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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3085739" data-attributes="member: 143">Yeah, well, I wouldn't get too attached to any of the characters in this story.  <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":]" title="Devious    :]" data-shortname=":]" /> * * * * * Chapter 13JARVIK’S GIFTA blue flash caught the fighter’s eye.  Action preceded thought, and before he could consider it, he’d reached down and grabbed the marshal’s sword.  As with the first time he had grasped Valor, in the battle against the gargoyles in the graveyard above, he felt a cold chill pass into him from the blade, as if the sword was somehow taking a part of him as a price for using it.  But there was no time to consider the matter further, as the rats swarmed over him.  The sword was perfectly balanced, and it cut through the rats like a hot knife through butter.  The first rat that leapt at him was cut in two, and he continued the sweep into a second, severing its spine and knocking it roughly to the ground.  But the other rats took advantage of their comrades’ sacrifice to come at the fighter from all directions.  Dar felt pain explode in his legs as several bites tore through the fabric of his trousers and the old leather of his boots.  A few rats tried to jump onto his back, and only a quick spin kept them from getting a hold that might have proven disastrous.  Individually, the rats were not too tough, but the damned things weighed almost fifty pounds.  Dar knew that if he slipped and lost his footing, the rats would tear him to pieces in a matter of seconds. Stabbing another rat to death, he pushed his way through the ring and ran after the others.  He staggered and almost went down as a rat dug its teeth painfully into the back of his left ankle, narrowly missing his Achilles’ tendon.  He kicked out reflexively, and the rat went flying.  The others continued to harry him as he rushed after Varo.  He saw Navev, surrounded by a nimbus of pale red light, blasting rats as they rushed at him.  Apparently he wasn’t the only one in trouble; for some odd reason the thought gave him a moment’s pleasure. Something heavy latched onto his tunic from behind, and again he had to stop and fight for his life as the rats surged at him again.  He swung around, ignoring the one dangling from his back as he carved up another pair trying to make mincemeat out of his ankles.  He’d left bloody footprints behind him, he saw, and for a moment he wondered just how much blood he had left to ooze out on the stones of Rappan Athuk. Varo had managed to get Tiros into the relative shelter of the entry corridor.  The marshal was still hacking weakly, and his lips were stained bright with blood.  Varo tried to prop him up against the wall, but as he tried to call his magic, a dark form came rushing out of the shadows behind him.  It slammed into Varo; the cleric’s torchlight glinted for a moment on steel, and then the cleric cried out and fell forward to the ground.  Tiros, unable to do anything to help him, slumped against the wall, splattering droplets of blood upon the stone as he continued to hack up bloody bits of lung.  Dar saw the new enemy strike down Varo, too late to intervene.  The thing had the features and ragged fur of a giant rat, but it was humanoid, armed with a rapier and a malicious intelligence that shone in its eyes as it lifted its weapon to finish the injured cleric.  Before he could strike, Navev blasted the wererat from point-blank range.  The creature snarled and lunged at the warlock with surprising speed.  Navev tried to retreat, but he couldn’t get more than a few feet before the creature thrust the tip of his rapier through the links of Navev’s chain shirt.  The warlock yelled in pain and staggered back, just in time for three dire rats to leap onto him.  The wererat sensed Dar coming and spun to face him.  The wererat was quick, but not quick enough to avoid a sweep of Valor that cut a shallow gash across its furry chest.  The blow would have killed a normal man, but the wererat only twisted its rodent’s lips into a mockery of a smile.  “You cannot hurt me, weak little man.  I will make a present of your head to Fiilaar... she hates you humans, above all things.”“I’ll give her a gift,” Dar snarled, swinging his sword in another attack that the wererat nimbly dodged.  The creature’s counter drove a hot wedge of pain into the fighter’s side as a few inches of steel pierced a weak spot in his armor.The wererat suddenly stiffened and let out an angry shriek.  Dar looked down and saw Varo lying on the ground, his hand clasped tight around the wererat’s ankle.  Jagged rents had opened in the creature’s leg as the cleric’s inflict spell had run its course.  The wererat, snarling, kicked the cleric in the face, and Varo released his grip, rolling back.  Dar felt another bite tear into his calf muscle, but by this point the pain was almost lost in the wild rush of the battle surge.  He knew it would hurt plenty once the battle was over, assuming he survived.  The rats behind him were a worry; Varo had proven that the creature could be hurt, but it had also proven that it was a skilled fighter. But then a loud whistle pierced the cavern.  Almost immediately, the rats disengaged and fell back in the direction of the stone barrier.  The wererat’s expression turned to one of surprise, a look that quickly turned to an angry snarl. “Looks like your buddies have left you to rot,” Dar said.  Always one to take advantage of a sudden turn in the fortunes of battle, he lifted his sword and lunged forward to strike.  But the wererat moved even faster.  It darted inside his reach, and snapped its huge jaws around the wrist of Dar’s swordarm.  Dar was wearing a bracer, but despite that he felt a crushing pain as the creature bit down hard.  For a few seconds the two struggled, Dar trying to pull his hand free, the wererat tightening its grip.  It thrust its rapier at the fighter’s belly, but this time the stroke was turned by the curving plate of Dar’s armor.  With his shield just a hindrance now in such close quarters, the fighter hurled it off his left arm.  A red light flared around the wererat’s shoulders, and it staggered into Dar.  The creature did not release its grip, but Dar opened his hand, letting Valor drop.  The sword did not fall far.  The mercenary caught the hilt in his other hand, and immediately drove it deep into the wererat’s chest.  The creature’s grip finally eased, and it stared into Dar’s eyes with a look of surprise.  It tried to say something, but it was clearly dying, and whatever last words it may have had ended up as a soft hiss as it collapsed on its back, kicked a few times, and then fell still.  Dar looked down at the body, and then at his injured arm.  The bracer was dented, and there was blood, a fair amount of it, that ran down his arm onto his hand.  “Damn it, that’s all I need,” he said.  Realizing that he was standing out in the open, the fighter quickly stepped forward into the shelter of the corridor, out of the line of fire of the wererat’s friends over by the barrier.  Varo was already on his feet again, and his wounds were already closing as he channeled healing power into himself.  Then he turned to Tiros, who was barely clinging to the stone wall, still coughing weakly.  Bright red blood ran in a slick down the stone, and likewise covered the marshal’s jaw and the front of his tunic.  “Anything you can do for him?” Dar asked, as he glanced cautiously out into the chamber.  There were no other signs of pursuit, but he knew that the rats and their masters were still out there.  He glanced at the body of the wererat, and was surprised to see that the corpse had been replaced by that of a small, dark-skinned man, naked save for a scrap of dirty tunic and a belt that supported a small pouch and the scabbard for his rapier.  “The fit will have to run its course; my arts cannot counteract the effects of that dust,” Varo explained.  “Will he live?”“Possibly.”Dar turned to see Navev, looking pale.  His tunic was streaked with blood from several rat bites, and he was favoring his side where the wererat had stabbed him.“Saw you got a few of the bastards,” Dar said.  “We might find a use for you yet, wizard.”“What do we do now?” Navev asked.  Varo took out his healing wand, and attended to their injuries, touching the glowing blue head of the device to their various wounds.“Well, unless you want to go back and tussle with that fecal monstrosity again, I suggest we find a way to get past those rats,” Varo suggested. “They’ve got a fortified position,” Dar said.  “In case you didn’t notice, those arrows came from above the barrier; it looks like they have a commanding view over most of the damned cavern.  And our general’s busy coughing up his lungs over there.”“I noticed,” Varo said.  “It looked like there were two, maybe three archers.  And the woman, of course.”“Yeah, I haven’t forgotten her,” Dar said.  The marshal’s sword didn’t quite fit into his scabbard, so he leaned it against the adjacent wall.  As soon as he released it, he felt the warm surge of life energy flow back into him again. “Are you all right?”“Yeah, that blade doesn’t agree with me for some reason.”“I am not surprised.  It is an axiomatic weapon.”“A what?”“It is aligned to Law.  Created to destroy chaos.”“Great,” Dar said to Varo.  “Well, he can have it back, when he can stand, anyway.”“Guys,” Navev interjected, softly.  The cleric looked critically at the fighter’s arm.  “The wererat bit you?”Dar nodded.  “Yeah, I know, just what I need, right now.”“The full moon was a few days ago, so we have some time.  Assuming that you contracted the disease, I may be able to treat it, given a divine focus and the time to replenish my spells.”“Well, assuming I’ll survive the hour, we’ve got more pressing problems.”“Guys,” Navev repeated. Varo finished healing Dar’s wounds, and looked down at his wand.  “Depleted,” he said.  “I have the other, but once that one is finished, we will be in a... situation.”“As opposed to what we’re in now?”“Guys!”  “What?” Dar asked.  The warlock looked a little frantic.  “Do you hear that?”They quieted and looked around.  Dar poked his head back out into the cavern, but the rats were being quiet, for now.  The sound of the underground river was still there, but there was something else, a squishing sound that was all too familiar. And it was coming from the corridor behind them. And getting louder.“The dung monster,” Varo said, his words a pronunciation of dread.</blockquote>

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