Duty Session 465: Obligatory Rat Maze

Rats. They are one of the most common early-game quests that exist within any MMORPG. However, it is noted on this particular Hunter's Guild quest that this requires more than a Porcelain rating. This, of course, suggests that the dangers below may be just slightly higher than your average starting dungeon.

The quest begins in the cellar of a shop at the base of Fort Ouph, which has been flagged on the map for those who have accepted this particular quest. Mikage is already in the cellar when others arrive, her Lynx companion, Rama, sniffing around, his nub tail wiggling.

The crates around them show distinct signs of rodent damage, some goods spilling out on the floor. That, alone, would be enough to upset the shopkeeper. However, more concerning is a large crack that seems to have formed in the foundation of the house, one that is just large enough for an Adventurer to squeeze their way through with some discomfort. Cold air and fetid smells waft up from below. A distant sound of rodent squeaking echoes.

A crumbling staircase leads down into the dark below.

"Huh... So this just opened up down here?" Mikage asks, seeming slightly concerned at that. "Seems monsters are making their way up from some underground dungeon."

"Someone looking for some exterminator work done again?" Vertina has come to beat up rats. Because it's a good thing to do and take some of the stress off the Lander businesses.

But mostly because beating up rats means they sometimes drop rat meat thanks to her Hunter skill. And meat can be cooked! Not that she would of considered cooking rat meat before she actually learned Cooking and found out it was possible. And actually pretty tasty when done right with proper seasoning.

"Rats getting where they don't belong and getting into food and stuff is pretty on par for rat behavoir."

Haru is all about having a good time and what is a better time than a water park, killing ten rats, and an under ground mystery? Not necessarily in that order. He arrives promptly with a raise of the hand in greeting. The hand lowers to rub over his one blue eye, not feeling particularly chatty as he looks over to the spiral staircase. It takes a few more minutes for the Enchanter to finish up a note he has to get out on the chims for later before stretching an arm upwards, "they are scaling up, too. Glow Rats. Mega Rats." A pause. "Mega glow rats. Rodent variety plus behavior makes me think there will always be a need for some rat removal." Which is a good thing. Like a Gacha Rat Roll, what Rat ya gunna get?

"I've been involved in a similar quest. Analog circumstances," Shenmi comments, leaning against a wall with his arms folded. "There's signs of predation on the rat drops," Shenmi comments, emerging from the shadows and pointing down at the chasm. "I thought it would have been an easy peasy lemon squeezy kind of quest," he gestures towards the darkness, "but it was more like life giving you lemons and squeezing them in your eyes." He nods gravely. "Beware of life bearing citrus." He straightens up, places his hands on his hips, and blinks. "Oh, I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself properly." He doffs his hat and bows. "Shenmi Jinren, Internatnional Man of Mystery, Master of Illusion, and most importantly..."

When he straightens up again, with a flourish of his hands, he produces two bouquet out of nowhere. "...pleased to make your acquaintance." He offers the first bouquet to Lunaris, the second to Vertina, and, assuming at least one of the two accepts the bouquet offered to her, with another flourish he'll materialize a third one, which will be offered to Mikage.

Lunaris was not exactly in the rungs of high level adventurers and as perhaps the token porcelain hunter of the bunch she probably stood out like a rather sore thumb. Not that that had ever stopped her before, or ever seemingly would. She arrived to the gathering group in a bit of a blur, zipping to the side with all too much enthusiasm that left Pecan, her fox and companion, racing to keep up with her. "We are killing rats? This is so like my official introduction to the guild!" She declares rather cheerily, skidding to a stop nearby. She wasn't exactly unfamiliar with the tropes and quickly offered a wave towards Haru and Mikage in recognition before lending a small bow to the others, "Oh? There's going to be unique rats? Maybe we should get their pelts. Really should learn to tan or something." Hyper or not the introductions quickly catch her and she breaks into a grin, gladly taking Shenmi's boquet and peering over it, "Lunaris! Summoner and.. Uh. No, just summoner! I need a better title.."

Rats? They are not goblins but in someways even more widespread. She also was a bit short on coin after her massive training tour. She would have been easy enough to get to join up with this party toio. She may also be looking for goblins as well. It's a good idea to check for them hiding away under the large cities. She seems to be ready for close combat too from the pair of long knives on her hips today.

"They are nearly as much of a menace as goblins."

They really need some Dire Terriers or maybe just Airdale Terriers for this. She seems in good spirits though! "Oh I'm Erufu and it's good to meet you all!"

Looking up, Mikage nods to Haru. His words seem to align with her own experiences. "It's interesting, isn't it? The game seems to advance over time. Like... these aren't content drops or expansions just... life finding a way." For someone who had worked with Dive Technology outside of the game, like Mikage, it is curious just how advanced Elder Tale actually is at the heart of things.

There is a nod to Vertina, who Mikage knows is more than capable of this sort of quest, but then a pause as she looks at Shenmi. "Shenmi. It's nice to meet you. I'm Mikage and this is Rama." She motions at the lynx beside her, only to then have a bouquet offered out. There is a flustered moment, where a hint of color rises on her cheeks. "Um... thank you. I know someone who would really appreciate these."

Tucking that into her inventory, Mikage then looks to Lunaris, "Nice to see you again, Lunaris. I'm sure Rama and Pecan will have some fun with hunting rats." At least, she assumes as much. Both animals have a tendency to eat rodents in the real world so it may be similar in this one, right?

Leading the way, Mikage squeezes through the opening and starts down the spiral staircase, using a glowing blue stone that sits at the end of her sword to light the way. When they reach the bottom, the ground squelches underfoot uncomfortably.

Garbage. The place is absolutely littered with it and the smell is horrific. The rats must have been having their own buffet down here. At first, there seems to be no exit, but a dripping sound suggests that there is one nearby. They just need to clear some of the mess from the floor of the chamber and get a bit more light in the place to find it. Hopefully.

Vertina has to duck a bit due to her height but otherwise gets through the opening with little trouble to make way down the stairs. Really, who puts this sort of stairs under a shop? Dungeons be weird, yo.

That sentiment isn't offset any by the first room they come to being full of trash and grudge. "Ugh. Now this is disgusting." Seeing bits of wasted rotting food in the heaps makes her feel even more ready to punish some thieving varmints for their crimes against culinarism. Is that even a word? Doesn't matter, Vertina will think it anyways. "Even for rats. But not too hard to take care of." Not when she can just suck in a deep breath and expel it as flame, burning away a wide swath of the filth via incineration.

"Mega Rat. Darkness Rat. Lightning Rat. Pizza Rat," Haru begins to list off as they go, "the rat diversity is strong. There may be an entire rat society going on that we don't know about, led by the Rat King and his loyal court, the Rat Pack." Both in response to Luna and Mikage there. "Thats where my mind wanders to, Mikage. Like, its living and adaptive in places you don't expect. In a weird way, the rats feel like a solid baseline to look at for it since they are traditional early challenges." Haru is in big brain mode today. Must be the monocle.

A blue eye slides to Shenmi and the display. A grin. "Do the hat trick, Shenmi. Luna loves things she can pet." The Enchanter steps in something that goes squish on the way down, "maybe after the waste pit."

The white haired human snaps his finger that gives the flick of embers from flint clashing with each other. The embers stay, floating in front of him. The Wave Arte user draws his hands in a circle, causing them to swirl and multiply until the room is filled with several small fireflies that burn away the scent in the room. Like petals from a cherry blossom tree, several descend on dry refuse and scrub the rogue objects away to help search for the way forward.

Erufu says "Game?" The elf looks confused at Mikage. "A world always changes. Did not the world change where you were born?" She looks very honestly confused, inspected her would show she's not a Lander. So someone is just hardcore RPing or is he? It's been over a year maybe someone is losing herself in chracter? Either way the elf seems to let the strange talk pass as she grins at Mikage. 5R
"Good to meet you all as well. She stops at the smell she pauses and will chant for a moment. Runes dance about her for a second then comes the /fire/.

"It's not much of a game, whole world more," Lunaris offhandedly remarks to Mikage and Haru's conversation though doesn't offer any more than that, it's just a small personal opinion after all. Though there did sound to be that touch more behind her words. Either way she fell into step behind the party leader, doing her best not to dart ahead, at least there were no fluffy monsters to distract her for the moment. "Oh and it's lovely to see you again Mikage, and.. Well.." A glance going to her little furred companion with a grimace, him in turn glaring at her with amber eyes, "He's.. Been getting a little prim and proper lately. He totally will and then grumble about it later. Sometimes.." She sighs and shakes her head with a grumble.

The flower bouquet remains in her hands, she was after all a summoner and most usually didn't need to use them. That made things somewhat easier for her, even if it did make her whole 'serious quest' vibe questionable. Happy enough until the stench of the trash pit and with a wrinkled nose at the foul scent she wove her spell with a single hand, leaving trails of purple in the air before a deluge of water started to seep through the cracks in the building, starting to wash away the detritus.

To Haru she giggles lightly at his listing of the whole rat hierarchy, nodding along with that explanation, "What about a cute rat? There's got to be more cute ones with adorable mandibles or something! Sewer rats tend to be all fwumpy, not like mice.. And what hat trick?!"

"That is the great thing about titles, Lunaris!", Shenmi declares with a spread of his arms. "There's no real bounds to your creativity! You can be Lunaris of the Pale Moon, the Ethereal Evoker, the Vanquisher of Vermins, the Predator of Pests, the Terror of Troublesome Terribleness..." He begins pacing around, hands swirling wide through the air, his voice picking up speed and power as he goes on (but without yelling -- he's just projecting with more intensity), "She who Mastered Monsters, the Paladin Princess, the Devastatrix of Dungeons! She who Strikes Fear in the Heart of Ne'er Do Wells..." He stops, and composes himself. He tugs at his jacket, and pointing up while he leans ever-so-slightly towards Lunaris, he continues, "Sky's the limit!" His finger suddenly turning down towards the chasm, "...but for now we'll have to go down through the floor. How about we start with Warehouse Warrior?"

Another flourish of his hands, another bouquet is produced for Erufu. "Milady..."

"Rama, Pecan..." Shenmi nods at the two animal companions. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"They really put a lot of work into this game, indeed," Shenmi comments to Mikage and Haru. "I wonder how they did it. Some sort of advanced AI? A bunch of interns cranking small changes non-stop?" He tilts his chin upwards and takes a slow look around. "Gotta give it to them," he sort of remarks, absent mindedly, "they're doing a great job at keeping up the illusion."

"The hat trick, huh? I suppose..."

He doffs his hat, taps it, flips it sideways to show its emptiness to the people around, turns it fully upside-down, and swipes his hand in circles over it. "Behold!"

A small ball of light fades into existence, levitates out of the hat, followed shortly after by a twitching nose.

A bun bun pokes its head out of the hat, sniffing the air. What is notable is that he's wearing a little pyjama. "Not now, Bao! It's too early for your grand entrance! Go back to sleep!"

Mikage has been part of the New World Alliance almost from the beginning, so it isn't all that unusual to run into those hard-core Rpers, especially in that group. She does raise an eyebrow towards Erufu, but seems reluctant to try to break anyone's delusion. Everyone deals with being trapped here differently. "Right..." She murmurs skeptically. "I'm not sure what to think, these days, to be honest." Mikage admits to Lunaris, offering a smile.

Eventually, the group manages to clear enough refuse that it reveals a trap door that seems to be built into the bottom of the chamber. It has been gnawed upon in places, which is likely how the rats have come up from the tunnels below. However, there is a rush of water audible from the darkness.

"Only one way to go..." Mikage comments, then looks towards Rama. "Might be best for you to stay here, buddy. I'm not sure you'd enjoy a very wet reception down there." The lynx walks in circles, uncomfortable, but eventually settles down, looking irritated with the situation.

As each Adventurer plummets into the water, it is a cold awakening, but they are also swept down quite quickly. It will fall to their natural abilities to defend themselves to make sure they are not smashed against rocks they cannot see in the quick moving current.

There is a little circle in the air in response to Luna's comment, like Haru isn't making a distinction between the difference of 'game' and 'game metalaws' and 'world' and 'world metalaws'. "None for me, Shenmi? I'm insulted," Haru takes the circle finger to his chest along with a hand. All these flowers going on. His tone is anything but insulted. He is more impressed by the sheer amount of floral additions going on. Must be a ding on the entertainment bill!

"Don't think too hard about the water and this is my favorite part. Water slide, woohoo!" the Artificer says as he claps his hands together. When the hands expand back out there is a multicolored crystal floating there. Two. Three! Lucky cast! Haru grabs one of the three and says, "Think happy thoughts." With that he hops into the darkness, the crystal splintering into smaller gems around him with silvery lines connecting. Between the gems the panes look like the stained glass of a cathedral, surrounding like a toboggan when he splashes into the water. "Woooo," he echoes down the dangerous slide, "hooo~" Besides looking like a lot of fun, the magical shell provides excellent mobility improvements to avoid the hazards. That and speed up, which Haru does as much as he can. Gotta go fast.

Erufu will toss the lynx some fish, where did she get that? Either way she'll hope it will cheer up Mikage's companion before she too will dive into the water. It goes about as well for her as her first hunt with Goblin Slayer. Which is to say not well at all. She might live through it but she's wet batteed about and will need some help as she's hit a few of the hazards on the way down. So in the end you have a sogy elf whose kind of beat up.

Vertina watchs Haru work his Enchanter magic. "Hey... hey, that's a good idea." She gives Lunaris a nudge with her elbow. "Let's give him a hand shall we?" Vertina can't do much with water directly so this is a good alternate method!

Not that she's going to be dead weight on the ride. There's all these rocks in the channel, but that means she can use her earthbending to actually push away from the stone formations, helping guide the glass shield away from possibly getting shattered against jagged protrusions.

"Hey, I can get you a bouquet as well if you insist. But later, right now, we have some swimming to do. Which-"

Shenmi's hat tilts upwards, a twitching nose is pushed through the bottom, and Bao, once again in a tiny pyjama with a little night beret, peeks around (sleepily) sandwiched between head and headgear. "Not -yet-," Shenmi stagewhispers. "We have to-" A pause. "Hey, buddy, how do you feel about a swim?" The bun-bun's nose twitches some, then he retreats back into the hat.

A few seconds elapse.

Hat tilts up again, and Bao is now in a tiny red-and-white old timey swimming costume (circa late 1800s or early 1900s), complete with miniature diving mask and snorkel.

"Okay then...", Shenmi comments, pushes his hat to cover his companion again, then leaps into the unknown!

*Splash*

He's carried by the current, but at each rocky threat, he materializes a magical barrier just in time for its surface to bounce off, pinball style.

"Oooh, Pale Moon.." Lunaris considers in response to Shenmi, a rather envious look overcoming her at that particular talent of naming, it was something to be admired. There was nothing quite like a good naming, it set the stage for others and interactions. So it's little surprise that she stops everything she's doing to consider, tail swaying cheerily. It isn't until people start diving down the hole that she remembers the whole being on a quest thing! "Nope! Got my title now, can't rename. Literally impossible!" As she is going on Pecan at least remembers their manners, nodding their head towards Shenmi. Definitely nodding, not just eating something they found on the floor. Totally. The trick earns a good round of applause and then she darts over at the appearance of Bao, "So cuuute!"

Oh! Wait yes, she was on a mission! Finally remembering (again) as she is nudged by Vertina and breaks into a huge grin at the odd magical shard-slash-vehicles, and a glimmer of excitement raises in her eyes, "Lets! Wait no. No helping, lets beat him!" Shooting a wink over before jumping on the glass shield and -diving-. Surprisingly competent and a believer in faster must be better with how she soon shoots down into the darkness.

It is a wild ride, but thankfully most of the group comes out wet, but otherwise unharmed. Erufu is the exception, who seems a little worse for wear for the whole experience. She certainly got put on the aggitate cycle of the washing machine.

Eventually, the waterslide comes to an end with the party being able to come out onto the shoreline. However, it becomes obvious that there is an entire system of tunnels beneath the city. Even at first glance, there are many openings and exits and it seems like a complete mess to navigate.

The array of rat tracks and droppings, though, do make it a bit easier of a task, keeping them from possibly straying into the endless passageways. Instead, they find themselves in what might have been an ancient catacomb, meant for remembering the dead. Instead, it is infested with rats.

Bones stick out from a few of the nests, including what looks to be a human skull. Two rat faces peer out of the eye sockets before ducking back in. At first, they don't seem to pay the Adventurers much mind. It soon becomes clear that there are far too many to deal with easily. Even capable Adventurers would take quite a lot of damage should they anger the entire group at once.

"I think, we should try to not piss them off. I value keeping my ankles." Mikage whispers, looking at the others.

Erufu has been more stone washed than some of the Jeans a certain fashion mistress is making at the moment. Not that the elf is aware of that she shakes off a bit, pops open her menu and dries herself off. She still looks worse for wear. She's not soaked now at least as they find more signs of rats. She'll make ready to use a newly leanred spell to try and shield the party as they move through. Move without trace if you will...

Dashing through the water. In a one Adventurer open sled. Through the tunnel they go. Howling all the way Harooo~

The speedy Enchanter skitters to a stop at the end of the water slide with hands held high. "Finished first, and its even appropriate. Unz unz unz." The man with the monocle literally does a dance with the deep bass of an unz. One COULD dry off with the menu, but Haru dries off by walking forward while summoning a sphere of air and adding Fire magic. Cue magical anime whipping hair everywhere. The man steps out dry before going on.

"We should," Haru agrees. Rat ecology has suddenly become an important topic in his mind. "Funny story. So I was inspired to give Eve a Lunar Moon artifact in her summon as a way of navigating dark and stealth scenarios from this place..." as he is careful to give the rats their space and a bit of food to the ones that see him as a snack. Of course as he is feeding one, his story indirectly conjures up Eve, his Dark Sprite summon. Cats and Rats? They don't mix. Hiss! Reow! Gnash.

"... and that is the story of how Adventure influences Wave Arte development," Haru concludes his story, standing up with a rat attached to his hand, arm, jacket, and ankles. He made new friends.

"The coded title is a thing, what you say is another," Shenmi begins while he crawls out of the water. "As far as the game is concerned, I am a Conjurer, But I can absolutely introduce myself as The Amazing Shenmi, International Man of Mystery, Master of Illusion. And guess what? I do!", he grins, as he pours water out of his hat and squeezes a concerning amount of water out of his jacket. "C'mon, just try it. 'I am Lunaris of the Pale Moon.' With confidence."

Turn-of-the-century-swimsuit Bao paddles his way to shore, climbs out of the water, takes a few tentative hops towards Shenmi, then shakes himself off. "There you are, buddy!", exclaims Shenmi, as he scoops up the bun-bun and coaxes him back into his hat, before twirling it and placing it back onto his head.

"Rats!", he exclaims. It's uncertain whether it's a mild swear word or he's stating the obvious. Possibly both. He tries to keep his back to the wall, sliding through without being noticed. And when he -is- noticed, and one or more rats scuttle towards him -- hand flourish again it is, and instead of a bouquet, it's some sort of (soggy) vegetable the rats are likely to eat, which is tossed to them. "Sorry Bao...", he mumbles. "I'll get you fresh food later."

Thanks to Haru's improvised sled technique Vertina gets to the end of the water channel with little issue. She hops off at the end, doing a fancy three-point landing back on solid ground just for the style points. "That certainly made things a little more thrilling." But it's time to keep moving on. To find rats... and boy do they ever. Rats upon rats upon rats.

Being the in-your-face sort of kung-fu warrior Vertina isn't exactly good at the whole stealth thing. She tries. But the rats are surrounded by junk for their nests and her tail happens to bump one, shaking awake a rodent occupent. It opens its mouth, but Vertina quickly turns and grabs him before he can squeak. Holds him up to her face, while holding a finger to the mouth from the other hand and "sssssh" softly at him. Then sets him back down on his nest pile. Pulls a few crackers out, gives them to the rat, and pats him on the head for continuing on her way. While he immeadiately gobbles up the crackers to be sure they're gone before any other rats wake up and want some!

Lunaris is fast, really fast. At least for a first timer, she in no way makes up the distance between herself and Haru, banking far too hard around corners and to avoid particularly spiny rocks. Entire body forwards of course to speed up, it probably worked like skiing, right? Now, what she doesn't really consider is what happens when the water runs out, clear panic spreading on her face as she realises only now as the shore comes up and.. The Cait Sithe goes catapulting head-over-heels into the mausoleum, ever so slightly behind a particularly fuzzy fox. With a loud thump, they both end up unceremoniously deposited on the far end of the mausoleum, thankfully no worse for wear. Breathing in she lets out a whiiine, "Did we wiiiin...?" That.. Probably doesn't make too much sense since she only told Vertina, but it was important to her, dang it!

After a while she manages to pick herself up and dust off with a grumble, finally taking stock of the new situation, "Inspiration comes.. Lots from adventure. That's where my first card's from.." She mumbles, mostly to herself before a smile blossoms at Shenmi's encouragement and gives a small bow, "Nice to meet you! I'm Lunaris of the Pale Moon, best at riding Glass Shields through Sewers!" Before bursting into a cheery giggle and leaning down to the small rats, making small noises, "Aww, these ones are pretty cute to be fair!"

If she were being smart, Mikage would probably try to sneak past the mounds of writhing rats and just not deal with them. However, after over a year of having an Animal Companion, she seems to get the bright idea of trying to bribe them with some food that she just so happens to keep around for Rama's sake. "Here, little guys, take this and leave us alone, okay?"

A rat comes out, grabs the bit of food offered, then another CHOMPS down onto Mikage's hand. Her lips press together as she tries /desperately/ not to shout. Shaking the rat off there is a series of very colorful under-the breath swearing that follows. The girl has a remarkable potty mouth.

Thankfully, they are able to get past most of the rats without significant trouble, other than a few ... or many bite wounds. However, beyond them is something that is both adorable, and slightly disturbing.

It is a line of tiny ratlings, all in armor, wielding a bunch of spears. They march in militant formations, looking as if they were protecting against people going any further into the dungeon.

Apparently the Adventurers were a bit too noisy and one of them lets out a high-pitched sound, sending the entire ratling army racing at them, threatening them with weapons the size of tooth picks. They hurt though, damnit!

Well there's something you don't see every day. Rat folk marching in formation with rat sized spears. Not very big but those do look sharp.

There is, however, still a difference in size. Vertina easily snatches one of the larger ones that rush her by the scruff, hoisting it up like she did one before. "Well ain't that cute." With the other hand she pulls the spear out of his forepaws. "But you could hurt someone with that, namely yourself. And others." Spears are long and narrow and very precisely balanced things. Knowing that she has little effort even with the small scale, to apply pressure with her thumb to snap the tiny spear in half. "Not to mention this craftmouseship is shoddy at beast." She flicks the rat away after that. "If you want to be guards, go get some real weapons!"

Haru has elected to bring his new rat friends on the future journey. They wanted to be closer to him and he isn't about to break the buds of a beautiful friendship. His health chips down as the one on his ankle gnaws more. He puts a hand over his other hand, notably with a rat on it, and pets Sir Rattington. "Rat-tron, assemble," he informs them, pointing at the well armed rats with a squeak of his party-of-one Haru-Rat combination. He charges in to meet the warrior rats head on with his own group of scrappy, unarmored (and not cooperative) rats.

It is important to note that Haru wears cloth armor and is a Wave Artes user. He summons other things to fight for him, in most cases. It looks more like human jumped into a ball pit full of animated rats. Five minutes and many wiggly arm attacks later, Haru has added five additional rats to his outfit. These ones look armored. 'Armored Rat x5 has joined your party!'

"I regret nothing," the Enchanter notes, moving a rat from on his face to standing on his shoulder like a fiesty Lt. of this modern Rat armada.

"There we go, Lunaris! See? It's not that hard!"

And then -- rats! In miliatry formation! With armors and spear and everything. Shenmi does attempts some gestures to summon some elemental attack, but he has to flee soon enough. The rats are too many, and too quick for him.

The much smaller rats placated with bribe and calming, Lunaris barely looks up in time to spot the marching ratkin, letting off a surprised eep as she quickly bolts back to her feet, Pecan quickly rushing to her side to make sure she's okay. At first the Cait Sithe just stares onwards at the perfect synchronization, head tilting to the side, almost rapt by them more than worried at least until Pecan starts to nip at her heels in some attempt to remind the girl of the literal approaching danger. Not quite as brave as Haru at the prospect of befriending the sewer rats, even if she does laugh at the antics, with a wave of her hand sparks of electricity start to fizz off of Pecan's form and she nods at them, "Time to round them up!" The fox doesn't need any more commands, suddenly darting to the side, trying to get underfoot and trip up the organised rats, corralling them into a small space and simply trying to be the most irritating dash of silvered fur he can be.

Erufu seems amused at her companions. "I'm just an Elf Ranger from a Forgotton Relm." She seems to be in better spirits. With a quick bit of magic using a spell Elf calls pass without trace sdhe's able to help the party sneak past the rats without setting the entire nest off. She seem pretty smug about this once all is said and done. then come the ratling she narrows her eyes draw her bow and will start firting bolts at the uncomming horde. Which causes cutting winds in it's wake which should hopefully help with the horde.

"What in the name of the goddesses is up with these rats! Who taught them to do this?!

Up until now, Mikage seems to have been reserving her mana, expecting that they would have more difficult foes to face the deeper they went into the dungeon. However, at this point she may have had enough of bitey, staby things. So a bit of electrical energy seems to crackle around her as she channels elemental energy. A few people may even feel their hair standing on end. Then, a few bolts of lightning seem to strike out of nowhere, bowling over entire lines of rats.

The adorableness doesn't stop there, however. Just beyond this tiny rodent army is something that would certainly make a good number of people go 'awww'.

It's a kobold, who might be familiar to some people who have done the pre-curser to this dungeon. He had been stockpiling treasure and run away deeper into the depths beneath the city. Now, he sits upon a smaller pile of treasures, only to yeep and jump to his feet at the sight of them.

The tiny creature jumps onto the back of an absolutely massive rat and the party finds themselves immediately aggroed. Inspect identifies him as 'Squeak - The Rodent Rider.' Brandishing a spear, he waggles it at them, trying to defend his treasures from the Adventurers... yet again.  

"Is it just me, or are the rats getting weirder?", Vertina asks of no one in particular in the group. And then realizes that isn't a rat, it's a kobold. Which are kind of like lizard rats aren't they? Depends on the version. Minor detail really. Considering he's got a really big rat to make up the difference.

"You know what, even I don't want to get too close to those guys. That thing is probably rabid." She doesn't clarify if she's talking about the giant rat, the kobold riding it, or both.

She just keeps her distance and starts chucking alchemy vials at the duo to try and ward them away. "Hey Shenmi, when we get back to Tolbana, remind me to set up more mouse traps in the Larder's cellar. Before something like this happens."

With the ratkin rounded up and dealt with, Lunaris happily loped along with the rest of the group. Adorable as the little army might have been, it did not at all prepare her for what she saw next. As soon as the Cait Sithe spots Squeak her eyes go wide, growing into a glittering green and she darts forwards, tail swaying happily. In a moment she was lost to something much greater than completing a quest and fighting - Simple adorable monsters. With that she let out a happy squeak, dancing around the massive rats claws with an almost supernatural precision. "So cuuuute!" She declares, potentially in the way of a fair few shots, but that hardly matters, minor issues compared to the kobold infront of her. "You should come with us! I promise I'll get you a nice little shed.. And all the shinies.. And.. And.. Ice-cream! Lots and lots of ice-cream!"

It was about then she realised she should probably do something before the party tries to fight the poor fellow, weaving around her purple enchants once again as she darted around, missing that spear multiple times by bare inches. This time the lines she drew were something more akin to a rope, with each loop she moves, wrapping around Squeak more and more. "Don't worry! It's just so they don't get scared of yooou! With that spear~"

Trinkets! Wait. Trinkets in a large circular room. "I smell a boss battle brewing," Haru says in his best gravely Batman voice. His trusty side-squeak, Lt. Nightgnaw, points ahead to the sound of the large rat and its kobold rider. Even with his extra rat armor, the Artificer is agile enough to dodge to the side on the first charge through. It places him close to a pile of silvery plates. He reaches in for one, his Accessory Forger instincts tingling. "Today your reign ends, Squeak," he squints at the Boss' name. Go with it. He brandishes the thing he fished out, "for today we take..." and he looks at what he acquired, "... candle." It is a nice candle. Not too big, not too small. A reasonable candle. He places it in his inventory to spite the kobold.

The Artificer's casting focus becomes as dark as a black pearl in his hand. Haru holds it aloft as he chants. Small circles begin forming around it with runic lettering with a pale moon light. "Tenebris. Cadit. Lunae Lumen. Oriri. Occultare." With the last word in the Arte released, the orb takes the shape of a moon. He lofts it high into the boss room as a wave of black mist rolls from behind him to blanket the area in a darkness debuff. From the darkness comes two red eyes, hopping up onto Haru's head and then vaulting to the top of the moon where the black cat takes form. She walks in a circle, eventually settling down and laying there with her two tails lazily flicking over the edge of the artificial moon. The party can see just fine, everything having a glowy blacklight effect to it.

Haru points in a way that would make a lawyer proud as he directs his rats, "Combo attack, go go go!" And... away they go like cute little rat projectiles towards the rider.

"-Now- it's time, Bao!", Shenmi exclaims, flips his hat, spins in place, and extends the top hat towards the boss.

In a 'poof' of smoke and what sounds like a firecracker, Bao is shot towards the boss; to look the part, it's even decked in a little helmet and full body suit, like a tiny 'human (bun-bun?) projectile'.

To support his animal companion's attack, Shenmi, apparently out of nowhere, fans two french-suit decks into his hands, crosses his forearms, spins in place, and hurls the cards at the boss, each item slashing a small amount of HP -- but there's many of them, being machine-gunned. And it looks like that, as soon as one deck is over, a second appears immediately after.

Though the kobold seems to have gotten more powerful (at least to those who had fought him before), the boss monster still doesn't stand much of a chance against such a large team of Adventurers. There is a squeaky cry of frustration and defiance before the being bursts into pixels... along with all the treasure. Instead, they are left with a single treasure box which seems to carry some monster riding gear.

"Huh. Well, it isn't gold but... I'm pretty sure this can be useful." Mikage comments, then looks around the chamber. "I think we'll probably have to backtrack to that maze of tunnels to get back out of here." She doens't seem fond of the idea, likely since it takes them back past the rats.

"Let's stick together and make our way back." That, and she needs to go pick up Rama before turning in the quest.

Erufu pauses at the Kobold and his horde. "Oh so it's you again?" She looks at Squak and will then level her bow more intent ot ake out the Kobolds mount than to take him out. This just keeps happening it seems. "You should find a domain far away from the races of man!"

Lunaris is pretty sure she almost has the little thing all tied up and all but convinced to take their little hoard to a barn somewhere that they can be the besterest friends forever.. And then as the last arrow and card land, Squeak bursts into a shower of pixels, and the poor Cait Sithe looks absolutely devastated, still holding the magical rope as she stares at where the kobold had been simple moments ago. "SQEEEAAAAKKKK!" She falls to her knees, mourning the loss of the small scaled one in the biggest show of dramatics they can manage. Of course she was used to this, it pretty much happened every time she tried to catch a boss, and yet she really couldn't resist. It was the adorableness. "You shall not be forgotten!" And then as people start to search the treasure chest she immediately perks back up and zips over, "Loot! Ooooh, this is so cool!" Okay, maybe that didn't really take her too long. Not when there were shinies about. Maybe that's why she liked kobolds.

The boss is defeated! "Good job, Bao!", Shemi exclaims, as he pets the bun-bun Evel Knievel wannabe. "There, you deserved this." A (wet) carrot is produced, and fed to the little creature, which nibbles happily.

"Traps. Mouse traps everywhere. I agree," Shenmi replies to Vertina. "We should-"

A moment of stunned silence as he takes in Lunaris's mourning and subsequent change of mood.

He places a hand to cover his mouth as he whispers to Vertina, "...we should not tell Lunaris if we do that, tho'."

That said, he paces over to Haru, determined. "You too, good job as well. Let me extend my congratulations...", he says, as he extends one a hand for shaking, and-

-at the last minute, twirls it around and produces a (soggy) bouquet for Haru. "There we go. As promised."

Vertina picks up some of the gear. Gives it a tight snap between her hands. "It's leather, it might be useful for something," she muses, then drops it in her inventory. "And another mission done for the time being."

Victory! In one hand he claims the prize of the Duty from the chest. It is not long before Haru is approached by Shenmi. "Excellent. Its what I always wanted," he says as he takes the roses. There is a bit of a laugh there as his black catte makes his way to his ankles. He channels Earth magic into it, making the petals vibrant, albiet dew-wet.