We got through the town gate the same as the first time around and headed straight for the inn for the final planning session. I negotiated with the innkeeper and got the room and coins deal that I had gotten before.

I quickly went over to the shops and completed roughly the same trades as before. The main difference was that I picked up some materials for crafting such as a glue-like substance and some paper. I wasn't wasting any time in the preparations for dealing with Edrus. A few times the scene of him stabbing Jen repeated in my head and I was more ready than ever to cleanse this city of him and his thugs.

My last stop was the local bakery where I bought every loaf of bread I possibly could. If I've learned one thing from using my Friend to Animals special ability it was that every animal I'd met liked it when I gave them food. My army of rats was going to be well instructed and well-fed this time around.

I got back to the inn and met Jen and Barry up in the room where they were talking to each other about their plans after Wolfhill.

"Are we all ready to finish planning 'Operation: Aw Rats'?" I asked as I sat down on one of the open beds. They sat across from me and we got to work.

Phase one was recruitment, phase two was set up, and the third and final phase was the attack itself. I spent a couple of hours constructing an overhead model of Edrus's compound from his house and the side buildings out to the ruined buildings. We spoke as I crafted.

"So what do we do about the perimeter fence?" Asked Jen pointing at the model. "If we all have to use the front gate it will leave us open to attack."

"I have an idea for that. If I can find some planks while I am recruiting, I'm sure I could construct some simple ramps which would also get the rats in faster. Also, can either of you draw well?" I pulled out some paper and charcoal pencils and handed them to Jen who had nodded her head at me.

"What do you need?" She asked.

"I need you to draw your and Barry's faces and the faces of your parents. If possible, try to finish quickly as I need the pictures for the recruitment phase," I said.

We finished the model and drawings in near silence. I was pretty happy with how they all turned out. Barry helped out drawing Jen's face and I was surprised at how lifelike his art was.

I looked at the picture and then back at him. "Barry, this is amazing. You are a natural."

I happened to see Jen looking over with a perturbed configuration on her face.

"Yours was good too, Jen," I said dismissively to placate her.

I reached out my hands to Barry and produce my leftover paper and drawing implements.

"Please keep drawing as we travel together. It's good to have a hobby." I held out the supplies until he took them and placed them in his leather satchel. It reminded me how grateful I was to have the dimensional space and I quickly refocused.

I put the model and drawings away and started toward the door. "Time to Pied Piper some rats."

I spent the first half of the night passing out bits of bread, explaining the plan, pointing out where bad guys might be, and showing the rats the faces of people they shouldn't attack when they get to the compound. They all seemed to understand and agree. At least four hours had passed and I had indeed found some lengths of wood that I could use as ramps with little modification. I met up with Jen and Barry in the ruins surrounding the perimeter fence.

Since this time we hadn't been here before the big attack I figured there wouldn't be as many guards to worry about and it appeared that I was correct. I was able to get about a dozen simple ramps set up around the perimeter fence. I quietly worked my way back to Jen and Barry and we waited for sunrise together on the second floor of one of the ruined buildings where I had a clear line of sight to the front gate.

"You really think my parents will be safe?" Jen asked.

"Your mother is locked in the basement of the center house and your father is either with her or will most likely run to her when the commotion starts. I instructed the rats to stay out of that basement and they have their faces as a backup. Plus, Edrus doesn't even know we are trying to save your parents this time so he is much less likely to try using them as leverage against us," I explained my thought process as I set a hand on her shoulder to reassure her. "We will save them."

The morning's first light peeked over the city walls and we felt a rumbling in the distance.

I pulled out a bow and arrow and took aim at the front gate. I shot an arrow with a Spell of Unfastening which hit squarely in the center of the gate. Nothing seemed to happen so I shot two more arrows with the same magic. I aimed closer to the hinges and hoped that it would be enough as the rats started pouring through the alleys and openings in the ruined buildings.

This had to be every rat in the whole city. It was oddly satisfying watching the mass of rodents flow toward the perimeter wall. They got to the wall and hundreds were able to use the ramps before they fell down. The ones at the gate hardly put any pressure on it before it also fell and a huge mass surged into the courtyard.

I saw the first unfortunate goons come out of the two side houses. The rats easily overwhelmed them and flooded into the two side houses. Yells and screams could be heard even at this distance as the rats spread throughout the houses killing the thugs whether they had a club or not. This time around I wasn't going to make the same mistakes.

It was time for us to move. I begged Jen to stay back and cover us with her crossbow. Something in my desperate voice must've been enough to convince her and she agreed.

Barry and I ran up through the gates after all of the rats had cleared out and stood at the edge of the courtyard. Barry was much less afraid of the rats this time around since I was able to walk him through the entire process, but he still wasn't a huge fan. I thought it was odd that he liked Pips so much but hated rats. The two rodent types weren't all that different.

The rats had found all of the sleeping archers up on the perimeter fence this time and dealt with them the only way they knew how. I wouldn't want to be killed by hundreds of tiny claws and bites, but I wasn't going to tell them how to do their job.

Edrus walked out of the middle house with his two lackeys. One stood on either side. The rats ran toward the three unlucky baddies but swerved around them at the last moment. The three of them were protected from the rats somehow.

"You guys can take off if there aren't any other goons lurking around here besides these three," I said to the mass of rats. I threw a few loaves of bread over to the ground in front of them and the mass swarmed over the loaves consuming as it went. We watched as they flowed out of the front gate.

"That is quite the trick," said Edrus. "You should join my team. I'll give you anything you want."

"No, thank you. I am happy with my current arrangement," I said back to him with a smile.

"Well, I guess I'll just kill you then." As he whispered something to his men I pulled a bow and arrow and imbued it for as long as I could.

The men turned toward me with murder in their eyes but I fired before they could take a step. The arrow appeared to hit a magical shield based on the spherical glow that the impact produced. All three men were covered by the shield which explained the rats flowing around them.

They were already moving forward when the time-delayed spell shot a large puddle of adhesive around their feet. Both men were stuck fast and couldn't get their feet to budge. One started to pull one of his shiny throwing weapons but before he could complete his attack A bolt hit him square in the chest. He crumpled down awkwardly as his feet were still stuck. I guessed that it was a kill shot based on the location of the hit and the fact that it was a sneak attack. One down, two to go.

The other man didn't seem to have a ranged option at the moment and was completely powerless. The glue would only hold until the ten-minute mark so we didn't have all day to deal with him though.

"Barry," I said motioning to the stuck man who was beginning to look a little uneasy at his current predicament.

Barry walked over to him and was able to knock him out with a punch that left him crumpled in the adhesive also.

A bolt of lightning shot out and struck Barry in the shoulder. He went flying back from the source of the magic and landed in a heap. I hoped that one magical attack wouldn't be enough to kill him but he was definitely out of the fight for now. I ran over to him and he appeared to be breathing. I didn't want to suffer the same fate so I didn't take my eyes off of Edrus who stood there with a mocking expression.

I used a Healing spell on him which would at least give him a little boost and then refocused on the man who was a bigger threat than I had first thought. Magic users didn't seem to be overly common here, but they were not to be taken lightly.

"So that's how you acquired all of your power here. You're a magic user," I said as I walked closer to him. I was still about twenty feet out but threw a junk dagger at him to get him to talk about his shield and lull him into a false sense of security. The dagger bounced off as the spherical glow once again appeared where the dagger had made contact.

"Your little arrows and daggers won't come closer to breaking my shield and I can sustain it indefinitely so you and your little rat friends should probably just run away and leave me and my city in peace," he said snidely.

"Peace? There is no peace here. Everyone is too scared of you to live their lives." I through another dagger but this time it glanced off of the edge of the shield based on the glow. I hoped he didn't notice that I was trying to see how big the shield was but he was too smart for that.

"What good is trying to size up a shield that you have no hope of breaking with your puny weapons?" He asked. He shot a lightning bolt at me but I was able to easily block it with my vambrace and luckily the fifty percent chance triggered and it deflected harmlessly.

"We are at a standstill then and should discuss this in a civilized manner. I am fast enough to deflect all of your magic blows and your shield seems to be impenetrable," I said knowing full well I had fibbed a little. I mean if the chance to deflect always worked I wasn't really being dishonest. I knew I still had an ace up my sleeve though and I approached the man putting my bow away and showing my palms in hopes he would agree to talk.

"Fine. What is it that you want?" The man asked. It looked like he was pretending to lower his guard metaphorically speaking as I doubted he would lower his magical shield.

"I am here for Roderic and his wife. I know you are holding them against their will. Hand them over to me safely and I will leave you alone," I said also pretending to relax a bit.

He laughed in my face which made me furious although I buried it deep inside. "Even if I can't kill you now I can set the whole town guard against you and they will kill you and your friends in a heartbeat," he laughed after his threat. "At least now I know why you're here now."

This was about what I had expected. There was no way he was going to give up such a strategic resource as Roderic. When he threatened my friends another wave of rage flowed through me and I did the one thing that he didn't expect. I pulled out my massive ogre club and swung it full force.

At first, he laughed thinking that he had riled me up enough to try swinging a piece of wood at his magical shield. He waited for the shield to block the blow and either shatter the club or at least watch it fly out of my hands as I recoiled in pain from the sudden shockwave of force from the failed attack.

That wasn't what happened and he had no time to dodge the large club that was still moving at full speed directly at his head. The club's properties allowed it to destroy magic shields and sure enough, it passed straight through the shield and left it crumbling into nothingness in its wake.

Edrus was barely able to brace for the impact but still went flying from the blow. I ended up connecting with the top of his right arm near the shoulder. The club had also doubled my Brawn attribute which was enough to send him through the wall of one of the side buildings. I checked my notifications and it confirmed that it had been a killing blow.

"Oops. I forgot to put on the Sleepytime Sleeve modification," I said to no one in particular. I hadn't really forgotten.