Tunnel Rat Chapter 135 Rough Draft (Patreon)

I spent most of the day getting to hold my new grand daughter and traveling. Just amazing to finally get to see her.  So I'm really tired, but had ideas I needed to get down. This is pretty rough, and i'll be working it over more before publishing, but you can see all the pieces starting to move.

Two creatures moved through the dark, their many eyes making out some of the details of this place, but they were careful to stay on the main strands and not dart to near to the edges of the tunnel. Some of the predators in this area could run up the walls quickly and snatch prey easily, retreating to the floor of the tunnel to feast. Neither of the messengers felt like risking their lives more than they already were.

They observed the dark opening on the wall above them. Going there would probably mean their deaths, and possibly failure to deliver their message. The first was just a fact of life. Messengers were expendable. Sometimes death took you and you waited to be reborn from the next egg, hoping for high-status in your bloodline. But failure? Failure meant being reborn as a spiderling and beginning the long fight to regain even modest status.

M'klixnick, the wiser of the two suggested an alternative plan. A fresh silk line was stretched between two rock spikes and the webbing drawn back. G'nixclicknick was sent to procure several small mammals. They returned with web-wrapped bundles of immature digger-moles. The first small mammal launched at the opening went to high, hitting the ceiling and making it squeal in pain before it fell to its death. The second was two low, and tumbled down a slope until it was grabbed by a cave lurker and eaten. The last one was just right, and sailed into the opening. Not wanting to waste the first small mammal, even if it wasn't moving anymore, they tossed it through the opening as well. And then they waited.

Finally, a large form moved in the darkness. The messengers trembled. "That's it? Two squishy moles, one already dead, and that's it? Is the Matriarch breeding for pretty thorax stripes again instead of intelligence? I mean, really? You thought this was an offering? No books, no interesting food, no strange fungus?"

The two spiders looked at each other, confused. "We are sorry, great ancient one. We were told to make an offering to you and then deliver the message. Nothing was said of books or fungus."

The voice from the darkness sighed. "Tell me the message, and if I like the message, I will count to 8 before starting to hunt you."

M'klixnick said "Go on, tell him, the glory is yours!"

G'nixclicknick took a half step forward, and said, "Gilad has been found, we go to war." As soon as he did, M'klixnick struck, crippling his rear two legs before running away. From the opening came a moment of silence and then a roar. A large spider with noble markings leaped to the web in front of the crippled G'nixclicknick. Two of the nobles’ legs were whole. The six others were reinforced with metal parts. Armor replaced broken chitin, gears and pistons moved crippled legs. The abused mechanisms made noises that showed they were in need of maintenance and lubrication.

G'nixclicknick found itself hoisted high by a robotic limb. "WHAT HOLLOW? Where!"

"This one doesn't know, great one, only the message was given."

Iron-Legs was annoyed. "Typical. She plans to use my hatred to her advantage. I accept. Oh, and next time? Use plumber small mammals as offerings."

G'nixclicknick's screams were short, as were their former partners when they failed to out run the enraged old one. The sounds of metal grinding on metal was heard for hours in the caverns as the crippled Noble made his way to the nest of the Matriarch.

"I tell you, from what I've heard, this raid will really put us on the map. No one else has the info, and it not even known to be a raid zone! We could have a world first!"

"And if no one knows yet Mickey, how is it you got the info." Branigan and the rest of the guild were relaxing in a bar after a 16-man event in the Stone Lurker dungeon. They'd done half of it before the wipe. Two people picked up decent magical items, but the rest were just tired after five hours of killing the little lurkers and then being crushed by a mini-boss. No one was really surprised at the outcome; they just didn't have the levels or the gear to do the whole dungon. It would have helped if Mickey had been there. The gnome assassin would have increased their dps.

Mickey tried to keep his voice down, but he was getting more and more excited. "It's supposed to be a starter area. My brother in-law is playing a Ratkin character down there. The four of them found out. The place is a hot-bed of politics, back-stabbing, and competition for control of the treasure. One of the faction leaders wants to bring in outside muscle to to clear out the others and take over. This starts a whole series of cool quests in the whole Ratkin empire. We could be the first!"

Branigan looked around the table. Leo rolled his eyes, but Taryn looked interested, and Sassy was giving him the thumbs up. Sassy just liked big fights. But it was Tequila Jane who actually seemed to believe Mickey.

"I think it might be real, Bran. Look at all the stuff going on in this city. At first, it's just some smuggling and thieving quests as people get started. Then there were the gang wars. There are several players high up in Squint's organization now. Pretty strange quest lines. Then the World Boss fight that a player triggered, the Slaver Wars that are going on, and now the Stone lurker dungeon opens up. If you go do the research, there are tons of connections. Even rumors that Ratkin have been running around town in disguise for months. Stuff is weird in this town; it pops up in odd ways. Like that Boss Hydra? Hardly even a warning before the event, and now we have dwarves all over the place building ships for some secret mission."

Everyone laughed at that. All it took was buying a scavenger three beers and you got told the whole 'secret plan' about raising up some huge ship from the ocean and using it to go after a massive treasure. Everyone wanted in on that event and was trying to get into either of the dwarf factions involved.

Branigan shrugged. What was the worst that could happen? They'd already lost their gear a half-dozen times and started over. What was one more? "So, what are we fighting then, Mickey?"

Mickey leaned in close. "Ratkin, lots and lots of them. Most are going to be pretty low level. The raid needs to be done in a couple of parts. The Ratkin will take out certain people beforehand, and poison others. Then our guild hits from the front, and a second guild, called 'The Spiders' hits from the rear. Once the ratkin surrender, we actually get to run the place until the next part of the quest starts, and then we get to go conquer another one."

Taryn leaned forward. "What sort of rewards? Sounds like a lot of experience, but is there any magic?"

Mickey nodded. "There's an old mage tower full of magic items, and a huge horde of treasure in the middle of the place. Plus, we'll have the whole Hollow working for us. Free potions, armor, weapons, you name it."

After a quick talk, Branigan summed up the group's attitude. "Sure, looks like we're in. It sounds interesting at least, and rats are a lot easier to kill than lurkers. Let's give it a shot."

Gangrene was inspecting the caravan. If you were going to conquer another Hollow, you had to do it right the first time. Supply lines were long, and retreat meant a huge loss of respect and probably getting conquered yourself. He much preferred a more devious method. Merchant caravans were known to travel from Hollow to Hollow, bringing different cheeses and goods to new places. Caravans packed lots of food, needed guards, and were essentially an army on the move. Except you were accused of being an army, and could sometimes walk right insde the other Hollow.

His agent in Limburger thought he was bringing a two dozen warriors to take over Limburger Hollow. Gangrene felt better with twice that number and two Fiends in battle armor. There was no reason not to go for overkill.

The colorful caravan started on its long journey. They would be traveling through two other Hollows along the way, scouting them out for later, and turning a profit along the way. Limburger was sure to hear of their coming and rather than be surprised and wary, they'd welcome them with open arms.

He looked at his brave warriors and saluted them as they began to move out. They answered him with their traditional battle cry: "Time to cut the Cheese!"