We came across several more rooms with about five rats in each, and even though Bjorn tried to get the rats to focus on him, he failed. I started to feel sorry for Bjorn. It was like the rats realized he wasn't a threat, and just ignored him. No matter how many insults he yelled, or how many times he slammed his shield into the ground, they never attacked him. Scria on the other hand, was amazing. She just danced and the rats would only attack her. Not that they could hit her, most of the time. Once she started dancing, she got some kind of buff so simple creatures (like a rat) would have almost no chance to hit her. With Lily's healing and debuffs, and mine and Marcus' damage we basically cleared the dungeon without Bjorn's help.

By the fifth room we cleared Bjorn had started slamming his shield into rats. It didn't do much damage, but it seemed like he was relieving his frustration, so no one said anything. Not even Marcus. The sadest part about it was the rats still ignored him, even though he was brutally hitting them with a tower shield.

After a total of ten rooms cleared we had perfected the strategy of me sneaking up and finding out what was in the room (which was always five rats) then going back and telling everyone. Scria would then charge and start dancing, while the rest of us followed and started doing as much damage as we could. Once all the rats were dead Lily would heal Scria if she needed it. This strategy worked great, until room number eleven.

I did my normal scouting, but instead of a small room with five rats, there was a much larger room. The trough that went down the middle of the tunnel emptied into a river that went right through the middle of the large room. It wasn't acually a river, but there was so much stuff flowing through the channel that it looked like a river. A really muddy river. There was a bridge over the channel, and another tunnel identical to the one I was in on the other side. There were also walkways that went down the side of the muddy river, and a bunch of rats.

There were about ten of the large rats we had been fighting, but there was also a much larger rat. It was twice as tall as Bjorn, and its fur was completely red. Not a dark red, but a very bright red. It looked so unatural that I just stared for a while. I might have kept staring, but I started to hear the sounds of clanking metal from behind me, so I quickly went back down the tunnel to warn everyone else about what I saw.

"Sorry Marcus, I didn't scuff my feet, but the next room is different."

"Jus' lemme at em. These rats ain't nothin." Scria started going down the tunnel.

"Scria wait, there's a big red one, and more of the little rats than we've fought before."

"We got this, BLOOD AND GLORY!" With a loud war cry she charged down the tunnel.

Bjorn shook his head then started running after her, though I think he muttered something about Leroy, and the rest of us followed. By the time we got to the room, Scria was already surrounded by all the smaller rats, but the big red one was just sitting on the bridge watching.

Bjorn seemed to regain a little bit of his motivation, "Guys, just do what we've been doing, if that big one joins in stay back until we know how strong it is."

He ran to Scria's side while the rest of us started launching spells from near the door way. Things were going pretty much the same as before, except there were a few more rats. The big red one didn't seem interested in fighting, so we ignored him. I was only using small spells like firebolt to save mana for the big one, but it didn't do anything, even when we killed the last of the other rats. It just sat on the bridge and watched us.

Scria only paused a moment when the last little rat died, then she charged the big one. Well kind of charged, she was still doing her battle dance, so it looked a bit funny. She was generally moving towards the red rat, but she was weaving back and forth, and sometimes she would jump, or twirl around. Bjorn just followed her, looking very boring compared to her exciting movement, and the red rat just watched. Until Scria stepped onto the bridge. The red rat moved so quickly I almost didn't even realize what happened. The rat's tail swung around, and hit Scria. She flew a few feet through the air, and hit the railing on the bridge. I was pretty sure the stone started to crack from the impact. Lily started making bell noises and Marcus cast an illusion spell to create more Bjorns.

Bjorn held his shield in front of him and slowly approached the red rat. Just like with Scria, the moment he stepped on the bridge the rat struck with his tail. Bjorn was ready for it, so he was able to deflect the tail with his shield. Even though it looked like there were multiple Bjorns the rat aimed for the real one, and with every step towards the rat, the tail struck the real Bjorn. While the rat was focused on Bjorn, Lily and I got Scria off the bridge, and Marcus gave up on his illusions and started throwing elemental magic to damage the rat. His spells seemed to fizzle in the rat's fur, so I tried a firebolt, and the same thing happened.

"No weak attacks, this is a boss." Bjorn stopped to yell, but apparently the rat didn't like that and it pounced on him.

Bjorn was thrown back, but he managed to block the rat with his shield. The rat didn't let up though, it used its momentum to continue to push Bjorn back.

Curse of Molasses

Alert!

Your target has resisted your curse

A lesser effect will be applied

The rat stopped attacking Bjorn, and looked right at me. I could almost feel its hatred as it glared at me with its red eyes. It jumped at me, but it seemed a little slower than normal, so I was able to Shadowstep away. The rat looked angry and started searcing the room, until it found me again and jumped again. I had the feeling that the rat could jump a lot more than I could Shadowstep so the third time it jumped at me I went to Bjorn's side.

"Can you keep me safe?"

He seemed a little surprised that I was there, but he recovered quickly and said, "Of course, that's my job. I am the shield! Stand behind me and I will block any attack the enemy may throw at you."

Alert!

Your servant Bjorn has unlocked a new class due to his dedication to you

When you are in the same area you will both gain a damage mitigation buff

Before either of us could react to the notification, the rat jumped again. Bjorn raised his shield and used a skill that caused his whole body to be surrounded by a shadowy energy. The rat hit his shield, and Bjorn did not move. Instead the rat was thrown back about twenty feet. Everyone seemed stunned for a moment, even the rat, then Lily started cheering and everything started moving again. The rat charged Bjorn (without jumping this time), I cast Burn a couple times, Marcus started chanting, Lily made bell noises, and Scria looked like she was trying to focus.

No matter what the rat did it could not get past Bjorn's shield, and everytime it hit the shield it looked like it took damage. To match Bjorn's shadowyness I decided to try out Shadow Blade. It made a shadowy long sword, that felt light (or should I say shadow?) and I was able to stab at the rat around Bjorn. I had to be quick because the rat would try to hit me everytime I poked him, but between the curse slowing the rat, and Bjorn's shield I managed to avoid damage.

When Lily finished restoring Scria the fight got a whole lot easier. She cast some debuffs on the rat, and Scria joined right into the fight. Her dance was a bit different than before. Before the dance had a circlular motion to it, but against the red rat she seemed to be moving in a line. Foward to attack the rat, then backward to avoid it. She was also using a rapier instead of the two weapons she used earlier.

Then Marcus finished chanting, and the rat was struck with hundreds of little chunks of ice. The Ice seemed to come from no where, then it hit the rat, and disapeared. It was great because we didn't have to worry about the ground getting covered in ice, and it seemed to slow the rat down even more. When the ice finally stopped, Scria jumped on the rat's back and stabbed it in the back of the neck. The rat didn't die from that, and it started to swing its tail at her, but somehow Bjorn was beside her with his shield raised to block the attack.

Of course that meant that I was now facing the rat, without my shield. The rat seemed to know it was almost done, but with one final effort it opened its mouth and tried to bite me. I almost used Shadowstep, but at the last moment I remembered Shadow Swap. I let the rat bite me, which was kind of weird. Everything about letting a giant rat put you in its mouth was just wrong. But I used Shadow Swap and I didn't feel any pain as the jaws closed on me, and my Shadow Blade. My blade went through the roof of the rat's mouth, which was probably why it opened its mouth almost immediately after closing it. That let me back up in case it tried to attack me again, but as I did the rat stopped moving. We had won.