“REEEee, reEe, reeEEEEEEE” Gwaner screeched as his cohortes attempted to follow Master Marlow, a simple command.

“Come now just fetch the ball.” Marlow said, pointing at the leather a dozen feet away. Walking over to hit he tossed it back to his last position and then pointed at it. Repeating what he said earlier, ‘Fetch’ this time even getting an odd glance from Gwaner.

Pausing he thought the process over. Gwaner is essentially the master of this rat colony, also rats have social learning abilities so whatever I teach him he then teaches it to the rest of the colony. He knows to sit, stay, spin, come, hide, and paw.

Since ‘come’ was relatively easy to train i.e. a high note on his flute and hand out food it was simple to grasp. Meanwhile hide on the other hand was quite hard to teach since the rat began to assochat the flute with ‘come’.

Needless to say they were quite confused about being shooed away when a low note was played. Their confusion was more evident when he alternated notes to get them to spin.

Changing the topic back to the problem at hand seems fairly easy; they had to go to the object and bring it back to him mainly using ‘hide’ and ‘come’.

Walking over he picked up Gwaner and placed him behind the ball walking back a few steps he motioned for him to come, which he did by walking around the ball. Picking him up again he repeated this again and again until Gwaner moved the ball aside to get to him this was rewarded with a treat and was placed behind the ball yet again.

A dozen more trials passed, only ever being rewarded when Gwaner moved the ball towards Marlow. After He had figured that out Gwaner began rolling at Marlow. This action was heavily rewarded. Placing him back behind the ball again he placed this time he played the same note twice, while motioning for Gwaner to bring him the ball. Gwaner now began to associate the repeating note with fetching the ball.

This time when Marlow threw the ball and played two notes back to back a few rats including Gwaner brought him the ball each one receiving treats and a tummy rub. After all, he would soon run out of his daily treats if he kept this up. Throwing it in a different direction allows different rats to retrieve the clum's human ball. This process continued until every rat now knew that two notes back to back were to retrieve what the human threw. That was until they threw his boot onto a nearby roof, in which case they retrieved the ball yet again.

Another slow hour passed by now understanding that whatever the Master threw resent was meant to be retrieved. Also if the Master pointed while playing the noise was also meant to be brought to him.

Dismissing his rat army to the forest he looked over his menu setting and adjusted the experience tax form zero to five. Now whenever the rats made a kill at least five percent of it would now go to his level. After all, what amount of trouble could they get up to?

Now it was time to train his combat skills, since Le0n and Jazz decided to take shifts of grinding reputation. This idea was offered by Redwood since having three people coming on a single person was quite intimidating at times.

Opening up Redwood’s shed he hauled out a training dummy for practice. This task was always difficult since the dummy had four disks on top of one another, each one spinning in opposite directions. Apparently this dummy was meant for hand to hand combat, but was repurposed with thick planks of wood to take the repeated strikes from his pointed stick. Even though this wasn’t his actual spear it mostly helped build muscle memory.

Lunge, step back, step forward, lunge, step back, duck, jab, step forward. With a few variations here and there his train mostly went uninterrupted. Spotting out of the corner of his eye Mr Black standing by the shed peeking in looking for something.

“Good morning Mr Blackwood! How are you doing today?” Marlow enthusiastically asked.

“Oh, it’s you.” He responded coldly.

“I am doing just fine, thank you very much. I have heard rumors that have been training rats. And wanted to verify this insubstantial rumor for myself. After all, it is not everyday you see a pied piper.”

“Oh well I’m sorry to say Mr Blackwood I have already wrapped up my daily training with them. If you want I can start their training later tomorrow morning if you want to see them in action?”

“That would be acceptable. I shall see you tomorrow then. Oh and before I forget, when are you planning to help Ebony finish the wall? You only have, what, two days left on that?” Mr Blackwood spoke, drawing out the last bit watching as the color drained from Marlow’s face.

“I guess I better leave you to it then, after all your colleagues are oh so business with all the new quests popping up here and there. Have fun.” He said turning the corner.

Clenching his jaw he ran past Mr Blackwood heading for the town gate. Only ever slowing down when his stamina bottumed out. Passing the gate he felt an odd sensation crawl over his skin. During one of the many infrequent pit stops he pulled out his flute and began to play while he ran. Calling out to any remaining rats in the area to come to him.

Playing the flute for a solid minute only resulted in getting him a few odd stairs. Kicking himself he then voted to always keep a quarter of the army on him at all times.

Eventually making his way out of town he began playing the flute again hoping against hope that he would at least draw some rats to him. Steadily walking to the designated area he played earnestly hoping to call at least a small squad. That is how they hunted right?

Wait now he had a tracking skill didn’t he! All he needed to do was find a footprint. In a forest that he had a hand in killing their guardian. And to find a tiny footprint in a forest. In fall. Things didn’t look so great now did it, oh well! If he failed today he would just try again tomorrow!

The brisk autumn breezes began to pick up, sweeping the leaves on the forest floor indiscriminately. Sending them to tumble over each other causing a soft crinkeling to be heard throughout the area. Flowing and flipping over everything. Pressing his back against a nearby tree, Marlow slid down to enjoy this moment. The trees seemed to sway with the wind rather than standing still. Birds seemed to chirp intermittently. Leaves fell and floated in the gentle breeze then enveloped the land in a loving embrace. Closing his eyes Marlow allowed his other senses to take over.

Running his hands over the trunk of the tree he could barely make out the faintest of details from the ruff and hardy tree. There were scratches perpendicular to the bark. Inhaling he smelled some very familiar cleaning products or was that some sort of smelling salt? Either way it was semi familiar also like, no it could be could it?

Blinking away the darkness he began patting the area searching for something. He wasn’t expecting anything exactly. Crawling on all fours he peeped under every nearby leaf and rock, so that he could get his hands on giving himself all sorts of scratches all over his hands and legs. Giving up and on that unless endeavor he got up and dusted himself off.

Finding the trail was a piece of cake, so he continued his trek to the copping grove. Checking his body over ensured that he wasn’t leaving any valuables behind, he then came across a new problem altogether: how was he going to drag the lumber back to town.

Reviewing his character sheet he found that he only had a strength score of fifthteen and his haul skill was only at level twelve. Things weren’t looking so great now were they. What was he thinking?

“Stupid, stupid, stupid.” He yelled, banging his hand against his head over and over. What a waste of time had that been! Picking up his pace he jogged the rest of the way there. Finding things just as they were. Bending over he hurled as his stamina drain finally kicked in. Gripping his knees mentally kicked himself yet again.

Picking up an which had been logged in a stump he began angrily copping at a fallen tree.

“One, two, three, four, FIVE!” he shouted at no one in particular, having to place a foot on the log to rip the axe out of the dead tree. Lifting it high into the air swung with all his might cleaving both the tree and big toe in two. Miles away birds took flight, deer stopped grazing to look around, and rodents turned their heads to hear what had caused their master to be in pain.

Squeezing his foot tightly he did his best to stop this blood flowing. Without proper care he would die from blood loss then again, dying was a problem if the real issue is the time it takes to respawn. If he made it back to the village they could fit him up and he could come back to bring more wood, then again they didn’t have proper doctors. Wait no, if he could at least make it to Jazz she could probably make a healing potion of some sort.

First thing first, he would have to survive if he wanted to make that happen. So to do that he would need to stop the blood loss. Letting go with one arm he moved it up to his shoulder grabbing his tunic and tore it. Oh boy was it cold.

Placing the torn fabric on the ground he reached for his water bag undoing the lach and began pouring it out on his foot until it was nearly empty. Definitely don't want to get that infected on his way back to town.

Picking up the cloth, he gritted his teeth, for this was the hardest part. Wrapping it around his foot he quickly moved his hand away letting the cloth lay around the wound. Taking each of the longest ends of the cloth he pulled the tiet. Letting one hand hold both ends he grabbed a nearby branch breaking it in half. Placing the up and over the stick Marlow began to twist in a clockwise direction, the two ends tighter and tighter. Holding it setdy he could barely feel the tips of his toes. Checking the cloth he found that the bleeding had indeed stopped. Reading over his notifications told him the same thing.

Marlow has struck Marlow for 33 points of damage

Marlow has removed Marlow’s left big toe.

Marlow has inflicted a semi heavy bleed debuff on Marlow.

Marlow has lost 5 points of health

Marlow has lost 5 points of health

Marlow has lost 5 points of health

Marlow has lost 5 points of health

Bleed debuff has been replaced with light Bleeding 1, you lose

Light bleeding I, you lose .5 hit points for every minute this effect is active time remaining: 26:59, 26:58, 26:57…

skill gained: Basic First Aid (novice I): Look at you not waiting on magic to solve all your problems. Yay! Ordinarily people are just professionals for these sorts of things, but look at you taking matters into your own hands! Gain 1n% when performing a basic medical first aid.

Finding a much smaller stick he tied it to his leg then tied the two sticks together to make a poor man’s medical boot. Catching his breath he really hoped this wasn’t in vain.

Standing up with much more effort than originally thought. Rested on a nearby tree. Sweat dripped down his back and forehead. Whipping away the wet locks of hair he finally noticed a rat sitting patiently on a stump not a stone throw away. Spinning around he spotted more and more rats wherever he looked. Eventually landing on the biggest one he’d ever had the fortune of seeing. Smiling he Opened up his menu and tabbed over to ‘Tamed animals’. Selecting the top ten most tamed rats he opened up the class option. And stopped, didn’t he have a skill related to class options?

Heading back over to his skill menu he did in fact have a skill related to picking classes for animals ‘Mutation’ which was sitting at novice one. If he dumped his six points into it that would only boost his chances by what? Seven and a half percent when choosing a class for one of his creatures. To be fair Gwaner’s Mutation was quite useful.

Mutation effect: (pie-rats genes) Gwaner comes from a long line of genius rats, where they be leading the charge or finding a place to hide Gwaner now has a permanent 5% learning and teaching boost when training other rats or rat related species along with a 2% combat boost to all rat or rat related species.

Tabbing back to the ‘Skills’ page he selected Mutation and dumped all six skill points into mutation. Bumping it up to novice seven. Returning back to the ‘Tame animals’ page he selected the top ten tamed rats, he opened the class selection menu.

Rat Classes Recommended: Brut, Mount, Plague, rogue, and Scout.

This was interesting now, he understood mount fairly well and Plague. But what were the other three?

Brut: Brut choosing this class will allow your rats to become hardy in every situation. No longer will you be surrounded by small mice but instead burly rats that can with your command burrow through stone. Recommended characteristics Strength, Constitution, and Dexterity.

rogue: rogue choosing this class will let you dip your toes into villainy thieving skill will become much easier to learn. As they progress down this path this class may become nightmares to bankers, nobles, and royalty of every sort. Recommended characteristics Dexterity, Intelligence, and Charisma.

Scout: Scouts skitter to and fro. Choosing this class will allow you to form a mental map of the current place you occupied. Gone are the days of being lost. The only turning around you’ll be doing will be in bed. Recommended characteristics Dexterity, Intelligence, and Wisdom.

Interesting. Would pairing up the scouts and rogues be a good idea, since they could maybe share their ‘mental map’ with them? Or would pairing up bruts and mounts be a better idea? Because the burts could fend off the mounts when under attack? You know what, let's try it! Tapping on mount and burt three times each he then tapped rogue and scout two times for each class. Reading the results he hesitated for a single moment before pressing ‘yes’ on the confirmation page.

The change was emidit, short, and painful to watch. The changes were amazing and horrifying to watch. Seeing someone you have taken care of, change in the span of a few seconds will almost always leave some sort of impression on you.

The three mounts Marlow had selected became larger and larger, nearly quadrupling their original size. As they grew their tails shrunk into their bodies became nearly nonexistent, meanwhile their paws and claws doubled in size.

The trio of burts he had chosen became thick with heavy muscle, their biceps and triceps seem as though they were from a cartoon then reality. Claws curled ever so slightly digging into the soft soil.

Meanwhile the pair of rogues he had narrowed out became hard to find in the herd of rats. When he did finally spot them they had sharpened claws and their fur seemed to blend in wherever they went.

As for the scout their changes were less noticeable and more mental. Marlow could almost feel what they were feeling and smell what they were smelling. The cool dirt under their feet and the stench of an unbathed human not too far away.

“Aay”

Well what way one thing he hadn’t exactly been paying attention to. When this mess was all how he was going to find a bath. To be fair he had been putting it off for a while. Blech.

Pulling out his trusty flute he began to play a melody of urgency and hopefulness. Beckoning for one of the mounts to come closer it bowed it he and nelt. Not intending for this to happen he instead to the rat's displeasure dragged the chopped log over to it and hauled it up onto its sturdy back.

Seeing this action the rat militia began to mirror their master’s action, dragging the other chopped log onto the second rat mount and secured it with their own tiny bodies. Confused on what to do next they look to their Master for guidance.

Planning for the thing he called Gwaner to his side as he hopped over to a fallen tree. Picking up a fallen axe he swung it at the log being wary of his feet. This continued on until Gwaner began scratching at the log at which point he called the rogues to come join in on the scratching, from there it only took a few seconds to carve up the log into carriable pieces.

From there the only problem was packing. Since they didn’t have any rope or proper bags, he of course held most of the wood. Playing a few notes they began their trek back home. Only taking a quarter of time.

As for getting into town, that was a whole mess of trouble. The guards didn’t mind that swarm of rats leaving Warwood every day, then again they’d never seen them returning either. Let alone giant rats carrying a bleeding traveler.

“No, sir, we can not let those things in!” The nasuly of the two guards spoke sword waving pointedly at them.

“They could ruin everything! They look hungry enough to eat a child!”

“They are not going to eat anyone or disturb anyone, so long as they aren’t prevoced even then I’ll keep them under control. So could you please let me in? I need to see my friend. She’s a doctor of sorts.”

“I’ve heard of what magic she performs! That’s no human that’s a witch in disguise. As for you, you're a master of monsters waiting to unleash untold evil on the world.” The guard ranted and raved. Not at all noticing Mr Blackwood sneaking up behind him.

“If I remember correctly, are you applying to be one of my students correct? Young sapling?” Mr Blackwood drone scaring the young guard half to death. Casually placing an arm around each of the young men.

“You know boys, if you really want to make it far. And how to get on my good side. In this world you should maybe start by treating people with respect. Else you’ll never get anywhere treating your better’s like trash. Now let him through. I need to talk to this kind soul, who has chosen to bless us with lumber for our precious wall.” Mr Blackwood spoke, while patting the two boys on the shoulder. Leaving their armor irreconcilable stained.

“Yee Yes sir.” Replied the nasally boy.

“Hello, Traveler. Your companions are at Redwoods house as we speak, however I would like to make a deal with you before you go and meet them. This is a similar deal your companions are being offered right now.” Mr Black snidely said, trying and failing to turn his nose up at the young man on a giant rat-like beast.

“Are you interested in hearing me out?”

“Ordinarily yes, I would love to, but I’m kind of bleeding out right now. So if you’d be so kind as to excuse me I will return to you as soon as I'm done.”

“Very well then, I shall see you post haste then. It’s not like you have anywhere important to be concerning an important quest. You may drop off the wood here if you'd like.” Mr Black emphasised his point by jabbing his finger at a baren pache near the wall.

Pulling out his flute Marlow began to a disoriented melody. Directing the rats to drop their load and to unload their heavy burden on the empty spot Mr Black had oh so kind pointed out. With each little mind finding unique ways loathing the geesy man, who is their master what to do.

Having turned a few shades pailer, Marlow patted his mount and began sontering off. Leaving the guards and Mr Black shocked at the neat organized stack of wood.

Pulling up to Redwood’s house and with great effort he brought his leg up and around his mount’s head. Waiting they catch his breath he slid down and off landing on his feet and immediately regretted it. Biting his tongue he slowly hobbled his way over to the door waiting there catching his breath before finally letting himself in. Hearing muffled murmuring he called out into the twisting and closed it house.

“I’m back.”

“Where in our room.” Jazz shouted back, having her voice reverberate off of the acoostick house. Taking the stairs down he eventually made it after having nearly fallen twice.

“Greeting traveler, what a pleasure to see you here today! I have a deal for the three of you.” Redwood proudly proclaimed, standing up in the cramped room to shake his hand. Taking the large hand with his very white

“Well you see. I’m kind of in a rush and I really need to speak with Jazz. I really need to finish up a quest for Mr Black. So if I could just-”

“Nonsense, whatever it could be can wait. What could be more important than the news and knowledge I’m about to bestow upon you!”