ENTERING THE GAME

Chapter Five

"Problems and Mysteries"

"So many rats…" Andy said slowly, looking at nothing. "So many rats…" They had ran into several small groups of the squeaking creatures, and were tired, sore, and more than a little freaked out.

"I'm telling you guys, my foot's swelling up!" Greg complained for at least the fifth or sixth time. "Do something or I'll bite you and give you rabies too!"

"As if that guy wasn't scary enough already," Tom muttered, moving away from Greg.

"I'm sure we'll be able to get out of here soon, guys," David assured the others. "I mean, how many rats can there be down here?"

"Did we get twenty-four yet?" Tom asked. "That's how many you said you planned."

"But those were at the place where we saw the skeletons, not here," Andy said. "So even more rats…"

"Will you shut up about rats already!" Greg yelled. "Can't you see I'm dying here!"

"Let's feed him to the rats…" Andy muttered.

"What was that?" Greg demanded.

"Anybody else hear that?" Tom asked, looking around.

"What? More rats?" Andy asked.

"Something crawling I think," Tom said. "Dragging itself on the ground."

"Snakes?!" Andy gasped.

"Don't get in my way if you see any," Greg said.

From around the corner ahead of them slithered a long, disgusting looking brownish-black bug.

"What the heck is that?" Tom asked.

"It's a giant centipede!" David cried, waving his sword as he backed away. "Look out! It's poisonous!"

"Poisonous?!" Greg yelled, his voice cracking in the middle syllable as he stepped behind the others. "Get it, Andy!"

"I don't want to get it!" Andy cried, backing away as the thing came closer.

"Don't worry," David said, also backing up. "It's not too fatal. You get a plus four on poison saving throws if it bites you."

"Oh that makes me feel much better!" Greg said, waving his staff at the thing.

"Don't tell me there can be twenty-four of these things," Tom said, watching it carefully as it continued to approach.

"Um, actually, yeah, I think there can be that many," David admitted.

"And they're all poisonous?! Why didn't you say anything about those things before?" Greg demanded. "And don't say we didn't ask you!"

"Okay, I won't," David told him.

Just then, the giant centipede started running towards Andy. It moved fast. Faster than the rats had. Andy backed against the wall and waved his sword at it, just as it gave a leap at him. He screamed and struck at it, chopping off its head. The body landed on him. He shrieked like a little girl and swatted it away from him, glad he had metal gloves on. "It's not poisonous to touch it, is it?" he asked.

"Don't know," David said, jumping away from the headless centipede. It was still twitching. He made a gurgling sound as he stomped it flat.

"That wasn't too bad," Tom said.

"Don't say that," Greg told him. "You'll jinx us!"

"You believe in jinxes?" Tom asked.

"You believe we're still playing the game and imagining all of this?" Greg complained. "Us being here at all proves there's some crazy magic stuff going on!"

"Let's keep going," David told them. "Sooner we find the nests and set them on fire, sooner we can get out of here."

There was a weird chirping sound up ahead. They all panicked as something leaped at them. Then they sighed with relief when they saw what it was.

"Just an ordinary cricket," David said.

"I thought for sure it was another of those centipedes," Tom told the others.

As if they'd heard they were being talked about, three more giant centipedes suddenly came into the dim glow of their torches, possibly chasing the cricket, which hopped quickly past the boys. The boys all screamed and bumped into each other trying to get away from centipedes. The creatures came after them.

Greg swung his staff at one that was a sick reddish pink like a giant worm, just missing it. It snapped at him and he almost fell over backwards trying to avoid it. "Go way!" he cried. "I've already been bitten once today! Go bite somebody else!"

"Oh, thanks a lot!" Tom said, waving his own staff at the thing and wishing an illusion would work on a bug. He wondered how long it would take to learn real magic if he could find a teacher?

David swung his sword at another. It was a dark grey in color. It leaped onto his sword and he dropped it with a yell and hit it with his lance. He missed the first time but hit it a glancing blow the second time he swung. It staggered away. He forced himself to pick up his sword and hack at it. Whew! Another one down!

Andy was running backwards in circles from the one attacking him. It was a sickly yellow-brownish, looking almost like moving pooh. He lost his balance and fell over backwards. The centipede leaped at him. He screamed his head off as he swung, chopping it in half. The front half went flying. The other part landed on him, legs still twitching. "Get off!" he yelled, knocking it away with his sword and almost cutting himself. Why did they always want to land on him?

"Well…" David said, struggling to slow his breathing back to normal, "at least if we keep doing this we'll go up a level."

"I don't want to have to fight that many of them!" Andy insisted.

"We wouldn't be in this mess if your sister hadn't fallen out of that tree!" Greg complained.

"I didn't see you climbing it," Andy said angrily. "Or offering any other suggestions." Greg had intimidated all of them at home, but after all this fighting, while Greg just waved his staff around and whined a lot, Andy found he had no trouble standing up to him. Sure, he'd probably get clobbered when they got back home, but that seemed less and less likely the longer they were stuck in this place.

"Shut up!" Greg yelled, expecting everybody to do what he said.

"You shut up!" Andy yelled back.

The two glared at each other until David pointed out, "Uh…we're still stuck down here and there are probably a lot more pests to fight, guys."

"I'll see you later," Greg said, turning away.

Andy started to say something, decided he couldn't come up with anything that sounded tough enough, didn't want to curse, and ended up just making a snorting sound.

They continued for awhile, then stopped when David hissed, "Hear that?"

"Hear what?" Greg demanded. "What do you hear this time?! I'm sick of this place! Can't we just leave and say we took care of their pest problem? We could be miles away before they see another rat."

"They'll probably come down and check," Tom said. "Wish we could find that nest already and set it on fire. If they found it smoking they might believe us and not look any further."

"Quiet!" David said. "Didn't you hear that?"

"All I hear is you saying did you hear that," Greg said.

"I heard it too," Andy said. "Sounded like more of them, but smaller."

"Then they won't be as tough," Greg said. "They can't all be giants, can they?"

The squeaking sounds grew louder as they walked towards another tunnel opening. The smell of rat droppings got stronger.

"Gross!" Andy said, holding his nose. "It smells like something took a crap, ate its own pooh, threw it up, ate its own vomit, and then threw it up again!"

"Look!" Tom said, pointing. He had keen eyes. Up ahead there was something that looked like a rug. Only it was moving.

"Is that…?" Andy asked, carefully taking a couple of steps closer. He finished his sentence in a whisper. "…a nest?"

"Something's moving around there, and there's a lot of them," David said.

"Okay," Greg said, pulling the cork off his bottle of burning oil. "We torch them, then get the heck out of Dodge!"

"I'd rather be in Dodge than on some weird planet with giant rats and two moons and monsters walking around!" Tom said.

"Don't get too close, Greg!" David hissed as the other boy stepped towards the writhing carpet of squeaking fur.

"Don't want to miss and let them get away," Greg told him.

"You don't think they'd just leave their nest unguarded, do you?" David pointed out, looking about in the dark passage.

Greg stopped in mid-step. "Huh?" he said. Obviously that hadn't occurred to him. Just then a rat leaped onto his shoulder. "Ahh!"

"I knew it!" David yelled, as several more rats raced at them.

"Save your I told you so's until later!" Andy said, swinging at the closest rat. He was starting to get pretty good at it by this point, and it didn't gross him out so much as long as he didn't look at what he'd chopped after making sure it was dead.

Greg had totally freaked out, dropping the bottle of oil by the nest. The clay jar shattered. He swatted at the rat with his torch. It leaped off of him. Shrieking like a maniac, he dropped his torch on the ground. Fwoosh! Fire leaped up, almost burning and blinding him. He staggered back, covering his eyes, and fell over something in the dark. He felt something crawling on him. "Ahhh!" he screamed. "Help! They're eating me!"

Tom knocked the rat that had leaped onto Greg off of him. He was finally starting to learn how to use his weapon. It leaped at him, and Tom knocked it flying into the burning oil.

David and Andy had each taken down two more of the rats. The nest burned brightly for awhile, then the fire began to die down. None of them looked at the remains.

"So is that it?" Tom asked, stepping around the burned out nest. "Can we go now?"

"There might be more than one nest," David said. "I hope not, but we should check to make sure."

"I think that was good enough," Greg insisted.

"Let's go straight ahead until we reach a wall," Andy suggested. "Our deal didn't say anything about searching every side passage we came across."

"Yeah," Tom agreed. "They can't complain because they didn't give us enough equipment to look all over this huge place."

"I don't have a light now!" Greg complained.

There were still a few small bits of flame burning. David found a stick, probably brought down by a rat to put on the nest, and lit it. He handed it to Greg. "Here," he said. "It won't last long, but we should get out of here before our torches burn out. We don't want to get caught down here in the dark."

The others heartily agreed with that idea, and they hurried through the tunnel, eager to get to the end and start retracing their steps.

The boys had killed several more rats, set fire to another nest, killed a few more rats, and were extremely relieved when the tunnel they were following came to an abrupt end.

"Finally!" David said. "Now we can get out of this place!"

"Wait, what's that over there?" Tom asked when they were close to the wall, pointing to the left.

"Who cares?" Greg demanded. "We're not looking at side passages, remember?"

"It looks like a giant spider web," David said, shining his light in that direction.

"We weren't told to kill spiders," Greg reminded the others. "Anyway I hate spiders!"

"They're not as bad as those gross things with the pincers on their tails," Andy said, cringing. "I hate those! They're always getting in my mom's flower garden."

David had moved a few steps closer to the web. Suddenly he yelled, making the others jump. Something was clinging to the wall. Something huge.

"Look out!" Andy yelled. "It's a giant spider!"

David backed away hurriedly. He turned to run, but the spider leaped at him!
.

Linda had finished watering the plants, and, noticing Penny had gone, probably back inside, decided to take a brief look around town, since she hadn't seen much of the village on the way in.

The problem was there wasn't much more to see than what she'd already seen. Some little houses, many looking like they were made of wood and mud. A few made from wood and brick, although the bricks were bigger than the ones she was used to back home and dull brown or grey in color.

She passed by a shop where a man was putting a barrel together. It looked difficult and not at all fun. Up ahead she heard a clanging sound. The blacksmith. She wondered if they should get horseshoes for their horses and Penny's pony. The problem of course was that none of them had much money left after making their purchases from the Players' Handbook. The game didn't really mention all of the things they'd need to actually live in such a world for awhile.

Linda passed the smithy. It smelled of sweat and manure, and a large fly buzzed in her face that she had to shoo off several times before it finally gave up trying to land on her shoulder. Horsefly she decided. Those bit, didn't they? She hoped they didn't have a lot of trouble with them. Linda was still a bit sore from riding Penny's pony. She wasn't used to riding, and had discovered when she'd climbed onto its back that she wasn't wearing anything under her dress. Had underwear even been invented yet? She decided to find a store that sold clothing and see if they sold any. If not, then maybe she could find some leggings or something.

Thinking, Linda wasn't paying attention to where she was going, and suddenly bumped into someone. While the person was shorter than she was, they were broader and heavier, and she fell backwards.

"Why don't ye watch where ye're going, ye twit?" a voice yelled. Linda looked up at a figure dressed in fur and leather with pieces of metal. The voice sounded too young and high to match the face, which was bearded. Above the beard could be seen a short round nose with large flaring nostrils. Thick eyebrows not quite the same color as the beard framed large green eyes. A big hammer with some dents in it hung from a broad fur belt. A leather cap rested on top of the figure's head.

A dwarf, Linda decided. Maybe a gnome, but probably a dwarf.

"Excuse me," she said, struggling to hold down her skirt as she got to her feet.

"Woolgathering in the streets is a good way to get run over, human," the voice said, suddenly deeper and gruffer than it had been a moment before. Was the dwarf trying to disguise his voice for some reason?

"Little si…brother!" came a deeper and gruffer voice. Linda saw two other, larger dwarves, motioning to the one that she'd walked into. "Come along! We've work to be doing!" The one speaking had an axe in his belt. It looked old and worn and badly pitted. The other had a spiked metal club with spikes, chipped in several places, hanging onto his belt.

"Don't speak to the human, you might catch something!" the other added.

"Catch something"?! How rude! Linda decided she didn't like dwarves one bit.

"Coming!" the dwarf facing her called, voice rising again. Then it deepened again. "Coming!" He hurried after the other two. Linda noticed they were hurrying towards the blacksmith shop. To get new weapons, probably. Theirs looked so old and banged up. She'd never seen weapons in movies or heard about weapons in stories or the games that needed to be repaired or replaced after being used too much. She wondered what sort of work they did with a hammer, an axe, and a spiked club that they'd end up like that. Smashing them against people in armor she guessed. How brutal! More and more she was wishing she'd never started playing this game.

Linda rubbed her elbow. She'd banged it on the ground when she'd fallen. Luckily it wasn't injured or even scraped, just a bit sore. That would be all they'd need, two crippled team members in this crazy, violent world!

Linda finally found what she assumed was a general store. Like the rest of them, she didn't have much money left, but she bought some underwear and a pair of soft shoes that felt like felt or something. Walking around barefoot was starting to really hurt her feet. She'd have to bring Penny back here and help her find a pair of shoes. They weren't much to look at, and probably wouldn't last too long, but they were a lot cheaper than boots.

As she was leaving the store she again bumped into the smallest of the three dwarves. Again she fell over onto her butt. But this time the dwarf staggered. Then, to Linda's surprise, the dwarf's beard fell off! Linda stared at the dwarf in shock. The dwarf stared at Linda in shock.

The dwarf was a girl!

"What is keeping you now?" came a voice Linda recognized as one of the other dwarves. The girl dwarf bent over, picked up her beard, stuck it back on, then, looking worriedly at Linda as if begging her not to tell anyone she was female, turned and hurried after her brothers, leaving Linda feeling very confused.

.

Penny had practiced the spell again and again and again. Now she finally decided to try it out. She struggled with her one arm to sit down on the floor cross-legged. She had her spell book open to the spell in front of her in case she forgot a word, and started to recite the spell. She said it in sort of a singsong. She'd found she could memorize poems better if she pictured them as songs. The spell was long and complicated, and when she got near the end she shut her eyes tight as she said the last couple of lines. Not knowing what sort of reaction to expect, she waited as patiently as she could (which wasn't easy for her) for some sign that it had either worked or not worked. The spell had said if no familiar was close enough to respond then she'd have to wait a whole year to try again! She didn't want to wait that long, and sure didn't want to stay in this weird world that long! She missed her mom and dad and her cats!

Because she had her eyes closed tight, Penny failed to see the little black cat coming towards her. Or the strange creature that leaped out at it. The cat hissed, its back rising, and ran from the creature. The horned and fanged monster glared at the cat, then started towards Penny, changing its shape until it looked like a small brown frog.

Penny opened her eyes and gasped. Was that her familiar? "Um…hello?" she said. This wasn't at all what she'd been expecting. She'd been hoping for a kitty cat. "Are…are you my…my familiar?" she asked in a whisper.

"Of course!" the "frog" said, grinning, which looked very strange for a frog. "I am Greptog!"

"Um…hello, Greptog," Penny said. Despite everything that had already happened she was very surprised to hear a "frog" talking to her. "I'm…I mean, I am Penelope. But you can call me Penny."

"Greetings, Mistress Penny," Greptog said. "I am certain that you and I shall get along just fine!"

"I'm sure we will," Penny said. "Um…the book says you'll help me with my magic but didn't say how." Or if it did she hadn't understood it. The instructions had been confusing and given her a headache.

"I have many marvels to teach you, young mistress," the frog said. "But for now, shall we keep my powers, including my ability to speak, a secret?"

"Sure," Penny said. She picked up the frog with her good hand and went looking for Linda to show it to her. She was so excited that she failed to notice the little black cat in the shadows in the corner of the room, staring after her with its large yellow eyes. It looked around as if confused, then followed cautiously after its new mistress.

Penny's in big trouble now! If the black cat is her familiar, then what has she just adopted?!

To be continued

I know Penny and Linda haven't done much so far while the guys have been doing all the fighting, but that'll change soon.