Hard packed dirt crinkled underneath Brian's scalemail boots as he hit the bottom stair in Isalda's basement. He took a step away so Tiffany behind him could shuffle past. She didn't go far, though, coming to sit upon a pair of crates against the right wall a few feet away. Brian couldn't tell if it was indifference or that she simply had no idea what to do, which inspired Tiffany to lean back and cross her arms. He suspected a little bit of both.

The basement was pretty small spartan, just like the rest of Isalda's home. She hadn't been kidding when she called it cramped. Brian could probably cross it in just six steps. The only decorations were a pair of dark wood barrels against the far wall, one against it next to one in the left corner.

Isalda clearly lived a simple life, which Brian respected on several levels. Often times, he found his modern life a bit too complex, too fast. He cared so much about surviving in the city, he forgot to live in it. If the internet were any indication, many people felt the same way. Perhaps living in Exandria could cure him of that.

Strange, the things he thought about when trying to focus, almost as if his brain rejected his current situation. Trapped in a fictional world looking for giant rats in a halfling's basement. Yeah, it sounded pretty ridiculous. As much as he wanted to live in the moment, he also felt tempted to rebel against the notion entirely. Maybe, in that way, Tiffany had the right idea.

Brian observed the rest of his party. Hector immediately placed himself under the stairs to start looking around. He jabbed the darkest corners underneath the bottom step with his walking staff. There was a deliberateness to his motions. Brian had a feeling this wasn't his first time dealing with vermin.

In stark contrast, Calvin went to the left side of the room, about halfway up the wall. He scanned the floor the entire time, as if he expected to suddenly find a giant rat. Had the room been dark, Brian would've understood looking down, but it wasn't. A rat wouldn't just pop out of the ground. ...Unless they burrowed. Did rats burrow, or was that weasels? He couldn't remember.

Ylva went over to the right hand corner and began looking. She also didn't seem to really have an idea of what she was doing. That made perfect sense to Brian. If she really were from somewhere in northern Europe as her accent suggested, then she maybe hadn't ever seen a rat. Brian had never heard of someone from Norway having a pest problem of any sort. Bears, maybe, but not pests.

Though, he really was in no position to argue. He was from New York, true, but the infamous rat problem in that city had never effected him before. He'd lived in apartments all his life, and never on the first floor. Contrary to popular belief, apartment buildings rarely had this sort of infestation. Rats, skittish by nature, weren't necessarily compelled to spend much time around all those people all the time. The only ones he'd ever seen were hanging out in alleyways. He hadn't the first idea how to find them in a basement. He liked what Hector was on about, though. A second set of eyes on the stairs might do them some good. He set about with that in mind, going again over where Hector had already looked.

The investigation continued on like that for a while. No one really moved far away from their self-designated searching areas. Brian didn't mind this, though. He thought they had the room pretty well covered. Even Tiffany, from her perch, had both good vision on a spot no one else was looking in, but also optics on where Calvin and Ylva were. Without even meaning to, she'd managed to put herself in a decent spot. So, Brian kept looking around and underneath the stairs.

Dirt floor made searching a bit more difficult. If he could walk on it with his weight without making any sort of mark, then he imagined rats in any form managed the same. He knew not what rat tracks looked like, but any hint at all would be better than the rank nothing he had to go on. The others were probably having the same difficulty.

"You guys find anything yet?' Ylva called from her spot.

"Nothing," Brian said.

"No, not yet," Hector said at almost the same time.

There was silence for a few beats while the search continued. Ylva went over to the barrels to give them a look. That was where Brian suspected their targets would be if not under the stairs. When Ylva walked away with a shake of her head, however, Brian felt her disappointment in himself as well. This was harder than he expected.

"So, I still got a few coins left from all that armory bullshit," Calvin said. "Three of them say there's nothing down here."

"I'll take that action," Ylva said, squatting down to take a better look in the corner she'd been starring at for the past ten minutes.

"Come on, guys," Hector said. "I don't think Isalda would bother trying to hire the guards if there wasn't anything down here."

"I don't know, the cops we talked to seemed pretty done with her. Maybe that's because she keeps leading them on wild goose chases," Calvin said.

"She doesn't strike me as the sort," Brian began, "but I see where you're coming from."

"Well, that would be an easy first quest, if nothing else," Ylva said.

"I'd like that," Calvin said. "I don't have to get my new suit dirty, I don't have to do shit. I can just kick back and drink whatever's in those barrels."

"I'm pretty sure those are grain barrels. Ale barrels have a smell to them, according to my bartender fiance," Ylva said.

"I'll make bread, then. Not like I don't got time," Calvin said.

"If you have time to make bread, then you have time to look," Hector said, his voice perhaps louder than necessary. "We have a job, and we need to do it. If that means there's nothing here, then we need to be absolutely sure."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Calvin went back to looking at the ground. "Old-ass bitch," he said much quieter, but still loud enough for everyone to hear him.

Both Brian and Ylva looked at him with surprised, disgusted expressions. Hector, for his part, kept looking as if he hadn't heard. Brian wanted to say something, and—by the way her hand tightened into a fist—Ylva wanted to as well. But, Brian understood to start a fight now would potentially rip them apart when they were supposed to be teammates. Ylva seemingly came to a similar conclusion, for she went back to checking the corner, this time on her feet.

A heavy silence fell upon the party. Calvin's sudden and unnecessary violence put a damper on their slowly rising spirits. Now, when Brian looked around the bottom stair, his heart wasn't in it. He went back over the same spot three times because he couldn't remember what he just saw there. Maybe Calvin was right. Maybe there wasn't anything to see.

A scream. It echoed around the stone walls, piercing Brian's eardrums, loud enough to disorient him. The sound of something hitting the ground brought him back into the moment. He looked at the source of the commotion to see Tiffany flat on her butt, reeling back across the dirt. An alarming sight, but not nearly so much as the giant rat—vermin the size of a corgi—which jumped down from the crate next to where she had been sitting. It slowly advanced on Tiffany, who scrabbled uselessly at the hard earth. Her hands and feet scraped against the dirt, but rarely found purchase. Despite her flailing, she only moved a few inches away from her assailant.

"What the fuck is that?" Calvin shouted.

"Giant rat!" Ylva cried.

"Tiffany, you have to move," Hector said. She did nothing except sit there while tears streamed down her face. "Tiffany!"

Brian put up his hand, a motion which felt strangely automatic, as if he weren't the one moving. His other appendage grabbed the holy symbol at his neck. A intense heat rose up from inside him, emanating from his heart to flow outward. It collected in his outstretched hand, the burning both pleasant and terrible. Then, it was gone.

In the same moment the sensation disappeared, the rat burst into flames. It let out a hideous cry as matted fur went up in orange and black. It's muscles locked up. It's tail twitched. The thing likely wanted to move, but couldn't bring itself to amongst the agony.

"What the fuck happened?" Calvin continued to provide commentary.

"How did you do that?" Hector said from Brian's left shoulder.

"I... I don't know," Brian stuttered.

He looked at the palm of his hand, breaths deep and eyes wide. What the fuck, indeed. Did he really just do that? Did he really just use magic? But how, and what was that heat? Could he do it again if the need arose?

A blur of motion, one final squeak, and the awful screeching stopped. Ylva stood next to Tiffany, her sword impaled through the rat, red on the little bit of metal which poked out. The rat squirmed for a second, then fell limp. Ylva stepped up to it. She held it down with one foot to extract her blade. It dripped a few thick drops.

"Holy shit," Calvin breathed.

"Alright, everyone—" Hector began.

"Holy shit!" Calvin continued.

"Calvin, please—"

"You fucking killed it! You stabbed it in the heart!"

"I think I hit a lung, actually," Ylva said.

"That's not the point!"

"I know we're all a little bit freaked out, but panicking won't solve anything," Hector said.

"I agree," echoed Brian. "We should all just stay calm, and—"

Another scream cut him off. He looked at Tiffany to find her pointing to a spot straight ahead of her. Following her indication brought his gaze upon another giant rat, this one fatter than the first, emerging from the shadowy corner right next to him. Had it been there the whole time?

"More over here!" Ylva called out.

Two giant rats appeared from the far right corner, while another climbed up from behind the barrels.

"Under the stairs!" Hector yelled.

One appeared from beneath the apex of the stairs, almost right under the door. Another came out right next to Brian at the base. Six in total.

"What do we do?" Calvin backed up against the left wall.

"Spread out, don't clump up," warned Brian. "We'll just make ourselves bigger targets." He drew his shield and warhammer, motions which felt far too natural in his hands. Beyond that, he rooted in place.

"No, do clump up! Don't let them flank us!" Ylva countered with the exact opposite advice.

Tiffany, clearly overwhelmed by the current situation, put both hands on her head and sunk back against the crate she'd been sitting on, knees pulled to her chest. Tears continued to stain her cheeks.

Ylva took a survey of the battlefield. Three of her companions were completely stationary as the monstrous rodents closed in, one of whom wasn't even trying to fight. Hector was fiddling with his spellbook, which wasn't bad, but also didn't help. They were Dungeons and Dragons players, sure, but that meant nothing in the real world. Ylva realized her years of martial arts and reenactment made her the only one in the group with practical combat experience. If that meant the burden of winning this fight fell to her, then so be it. She drew her shield and, with a warcry on her breath, charged forward.

The charge put her right up against the rat in the far corner ahead of her, with the other one that way to her left. She pinned the one before her into the corner with her boot, then brought her sword down through its skull. The thing died before its body went limp. The rat to her left attempted a bite, but sharp teeth scraped against only the wood of Ylva's shield.

The rat atop the barrels leapt down and charged at Calvin. Spurred on by this sudden show of aggression., Calvin drew the kanabo from his back. The rat jumped at him, seeming to aim somewhere at his midsection. Sheer panic took over. Calvin closed his eyes and let loose a wild baseball swing. He felt his club catch on something in midair, heard as both it and a wet slap made contact with the wall next to him. He opened his eyes to see the bloody and broken form of a rat tumble to the ground, motionless.

There was little time to celebrate, however. The rat under the apex of the stairs ran up behind him. Calvin heard more than saw it. The thing hissed and bit at his ankle. Calvin lifted his foot. The teeth clacked together on air and disappointment. He turned to face his new foe.

Tiffany, with murderous beasts all around and her new forced companions engaged in mortal combat, completely broke down. Every fiber of her being screamed out for her to get up, to run or to fight, to be useful to the only people she had in this world. But she couldn't. Faced with the terror and uncertainty coursing through her veins, Tiffany just sat there and cried.

Even while the others fought for their lives, her body refused to listen. Even when the rat in the corner scurried up to her, she was motionless still. She felt teeth sink into her calf. The blonde screamed out in pain. Instinct told her to shake her leg about frantically. Yet, the beast held firm. Every flail sent agonizing jolts through her. Tiffany brought her leg as far across her body as possible and gave a great heave. The rat dislodged, but not before raking its horrible teeth through her flesh. It landed about five feet away, swallowing what morsel it managed to acquire.

Hector was immediately alarmed by a third scream from Tiffany. He turned to see her flailing around. That was his cue to spring into action. He moved to a spot near the center of the room, offset by a few feet, to get a good shot. Tiffany cast aside her enemy as red blood dripped from her wounded leg.

The wizard took one last glance at his spellbook. With his walking stick he drew an asterisk in the air and circumscribed it. The incantation came to his breath, a command in Sylvan. Ice blue mist ringed the light on his staff as he pointed it toward the rat assailing Tiffany. The same mist took her rat. The flesh on its hind quarters shrunk and blackened beneath the dying fur. It cried and hissed, but though with a hobble, it continued inching toward the girl. Hector cursed under his breath, this time speaking Spanish.

Brian also wanted to help Tiffany. He took a step toward her, but the rat beneath the base of the stairs skittered around to block his Path. With an annoyed grunt, he swung his hammer down at it. The weapon caught the creature in the front left leg, but with nowhere near the force he would've hoped. He gathered his strength to come around for a second strike. This time, the rat pasted itself to the ground just low enough for the hammer to pass harmlessly overhead.

The rodent had no trouble finding power. It jumped up at him. Long whiskers allowed it to find a spot above Brian's armored shins. Jaws bit down deep into the human's right thigh. Brian coudln't even scream out for how the agony paralyzed him. The teeth made a clean cut. The rat fell back to the ground, dripping flesh in its maw. Brian felt blood pour down his leg, soaking his blue jeans in red turned purple. The edges of his vision went dark, closing in before they refocused. It was a fight to stay on his feet.

Ylva put her shield low to stop the rat to her left from harassing her. After failing to bite through the barrier once, it hesitated at trying to do so again. The creature was smart enough to know it couldn't hurt he shield, but not to figure a way around it. This momentary pause was all the opening Ylva needed. She lifted her shield, turned her body, and swept up with her sword. The blade caught the rat just below the ribs. The thing uprooted from the ground, flying through the air to impact the opposite wall. It bounced to the floor, nearly in twain.

Calvin spun on the rat behind him, a surprisingly graceful pirouette for someone his size. He raised his greatclub so high it angled down his back, then brought it to bear upon the creature. It squished much like a large insect might, with a spray of blood and legs splayed out. The sickening crunch echoed around the room. Calvin just stood there for a second, club down and dripping. He was terrified of what he might find beneath it.

Tiffany focused on the rat which bit her. She looked it in the eyes. Bits of skin and denim made a tangled mess of its front teeth. Her blood fell from those hideous lips. She still felt fear, but a deep rage bubbled up in her heart. This was very real. The danger was real. She had to do something.

She looked over at Brian, at the red now beginning to seep from beneath his jeans. She'd never seen that much blood before, even when her dad brought her hunting. Guns killed quickly and left rather small wounds that the tight skin of an animal did a good job closing up. These sorts of wide gashes offered no such solace.

In looking at Brian, his words came to mind. Two daggers, unless something happened to the first. She didn't even think. Tiffany drew one of her daggers and lunged for the rat, even as pain shot up her own injured leg. Her blade found the thing's neck to plunge almost hilt deep into its chest. It squeaked, and was no more.

Tiffany let go of the weapon. It remained in the rat. She faded away from it, staring at where the blade rent flesh. She'd never killed something so up close before.

Hector paled at the sight of Brian, of how he swayed on his feet. The old wizard drew another asterisk in the air, circled it, and thrust his staff forward. Much like with the first creature he hit, the rat attacking Brian blackened and withered, but did not die.

Brian took a swing at his enemy. He regretted it instantly. Every inch of him hurt as pain ebbed from his wound. His breaths came in heavy rasps. The strike went wide. The grip on his weapon faltered. The will of whatever god watched over this battle kept it in his grasp. But no god's will could save him.

The rat lunged. It found a spot on Brian's other leg, just below his knee. It was another clean cut as the rat tore a chunk and fell back down. The pain was unbearable. He lost too much blood. The light left the room as his consciousness faded. He collapsed.

The room fell silent. The only sound was that of metal scales hitting the floor. Everyone turned the same aghast expression to the scene laid out before them: Brian, bleeding out on the floor while a victorious animal stood over him. In the horror of that moment, they were powerless to help, all of them but one.

"Brian!" Ylva screamed.

Theshieldmaiden sprinted across the floor. The final remaining rat looked over just in time to see a blade connect with its ribs. The only thing that stopped Ylva's charge was the wall. She collided shield-first with it. The rat, carried along with her sword, pressed against the rock structure. This allowed the blade to pass clean through. The beast fell in two pieces.

"Oh, shit." Calvin said what they were all thinking.

Ylva dropped both her sword and shield where she stood. Both hands worked frantically at untying the pouch and her side to draw out a little glass bottle filled with red liquid.

"Not yet, you lanky bastard." With one hand, Ylva rolled Brian over on his back. She uncorked the bottle and shoved it in his mouth. Some of the contents drained out, but not enough. A hand behind his head tilted it forward. His throat now open, the red water poured down it. Ylva held it there until every last drop found his gullet.

A heartbeat passed. Another. Another. Seconds ran into each other in the agonizing moments where nothing happened.

"Is he..." Tiffany said.

"I don't know," Ylva shook her head.

"Is he gonna be alright?" Calvin asked anyway.

"I don't know!" Ylva shouted, despite herself. "Lets—"

Brian coughed and spluttered. His eyes flew open. The blinding light assaulted his eyes, which ached as if they were looking at the sun. Strange, he didn't remember staring at the ceiling. He didn't remember laying down, either. And why did his mouth taste like he'd just been chewing on a bunch of pennies while chugging whole milk?

"Brian?" A woman with an adorable accent all but whispered his name. Wait, he knew that voice.

"Ylva?" He tried to sit up. His head throbbed a little, but other than a bit of dizziness, he felt mostly fine.

"Easy, now." Ylva knelt down. One hand on his chest, and the other on his back, guided him up. Brian looked into those gentle green eyes full of concern, and for a second his head didn't hurt anymore.

"What happened?"

"You went down," Ylva explained. "You took a few big hits, then you passed out. I gave you a healing potion, and I guessed it worked."

"Healing potion?" Brian wondered aloud.

Memory came crashing back to him. He remembered the investigation of Isalda's basement, the ensuing fight, the pair of blows that put him out. Frantically, he grabbed at his jeans. The holes where the bites found purchase were there, along with the blood he'd spilled, but within the rips he found not a grizzly set of wounds. Instead, the skin was smooth and healthier than it had been in years.

"Well, I guess we know those work, at least." Bereft of any other way to cope, Brian deflected with humor.

"Yeah, I guess we do," Ylva chuckled. Brian knew it to be a pity laugh, but he didn't care.

"Someone had to be the first to test them," he carried on. "Sucks it was me, though."

He and Ylva shared a little laugh. Brian didn't care how awkward and uncomfortable it was. He needed something, anything to make him forget the horror he'd just witnessed.

He heard someone behind him grind against the wall as they slumped to the floor.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm beat,' Calvin said.

"Yes, I think we could all use a short rest," Hector said. "Lets wait here for a few minutes before going back up." Hector was the first to follow his own order by sitting down in the middle of the floor.

Ylva sat with her back to the wall next to the bottom step. Brian could feel her eyes on him like a hawk. She obviously doubted he was really okay and wanted to keep a watch on him. In honesty, he wasn't sure if he'd healed up fully, either. He felt fine, and any pain he had before faded away, but did that really mean he was alright?

Beyond that, someone else in the group was clearly not okay. Tiffany pressed herself against her crate, hugging her knees. She wiped a drying tears from her face. What drew Brian's attention to her, though, was the blood still coming from her shin.

Brian hesitated to approach her, since she didn't seem to like him much, but that reluctance lasted only a blink. He was the cleric. It was his job to heal. Besides, it wasn't fair for him to get so much attention when Tiffany obviously also needed help. He stood up and approached her.

"You're hurt," he said, standing over her. She glanced briefly up at him, but said nothing. "I think I can cast a spell, if I try. I could use one to heal you."

"Don't waste a spell," Hector said. "There could be more of them, and we'll need all the magic we can get. You should be proficient in medicine, if the Gift of Knowledge works the way I think it does. Do you have a healer's kit?"

"I do." Brian extended a hand to Tiffany. "I could use that to—"

"Don't touch me!" Tiffany shrieked. Brian withdrew his hand a few inches. His breath caught. "Just... just leave me alone. I don't want your help."

Brian was at a loss. He wanted to assist Tiffany. She needed him to. And, yet, she refused his help. He understood that she was angry, and tensions were high, but surely her calf hurt. She must've felt woozy from the loss of blood. So, why the hostility.

Ylva stood. Brian looked over at her just in time to see her put a foot on Tiffany's shoulder and push her down. The blonde collided shoulder-first with the ground. She looked up at Ylva in shock and fear.

"Ylva!" Hector called, but it fell on deaf ears.

"No one has time for your bullshit right now," Ylva menaced. "What if more of those things show up? What are you gonna do, bleed on them? You need medical attention, and Brian has graciously offered to help you, when I'm sure he'd prefer to just sit down and relax a bit. What right do you have to say no?

"You've been an uncooperative bitch since this whole things started. Do you think you're the only one suffering? Do you think you're the only one who's confused and afraid? The only one who left something behind? I left behind the man I love more than life itself. I left behind two cats, a dog, and the beautiful home we all made together. I left behind twenty-three students, all of whom I love as if they were my own kin. I get your angry, frustrated, and sad, but the only chance any of us has of finding answers is in life here, not death. We're a team now, which means we survive together. Don't you dare get in the way of that."

Ylva took a deep breath, then stomped off past all of them. She came to rest at the barrels on the other side of the room. She leaned on one with both hands grasping an edge.

The room was eerily quiet. No one quite knew what to say. Brian agreed with Ylva, of course, but he felt that saying as much would be inappropriate. They all needed time to process what just happened, all the things Ylva just said. The best way to do that was in silence.

Tiffany laid where Ylva had placed her for a while. Her hair twisted into the dirt, while blood continued to trickle from her leg. Brian didn't know what she was thinking about, or how she felt. All he knew was he had to get that leg fixed up and fast, or Tiffany would start having some problems with blood loss.

Eventually, she sat up, where she stayed motionless for a good few minutes. She fixed her hair so it looked somewhat straight, but largely gave up on it. She took a deep breath in, and slowly let it out.

"Okay," she said. All eyes turned to her. "Okay, Brian. Use your healing kit, or whatever it is."

"Okay," Brian agreed with his best reassuring smile. "Thank you."

He rummaged through his bag to pull out the kit. It was a smooth wooden box filled with sutures, gauze, twine, salves, and those little scissors doctors always seemed to use. He sat down in front of Tiffany and got to work.

He started with removing Tiffany's leather schynbald and rolling up her jeans. From there, it felt like he was on autopilot. His brain filled with sourceless knowledge on what to do and how to do it. His hands moved with the skilled practice of a nurse or field medic, yet he'd never held a roll of gauze before. He applied some brown paste to the wound which he simultaneously did and did not know promoted rapid wound closure. He then wrapped up the wound nice and tight and redressed Tiffany's lower leg. The whole thing was a strange experience, like he both knew exactly what he was doing, but also had no idea. Was this the Gift of Knowledge at work?

The two of them were silent throughout the whole affair. Brian wanted to say something, to crack a joke or just make light conversation, but he knew how fragile Tiffany's mental state was. He didn't want to risk messing it up.

Tiffany, for her part, was a good patient. She grimaced through the pain of everything Brian did, and only jolted up once when he first applied the salve. It must've stung. She stayed tough, however. What Ylva said probably got through to her. Either that, or she was afraid of making the much stronger woman mad again. Regardless, she accepted treatment without complaint.

"Fuck!" Ylva suddenly swore just as Brian finished up. He, Hector, and Calvin were all on their feet in an instant, the latter brandishing his kanabo.

"What's going on?" Calvin said, looking around the room.

"Fuck!" Ylva swore again.

"What is it, Ylva?" Hector asked, urgency in his tone.

"You all need to see this," she said while rolling one of the barrels out of the way.

Brian helped Tiffany to her feet. She stood with the slightest hobble on her injured leg. The rest of the party went over to join Ylva. What they saw there took Brian's breath away.

There was a tunnel in the wall.