always young fit people that seemed to have rich clothing on them. He also noticed that though the rats were devouring the corpses, there didn’t seem to be any blood from the wounds. Still with no time to examine them, Zach kept running from fight to fight.

As the last few hallways and platforms were discovered, Andy finally slowed down on his killing spree as the Dire Rats had appeared more frequently, while Leeches joined the fight with the Swarm Rats. Now that the fight was taking longer, Zach could cast more [Flaming Arrow]s, while Alexa kept the Leeches from reaching either of them. It was all going so smoothly that when Grim told them that the final hallway would lead to the nest they were joking with one another.

Of course, that’s when the whole thing turned sideways. As the group turned around a curve in the corridor, they saw several streams of water splashing down onto collapsed pile of bricks. Dead bodies bobbed up and down in the deep waterway as rats of various sizes swam, or lounged in nests made from the cloth of the dead men and women. As Zach saw Andy let loose his chains, five pipes above the broken bricks belched large debris piles that plunged into the waterway. Immediately, Zach stopping moving forward and cast [Flaming Arrow] at closet rubbish mass. As the flaming light left his hands, Zach saw Alexa and Hayze take up a defensible position on the pathway, waiting as the screaming fury of rats died down.

It was during that screaming that Zach failed to hear splashing of the water near him. Just as he cast his second [Flaming Arrow] a small clawed hand grabbed him by the leg in an iron grip and pulled him into the water. Zach felt his head crash against the hard stone right before he felt the cold-water wash over it. The iron grip on his foot became two as it grabbed onto Zach’s pants keeping him from turning or swim above water. Sharp teeth found purchase on his thigh, and Zach screamed in pain as water rushed into his mouth. Twisting his head around, he saw a small form the size of an eight-year-old child clutched around his leg in the greenish tinted water. As Zach struggled to remove his dagger, he felt the spell [Purge Poison] activate, and in an explosion of bubbles the creatures head blew away from Zach’s thigh. With a dagger in hand, Zach pumped his arms twice and his head rose above the murky water to gasp for a breath. He made a quick grasp at the stone walkway when he felt clawed hands grab onto his belt. Swinging wildly with his dagger, Zach felt the metal plunge into meat and a hand let go of him. Screaming in fury, Zach pulled out the dagger and kept thrusting the blade down again and again. As the other hand let go of his belt, a body floated up water. Zach pulled himself back up on to the pathway to see that while he was in the water he had floated several feet down from Alexa and Hayze.

The golem and fighter were attacking a tide of rats as another child like monster began to quietly rise out of the waterway behind them. The creature appeared human, except for the almost rail thin body covered in black marks and hands that ended in black claws. Zach stepped forward and plunged his dagger into the neck of the creature. Hissing the creature turned around making Zach lose his dagger as it swiped at him. Claws left furrows in his leather armor for him to take a step back. It was in that moment, Zach saw the horror he was facing. Coal-black eyes stared at Zach, as the monster opened its lipless mouth displaying long fanged teeth and black tar-like drool. It made a hissing sound as it snapped at Zach’s outstretch hand.

Pure instinct called out and Zach lifted his leg and slammed it into the chest of the thing before him. Zach heard the crack of bones as the four-foot-tall creature fell onto the ground. Looking down at the spasming thing, Zach saw that its chest had caved in and its flesh had torn loose. Muscle slick in black mucus pulled back and forth as Zach could see small wiggling leeches crawl from the wound. Zach quickly kicked its body, breaking open its flesh and bones as if the creature was made of twigs and paper. As Zach’s foot broke open the head of the monster a scream cut through the battle, and Zach looked up to see Alexa covered in three rats. Jumping over the corpse, Zach ran to Alexa and pulled the first rat off the back of her shoulder to slam it against the side wall.

Zach felt the furry body in his hands twist and turn as he smashed it against the wall again. Claws scrapped his hands and fingers as Zach finally got the leverage on the rats legs to crack its head directly into the wall. The body went limp instantly from the impact, and Zach turned to see Alexa throwing the rat that had been clawing and biting her face into the waterway. Letting go of the rat’s body, Zach kicked more rats into the water as they moved pass Hayze. Sparing a moment to glance at his Bronze Golem, he could quickly count four to five rat tails in the golems armor trying to find flesh to strike at.

Zach kicked another rat off the stone walkway to find that Alexa and her sword had returned to the line. Stepping back, Zach looked around for his next target. At first his eyes fell to the twenty to thirty more rats that were trying to overpower Alexa and Hayze, but as Hayze plunged the spear through the ribcage of an advancing rat, Zach looked beyond the swarm and saw that more rats were coming out of various pipes and openings in the walls. Looking over to Andy, he saw the man moving his arms over the chains as he whirled about. Andy’s chains flew in graceful arcs, as a small furred creature jumped through the gaps of the chains as it tried using small daggers to attack Andy.

Zach watched the fight for a few seconds, seeing the brown furred humanoid rat jump and spin to just dodge a blow from Andy. For a second the creature jumped onto a large stone showing it was maybe three feet tall, with a slender, agile body covered in tattered rags for clothing; and instead of having a long snout, its mouth and nose only protruded from its face by a few inches, as black coal eyes watched the dancing chains. Upon its head laid a small copper wire crown made from bits of jewelry that had been twisted together. Zach suspected that the only reason the crown was still on the king’s head was due to wire being caught in his fur. Seeing an opening the Rat King jumped back into the swirling maelstrom of chains and leapt back and forth before creating a tiny slice on Andy’s skin.

Zack’s gamer instincts kicked in and he spotted a large pile of debris near pipes that were sending out additional rats. Casting [Flaming Arrow] into the pile, Zach waited to make sure that the debris caught a flame pushing smoke and heat into the nearby pipes. The sound of high pitch screams started from the pipes, and Zach took aim at another of the piles. In less than thirty seconds, four small campfires of burning trash were blocking reinforcements from getting to Alexa and Hayze. Black dots floated in Zach’s vision as the swarm of rats in front of Alexa and Hayze thinned. The two finally could push forward over the blood-soaked walkway, instead of just holding ground.

As the final rat died at the stroke of Alexa’s sword, the three ran over to the fight between Andy and the Rat King. Andy had a few new cuts on his arms and legs that had black ooze coming out of them. While the Rat King looked to have four large cuts about his torso and left arm. Seeing an opportunity, Zach summoned the six Dire Rat Fangs and tossed them into a spot that the Rat King occasionally rested at. Watching the Rat King dodge, Zach chanted [Flaming Arrow] hoping overwhelm the Rat King’s dexterity.

As Zach’s pain increased with every cast of the spell, the Rat King finally stopped at the location that Zach had placed the fangs at. The harden pad of the king came down on one fang and for a moment it looked down to see the six fangs presented at its feet. The king’s eyes widen and he jumped back further, as a load howl came from his mouth. Soon the pipes around the collapse tunnel echoed with chirps and squeaks of rats. Zach watched the rat king scramble over a pile of stone and head into a small hole right before a blue screen appeared.

You have started a timed event! The last defenders of the Rat King have died by your hand. Knowing the Rat King and his subjects can’t survive the next wave of slimes without his Dire Rats, he has pulled back his forces into their spawn points. Every five minutes, for the next thirty minutes, a wave of five slimes will come to kill the Rat King. Either kill the Rat King to stop the slime waves, or kill the slime waves and allow the Rat King to re-spawn his defenders. If neither is chosen the Rat King will die and all quest rewards will be reset to normal.

Enhance rewards are now in place.

Good Luck!

Silence descended the collapsed hallway as Zach read and dismissed the blue screen. Looking around the water that had been draining from the collapsed ceiling and pipes slowed and finally come to a stop allowing the waterway to drain. As the feeling of exhaustion came over Zach, he sat down and drank a mana potion.

Out of the corner of Zach’s eye, he saw Andy check over Alexa before moving on to him, ending Zach recollection of events. “Everything all right lad?” Andy said.

Tilting the potion back to drink the rest, Zach gulped it down and then threw the clay bottle into one of the rubbish piles. “Besides taking a bath in the sewage from a creature that had tar blood. I am doing great, how about you?”

Andy chuckled, “Not too bad, all things considering. I am still breathing and still moving, so I can’t complain. I will give you a minute or two for the potion to work, then we will head down into the subfloor. Five slimes is too much for our group to handle without more spell casters.”

Nodding his head, Zach watched the water drain through a big pipe, drying out the 8 foot deep waterway. Skeletons and half eaten bodies laid at the bottom of the drainage area as less pleasant muck settled over them. Grim was working the auto-loot when with a flash of light from a corpse caused another blue screen to appear.

You have discovered a hidden Quest!

Within the last year, a small gang of cutthroats have been operating out of the Bellmare’s Adventurer District. Their targets have been low level adventurers that had a minor success in the dungeon. Killing and robbing their victims, they then throw the bodies into the sewer system which empty into the dungeon. The bodies have increased the growth rate of the rat population and lead to the unexpected birth of the Rat King. Hidden amongst the bodies was a soul enhanced dagger for one of the cutthroats. The city watch can find with the use of a mana tracker spell, the owner of the dagger.

Main Objective: Turn in the dagger and quest to the Bellmare City Watch. (0/1)

Reward: 400 experience points and 2 silver coins.

Alternative Objectives:

Seek your own brand of justice. Blackmail the gang of cutthroats. Join the gang of cutthroats. ??? (Hidden)

Reward: Variable.

Do you accept the Quest?YesNo

Zach shook his head at the quest and accepted it. -No matter what world I am in, the wolves will always attack the sheep.- A well of anger in him came up with that thought. Through the evil of some men, they had killed young men and women trying to create a better life for themselves. It screamed of injustice, and that feeling of anger at the unfairness of the world made Zach get up from stone floor and ready himself against the Rat King.

Andy wrapped his chains in tight and had Zach follow him with Hayze as they entered the drainage pipe. No bricks of light were in the pipe, so it forced Zach and Alexa to cast the spell [Light]. Small orbs of lights appeared above their heads brightening the surrounding area. As Zach looked past Andy, he saw draped chains over the exit of the pipe that led into a large basin. Andy brushed the chains aside and inside the room, large nests on the lip above the pipe contained mewling pink baby rats. Zach took a moment to look around the room.

They were in a circular room around seven hundred square feet. Around the edge of the room a ledge of ten feet came from the wall and dipped into a basin containing three large pipes that someone blocked with rusted metal coverings. Zach could see that the water was collected in the basin and removed by a drain in the middle of the floor. On the ceiling and walls, hundreds of smaller clays pipes dribbling out insignificant amounts of water into the basin as rats dragged food through some of the pipes to their screeching children. Feeling a tap on his shoulder, Zach turned to see that Andy was pointing to a side corridor above the lip of the basin that had a green flickering light coming from it. As the team moved through the room, rats hovered over their children watching the adventurers.

Carefully Zach pulled himself over the lip after Andy and Alexa when they had made it to the area below the side corridor. Hunching over, they walked through the small entryway into a dark square room. Someone had draped large cuts of cloth from chains in the ceiling as the green light source stones flickered off more than on giving off a strobe light effect that was muted by their own orbs of light. As the group made their way to the center of the room, Andy spoke, “Zach, don’t cast your Flaming Arrow spell. This room will catch ablaze and kill us all. Pull out whatever weapon you got, we fight back to back. Alexa hack at the cloth, we need room to see.”

As the weight of the crude mace appeared in Zach’s hand, a shout of pain came from Alexa. Turning his head Zach made out the form of the Rat King stepping back into the drapes of cloth. Not wanting to be stabbed by the little shit of a monster, Zach grabbed at the closest cloth and ripping it from the chains. As the second sheet ripped loose from its hooks, Zach saw a quick movement to his left. Just on pure instinct Zach swung the mace like a baseball bat and saw the Rat King flex his head backward to dodge the mace. A spike of pain from his stomach flooded his mind as the Rat King had punctured Zach’s armor with his dagger. Reflex kicked in and Zach released the mace as the pain made his hand open. However, before the Rat King pulled back, Zach lashed out with a foot to hit his highness in his leg. Zach saw Rat King stumbled briefly from the kick while he took a moment to put pressure on his wound.

As the Rat King regained his feet, Andy's hand reach out and grab the Rat King's crown. Tangled in his fur, the Rat King twisted and jerked as Andy ripped the poorly braided jewelry from the Rat King's head. Not caring about the pain or the quest, Zach bull rushed the king and slammed his shoulder in the small chest of his opponent. Zach felt the small body hit the ground and felt the daggers scrape across his leather armor. As the two opponents struggled on the ground, Zach could feel every twist and turn of the body below him as he used his body weight to crush his opponent. By pure luck, Zach caught one of the Rat King's arms in his grip, as half of the monster’s body flatten and twisted out from Zach's chest.

A loud scream of pain came from under Zach’s chest, forcing Zach to take a chance and look up to find Hayze above him with the bronze spear sticking out Rat King's gut. The golem leaned into the spear as Zach punched the Rat King's head several times hoping to stun him. As the little arms and legs of the Rat King stilled, Zach rolled off of him and grabbed the other arm pinning the monster to the ground. “Alexa, put the blade over its heart!” Andy shouted.

Zach saw the bloody steel of Alexa’s sword hover over the chest of the king, right before he heard the ting of metal breaking. Foam raised from the Rat King’s mouth as his eyes turned red with blood. The king thrashed wildly right before Alexa thrust her sword hard into the chest of the enraged King. Zach was certain that Alexa had cut the King’s heart in two, but his struggles only became stronger as he pulled one arm free and his small clawed hand raked across Zach’s face. Screaming Zach pulled away as Alexa brought down the edge of her shield into the face of the king. A bloody crunching sound came from the impact, and Alexa roared a battle cry as she brought the shield up again.

Zach scrambled backward in pain as Alexa slammed her shield repeatedly downward. Watching in shock, slowly the pain of his stomach came back, and he placed a hand over his wound. Feeling his ragged breath causing more pain, Zach tried to calm down as Andy pulled out clean bandages from one of his belt pouches. Zach watched as Andy poured half of a healing potion on the bandages and then came over to him. Feeling the leather straps to loosen the sides of Zach’s armor, Andy finally had enough slack to lift the armor and apply the bandages directly to the wound. As his flesh felt like it was burning, Zach screamed out in pain. “That’s right Zach! Let it out, let the pain wash out of ya!” Andy shouted over Zach’s screaming.

Finally, the pain went away, and Andy gave Zach the rest of the healing potion to drink before going over to Alexa to care for her wounds. Zach laid on the ground for a moment drenched in sweat and shaking from intense pain he felt. Looking at his light, a blue screen finally came up.

After a long running battle you have completed optional objectives for a hidden Quest in Bellmare’s Dungeon!Quest Name:Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown Deep in the Bellmare’s Dungeon first level, they have left the rats and leeches to their own devices. Due to the inactivity of Adventurers, the Bellmare dungeon has evolved them into tougher opponents. During this evolution, a Rat King has been born in the dungeon and has challenged the current boss of the floor with his minions. You are the first Adventurers to have entered his domain since his birth.

Main Objective: Find the Rat King’s nest and tell the Adventurers Guild about its location. (0/1)

Optional Objectives:

Kill the Rat King. (1/1) Kill the Rat King in less than two hours of accepting the quest. (1/1) Map all new tunnels and spawn points (18/18) Collect 6 Dire Rat Fangs to lay them at the feet of the Rat King (6/6) Before the Rat King dies, break his crown in front of him (1/1)

Reward:

You have gained +83 to your mana pool!

You have gained +374 to your experience! You have leveled up!

You have gained +7 to your Intelligence!

You have gained +3 to your Wisdom!

You have gained +2 to your Strength!

You have gained +2 to your Endurance!

You have gained +1 to your Constitution!

You have gained +38% to your Mastery of [Spell: Flaming Arrow]! You have gain over 50% Mastery of [Spell: Flaming Arrow]. The Spell will no longer require a verbal component to cast.

You have looted 64 Mana Cores containing Death Mana!

You have looted 22 Mana Cores containing Earth Mana!

You have looted 13 Mana Cores containing Dark Mana!

You have looted 3 Mana Cores containing Life Mana!

You have looted 1 City Core Shard: Dungeon Enhancement!

You have looted 4 [Grimoire Upgrades: Compass]!

You have looted 2 [Grimoire Upgrades: Clock]!

You have looted 1 [Grimoire Upgrades: Small Party Roles]!

You have looted 1 [Grimoire Upgrades: Small Party Experience Rules]!

You have looted 84 lbs of Rat meat!

You have looted 12 Dire Rat Fangs!

You have looted 13 drachms of Paralytic Poison!

You have looted 2 Minor Health Potions!

You have looted 1 Minor Mana Potion!

You have looted 1 [Alchemy Recipe: Increase Dire Rat Kill Count Potion]!

You have looted 2 Organcarver Daggers!

You have looted a Cowl of Shadows!

You have looted 1 Soul Enhance Dagger (Quest Item)!

You have gained the [Aura Enhancement: Terror (Rat)]!

You have gained the [Trophy: Broken Rat King’s Crown]!

You have looted 2 Gold Coins, 19 Silver Coins, 97 Copper Coins and 2 Iron Bits!

Your Bellmare Dungeon Pass has been upgraded from Basic to Standard!

As you have killed your 100th Swarm Rat, you have gained an [Enhancement: Minor Disease Resistance]. Kill another 853 Swarm Rats to receive another bonus!

As you have killed your first Ghoul, you have gained 5 mana points. Kill another 98 Ghouls to receive another bonus!

As you have killed your first Rat King, you have gained 75 mana points and 3 intelligence points. Kill another 99 Rat Kings to receive another bonus!

By completing the optional objectives the Bellmare Dungeon will now have the following repeatable quests:

Quest Name:The King is Dead! Long live the King!Two bosses now battle for control over Bellmare Dungeon Level 1. Either kill six Dire Rats and summon a wave of slimes every five minutes for thirty minutes to attack the guards of the Rat King, or kill seven Corrosive Jellies and summon a wave of Swarm Rats every five minutes for thirty minutes to attack the guards of the Royal Slime.

Reward: 20 Experience and 5 ManaQuest Name: We are not retreating! We are just regrouping further back. Two bosses now battle for control over Bellmare Dungeon Level 1. Once every hour a flag with each Boss’s Insignia will drop and can be placed at any spawn point to change the creatures it spawns. Kill all creatures at the spawn point and place the flag to activate it. After three hours the spawn point will return to creating appropriate creatures.

Reward: 10 Experience and 2 Mana

Zach laughed as he read the screen, Andy would lose his shit over the rewards.