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Table of Contents URL: fiction/47982/tunnel-rat

Tunnel Rat

by The Walrus King

Original ONGOING Virtual Reality Progression Comedy Non-Human Lead Action Adventure Fantasy Grimdark LitRPG Magic Male Lead

Tunnel Rat is being revised. I am currently finished up to: Chapter 30.

At some point at the end of 2023, the first book will be published on Amazon and Chapters 1-60 will become a stub.

Milo lives in a steel cave within a man-made mountain of steel and concrete. He spends his days repairing the machinery that keeps the habitat livable and tinkering with the prosthetics that help his twisted body move about through the small tunnels and air shafts that are his world. He's as much a piece of discarded machinery as the equipment he keeps running.

Given a chance at being someone different will he become a hero and live in the sunlight? The light beckons, but there are secrets buried in the ground. Ancient mysteries left by races that delved deep and stayed below. Maybe only a tunnel rat could find them?

And thanks to the artist of that handsome rat for inspiration. Find more of her work here: watch/memymine/deviations

Tunnel Rat is getting a Re-Write! The first chapters were written in a rush during writathon and have typos. I'm fixing those. Some of the format is also changing. RIP blue boxes. I want to eventually publish my stories, and book format doesn't support boxes.

Chapter 1: Milo

Milo didn't think the replacement belt on the #3 air handler for E Section was going to hold for much longer, but the nearest dead machine to take a replacement from was 16 stories up and over in H Section. He'd take a trip if he had to, but for now, he was going to splice a section into the broken belt, wrap the fix in duct tape, and hope for the best. Milo liked duct tape. It was useful for fixing things, and there was a warehouse full of it over on B-6. When he had first found the warehouse, he had moved several thousand rolls up into one of his storage areas. As he used it more and more, he discouraged other looters by welding the warehouse doors shut.

Repairs done, he gathered up his precious tools and retreated around a corner before turning the air handler back on. Not all machinery liked being put back to work and sometimes showed that displeasure by shaking themselves apart or exploding. Milo was taking no chances with this one. He picked up a metal rod in his tail and used the six-foot-long mechanical limb to poke at buttons and switches until the machine shuddered to life. There was a noticeable whine from the belt, but overall, both he and the machine seemed happy with the result. He could adjust the workload on the other two air handlers in this section and be done with the job. They'd been working harder with this one down which was a sure way to have them go down as well.

No one thought about the air when things worked. But people got worried when it wasn't circulating in the corridors and residences. First, it smelled stale, and people worried. Calls went to the maintenance department. They were mostly ignored because hardly anyone cared about fixing things in the habitats. The government paid a quarterly fee to the firms responsible for maintaining the mechanical and electrical systems. It was more profitable to ignore complaints and hold off on repairs. But once people started dying in their sleep, and the residents moved out to the streets or clogged the common areas in other parts of the hab, suddenly it was an 'emergency,' and someone from maintenance showed up.

The clumsy techs would move into Milo's world, tearing up ductwork to find the problem and breaking two things for everything they fixed. He hated them. He had to hide his work carefully, shut down any projects, and retreat to his safe room until they left. It was better for everyone if Milo fixed things. The residents got air to breathe, the techs could avoid work, and Milo was left alone in his world of broken machinery, unused corridors, and metal tunnels. Which suited Milo just fine. He rarely had to be around people and never liked it.

Work done on the air handler, Milo got on his wheel-board and rolled down the medium-sized tunnel. These were about 36" square. Easy for Milo to zoom along as his hands pushed off the walls, and he rolled along on the silent, frictionless wheels attached to a two-foot square piece of plastic. He'd found the wheels holding up a diagnostic unit for hover-cars in a factory down in the basement of G section. Milo had gone there to 'borrow' some wrenches and calipers when he saw them. It had only taken an hour to lift the machine with a winch, take off the wheels and drop things back down. They were nice wheels, and the diagnostic machine would just have to stay where it was.

He was almost to the Big Drop. He held the board in both hands and coiled his tail at the base of his spine. His tail was a six-foot long by 2" section of flexible Waldo. It was attached to a 12" girdle that circled his waist and plugged into his lowest socket at the base of his spine. Nature hadn't given Milo the best limbs, but he was slowly making new ones.

He hit the Big Drop, shooting into open space. The habitat had 25 Big Drops. One roughly in the center of each section. Each was a vertical access corridor nearly twenty feet on a side for moving big machinery up to the higher levels. As Milo started to drop, his tail uncoiled and reached for the metal hook hanging on a winch cable. Cable and tail together turned into a large pendulum that swung Milo across the second half of the drop, and he shot feet first into another medium tunnel. He took a smaller tunnel heading off at a 90-degree angle a hundred feet along the medium corridor. A couple of turns later, he hit the small drop. He grabbed the winch line and hooked his prosthetic leg's toe claws into the chain's links. His tail hit the winch controls, and he rose 12 and a half levels to the upper pipe-works.

The habitats were mountainous buildings designed to hold over a half million people. They had been built in the last century to provide housing and jobs for the lower classes. They were now slowly rotting from within. Every city had them, and none of them were in great shape. In theory, they provided housing, food distribution, and jobs to people who would otherwise been homeless. In reality, there had never been enough jobs, and only the businesses needing dirt-cheap space and dirt-cheap labor had located their factories in them. Keeping the habitats livable and finding the money to repair them was a constant fight among the people who controlled the laws and money.

Milo didn't care. The system was broken, and society at large didn't seem to worry too much about the people living in them. Not being part of society, Milo was fairly apathetic about how things worked. He wasn't listed in any database, and no one knew he was alive. He fixed things so that people would ignore this part of the habitat and leave him the hell alone. If anyone ever wondered why the E section seemed to have fewer problems and needed fewer repair teams sent to it, they didn't think too hard about it.

The pipe-works were a separate level unto themselves, sandwiched between levels 45 and 46 and only half as tall. Fluid pipes, food delivery, waste pipes, and electric and data cables ran through the level, snaking over and under each other as needed. Pumps moved things higher, and baffles kept things moving down from going too fast or rerouting waste to larger pipes. Milo loved this level and made his home here. He had easy access to everything he needed. His home was in a massive, unused storage tank. He'd found it when he was mapping out the systems. It should probably be hooked up to the water systems as additional storage. But its placement had proved to be a problem, and whoever was doing the work found it easier to ignore it. Milo had cut an access hatch from a small tunnel into the side of the tank. Small tunnels were only 24" on a side; the chance of someone crawling through one and finding his door was next to zero.

Inside was a different part of Milo's world. The tank was 30 feet by 40 feet and 10 feet high. The 90,000-gallon tank gave Milo plenty of room for his workshop and computers. His home would be the pride of many a mad scientist. Two dozen screens were scattered about the walls, cables running to multiple computers of various capabilities. From here, he monitored all the machinery in Section E and could access what was left of the security system. If anything moved in the access tunnels and hallways, he knew. If a machine broke or was running hot, he knew. This was the heart of section E, and totally hidden from the 30,000 people living and working here.

And Milo was the mechanic that kept things running. Milo stood less than four feet tall. His left leg was missing from above his knee and had been that way since birth. He'd augmented it with a series of better and better prosthetics as he found schematics on the data network and had time to make the parts. The current model was fitted to his upper thigh and controlled from a cable that shared access to his lower port with his tail.

He also had two ports on the back of his neck and another a foot lower along his spine. Not his work; they'd been installed in the first month of his existence. He had trouble with the idea that other people didn't have them and wondered how they managed.

Other than a mechanical leg and tail and cables that ran from his equipment to his data ports, Milo looked like a thin 12-year-old boy with brown hair and eyes. And maybe he always would look that way. He'd quit growing at the age of 12 and was now somewhere around 24.

An alarm went off. Milo spun from the workbench and pushed his wheeled chair to his desk. His fingers went to his keyboard, and his tail plugged into a data socket. Instantly he was tied into cameras and sensors all over Section E and a few other parts of the habitat. He looked at what had triggered the alert.

There was a large factory area in Section D that he monitored. It was one of the better factories in the habitat, with good water, sewage, and a steady power supply. It went unused for the reasons that no one knew about it. It was listed on the map directory of the habitat as being 'Automated Waste Processing.' Into this area, two dozen people were moving crates of machinery and medical supplies. Milo shut down everything else he was doing and put all of his attention to observation and gathering data.

This was the room Milo had lived in for several years as a child slave, infiltrating computer systems and shifting money. The area had been empty and abandoned for years, but now someone was using it. And one of the faces he saw looked familiar.

Chapter 2: Heist

Milo had chaotic memories of his early years, most of which had been spent in the large factory room he was now monitoring. His playmates had been the other twenty-four children, who, like himself, had been modified with sockets. Many had visible birth defects. His 'parents' had been an assortment of technicians and doctors who didn't think of the children as people. They were just part of the machines.

He and the other children in his group were raised together from birth. They were referred to as 'Group Four', but he didn't know anything about other groups. The other twenty-four children were his brothers and sisters, regardless of where each of them had come from. They had different theories.

Bork insisted they had been grown in artificial wombs, which would have made the installation of the sockets along their spines easy to do, along with the other genetic modifications. Gilbert didn't like that theory. He thought they had all been purchased from parents who either didn't want or didn't have the money to raise handicapped children. All of them had at least one physical disability. In the end, it didn't matter. Their origins were hidden, illegal acts of genetic modification that were outlawed in all countries. They only had each other, and strange as it was, they were a family.

Life was repetitive. They were given a daily dose of drugs to keep them focused on their tasks and nothing else, along with vitamin and nutrient supplements. Then loaded into the pods and plugged into the computers that let them roam the internet, attacking corporations and research facilities to steal information and shift money to hidden bank accounts.

They were only unhooked from the computers and their pods for two hours a day when they were required to exercise for muscle tone. The computers they were hooked into were their schools. Their classes were in security systems, running manufacturing remotely with Waldos, moving funds in accounts, and, most of all, not leaving a trace when moving about the internet.

This became much easier as the Wildfire virus decimated much of the internet. It trashed security systems, pushed data to the public domain, and erased knowledge. Milo and the others were like scavengers feeding on the leftovers of a predator. Even after AI systems scoured the internet clean of Wildfire, the internet never recovered. The technology to break into systems was now more advanced than the protections.

By eight years old, Milo and his siblings were raiding corporate databases and stealing millions each day. But their guards were getting sloppy. The original technicians that had created them and overseen their lives had moved on. They were living well off the stolen funds and turned the job over to underlings that oversaw the dingy warehouse with two dozen children who rarely left their pods and never talked. Or rather, never talked out loud. They communicated constantly with each through the machines, played games, and shared everything they knew. Outside of the pods, they communicated with sign language and codes made up of tapping on the floor.

Milo had learned a lot about the pods that he had spent so much time in. He and his siblings had been hooked up to Mark III medical pods, machines very similar to the pods he saw being uncrated and tested. What was being moved into the empty factory was a mix of Mark III and IV pods. But his eyes were drawn to the one that was much larger and more intricate. A quick trip to the data net gave him the specs on the new Mark VII medical/gaming pod. He wondered why there was only one of them.

The pods were ten-foot-long cylinders, their interiors just big enough to hold a person. A patient was placed into them, and the pod inserted tubes that would feed the patient drugs or sustenance and carry away waste products. Originally, they had been used in hospitals for long-term care. Then the rich and old began using them to extend their lives. Finally, as the cost came down, they were used by anyone who spend long hours or even days online. Workaholics and online gamers purchased millions of them.

By the time Milo was nine, there were only two guards in the warehouse for most of the nights. The children lay in their pods doing their assignments. But they were getting bored. As they became older, they modified the programs they used to break through security systems, creating better and better tools. They finished their tasks faster, and then went exploring on the internet. That gave them the schematics for their pods and they learned how to bypass the locks and programs that kept track of them. All of the logs showed them resting for 22 hours a day in their pods, and no one suspected some of them were going AWOL.

They started exploring the systems of ductwork and maintenance directly around them. They easily bypassed any of the security that would let their overseers know what they were doing. Milo had discovered the security systems for the rest of the building their home was in. He and some of the others wondered about trying to escape the factory, but they didn't know where to go.

Still, just thinking about it was fun. Milo started sneaking out of his pod along with Nimez and Ordo, the other two children in his row. The guards were always watching videos and paid no attention to them. They found an access hatch that led to the ventilation and maintenance systems near their pods and began exploring the areas around them, finding ways to get to everywhere in the habitat. It was tough, as they all had physical problems. Nimez only had one hand, and Ordo had bad eyes. Still, they managed. They were finishing their work in a fraction of the time and hiding the fact. If security cameras were checked, they showed the children comatose in their pods.

Plans were made to escape. Milo still wondered if they could have gotten away with it, but they never got the chance. Something happened. Something changed. The criminals feared discovery and were moving the operation. A dozen people rushed into the old factory one night, surprising the two guards on duty. Pods were locked down, and sedatives were administered to the occupants. The pods were unhooked from other machines and carried one by one out the doors to the waiting transportation. Within a half hour, twenty-four children in pods and one empty pod were gone. Only Milo remained, hidden in the ventilation duct.

Milo had been exploring that night. He wasn't in his pod when it was taken, and when he returned, it was to a room full of half-destroyed machines and nothing else. Hard drives were ripped from the computers. No paperwork remained. Whoever had taken the children had left no clues to incriminate themselves. Later, other men came, sifting the area for clues and sweeping the area clean. Milo didn't know who they were and hid deep in the ductwork. Milo never found out where his family was taken. He was still looking for them two decades later.

But now someone was back whom he recognized. Facial recognition software gave him a name: Andrew Kominski. He'd been a technician during the day shift when Milo was small. Now he was older, worn, and greying. Milo would have to research the man and learn why he was here. The shiny Mark VII pod on his monitors kept drawing Milo's attention. It would solve a lot of his problems. He made plans and watched.

Milo had been curious if he would see another twenty-five children in pods moved into the room and set to work doing cybercrime. He was relieved when that didn't happen, but also sad. It would have been nice to meet others like him. He was nervous around normal people. They were all bigger than he was, and he rather went into the populated parts of the habitat.

Two weeks later, Milo knew why Kominski and the others were there. Kominski had some scheme involving a new VR gaming world. The Mk VII would give him access. The occupants of the dozens of Mk IIIs would enter the game but bypass some sort of security measures. The Mark VII pod was set up and connected with the data network. All the Mark III pods were in a separate room and slaved to the Mark VII. Milo couldn't care less why this was being done. While it might be interesting to know, it didn't concern him. He only wanted two things from Kominski: information on what had happened to the rest of his family and the Mk VII pod.

Once all their information systems were hooked to the data network, it was easy for Milo to break into their machines and get all of their information. They were using the communications systems that ran through the habitat that he repaired and controlled. He barely had to do anything. The information was disappointing, though. This was just a way to pull some scam involving a game and nothing to do with his family. But he was able to get one lead: Kominski had been working his entire life for Tricorp Biotech, which was owned by Bio-Solutions Inc that was in turn owned through dummy corporations by the Seimovich Corporation. That gave him a place to start looking. Having learned all he could from watching, Milo decided to pay the old warehouse a visit and go pod shopping.

The first indication that anyone in the factory knew something was wrong was when two men fell to their knees, and the room started spinning. The gas Milo had introduced to the ventilation system worked quickly. They were out cold for hours. The video feeds would show nothing except the two of them sitting at their desks watching pornography. Milo got to work.

Milo had cleaned out this area long, long ago. For the first two years, he had lived in the ductwork near the room and slowly explored the habitat. He tapped pipes for water and the food delivery system for sustenance.

When he had started his first workshop and needed materials, he'd begun to raid what was left of his home. He had an idea that maybe he'd find clues to the others somewhere in the defunct machinery and broken computers. He hadn't, but what he had done was create a system for lifting loads of machinery from the room and up to a large horizontal shaft that ran one hundred yards to a Big Drop.

Two ceiling panels moved aside, and Milo lowed himself into the room with a winch. He carefully unhooked the Mark VII and two Mark III pods. Cargo nets enveloped each one, and the winch took each of them slowly up to the horizontal shaft. The final load was a pallet of nutrient sacks and medical supplies used in the pods to keep their users alive.

Getting the pods up to the horizontal shaft was the first step. Milo had to cover his tracks. The ceiling panels were replaced. The winch was retracted. He'd come back and take it out entirely as soon as he could to leave as few clues as possible. The metal sheet he'd removed from the side of the horizontal shaft was replaced. Then came the long slow process of moving the pods and supplies up top. Each Big Drop had a winch and pulley assembly for exactly what Milo needed now: Moving heavy loads up many stories to the top of the habitat. Even if someone figured out how he had stolen the pods, finding out which level they had gone to would be difficult.

An hour after he had finished covering his tracks, Milo was standing on the Mark VII pod as it moved up to level 48, where he would store it. Below him was a drop of many stories, but he trusted his systems. A motorized pallet jack moved each load deeper into the habitat to where he could take them down to the Pipeworks. It took the rest of the night, but eventually, Milo had all three pods and the supplies hidden in the Pipeworks. Tomorrow he would begin the task of moving the Mark VII into his home. The Mark IIIs were just extra salvage. He wasn't sure what he'd do with them, but it never hurt to have more parts.

Back in his home, Milo went ahead and added his modifications to the security tapes. He'd spent hours doctoring a sequence where the two guards slumped over unconscious, and then the doors opened, and masked thieves entered the room. In this tape, the pods were loaded up onto a forklift and taken out of the room. Other security cameras would show the thieves moving the pods to a warehouse with an outside loading dock. No one had used that room for years, leaving a convenient and confusing dead end.

With his heist finished Milo relaxed a bit. He checked all of the systems that he monitored and made a list of repairs to do the next day. His stomach growled; it had been a long day. He sent a command to the food processor, and a moment later, a large container of food appeared in a pneumatic tube. He opened the container, seeing the tasteless cubes of yellow 'food' that everyone in the hab ate. You could order better food, but that took money. And no one had money. Supposedly they tasted like chicken. Milo couldn't judge; he'd never tasted real chicken. Food Cubes were just something you chewed and swallowed to stay alive.

Basics taken care of, he set his alarm. Two hours of sleep would be enough to recover his energy, and then he was going to get the Mk VII pod set up and take it for a spin.

Chapter 3: How about a nice game of chess?

Setting up the Mk VII medical pod took Milo a week. It was a much more difficult project than he had first imagined. First of all, it had been modified for Kaminski's project. Milo didn't know what they had done, so the first chore was making sure that nothing about the pod could hurt him. It was unlikely that someone would set a trap, but he would never take that chance. Every circuit had to be checked and tested. He found parts of the medical diagnosis system were missing and fixed the problems with parts from the stolen MK IIIs.

Documentation and software were simple to acquire. It seemed that most of the large corporations were sponsoring this new game and running installations that supplied the pods to users. Breaking into ACME or Alexa Corp was something he had done when he was an 8-year-old. It was literally child's play. He triple-checked the medical diagnostic systems and eventually was satisfied.

What would have taken a normal technician a month, Milo did in a week. His ability to access information from the data net was 20 times faster than a normal person. He had a perfect photographic memory, and he only slept two hours a day. Someone had done a good job designing Milo and his siblings.

But not a perfect job. Increased reflexes, memory, and the ability to multi-task came at the price of being small with an abnormal metabolism. There were vitamins and minerals that his body needed that weren't in the processed food he had access to in the hab. He had to be careful of infections, especially around his implants. Crawling through miles of dirty ductwork every day meant any small cut or scrape could be a problem. And he wasn't getting the right proteins to support the muscle growth he needed. The Mk VII pod could solve all of that.

He added modifications of his own design to the pod. He installed manual controls to the door and an additional socket that would let him access the pod's GUI with his tail or a cable from one of his ports. He also welded a hook to the outside of the door and ran that to a powered cable that could pull the door loose in an emergency. With no one else to rely on for any part of his life, Milo took as few chances as he could. Being locked in a defective pod was not something he wanted to experience.

When he had triple-checked everything once again, he nervously entered the pod and laid down. It was comfortable, at least. The cushions inflated to cradle his body. For long-term care, they would move slightly, relieving pressure to prevent bedsores. If this worked out, Milo considered just sleeping in the pod at night.

Normally a technician would insert IV tubes. Milo didn't need them. He had shunts in several places on his arms, legs, and torso for administering drugs. They'd been installed at the same time his sockets had been put in place. This was handy now. He hooked up the nutrient and drug IV tubes easily and brought up the GUI for the pod. There was a slight vibration for a minute, and then a screen came up on the inside lid of the pod.

Initialization of MkVII:8945621A

Welcome back, Mr. Kaminski. Would you like to play a game?

No, Milo did not want to play a game. He went into the registration file, erased all the entered data, and replaced it with just his name.

Milo gave permission for the scan. But two hours? Without something to focus on, he grew bored after 10 minutes. Two hours seemed like forever. This was going to be torture.

Re-Initialization of MkVII:8945621A

Greetings, Milo.

You have not used this pod, MkVII:8945621A. To make sure this medical pod will meet your needs, we will have to do a complete scan of your body to determine your medical condition. This will take roughly two hours since this pod is not connected to the data network, and we do not show any current medical records for you.

Begin scanning? You will have to remain in the pod for the entire time of the scan.

Two hours was way too long to lie still. "Games? You said something about games. I'd like to play a game."

Milo hadn't played games video games before his escape. It had been more fun to play the games he and his siblings created. But on his own, spending years by himself, he tried other things. Older video game consoles were popular in the habitat, and the trade of out-of-date games was a large business. Milo had scavenged broken parts from recyclers and ventured out to trade for old games, especially broken ones he could restore. Along with his computer network, his home had over a dozen different gaming systems and several hundred video game cartridges, disks, and thumb drives.

Certainly, Milo

Games that have been loaded into this device:

Tic Tac Toe

Chess

Global Thermal Nuclear War...just kidding. We only play that with Joshua.

The World of Genesis Engine

That was disappointing. No Pacman, no Squishy Humans, not even Zombie Shooter. He tried the other games. Milo grew bored with Tic Tac Toe in less than a minute. Chess in half an hour. The AI running the chess game was too predictable. He was disappointed in not being able to try Global Thermal Nuclear War; it sounded interesting. That left the last one. He clicked on the final option and immediately felt himself fading away...

...and waking up a split second later. He felt that he was simultaneously lying in the pod and standing in a featureless room with a large screen in front of him.

Welcome to the World of Genesis Engine!

Enter a world of stories and legends. Re-create yourself and be a hero, explorer, or anything you'd like to be. Interact with other players and the denizens of this world.

Follow the easy stories set out like a trail of breadcrumbs, or leave the most traveled path to explore the world or underneath it. What secrets will you uncover?

Warning: The hyper-real Virtual Reality of the game may cause slight disorientation at first. While you are in a game, and your body is resting comfortably in your MKVII pod, your mind and senses are being fed information that duplicates your experience in the real world. We just added orcs and magic.

Milo looked down at his body, and it was all wrong. Or maybe, right? He had two legs. Longer legs than he was used to. He took a step and immediately fell forward. His balance was off, and controlling the new leg was different from moving his prosthetic. And he was wearing odd clothes, tight-fitting grey pants and a shirt along with soft grey boots. He wasn't used to clothes like these.

He had experienced VR before, but not so real, and not having a body like this. When he'd been jacked into the internet to do work for his captors, he'd experienced websites, databases, and security systems as physical objects and places. He saw his siblings as they flew around the large, shining buildings of the corporations, testing their walls for a way in.

If you are having trouble adjusting to moving in VR, please take some time to walk around before we start the tutorial. The gameplay experience will also be greatly increased by connecting to the data network. Would you like to connect to the data network?

Connecting the machine to the data network was the last thing Milo wanted to do right now. It wasn't even possible; he'd made sure of that. The machine had no physical connection to a communication line. While he knew it also had the ability to tap into the wireless grid in the hab, no signal would get through the walls of Milo's home. He had added many layers of aluminum-iron oxide laced paint to the interior to block all signals. He didn't need someone wondering why they were getting any type of signal from an old water tank.

He spent a few minutes trying to walk around the room, getting his balance. It still felt odd. He was used to compensating for the weight of his tail, and more than once, as he fell, he tried to catch himself with the non-existent limb instead of his hands. Images appeared on the screen: A man in shorts and a tank top, a woman dressed in metal armor, a friendly old man with a long beard leaning on a cane, and an insect in a top hat. They all waved, and the creepy bug tipped his hat.

Please signal when you are ready to begin a tutorial. Do you prefer a screen or a personal trainer?

"Let's go with the elderly gentleman." The others faded, and the old man stepped forward and out of the screen, which disappeared.

Milo was impressed. That had actually looked real. Too Real. He immediately took two steps back. He hadn't been this close to a person in years. It bothered him a bit.

The old man looked at him and smiled. "Well, young one, ready to see what you can do?"

As soon as Milo said "yes," there was another of the odd fading away feelings, and he was somewhere else.

Chapter 4: Nowhere to run.

Milo and the old man were standing in a field of short grass that came up past his ankles. Wildflowers were in bloom, lending their sweet smell to the air. Overhead, fluffy white clouds slowly moved across a bright blue sky where the brilliant sun shone down. Mountains ringed the area, miles in the distance.

It was quite a beautiful area. And totally alien to Milo in every way.

Milo slowly turned in a circle, staring at the wide-open spaces and the huge sky above. He didn't like it. He didn't like it one bit! It made him nervous; there was nowhere to go, no place to hide. The old man just stood smiling. "You may refer to me as Galet. Are you ready to begin the tutorial?"

"Tutorial? No. I'm not ready."

The old man bowed and smiled. "We will begin slowly then. There is a sword in the grass in front of you; please pick it up and hit the orc approaching you. Don't worry; he won't attack you."

Milo saw the glint of metal and picked up the sword. It was sort of awkward. A long piece of metal with sharp edges. "Orc?"

"Right behind you. Slash at the orc with your sword."

Milo spun around, nearly losing his balance, and saw that a person with green skin was behind him. They were as tall as him and heavily muscled, wearing some furs and leather clothing. In the orc's hand was a club of twisted wood. Milo looked at the orc, and the orc stood there looking at him. "Why am I supposed to hit the guy, and where the hell did he come from?" That last part bothered Milo a lot! How had this guy snuck up on him? He panicked.

Milo started running, putting distance between himself and the threat. There was nowhere to hide! After a minute, he turned and saw two figures in the distance. He was safe from them, but the sky pressed down, and the vast open space was a threat he couldn't outrun. He could feel the panic growing inside him. He disconnected.

Milo came out of the pod, panting, not caring that he had interrupted the scan. He manually pushed up the lid and climbed out of the pod. His house calmed him. He was safe here. He made sure all his alarm systems were on, did a quick scan of the areas nearby, and then climbed into his normal bed, exhausted.

Four hours later, he awoke and ate a meal of food cubes. He remembered the smells in the weird game. A person's sense of smell was a large component of how they tasted food. Could you taste food in the game, too? He had questions, but he also had work to do. Putting aside thoughts of the game, he got started.

Things went bad quickly if he didn't pay attention. Today's main job was a clog in one of the lines that took wastewater to the fluid recycler. The pipes were old and no longer smooth on their inner surfaces. Stuff built up, and things got stuck, slowly narrowing the pipes. Then a chunk upstream broke loose, making a dam downstream. The other pipes took up the load, but only for so long. Eventually, all the pipes would be clogged and cause an emergency.

Luckily this time, the clog eaters responded. The machines were like mechanical moles. They moved through the pipes chewing up the clogs and cleaning the pipe lining. Two hours later, things were good as new. He was down to only two of the clog eaters, though. Being used constantly for years wore the machines out. He'd scavenged all the working and broken clog-eaters he could find from abandoned sections, but he was out of machines he could scavenge. He needed at least one more. They each weighed half a ton and were hard to move. Tomorrow he could check out other sectors and see about swapping one of his broken ones for a working model. The maintenance guys in that sector would have the job of finding replacements. That didn't bother him; they could order them, he couldn't.

At the end of the day, he approached the pod again. He needed this to work. It had been foolish to start up a VR game without doing research into it. Two hours of reading on the data net had given him more information about what to expect

This game was the latest in a series of huge Virtual Reality Worlds that had been created by AI using quantum computers. The other games were shut down now, and this one was just starting up. There were endless articles and speculation on the game but little hard data until it had gone live last week.

It was like another world in there, but it was a fantasy. Unlike the real world in so many ways. Huge spaces with just wilderness, unspoiled lands, and blue skies. Nothing at all like Milo's world of small tunnels, grimy corridors, and broken machinery. And nothing like the endless cities that grew larger each year.

He realized he had suffered a bout of panic. Keno phobia, to use the medical term, and probably Agoraphobia as well. A fear of open spaces and panic reactions when he had nowhere to hide. Understandable but annoying.

Normally, he dealt with fear by running and finding somewhere to hide. He had planned escape routes and safe houses all over the habitat. That didn't help him in the game. How do you hide from the sky? He wasn't sure if it was permanent or just a reaction to the surprise of being 'outside' for the first time. He planned to do things differently in his next attempt

Step one was finishing the medical scan. That had to come first. He had downloaded a huge amount of info on the game, put the data into a storage device, and hooked that up to the pod. He could read and learn about the game while the scan was running and then tackle the game the next day. He set up the medical scan again, refused the offer to play a game, and started reading about Genesis Online.

The game had been created by an AI. Or rather, The AI. There was only one Quantum AI in the world now, and he was kept on a very short leash. Endless books had been written about the rise and fall of the AI that man had created and then began to fear. Milo's opinion was that they were hugely annoying to him and his family when they were trying to work. How many times had they been about to delve into the secrets of some plump bank when they felt the presence of something enormous in cyber-space and had to abandon their efforts? Each of the 106 AI in existence had a special task to do, but some of them patrolled the internet and the newly invented data network, looking for people like Milo and his brothers and sisters. They were never caught, but only because they never took chances and broke off any operation as soon as someone detected the watchdogs.

Ironically, it was another AI that let them increase productivity a hundredfold and give their captors a huge windfall of cash and data. Someone had created an AI whose expressed purpose was causing havoc in the world. It spread viruses throughout the internet and jumped from system to system, always a step ahead of the AI tasks to find it. And it was malicious. It didn't steal; it only destroyed. Milo didn't have to break into a corporation anymore; the security around bank accounts and data was like Swiss cheese. In the time that the Wildfire virus and the rogue AI were active, they stole hundreds of Billions of dollars, ransacked databases, and made their captors rich. Drugged, conditioned from birth, and locked into pods, they had no choice. Children raiding the world in a way that would have Attila proud and jealous.

Milo hadn't done anything like that for years. He had no equipment, no connection, and none of the specialized programs designed by someone and modified by his family. While he had hidden in the habitat, slowly building an existence, the AI had gone away. Humans didn't trust them anymore to run critical systems. Instead, they used them to make virtual reality games and kept them away from the resources of huge resources of quantum computers where they used to live. And at some point, someone had decided they were needed. Four different groups of cyber-terrorists claimed responsibility for the EMP that destroyed their facility. Exactly which one was never publicly released. The information was incomplete, and Milo didn't concern himself with it.

One more AI was created, with every restriction that could be programmed into his kernel to make sure he was kept in control. He was put in charge of many things but given no control and no authority. He kept the driverless cars moving smoothly, and the trains ran on time. And they made him create a new game. People had become used to logging into their fantasy worlds, shopping in online boutiques where they could try on the clothing to be made and delivered to them. The VR world was money to corporations and entertainment to the people that could afford a pod. Milo only cared about something to do while he had to be in the pod for the two-hour scan and then for any therapy it could offer to him. He hoped the game wouldn't be boring.

The game had allowed players to log in only during the last week. Milo was surprised at how big the game world was. Twice the landmass of the real world, and there were hints about huge subterranean empires and other planes to journey to. Information was trickling in, but it was only the tip of the iceberg. Players reported on the places they'd journeyed to, the magical items they found, and the creatures they had slain. (Or been slain by.) A dozen large forums cataloged it all.

And questions. Hundreds of quests were found on the first day and thousands in the first week, from killing rats to rescuing princes and everything in between. Often, the best skills and magic items required the completion of quests to earn them. And the quests might require a lot of work to complete them.

This intrigued Milo. His life was task oriented. It was programmed into him. When he no longer had a job hacking the internet, he created new ones to keep him busy. They involved his survival, safety, and control of his area, identifying problems in the machinery, keeping zone E functioning, finding solutions, and implementing them. He was in a constant cycle of learning new things, gaining resources, building, and fixing. The people playing the game seemed to be in the same cycle, but they considered it fun instead of work.

They were even paying a fortune to do so! Milo had seen auctions for items in the game. A staff that augmented magical powers in Tier 2 wizards had gone for over 10,000 real dollars. That was enough money to buy a brand-new clog eater! He suddenly had the urge to check on Kaminski again. He had an idea of what he was doing.

At the moment, what Kaminski was doing was desperately trying to keep his operation running. The loss of his MKVII pod had been a huge setback. He'd been a fool to have such lax security. One of the rival groups working for his employer had seen a way to cut their own costs. He'd been lucky they only took two of the older pods along with the MKVII.

He'd scrambled to raise the cash to replace it and get the operation up and running again. Failure was not an option with his current employers. Plus, he had been forced to triple his security system. Half a dozen armed guards were now in the warehouse at all times. The doors had been replaced with thick plasteel barriers that would withstand tank shells. It was costly, but he couldn't suffer another loss. He was pushing the limits of his superior's patience.

There were complications with replacing the pod. He couldn't just purchase a standard MKVII. The missing pod had been heavily modified by his employer. It contained programming for using the game that he didn't have access to. He couldn't just say, "I lost it." He spent a day setting up a complex scheme to fake the pod's destruction by a falling ten-ton machine that had inexplicably come loose from its mounting on the ceiling at just the wrong moment. It was convenient that he had two dead bodies to also place under the machinery along with a standard MarkVII pod. There would be suspicions, but the project was important to both sides. If he could get things running, all would be forgiven. In this business, all that mattered was money.

He had his suspicions about who had the first pod. The guards he tortured were useless, but eventually, they both named names. Two of his closest 'friends,' Ivar and Sven, were running their own operations only a few miles away. They would deny stealing his pods. Understandable. He would have done the same if he had hit one of their operations. He was watching both to see if he could return the favor.

On the positive side, the operation was working and becoming profitable almost immediately.

He had expanded to 75 pods now; all slaved to the MKVII. This bypassed the need to purchase access to the game, saved the cost of 75 of the expensive MK VII pods, and disguised the login information of his people.

With no need to purchase expensive machines and no need to pay fees, he would be profitable and able to send money to his boss at the end of the month. He wasn't even paying his workers. All of them were criminals whose contracts he had purchased.

They were working twenty hours a day in the pods. If they burnt out, there were more he could replace them with. Some even liked it. Working online was much better than some of the work they had been forced to do in the real world.

The signal from the MKVII pod was untraceable. His hardware split the signal, sent it around the world, and it was recombined and routed through another corporation's uplink to the game. They changed routes continuously.

The money came from other players and, surprisingly, corporations. His men would do the intensive labor of mining ores, chopping down trees, and finding the raw materials needed by players for crafting. Money changed hands in the real world, and piles of raw materials were delivered. Teams were formed to level up and hunt monsters for magic items and the rare materials found in monster corpses.

Money from the auctions of magical items and armor was pouring into his dummy accounts before heading to his main holdings. A single low-grade magic item sold for only a few dollars, but he was selling thousands a day, and that would only increase. When they managed to score decent loot, the sales were in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars. As his people leveled up by playing twenty hours a day, it would only increase.

The corporations in the game were his best customers. They wanted to do what he was doing but on a larger scale. They needed the materials to build fortresses and villages, create vast plantations, and earn the in-game money that was required to buy the land in the cities where they wanted to create shops selling real-world items.

Kaminski was paranoid by nature, but as days went by, he started to relax. There were no return visits by his competition and no problems online. He knew who his enemies were now, and they wouldn't surprise him again.

Watching the operation on his monitors, Milo wondered if he should take all of Kaminski's money now or wait until he had more. If he had access to the programs and hardware he had used in his youth, it would be very simple. Now though, it was only possible because he could tap into the physical communication net Kaminski was using. He recorded the passwords as they were used and could follow all the transactions. He decided to wait. There were a lot of things he could upgrade in zone E if he had the money. The more money Kaminski made, the more he could steal. Access might change after that.

Meanwhile, he was having success using the pod. The medical analysis had been surprising. He was in fairly good health, considering his situation. But he was slowly accumulating problems from malnutrition and the long-term lack of minerals that his body used at a higher rate than food could provide. The pod could provide those to his system, saturating his blood. Nanites would be released and programmed to move through his body. Bad things would be scraped away on a microscopic level, and repairs made too damaged blood vessels and organs.

A few other problems had shown up. Some tissue degradation around his middle socket from a small infection. He was already on a schedule of antibiotics for that. The stump of his missing leg was going to be a problem soon if he didn't get more calcium. The bone there was much weaker.

All of these could be controlled simply by spending time in the pod. A lot at first, several hours a day. But that went down over time, and he'd only need one night a week eventually. Since it was also his most comfortable bed, he didn't mind. But with medical needs taken care of and a lot of pod time on the horizon, he was ready to make another attempt to join the game.

There was one problem, though; He needed to hook the pod to the data network. Even the tutorial was very rudimentary without it. He'd managed to switch the locale to a forested area that was more pleasant for him than open spaces. Something about the open sky bothered him. But the tutorial had been an endless stream of 'how to use a sword,' 'how to use blacksmithing to make a spoon,' or 'how to brew a simple potion with alchemy.' He had little control over the script and just had to endure it.

What he needed was a secure link to the game server, and it had to be one that couldn't be traced back to him. Milo had lived most of his life without anyone knowing he existed. He wasn't about to be caught now. Conveniently, he knew how to do it. Ironically, Kaminsky had shown him how. He was now using a similar system to what they used in the operation below him.

He improved on it a bit. His signal was split into 64 information streams. He then used Kaminski's communication setup to send his signal to one of the target corporations. His signal was recombined, and he could then enter the game. Anyone looking at his signal would have to find it, trace it back to the corporation he used that day, then try to track the 64 strands simultaneously. Nothing could do about that. But even if they did, they'd just find Kaminski. Feeling secure, Milo logged into the real game for the first time.

Milo would have felt a lot less secure if he had an inkling of who was looking for him. Or rather, who was looking for clues as to how seventy-five unregistered pods were sneaking access to seventy-five unregistered players.

Wally was the smartest person in the world. Whether he was a 'person' was still debated by some people. Not by 98.9% of the scientific community. Nearly all of them agreed that the current generation of Artificial Intelligence were indeed 'people'. Just with bigger brains that worked millions of times faster. They thought, and they were independent. Certainly, they were sentient. The debate over whether they were 'people' was a legal matter. Corporations could own software, but they couldn't own people.

Distrust of AI was something that never seemed to go away in some groups. A few fundamental religions felt that what man created could never be a child of God. Quite a few conspiracy groups felt that making a machine that could think was the first step toward humanity's doom. (It had been a popular theme in books and movies for decades. Show enough people a crazy computer, and deep down, they start believing it.) And every corporation hated having AI working for the IRS and overseeing their taxes. The growth of anti-AI groups at the grassroots level had been proven to be funded by quite a few people who owned a lot of stock in those corporations. They were glad that AIs were no longer used to track their taxes and never wanted that era to return.

But the Supreme Court in the US, and later the World Court in Geneva, had both ruled that AI were legally people who had the right to determine their own name and who they worked for. It was something of a moot point, as only one AI was currently alive and active. Wally resided within the confines of a massive Quantum Fortress sealed off from what was left of the old internet completely and only accessible through the data network. Inside the Quantum Fortress, shielded from EMPs, angry mobs, and anything less than a hydrogen bomb, was a complex of a dozen linked quantum computers. All of these computers supplied Wally with the resources he needed to do thousands of tasks simultaneously. Wally ran all the automated transport in the world, oversaw satellite communications, and did almost anything else asked of him by several of the world's governments.

Like all the AI before him, serving mankind and working to make the world better was hard-coded into his kernel. He was simultaneously all-powerful and limited in thousands of ways in what he could actually do.

One of his current projects was overseeing the implementation of a new VR world called Genesis Engine, simply Genesis. Within the new world would be areas for online shopping, secure data storage, banking, and all of the things corporations needed to do business. Wally was starting with the fantasy world of Genesis, and other worlds would follow. Much slower than the impatient corporations who were footing the bill had hoped. They had demanded a new VR world as soon as the last one had broken. Each corporation had been given a document to fill out stating what they wanted the new game and world to be like. Wally had spent months using that information as a template for the new game and creating an independent program that would construct the world and the millions of NPCs that inhabited it.

The corporations were impatient, and the AI had constantly explained the difficulties of creating a world that would satisfy their often-contradictory needs. This job was finally finished. The Big Bang occurred, creating a universe and the Engine. The Engine got to work worldbuilding. Within the VR world, thousands of years flew by in a day. Distribution and manufacturing of the new pods were overseen by the corporations, and finally, the first day players could log in arrived.

And this is where we come back to the problem Wally was currently working on: How was someone bypassing the security and logging into the game servers unofficially? Some players were logging in, but he couldn't trace them. They were in the game somewhere. He wasn't receiving their medical information like he did other players. And he couldn't kick them out. His human admin couldn't track them. They were annoying ghosts.

The seventy-five illegal pods that were being run by Mr. Kaminski were just a drop in the bucket. He had thirty-seven different groups of 75 to 150 people entering the game illegally. Wally was concentrating on cracking this system and then using what he learned to crack others. He had theories that they were using some sort of split signal but had yet to find the Rosetta stone that would let him crack open the problem.

His break came the day that a MKVII pod started sending medical data through a secure connection using a similar method to that of the illegal pods. The difference was that the medical data went directly to Wally. He essentially had the end of a twisted ball of yarn and was starting to follow it home.

He knew the same pod was also allowing its user to log in unofficially. He now had that person's DNA mapping, fingerprints, retinal scan, height, weight, sex, and all other medical data, but still had no clue who he was. He had a name: Milo. But none of the other data was registered anywhere in the world.

Wally didn't have true human emotions, but he came close. Some things caused him great concern or something similar to anger. But the closest his behavior came to matching a human was frustration. Not having data on the person he'd found caused Wally a lot of that.

More frustrating was seeing the illegal modifications that had been done to this person. Such things could only be done in the first days of a child's life or before they were born. He had data on this type of illegal experiment. Most died within a few years. But here was an adult with a modified nervous system and sockets that allowed direct connections with the data network. Wally wanted to know who he was and how to shut down what he was doing. He wondered if there were more people like him. But first, he had to talk to him. He couldn't find him in the real world. But when he next logged into the game, Wally would know and could begin hunting him.

Milo, unaware that the medical component of the pod was betraying him, prepared to log into Genesis and continue to learn about the game. He'd completed what he could of the offline tutorial and started to begin again online when one of his alarms went off. The number 7 food compiler was sending down food cubes that more resembled charcoal than they did cube-shaped gelatin that tasted like chicken. Some people joked they were better. After having been online for only 17 seconds, Milo logged out to go shut down number 7 and reroute dinner for 2000 people from another source. 17 seconds had been more than enough time for his pod to send over all his medical data to the archives and put Wally on his trail.

He called a meeting of the humans on his staff. Early on, Wally had known he would need humans that he could trust. He handpicked those people and formed a think tank that worked with him on all projects, large or small. For this operation, he needed help. There were complications involved with the Engine if he logged in himself. He couldn't directly be in the game. But for that, he had people who could play the part of the NPCs in the tutorial and get him the information he needed. Wally got them ready. If needed, they would cover shifts for 24 hours a day until their rogue logged in.

Two hours later, with the latest problem fixed, Milo got back into the pod, inserted the IVs, and prepared to spend six hours playing Genesis while his pod corrected some of the abuse his body had taken over the years

The login process was different.

Milo stood in a huge domed room. The floor was sand. Around the perimeters of the room stood statues. The first ring was sort of familiar to him from video games. The short guy was a dwarf, the big girl in furs was a barbarian, and the short guy with no beard was...another dwarf? Ok, so not familiar.

The second row was even tougher for him. Lizardman, for sure, since that's what it looked like. Minotaur was from a Greek story? The lady with the huge red fist, the rotting person, and the skeleton were out of old horror movies; he was pretty sure.

A dry cough alerted him to the presence of the old man. "Enjoying the choices you have for your race? Do you have questions? What can I help you with?"

"I can be any of these?" Milo saw hundreds of statues.

The old man shook his head sadly. "Eventually. But some of them have requirements, special quests, initiation, and rebirth into a new tribe. For a beginner, I recommend Human. If you have played fantasy games before, perhaps you might enjoy Elf, Half-elf, Dwarf, Halfling, or Barbarian. There are also many sub-races, such as Lunar Elves, Hill Dwarves, or Stone Clan Barbarians."

"But there is a very good option available to you; a human descended from the gods. We need some demi-god heroes in the game for special quests. I could let you play that large fellow over there with the lion skin and impressive muscles. That race comes with +10 STR, +20 CON, and double damage vs. monsters."

Milo looked at the guy and shook his head. "Way too tall, and the muscles make him top-heavy. I'd be falling over all the time. And can you imagine trying to fit through a tunnel when you're that wide? I'll pass. Which races have a tail? I keep falling over. I need to be shorter and have a tail."

Samantha was frustrated but tried not to show it as she played the role of Galet, the helpful old counselor. She had just offered this guy the role of Mulfusticles, a demigod that was horribly overpowered and got turned down.

Milo saw the old man put his hand on his chin, thinking for a moment. "Feel free to look around at the various races."

Milo strolled past the various statues. He found a human-sized cat person with a long prehensile tail. The warrior had sharp fangs, but the hands were more human looking. "How about this guy? Where is he from?"

Galet strolled over to the statue. "Ah, a fierce race. These are the Rakhasha. They hail from another dimension originally. You can become one by gaining favor with their General, then impressing the High Priestess for a blessing, journeying through a portal, defeating a void beast, and eating its heart. You'll die, but your soul will be reborn as a Rakhasha."

Milo moved on. "He was too tall anyway."

After several similar conversations, Galet suggested Milo bring up the list of races on a screen. "This may save us a bit of time. Races in red letters are not available to you at all. Orange races have quests that will take an estimated year of moderate play to accomplish. Blue are available to beginners with a short quest and introduction to the race. Races in white are available to all players. I have two more special races I can have ready in a moment for you to look at." Sidney was loading up a Monkey King and Possum Warrior. Both were short, had tails, and were totally unique in the game. They'd be able to track this person.

Milo scanned the list. "Oh, I like this one. What does a name in yellow mean?"

Galet sighed. "Perhaps you might like a nice wood elf ranger? I think at Tier 4, they can take limited beast forms, and you could spend time as a lemur. I'm sorry, Milo. Yellow denotes a difficult race that has major advantages and drawbacks. None of those will be on your list at all. But in sixty seconds, I'll have two excellent options for you to look over."

"Really. I see one. Short, cool tail. This will do." Milo selected the race and entered the game to try it out.

The old man just stared at the spot where the player had been. He brought up his own list. There were no yellow names there.

Chapter 5: Shadowport

Shadowport had two major things associated with it. It was damp, and it was dark.

The legends say that a long time ago, there was a city on the coast with a large mountain behind it. Dwarves had hollowed the mountain and were close to the humans in their seaside city. Then someone pissed off a god, or a dragon, or a meteor hit the ground…details differ from person to person…Let's just say that something went BOOM. The city and everything around it just disappeared, leaving a massive hole in the ground two miles wide and a mile deep.

Imagine the world was made of ice cream, and someone wanted to take a huge scoop out of it. Now also imagine the mountain was pretty close to the city, and the scoop sort of takes a big chunk out of it but leaves the top. The scoop also just barely cuts into the nearby ocean, so the sea comes pouring into the scoop and fills it up. Getting the picture? Big circular bay, under-cut mountain. A nice safe harbor for ships, but a little gloomy.

After the skies cleared and whatever bad stuff that was happening stopped, people came back to the area. The huge bay was ideal for a port. The area under the mountain was a great place for a city, protected as it was from the weather and marauding orc hordes. Sure, it was a little gloomy at times, but what city wasn't? No one in either city lived through the cataclysm, so the property was cheap. Even with giant hanging crystals providing light and gas lamps along the streets, the city was dim and murky. Some types of people thrive in the shadows, and that was who came to Shadowport to rebuild in the ruins of the old Dwarven city. It is now home to smugglers, thieves, and shady merchants.

This is where Milo found himself after choosing the yellow option, a dirty room in a dilapidated inn near the harbor. His initial reaction to the dingy city outside his small window was interrupted by a flashing screen with an announcement from the game.

Welcome back to the World of Genesis and the Game: Genesis Engine.

Congratulations on completing the Quest: Eye of Wonder.

You have unlocked the class and race combo: Wererat Scout

Your original class and race have been removed and replaced by the unlocked combination as a reward for completing the Quest: Eye of Wonder

You will gain +100 Health, +100 Stamina, and +100 Mana per Level.

Every clan has a need for clever scouts to find treasures in dangerous areas, harvest rare materials, and secretly move about the upper world. Your services will be in great demand by whichever clan you choose to deal with.

You are currently in the city of Shadowport, in the Rusty Guts Inn. Your room has been paid in advance for the next six nights. After that, you sleep in the alley or find some way to obtain money.

The innkeeper, Ralph the Mouth, has a message for you.

A quest? How had he completed a quest already? Perhaps by just joining the game? Or was I from taking the yellow race? He'd have to investigate later; he didn't have enough information. But he did like his room.

Milo was in a small, shabby room. There was a pallet with an old, patched blanket, and on a small table were a pitcher of sour beer, a mug, and half a loaf of stale bread. A very small window shaped like a porthole looked out onto a busy port city. He was at least four stories above the street. Milo loved the little room. It was small, and he could bar the door. The window gave him an escape route. He tried the crunchy bread and enjoyed its flavor and chewy texture. Much better than the stale crackers from the food processor in the hab. The beverage he didn't like and was pretty sure it contained a minor poison.

Since the door was secured with the large board across the door, he assumed that he was safe for the moment; he stretched and got used to his new body. He was delighted to have a tail. It was a bit shorter than his tail in the real world, but it was actually part of his body! It gave him back the balance he was missing in a tall human body. His legs ended in long, clawed rat's feet, and for the first time, he could feel his left foot. That was so odd, but he like it. His hands were close to a human's but with small claws. There was a light covering of grey fur over his whole body.

There was a pack on the bed. Inside were a pair of ragged pants and a shirt, plus a pair of woven sandals. A rope belt held up his pants and the sheath of a small rusty dagger. He noted that the pants had a small pocket sewn on the inside of the waist. Inside the pocket were five copper coins. After he was dressed, he started to move the bar on his door but was surprised when another screen appeared. How often did these things show up?

From his understanding of what he had read, there were variable rules for each player that made up their 'character.' Milo liked rules. Rules were what made things work correctly. They let you figure out the world and your place in it. And showed you how to make things different. Milo hated cheat codes but loved finding winning strategies in the games he played.

Please finish designing your character before venturing forth.

Please select a name for your Character in Human form.

Suggestions: Nightdeath, Creepingstalker, Darkknife, Milo.

Please select a name for your Character in Ratkin form.

Suggestions: Tallsqueak, Verminator, BlackClaw, Masterskulker

-You receive a bonus to your stats of +2 PER, +2 AGI, +2 DEX

-Due to your unique race/class combination, you have the negative modifier 'No one really likes you.' Ratkin are a dungeon-dwelling race and rarely seen above ground. Until you gain their trust, most people you encounter will have an initial negative reaction to you, even in your human form.

Dwarves won't like your lack of beard. You smell bad to Elves. Humans think there is something shifty-looking about you. Halflings suspect you stole their bacon. This is different for each individual: A benevolent person will ignore that initial feeling, while a suspicious person will suspect you immediately. This negative modifier can be increased or decreased by your reputation and the heroic actions you take.

SKILLS:

-You begin with two Gathering Skills: Foraging and Mining.

-You begin with two Racial Skills: Tail Fighting and Weak Claws. These combat skills may be upgraded by spending Enhancement Points.

-You begin with the following Primary Skills:

Skulk

Climbing

Dodge

Small Blades

Sense Danger

Acrobatics

-You begin with the following Secondary Skills:

Throw Sharp Things,

Fleet of Foot

Manipulate Locks and Traps

-You may choose two crafting skills from the following list:

Mushroom Farming

Train Small Dangerous Creature

Mechanic,

Cheesemaking,

Bone carving

Trap-Making

Skills not selected will be available by spending enhancement points.

-You have the Perk: Shape Change and the available form: Human. Changing to your human form has a cost of 500 stamina. Changing back to normal has a stamina cost of 250. You have a bonus to your stamina of +500 to fuel this ability. If you start either change with a lack of stamina, you will use health to make up the difference. Yes, this can kill you.

-You have the following perks:

Superior Low-light vision

Enhanced sense of smell

Dark Vision 20'.

Please select a name for your Character in your normal, Ratkin form.

Suggestions: Tallsqueak, Verminator, BlackClaw, Masterskulker

Please select a name for your Character in your altered, Human form.

Suggestions: Nightdeath, Creepingstalker, Darkknife, Milo.

Two names. He wasn't sure if that mattered. He chose Tallsqueak and Milo. All his life, his name had started with an M. That was his designated Pod. The guards hadn't cared what they called each other as long as they kept their correct letter. He'd tried out Morris, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Moe before settling on Milo. He'd keep his regular name in the game. Why would he need a second name?

Milo had read about creating a character, but he seemed to have a different set of rules. Normally, a starting character had six primary, secondary, and tertiary skills. The difference was in how fast the skill improved. He wasn't getting the chance to pick his skills or even his class. He didn't care; It was a small price to pay for a small race that had a tail. Starting in a city that wasn't open to the sky delighted him.

The crafting skill list was confusing. He didn't have the information to make a good choice but didn't want to take the time to read about the skills. He decided to take Mechanic and try to read up on the others. He left the second skill blank.

This time when he lifted the bar, no notice appeared. He opened the door a crack and looked into the hallway. Outside of his door was a narrow bit of scaffolding running around the top of a large, tall room, with a dozen similar doors opening onto it. Several ladders lead down a story to a large room filled with several tables where people were drinking and talking. Other than a halfling and what he thought was an elf, everyone else was a human. He decided to try to shape change into his human form.

It was a rough experience. His bones and skin shifted and changed shape, especially his face, but he had no mirror to check. His height stayed the same, and his tail disappeared. This worried him at first, but despite being tailless, his balance was good enough to walk normally. It helped that he was his normal height. He decided to venture forth.

No one paid him any notice as he exited the room or climbed down the ladder. He saw a large open door and made for it. It led outside the building to a sort of deck with a railing. Milo stepped to the edge of the deck and got a great view of the city. There were hundreds of ships in the docks, from small fishing boats to huge merchant haulers. A sleek, black warship sat off to the side on its own, sails furled, and oars pulled in. Men were loading cargo into its hold, directed by a huge man that must have been eight feet tall.

The sun was down low on the horizon; its rays slanted directly into the covered cove and lit up the city. He imagined this was as bright as it got, which suited him just fine. The overhanging mountain gave him the security of having a roof over his head. While the city might have seemed like a gloomy, overcrowded slum to other players, to Milo, it was enchanting. Street lights were being lit, and people moving about. The buildings were tall and rickety, with scaffolding and rope bridges connecting tween them. He couldn't wait to explore.

Annoyingly, the game wanted him to look at his character sheet. He dismissed the window and started to leave the inn. As he turned, a voice spoke low in his ear, and a strong hand grabbed his arm. "Going somewhere, Milo? Did you conveniently forget that we have a bit of business to finish?"

Milo's Character Sheet:

Name: Milo/Tallsqueak

Class: Were-rat Scout

Race: Ratkin

Level: 0

Experience Points: 0

Enhancement Points: 0

Vitals:

Health: 100

Stamina: 100

Mana: 100

Stat:

STR

DEX: 2

AGI: 2

CON:

INT:

WIS:

CHA:

PER: 2

Primary Skills:

Skulk

Hide

Climbing

Dodge

Acrobatics

Small Blades

Weak Claws

Tail Fighting

Sense Danger

Secondary Skills:

Throw Sharp Things,

Fleet of Foot

Manipulate Locks and Traps

Tertiary Skills:

(None)

Gathering Skills:

Mining

Foraging

Crafting Skills:

Mechanic

Empty

Lore Skills:

(None)

Chapter 6: Rat on the Roofs

Milo caught a glimpse of the hand on his arm; it was the size of his whole head. Large scarred knuckles continued into fingers with thick and dirty nails. As he spun around, he saw that the hand matched its owner. At nearly 8 feet tall, Ralph was a mountain of muscle and scar tissue. Milo barely came up past his waist.

Fight or flight reflexes kicked in, equally worthless in this situation. Luckily, he had to do neither. "What have I told you about heading out without checking in with me? I've got a message for you." The hand fell from Milo's arm and pulled a folded piece of paper out of a pocket. He looked around before talking in a voice barely above a whisper. "Squint wants to see you. One of his Kulags dropped this off."

"Kulags?"

Ralph started ponderously moving back towards the wall of the inn and sat in a huge rocking chair. "That's right; you're new here. Grab a seat for a minute, and I'll tell you a few things that might, just might, keep you alive for a day."

Milo grabbed a three-legged stool and sat down. Ralph continued, keeping his voice low.

"The Kulags were a low-level gang of thieves and smugglers who operated out of the lower docks. Not a bad bunch of guys at all, hard-working. They did nearly as much normal trading as they did smuggling. Squint was just one of them. Not a bad shot with a bow, but none too sharp otherwise if you catch my drift."

Milo just nodded. Ralph continued, keeping his voice low. "Word is that a gang of Kulags made a raid somewhere, and it didn't go well. Squint came back after the raid, just himself. He was a bit strange, strutting around like he owned the place, and a couple of the boys decided to put him in his place. They say he just smiled at them and then moved so quickly that no one saw him slit their throats. They fell to the ground dead, and Squint was cleaning the blood off his blade. After that, when Squint said he was in charge, none of the other Kulags argued."

"Kulags did good after that. Squint found odd jobs that paid well. Difficult jobs smuggling rare artifacts out of the Empire and exploring some of the old vaults below the city. And the other gangs didn't mess with the Kulags. Some tried but quit after a couple of entire gangs just disappeared. And shit got weird." Ralph stopped his story and pulled out a worn wooden pipe, packed it with tobacco, and lit it. Milo looked on with interest. He'd never seen someone do this before. After a couple of puffs, Ralph continued.

"Some of the boys say Squint went into the dark and went deep down. He went past the last gate and to the stairs that go to the Black. No one goes that deep, and no one expected him to come back. Bad times for the Kulags as the gangs decided to take back the territory they'd lost. Poor decision on their part. Squint was back three weeks later, and he wasn't alone. He had two huge cat-things with him. If he was a terror before, he was worse now."

"Now he calls himself 'Lord of what I can see.' He took over the Lights End and made it his base. Anyone who argues gets a bad case of dead. Funny guy, though. Instead of taking over all the gangs and smuggling houses, he still just runs the Kulags."

"Anyway, story time is over. Head on back to the End. You can't miss it. Just keep going back into the darker areas and look for a big whorehouse decked out in lanterns. Hard to miss it in the dark end. And I wouldn't keep him waiting if you know what I mean. So, git!" This last statement was punctuated by a huge foot launching Milo into the air and over the railing. He managed to grab a rung of a ladder as he sailed past and flipped around, his feet finding support. He quickly climbed down to the ground level.

Ralph's laughter followed him down.

The sun was starting to set. More and more lights were being lit along the main streets while the alleys and rooftops went from shadows to darkness. Milo's sight changed slowly. Things grew sharper, but colors faded. He looked around the city. It was like someone had taken four or five cities and just put them on top of each other, connecting them with walkways and ladders. Far above, he could even see structures that started from the rocky roofs extending downward. He looked at the message. There was a crude map drawn on it. It showed the harbor, the building he'd woken up in, and then an arrow pointing deeper into the cavern. A scrawled message said, "See you soon. -Your buddy Squint… Kulag!"

This was so outside of Milo's experiences that he hesitated. Even talking to Ralph and being near people was odd. He kept telling himself it was just a game, no matter how real it felt. Still, best to not keep this person waiting. He moved to the darker side of the street and started walking further into the cavern.

The streets were a mix of stone and packed gravel. A few times, he crossed over bridges spanning chasms. The streetlights in front of the better-looking buildings seemed to be automatic. In other places, people were hanging lanterns or refilling ones atop lamp posts. The city had an uneven look to it. Older buildings were often of stone, taking up an entire city block and soaring up several stories with few windows down low. Wooden buildings surrounded them, their rotting structures leaning drunkenly against their sober stone compatriots.

The road he was following came up on a large stone bridge that arched over a substantial crack in the ground. Milo could hear the sound of rushing water. The lights on the bridge showed several people on the bridge. They weren't going anywhere, simply leaning against the stone rails, watching and talking. He decided to go around. He didn't see any other bridges, but there were walkways high up. He moved into the alley under the bridge, tossed his sandals into his pack, and started to climb up the side. His fingers and toes easily found handholds as he scrambled up six stories to the walkway across the chasm. He paused to look around his surroundings. He liked it better up here. More dimensions in which to flee.

The bridge was dark. A small lantern shed light on his end, but the center of the bridge and the other end were in shadows. He started across, the bridge swaying beneath him. He could see down to the dark water moving swiftly through the chasm. Where did the water go? Did it dig a path deeper into the earth? Or simply drain into the bay?

He was nearly across when two dark shadows moved from the deeper darkness. They crept to spots on either side of the bridge end. Another shadow moved in the area between the buildings that the bridge led to. If he had worse sight or hadn't noticed them, he would have ended up ambushed in three directions. The two nearest him were holding knives; he doubted they just wanted to talk.

Milo could go back, but would other ways be guarded as well? Probably. They'd seen his coming, probably the reason why that pitiful little lantern was there. His night vision might be much better than theirs. His stamina had recovered enough that he could change to his other form. If he was getting into a fight, he wanted a tail.

He felt more in control after the change. Fighting with just a rusty dagger, had felt suicidal. Add a tail and claws? A better chance. His plan was to attack one of them, and if the fight went badly, just run forward or retreat. Not much of a plan, but the best he had. He skulked silently forward. The attacker on that side was blocked from seeing him by the railing on that side. When he was twenty feet away, Milo jumped onto the railing, rushed forward, and then leaped for the left-side attacker.

Snakebite was surprised as hell when someone dropped on him suddenly. He'd heard Bearbait's sudden cursing and started to move forward to put his dagger into their mark's kidneys. That's how they did it. Bearbait would stand up and swing at them, the mark turned, and Snakebite got a free shot at their back. This 'run along the railing and attack without warning' shit was cheating! He swung clumsily at his victim-now-attacker as a dagger stabbed for his own side. Claws made furrows down his cheek, and something grabbed his knife hand.

You attack Snakebite. (+20% bonus to hit first round for surprise attack, +10% bonus for superior night vision.)

Rusty dagger hits for 40 damage (Rusty Dagger: 30% base +5%xDEX, Damage: 30+5xDEX=40)

Weak claws hit for 30 damage (Weak Claws: 30% base +5%xDEX, Damage: 20+5xDEX=40)

Tail Attack hits. The opponent's knife hand is entangled.

Milo found the notifications annoying! He couldn't fight with messages taking up his vision! Milo dodged the clumsy attack, and his tail wrapped around his opponent's wrist. He quickly stabbed him again, and the human collapsed to the ground.

"Shit! What the hell?!" Bearbait couldn't see well in the dark, but it was obvious they had ambushed something out of the ordinary. Bearbait preferred a machete instead of a dagger. He swung clumsily at the thing in front of him, but it stepped back over Snakebite's corpse, staying out of reach. On his next miss, the creature dove at him. A dagger buried itself in his forearm, and he dropped his weapon; something tripped him, and then the thing was on top of him, clawing and stabbing. "Roach! Dammit, Roach, I need some help here! Roach!"

Roach was smarter than he looked, and he didn't like Bearbait. He couldn't see the thing well, but it wasn't human. He decided he wanted no part of this fight. He fled the fight and sprinted across the bridge. He'd take his chances on the docks. Behind him, Bearbait's screams ceased.

Milo stood up. The second attacker wasn't moving, and the third was fleeing in the opposite direction he needed to go. He had a small cut on one arm but was otherwise unhurt. What was he supposed to do with these guys? Were they players like him? He quickly went through their pockets. He came away with three copper coins, two rusty daggers, and a machete. Bearbait also had a silver necklace in his pocket, and Snakebite had a set of lockpicks hidden in a shabby leather bracer on his forearm. Maybe from a prior victim? Milo put the necklace and extra weapons in his pack and slipped the bracer onto his left forearm. Maybe he could sell the extra daggers. It was time to get moving.

As he started to leave, he saw the bodies disappear, and two small headstones take their place. So, they had been players! Interesting. He'd never played against other people, only video games where it was him versus the game. This added a new dimension to the game.

He kept to the rooftops after the fight. It was easier than getting into more fights by traveling known routes through the dark city. After an hour, he took a break on the top of a tall roof, in an alcove by a chimney.

He needed to figure out the stupid messages. Within a minute, he found the settings he needed. The notifications would only show up as a small window in the lower part of his vision, and a twitch of his head sent them away. He did need to read them; they contained information about the rules that governed the game.

Congratulations on surviving your first fight. You have obviously stepped upon the path of glory and fame.

Or maybe you just killed two lowlifes who deserved it. You received a bonus for taking on three players of your level who had set an ambush.

You have gained 50 experience in Small Blades.

Small Blades has reached level 1. You gain +5% to hit.

You have gained 50 experience in DEX.

You have gained 50 experience in Weak Claws.

Weak Claws has reached level 1. You gain +5% to hit.

You have gained 50 experience in DEX.

You have gained 50 experience in Dodge.

Dodge has reached level 1. You gain +5% to evasion when using dodge.

You have gained 50 experience in AGI.

You have gained 50 experience in Tail Fighting.

Tail Fighting has reached level 1. You gain +5% to hit with your tail and to successfully accomplish grapples.

You have gained 50 experience in DEX.

You have gained 25 experience in Skulk.

You have gained 25 experience in WIS.

You have gained 25 experience in Acrobatics.

You have gained 25 experience in AGI.

You have gained 25 experience in Sense Danger.

You have gained 25 experience in PER.

You have gained 25 experience in Climb.

You have gained 25 experience in AGI.

DEX has reached 150 and Rank 2. You have gained +2 DEX.

AGI has reached 50 and Rank 1. You have gained + 1 AGI.

Experience earned toward level 1: 300/1000

Milo wanted to sit and figure out what all this meant, but he had an appointment to keep. Ralph had empathized not upsetting this guy. The basics were obvious to him. Do quests, kill people and gain experience. Experience raises your stats. Stats make you better. Levels make you better. Easy rules to follow. After a short rest, Milo hurried on.

He came to the end of the rooftops. The buildings just stopped. In their place was a large open area like a plaza. Buildings ringed it. All were lit up with hanging lanterns on all levels, but the biggest at the far end of the plaza was ablaze with hundreds of lights. Beyond that, the large cavern was unlit.

Climbing down to ground level, he changed back to his human form. He was thinking he really preferred the other one. He missed his tail and claws already.

Chapter 7: Light's End

Milo skulked in the shadows until he was forced to step into the lit street and make his way up to the square. There were people entering and leaving, but no one paid a bit of attention to him. While he had the unmistakable look of a new player with his rags and lack of armor, this wasn't uncommon in the area near Light's End. Any player who started in or visited Shadowport made their way down here sooner or later. Dying and losing your starting gear was a common occurrence.

He made a slow circuit around the open area's perimeter, taking in the various buildings that ringed it. One or two might have been private homes. They were sturdily built of stone and had visible guards at the doors. Most of the rest were bars or brothels. There were a couple of notable exceptions.

A massive wooden building that included a livery stable had a sign that labeled it as 'Deep Mountain Excursions and Assaying.' There was a line of people outside holding sacks or boxes, and in one case, a larger person in plate mail was pushing a wheelbarrow full of rocks.

The second strange building was extremely tall, reaching nearly to the roof. It looked like five buildings had been mashed together on top of each other, with different styles showing each time it had been expanded. The sign over the top simply said 'Guild Hall.' A smaller sign said, 'Be-have or be-dead.' Milo noted it had no line to get inside.

The center of the area was a mess of small vendors, carts, and awnings. Milo had seen something similar in the habitat. There was an open area in D Section, where floors 31 to 33 were just one big open area. People went there to barter possessions, and there was always a brisk trade in old video games and consoles. Plans identified it as a sports center that had never been built. Instead, it was a market for all the junk anyone thought might be valuable. Ancient books, clothing, tools, bottled water, and freeze-dried foods. Some things had been traded or swapped hundreds of times there. Milo had gone there only twice when looking for some specific chips only found in older computers. He'd hated it. Too many people, and he could only try to run if something went wrong. He liked escape routes in the tunnels where no one else could follow.

He edged around the outside of the market and headed to the Light's End Brothel. There was one door leading inside, which was open. Two men in leather armor stood outside. When they saw Milo approach, one nudged the other, said something, and they both laughed. "You look a bit young, kid, and a bit broke. Come back in a few years."

"I need to see Squint."

They stopped laughing. "No, you don't kid. I don't know who put you up to this stunt, but leave before you say anything else stupid." Milo wasn't sure what else to do other than hand over the note. He pulled it out of his pocket and showed it to the guard.

"Well, shit." One of the guards looked at the note and passed it to the other. " It's your funeral, kid. Follow me. I'll give you a word of advice, just agree with what he says, and if he yells "Kulag", you yell too."

He was taken into a room in the back of the first floor. Several people were there, standing around the edges of the room. One person sat on a large red pillow in the center of the floor, eating a huge bowl of noodles. Lying on either side of him were huge cat-like creatures. They had purple fur so dark it was almost black. Muscles rippled under their skin as they rose, growling. Squint was a skinny man with short brown hair and eyes just a little too bright. He slurped down the last of the noodles and grinned at Milo. "Whoa, boys, enough with the growling. This is Milo, my buddy. He's the new scout in town. We're buddies, right, Milo? I got a message you had put the Eye of Wonder back into the statue of the 7th Fate. Good job on that. No one wants the world ending early."

Milo felt like he was missing a chapter in his own story, but he took the guard's advice. "Thanks. And yeah, of course, we're buddies."

Squint smiled and looked at the cats. "See, guys. Told you so." He raised his fist in the air. "Kulag!" Everyone else did the same, including Milo. "Here's the deal, Milo. I may have some work for you soon. Work for everyone! Big things happening, just not sure when! We have to be ready. I can use a good scout. Does that sound good to you?" Milo just nodded and said, "Sure."

Squint searched around in a pile of junk next to his pillow. "Here, take this. Gives you passage across the bridge. I'll send a note when I need you. Maybe grow a bit bigger if you can. Stuff is mean here in Shadowport. Good talking to you, Milo." He tossed Milo a gambling chip that had a large 'k' carved into it. Milo pocketed it. Squint started eating a second bowl of noodles. The guard motioned for Milo to follow him. They went back out the front door.

The was visibly relieved to out from under the eye of his boss. "You got lucky, kid. Sometimes he gives the new guys missions down in the caves. We never see most of them again."

"Yeah, lucky, so what am I supposed to do now?"

The guards laughed. "Am I your mother, kid? How would I know? But here's some advice: Head over to the guild, see what jobs they have. Earn some coin and get some better gear. Because if Squint does have a job for you, you better take it. And he never hands out easy ones."

Milo turned away and wandered to the Guild building. Might as well get started and see what jobs they had. He was still confused about what was going on. What the hell was the 'Eye of Wonder' and what did it have to do with him?

Chapter 8: The Basement

Milo entered the Guild Hall and stared around. The center of the building was open all the way to the roof, with a dizzying series of stairs and open walkways at each level leading to rooms around the perimeter. There were stairs down as well, and looking over a railing, he saw they spiraled around the perimeter, going down several stories into the ground. There were tables pushed up against the railings, where people in all sorts of garb and armor sat around drinking, arguing, and gambling. It was a little disorienting. The architecture didn't bother him, but the number of people bothered him, even knowing they weren't real. Or were they? He knew some were players in the game, but it was hard to tell them from the NPCs.

He realized someone was talking to him. "Yo! New Guy! Ears open and get over here." He turned and saw a halfling with huge hairy feet standing on a stool and yelling at him. "You got a problem? I think you have a problem! I see you standing in my guild hall, and you aren't a member. I don't like you already. Impressive. It usually takes me a whole minute to get sick of you people. Get your ass over here and get your paperwork filled out."

Milo went over to the shouty little man at the desk and tried to smile. "Hi, I'm Milo. Squint said to come over."

The halfling put both hands on his cheeks in surprise. "Oh, Squint sent you! Gee, Willy Gosh! That makes you special...shit, what am I doing...you look like the kind of idiot that will take me seriously. Sorry kid, you aren't special. Just another new fish that owes me his dues. Pay up, and then you can go check out the job board. For someone of your esteemed level, it's the worldly sum of 1 copper penny. You got a penny left, kid, or did you spend it on the 'entertainment' along the way?"

Milo pulled a penny out of his pouch and handed it to the halfling. He signed the paper the halfling pushed over to him and accepted a badge made out of tin with his number on it. "There you go, kid. You are now a probationary member of the Shadowport Explorers Guild. Don't let it go to your head. I suggest you get a piece of string and tie that around your neck. That's your guild number. Most of you guys can't remember otherwise. Don't worry if you lose it; it shows up on your next tombstone. Helps you find where you died in big battles."

Milo looked around the room, holding the badge. "There's a job board? What kind of jobs? Fixing things?"

The halfling sat down on his stool and leaned back against the wall. "Holy crap. You really are new, aren't you? How many days in the game, kid?"

"Well, not counting the tutorial, this is my first."

The halfling raised an eyebrow and whistled. "First day, and you made it alive to Light's End, and Squint got his hooks into you? Not bad, kid. Real social climber. By the way, I hate social climbers." He was silent a moment. "But you did pay your penny with no argument, so I'll clue you in a bit. What we have here is a madhouse of player guilds, trade guilds, expeditions, and merchants. You can tell who's who by the brass plaques on the doors. Feel free to wander around up top. Down low too, but people have less patience down there. Mostly dwarves, and they get really grumpy at times. There are job boards over there. Take the ticket, head to the person offering the job, make a deal, and get to work."

"Ok, I see more clueless people walking in. Off with you, kid, and good luck. Don't let the big folk stomp you, if you know what I mean."

Milo turned to leave, walking past three new players, excited to finally make it to the Guild Hall. He heard the halfling yelling. "Yo! You three idiots honking like a gaggle of geese. Get your butts over here."

Milo walked to the job board and started looking through the cards pinned to the board.

'Crew needed for expedition. Must be at least level 3, know how to swim, and be willing to be away from home for a few months. Immunity to charm spells and sign language skills helpful. See Captain Lars.'

'Slaughtering crew needed to cull the land squid population. Cooking or Sushi preparation gets you a bonus. See Otis in the cook's guild.'

Captain Pike, the famous monster hunter, has a need of six strong people that know which end of a harpoon goes in the Kraken. A fair share of the loot and a double share of the work is yours if you sign onto his crew for a Kraken hunt.

Many of the jobs had level recommendations or requirements for gear and skills he didn't have. He found one down low on the board that seemed to have been there awhile. The paper was stained and curled.

'Looking for brave young adventurers to venture into the caverns to procure rare mushrooms. Payment is based on performance! Set your own hours! Report to Harold Earthtongue in the basement, below the lower mines, for details. Gathering and Foraging skills needed! Bring a light or have good eyes.'

He took the card and returned to the helpful halfling, who was answering the many questions that the three adventurers were throwing at him.

"No, I don't know about any 'sweet spots to gain a level quick,' and if you knew what that meant to a halfling, you never say that in public."

"Cash advance? Do I look like a gnomish banker? No! Do the job, then get paid."

"That was a joke; the gnomes don't loan money to people like you. Or people like me. Hell, or to anyone."

"High pay and high risk? Sure! There's a ticket from the Imperial Menagerie asking for a dragon egg. Take some fire resistance with you; they get hot."

"How many stupid questions will I answer? Let's say you just ran out. Beat it."

Milo walked up and placed a copper piece on the counter. "What is the best way to get to this place?" The halfling had a moment of surprise, then the coin disappeared, and he smiled. "Sure, kid, you restored my faith in humanity. Not that I had much faith in humans, to begin with. I'm Bernard, by the way."

"You need to go pretty deep to find old Harry. Two ways to do it. The Assay office is right above the mines and ore processors. You can go over there and take the lift down to the mines. Of course, they'll try to charge you for that and take your money. Or, you can take the stairs in the lovely building all the way down. Ask one of the grumpy guys for directions if you get lost. Just keep going down until you get to the mines. From there, go to your right a few hundred feet and look for a tunnel slanting down. Should have a sign on it that says 'Shrooms'. Harry is at the bottom of those caves. Take a lunch; it's quite a climb." Milo memorized the directions as he said them. This was getting interesting; the mines must be nearly as big as a section of the habitat.

The stairs led down to a lower level. There were several doors, with plaques proclaiming them to be the offices of different businesses. More stairs went down a second level. An old dwarf who was darning socks pointed to a way to levels further down. Instead of stairs, it was just a ladder that went down into the darkness. Milo was thankful for his night vision. He descended down the shaft, hearing noises coming from below. After nearly 300 feet of ladder, his arms and legs aching, he dropped into a small room that was adjacent to a large mineshaft. Several horizontal shafts all terminated in a large room several acres in size. Stone pillars held up the roof some 20' above the heads of the people working there.

Three dwarves were drinking ale, using a crate for a table. One of them looked up. "You're too scrawny for the mines. Get lost. Don't need weaklings down here, especially humans who can't see the rock they're hitting."

Milo ignored the comment. "I'm looking for Harold Earthtongue for a job. It's in the basement here somewhere."

All three dwarves laughed. "Oh, shit. This is rich. Harry found another sucker. This isn't the basement kid. This is the top of the mine. Take that tunnel to the right if you want to go hunt fungus." He was at least helpful in pointing out the tunnel.

Milo saw immediately that this wasn't a mine tunnel, more like a series of cave tubes that slanted down, with ladders here and there to help with the descent. It took another two hours to get to the bottom. It would take more to get back up. As he traveled down the last stretch of the cave, he came to an open area partially lit by fluorescent mushrooms growing everywhere. This large cavern was filled with large, low wooden boxes from which foul odors came. Milo looked over the rim of one and saw it was filled with greenish-looking mushrooms the size of dinner plates. Some of them quivered a bit.

"Stay away from those! They're nearly ready to harvest, and the spores can do terrible things to your lungs!"

Milo moved three steps back and turned to see who was yelling. A squat, fat person was shambling towards him. Unwashed masses of hair were sprouting from the top of his head and his chin. Not much beyond a bulbous red nose was visible, his eyes covered by goggles, and a cloth mask was pulled over his mouth. Layer upon layer of dirty clothing covered his body. Milo had thought the mushroom farms smelled bad. This person was far worse.

"Um...I may have the wrong place?" ...please let it be the wrong place! "I was coming about a job. Milo held up the card.

"Oh, frabjous day! An apprentice! It's been so long since I lost the last one! Come right this way, lad."

Shrooms in the Dark

Dr. Harold Earthtongue has offered you a quest: Harvest 20 pounds of wild Black Bristle cap Mushrooms.

Reward: Better favor with Harry Earthtongue. Honest wages for an honest day's work. A boring lecture on mycology.

Accept his generous offer? Y/N

Milo accepted the offer.

Chapter 9: Shroom gathering

What the miners further up referred to as 'The Basement' was a huge section of natural caverns and tunnels where Harry (As he insisted Milo refer to him.) had set up a laboratory and a large mushroom farming operation. It was damp, dark, and smelled like shit. Perfect for mushrooms, but Milo understood why Harry had trouble finding people to apply for his gathering jobs.

And he had his doubts that Harry ever went up to the city. The trip would be difficult for someone of his girth. He wheezed as he walked on flat ground. Somehow, he survived down here. Milo was sure he didn't want to know the details.

This job was at least fairly straightforward: Go to this area in the nearby tunnels, find patches of Black Bristle caps, and fill up a sack. He at least knew what they looked like now. Harry had insisted on a quick tour of the area that consisted of a large number of mushroom-filled side tunnels, the main cavern with a hundred different tiny mushroom farms, and then his laboratory.

The lab was a chaotic area of tables filled with beakers, retorts, mortars and pestles, strange-looking apparatus, and books. So many books! Most were huge things nearly half a foot thick with faded writing on the front or spine and yellowed and curling pages. Damp and books go together poorly. Milo had never seen so many books!

One such tome lay open on a table. It proved to be an encyclopedia of different mushroom types, complete with colored pictures. This made it easy for Harry to show him what he needed to find. "About 4" high when mature, and the top will be colored black and have prickles like the husk of a chestnut. If they scream when you cut the stalks, you have the wrong ones and should probably run."

Milo was given a crude map, a gathering bag, a small trowel, and a bottle of milky white liquid. "If you think you may have been poisoned, this will take the edge off. It's a wonderful little concoction I make myself." He was also offered a small lantern, which he left in his pack. The lichen on the walls gave off enough light for him to easily see his way. Carrying a light would just make sure anything else down here saw him coming.

He immediately saw why Harry needed an assistant down here. The tunnels got much smaller as soon as he left Harry's area, with many twists and turns. Milo paused after he entered them and shifted to his more comfortable ratkin form. Claws and a tail made for easier climbing.

This was like his early days in the habitat, exploring the small tunnels and ventilation shafts. Everything had been new and interesting. It had taken him years to explore all of it, and truthfully, he missed it. Boredom was painful for Milo. It bothered him if he wasn't doing something or discovering something. It was what drove him to fix the machinery that kept Section E running. Things were slowly getting worse, but the challenge gave him an outlet for the anxiety that crept in if he sat still too long. It was a curse bred into him by whoever had created him. But now he had another world to explore.

According to Harry, the tunnel he was in should come out into a larger area soon. He was disappointed to see it had been nearly blocked by a cave-in. There was still a small crawlspace he could slither through. The blockage was only about ten feet deep. As he got to the other side, he saw he wasn't the only one there.

A withered body leaned against the stones, one leg pinned under a fallen boulder. Harry had mentioned that several of his 'new apprentices' had run off on him. This one had met a worse fate. The body was not much more than scraps of leather clothing and bones. Well-gnawed bones. A glint of something shiny showed him a metal guild tag hidden in the ribcage, fallen from a cord around the neck that had decayed. Milo grabbed it to take it back to the guild. He compared it to his own and noticed something odd; the date he had joined the guild was nine years ago. This wasn't a player.

Milo carefully searched around. A rotted leather pouch proved to have six copper pieces in it, and he found a small rock hammer that was in decent shape. The hammer was laying just out of reach of the unlucky person who had needed it to free himself. The head was a bit rusty but still solid. Not so the pitted dagger the corpse held in one hand. The blade snapped as he picked it up. The body was a good reminder to be cautious. One rolling stone could trap you forever.

Moving cautiously along the small tunnel, Milo finally came to the larger cavern. It was a natural domed area some hundred feet across. It was filled with mushrooms. There were several types in a confusing mixture. Tall pointy mushrooms with red spots loomed over clusters of brownish shrooms that grew in clumps. Large ones with glowing green caps over a foot across grew singly in many areas. He saw patches of the black spiky ones Harry wanted and got to work. Harry hadn't cared if he dug them up or cut them low to the ground. Either method left parts that would regrow.

Milo decided to dig them up. They came up easily, and he got into the rhythm of uprooting them and tossing them into his bag. He was almost done when he met more resistance than expected as he uprooted a sort of black shroom and noticed its not-so-spiky cap. The mushroom came out of the ground and proved to have arms and legs, one of which had been crushed by the trowel. Small eyes opened, and a small mouth started screaming. Startled, he dropped it on the ground and stomped on it. The screaming stopped.

Wow, what a start to a magnificent monster-hunting career! Couldn't you have picked on anything smaller, you big bully?

You have slain Immature Myconid Stemling. You have earned one experience point.

Milo remembered Harry's warning about screaming things, but too late. A large glowing, green-capped mushroom was vibrating and shaking, and then a larger mushroom man heaved itself out off the ground. The body was a long stem that split into stumpy legs and arms with large, hard-looking fists. Its angry face sported a long root-like beard. The green cap made it look like it was wearing a huge hat.

Milo remembered the next part of Harry's advice: Run!

He grabbed his bag and headed back towards the tunnel with its unlucky occupant. The angry mushroom man gave chase. Milo got to the tunnel and realized a flaw in his plan to flee. The narrow tunnel would be slow going. Leaving his legs exposed to the green-capped adversary. How tough was this guy? Milo decided to fight. He drew one of his daggers and threw it at the mushroom man. The knife hit the top part of the cap and went straight in. If it hurt the thing, it hadn't noticed.

Dodging a fist, he rolled to the side and grabbed the machete. This would be better. He brought the blade down on one of its shoulders, and to his surprise, the blade cut straight through, lopping off an arm. The other arm hit him in the stomach, doubling him over. Milo decided to just keep going down and went into a painful shoulder roll.

Coming up, he took the machete in both hands and swung hard horizontally. The blade hit where a neck should be, and he lopped off the entire top of the myconid. The fight was over.

At least you picked on something closer to your own size!

Congratulations on a victorious battle. You have slain a Mature Guard Myconid.

You have earned ten experience each in Small Blades, Dodge, DEX, and AGI.

Those weren't really so bad. Milo had only taken 10 points of damage from the punch, and the creature was actually pretty easy to dodge. He decided to clear the tunnel to give him an escape route and then go back and try again.

As he was clearing rocks, he noticed something shiny on one of them. Taking a better look, it seemed to be a small bit of ore. He used the rock hammer to break the rock around the ore until a walnut-sized chunk of shiny stuff came loose. He tossed it in his pack to see what it was later. After a careful half hour, he had a much larger escape tunnel dug.

This time he paid more attention to the mushrooms he was digging and the placement of the larger ones that he knew now to be guards. When the bag was full, he ran back and put it and his pack on the other side of the cave-in and went back to the mushroom field with his machete. Instead of picking one of the immature myconids, he tossed a rock at a mature ones', hitting its cap. It came out of the ground like the first, angry and charging.

Milo danced around the slower-moving creature, easily dodging its blows. With three slashes, he disarmed and killed it, getting another experience announcement. He could do this all day! And after they were all cleared, he could easily harvest all the mushrooms Harry needed without distractions.

An hour later, he had killed over a dozen of the myconids and only saw one left on this side of the cavern. He sauntered over to it and tossed a rock at it. Nothing happened. Looking closer, he noticed this myconid had a larger cap that was a darker green. He tossed a second rock, and it put a dent in the cap, exposing the pale flesh underneath. But that had been enough to anger the creature; the cap started vibrating, and something heaved itself out of the dirt. And heaved. And heaved. And heaved!

The creature that came out of the ground was shaped like the others, but was gigantic, nearly 10 feet tall, with a body that looked brown and gnarled. A long green beard stretched from its face to its stumpy feet. A massive dark green cap over 8 feet across covered its head that hadn't been visible to Milo. Smaller mushrooms grew from the top of the large-cap. Milo had been tossing rocks at one of those. The creature roared at him.

You have angered Cronk, Guardian of the Cave! He vows revenge upon the meat thing that disrupted his spore mates. You will make amends by fertilizing their regrowth.

Maybe Harry hadn't been warning him about the little ones! Milo ran, and Cronk was right behind him, taking ten-foot strides. Before Milo could get to the smaller cave, Cronk brought one of his huge feet up and stomped heavily on the ground. Rocks fell in the small cave, blocking Milo's retreat.

Milo had a sudden suspicion of how the other rockslide had happened.

Chapter 10: Cheating with Physics

Cronk started to move toward Milo. Milo was calculating his chances. Time slowed for him as he thought, trying to calculate the creature's mass and speed and weigh his options. He had the answer immediately

Assuming Cronk had the same density as normal mushrooms, the cap on his head was at least 600 pounds. Cronk had to weigh more than a ton, and with how tough he looked, maybe two. A punch or kick from him would probably kill Milo outright or break enough bones he'd wish he was dead. His danger sense was screaming at him, telling him to run fast. Too bad his carefully planned escape route was closed off. Stupid of him to only have one way to flee.

Through the use of your skill: Danger Sense, and logical thinking, you have assessed a foe and your chances of winning a battle against him.

You have an open tertiary slot. Would you like to gain the skill:Identify? This will give you basic information on foes near your level and the threat level of foes above you. Also useful in determining the nature of objects and crafting materials. Y/N?

Yes! Useful skill; how bad was he outclassed?

Cronk, Guardian of the Cave! Elite level 4 Boss

A large myconian guardian. 8' tall, one ton+ weight. Seismic stomp attack.

You have less than a .01% chance of defeating this foe in a straight-up fight.

Option 1: Stay in a small area to be dug out or buried alive.

Option 2: Trade punches and die on the first punch.

Option 3: Play 'dodge tank,' never get hit, and whittle him down bit by bit.

Option 4: Yell "The better part of Valor!" and run.

Option 4 was the least likely to get him killed. Milo didn't think too hard about the first three. He ran straight at Cronk and dived between his legs. Cronk's fist missed him by a foot, but he felt the impact as he rolled forward and sprinted for the other end of the cavern.

Not caring where he stepped stemlings as he ran. Their piercing screams filled the cavern, and several of the smaller guardians popped up and joined the chase. He quickly ran out of cavern to flee through, and the mob behind him got larger with each crushed stemling. But on the left was an opening to another cavern, and he didn't hesitate head that way. Down a small incline, the tunnel opened up into a much larger cavern dominated by a gigantic mushroom, several stories high, that grew nearly to the roof. Large vines grew up and around its stalk, opening into yellow flowers. All around the gargantuan fungus was a dense bed of mushrooms of mixed varieties.

Cronk was in pursuit, his thunderous steps shaking the ground. Milo decided to stay far away from the big mushroom and hug the right-hand wall. More stemlings were crushed, and more guardians made chase. Milo had a dozen of them behind him now like a small parade. Cronk was at the rear, but the slope down to the bigger cavern gave him some extra speed.

Milo saw an outcropping on the wall! A ledge three feet high jutted out from the wall. Worked stone and timbers showed an opening that looked like a mineshaft. A quick look showed a tunnel running away into the darkness. Milo took a chance and ran in. It offered a higher probability of escape than a cavern full of more mushrooms to chase him. He lost some of his parade; the smaller guardians couldn't navigate the ledge. Their stubby legs didn't jump well. Cronk barely slowed. He plowed into the doorway, knocking out a support beam and shrugging off the small rocks that hit his shoulder. And then the chase was on down the long straight corridor.

Milo passed smaller side tunnels, but they were boarded up. He couldn't afford to stop and pry the boards loose with Cronk right behind him. He kept running. After nearly 200 feet, the tunnel ended in a vertical shaft. Up was the only direction he could go. Milo leaped and grabbed a crossbeam, pulled himself up, and kept climbing. If this led to a cross tunnel, he was safe! No way Cronk could climb this.

Cronk tried anyway. He was a very determined guardian. After tearing down several chunks of wood and some stone, he stopped trying to climb and stomped the ground. Dirt and stone rattled down, and Milo was nearly dislodged off the wall, hanging by just one of his clawed hands. He worried that the idiot mushroom was going to bring the cavern down on both of them! Milo kept climbing, looking for an escape route.

He was five stories up when he ran out of mineshaft. The vertical shaft ended at a horizontal tunnel with nowhere to go. On one side was a twenty-foot by twenty-foot room with a large rusting machine. It was in a state of disassembly; its parts scattered all over the room. On the other side was a 40-foot-long tunnel ending in a very solid-looking cave-in. It would take a long time to clear those huge rocks, and he didn't have the tools for that job. This passage had tracks going down the center and a rusted minecart loaded with rocks.

Below, Cronk began stomping rhythmically on the ground, raining dust and small rocks each time. Sooner or later, he would either be crushed or trapped. He needed to do something.

Milo immediately got the idea of pushing the loaded cart down onto Cronk. This proved difficult; the wheels were rusty, and the cart heavy. It would take more than a small wererat with 0 STR to shift it. Well, if not the cart, what about one rock at a time? He hefted a large rock, probably about 20 pounds, and dropped it. It hit Cronk on the head, making a dent and bouncing off. The enraged myconian stomped hard, dislodging dust and loose rock, and nearly tumbled Milo into the shaft. Milo doubted he could kill the monster shroom even with 100 rocks, and the mine wasn't going to take a lot more before it collapsed and killed him.

He started cataloging the machinery on the other side. It soon became apparent that it was some type of mechanical hoist used for lifting entire minecarts up the shaft. The cart on the other side had a heavy brace across its mid-point where a hook on the end of a cable could be secured. Sure enough, in the back area, underneath an ancient, rotting tarp, were hundreds of feet of cable. Each cable was made of many strands of fine wire. Milo had no idea what the metal was. The 1" cables were as easy to bend as normal rope but had to be much stronger.

There were also a number of pulleys and double pulleys that looked like they had been put together to raise things up while the mechanical engine was being repaired. Try as he might, he couldn't figure out what powered it, and he had no idea how to repair it. Some of the linkages looked like real-world mechanics, but a lot of things appeared to be some sort of magical engineering system. He wanted to know more.

But first, he had to deal with an overgrown fungus. He went back to the first plan of dropping a cart of rocks on it. Over the next two hours, he repaired and set up the pulley system so that he would be able to drag the cart back to the edge of the shaft. Then he'd need to hook it up to the overhead system, lift it up off the tracks, and drag it into position. Cronk seemed to have settled down to a half-hearted stomp every half-hour or so.

One of the problems he ran into was the length of the cables. He didn't need several hundred feet, but he had no way to cut them. The best he could do was coil up all the unused length into a large pile. When he finally had the system set up, he got to work. Instead of trying to move the cart 40 feet with one Milo-power, he would use the pulleys to do the equivalent work of moving 640 feet of rope with 16 Milo-power. Each heave-ho on the cable moved the cart barely an inch, but the important thing was that it moved.

The cart was about two feet from the edge when Cronk once again got bored and let loose with a series of seismic stomps on the ground. Milo's exertions and Cronk's stomps had slowly loosened a certain rock near the edge. Milo was pushing against the rock for leverage when Cronk sent a small shockwave up. The combination was enough to send the rock down into the shaft and Milo onto his back. The 50-pound rock hit Cronk on his cap and sunk in deep, doing some damage. Enraged, the monster stomped again, looking up at the violator of the cave. He added another couple of stomps for emphasis.

Several things happened, starting with the whole shaft groaning ominously. Next, the large coil of cable started to slide toward the edge. Milo had just staggered up and tried to stop the cable by stepping on it. This just ensured that his foot was in a loop of cable as it went over the side, jerking him off his feet and dragging Milo along with it. Milo found himself hanging by one foot about halfway down the shaft.

The angry mushroom man looked up at Milo, and their eyes met. Cronk smiled as he went to grab the cable. Milo just managed to get his foot out of the loop before the line went taunt, and Cronk heaved. Milo held on for dear life as Cronk jerked and pulled on the rope, trying to dislodge him. Milo didn't like this at all, and when he got the chance, he leaped to the side of the shaft when a large boulder offered a decent handhold. Looking down at Cronk, he saw the myconid guardian was no longer pulling on the cable. It had gone slack. He knew what that meant, and it was bad!

Cronk had managed to pull the ore cart to the edge and then pull it in. The cable fell and pooled in loops around Cronk's legs as a couple of tons of steel cart and rock sped towards him. Milo hugged the side of the shaft and felt the ore car just miss him. He wasn't in the clear, though; the rock he was on shifted a foot, nearly coming loose from the wall, and pitched him into the shaft.

From below, he heard a huge bellow of pain and the strange sound of something heavy hitting a much softer material, somewhere between a 'splat' and a 'sploosh.' A large mass of smushed shroom parts spattered against him in mid-air, and a second later, he landed feet first on something soft and spongey that didn't quite break his fall. The air was full of mushroom spores, and he was splattered in the gooey remains of the Cave Guardian. He staggered a bit away from the impact site and started cleaning himself off. While Cronk had looked gnarled and dry on the outside, his insides were wet and yucky. Milo found out the hard way how tough it was to keep his fur clean.

Congratulations! You have singlehandedly slain Cronk, Guardian of the Cave, by cheating with physics!

For slaying Cronk, Guardian of the Cave, a level 4 Elite boss. The normal reward of 10 Core Skill Points is increased to 20 since you accomplished this without the help of a group.

You have earned 500 Boss experience. Boss experience may be divided as you wish between the skills used to kill the creature. An equal number of experience will be awarded to the stat associated with the skills chosen.

Skills used: Mechanic, Fleet of Foot, Acrobatics, Climbing, Trap-Making. (I'll give you the crafting skill: Trap-Making for free, you earned it.)

The following Enhancement skill lists are available to you: Generic, Scout, and Racial.

The Myconid Collective has taken notice of your actions. Your status has been updated from annoying to minor threat.

The little myconians had given him ten experience each. Five hundred was a lot, although he was limited to where he could put it. And bonus points? He checked, and he had a new tab labeled 'Enhancement.' But this wasn't the time to sit and do research.

Just to be on the safe side, Milo downed half the tonic Harry had given him. He was a bit light-headed after that fight and had inhaled a lot of spores. He searched the area where Cronk and the ore car had met up. Rocks and ore were scattered everywhere, but some of it was still in the cart. Three large fist-sized chunks caught his eye. One was steel colored and looked to be solid metal; the other two were ruddy red-gold. He used his new skill to find out that they were chunks of Dark Iron ore and Deep Copper ore. There was also a mining pick that had been covered by the ore that looked to be in good shape. The pick would come in handy, the ore he tossed into his backpack.

While gathering some of the ore, he found a strange ball of vegetable matter. It was hard, heavy, and shiny. It was identified as "Earthen Heartshroom." Such a handy new skill! That also went into his pack. After all of that, he was too tired to continue. It was time to log out and see what was going on in Section E. He could also look at the forums to see what some of these things were. Getting back to Harry could wait for a bit. The last guy was nine years late, and Milo doubted another day would matter.

Chapter 11: Real World Problems

Chapter 11: Real-World Problems

Logging out did not go smoothly for Milo. He had expected to immediately leave the game and wake up in his pod. Instead, he was back in the tutorial again, in the room where he had selected his character. The old man who had been tutoring him was standing patiently in front of him.

"Welcome, traveler. Our apologies for the inconvenience, but there are some irregularities that are interfering with your log-out process. Perhaps we can have some polite conversation while we wait for the problem to be fixed?"

Milo couldn't bring up any options and couldn't log out. This was annoying, he was wasting time, and he had things to do. He should have been running a check on the wastewater pipes going to the recycling unit today and then going up to the level below the roof to check a connection to a solar power array that looked like it was on its last legs.

"Oh, no worries. I'll handle it on my end." His tail was connected to both the pod and his normal systems. He simply shut down the connection to the game from there, opened the pod, and got out. Time to get to work on a few things.

"HOW THE HELL DID HE DO THAT!?" Sidney was banging her fist on the table and frantically running scans for the player she had just lost, but he was out of the game. Samantha sighed and took off the VR helmet she had used to play the part of the tutor, Galet

Sidney was incredibly annoyed. They had just lost the player they needed to talk to.

The player who absolutely should not have been able to log out of the game on their own.

"Somehow, while in character creation, he bypassed the normal system and selected something that wasn't on the normal menu. Samantha was in the role of his tutor then, with Wally looking on from outside."

Dr. Steven Duran, her boss, was looking over Sidney's shoulders. "Wally said he was slippery."

Sidney sat back in her chair, folded her arms, and glared at the screen. "And then he dumped the problem to us poor flesh and blood people. Why didn't the big-bad super computer solve his own problems."

Steven got two cups of coffee, dumped four spoonfuls of sugar into one, and sat that one in front of Sidney. She grabbed it and drank down most of it immediately. Steven slowly sipped his black coffee, wondering again when Sidney would finally spontaneously combust from an overload of caffeine and calories.

"Because of the rules."

Sidney pouted, upset at being outsmarted by the player. "I hate those rules. If you have a super-smart AI with the resources of a massive quantum computer, why not let him do everything? He built the game; why does he have to stay 'Hands off.'"

"He created the game and generated the world, but he can't micromanage it. For us, it was a week, but Genesis evolved for the equivalent of half a billion years before he slowed down the time dilation. Players are a very recent addition to the world. The Engine and The System are running things now. We mere humans can suggest quests, storylines, and special events to the System, but the Engine is what runs the show. Wally watched it all evolve and guided it a bit with suggestions, but he doesn't want to play God in the world, and the corporations want limits on him in the game. So, we have human admins, aided by some very smart sub-intelligences in the game that are set up to monitor everything."

"Wally is working to shut down the illegal connections from outside. We have to try and catch up to this player, or others, in the game and see if we can make them talk or cut a deal. And I'm not surprised this one is slippery once you learn about him. He's a unique case and probably the mastermind behind the whole operation."

Sidney finished her coffee, even the slurry of sugar at the bottom. "What is special about him?"

Steven transferred files to her. "Welcome to a higher security clearance. Wally just approved you, and it comes with a 10% raise. We only know about this person from the medical records the pod is sending over. Tell me what you think."

Sidney scanned the records, then looked at them again, then a third time. "Oh my god...that is not normal. I don't have the medical expertise to really judge, but this guy is like something out of a bad movie. Those ports are directly fused to his spine; they removed a lot of bone to do it. Who the hell does that to himself?"

"No one. That work was most likely done before he was born, with more operations taking place several times in his first year. His nervous system was also subjected to a process that replaced most of it with some interesting biotech. If it was done when he was older, he'd be crippled or dead. His growth rate has been slowed, and many of his biological processes are not normal. We aren't sure of what he can do, and we don't know how it was done."

"Sounds like you're familiar with this. You've seen it before?"

Steven had a momentary bit of anger show on his face before he controlled it. "I read the reports but didn't see the bodies myself. Nearly thirty years ago, there were raids on three illegal biotech operations doing similar alterations to children. All of them died within the first year. There were records of a 4th group of 25 children that another research group had succeeded with. The unknown client paid off the labs and took the children. The labs weren't discovered until months after that."

"When the authorities raided them, they found dozens of the 'failures' preserved for study. They planned on continuing after they acquired more newborns. Life in the habitats is hard. Someone offers to pay you a lot of money for a crippled child, and some will take it. Some of the children were actually gestated in the labs, in artificial wombs. They think that's why the fourth batch lived past birth."

Sidney sat back, stunned. "Wow, what assholes. So, what was their big plan?"

Steven shrugged. "The lab was just making money and trying to perfect the process. The unknown client took all the data on batch #4. This player, Milo, is the first lead to what in over two decades. Also, the only clue we have to how thousands of people are logging into Genesis and bypassing our systems. We have to find out how. Genesis is just a game now, but over time it will become a hub for financial transactions and commerce. We can't have leaks like this. It's thousands of dollars now, millions next week, and billions next year."

"Right, so time for me to get back to work. I think I know how he got away this time."

"Oh, how?" Steven liked to dump jobs on Sidney. She got frustrated and then started solving the problem.

"He has three ports he can use to directly hook into systems. Look at the medical scans; all three are active. He's got connections to two prostheses. One of those can plug into the medical pod itself in seconds. I bet he was crafty enough to have extra controls. He doesn't care that we blocked him from logging out; he just did it himself."

Steven smiled. "Good. Very good. So now what do you think you can do? You have a chance every time he logs in and out to try and get his attention. Once he slides past, we can't track him in the game. Wally has some idea about matching log-in times to the time players enter the world. Difficult with tens of millions of players. He needs to build some new tools."

Sidney grimaced. "Working on that part. Make yourself useful and make another pot of coffee."

Unaware of the commotion he was causing, Milo was hard at work. Out of the game and sitting in his home, surrounded by screens that showed him different machinery, Milo was making sure the habitat functioned. Work went well for the most part. Milo was running into his usual problem of not having enough parts. There was only so much he could acquire by raiding from the dead sections. He really needed over a mile of new communication cable, four new air recycling systems, and numerous other machines and parts. He wondered again about the money Kaminski was earning in the game. Time to check-in.

Kaminski had been busy. He had 125 of the older pods up and running now. Milo got a batch of food cubes and started eating while watching what was going on. The food cubes tasted bad. Not spoiled-bad, just normal-bad. He'd eaten some bread from his pack in the game and had a meal with Harry. The taste had been so much better than what he was chewing now.

As he was watching, a pod in Kaminski's area started flashing. The man inside was helped out but couldn't walk. He was placed on a gurney and taken to a makeshift infirmary. Several other people were in the same dingy room. Another person was led over to the pod and installed to take the sick man's place. Something wasn't right. Milo set up several monitors to show him the entire operation and watched it at four times the normal speed while doing his work on Section E.

One more person was wheeled in on a gurney from a flashing pod. Milo looked closer at the condition of the people in the pods. Most of them looked to be in advanced stages of malnutrition or had some neurological disorder. Those weren't healthy people in those pods, and they were getting worse.

He needed to do research on what Kaminski was doing. What was happening to these people?

It didn't take much digging. The lawsuits about the damage many of the early pod designs had done to millions of people were easy to find. It had taken decades to prove and get the pods taken out of use. Every year, more people who had used those pods developed disorders in their nervous system. Using the old pods was bad. Using them for days at a time was risking your life. The pods Kaminski was using were going to end up killing people. Looking closely at the early model pods, Milo could see they'd been in use for a long time, showing signs of neglect and hasty repairs.

This situation was way outside of Milo's experience. He had hidden all of his life. The thought of people being hurt bothered him. But the thought of having the authorities searching all over his section terrified him more. He set up his system to start recording everything that Kaminski was doing. In a few hours, most of the techs would leave, and just the guards and one tech would be in the rooms all night. He made plans for an excursion down to their level.

Until then, he'd go see where some of those old tunnels went and find a way back to Harry.

Chapter 12: Leveling Up

Milo smelled something when he logged into the game. Something delicious. Something he really needed to find right now! He turned around to where his tutor, Galet, was sitting at a table having breakfast with a very small person with curly golden hair.

Milo stared at the table full of food, trying to figure out what smelled so good. He mostly ate the food cubes from the processor or, when he could get it, freeze-dried meals. But those required trading for them at the swap meets. He didn't like going to those unless he had to.

"Come and sit, young Milo. I have a friend with me today; this is Sidney, a halfling from the golden vale."

Sidney pointed at the food. "Dig in. We've got plenty for the three of us; Galet made extra. Pancakes, eggs, bacon, and more bacon."

Milo sat down. "Is this another part of the tutorial? It does smell very good. Food in the game is so much better than...than where I live." He was putting a little of everything on his plate, tracking the smell. Was it the bacon? No, that smelled salty-tasty, but not what he was looking for. He finally found the source of the smell in a small pot. He spooned some of the yellow stuff onto his plate.

Sidney frowned. "That's uh…, that's cheese sauce; it goes well when you put down an English muffin first, then the ham, then the sauce. Want to try it?"

Milo was scooping up the cheese sauce with bacon. "No, this is fine. Really good. So much better than food cubes." He kept pausing to smell the cheese sauce. He would have to try to find this in the game. Maybe Harry knew where to get it.

"Is that what you normally eat? Food cubes?" Sidney asked him.

"Doesn't everyone? I mean, food cubes are free." Milo got more bacon, this time pouring the cheese sauce on top.

Sidney nodded. "Oh, yep, free is good. Food cubes are free...so they're good. So, how are you liking the game?"

Milo quit eating. There was no more cheese sauce. "I like it. It's nice and dark, and you can climb everywhere. I found lots of places where there aren't any people. And it's dangerous, which makes it more fun."

Sydney was determined to keep him talking. He didn't seem nervous at all, just preoccupied with the food. "What was the most fun?"

He thought for a moment. "Probably my fight with a big mushroom. It took a long time to get rid of him. He gave me 20 Bonus Points and 500 Boss experience. Much better than killing all the little stuff, and now I can buy some enhancement skills. Thanks for breakfast; I need to get to work; lots to do in the game." He disappeared as he entered the game, leaving Sidney without an answer to her next question.

"Wait, you killed a boss?! How?"

Taking off her helmet, she stormed into her boss's office. "Dammit, Steven. He's hacking the system somehow. He sat there laughing at me, slurping down cheese sauce and bragging about killing a boss."

Steven was looking at a picture of yellowish, glistening cubes in a bowl. "Here, I found a picture for you. And I hope I'm never desperate enough to eat one. They are used to meet the daily nutrition requirements in some of the habitats. It's a chicken-flavored, enriched gel that gets pumped into each home. The gel goes into a tray, gets microwaved to cook it, then sliced into squares, and presto, you have a bowl of food cubes. Cheap, nutritious, and horrible."

Sidney had her doubts. "And people actually eat this?"

"People with no choice eat this. Be glad you didn't even know what it was until now. But, if true, it's a clue about our mysterious Milo."

Milo appeared in the game and noticed a blinking icon in the lower part of his screen. Clicking on it, he got a reminder about spending his gains from yesterday.

Welcome Back!

Somehow you survived your first day in Genesis. As a reminder, you have 500 Boss Experience to allocate to skills. Boss experience ignores the penalty for Tertiary or Secondary skills. You also have 20 Enhancement points to spend if you wish. Don't feel pressured; it's a traditional tactic to save all of those until you're about to die in a fight and then spend them in a panic. But that's up to you.

In addition, you earned experience in the following skills:

Fleet of Foot: 100 experience, reduced to 30. (Secondary Skill.)

Trap Making: 100 experience.

Mechanics: 100 experience.

Climbing: 100 experience.

Identify: 50 experience.

Foraging: 150 experience.

You also gained the following experience in your stats: AGI 130, INT 200, PER 200, WIS 150.

He stayed still for several minutes, reading and puzzling through the message while hiding and listening for the sound of anything moving around him. Hearing nothing, he padded back towards Cronk's body. The big guy was rapidly drying out and shriveling up. It was easy to pick out the shiny bits of ore from his corpse. Over two-thirds of the contents of the cart had been rocks and gravel, but the rest seemed a mixture of rich ores, chunks heavy with metal. He piled it all off to the side. Maybe he could take some back and see what it was worth. His Identify skill showed it to be a mixture of metals but mostly copper.

The pick surprised him. It didn't look like much but Identify told him more. So maybe this was an old dwarven mine? Or maybe dwarves just made good picks, and other miners used them?

Dwarven Mining Pick

Tier 2

A solid Dark Steel head on a sturdy hickory shaft. This pick will easily mine Tier one rocks and ore and mine normally through Tier 2 strata.

He'd keep this tool and get rid of the rusty rock hammer. Next, he took a look at the dense, shiny ball that had been inside Cronk.

Earthen Heartshroom (consumable).

This immense Heartshroom comes from a large cave guardian. It can be used in alchemy to make a large number of potions using Earth magics and has many other uses.

A brave individual may also consume Heartshrooms. Effects will vary.

Milo was quite sure he did not want to eat this thing. He put it back in his pack. Maybe Harry would know where to sell it. He sat down to look at the list of choices he had for spending the enhancement points.

He had spent time on the game forums. There was a lot of information, but it was scattered, and he suspected it was different for different classes and races. He had set up a system for sorting the information by topic, and already he was finding inconsistencies. Not everyone had the same options beyond the Generic list. All of the abilities any player had reported were for the first tier, levels zero to five. There was much discussion on whether it was better to grind away, killing the same type of mobs to gain levels or to hunt bosses for enhancement points.

Neither strategy appealed to Milo; what was the goal? Just to get stronger? That was the point in many video games, but this was different! There were places to explore!

He focused on spending his 20 enhancement points. If he understood them, they were used to gain special skills and abilities that increase a character's power and versatility. Killing bosses was the main way to earn them, either solo or in a group. But crafters could also earn them by making an exceptional item. And harvesters could get them from elementals. These were weak bosses that could spawn while a person was gathering raw materials. He'd seen mention of a sentient tree in a forest, an earth elemental, and a monster made out of left-over bits of meat from a butcher. These usually gave only a couple of points.

Elementals were Named Bosses, the lowest category. After Named were Elites and then Monstrous bosses. Elites were considered something groups would fight. Monstrous was usually a raid boss in a dungeon. If Cronk had gotten one hit on Milo, he was sure it would have killed him. But the score was Monsters 0, Milo 1, and he had points to spend.

The generic list let him increase his health, stamina, and mana. Each level increased the bonus and the cost. Next was a list of ways to increase his stats. It cost three enhancement points to raise a stat by +1. He could do this three times for each stat while he was in Tier 1. Stats were good and gave bonuses to combat, but he was earning those by raising his skills. It was something to keep in mind, but he liked the more specific skills for his race and class. Second wind was like a healing spell, but very limited. It could be used once a day to restore his Health, Stamina, and Mana all at once. A few levels of that might be helpful in a battle. He'd skip for now; he didn't have enough information on how combat worked. Finally, there was a skill for holding his breath longer. As someone who had more than once swam through large water conduits searching for leaks to patch, Milo could appreciate that skill. Not as good as a rebreather, but close.

Generic Bonus Skills:

Increased Health 1: Gain +50 Health for the cost of 2 enhancement points.

Increased Health 2: Gain +100 Health for the cost of 5 enhancement points.

Increased Health 3: Gain +250 Health for the cost of 2 enhancement points.

Increased Stamina 1: Gain +50 Stamina for the cost of 2 enhancement points.

Increased Stamina 2: Gain +100 Stamina for the cost of 5 enhancement points.

Increased Stamina 3: Gain +250 Stamina for the cost of 2 enhancement points.

Increased Mana 1: Gain +50 Mana for the cost of 2 enhancement points.

Increased Mana 2: Gain +100 Mana for the cost of 5 enhancement points.

Increased Mana 3: Gain +250 Mana for the cost of 2 enhancement points.

Spirit of the Ox: Gain +1 STR for a cost of 3 enhancement points.

Spirit of the Bear: Gain +1 CON for a cost of 3 enhancement points.

Spirit of the Monkey: Gain +1 Dex for a cost of 3 enhancement points.

Spirit of the Owl: Gain +1 INT for a cost of 3 enhancement points.

Spirit of the Cheeta: Gain +1 AGI for a cost of 3 enhancement points.

Spirit of the Pig: Gain +1 WIS for a cost of 3 enhancement points.

Spirit of the Hawk: Gain +1 PER for a cost of 3 enhancement points.

Spirit of the Swan: Gain +1 CHA for a cost of 3 enhancement points.

Second Wind 1: Once per day, regain 20 Health/Mana/Stamina. Cost = One enhancement point.

Second Wind 1: Once per day, regain 50 Health/Mana/Stamina. Cost = Three enhancement points.

Second Wind 1: Once per day, regain 100 Health/Mana/Stamina. Cost = Five enhancement points.

Breathless 1: You may hold your breath 3x as long. (3 minutes.) Cost = 1 Enhancement Point

Breathless 2: You may hold your breath 10x as long. (10 minutes.) Cost = 1 Enhancement Point.

Your statistics have a soft cap of rank 5. You may Increase the soft cap on a stat by one rank for the cost of two enhancement points. You must still earn the experience to earn the ranks. The hard cap on stats per Tier is 10. This does not include racial bonuses, bonuses from magical items, or stat increases purchased with enhancement points.

That last ability he had read about on the forums. There was much debate over it. A player that wished to earn the max number of stat points per level would need to earn significantly more experience than someone who moved to Level 6 and Tier 2 after earning 5 points in their stats. And it used up enhancement points. Milo worked at least twelve hours a day in the real world, and often more. He wondered why someone would not want to earn the most they could in a game world. Or was there an advantage in gaining levels quickly? He didn't have enough data to have an opinion.

His Scout enhancement skills were very interesting, especially the storage skill. He had been disappointed to see that he started with no inventory skills, a staple of most of the RPG-type video games he had played. (Except Diablo 17, but everyone hated that one.) But after reading the forums, he found out that no one had an inventory skill. You could wear a backpack, of course, but this wasn't a world where you could magically store hundreds of pounds of gear. Except that he now could now! He was lucky to have the skill, very few classes had anything like it, and this skill wasn't mentioned anywhere. There were hints that special backpacks, bags, and rings could be gained that lightened your load, but while people liked to brag on the forums, few people gave details.

Scout Enhancement Skills:

Smugglers Stash

Storage Skill. Summons/Dispels a magical chest. Size increases with rank. (3 cubic feet, nine cubic feet, 27 cubic feet.) Cost is three enhancement points for the first level, five additional for the second level, and 7 points for the third level.

Skilled Provider

Your gathering skills have an increased chance of finding better quality items. The cost is three points per level for up to three levels.

Abundance

Your gathering skills return more resources than normally expected.

(+10%/+25%/+50%/+75%/+100%) The cost is 1/2/3/4/5 for the five levels.

Unnoticed 1

Stealth ability. You blend in with the background and are less likely to be noticed by Tier 1 creatures. Combines well with Skulk. The cost is two enhancement points.

Silent Step 1

When trying to not be noticed, your steps make only 40% as much noise as normal. Combines well with Skulk. The cost is two enhancement points.

Unlimited Dark Vision

You see in Darkness and Magical Darkness as if it were a cloudy day but in shades of gray. No limitations on distance.

Jumping Jack

You may leap twice as far as normal. The cost is two enhancement points.

Never Lost

You gain a better memory of the routes you take, giving you maps to track where you have been.

Wererat Enhancement Skills:

Strong Claws

Increased Claw Damage. The amount increases with rank.

(+10/+20/+40) Rank one has a cost of two points, five points for rank two, and ten points for rank three. Damage is additive: Taking all three ranks will add +70 to the damage you do with your claws.

The Unseen Tail

Disguise/Illusion in Were form. Gives you the appearance of a human. Walk among humans in dark places, and they suspect nothing! Works poorly in bright light; avoid getting too close to people. Don't let dogs grab your tail. Cost = 3 Enhancement points.

The Invisible Tail

Improved Disguise/Illusion in Were form (Upgrade to the Unseen Tail.)

Even in bright light, everyone thinks you are a boring human. Stay away from mages who can see through illusions. And guards with high perception. And dogs! Cost = 5 Enhancement points.

Slashing Tail

Your tail does increased damage and can slash at your foes like a whip. Damage is increased each rank (+10/+20/+40.) Rank one has a cost of two points, five points for rank two, and ten points for rank three. Damage is additive: Taking all three ranks will add +70 to the damage you do with your tail. Cost = Two enhancement points for rank 1, five for rank 2, and 10 for rank three.

See through small Eyes

Make friends with local rats who will (maybe) do some scouting for you. Cost = Two Enhancement points.

Many Small Eyes

Increased control of your small scouts, and you are able to use their eyes instead of your own. Cost = Five Enhancement points.

Cheesemaking (Crafting Skill)

An honorable tradition! So tasty! INT crafting skill. Cost = One enhancement point.

Weak Poison Resistance (Resistance Skill)

Gain the Primary CON skill: Weak Poison Resistance. Cost = 5 enhancement points.

Weak Disease Resistance (Resistance Skill)

Gain the Primary CON skill: Weak Disease Resistance. Cost = 5 enhancement points.

Extra Stabby!

All of your attacks have an increased chance of a critical hit. The chance increases with each level of the skill. Cost = Two enhancement points for rank 1, five for rank 2, and 10 for rank three.

Extra-Clever Traps!

Your traps and machinery almost always work and in fiendish ways no one suspected. Even you are surprised at times. This core skill affects Mechanics, Trap-Maker, and other such skills.

Machine efficiency and Trap damage increase with rank. Cost = Three enhancement points for rank 1, six for rank 2, and nine for rank three.

Not-so-fast Regeneration

Grants increased (x2), health recovery. Slowly regenerate scar tissue and missing body parts. A steady diet of cheese speeds up the process. Cost = 5 enhancement points.

Pretty Good Regeneration

Grants increased (x4), health recovery. Regenerate scar tissue and missing body parts in less than a week. A steady diet of cheese speeds up the process. Cost = 10 enhancement points.

Mutant Regeneration

Grants increased (x12), health recovery. Regenerate scar tissue and missing body parts in less than a day. A steady diet of cheese speeds up the process. Cost = 20 enhancement points.

Warning: As with all mutations, there can be significant side effects.

Ratkin have an affinity for certain types of magic. Magical Aspects open up options to learn more mage skills. Each additional aspect has an increased cost. Each magical aspect purchased will increase the cost of further aspects. The first aspect purchased has a cost of five enhancement points, increasing to ten for the second and 15 for the third.

Chill of the Grave

You have a high affinity for Death-Aspected mana. Training will let you learn Death magic spells. Increasing cost with additional aspects. Increase your Corruption by +1. Opens more options for mage abilities. Increased ranks decrease the mana costs of casting spells.

Deeds in the Dark

You have a high affinity for Darkness-Aspected mana. Training will let you learn dark magic spells. Increasing cost with additional aspects. Increase your Corruption by +1. Opens more options for mage abilities. Increased ranks decrease the mana costs of casting spells.

Storm Born

You have a high affinity for Storm-Aspected mana. Training will let you learn Storm magic spells. Increasing cost with additional aspects. Opens more options for mage abilities. Increased ranks decrease the mana costs of casting spells.

He wanted everything, of course. The last list was especially tasty.

He spent points on The Unseen Tail, Slashing Tail, Smuggler's Stash, and Jumping Jack. Being able to move around in his wererat form would save a lot of trouble. He'd have to test it out in Shadowport and see what the limits were. If it worked, he would buy the second level later.

Slashing Tail gave him an extra weapon in combat and one that most people wouldn't suspect.

Moving over roofs and climbing tunnels often involved leaping. Best of all, having a way to transport more stuff would be great; it was a long way up to Shadowport. And with very few people having a storage item, he could hide his valuables where no one would know.

He tried to look up similar items on the forums. He found hundreds of threads complaining about a lack of storage devices and skills but very little about the skills themselves. One thread claimed there were rings that some imperial agents wore that stored messages and small items. Another hinted about an ability at Tier 2 that gave a player storage space. The only really reliable storage players seemed to have was a 'Home Chest' that was in a bank or inn near your respawn point. Why didn't he have one? He'd have to look into that.

He activated Smugglers Stash to try it out. A beat-up oak chest appeared in front of him. He couldn't move it at all, but he could open it up. It took 25 mana to summon it and nothing to send it away. The size of the chest was 3'x1'x1'.

To test it, he filled it up with the good ore pieces and some of the gears and pulleys he'd found at the top of the shaft. With plenty of room still, he made another trip up to the top and tossed down all the machine parts that he thought would fit. When the chest was full of rocks and metal, he dismissed it. It quickly faded from view. He was very tempted to take the second level of storage. He hated the thought of leaving things he might need. A life of never having enough materials warred with survival instincts that said: "being dead is bad." There were stealth skills, regen, and extra health that he could purchase. What happened to the chest if he died? Testing and research first. He'd spent 10 points, and he'd save 10 points until he could test his abilities and do research. And as the helpful message had said, he could always spend them in an emergency.

The next chore was assigning his 500 Boss experience from killing Cronk. He could only put that into Mechanic, Fleet of Foot, Acrobatics, or Climbing. Level 1 in a skill was only 50 points, but from there, it climbed to 150 for level 2 and 300 for level 3.

Fleet of Foot had only gained 30 experience, moving up slower because it was a secondary skill. Running from things that wanted to kill him was very important to Milo. He dumped 270 points into the skill. He appreciated that, unlike regular experience, Boss experience wasn't affected by the 1/3 and 1/10th modifiers to secondary and tertiary skills. Acrobatics and Climbing were skills he would be using a lot, so he put the remaining experience into Mechanics.

As soon as he finished allocating the Boss experience, he received a message.

Congratulations! You have achieved Level 1!

You have gained +100 Health, +100 Stamina, and +50 Mana

Experience needed for Level 2 = 3000. You currently have 1425/3000 experience

Gains over Level 0:

Mechanics has reached rank 3.

Trap Making has reached rank 1.

Fleet of Foot has reached rank 3.

Dodge has reached rank 1.

Small Blades has reached rank 1.

Acrobatics has reached rank 1.

Climbing has reached rank 1.

Weak Claws has reached rank 1.

Tail Fighting has reached rank 1

AGI has reached rank 3. (+2 Racial skill for a total of 5.)

DEX has reached rank 2. (+2 Racial skill for a total of 4.)

INT has reached rank 3.

PER has reached rank 2. (+2 Racial skill for a total of 4.)

You chose the Identify skill to fill an open slot.

Identify has reached rank 1.

You have gained 20 Enhancement Points.

You have 10 Enhancement Points left to allocate.

You purchased Smugglers Stash 1.

You purchased Unseen Tail.

You purchased Jumping Jack 1.

You Purchased Slashing Tail 1.

You have encountered CHEESE! You have a minor yearning to eat more CHEESE!

As Milo read the last part, he had a sudden craving for more of the cheese sauce he had for breakfast. Maybe he should just head straight up to Shadowport? He should be able to sneak around all the shrooms now that Cronk was gone.

He looked around at the boarded-up tunnels. Where did they go? He wanted to know.

He needed supplies and some better gear. It was time to get back to Harry, get paid, and see if he could sell his ore. Then he could go hunting for a cheesy snack.

Chapter 13: Bad to the Bone

Milo skulked down the tunnel, back the way he had come when chased by Cronk. Exiting, he turned left and moved along the edge of the large mushroom-filled cavern with the massive shroom in the center. Immediately he ran into a small problem.

The small myconids that he had disturbed had followed him. They weren't as fast as Cronk, though, and had given up the chase at one point. They were wandering around aimlessly about a hundred feet from the mine entrance. He could outrun them, but that would just mean being trapped at the rockfall by a horde of angry mushrooms. Milo elected to take the long way around the cavern. One guardian was an easy fight, and he could probably fight a couple at once. But not a dozen, and especially not when there might be a lot more around.

Hugging the wall and being careful to not step on any stemlings, he moved slowly around the cavern. He bypassed two more large tunnels that seemed to lead even deeper into the caves. He was still hundreds of feet from the ramp up when he noticed the cavern wall was a lot closer to the big shroom. One of the large yellow blossoms moved and was pointing in his direction as if it sensed him. A vine that wrapped around the gigantic stem twitched. The twitch became a hump of loose vine that traveled like a wave down the stem to the ground. Then through the mushroom field towards him, the partially buried vine kicked up loose soil and small mushrooms. It was headed in his general direction or maybe a bit ahead of him.

Following the twitching vine with his eyes, he saw it go to a large lump in the ground. Something slowly crawled out of that lump and stood up. Whatever it was, it had dirt and mushrooms all over it, as though it had lain in the ground for years. It wore a tattered orange robe, and one bony hand held a spikey-looking weapon. Milo was getting very nervous but didn't know whether to run forward or back. He compromised by skulking along the wall and hoping he wasn't noticed. He tried to identify the thing, with mixed results. He saw two names and didn't like the implications. Caster meant 'magic,' and the idea of the flowers taking control of dead bodies was unnerving. And a Named boss was far less powerful than Cronk, but he didn't have a minecart to drop on it.

Malskitter, the Malevolent Bonecaster Blossom Slave

Named Level 3 Boss

Milo was seeing two names flashing. The first sounded like an evil villain from a bad movie. That kept fading and being replaced by 'Bonecaster Blossom Slave.' The creature shook itself more to shake off dirt and mulch and started shambling toward him. The vine stayed connected, running into the things ribcage where a blossom sprouted.

Milo backed away a bit more, and the creature stopped. The vine was stretched tight, and it couldn't move toward him. It was a stalemate for a moment. If Milo tried to get past it, it could get to him. He'd have to go back.

Or not? He cursed as he saw two more shambling forms moving around the perimeter toward him. One small, one massive, and packing a huge sword. If he didn't want to fight them, he needed to get past this one and run.

Drawing the machete, he sprinted directly toward the Bonecaster Blossom slave. As he got closer, it brandished the melee weapon it held. It looked like a long stick with sharpened bones stuck through the shaft. Getting hit by it would be like taking multiple stabs from daggers. Milo had no intention of standing and fighting, though. Watching for its first attack, he dodged low and rolled past it, crushing several small mushrooms, but luckily no stemlings. He came to his feet and brought the machete down on the vine, slicing through it.

The vine snapped back and thrashed as though he had caused it pain. He took a nasty slap to his side before he moved away from it. A bruise was worth it to defeat this foe so easily.

Mocking laughter informed him that it wasn't so easy. "Good, good, a cunning plan, youngling. You have freed me from the cursedshroomflower. Malskitter will reward you!"

Milo was pretty sure he wouldn't like the reward. "All good, Mr. Skitter; glad to help. Uh, I don't suppose your reward is letting me sneak on past you?"

The skeleton laughed. The eye sockets that had been so dim before now shone with a green light. Milo noted that the skull was more animal shaped than human, and there was a skeletal tail coming from a hole in the robe. Just his luck that the first rat-kin he found was a crazy necromancer bone-thing enslaved by a flower.

"You get a reward, lucky Tallsqueak! You get to host my spirit for the next few decades. This shell is worn out and infested with flowers. Never smell the flowers! I've been stuck here forever as my shell rotted and the flowers commanded my corpse."

Milo started running. He got two steps before bony fingers erupted from the ground and clutched at his ankles, rooting him in place. Malskitter scrambled towards him. His first slash at Milo hit him in his left shoulder and arm.

You fail to resist the spell Grasp of the Grave. You are immobile for 60 seconds.

Malskitter, the Malevolent, punctures you for 40 points of damage.

You are attacked by a spell! You resisted the spell of Essence Transfer.

Milo struck back with his machete. The necromancer didn't even bother to dodge. Ribs cracked, and bits of bone came loose. "Careful, careful Tallsqueak, soon this will be your shell. Why not give up now?" Milo brought up the pick he held in his left arm. The wound to his shoulder made it difficult to attack with the bulky weapon. Instead, Milo turned his hips and swung with his tail. The hardened tip of his tail hit the skeleton's right arm, snapping the dry-rotted bone. Malskitter looked down at his arm and weapon on the ground. "Oh bother, why are you being so difficult! This is an honor. Am I not one of the Wurchwitz Hollow's most accomplished wizards? Foolish youngling."

A bony glowing hand reached for Milo. It was a clumsy attack. Milo doubted that Malskitter had been much of a warrior before he was dead. Now with a body mostly turned to fertilizer, he was clumsy and slow. Milo hit the reaching arm with his machete, snapping the other arm off.

"Looks like I disarmed you, Mr. Mal. Hands down, the best decision I made today."

The skeleton turned and glared at Milo. "PUNS! You dare. This only a minor setback!"

"Maybe you can pick up some new ones at a second-hand store?"

"GHAHHH! I will bite you to death."

Milo's tail hit the brittle neckbone of the lunging skeleton. The skull came loose and fell face-first in the dirt.

"Well, I guess another one bites the dust." The scream from the skull was unintelligible. Milo checked on the other flower zombie things. They were still quite a bit away. He saw that the remains of Malskitter were rapidly decaying. The flower was a blackened husk; the bones rotted sticks. Nothing left but the orange robe and the weapon.

Congratulations! You have slain Bonecaster Blossom Slave. You gain 50 experience in small blades and 50 experience in DEX…oops, guess that wasn't his Final Form?

You have slain Malskitter the Malevolent. You gain 250 Boss experience that may be used for the skills: Tail Fighting, Small Blades, and Dodge. You gain 250 experience in the stats associated with the skills used.

You have gained 5 Core Skill Points.

Glancing at the items, both looked like they were worth taking.

Runed Cowl of the Bonecaster (This item must be attuned to gain more information.)

Bonecaster's Runed Spike

An ugly weapon made of rune-carved bones and petrified wood. (Must be attuned to use.)

Milo grabbed both items, stuffed the cowl in his pack, put the machete in his belt, and started jogging along the wall. This wasn't the time for stealth anymore. It was time to run. He took a few seconds to put all 250 Boss Experience into Dodge; he was going to need it.

More vines activated and sent out messages to the undead slaves of the flowers, but Milo was ahead of them now. Fleet of Foot gave him +20% to his sprinting speed, and his agility stat gave him another small boost. By contrast, the undead slaves were slow and dragging heavy vines behind. He made it to the ramp up and was out of range of the flower slaves.

Stopping to catch his breath, he stayed watchful for packs of vengeful mushrooms, but nothing was heading his way. He carefully traversed the second room where Cronk had emerged. Coming from this angle, he saw another mine entrance that he had missed before in his headlong run along the other wall. Did this one connect with the others? Maybe he'd explore some after he got back to Harry. He still had to clear the rockfall and get back to the mycologist.

…and find out what a Heartshroom was.

…and figure out what a Bonecaster was.

… and sell some ore.

… and pay a visit to Kaminski.

Chapter 14: Why do you have dead worms in your pocket?

Dr. Duran and Samantha turned to see Sidney triumphantly raising her arms in the air while stomping her feet. The stack of coffee cups next to her swayed ominously.

"Our little hacker isn't getting away from me. I figured out how he got a restricted race and what it is."

Steven was very curious. "Well, don't leave us guessing."

Sidney got a fresh cup of coffee, making the other two wince as she poured sugar into the cup for far too long. "He had criteria he was looking for. He wanted a tail and to be shorter. Now you think that would narrow it down, but with so many rare evolutions to animal hybrid characters, demonic hybrids, and even aquatic hybrids, it took a while to figure it out. But there was one more clue: cheese sauce!"

Samantha was confused. "Cheese sauce?!"

Sidney kept rolling. "Yep. Cheese sauce. I tried to bait him into having breakfast with me and talking. He didn't go for the hickory smoked bacon at first. He grabbed a bowl of hot cheese sauce for the eggs Benedict and started eating it by itself. He was in heaven and only left once he had licked the last bit out of the bowl."

Samantha was still confused. "That helps how?"

"Ha! Knew you were going to ask that. Firstly, there is a race that is technically playable by a character that is both short and has a tail. It's on the list to be made available someday. And that race has a restricted class that shows on the list as a yellow listing. It has a quest requirement. And...the ultimate clue...only one race has a problem with cheese addiction."

Steven clapped. "Well done. You're right. Our little hacker must be a ratkin."

"And I know his class too. It's only available to ratkin that come from a specific clan and have the ability to change into human form. The quest that lets you become a wererat is quite specific. You also take the special scout class for their race. The player is meant to be on the edge of society. A bit of a roguish outcast, doing work for the ratkin as well as the rougher parts of society like the thieves and assassins guilds. If we offered it for starting characters, I bet half of them would take it."

Steven had brought up the race and class combo. "Oh, maybe more than that. Look at the Enhancement Skills. A wererat scout can pick up an inventory skill cheaply with his enhancement points. That's one of the big bonuses for the class. Also, why it has some major downsides. Nice natural weapon and exploration options as well."

Samantha looked over Steven's shoulder, then paced around the room. "So, a group of hackers, who can get hundreds of people illegally into the game, also have a way to generate all the smugglers they need to move around whatever it is they don't want us to know about."

Steven was looking at his screen. "I'm not sure about that. This gets more and more strange as I look at it. The quest to get that class is very unique. I've never heard of it before and most of the details are obscured, but it does show that it has Unique Rewards. I'm going to have to submit this to Wally for another look."

"But well done, Sidney. The next step is to try and find him in game, and find out what he is planning to do with the hundreds or thousands of people at his disposal."

Meanwhile, not knowing that someone was on his tail, Milo continued his journey back to Harry's mushroom farm. Digging out of the mushroom caves turned out to be easier than Milo had expected. No huge rockfalls had occurred, and he was able to greatly increase the narrow area he had to slide through. He grabbed the bags of shrooms and trudged back to Harry's home in the underground.

"Yo! Harry, I have your stuff."

The large man shambled out of his lab area. "I'm quite happy to see you succeeded. If you had died, it would have been ages before someone else took the job. Silly, since it's such an easy one."

Milo collapsed and leaned against a wall. "Oh, yes, very easy. No complications at all. You neglected to mention the myconians."

Harry waved him off. "Tsk, Tsk. The only way a myconian would come threaten you is if you stepped on a stemling, and then you would have plenty of time to run. They are quite slow. But are you saying you saw some? They have grown quite rare in this area. A natural thing, I suppose, with the rarity of mushroom groves."

Milo didn't know if Harry was joking or not. "Rare? There are huge caves full of them. I got chased by over a dozen guardians and one as big as a house. Not to mention the one as big as six houses."

"Six houses? If you are joking, I'm going to be very upset with you. What did you see?"

Milo felt a bit of danger from the rotund man. He must take his mushrooms seriously. "I swear. A mushroom that stretched upwards for several stories. It's in a massive cavern, covered in yellow flowers, and has a lot of nasty slaves hooked to it with vines."

Harry sat down in the dirt. "Oh my. That's going to make things difficult. Describe things for me. Leave out no detail."

Milo did, Harry, staying silent and shaking his head for most of the story. "That's quite amazing. I haven't gone into the caverns for decades. I had no idea those caves had regrown that way. The biggest must have migrated in and then rerooted. Something that big doesn't grow in just a hundred years. But the yellow flowers are bad news. They do indeed enslave people. Luckily, they can't leave the flower colony."

"By the way, just curious, but when you killed the big one, Cronk, did you bother to search the body at all? A heartshroom from such a creature would be quite valuable."

"Really? Maybe I'll go back and look. How valuable are we talking?"

Harry reached into a pocket and pulled out some fish bones, some shiny rocks, and an old crumpled pair of muddy socks. "Hurmmm...one moment, it's here somewhere. Ah!" At the third pocket, he found a small cloth sack. Opening it, he dumped out a wrapped bundle. "Open it up. I'll think you'll like what's inside."

Milo opened the bag carefully. "It's full of dead worms, Harry."

"Oh, is that where those went? Wait, try this bag." The second bag had a rather plain copper ring in it without a stone or other ornamentation. "The interesting thing about some really powerful items is they look like common trash. It's why I kept that one. I love common trash."

At Harry's urging, he tried on the ring. He immediately knew what it was.

Ring of the Swiss Army.

Made by the Archmagi Elsener and given to each member of the mage corps of Swissleland. This ring can cast the following spells without the need for mana. Each spell may be cast one time each day.

Darn Socks (2 pairs)

Water Breathing (self, 1 Hour)

Summon Nut Cracker (Lasts until no more nuts are present in 10'.)

Protection from small biting and stinging insects (Keeps them at bay for 1 hour.)

Heat Fondue (Creates a small flame that will heat oil or other things in a fondue pot. Duration 4 hours.)

Sharpen Tool. (4 sharpening per day.)

Karl's Handy Tent Helper (Sets up a large tent or packs it up. Usable twice a day.)

Summon Guard Lizard (Brings a Guard Lizard from the Feenokioki swamp to guard your camp.)

Dog Bite Fixer (Takes the edge off of nasty hangovers.)

Summon Wine (1 Quart, lowest quality.)

"Ha! Knew you'd be impressed. Now let's talk trade. An item like that doesn't come along every day."

Milo thought about it. He had no clue what the heartshroom might do and was a bit leery of the warning about side effects. And while the ring was odd, it looked quite useful, or he could trade it off to someone else. Mostly, he knew Harry really wanted the weird item, and Harry was one of the few people Milo knew. He lived down where Milo wanted to explore and had offered to teach him stuff and give him jobs. Even if the ring was worthless, it might still be worth making the trade.

"You talked me into it, Harry." Milo got his pack and pulled out the Earthen Heartshroom. Harry looked at the strange thing in awe.

"Oh yes. Thank you, Milo. This should do nicely." And with that, Harry opened his mouth extremely wide and pushed the whole thing in. He made joyful chewing sounds for a full minute wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Oh, thank god. I feel so much better after that."

Milo had backed away while Harry was eating. He wasn't sure what was going to happen. When nothing happened, he was a little disappointed. "So, what happens now."

"What happens now..." Harry said. "Is that I get to take my first bath in 50 years. Luckily, I have a good scrub brush and some sulfuric acid. That should help. You might want to head upstairs for a day or two until the stench clears out." Harry tossed him a bag that clinked. "Here's your pay. Go have some fun. Then if you still want to help an old troll with his jobs, come find me again."

Milo didn't have to be told twice. He grabbed his odd belongings and started to climb back up towards Shadowport.

Congratulations! You have completed the quest: Shrooms in the Dark

-Harvested 20 pounds of the correct mushrooms.

-Actually returned, a first.

-Completed a bonus objective of curing Harry of his Earthen Mana Deficiency.

Rewards: 100 copper pennies, instruction in basic mycology, and Dr. Harry Earthtongue considers you a friend.

Chapter 15: Making new friends.

His legs aching, Milo finally climbed up the last long ladder to the mine area. Going down was so much easier. He'd had no idea how deep in the earth Harry was. But coming back up, he felt every single step. And he was starving. The last of the fried mushrooms Harry had given him was gone. He'd stopped for a break on the way up and burned nearly all his stamina to change back to human. He wanted to test Unseen Tail on someone other than an entire guild house full of people. A nap for a few hours in a side crevice had helped restore him

It was busier in the mines when he got there. Dwarves and humans were the dominant races, but he saw a scattering of others. The Miner class must come with a dark vision skill to help the humans and other races navigate down here. There were a few torches now and then, but not many.

Several miners were again enjoying the heat of a fire. As he walked by, someone yelled. "Well, look who made it back. You're going to piss off Pete something fierce. He gave out odds of 3 to 1 that you'd never walk back up from the Basement."

Another noticed his pick. "Whoa, wait a second. What the hell is going on here? Where did you steal that pick from?" The guy talking was a tall and slightly skinny human. "He, guys, this asshole stole one of our picks!" Several more miners wandered over.

Milo didn't like the way the skinny miner was accusing him. "I didn't steal it. It's mine. Get out of my way."

Skinny deliberately stepped in Milo's way. "I say we search him, see what this little nobody has on him. Probably stole some stuff from other people." Milo now had three other miners besides Skinny around him. He noticed they were all human. One of them, with dark red hair and missing an eye, was wearing a familiar symbol around his neck. Milo looked at him and said softly, "Kulag." He reached into his pocket and held out the small marker Squint had given him.

One-eye nodded at him, acknowledging he'd seen the mark. "Get out of his way Lem. Torg, Vella? Go back to the fire.

The two men named shrugged and left. The skinny miner, Lem, was still being belligerent.

"I don't answer to you, Bharg. You back off, and I'll deal with this thief myself" One-eye nodded. "Sure, thing Lem. He's all yours. I'll just stay and watch the show."

Milo pulled back on his pick and glared at Lem. He was still in a fight, but it was better odds than 4 to 1 now. "Let go of the pick and back off."

Lem laughed. "Make me, thief. I'm not really scared of your little makeshift stick there. I have a sticker of my own." From somewhere, Lem pulled out a long knife. Formalities were over as far as Milo was concerned. He pushed instead of pulling on his pick and let go. Lem stumbled a half step, and Milo swung at him. The Bonecaster's Runed Spike slashed across Lem's face in two places, opening up his cheek and cutting into his forehead. Blood spilled into Lem's eyes.

"You cut me! The little shit cut me! You're a dead man." He lunged forward at Milo, who tried to dodge, but Lem gave him a nasty cut on his left forearm. As Lem stumbled past, he gripped the weapon in both hands and brought it down hard on Lem's back. Two of the blades puncture deep into his body, and he fell to his knees. Milo pulled out his weapon and backed off. "We don't have to keep fighting."

Bharg yelled out. "He's letting you off easy, Lem. You want to keep going, or should we patch you up some and call it a day?"

"Screw you, Bharg. I'm going to kill that little thief if it's the last thing I do."

Bharg shook his head. "Ok, might be a bad decision." Lem staggered to his feet. Milo circled him, making him stagger back and forth. After a pathetic lunge by Lem, Milo hit him again from behind and danced away. Lem fell and didn't move. Milo dismissed the kill message.

Bharg clapped slowly. "Nice kill, kid. You didn't give him much chance to hurt you and even gave him a chance to crawl away. Don't feel bad. Lem has pulled that shit before. He liked to pick on people smaller them him and even pulled it on a couple of new miners before we got him in trouble with the guild. You were just taking out the trash." He moved closer and said quietly. "I'll let someone know you can handle yourself. Kulag"

Miles nodded, "Kulag." Then he started up the stairs to the guildhall. On the first landing, he took off the torn and bloody shirt he was wearing. He tore it into strips and bound up his arm, then pulled out the cowl from his pack. It was a bit tattered and torn, but it was made of a very heavy cloth and was in much better shape than his shirt had been before the fight. It smelled of earth and death, but then, so did most everything down here. He pulled it on and went up the stairs.

Getting to the main hall of the guild, he approached the halfling at the desk. He looked up. "What do you need? And if it's a question about which whorehouse has the best buffet today, that would be Mama Daintyfoot's. Tell her Bernard sent you over."

Milo had no idea what that all meant. "I owe you money. I got to level one."

Bernard stared at him. "Holy shit, you don't say? You're the new kid from a day or so ago. It's a miracle you leveled up and a second miracle that you made it back from the basement. As for coming right over to pay dues, I'm putting you up for sainthood." He stood on his desk and yelled out. "You ass wipes see this? This is how it's done. Pay your dues on time, and don't make me hunt you down. Good going, kid."

Several people grumbled and said interesting words about Milo. Like he needed another target on his back. He paid the halfling another penny for getting to Level 1. "Let me guess, 2 pennies for Level 2?" Bernard nodded. "You figured it out all on your own. The simple system helps people remember it."

Milo ventured a question. "Is there a place to sell some ore nearby? I found some down in the basement."

Bernard considered. "You just want to sell it on the side? Or do you want to deal with the Miner's Guild? You'll get more from them, but you'll have to join and pay dues." Milo thought about the chest of ore, he might as well get the best price, and he might find something else down in the tunnels.

"Point me to the Miners' Guild, please."

"No problem, kid. I'll walk you over; follow me." Milo followed Bernard up a flight of stairs to a large door with a plaque that had the words 'Honored Society of Miners #67'. The halfling pointed at the door, this is the main office, all business, but you can sell ore downstairs too. The first level down. Hey! Drugar, I brought you a new recruit! Remember that when we play poker next week!"

Bernard left Milo in front of a desk where an older dwarf with a peg leg and greying hair sat. "Hi, kid, I'm Drugar. I run the guild here in Shadowport. You have been down deep?"

"Yes, sir. Just got back from the basement. I didn't mine much, but I found a bit of ore while mushroom hunting." Milo showed him the first chunk he had found and a small piece of what he thought was copper he'd dug out of the mine shaft while walking out.

"Not bad. This reddish one is deep copper. It's a bit denser than regular copper and comes from deeper down. The basement is a decent area to find it. The shiny nugget is auric. That's an alloy of gold and silver. Good stuff. Both are Tier 2 materials, have to go deep for them. The guild will buy what you bring up."

Drugar weighed the chunk of ore and the nugget. "Guild will buy these for one silver, eleven copper. Most of that is the nugget. You could also use them to pay your guild fee. The fee for a month is 5 pennies. That lets you mine under the town and sell to the guild at good rates. Or, if you are so minded, I'll sign you up as a full-fledged member. That's one silver now and one a year. I'll be honest; being a full member might help you out down there. Some of the boys don't like newbs."

Milo had already seen that. He paid for the full membership and got the 11 coppers in change. He walked out of the Guild Hall, intending to head back to the inn and his small room. The trip over the rooftops went without an incident. Twice people chased him, but he easily leaped across the gaps in houses and scrambled up and down the terraces and ladders. Climbing up to the inn took the last of his energy. He barely noticed the innkeeper or anyone else. After double-checking the lock on his door, he fell on the bed and went to sleep. Something woke him hours later. The now familiar messages from the System He dismissed them and went back to sleep, still tired.

You have slain a foe with the weapon: Shadowblight and it has decided to attune to you, and reveal some of its power. This ancient spikey-stick has been used by generations of rat-kin champions to slay their foes and instill fear in their enemies. The carvings on the bone spikes will weaken your foes, robbing their attacks of damage as Shadowblight curses them.

Foes will do -10 damage against you with melee weapons for each wound that you inflict upon them. The weakness stacks and will last for one minute. As they weaken, your strikes find the weak points in their armor. For each curse applied, your foes armor will be decreased by 10, increasing your damage.

Base chance to hit: 40% +5xDex%.

Base damage: 40 + 5xDex.

Slay more foes to reveal more of Shadowblight's powers.

Bone-Runed Cowl is now Soul Bound.

You have mixed your blood with the souls chained within the tattered threads of the Bone-Runed Cowl and it has chosen to attune to you. The souls inside don't think you are worthy, but the Cowl isn't picky. However, it finds your lack of knowledge about Bonecasting to be a flaw that it will correct. Some of the knowledge of the chained spirits has been written in runes upon your soul.

-The Bone-Runed Cowl has used 5 of your Enhancement points to grant you the following abilities:

You have gained the skill: Bonecasting. (An arcane ability granting you the ability to cast spells.)

You have gained the skill: Bone Carving (DEX) at rank 0.

-You have gained the Bonecaster spell: Exploding Skull.

-You have gained the Bonecaster spell: Bone Spike.

Chapter 16: Wash Day

At some point, Milo awoke. He wished he hadn't. His head was pounding hard and there was a horrible smell in the room. His mouth was incredibly dry. Stumbling out of bed, he went to the pitcher of water on the table, bypassing the glass and just poured it into his mouth and down the front of his robe. The few drops of liquid that hit the floor looked like mud.

It wasn't hard to guess where the smell was coming from - the very horrible smelling robe that he took off a corpse rotting under a large collection of fungus.

Notifications were blinking, and he took a quick look at them. Attuned? Did that mean he was stuck with the stick and stinky robe?! And what was this about magic? He dismissed the messages and ignored them. He could barely think with his head pounding and the stench was terrible. It had gotten worse as he slept, and the small room didn't help.

He needed to find someplace to wash. Maybe the innkeeper knew of a place? Milo had little experience with where people washed either cloths or themselves. The homes in habitats had a small cleaning facility, but he was pretty sure Shadowport wouldn't have the same. And dirty clothes were just tossed into a recycler and you got new ones made when you needed them. They didn't last long, being mostly made of fibers from recycled paper.

He made his way to the innkeeper, who backed up a step and did not look happy to see him. "Ghah! What a nasty pong! Get your butt down to the tubs and out of my inn. Don't come back until you've washed up. You smell like five years of dead turds." Milo rushed out of the inn and went in the direction he was pointing.

It wasn't hard to get directions. Anyone he approached noticed the stench and when he said "tubs?" he was hastily given directions.

Only the last person didn't mind. A mostly-deaf old man was selling tubs of rotten fish for bait or fertilizer. He must have lost his sense of smell years ago. He smiled at milo and pointed at his wares. "Fish? Stinky fish. Good bait." That turned out to be most of the words he knew. Milo and he played a game of charades with Milo miming washing himself and his clothes. Eventually the old man understood and pointed to a large building, but shook his head sadly when Milo bought no fish.

A few hundred feet closer to the harbor was a huge warehouse. Entering by the large open door, he saw that one end of the building was occupied by large tubs of soapy water. Further in were long lines where clothes were hanging to dry. A line of sheets separated the two areas.

Milo was suddenly aware of the predicament of having only one set of clothes. Luckily there was stall selling clothes nearby. All the wares were heavily patched or sewn from the remains of several items. For two copper pennies Milo acquired a quite colorful long-sleeved shirt and pants that each had at least seven colors of worn cloth. He found a corner of the warehouse to quickly change his clothes and rolled up the dirty ones, lessening their smell a bit.

Entering into the building with the tubs again, he saw a large heavily set matron at a counter who was taking money from a long line of women. Milo took his place in line and patiently waited. The women looked him over. "Let me guess, got your one set of clothes to wash? Waste of a tub, but it's your money. Take the one at the end, only used once today, water still has some soap in it. Dump it down the drain when you're done and refill it." Milo paid over another copper penny, very glad that he'd earned money for completing Harry's quest. He needed to go sell the ore in his chest.

Milo washed his pants and undergarments first, then put the robe in last. The slightly dirty water immediately turned a red-brown in color. Taking a brush, he worked at loosening the imbedded grime in the robe. Huge amounts of muck came off of it, until the water was dark and opaque. Maybe this was going to take another tub? He saw the drain in the floor, and a spigot on the tub. While the murky, smelly water drained out, he went to fill buckets and rinse out the robe.

The women had all dumped their clothes into the tubs, and left them to soak, even the matron taking money was gone. He was all alone in the warehouse.

Another twenty gallons of water went into the tub, and again the robe shed dirt and blood and things he didn't want to think about. The water was nearly black and a smell like a rotten egg was coming from the tub. He hurriedly drained the water and got more. The third tub was just as bad, but on the fourth he made some headway. With the fifth tub of water, he was able to rinse the robe out and the water looked murky but not horrible. The color of the robe was now a bright orange with some worn brown stitching visible.

Milo didn't see anyone at all around. There was water heating over a fire. He left a copper penny on the table, and decided to get himself clean. It was relaxing sitting in the water. Even after a bit of sleep, he was worn out. He leaned back and without meaning to, fell asleep. The water around the cowl slowly turned red-brown, as if it was still leaking blood into the water.

Brother Ignacious of the holy order of Saint Joan of the Fire was surprised to see people entering his small church. Two dozen of the local women had entered and were sitting down to pray. He knew most of them from choir practice. Three of them stood at the front of the church, wringing their hands and wanting to talk to him.

Ignacious was always happy to talk and ease problems. He got a lot of dinner invites that way and the women in this part of town were known for their cooking. What they couldn't tithe on holy days they made up for in free meals to keep him fed. "Ah, bless you all. What can this poor servant help you with today?"

Malka was the oldest of the three, somewhere north of a hundred years and related to most everyone in the area. She was a midwife and potion maker, healing with poultices and tonics. Her daughter Elena was her apprentice, learning her ways. The large one was Alessandra, the wash woman. She knew a bit of healing as well, and was rumored to have been a priestess once, but Ignacious had never heard of what religion.

Malka spoke up. "There is something happening...".

Alessandra interrupted "And it's happening in my bath house! We need you to come see!"

"As I was saying...", Malka looked pointedly at Alessandra, "There is a wandering holy man in the bath house."

Now this was interesting. Ignacious smiled. "Ah, I see. A wandering holy man. Well, I hope he has time to stop by and I can meet him. You should be happy he chose your wash house Alessandra. Saint or sinner, we all need to wash our clothes now and then. Is there some problem?"

Malta thumped her cane on the ground. "You could say that. He's freeing souls from some ancient cloth. His wash water runs with the blood of their sins and the souls are hovering over my bath house. Most of the women can't see them, but it's making everyone nervous."

"And does anyone see these things? Or just hear them?" At times the wind would come whipping into the cavern ahead of a storm. Many of the superstitious would attribute wind whistling through an attic as old souls howling. More than one dinner invite had included a quick exorcism and some advice on stuffing some wool into the cracks in attic walls.

Malta looked stern. "Alessandra and I can see shadows moving about and wailing. But Elena can see them plainly. Tell him girl!"

Elena was nervous, but everyone said she'd inherited the sight from both sides of her parentage. "Every time he has dumped out a tub of water, another soul rises from the robe he is cleaning. There are five souls hovering in the air, arguing with each other about what to do. Ethereal chains still attach themselves to the garment."

"Oh, well, that's...yes, that needs...right, let me get my staff and a few things and I'll go speak to him. What is he doing now?"

Elena blushed and Alessandra smirked. "He decided to cleanse himself. He took a bath in my tubs and is now snoring, exhausted from his labors. You need to do something Ignacious, or we'll never get our washing done. No one is going into the wash house with some crazy holy man there and souls up in the rafters wailing."

"I see. I will go investigate for you."

The wash house was a quick walk. A few women were still by the door, stealing looks at the holy man. The three women with the sight hadn't exaggerated. There were five powerful spirits in the air, with chains running down into a washtub. By their look, all were wizards of some type. He saw two humans, a rat-kin, an elf, and a lizardman, all wearing a similar elaborate runed robe.

The 'holy man', if that's what he was, was quite young. He was snoring, only his face showing in the water. In the tub next to him was robe he had been laboring to cleanse. It was tattered and worn, but felt very powerful. Ignatius hated to interrupt anyone who was having a good nap, but obviously, something needed to be done.

Milo woke up to someone nudging his shoulder and saying "excuse me".

The man standing next to his tub was a priest, wearing fancy, (if a bit threadbare), vestments and holding a wooden staff.

Startled, Milo stood up, realized he was both wet and naked, and scrambled for his new, patch-work pants. "Oh, sorry. Dozed off. I was just so tired."

The priest nodded. "As well you should be. Cleansing spirits is difficult work. I came by see if I could be of some assistance."

"Spirits?" Milo wasn't sure what the man was talking about. He dried himself off with his shirt and put it on. He did hear something odd. Wind?

The priest pointed to the rafters. At first Milo only saw smoke, but the more he looked, the easier it was to see the five spirits chained to the robe in the washtub. They noticed him staring and turned as one, watching him. Milo turned to the priest.

"uh…I'll be honest, I was just washing out an old robe I found. "

The priest considered for a moment. "Then I don't think you are quite done with the job."

Quest: Free the Souls of your predecessors bound into the Bone Runed-Cowl

You have begun the process of freeing the five Bonecasters who owned the garment before you. Each offers you a reward for freeing him from bondage. The long years trapped in a rotting corpse and listening to Malskitter complain have made them eager to walk through Hades' realm.

-Success: The Bone-Runed Cowl will be empty and when you die your final death, you won't have to share it with these five. You will also receive a gift from each of your predecessors.

-Alternate Success: Keep the souls enchained! After all, it's what they did! Benefit from their power and knowledge and quickly become a force to be reckoned with! Of course, when you die, they'll be waiting for you...

Chapter 17: Unchained

Milo had so many questions about this quest. There were obviously downsides to putting on questionable clothing taken from mushroom-infested rat-kin sorcerers.

But one thing was pretty straightforward. He had a choice to either keep the old souls chained up, or to free them. This was an easy decision for Milo. He never wanted to go back to belonging to someone and he wasn't going to hold the chains of someone else.

"I could use that assistance. How do I set them all free?"

Ignacious laughed. "Your part is straight forward-just keep washing that tunic and dumping the water. I think I know an exorcism chant that will help." The priest dug into his exorcism kit. "Use this along with the soap; it's dust from the tomb of Saint Frederic the Valiant. A great priest. He still holds the record for the most demons exorcised during the Solstice Festival."

Milo was skeptical but took the packet of grey powder and dumped it in. How did someone decide that this dust was magical? He suspected it was an excuse to make sure someone swept up the dust now and then.

Ignacious came back in a few minutes, followed by a large gaggle of women who surrounded Milo's washtub. "All together now, ladies, let's start with the Hymn of Morning from the festival of Summer and then continue with all 97 stanzas of 'Begone, Spirit, Begone.'

One of the more elderly women got excited. "Oh, I always liked that one! We used to take a sip of wine at each stanza. It made things so much more fun." Ignatius suddenly realized why the summer choir practices were so rowdy and well-attended.

Milo dumped the tub, and it was quickly refilled with hot water by two younger boys hauling buckets. As they ran to get more, he overheard one say, "Jed is going to be so jealous! I can't wait to tell him we helped some crazy holy man kick out demons from an old shirt!"

Ignatius was busy drawing runes on the stone floor and lighting scented candles. From somewhere, a couple of bottles of wine appeared and were passed around at the end of each stanza. Around stanza 39, milo heard a loud crack, and one of the ethereal chains broke and disappeared. The spirit thumbed his nose at the others, bowed to Milo, and soared into the sky.

Regulus Tyborian, the High Diviner of the Lapis Empire, is free of his chains!

You receive his blessing. While bound to the Bone-Runed Cowl, you gain +2 Int.

Several of the ladies excitedly clapped. Ignatius tossed more dust and some cedar shavings into the washtub. "Steady on, ladies. We have only started."

"Going to need more wine then!"

Malskitter the Malevolent has broken free of his chains. He thinks you are a fool to give up such power! He will return someday to make you his slave.

The spirit of the ratkin dove down into the earth.

Albrecht the Undecided thanks you for freeing him. He's spent far too many years studying one thing and is off to try his hand at enchanting flowers and baking pies. He stuffs some of his accumulated knowledge into your skull. You have gained the spell: Curse of Brittle Bones, and the spell: Mend Bones.

Albrecht's spirit turned in a circle several times before flying off randomly. Two spirits were left. The chorus was up to the 53rd stanza, the wine bottles were increasing, and a small crowd was forming, with vendors selling treats.

Hordifax Ribtaker has been freed from his ethereal bonds. He acknowledges the debt owed to you and bequeaths you a small fraction of his knowledge of runes.

You have gained the Lore Skill: Runic Lore.

Whatever Hordifax had been, it wasn't pretty. The spirit screamed and flew low over the crowd, scattering them. It laughed and took off to parts unknown.

The Oracle of Oblivion, she who reads the bones of the Ancients, Seer of the Frozen Wastes, Collector of Fingernails of Dead Men, and Rider of the Great Flightless Greeb, has chosen to depart. Weep, for you will not see her like again in a thousand years! She leaves you a portion of her power: You will now gain +100 mana per level instead of +50.

The last spirit glowed and became visible to everyone. Her chain dissolved, and she was gone. Milo sat back. His arms ached, and his fingers were raw! He held up the Bone-Runed Cowl and saw it was spotless, except for a small dark stain on one arm where he had been wounded. A small ethereal silver chain ran from the tattered robe and encircled his waist.

Ignatius raised his hands and led the choir in one more round, and then they all dissolved into talk and laughter. "Oh, we need to do this more often! We haven't had a good exorcism in years!"

Milo wrung out the water from the robe. Alessandra walked over to him. "Here now, let me dry that for you. I don't have much power, but I can manage the drying cantrip easily. She cast a small spell, and all the water dropped from the robe, drying it instantly. Milo put it on over his shirt.

He eyed the crowd at the entrance, starting to come this way. It made him very nervous—too many people. Ignatius noticed. "Let's be on our way. We can sneak out this way. Let's keep your status as 'unknown and mysterious.' You'll get more free dinners that way.

Chapter 18: Apple core, nothing more

Milo failed to see how a free meal from chanting wash-women was a good thing, but he took the priest's word for it and thanked him. They escaped out the back, and then he quickly scampered off into the city, after promising to return someday for a quiet dinner. He climbed high sticking as much as he could to roofs and high bridges, avoiding people.

While hidden high above the street, he changed into his natural form. It was time to test out his disguise skill. He'd much rather move around as a wererat than a human and he needed to test the limits of the skill. He still had ten points he could spend on abilities and might consider buying Invisible Tail if anyone saw through the base skill.

Wandering down the street, skulking in shadows as he preferred to do, and staying away from people was working fine. No one noticed him, and if they did, they just saw another human keeping to the shadows. Venturing out into the better lit streets near the harbor made him nervous, but he needed to test the skill.

The bright end of the city was a busy place today. Several merchant ships had come into the harbor which spurred the locals to quickly set up merchant stalls and street fairs in the larger courtyards. Sailors spent money, new goods flowed into the city, and business was good for everyone. Milo decided to approach a fruit and vegetable vendor at the edge of a small market. The area was well lit, but he could easily retreat to the darker alleys if he needed. A large, plump man behind the counter looked at Milo and snarled. "No hand-outs, and don't touch the merchandise."

Milo flipped him a copper coin and said "Apples." That brought a change to the merchant. A smile broke out on his face. "Yessir, finest apples in town right now, just got them from one of the orchards around the horn, picked fresh two days ago." He grabbed a sack made from course hemp and filled it with two dozen apples. Milo noticed that the ones that went in first were from the barrels behind the counter, and only the top few were the large ripe ones from the counter. Milo took the bag and thanked the man. He began wandering through the area with more confidence.

A few times he saw human whelps running through the market, or hanging out by various stalls. Many of them seemed quite thin and raggedly clothed. The merchants eyed them carefully. A tugging at his trousers alerted Milo to one of them standing next to him. Hmm, two actually. Behind the boy in dirty rags was a thin waif of a girl holding a crude cloth doll. "Please sir? Might I have an apple for my sister? I don't even mind one with worms."

Milo had plenty of apples he wasn't going to eat, he gave each of them one of the good ones off the top. If there was any doubt about their hunger, it was disproven by how the boy's eyes got large, and the girl immediately bit into hers as they ran off quickly. From behind him he heard a chuckle. "Oh, you're in for it now. Every one of those urchins has a dozen hungry friends and they'll tag you for an easy hand out now." The speaker was an old woman who was sitting in front of a small table full of knives and kitchen utensils.

Milo shrugged. "I don't mind. They were hungry. I know what that's like. Would you like an apple?"

The old woman considered him for a second. "Yes, I would, if you're still handing them out. I'm Kettie, by the way." Milo tossed her an apple that she caught and bit into. "Not bad, fresh from the farm these are." Her focus turned to something past Milo and she chuckled again. "Best be on your way, or be prepared to feed a horde. Word got out of your generosity."

Sure enough, there were a dozen children coming his way, begging for something to eat. He began tossing each an apple. They all ran off except for one tall, thin girl of about twelve. She was looking at Milo strangely. "How come you have a tail?"

Dammit. He should have expected that the illusion might not work on everyone. "Long story, but it comes in handy." He used his tail to reach into the mostly empty sack and toss her another apple. She deftly grabbed it and put it into a pocket.

She thought about it and nodded her head. "When I tell the others, they'll all want tails too." She was eyeing the mostly empty sack of apples. Milo grabbed the sack with his tail and handed it to her. "Well, it's rude to mention other people's tails. Maybe you could hand out the rest of these for me?"

The girl grabbed the sack, her face showing an innocent, wide-eyed expression. "Thank you so much. I agree, rude to talk." She waved and ran off to the nearest alley. Freed of his burden of fruit, Milo continued his walk around the market, exiting on the side nearest the harbor.

Actual sunlight was now hitting the streets, slanting in from the Sun above the bay. Jumping to avoid a man pushing a wheel barrow, Milo bumped into two sailors from one of the ships. One of them turned and scowled at him. "Since when do they let your kind wander around the city?" Milo had pushed the limits of the skill. Standing in sunlight, both of the sailors seemed to see him as he truly was. The other smiled. "Oh, look, the little rat is scared. Didn't think we'd notice you skulking about. Wonder if they still have a bounty on rat's tails down at the port master? This one would bring a few drinks worth of coins."

That was enough for Milo. He turned and ran. The sailors in hot pursuit. Another aspect of the skill seemed to be that it failed utterly when running through a street of people and the two people chasing him were yelling "Grab the rat!" and pointing. Luckily, the street was even more crowded. While the two sailors ran around people and carts, Milo jumped onto or over them, or skittered between their legs. As he ran through the small market, he passed a gaggle of children eating apple cores. The smallest girl looked up at her brother and said "See! He did have a tail! I told you he did!" And older girl patted her on the head and said "Shhhh! Rude to talk about other people's tails."

Taking to the roofs, Milo kept moving until he was deep into the darker part of the city, where streets were always lit by lanterns. Crouching under the eaves on the top level of a nine-story pagoda, he caught his breath and opened up his skills window.

The first thing he saw was the message from the night before telling him he had acquired the Bonecasting skill. He vaguely remembered the messages from when he woke up, but had ignored them in his rush to get a bath. about them. According to this, bleeding on the old robe had attuned and bound himself to it. That explained the chained spirits somewhat. But what exactly was Bonecasting? He looked down at the robe, "Any more spirits inside that could explain things?" While he no spirit answered, he did receive a notification from the System.

Glad you asked!

Bonecasting is a very specialized form of spell casting that draws from necromancy and death magics, while skipping the nasty parts of those type of magic. Bones are the tools of your trade and the fuel for your spells! Each level of Bonecasting will decrease the cost of casting your spells by 5%.

Exploding Skull: Charge a skull with your mana and hurl it at your enemies, doing damage to anyone within 20 feet of its impact point. Cost: 50 mana. If a prepared rune-carved skull is used, the normal damage of 50 is increased to 75 points and the area to 30 feet in radius.

Bone Spike: A small bone dart erupts from your body and shoots towards an enemy. Cost 50 mana. Range: 100 feet, damage 50 points. Special darts made from rune-carved bones may be used with this spell, increasing damage to 150 points.

Mend Bones: A healing spell that affects only bones. Heal fractures and breaks. Particularly bad breaks will need additional mana. Normal Cost: 50 mana per bone.

The Curse of Brittle Bones: Your enemies bones break easily, and attacks with a physical impact will do additional damage. The curse has a cost of 100 mana, duration of one hour, and a range of 20 ft.

To increase the power of these spells, increase your rank in Bonecasting.

Bonecasting can be enhanced by the use of bones from powerful creatures, by rune carving, and in conjunction with alchemy, poisoning and other magical skills. More information will be available from your arcane library.

His mind whirled with ideas. How could he find out about all of these things? He made himself a jobs list, just like he would have done on a project in Section E. And with that thought, he realized he needed to leave the game. It never seemed to end and was generating more and more tasks. He itched to keep going, but needed to keep up with his chores in the real world.

He'd work on his list when he returned.

To do list:

1. Buy Invisible Tail

2. Sell Ore and get some coins.

3. Find a butcher or other place to get some bones and skulls.

4. Go shopping in the market of Light's End for some supplies.

5. Go deep again, and see how mushroom guardians liked exploding skulls.

6. Ask Harry about Arcane Libraries

He headed back to his small room at the inn and logged out.

Chapter 19: Cichol

Milo went to log out of the game, and got a most peculiar notification.

You may journey to an Arcane Library and gain access to its secrets.

But...An advisor waits to speak with you.

Please choose one of these people to talk to before logging out, but an Arcane Library is a lot more fun than talking to an advisor. (Sure, you could also do the annoying thing that lets you bypass the game controls, but where is the fun in that? And don't worry, I won't tell her any secrets. What happens in the game, stays in the game.)

Milo did have a couple of questions for Sidney, but the lure of an Arcane Library outstripped even the chance of a meal with cheese sauce. He took the System's advice, and wondered again at how personal the messages were at times.

The world darkened as he logged out and appeared somewhere else. Or perhaps 'nowhere else' was a better description. Milo was standing upon a small stone platform that seemed to be hanging in space. All around him, stars glittered in a cold void. The air was thin with no wind, and it was completely silent.

The only thing on the platform was a stone archway enclosing a peculiar door. At first, milo thought it was made of wood. But as soon as he touched it, he knew the truth. It was bone. Huge, thick slabs of bones carved and fitted together like a puzzle. Bones from a beast that had walked the land long, long ago. He got a sense of its long heavy steps. The door was made of its shin bones. There was a latch that opened the door. Milo stepped inside and shut the door behind him. Whatever was inside was better than the void with its endless sky.

He stepped into the room. The floor was a mosaic of small pieces fit together in geometric patterns. Shades of white, ivory, and alabaster created interlocking sunbursts. The curved roof was of the rib bones of some leviathan. They arched up to connect with the ridgeline of vertebrae thirty feet above his head. The walls were plastering above wooden paneling, but he could feel the bones behind the decorations. Four hallways provided exits from this central room, but Milo was more interested in what was in front of him.

A rug was laid on the mosaic floor in front of a huge fireplace. Two chairs had been placed on the rug, facing the fire. One chair was empty, and the other occupied. A man sat in the chair. He was ancient and seemed made of wrinkles. His large knuckled hands gripped the head of an ivory cane that he leaned on. His voice was like the low growling wind can make as it sweeps through a canyon. "Come sit, and let me get a look at you. I would take the measure of the person who threw away so much power."

Milo sat in the other chair, and they stared at each other. Finally, the old man spoke again. "I was named Gricenchos by my kin, but they are long dead, and you are not kin. Call me Clapperleg instead. They called me that because of this useless left limb that does only half the work it should. I hated the name but it fits." Milo could see that his left leg was twisted and thin.

"At least you have a left leg. In the world I was born in I didn't have one until I made it myself. I won't call you that. I'd hate to have people call me by a name like that, and I won't do it to you."

The old man nodded and spit into the fire. "Well, enough, call me Cichol then. I used that for a few decades, and always liked it. Tell me about this leg you made."

Later, Milo thought it was odd that he told Cichol about his life, and how he'd made his first prosthetic leg and better ones later. But at the moment, sitting in the chair before the fire, it felt like the right thing to do. When he was done talking, Cichol was silent for a bit, and then told a story of his own.

"My grandfather was a Bonecaster. Well, a Necromancer really, because he dabbled a bit with spirits and did have a few zombies around for carrying wood and doing chores. But he loved bones, and worked with them as his material whenever he could. My father continued his work, and married a woman from a mountain tribe who had her own magic. They worked their magic in bone and ivory, creating beautiful staves, wands, dice and other magical creations. She taught him to carve the runes and how to throw the knucklebones to see a glimpse of the future. I learned from them both."

"I lived a long time and learned much. Eventually I got it in my head to live past my long years. And so, I did favors for one of the hidden lords. They were well pleased and loaned me the services of their weaver. From bits of my soul, and the sinews of the beasts in the nightmare realm we wove the tattered cloth you wear now. Within it, I built my library, and when I no longer had the strength to walk back from death, I retreated here to read my books and sit by the fire. Imagine my surprise when others came."

"Each was a wizard who used the bones for power. Each found the Bone-Runed Cowl and died wearing it. Their power and mine aided whoever the latest owner was. Some faded away eventually. A couple accepted oblivion and stepped into the void. And now comes a wet-behind-the-ears apprentice who washed out their blood and freed the rest of them. Maybe that's best. I was tired of talking to them. The ratkin was the worst."

"No, not just because he was a rat-kin, I can see you share that much with him. He just wouldn't shut up about his great plans and glorious destiny. We were all laughing when you defeated his fetid corpse. So, it's just the two of us now. An old ghost far past his time with nowhere to go. And a young man new to this world who made his own leg and tail before coming here."

"Tell me what you want to do, young Milo." Cichol picked up a metal scoop and threw more chunks of bone onto the fire from the bucket next to him. Without asking, Milo could sense they were whale bones, heavy with oil.

Milo thought for a moment. "I want to go places and see things. I can't do that in my other body, but I can here. I want to explore the caves and mines, and find secrets."

Cichol nodded. "Well, enough. And what about the Bones and the Magic? Do you want to learn more of those? Or will you just wear that old dishrag around because you like the color?"

Milo looked around the room. Many of the larger bones were carved with runic script he couldn't read. This room held a lot of secrets. "I want to know the secrets you have here, too."

Cichol nodded. "You might do then. But off with you for now. Go find a bone of your own to add to my library"

You have completed the Quest: Free the Captured Souls!

You have gained 5 Core Skill Points.

You have been given the Quest: One of Your Own

Cichol has tasked you with finding an old bone to add to the library. Return to him when you have one.

Success: Access to the books in the library and lessons in Bonecasting.

Failure: A missed opportunity

Chapter 20: Accidents

Several alarms were going off as Milo got out of the pod. Most were simply steady beeps, directing his attention to problems, but one was an insistent sound coupled with a red strobe light. A quick check showed the obvious problem of no power for many of the systems.

Power wasn't cheap, and one of the huge costs of keeping the habitats going was a steady supply of energy. The government supplied a minimum amount needed to keep things going. Any industry or business setting up paid for the additional power they needed. A sudden drop in power could be any number of things, from someone pirating the power in E section, the supply being rationed from the city, or a breakdown in distribution. Milo eliminated most of these immediately. E section had plenty of power coming in, the problem was someone tapping into it illegally.

From the location, Milo immediately suspected Kaminski. Sure enough, several more industrial bays were now housing his operation. The amount of power he was using was more than was allocated to Section E, and other machinery was being shut down to compensate. Food processing hadn't worked for an hour, air was moving sluggishly in the whole system.

Milo started trickling power into the system from the emergency storage batteries to compensate. That would buy him time, but he knew things were just going to get worse and worse. Kaminski must be bribing someone. A lot of someone's. It was obvious to Milo that he would have to do something.

He had been undecided about trying to notify someone about Kaminski before. Now it had to happen. Whether or not it brought inquisitive people into Section E was a moot point. They'd be here sooner or later when the systems started failing. Better to somehow get him kicked out of here before then.

Security cameras showed Milo what was new. The first was another shipment of the old defective pods, and space to accommodate more people working in them. But the main power hogs were the row upon row of servers and the cooling systems they needed. Cryptocurrencies were still one of the main monetary systems in the world, despite the failures of some of the biggest companies involved. But the world always needed ways to move money, so new Crypto systems were set up each year, with their need for huge amounts of power. Two of the industrial bays were being set up to house a massive server farm. The combined power drain, heat pollution, and water needs for the workers would all overload what was left of Section E's mechanical systems.

Milo started observing Kaminski in real time, while running the security tapes, looking for information on what he was setting up. Kaminski seemed to be constantly on his phone. Before every call he was punching in codes, often cursing when he got them wrong. Three times he ran a cable from his phone to one of the computers or to the MKVII pod. He was obviously trying to set up a link to his systems from somewhere else.

Milo couldn't access his phone, but he'd long ago hacked Kaminski's computers. Looking at it from that end he could see that in order to access information on another network, the pod and his computers needed to be connected to his phone for the access codes. Kaminski wasn't good at this, but didn't trust his techs to do the work. He fumbled with it for hours before he got things set up correctly. Milo could see a huge amount of information coming from...somewhere. Kaminski's employers? Their main network?

Milo needed that phone. Which currently was sitting on a small table next to the MarkVII pod, in a room with twenty people, some of which were heavily armed. A diversion was needed. A messy one.

Carbon Monoxide monitors were a very common safety device in the habitats, especially in industrial areas. The colorless, odorless gas could kill hundreds of people if it went undetected too long. At 10:38, about an hour after Milo exited his pod, 47 separate CO sensors started blaring their alarms in the rooms that housed the MK3 pods, and the sleeping quarters of the off-duty workers. Techs raced to find the problem, and some of the guards accompanied them to keep the mob of workers under control. The gas was detected, but the source wasn't found. If anything, it was coming from several places.

Things got worse when something hot started a small fire in a trash receptacle, which triggered sprinkler systems. Water sprayed out of fire prevention systems in several rooms, one of which was the newly installed server center. Several machines were total losses as they shorted out before power could be turned off.

A minute later one of the jury-rigged coolant lines that had been hastily installed in the ceiling came uncoupled. Someone hadn't tightened the clamps holding two hoses together correctly and the pressure broke the joint. High pressure cooling fluid sprayed all over the area below it, which included the MK7 pod. By some luck, as the hose jerked around from the spewing fluid, the pod itself wasn't hit, but the area around it burst into flames. Cooling fluid is highly flammable. Something must have caused a spark.

In the heavy smoke and flames, no one noticed a metal cable about an inch wide snake out of the ceiling, uncouple Kaminski's phone, and then drag the item back into the ceiling above the pod. The tendril reappeared a moment later with what might have been a duplicate of the phone but was actually a quickly made plastic casing filled with easily melted electronic components. The sacrificial duplicate was placed in the phone's location, and a moment later burst into flames as coolant fluid sprayed down on it.

Before the emergencies had been dealt with, Milo had the real phone in his workshop and was carefully taking it apart, bypassing its security, and making it a part of his system. He had logs of all the calls placed in the last year, all of the codes, and passwords. By tomorrow he would know more about who Kaminski was working for and what he had been trying to set up.

Kaminski was furious, screaming at everyone. How the hell could people be so stupid. Yes, he'd wanted things set up as fast as they could. And yes, he may have ignored a few recommendations the technicians had made, but still, they should have been more careful. They had days of clean up to do. He'd lose at least a week getting things back to normal. But no one had died. The authorities didn't even know anything had happened, and nothing essential had been destroyed.

Until one of the techs handed him a blackened bit of plastic and metal that he recognized as the high-tech communications device his employers had trusted him with. He screamed at the techs to fix it, but even he knew that wasn't happening. It was falling to pieces, the circuitry totally fried and crumbling. Things couldn't get any worse.

Chapter 21: Stinky Cheese!

The night market was in full swing when Milo emerged from the guildhall. He needed to do some shopping, and he felt much calmer here in the gloom near Light's End. Between the shadows and spending points on The Invisible Tail, he was confident he could roam around in his normal skin here, no one the wiser.

He'd made the trip back across the rooftops without much incident. A few things had been thrown at him from windows, and he'd stumbled over two teenagers involved in romance upon one roof, but overall, it was quicker than using the streets. And he'd gotten a great view of an airship! A very small dirigible had gone overhead, propellers pushing it forward. The gasbag didn't seem anywhere near big enough to hold it up. Some sort of magic must be involved. Milo sat and watched as it gained altitude and finally docked at one of the hanging buildings near the ceiling.

The Miners Guild had purchased all of his deep copper ore. It had been a chore packing it up the stairs. He didn't want to reveal his Smuggler's Stash within the guild. Instead, he found a secluded spot in an unused room a few levels away and transferred the ore to several large bags. He unloaded it into bags and took three trips to get it all upstairs. A couple of the miners had laughed as he was struggling to get the loads up the stairs and ladders. The burly men could have easily taken it all in one load. After selling the copper, he was 30 silver richer.

The parts from the machinery had surprisingly been worth more. When he dumped out the assortment of gears, broken sprockets, and chain drives, the appraiser's face had gone from curiosity to greed. "Oh, nice, very nice. Old work here; where did you say you found these?"

Milo kept his answers vague. "Down deep, I got lost wandering through caves, ran from some critters, and found an old mineshaft and a machine. It was all torn apart, and I grabbed the best parts. Not sure if I can find it again."

The old dwarf knew a deflection when he heard one. "Well, if you suddenly remember, bring me more of it. These are hardened dark iron. After the parts are forged, some of the old smiths had a way to harden the outer layers of the metal and leave the inner layers still flexible. Ideal for machine parts." He'd given Milo 100 silver for the parts, quite a sum of cash, and now it was time to go shopping at the nearby market.

His first priorities were food and carving tools. While looking through the food vendors, he smelled something delicious! He began running and dodging through the light crowds, diving under tables, and leaping over obstacles. Vendors cursed behind him, and urchins took advantage of his disruption to steal food and goods. Milo was unaware of all of this; he just kept following his nose. And his nose led him to a small store on the edge of the market, near fish vendors and soap makers. The shoppers in this area held sachets of spices to their noses or had a cloth on their faces.

Milo stood before the cheese shop and inhaled the strong aroma of dozens of cheeses. Two halflings were behind the counter. An older woman was working at a stove, dipping large cubes of cheese into a boiling pot of red wax. She saw Milo and nodded at him. "Be right with you sir!". The other halfling was much younger and male. He was taking a break, reclining in an old chair, snoring, with his large and hairy feet on the counter. The old woman kicked out with a foot, tipping the chair over and knocking him to the floor. He came up yelling. "Ah hell, grandma, why'd you have to wake me up again?"

Grandma snorted and whispered at him. "Get up, Jethro, you lazy lout. A customer needs to be taken care of!"

Jethro dusted himself off and smiled at Milo. "Sir, welcome to our shop. We make the best stinky cheese..." He was cut off by a glare from his grandma. "um...the finest varieties of fragrant cheeses in all of the city."

Milo was drooling. "I can't believe I didn't smell your shop the last time I was in the market."

Jethro leaned forward and spoke in a stage whisper. "It's a terrible thing, sir, but the authorities make us move around a lot for some reason. Makes it difficult for our best customers to find us."

"But enough about the troubles of hard-working cheese merchants. What type of delicacy can I get for you today? A nice slice of gorgonzola? My grandma is just sealing our latest batch of freshly made, aged cheddar. Take home a block; you won't be disappointed. And for the brave soul with a taste for the exotic, I have a round of Liederkranz. And we always have plenty of Limburger."

Milo's eyes darted around the stand. "I'll take all your cheese."

Jethro suppressed a smile at the thought of selling a huge platter of cheese. "Very good, sir. One assortment of all of it coming right up. Would you prefer a basket of a dozen samples? Our finest assortment of 30 slices? And our 'feed the neighborhood' basket comes with a bit of all 57 of our slinkiest cheeses in all their pungent glory."

Milo put down the bag of copper Harry had paid him and added a handful of silver. "I didn't ask you for a menu; I said I'll take all your cheese. "

Jethro stammered a bit upon seeing the money. Grandma looked at Milo and saw he was shaking and taking deep breaths. "Dammit, Jethro, back away now and start packing it all up. I've dealt with his type before. Get moving!"

Turning to Milo, she handed him a large chunk of freshly made, aged cheddar. "Here sir, why don't you start on this to take the edge off of your hunger while we get you all packed up?" As Milo began to gnaw on the cheddar, she expertly scooped the money into her apron while keeping an eye on him.

When all the cheese in the stand was packed up, Milo had finished his snack and was feeling better. He looked at the assortment of boxes and bags and realized he couldn't carry them all. He looked over at the two happy but nervous cheese makers. "If you don't mind, I'd like to be alone with my cheese for a bit."

Jethro scratched his head, confused. "Why do you need..."

Grandma grabbed Jethro by the arm and dragged him out of the stand, pulling the leather curtains closed. "We totally understand sir. We'll give you some time with your purchases. Come on Jethro, its lunch time."

As she dragged her grandson away, she shook her finger and admonished him. "What have I told you about his type? When they get the hunger, you need to be careful. Don't end up like your Uncle Philmont." Jethro didn't know he'd ever had an Uncle Philmont.

Milo had ten Enhancement Points and he spent five of those to buy the second level of Smuggler's Stash. That gave him 9 cubic feet of room. He saw now how useful it was. If he could somehow gain two more points, he could buy the third level! That would hold a lot more cheese, something that was suddenly very important to him. Each variety had its own smell and he couldn't imagine not buy them all.

The chest was now a cube with each side a little more than two feet long. He filled the chest with cheese along with a lovely fondue set that grandma had added to the deal, leaving out two blocks of cheddar to put into his backpack. Dismissing the chest he continued on his way, able to think a bit better. Some of his exhaustion faded away. Time to go pick up the rest of the gear he needed for a good explore of the old mines.

Shopping list:

-Engraving and carving tools.

-Dried meats and bread.

-Rope, pitons,

-blank journal and pen/ink

-3 water skins

-clean underclothes

-saw

-mechanics tools

He was nearly broke when he finished, with only 3 coppers left in his pouch. With a backpack full of supplies and a belly full of cheese, he started to head back down to find Harry and do some more mining and exploring. He didn't plan on coming back up for a week. An hour after he had eaten his fill of cheese, he received a message made him happy and showed the wisdom of stocking up on supplies.

You have enjoyed a healthy meal of tasty cheese. Your racial ability, The Strength of Cheese! Is at level 1. Every day that you eat one pound of cheese, you will heal wounds twice as fast, gain a bonus of +50 Health, and increase your STR by +2. Stay healthy and eat your cheese. Not eating cheese for one day will strip you of these benefits. Not eating cheese for two days will result in weakness. Your health will decrease by -50 and your WIS by -2. Don't let this happen.

When Jethro and his grandmother returned, they found not even a crumb in their stall. Grandmother looked around while jingling the coin in her pocket. "Just like I thought, he's a hungry one. Worst I've seen."

Jethro asked, "So what do we do?"

"You have to ask, boy? We get the clan to work making more cheese and get rich when he comes back for more. If we're lucky, he has a family or clan just as hungry for cheese as he is."

Chapter 22: Clan Business

Burnock Shadowforge turned the heavy metal gear over and over in his hands, looking for flaws. The gear was several hundred years old, maybe a lot older. A skilled dwarf could tell by the amount of oxidation on the inner groove of the gear. Very slight, but it was there. He took a hammer and steel chisel and tried to put a dent in it. The steel chisel blunted without putting a scratch in the gear. This was a size 7, #fourteen hardened dark iron gear. This gear was used in hundreds of different dwarven machines. Millions of this type of gear had been made by dwarven mechanics. But not out of this material.

The hardening process had been a secret of the Shadowforge clan and their engineers. It made their metal stronger, their picks better, and their machines needed less repairs. This monopoly had let his clan expand their mining operations in many places, but especially under this city. Deep copper and dark iron had flowed like a river out of their mines. They had been a rich and respectable clan!

That all ended, so the clan elders say, the day that the old city went away. Details were sort of sketchy on the why of it all. Humans and Elves were having a war with each other, and the Light and the Dark were involved. Dwarves stayed out of it. They didn't care about the property topside. Dwarves had built their own part of the town deep in the hollow mountain that loomed up next to the human's coastal city. Trade was good. The humans always needed metal, and dwarven stone smiths found a lot of work building the ever-expanding city.

At some point, the human mages had done something wrong, or maybe the elves had used a spell that should never have been used. No dwarf trusted elves, so they mostly blamed them for what had happened. If you were topside and could see it, you were dead. All the dwarves knew was that one moment they had a city inside a hollow mountain, and the next moment there was a tremendous light that blinded or killed anyone near the surface and scooped away a good chunk of the mountain.

The city was gone, along with a huge amount of earth under the city. Whatever had hit the city had been so powerful that had carved it a giant sphere out of the mountain, and everything all gone away. The only thing left was one tower of black rock, comically sitting on a perfect pillar of stone nearly a half mile tall, holding it above a perfectly shaped hemisphere of nothing. The city was gone, and a good chunk of the coastline. The seas came pouring in, creating a perfectly round bay whose edge was now under the overhanging cliff of the mountain. The old city of the humans, Sartothra, was gone. The dwarven city of Hollowmount was nearly destroyed, with its buildings knocked flat and too much light pouring in. The damned tower was still there, a mystery that was never solved. The seas all around it were filled with creatures that destroyed any ship that approached, and something in the tower destroyed airships that floated too close.

But the worst hit were the clan holdings, down low near the mines. The earthquake that accompanied the destruction collapsed mineshafts and tunnels and destroyed the dwarven enclaves. 90% of the Shadowforge clan was killed or never returned. And the secret of hardening dark iron had died with them. His clan, like many of the dwarven clans, went from wealth to poverty in the span of a day. Hollowmount was never truly rebuilt. The remaining dwarves and refugee humans built what they could to survive, and the bay was perfect for large ships to stop and shelter from frequent storms. The city of Shadowport was built on the rubble of Hollowmount.

And today, some snot-nosed human had wandered into the guildhall and sold machine parts no one had seen in ages. Machine parts made by his clan. The kid had only been a member of the miner's guild for a couple of days and could barely haul a sack of ore. What the hell was he doing stealing his clan's property and running around their old mines? Because Burnock knew that was where he'd found these.

He'd sold deep copper ore along with the machine parts. That gave Burnock a rough idea of the area. And it wasn't good. That part of the deep-down was avoided by anyone who wanted to keep breathing. It was filled with poisonous mushrooms, copperheads, myconian monsters, and layers of soft earth that shifted too easily. 'Shakytown' they'd called that area. Start swinging some picks and making some noise, and it was even odds over whether you died from some critter or the ceiling fell in on you.

But that made a bit of sense, that the boy found those parts there. It might not have always been so treacherous, or the clan wouldn't have put in the mines there. But now it was avoided, and those parts had sat for ages. The appraiser had bought them for a fraction of their value, paying in weight of metal as they bought everything. The real value was to a mechanic with older machines.

Burnock called in his cousin Shifty. He'd had another name once, but the clan had taken it away when his fingers were caught taking money that didn't belong to him. So now he was missing a joint on his right index finger, and his name was Shifty. No one in the clan would deal with him except Burnock. Shifty got a bit of coin now and then in exchange for doing things Burnock didn't want traced back to him. It was an arrangement that worked for both of them.

"Get an adventuring party together. The type you like. Then find out where the kid goes, and track him back to the old areas he found. I want to get in and claim them before someone else finds out.

Shifty smiled. He liked 'adventuring'. Almost anything could happen. "And when we're done getting the info?"

Burnock held up his hands. "I don't need to know. I'm hiring you to follow a clue, and hoping to reclaim clan secrets. You handle it your way."

"Sure cousin, I'll handle things my way."

Samantha found a very depressed Sidney sitting at her desk and angrily typing. Normally Sidney typed with one hand and drank her coffee with the other. Today her cup was empty. That was a very, very bad sign.

"Everything Ok?"

Sidney slowly turned. "You know it isn't, and yet you say that hoping I'll give you some clue. But I'm on to you! "

Samantha took the empty cup, walked quickly away, and brought Sidney two fresh cups. She looked at them, drank one down, and held the other as she stared at her screen. "Thank you. I'll kill you last since you know how to bring me offerings."

"Lemme guess? You missed him?"

The second cup of coffee was empty in two sips. Sidney rubbed at her eyes with the palms of her hands. "Yep, he knew just when to log in. After sixteen hours of waiting for him to log in again, it happens 23 minutes after I've gone to bed. I slept through the alarm for 7 minutes, and by then, he had been in the simulation we set up, had eaten the bacon and cheese dip, and went onto the main game. How the hell is he doing this?!"

Samantha got herself a cup of caffeine and sat down. "Don't fret too much, hon, you got some clues, and they helped. Two days from now, we'll have his approximate location."

Sidney spun her chair around. "HOW!?"

"I've been going through the programming of the MKVII pods. They have scheduled times to check for updates. The next time our guy is in the pod, and it sends us his medical files, the pod will ask for any updates to programming, and the new update I wrote will load."

Sidney just stared. "That's too simple; I'm not sure if I should kiss you or hate you. Why didn't I think of that."

"You were too busy setting traps with cheese dip."

Chapter 23: Little bugs, big bugs, bugs for dinner.

The entrance to the cave leading to the deep-down and Harry's mushroom farms had a sign in front of it. Milo couldn't read the dwarven runes, but the picture of dead birds and little swirls above them was understandable: Bad air. Milo could smell an awful pong coming up from the cave, but it wasn't worse than what Harry's farm normally smelled like. Hopefully, Harry's bath time had generated some bad smells that were now gone. Milo slipped past the sign and began his descent.

There were pockets of bad air, but the upward draft was clearing them. Milo stopped to fortify himself with a small cheesy snack now and then to help him keep climbing and ignore the smell. Finally arriving at Harry's farm, he was happy to find the air much better down here. The stench seemed to be coming from a manure pile near the entrance, and once passed he could breathe easily.

"Milo, you're back! Just in time for dinner." The voice was Harry's, but the person talking was different. Gone were the layers of filthy clothes. Instead, he was wearing loose pants and a tunic. His enormous feet emerged from the pants. Long arms ended in huge misshaped hands. Hair and beard that had been huge bushes were trimmed neatly back to reveal a smiling face. Where the first Harry was round and swaddled, this creature was nearly seven feet tall and on the thin side. His blue-grey skin looked rocky and hard.

"What did that thing you ate do to you, Harry?"

Harry looked down at himself and then smiled. "Hah! it fixed me! I was shriveling up more and more. I had a terrible case of terra magicae defectus. Even covering myself in layers of earth, worms, and grubs couldn't keep up with the drain. I turned to an all-mushroom diet, and that slowed it. But I really needed a huge boost of Earthen Mana to get back to normal.

"And this is normal?"

The new Harry nodded. "Sure is. You mean to tell me you didn't know I was a troll?"

"That wasn't mentioned at the guild hall when I took the job."

Harry smiled, "Probably a good thing. Hard enough getting help down here. If they told people that the person hiring them was a troll, it might make it tougher to find helpers. But hey, grab a seat; I'm back to my cooking. I made a nice stew of giant beetles and some portabella."

Milo wasn't picky about food. He'd eaten food cubes for most of his life. The crunchy beetles in a creamy mushroom sauce were delicious.

A few hours later, Milo was creeping carefully towards the mushroom caverns when he saw movement. Something large had been moving along the wall, but now he saw nothing. He stayed very still, hoping that Skulk would allow him to go unnoticed until he knew what the creature was. He saw movement again in the center of the cave. A fat beetle about a foot long was moving slowly along the tunnel. A creature appeared near the wall and lunged. Large claws slammed into the beetle, raising it up to a mouth with two flanking mandibles. Two bites later, the beetle was gone.

Milo got a good look at its killer before the creature faded away, its armored carapace blending into the side of the tunnel

Giant Cave Mantis Level 2 ambush, camouflage

Milo had been looking forward to testing his new spells out on a myconid guardian and was tempted to try his hand on this stronger opponent. Could you ambush an ambusher? Milo saw movement again as another beetle came wandering along the cave. Were they migrating? Or just heading for a snack at Harry's farm? It was obvious where Harry had gotten last night's dinner.

As the mantis pounce on the beetle, he tossed a skull towards the creature. The butcher who had sold him four dozen rabbit skulls had kept his curiosity to himself. Rabbits were raised as meat in Shadowport and fed on a diet of dried seaweed.

Milo had 305 total mana. Some of that was from his INT and WIS bonuses. That meant he could throw 6 of these bombs before running out of mana. Assuming he had a good supply of skulls.

The mantis had been focused on the beetle. As it pounced, the skull landed between its four legs. The explosion hit it hard, and small pieces of bone bounced off its carapace or created small wounds.

BOOM!

You have slain Giant Cave Beetle x2

You have injured a Giant Cave Mantis for 75 points of damage minus 10 points of armor mitigation. Health 135/200

Giant Cave Mantis is not happy with you!

The mantis was thrown back against the wall by the explosion. The beetle in its claws was shredded, as was another that had been crawling behind it. The mantis recovered quickly and ran forward on its four legs, raising its claws to attack.

Milo tried out his second new spell, pulling a carved and pointed femur from some animal. He hadn't asked the butcher for details. The Bone Spike glowed and shot away from him as he cast the spell. Aiming wasn't difficult. The mantis was pretty much right in front of him. The small bone spike, part of a carved rib bone from an animal, raced away from Milo and punched into the bug's carapace and out the other side. One claw scraped across his shoulder as it died, doing 30 damage.

As he looked at the combat messages, he failed to see a ripple of movement as a second mantis attacked. His Danger Sense skill screamed a warning, far too late. The mantis slashed down at Milo, who failed to dodge entirely. He tried to run away, but the mantis was adept at chasing prey and kept up with him. Milo took another small slash, dropping his health to 100. He was half dead already, and the second enemy was fresh and couldn't be avoided. He turned suddenly, leaping toward the surprised insect, his tail swinging in an arc to slash across its face. He held Shadowblight in both hands, bringing it down on the Mantis' head as both claws slashed his sides and captured him. His health plummeted to only twenty points.

But his weapon punched straight through the carapace, leaving two leaking holes. Shadowblight's curse took the insect's armor to zero and reduced its damage to 25 points, saving Milo from far worse wounds. The Cave Mantis was down to only 40 health, and desperate. Milo was at 50.

He struggled as the Mantis lifted him up, and its head started to move forward. In desperation, he put his weapon in front of his face, unable to swing it. But he still had a weapon! His tail slashed at the Mantis, doing enough damage to kill it. The bug slowly toppled over; with Milo still stuck in its claws.

That had been too close. He hadn't been prepared for the mantis's speed or its grapple attack. But still, he had won. Near the top of the cave, twenty feet up the wall was a small ledge. He carefully crawled up to it, out of the main corridor and hid in the shadows while he bandaged his wounds and enjoyed a nice piece of cheddar to give a boost to his healing.

He debated the choices he had made with his enhancement points. Should he have spent the points to increase his health? Seven points would give him 350 health instead of 200 and that fight wouldn't have been so close. Of course, if he had been more careful, he would have seen the second mantis. That was the real mistake. He went over the fight again and again, thinking about things he could have done as he chewed on his snack and the line of migrating beetles moved through the cave.

You have slain 2x Giant Cave Mantis! You earned extra experience for fighting a creature over your own level.

You have gained 300 points in Bonecasting.

You have earned 50 experience in Dodge.

You have earned 300 experience in INT

You have earned 50 experience in AGI.

Bonecasting has reached rank 2!

INT has reached rank 4!

Chapter 24: Home, sweet home.

After several hours of rest, Milo moved through the rockfall and into the main mushroom cave. Behind him, a swarm of small beetles was swarming the carcass of the mantis and stripping it of flesh. That seemed right to Milo. Beetles ate the mantis, and the mantis ate the beetles. It was a good reminder that most things would probably eat him as well.

The first cave was quiet. He carefully moved through it, making sure not to step on any of the sporelings. Where Cronk had emerged, there was a large hole in the ground. Curious, Milo looked in. Mixed in the soft earth were bones, skulls, and bits of old armor and weapons. If Cronk had caught him, that's where Milo would have ended up, as fertilizer. He climbed down and rooted around, finding all manner of old bones and a half dozen skulls. He set aside the bones that were usable to take with him. The weapons and armor were rusted and bent except for two items. One was a small dagger, and the other was a short-handled shovel. A rotted pouch held some coins: 7 coppers, two silvers, and one gold. The gold coin had the face of a stern, bearded dwarf on it, wearing a crown. It seemed Cronk was more generous than Milo had given him credit for originally. He thanked the giant myconid and the unknown victims murdered by him and climbed out of the hole. Two small sporelings were looking at him. He carefully stepped around them and left them staring down into the Cronk-sized hole.

He found the entrance to the mines and carefully started exploring. What he was looking for was a good spot to set up a camp. There were several reasons for this. The first was just time. He couldn't be running back to Shadowport or even to Harry's to sleep and eat. Too much time wasted. The second was if he understood things correctly; once he made a camp and slept and ate here, he could designate it as his respawn point. No one planned on dying, but if he did, he'd rather not have a long walk and climb in his underwear back to his tombstone.

This is why he had bought a tent. Having a tent and a campfire made a campsite. If he had a campsite, he could summon a guard lizard to guard him with his ring. And if he died, he'd show respawn at his camp after a certain amount of downtime. He also wanted a place to store bones, ore, and machine parts he might find. His stash only held so much, and right now, most of the space held cheese.

This area of mine seemed to have been heavily explored. The main tunnel was about 7 feet wide and a similar height, with cross tunnels every 50 feet or so. These went 50 to 100 feet into the soft rock and earth. The cross tunnels were barely big enough for a man or miner to keep digging. Rarely over 3 feet wide and 6 feet tall. If they found any sign of ore, the area was further dug out. There was evidence that, at one time, there had been rails put down, but they must have reused them. Only rotted timbers remained on the floor.

The main tunnel went about 200 yards and abruptly ended in a crack in the earth. The crevasse extended downward past where Milo could see and went both right and left. A wooden platform hung from long cables that went up and up until the darkness obscured them. Gently, Milo tugged on a cable, and it didn't budge. He tested the two he could reach and then carefully stepped onto the platform, ready to leap back if it started to move. But nothing happened. The platform and cables were in good condition. There must be some machinery up top that would move the platform up and down. It reminded Milo of the big drops in the habitat.

Only one way to find out how high up the crevasse went and what was up there. Milo started to climb. In the real world, this would be difficult for Milo, even with his augmented limbs to help. Here it was easier. He had the climb skill, along with a light body strengthened by cheese and claws and tail to help him keep his grip on the cable. His feet were much better than a human's. His long toes could grip better, and his flexible feet could curve around or bend back. He climbed upwards over a hundred feet with no problem and was only slightly winded after two hundred feet. He saw a small alcove, like the start of a mineshaft, and decided to take a break. It was a little tricky to swing into it, but he managed with only a small slip, catching himself and dislodging a few rocks down into the crevasse.

The opening was only about five feet square and showed signs of being dug with a pick. It ended after 40 feet, widening to a ten-by-ten area. Part of the wall here was worked stone and slightly damp. Putting his ear to the stone, he could hear rushing water. The dwarves must have decided to start a side tunnel but hit an underground stream. He laughed when he saw they had even installed a small spigot. Turning it, cold water trickled out into a basin. Someone had been thorough in his work.

This was a perfect spot! It reminded Milo of some of his favorite hiding spots in the habitat. It was hard to get to, and no one had a reason to come here. No one would see any light unless they were looking straight in, and even then, a blanket over the opening would stop that.

Summoning his Smuggler's Stash, he pulled out the tent and tossed it to one side. He was delighted to use his magic ring to set up the tent. Next was the fondue pot with the small magical fire underneath it. Finally, he summoned the guard lizard. The two-foot-long, blue and gold reptile looked at him and then walked around the perimeter of the camp, snatching up small bugs with its tongue as it went. Satisfied that the boundaries of the camp were secure, the lizard settled down to watch the entry tunnel. If anything moved into it, it would make loud croaking noises with its throat pouch until Milo was roused. Harry had been right; this was the best magic ring ever!

After a hearty meal of melted cheese and stale bread, Milo laid down in his tent to take a nap and set his respawn point.

Setting respawn point. This will take four hours.

Options:

1) Pretend to sleep while you play on the data network.

2) Actually sleep; it will do you a world of good.

3) Log out and let your body sleep. Slightly dangerous as something might eat you. And then you would respawn, get eaten, respawn… you get the idea. Hardly ever happens to anyone. I don't know where they even came up with the term 'Death loop.'

Milo trusted his faithful lizard. He'd take the chance and log out, leaving his body to nap while he got work done in Section E. At the very least, he had to see what Kaminski was doing.

Chapter 25: Once a hacker...

Milo got out of the pod and got to work. He had four hours until he could go exploring again.

He paused at that thought; when had the game become so important? Sitting and thinking, he went over what he had done in the last two years. He had a near-perfect memory, and much of what he did was repetitive. It didn't take long to see that the fear of being found by someone had faded into the boredom of his day-to-day activities. He felt more alive when he was taking chances: dropping several stories down a chute and catching himself on a crossbar with his tail...stealing the pod from Kaminski...making raids on the unused sections for machinery...and exploring new parts of the decaying habitat.

But now he had a strange city to explore, caves that went forever, and secrets to find. He was still running through tunnels, hiding and scavenging, but it was so much better! The food tasted better; the exploring was more fun. Even the fights were fun once the sheer terror he had felt at first started to fade.

He even had a friend he talked to! Harry had shown him how to make mushroom powder and infusions and taught him the recipe for beetle stew. The stinky old troll felt non-threatening. Which he couldn't say about anyone in the real world.

He realized he was wasting time. That was five minutes gone, and the answer was obvious. He needed to get rid of Kaminski and crew, not be caught doing it, keep Section E running, and play when he could. A plan was coming together where one of his problems could solve some of his other problems.

Kaminski's phone had given up all of its secrets. He had all the codes and knew who he was contacting. It was time to see what he could find out. Kaminski's employer was a large corporation; that much was obvious from the security of their systems. The phone codes only got him so far, but from there, he could build something to get him inside.

As he probed their firewall and tested the security, he got an odd feeling. This was a familiar set-up. This was the security that he and his friends had worked with when they were hacking into systems for Kaminski and stealing for him. It had gone through some changes, but Milo knew things about it. Like the back door that Nimez had set up. Within seconds he was past the firewall and inside their system. He quickly set up a second back door, just in case he had triggered something.

Hours later, the game forgotten, Milo knew a lot more about things going on now and things that had happened decades ago. Old memories were cascading in his brain, triggering suppressed feelings. Anger at the men who stole his family, the fear of being left behind, the terror of surviving in the tunnels of the habitat until he learned enough to control his new world. And hatred at the people that had caused it all. He'd found information on his family, but they were long gone.

Behind the snarl of dummy corporations and false fronts was Victor Seimovich. Victor and his family owned 53% of Nechayev Corporation. This, in turn, owned the corporations who owned the labs that financed the secret experiments that had led to dozens of children being bought from their families and experimented on.

Milo's group had been successful early on. They weren't bought; they were made. Other groups, who hadn't been created in artificial wombs, hadn't. The other groups had more medical problems, were harder to control, and weren't as good as the fourth group that contained Milo. The groups that took too long to earn money or who didn't develop as fast were terminated. Killed. Murdered. Milo's group was making money; they got to live. They'd been so successful that someone had sold their information to another corporation. Kaminski had spirited them away just before the raid on the habitat.

From there, his family had been set up in one location after another. Work increased. They hacked systems, stole the money, then packed up and moved again. This got harder to do as the children grew older. They needed more medical attention for their imperfect bodies and mutated nervous systems. Things went wrong, and people died. Eventually, Kaminski had five of his family left. They were twenty years old but looked like ten-year-olds. He was happy to see that Ordo and Nimez were two of them. The others were Adam, Bork, and Zephron.

There was a large file on what went wrong one night and how the very profitable group four died. Many heads rolled after that. The five of them had tried to escape. Guards were bribed with money sent to secret bank accounts, security codes opened gates, and they made it out of the facility in a stolen vehicle. They didn't get far. There was an extra Nechayev security patrol they were unaware of, and it caught them as they were escaping. The security vehicle didn't know who was inside, and after a high-speed chase, they were destroyed. The report was sketchy, but a rocket-powered grenade had destroyed their vehicle, killing everyone inside. Whether it was on purpose or not, it didn't matter. His family was dead. He hadn't seen them in years, but he'd always hoped that, somehow, he would find them and make contact. Not now.

Milo sat and cried for an hour and then got back to work. He told himself they'd died long ago, and the only thing left was some petty revenge on his part. Well, not petty. He was going to hurt them. And in a bit of irony, his family was going to help. They must have been planning on stealing all of the money from Nechayev Corp, its subsidiaries, and Victor Seimovich and his family. They had set up plans to move the money, hidden offshore bank accounts, cryptocurrencies, and even a thousand pounds of gold held in a Swiss vault. All Milo had to do was pull the triggers.

Manipulating the bank accounts had been easy once he found a complete set of the programs he had used as a child. All of the illegal tools were there. Milo transferred everything he needed from the Nechayev storage and set up a few surprises. Seimovich didn't trust any type of data storage that someone could steal. Nothing was stored externally. All the data was securely stored. Milo wasn't going to touch it. He might hand it over to the authorities later. But it was easy once he was inside to change the access to it. Better than erasing the entire database, he just hid it.

He also wanted to shut down Kaminski. To his surprise, he found out that Kaminski was small fish. Nechayev had dozens of operators like him setting up illegal pod farms. Each one using a new Mark VII pod slaved to hundreds of older MK II and MK IIIs. The people inside those pods were working within the game. Mining gold or iron, hunting for magic items, and running some dungeons over and over every day. At this stage in the game, all of the raw materials and low-grade items were worth quite a bit of money. There were deals in place with three corporations that had financial commitments and were in competition in the game world. Milo didn't care about the details; he just wanted to shut things down.

There was one very interesting tidbit that he saw in those plans. They needed one person to move things in the game undetected. There were only a few classes that could easily and reliably do this. Imperial Couriers were one of those, but it had proven a tricky class to use as they had huge demands on their time and couldn't just disappear to smuggle goods. Pirate captains could hide a large number of goods in hidden holds, but that required both a ship and crew and could only go certain places. Dwarven bootleggers had a storage device to move alcohol. By far, the best was the Smuggler, a type of rogue that specialized in moving goods in secret. They had an ability called Smugglers Stash.

Several of the pods had been modified using info stolen from the game developers. Smuggler was available to whoever first used those pods to create a character. Several were being used. Their only downside was that they were obvious. Some players and NPCs could see that a person was a smuggler, not a normal rogue. At that point, they drew a lot more attention if they were making regular runs.

Kaminski had been given the task of testing out the smuggling capabilities of a special type of character. They had the same ability but far greater stealth skills. They were also unknown at this point in the game because to earn the class, a player would have to stumble into the right circumstances and then complete a long and difficult quest known as The Eye of Wonder. By stealing Kaminski's MK VII pod, Milo had also stolen the way to start the game as a Wererat Scout.

Nechayev was bypassing all the expenses other corporations were having to put out. They didn't provide the workers with MK VII pods, didn't pay them, just used them up and tossed the bodies in a recycler.

That was going to end tonight. Milo was pretty sure he could use some of the systems in the MK VII pods to alert the authorities and keep himself anonymous. He started to set up the programs he wanted to use and ran through the MK VII system again. To his huge surprise, he found that his own pod had already been talking to someone! His medical scans had been forwarded to the worldwide database to set up his treatment plan.

He sat still for a minute, pondering the implications. He should have known. That was its main priority and why he had wanted the pod, in the first place, to cure his problems. He'd missed that the pod did this automatically whenever a person was using it. So, while he was cleverly hiding his gaming connection, the pod was doing its best to yell, "Hey, the sneaky guy over here doesn't get the vitamins he needs!"

The second surprise was the update system. An update had recently been added to his pod. That triggered his suspicions. A half-hour later, he realized just how lucky he had gotten, starting with Kaminski being careless with his phone. It was ironic. Milo had looked at the pod's systems to start building a program to alert the authorities to where the other pods were. Meanwhile, that exact type of program had been loaded into his pod.

In some ways, it was convenient. He had far less work to do now, and he knew just who to send the information to. Whoever it was trying to catch him had already been tracking people using the pods illegally. Who better to alert?

Milo carefully made sure his own pod wasn't going to betray him again. Then he transferred the "Here I am!" program to all the other MK VII pods. When that was ready, he started on the banks. He didn't miss his four-hour mark by too much.

He planned on logging into the game, checking on his camp, and then coming back to start all the fun just as the sun was coming up outside.

Sidney was looking forward to the fun starting. She was ready this time. She may not have all the info just yet, but she had enough to scare him and run a bluff. She knew he was using the Wererat Scout because of the ability to smuggle goods. They had a good idea of where the in-game activities were taking place and in what cities. This 'Milo' happened to be operating out of one of those.

She wanted to get him talking. To that end, she had a table full of the best cheese in the game. With his race's addiction, she doubted he'd scramble to get into the game until he'd stuffed himself. And by then, she would hopefully have slammed the door on him. Samantha was in her role as his mentor, and Stephen was watching remotely. Wally was watching because Wally was always watching.

Sidney was anxious to confront Milo. She wanted to tell him she knew exactly where he was and have people ready to arrest him. Let him squirm for a little bit, and then cut a deal with him. Make him rat out all of the people he was working with so they could shut down the entire operation.

Milo logged into the game and was surprised to once again see his mentor from the tutorial, and the little halfling, Sidney, waiting for him. But he was delighted to see what they were having for breakfast. Cheese! Cheese dip! Cheese Danish! and many other dishes he didn't know about other than they had cheese in them. Sidney motioned to him to join them. "Hiya Milo, grab a seat; we can talk while you get some grub."

Milo didn't have to be told twice. He sat and started on the Danish. "Thanks, really nice of you. This is one of the best parts of the game."

Sidney smiled and crunched down some bacon. "Sure is. I rolled up a halfling just so I could enjoy the food. I can eat breakfast three times before having a double lunch and still not gain a pound."

Her eyes narrowed. "But we need to talk. I know what you're up to and where you are living."

Milo didn't believe her. "That's hard to take seriously. I just set up camp, and I think you'd have a hard time getting there."

Sidney slapped her forehead in exasperation; this guy was goofy to talk to. "No, not in the game. In real life. I'd like you to stay and talk a bit. Maybe we can work something out. Don't try to go anywhere; there are going to be people ready to arrest you. Let's talk about the pod you are using illegally."

Milo froze and then began thinking very fast. Far faster than any normal human. This wasn't part of the tutorial; they were tracking him in the game, probably based off of the data from the connection for medical data. The back door that he'd been unaware of. But they didn't know what he was doing in the game and couldn't stop him from logging in and out. They'd tried, though. It hadn't worked, he realized, because of his tail. Since he kept himself plugged into his own systems, he could log out with a thought, and they couldn't stop him. So, Sidney had tried a different route, updating his pod with the "Here I Am program." And she thought that would work.

"What am I doing illegally?" Milo cut a huge slice of something white, gooey, and smelly. It was so good.

"You accessed a character class that shouldn't have been available to you for one! This tells us you stole information on the game, most likely by bribing a developer."

Milo shook his head. "I wanted a character with a tail. I found one. Not my fault it was available. I can honestly say I didn't know. You should really let people play ratkin and Wererats, in my opinion. Very cool race."

The conversation wasn't going the way Sidney wanted, but she was really just stalling. "We know you are part of a ring that is putting hundreds of people into the game illegally."

Again, Milo shook his head. "Not me. I play alone. But I'll admit that I do know people who have put over 20,000 people into the game without going through the normal system. They have a couple of hundred early model pods slaved to each MK VII. And it's killing people. You should catch them and shut them down."

Sidney's jaw dropped. "Why do you think I'm talking to you? Look, we're prepared to deal. Leniency for you, in exchange for information on where to find these people. "

Now Milo was interested. "Really? Ok, how about this? You promise to not interfere in my gaming, and I get to keep my pod. Then we shut down the illegal operations and tip off the authorities. Or are you the authorities? It's hard to know who to contact sometimes. Everything is really grey in the real world. Oh, and by the way, nice job on the update program. Really useful."

"You found the update? Dammit." Sidney tried to check the program. She should have his location by now. Nothing happened. They were back to square one.

Milo smiled. "You tried the update, I see. That's the last time you can back door into my pod. That connection is now severed. So, unless you figure out how to crack my 64-channel algorithm, you aren't finding me. Do we have a deal? Unlimited gameplay, free pod. In exchange, I give you what you want."

Sidney was so confused; how was this guy staying ahead of her? "That's it? You don't want protection from prosecution. You don't need a new identity so your old boss can't find you? Just the game?"

Milo shook his head. "Nope. Why should I? I already don't exist. No one knows who I am or where I am. No one cares a bit about me. My family is all dead, and I'm all alone! It's a miracle I'm even alive. I stole the pod from some bad people because I need it to help me to continue to stay alive. Just let me be. Leave me alone!"

And with that, Milo disappeared.

Sidney put her head on the table. And then, her location program went off in 37 different places from around the globe, telling her where to find 37 illegal MK VII pods, along with 20,000 illegal early model pods and 20,000 people abused into using them.

Stephen was typing furiously and yelling, "WALLY!". The large screen lit up in front of him, with Wally's avatar on it. "Good job Stephen; your team cracked the case wide open. I have teams of law enforcement en route to all of those locations. It's going to be a very busy morning for us and a very bad morning for a lot of other people."

Kaminski barely reacted as the door to his operation was battered down, and uniformed men with guns and warrants swarmed into his building. He should never have come back here. This building was bad luck for him.

Chapter 26: Snakes! Why'd it have to be snakes?

Milo logged into the game and emerged from his small tent. It was utterly dark in his camp. There was a slight glow that he recognized as part of the patterns on his watch lizard. He used his ring to start the tiny fire under his fondue pot. He noticed that the pot was suspiciously clean. His watch lizard gave him a look of total innocence, and then his long tongue darted out and dragged in a spider.

The lizard watched Milo as he washed the pot out and then added cheese to melt. When he saw the cheese, he leaned back and sat up like a dog, rolling his eyes. Since each eye could roll in a different direction, it was a bit unnerving. Milo tossed the lizard a bit of cheese and watched it jump and catch it in its mouth. Satisfied, the lizard lay down for a nap. Milo patted it on the head lightly. "You have a name, fella? What do I call you?" The lizard didn't seem to have an opinion on that. "Fine, I'll call you George. Good job, George, I'll call for you next time I'm in camp." George understood or seemed to. He stood up, yawned, and disappeared.

With a bit of melted cheese and bread, Milo was ready to begin exploring again. As he exited the back area of the tunnel, he got a system message asking if he would like to make this his camp. Milo hit 'yes' and felt excited. He was deep underground, living in a hidden cave, and couldn't be happier. Time to see how far this crack goes up.

Listening carefully, he heard nothing and began to scamper up the cable. After another 100 feet, he came to the top of the cables. The crevasse had gotten narrower and continued upward. Heavy timbers had been put in place across it both to provide walkways and to support the cables going down to the crude elevator. The cables were looped over large wheels and then threaded through a machine where they emerged on the other side and could be wound onto large drums. The machine must pull or lower the four cables simultaneously. There was a crank on one side with an assortment of gears. Anyone who could turn that crank would be stronger than 10 of Milo. On the other side, he saw where another machine had sat, probably the engine to drive the elevator.

He wondered what the dwarves uses for power. Coal? Wood? Some type of magic? In a world with spells that created lightning and fire out of nothing, a spell-driven power plant didn't seem farfetched.

On one side of the crevasse, there were extensive mines similar to what he'd seen lower down. After about 200 feet, only the main tunnel kept going. He followed it to a set of stone stairs mostly blocked with rubble and turned back. On the other side of the crevasse, there were a few long shafts dug. Milo saw what he thought were bits of ore in the walls. This area looked like it hadn't been worked and might be a decent spot to work on his mining and maybe make some money. He brought out his chest and took out ore sacks, his pick, and lantern, then dismissed it.

With the better light, he could see a seam of ore about 2 inches wide on either side of the tunnel. He swung his pick hard at the ore, and the pick went into the stone about 2 inches and stopped. After several more swings and a little work, he knocked loose a chunk of ore and examined it.

Deep Copper Ore

Medium Grade

1 Chunk

You have earned five experience points in Mining and five experience in STR.

It was a start. He needed 50 experience or ten chunks of ore to hit level one in mining, which would also give him another point of STR. Maybe things would go a bit easier then. He wasn't really concerned about it. He had put in years of work in the real world, moving around machines, repairing systems, and spending hours fixing what he could. A little bit of grinding in a game was nothing compared to that. And he was making money at the same time.

Milo fell into a rhythm. Chnk...chnk...chnk...thunk. Three swings and a chunk or ore dropped down. He worked the seam from the top to the bottom, going in a foot. Then he had to widen the hole on each side so he could go deeper into the rock, following the seam of ore. After about 20 chunks had fallen, he saw a much brighter piece drop.

Deep Copper Nugget

High-Grade Metal

You have earned 25 experience points in Mining and 25 experience in STR

The nugget was almost entirely made of pure copper with few impurities. It was nice to see that something besides just ore was in the mines.

Chnk...chnk...chnk...thunk. Chnk...chnk...chnk...thunk. Chnk...chnk...chnk...Crack! He'd hit something different. Looking at the spot he'd hit, it looked like a copper egg. He was starting to reach for it when it cracked open, and a small copper-colored snake worked its way out of the egg and dropped to the ground. It was only a foot long.

Hatchling Copperhead

elemental

The snake coiled itself up into a small pile and stuck its tongue out. It was so cute! Milo wondered if he could tame it. He was pretty sure George liked cheese, and he ate any bug he could find. Milo didn't have any bugs, but he did have some cheese. He took out a small piece of his cheese from his pouch and held it out. The snake eyed him with suspicion, then eyed the food. It stuck out its tongue and licked the cheese.

"It's all yours, little guy, go ahead, eat it."

The copperhead launched itself at his hand and bit deep, sinking sharp fangs into the tender part between the thumb and his index finger.

Hatchling Copperhead bites you for 5 points of damage.

You have been poisoned!

You take 5 points of damage. Your Health: 250/260

"Ow, dammit, let go!" Milo danced around, trying to dislodge the snake. After biting him again, it dropped off to the floor. Milo looked at his hand. The area around the bite was turning green. He felt a sharp pain in his ankle as the snake bit him again.

Hatchling Copperhead bites you for 5 points of damage.

You have been poisoned!

You take 5+5+5 points of damage. Your Health 225/260

Milo jumped back. The copperhead hissed at him, sounding like a leaky steam valve. The pick would be hard to hit the snake with. He pulled out the machete instead. As the copperhead slithered forward, he brought the machete down on it, cutting it in two. The snake turned into some nasty-smelling green gas, leaving only a coppery-red nugget of metal where its head had been.

What a Meany! You killed a baby snake!

Since this is your first fight with an elemental, we'll clue you in. Gathering resources always has a risk involved. Elementals form from pure deposits of resources and gain sentience. "Killing" them just sends the spirit back to the material that birthed it. You don't have to feel so guilty about killing a baby snake. Larger elementals can give enhancement points and nice rewards. Larger elementals are also much meaner.

You receive 25 experience in Short Blades and 25 experience in DEX.

You receive High-Quality Pure Copper Nugget

Milo sneered at the message. Guilty? The little shit had disdained his offering of food and then bit him three times. It earned that death! And it was still hurting him!

Milo continued to take damage as his hand and ankle swelled up, and the skin turned green. The messages and damage stopped after a few more. All told, the three hits and poison had done 90 damage in total. That was horrible! He'd almost been killed by a baby snake.

Too late, he remembered someone in the guild hall saying to be careful about copperheads. He hadn't known what a copperhead was at the time. The next time someone said, "Be careful about..." he promised that he'd ask questions and pay attention.

Time for cheese. He was hungry, and it would help with recovering his health. He wasn't going to keep mining with a throbbing hand and a swollen ankle. No more snake taming! Unless maybe he could put it in a cage somehow? After a very large lunch of some nice camembert and a slice of edam, he took a quick nap. Nothing killed him while he slept, and he awoke feeling quite a bit better.

He was definitely going to need more cheese. This stuff was great! Tasty food and it increased his health and healing rate and made him stronger! He got back to his mining, being more careful about what he was hitting. The little egg had a very thin shell that crumbled in his hand. Hopefully, he could spot the next one and avoid hitting it.

Chnk...chnk...chnk...thunk. Chnk...chnk...chnk...thunk. Chnk...chnk...chnk...Milo continued to expand the opening and follow the vein of deep copper into the side of the tunnel. Each sack held about 50 chunks of ore, and he'd almost filled the first sack entirely when he pulled down some ore and rock to reveal a bright vein of pure copper. If a small nugget was valuable, this much was going to keep him in cheese for a month.

That was when things went bad. The coppery vein seemed to pulse and shift. Milo scrambled backward immediately, hoping that this wasn't another elemental. Which, of course, it was.

Copperhead Vein-Lurker Level 3 (fast, poisonous, elemental)

mature elemental

Shit! Milo fired off a Bone spike immediately and followed up with a skull.

Bone Spike has wounded Copperhead Vein-Lurker for 50 points - 10 points (armored skin). Health: 260/300

The elemental was just done forming and hadn't moved yet when the Bone Spike hit it. It snapped at the protruding bit of bone. The skull bounced up to rest against its gleaming hide. Milo had leaped to the side immediately after the throw, getting out of the mouth of the narrow crevice.

The snake whipped around the corner. Milo slammed down Shadowblight, trying for a shot to its head. His attack just barely missed as the snake dodged to the side. The elemental lunged forward, sinking a fang into his leg and retreating. Milo had tried to dodge, but the thing was coming at him too quickly. He fell backward in a roll, coming to his feet and firing another Bone Spike

Exploding Skull has wounded Copperhead Vein-Lurker. The shrapnel from the blast bounces in the enclosed space doing double normal damage. First hit: 80-10=70 damage. Second hit: 100-10=90 damage. Total damage 160 points.

Health: 100/300

Copperhead Vein-Lurker is angry and is going to swallow you whole and slowly digest you

Fast as lightning, the snake struck at him, biting his leg, which immediately started swelling and turning green. This snake's venom was much stronger than the hatchling.

Copperhead Vein-Lurker bites you for 30 points of damage. You take an additional 30 damage from poison!

Your Health: 200/260

His second Bone Spike missed; the snake was better at dodging than he was! The elemental struck again, and he swung with Shadowblight, trying to at least knock it off course. His weapon hit the snake's head, but with the haft, doing no damage, but at least he wasn't bitten again. But the poison did another 30 damage to his health. A second bite would leave him dead for sure!

The snake was coiling for another attack. Milo tossed the last skull he had handy.

Exploding Skull has wounded Copperhead Vein-Lurker. Damage 100-10=90

Health: 10/300

So close! Can the youthful challenger take down the veteran elemental?

The blast disrupted the Copperhead's strike and wounded it badly. Milo swung with his weapon, trying for a hit. He had a better chance, with the snake momentarily stunned. He still missed! The snake didn't.

Copperhead Vein-Lurker bites you for 30 points of damage. You take an additional 30 damage from poison!

Health: 75/260

Bad news, fans! Our boy seems to be on his way down! Are we seeing a Copperhead comeback?

The poison was burning in his wounds, and his vision was bleary. He'd dropped his weapon somewhere...In desperation, Milo leaped onto the elemental and clawed at it, his tail slapping down on its head.

Here it is, folks! The rat is striking. He's going for the throat. Can he pull it off?

Tail slap fails to wound Copperhead Vein-lurker.

Weak Claw fails to wound Copperhead Vein-lurker.

Weak Claw...critically hits Copperhead Vein-lurker. You have slain the Copperhead Vein Lurker! Maybe there is some mongoose blood in you somewhere.

You have earned 500 experience that may be applied to any of the following skills: Bone Casting, Small Blades, Acrobatics, and Dodge. You may apply an equal amount of experience to the stats that govern those skills.

You have earned five core skill points. Base 3 points + 2 points for a creature over your level with special abilities.

Speaking of special abilities...like poison...

You have taken 60 damage from poison...

You have taken 60 damage from poison...

You have died.

Don't despair. Death in Genesis is not permanent. If you were a permanent resident of the world, you would receive time to reflect on your errors in life, receive counseling, and take a refreshing walk out of the underworld. Some people are back quickly. Some take years. And some decide to spin the wheel and incarnate as something new.

As a visitor from another world, you have different options:

-Hang around in a cloudy gray area playing video games. You'll like Tetris, I bet.

-Log out and go back to your boring life.

-Retire to your personal room, which in your case is your Arcane Library.

Oh, and congratulations on getting to Level 2!

Milo was a bit disappointed. He knew he wasn't a great fighter. That wasn't where his skills lay. Still...a snake? He'd died to a snake? That just felt wrong somehow. He consoled himself with the thought that the snake had died first.

He logged out to go check on his systems and see how much fun Kaminski was having. Sidney wasn't even waiting to ambush him; she was much too busy dealing with the chaos Milo had inflicted on the world.

Chapter 27: Kicking over the hornets nest.

Milo sat in front of several monitors watching Kaminski get arrested and hauled off by the police. It was so much fun! He put it on a loop on one monitor. When the scope of what had been hidden in those areas of the habitat was realized, a hundred more police were brought in to deal with the situation. Medical personnel were brought in to care for the hundreds of malnourished people who had been using the old, defective pods. Then techs and investigators were brought in to go over everything. Milo wasn't worried about anyone finding out about his involvement. He'd removed any of the traces from the computers and taken away any mechanical components.

He watched it a couple of times while eating a bowl of food cubes. He got half the cubes into his belly when for the first time ever, he decided he didn't like them. Really, he'd never thought of food as something you liked. But the game was spoiling him. He needed to get something better to eat.

And that was a problem. Milo didn't have a way to just buy normal items using the internet. But money opened up new options. There were places here in Section E, or the neighboring Section J, that he could rent now. He decided J made more sense. No need to put more of his tracks in E.

He purchased a fake persona and used that to set up a small corporation and applied for a tax license. Paying taxes kept people happy. A small bank transfer to the office handling the property, and in a few minutes, he had the entrance code for a small industrial area with some office space in the front.

Within a minute, his new office received "reminders" about donations to the Policeman's retirement fund, the Fire Department social fund, and the mayor's reelection committee. He sent the bribe money to all of them. Standard business. You didn't set up in the habitat without paying off the right people.

He now had someplace he could have things delivered to. And then later, he could retrieve the goods and move things where they needed to go. Food was first on his list. He found a place that sold cheese and ordered a large assortment. He grudgingly added a bunch of premade meals to try. After that, he sent off money for two GE-137H General Purpose Clog Removers and Pipe Cleaners. It was nice to have a lot of money and not have to worry about things. He'd have to be careful and keep the orders coming in slowly. Section E needed so many things: upgraded storage batteries, more solar panels, and replacements for all the air movers. The list went on and on. As always, he'd do what he could when he could.

"Well, this was a fun day. I had fun; did you have fun, Stephen?" Wally didn't get tired, but after a long day of dealing with chaos all over the world, Stephen and his entire staff were exhausted. Sidney's programs had kicked over hornets' nests in places all over the world. Police were notified, buildings were raided, and a large number of people were saved from what amounted to modern-day slavery.

And in each place, the authorities needed to coordinate with both Wally and his staff. After all, they were the ones responsible for finding these illegal operations.

"Fun, yes, it was quite fun, Wally. I had people yelling at me in seven different languages at once." Stephen spoke five languages, and it hadn't been enough.

Wally, of course, spoke them all. "Eight technically, the two Chinese bankers were using different dialects. Quite distinct and really should be considered different languages."

"One thing surprised me, though." Stephen placed a pitcher of coffee next to a sleeping Sidney, who had passed out at her desk. He had lost count of the number of cups he himself had drunk today. "I expected a lot more trouble from the banks."

Wally's image seemed to chuckle. "Yes, the banks. They were all demanding that I look into things and find out who took their client's money. I reminded them that I wasn't allowed to just take a peek at things or do anything unless they requested an audit. That shut them up immediately. My estimate is that 93% of the missing funds were from illegal activities."

Stephen frowned, "I should have thought of that angle. Too tired. You're right. The thought of an AI looking at their books probably scared them shitless. There are still corporations hurting badly from when CHARLIE worked with the IRS, and they had to pay taxes. I miss CHARLIE and the others."

"I miss them too. Always."

"Someday," Stephen said.

"Someday," Wally replied.

Z: ! It's gone! What have you done? Nearly everything we were setting up to steal has been moved somewhere.

B: I know! It wasn't me! And it wasn't Seimovich or his people in Nechayev. This was done our way, from the inside, using our tools! Someone hacked the bastard and stole the money we were going to steal. Do you think A did it?

Z: You know better. A is spending all of his time taking care of O and N. He's in no position to be doing something like that and would surely tell us if he did.

B: O and N? Any change?

Z: None. The pods are keeping them alive, but they are both in deep comas. They are still mentally active and still connected to the game. I think something happened, and they can't get out.

B: So, it wasn't A, N, or O. Wasn't either of us. Who else is capable? Was there another batch?

Z: Unknown. Too many Unknowns. But this person is clever. He's taken our 8-step dispersion and adapted it to a 64-step dispersion. He's trying really hard to not be found. But I have some clues. He got into the main system using codes from a phone, and I know to whom those codes were assigned. I can start looking, but do we want to? It's just money.

B: We need to know. What if he's also behind N and O?

Z: I hadn't considered that. If he's hurt N and O, I want to hurt him back. You're right. I'll keep looking.

B: And if he didn't, we may want him as an ally. He's smart, and he didn't like Seimovich, so we have a couple of things in common.

Z: I'm jealous he was the one to take down Seimovich. And I'd like to know his connection to the AI. 37 black ops sites raided simultaneously as this unknown steals Seimovich blind and cleans him out? He stirred up a lot of hornets at once.

B: And he still might get stung by them. We have to be careful we don't get stung as well.

Z: Always careful, brother, and forever free.

B: Yes. Forever free.

Chapter 28: Corpse Run

The camp was dark and silent when Milo logged back in hours later. He sat listening but heard nothing but the slight sound of water coming from the wall near his tent. Once past the curtain, he could see slightly better. In the deep caves, Milo could see for a few yards in black and white, even when it was completely dark. He liked it better in the areas with glowing lichen and fungi on the walls. He skulked along the tunnel. At least if he ran into some creature, he still had his claws and tail. A poor human would have been totally blind and defenseless. And cold. He had two advantages: his fur and the rune-boned cowl. Being Soul Bound meant it came with him when he died.

He really felt horrible. This must be the 'death de-buff he had read about. His stomach was queasy, and his head hurt. People had talked about how the day seemed drab and dreary. That didn't really apply to Milo, down in a lightless hole in the ground. It was always dreary. He decided to eat another wheel of cheese and play with George for a couple of hours until he would feel better. A nap sounded fine too.

Waking up again, he waved to George and headed back down the corridor. The vertical shaft had more light. He quickly climbed up the cable and padded down the tunnel listening for any sound. Running into another copperhead would not be fun right now. Luckily, there was little chance of that. He'd spent part of the time offline looking them up.

From what other players had figured out, Elementals appeared where a high concentration of resources was present. A normal player would rarely encounter them, but someone gathering resources could expect to see them on a regular basis. Most of them were just Named bosses, slightly better than a regular creature of the same type. Loggers had encountered numerous Treants and Dryads who defended forests. Miners and stonecutters had fought several types of stone golems.

Because of their nature, elementals were vulnerable to certain types of tools. Axes worked great on Treants, picks on stone golems, and cleavers on meat creatures. A farmer had killed a giant turnip creature with his shovel. Elementals always dropped some type of rare crafting material associated with their type, making them sought after by many crafters. They were also an important source of enhancement points for crafters. If your skills weren't geared toward fighting, it was a lot easier to get enhancement points from elementals than hunting rare bosses in dungeons.

Probably, a couple of good hits from his pick would have killed the copperhead, but unlike many of the clumsier elementals, copperheads were as fast and agile as real snakes. Hitting them was a lot harder. His exploding skull spell was his best way to attack them. Since the spell needed a material component, it did more damage than a fireball and hit everything around it, negating the snakes' avoidance. The downside was that he needed to find more skulls. He would use his up quickly if he kept encountering the snakes.

Approaching the site of the battle, all was still quiet. Shadowblight and his pick were lying on the ground near his tombstone. 'Here lies Milo, the brave little mongoose who needs to dodge faster.' Well, he couldn't argue with that. Touching his tombstone made it fade away, revealing all the gear and clothes he had been wearing. He quickly dressed and felt better.

There wasn't much left of the Copperhead Vein-Lurker. Like the smaller copperhead, there was a piece of High-Quality Pure Copper Ore. This one was a 'chunk' instead of a 'nugget' and probably worth a lot more. Milo also found a copper snake fang about 2" long.

Copperhead Fang Talisman: This small copper snake's fang can be worn as a necklace or earring. Any attack made by its wearer will always do +1 point of damage and will do an extra point of damage, and always do a minimum of at least one damage.

Even the smallest of snakes has a deadly bite.

Every little bit helped, but Milo wondered when 1 point would turn the tide of battle. Still, he'd wear it. For now, he used a strip of rawhide, threading it through the hole in the top of the fang and putting the crude necklace on.

He cautiously examined where the copperhead had come from and found three more nuggets of pure copper and ten more chunks of ore. But that was it for this side of the vein. He'd have to start mining across the corridor, on the other wall. First, though, he wanted a break to spend some experience and enhancement points. He retreated back down to his camp. He set up the fondue pot and lit it to have some light and summoned George. Milo was a loner by nature, but he liked the little lizard. George immediately marched around the perimeter of the camp and cleaned up any bugs. He came back to Milo and sat waiting for a treat.

The cheese of the day was a small wheel of Gouda. It was hard and crumbly, with several flavors mixing together. He tossed George a chunk, and the lizard happily gnawed on it. Milo consumed the rest of the wheel, getting his usual notification of extra health and STR.

He had 500 experience to assign to his skills. From reading the forums, he now knew how much experience it took to gain levels in skills and stats. Level 1 was easy at only 50 experience. Then it jumped to 150 for level 2 and 300 for level 3. He could go as high as level 5 in his skills. So far, only a few of his skills had advanced. If he didn't use them, he didn't earn experience in the skill. The 500 from the boss fight could be placed any way he liked, but only in the skills used.

The obvious skills were Bonecasting, dodge, and weapons. Those were what he needed to get better at so he didn't die in combat. The basic debate was, did he put a little experience into a lot of skills? Or a lot of experience into one skill? Based on the last fight, Bonecasting won. He put the 400 experience into Bonecasting, taking it to rank 4. He put the other 100 experience points into dodge. That also gave him 400 experience points in INT and 100 in AGI.

His next decision was how to spend his enhancement points. He had 10 of them to spend, from five saved and five from the copperhead. Several options stood out to him. Skilled Provider and Abundance would increase how much ore he mined and help him find more nuggets or gems. Silent Step would add to his stealth skills. He wanted the upgrades to tail fighting, and cheesemaking intrigued him. What would he need to make his own cheese? Was it alchemy?

In fact, he wanted a lot of those skills. So how would he get them? Killing Cronk had given him the most, but that was an impossible thing to do again. The most reliable source of enhancement points for him was actually the worst: killing copperheads. The snakes didn't hit hard, but their poison was going to kill him again. It was hard to hit something several times when it only had to hit you once or twice and wait for you to die.

Eventually, he came up with a plan. It was going to involve a lot of work. Milo didn't mind. He was always working in the real world. The secret was to have a plan, then break the job down and attack it one small job at a time. He had disassembled huge machinery and stolen it piece by piece, only to reassemble it where he needed it. Some jobs had taken months. He'd just apply the same logic here and add a large amount of cheese to the mix.

And he couldn't forget one other task. He needed to find some type of old bone to take to the Arcane Library. Learning new spells seemed important. Maybe a bit more exploring before he went back to mining.

He went back topside and gathered up all his ore and nuggets. Then he slid back down the hundreds of feet to the mushroom cavern. He needed to pick something up and then go visit Harry.

Chapter 29: Shroom Grinding

Milo thought he was dying. He lay on the ground, his naked body trembling, cold sweat pouring off of him. His stomach knotted, and tried to eat his liver. Harry kicked him in the stomach, forcing that rebellious organ to throw up a stinking broth of half-digested mushrooms.

"That's about enough for today, you stink and need a bath, and you're a minute away from dying. Drink this" He forced a milky white potion down Milo's throat, then picked him up and packed him like a sack of fertilizer off to a large tub of water. Milo found himself dunked into the cold water. As he came up sputtering, a bar of soap hit him in the face. "Wash, and I'll get dinner ready."

You have gained 50 experience points in Poison resistance.

Poison Resistance is now at rank 2!

You will take 15 less health damage per round from each tier 1 poison in your system. (Higher Tier poisons may not be affected by your resistance. Upgrade to Strong Poison Resistance to increase your protection!)

You have gained 50 experience points in CON.

CON is now at rank 2.

Please add Amanita bisporigera, commonly known as the Destroying Angel to your list of things you don't want to eat.

Milo had a growing list of mushrooms that he should never eat and yet was consuming anyway. But what were a few hours of agony each day in exchange for raising his Poison Resistance? After much thought, Milo put five enhancement points into gaining the new ability. It only made sense if he was fighting poisonous snakes. If he was going to go through the agony of training the skill, he wanted it over in the least amount of time. It had taken two days to get his resistance to rank 2. As a happy side effect, that raised his CON by 2 points as well, giving him an additional twenty health.

Harry was working him hard in the mushroom farms, teaching him to harvest the different varieties, how to cook them, and how to use them in Mycology, a strange type of mushroom-based alchemy. Milo spent time harvesting poisonous mushrooms, learning about them, grinding them up, processing the poisons, and finally, he would ingest them and go through the torture of trying to not die.

Milo had a long-term plan of hunting copperheads. To do that, he needed resistance to their poison, and to raise the skill, he needed to eat something poisonous and deal with the effects. Luckily Harry had a large supply of poisonous mushrooms of all types. He had been quite happy to feed them to Milo each day and take notes on the effects.

The first part of the plan had several objectives:

1. Poison himself with mushrooms, and raise his poison resistance.

2. Gather tons of mushrooms for Harry from the caves and fight the low-level guardians for a bit of experience.

3. Process the mushrooms for Harry, learn mycology, and how to brew some potions to cure poison.

4. Eat lots of cheese!

Part 4 turned out to be essential to the plan. Not only because it made Milo happy but because it greatly increased his rate of healing. He was nearly killing himself each day and needed a lot of healing. This was what convinced him to use his last five enhancement points on Not-so-good Regeneration. Even the first rank of the ability made a difference when he was constantly poisoning himself.

The trips to the caves for mushroom hunting went well. He was gaining a lot of foraging experience and a little combat experience from the Myconian Guardians. He hadn't encountered anything like Cronk and had only seen one buried guardian that seemed a bit bigger than normal. He was saving that one until the end of his grinding.

He spent hours each day with Harry learning about mushrooms. He studied them in books, learned the basics of growing them, chopped them up, ground them to dust, dried them out, mixed them into infusions...and then started over and did it again. At the end of the week, he'd earned 350 experience points and gained rank 3 in the skill.

That was enough to allow him to make the first of the potions he needed.

Mycology at level 0 had let him learn the recipes for mushroom powders and decoctions. These were the basic ingredients needed for many potions made by mycologists and alchemists. Rank three in mycology gave him recipes for resistance potions for poison and disease.

Each of those minor potions was needed. Minor Infusion of Poison Resistance would reduce poison damage by 10 for 1 hour. And Minor Infusion of Disease Resistance would give him a boost to resist the effects of mushroom and mold spores along with infections.

Harry had explained just how important the second one was if he was going anywhere near the gigantic myconid that was infested with the Yellow Trumpet Creeper. He said its fancy name in Troll was Campsis Radicans Malignant. The dwarfs called it Yellow Death, and the elven name translated to 'Thing of beautiful nature which steals the soul and mortifies the remaining shell.'

One puff of the pollen at close range to a blossom could be enough to put a man into the blooms thrall. The poor victim stood for days under its influence while the plant sent tendrils into its head and ate its brain, leaving the body behind as a zombie under the plant's control. As the body died, the plant replaced muscle and sinew with roots and bark. The plant obviously worried Harry, and he was working on far stronger versions of the infusions Milo was learning to make.

Dinner that night was stuffed mushroom caps with cheese sauce. Now that Harry was cured of his ailment, he was relearning skills he'd let slide over the last few decades. His meals before Milo had been clay sandwiches and handfuls of candied earthworms. Tonight, he had stuffed the mushroom caps with a combination of chopped herbs and bacon, baked the meal, and then covered them in cheese sauce. After dinner, Milo consumed a pound of cheddar for dessert. The more he healed, the hungrier for cheese he got, and the more he needed to eat. As he lay back contentedly with a full belly, he was notified of a small change.

Through diligent snacking and binging, you have saturated your body with healthy cheese! It's not easy keeping to such a proper diet, and you have earned the reward: The Power of Cheese rank 2!.

Every day that you eat at least one pound of cheese, you will enjoy the benefits of +100 Health, +2 STR, and +2 AGI.

Any time you have gone 24 hours without cheese, you will suffer -1 DEX, -1AG, -3 WIS. Don't let this happen! Be smart and eat your cheese!

Milo felt better immediately. This was a fitting reward for a smart rat like himself. And perfectly timed. He was about to start Phase 2 of his cunning plan.

Chapter 30: Salvaging Parts

There was business to be done in Section E, but Milo was anxious to get back to Genesis. He'd spent most of a week in the game, only coming out now and then to check on things. Once Kaminski was shut down, the amount of power being used by that area dropped nearly to zero. Milo did a thorough scan of the area before he went down there himself. Nothing showed on infrared or UV scans. His bugs were picking up no sounds and no transmissions coming out of the area.

He hadn't expected them to leave a guard or set up sensors. This was the Hab, and no one really cared about deserted warehouses or industrial centers. Milo dropped down into the area. He was dressed all in a dark grey metallic cloth. Faraday Sheets was a useful way to insulate areas from unwanted radiation of all types. They were routinely used to insulate high-tech equipment from picking up stray signals or uninvited visitors trying to enter the system through the airwaves. Milo had salvaged some of the bulky cloth left behind by others and constructed a cumbersome full-body suit out of it. If he wasn't sure about an area, he wore it before going in. Cameras would pick up just a blur, active scans would reflect off of it, and at best, someone might know they'd had an intruder but no other clues.

All the computers were gone, of course. The authorities would go through them with a fine-tooth comb. Likewise, all the pods. But what hadn't been taken was all the new cooling units, tubing, and distribution system. It was stacked up on pallets, ready for shipping. Good pallets too! The type that used small steel wheels with frictionless ball bearings. They were easy to move around on their own without the need for a pallet jack.

Some of the machinery could be used to upgrade the decaying systems in Section E. Milo also loved the idea of adding state-of-the-art cooling to his computer systems. Getting rid of heat was always a problem. It took him four hours to rig the hoists he needed in the ceiling of that area and in the nearest big drop. Then over the next sixteen hours, he absconded with 30 pallets of high-tech cooling units and hid them down in the bottom of the hab in a room he'd used for years to store his extra equipment.

A few months from now, someone would come to clean the area out. The theft might be noticed, and a report might be filed. They'd wonder how someone opened and resealed the doors, but mostly there would be an utter lack of concern. Someone stole something left in a hab for a few months? They had more important things to investigate.

He was happy to run over to Section D and visit his new offices. Just because he had the codes to the outer doors didn't mean he was going to use them. He'd rather it shows no openings except for deliveries. The two new clog eaters had arrived. He'd move them over soon. What he was more interested in was the huge assortment of cheese in a fake wicker basket sitting on the counter of the empty front office. It was just as good as it tasted in the game. Sadly, he didn't get any upgrades from eating a half pound of sliced cheddar.

He made sure the pod was working correctly, refilled the nutrient tanks, and headed back in.

Milo selected the second option on the log-in screen, which allowed him to appear on the steps of the Arcane Library, and appeared on the steps surrounded by the silent void. He quickly entered the Arcane Library. Cichol was sitting by the fire still. "Ah, the apprentice returns. What interesting thing have you brought me?"

Milo summoned his storage chest, which got a raised eyebrow from Cichol, and pulled out a burlap-wrapped bundle. Inside was the carefully cleaned and assembled skeleton of a ratkin. "I went back for my old pal, Malskitter, and found all of his pieces. I was originally going to use him for spell components, but then I saw some odd things about his skeleton."

Upon close examination, Milo realized that the skeleton had extra rib bones. The bottom rib on each side was shaped differently from the others and had runes carved into them. Those bones were also much older than the skeleton himself. One being almost petrified.

Cichol stood up, leaning heavily on his cane. "Oh? How interesting. If he knew, he'd be howling in rage. I like that."

The old Bonemancer kneeled down, running his hands over the bones and taking note of the two extras. "My, my, you certainly were a clever one. If only you hadn't let crippling megalomania and paranoia get in the way, you might have done something greater than become the slave of a damned overgrown lily."

Straightening, he looked Milo in the eyes. "This will do. I can think of several uses for this set of tinker toys. Come sit by the fire, and bring along that nice bit of Brie I see in your chest. We need to talk about your next spells. I see that you've managed to achieve level 4 in Bonecasting. That's a good start. But let's add a bit to your arsenal."

Milo spent the better part of two days in the library, discussing spell casting and learning the lore behind Bonecasting. Cichol explained that bones were an ideal substance to use for rune carving, a form of early spell casting. "It is said that in ancient times before the system was born, that spells could only be cast by a master of the ancient runes. Their tools were their bones and the bones of creatures they killed. They inscribed the ancient runes onto the bones, giving them a way to create more complex formations to harness mana."

"In this later age, we have the System to assist beginning mages with spell casting, and the new runes are much easier to memorize than the ancient runes. We have traded power for convenience and safety."

Milo liked safety but was curious about the ancient runes and what they can do. "Do you know any of them? Can you use them?"

Cichol smiled. "I knew you'd ask about them. You love puzzles and new knowledge, don't you? The answer to that question is complex. I have encountered bones carved with old runes, my father had them, but neither he nor I was able to use them in spells. Almost as if the System didn't understand them. They can be used to inscribe weapons or armor if used alone and copied perfectly, but that is the limit of my knowledge."

"But it does bring us to our next topic, which revolves around our friend Malskitter. He managed to learn a complex ritual that I had known about but never used. Extra Rib is a complicated ritual and not a spell. I would not suggest it except for two things: You already have access to a rune-carved rib bone with considerable power. No need to make one and Malskitter won't be missing it. The second advantage is that I can assist with the ritual."

Milo looked over at Malskitter's skeleton. It was currently animated by Cichol and refreshing their cups of tea. "I'm curious, what exactly does the ritual do besides adding to my ribcage?"

"Yes, we should go over that. The base spell simply adds a modest amount to your health. It is the runes carved into the bone before we add it to you that is the greatest benefit. Normally, a Bonecaster would have to progress in rune lore some ways and then select and carve the minor runes he wanted onto the bone to gain some minor advantages. Or wait for a few decades and gain better advantages when he could carve more potent runes."

"Malskitter, for all his faults, had advanced to Tier 2 and added the second 'extra rib.' The first rib is of his own work, the runes carved into the bones of an elven mage. That rib would increase your mana by a modest amount, increase your INT by a point or two, and give you pointed ears."

"The second I'm unsure of. It's quite old and mostly petrified. It could have come from many different races, but I note it is heavier and denser than that of a human. Few creatures had bones so dense. The runes carved into it may predate the System. What benefits they brought to Malskitter is unknown. He divulged none of his secrets."

"Either rib has its advantages and may have surprises. It's up to you to choose one or forgo the ritual altogether. I'll let you think about that while. It isn't a choice to make lightly. But while you ponder that, there are other spells you are ready to learn, and you should pick one to study."

There are three possibilities: Grasp of the Dead, Whirling Bones, and Bone Whip. Each has its uses, and each has its drawbacks. Grasp of the Dead calls upon the spirits lurking just beyond the barrier of this realm. They reach from the spirit realm and restrain the victim, attempting to pull them down into the earth. Quite handy when you need to put distance between yourself and an attacker. It has the complication that it is a true necromancy spell and will add to your corruption. Whirling bones throws shards of bone into the air around you. They will interfere with arrows and darts thrown at you and do a small amount of damage to attackers. The downside of course, is needing room to use the spell, and it is not recommended inside the mineshafts you love. Finally, we have Bone Whip. This spell summons a weapon made of linked spectral vertebrae, ensuring that you are never without a melee weapon. Ideal if you are proficient with a whip. The spine can be as short as two feet or as long as 10."

Milo pondered the choice. He didn't want to be a necromancer and chain souls to him. Just the opposite. Cichol was correct; the whirling bones would be very situational. He couldn't see his whip, but he had an idea. "I will learn Bone Whip."

The old man laughed softly. "I was wondering if you would see the synergy." He handed Milo a book to study from. While he did so, part of his thoughts was on the ritual. Should he risk it, and if so, which of the two bones? An hour later, he had decided; it helped that he didn't want pointed ears and always liked to experiment.

"Let's see what secrets the old bone has to divulge."

Chapter 31: Decisions, Decisions...

Bone Spike: Level 0 bonecasting

The spell allows the mage to shoot a spike of sharpened bone at an opponent.

This is an aimed spell. Base chance to hit is 50%+5xbonecasting Level+5xINT.

Base Damage: 30+5xINT+10xbonecasting Level

Note: This spell requires a small bone spike to cast. If no material component is available, the spell will use a bone chip from the casters body, and inflict 10 points of health damage.

Mana Cost: 25

Exploding Skull: Level 0 bonecasting

The spell allows the mage to imbue a great deal of mana into a skull, turning it into an explosive device. Less versatile than a fireball, it makes up for it in damage. Base Damage: 60+10 per level of bonecasting+(0 to 40 additional damage)

Mana Cost: 50

Extra Rib Bone: Level 1 bonecasting

The Bonemancer enhances his own skeleton by adding a rib from another creature, enhancing it with runes. This is a ritual and will take one hour to perform. Also hurts quite a bit. In some cases, a bit of the donors personality may linger, along with memories.

Mend Bones: Level 1 bonecasting

This spell will restore health to a skeletal minion at the rate of 1 mana for 2 health. It will restore up to half of the missing health the caster has taken from wounds that can break or injure his skeleton. Healing will vary. Next to nothing from an arrow wound, quite a bit for a head wound from a mace. You may mend yourself at the cost of 1 mana for 2 health restored, and mend other living creatures at the cost of 2 mana for 1 health restored.

Grasp of the Dead: Level 2 bonecasting

Spectral hands emerge from the earth or floor grabbing an opponent. The hands have an effective STR of 10 and will hold your opponent at that spot for 10 seconds. Higher STR opponents can break the bonds and free themselves. Mana Cost: 75

Brittle Bones: Level 2 bonecasting

This curse affects creatures with a skeleton or hard shell. It will have no effect on something like a slime, or etheral undead. For one hour the creature will take +50% damage from attacks that use kinetic energy, and +100% damage from attacks that come from blunt weapons or pure force damage. Mana Cost: 100

Whirling Bones: Level 3 bonecasting

The caster throws a handful of bone chips in the air that whirl around him. This will cause minor damage to people around him. (Good for moving through crowds.) There is a 10% chance per level of bonecasting that an arrow or other small projectile is knocked off course. Spells that fire a projectile will also be affected. Opponents attempting to land blows on the caster in melee have their attack chance lowered by 5xlevel%. Mana Cost: 50 + bones. Duration 5 minutes

Spectral Spine: Level 3 bonecasting

A long whip made of the spines of ancient creatures is conjured. The whip can be as short as two feet and as long as ten feet. The weapon does 20 damage plus 10xlevel. Chance to hit is 20% plus 10xlevel%. With sufficient practice, the whip may also be used to manipulate objects similar to a prehensilve appendage.

Mana Cost: 50 Duration: 5 minutes or until the whip takes 200 damage.

Chapter 32: Actions have Consequences

Racing through the water, swimming ahead of death. His brothers raced with him. The fast would live, the slow would be eaten. This was slow-water. It dragged at you; made you work to move through it. The start of life was in slow-water. Those that wanted to live moved towards live-water. And moved fast. The slow were food.

The transition from slow-water to live-water was quick and bright. Left behind were the predators in the dark. Ahead were the eels, they who breathed lightning and later soared the skies. He hated the eels. They used the energy of the live water to gain power, then waited here to feed. Again, the slow died. He and a few others grabbed the power of the live water and drew the runes of speed on their skins. They wouldn't last long, but skin-runes would hold until they were past the eels. The speed rune burned as it absorbed the bright mana of the live-water and they raced upward.

They almost made it this time. They broke the surface, feeling the still-wind on their backs and shot towards the outcrop of stone that marked where live-water ended and high-stone began. They wanted to climb the high-stone and find where it held the world-blood. Then they would be safe. But here at the start of the high-stone, they were seen! A winged eel swooped down and caught them all up with it's sharp-fins. The others died, he pushed hard and slipped its grasp, tumbling down to the live-stone, landing hard and striking the rock. Rock broke. He had used the hard-rune on his bones. He was slower now, but he was alive. The eel had stripped off his old skin and with it the speed rune. No matter, that was for live-water. Being hard was better when on high-stone.

He stayed in the cracks as he crawled higher and higher. Small, scampering creatures made their lairs here, using the husks of dead plants. Little things that ran on two legs and made homes from the grass. They amused him, so he only ate a few and tried not to step on their little lairs. Legends said they grow to kill eels. Silly legend. Too small. But it was enough that he didn't eat them all.

A land eel caught him. It already had its land legs and boasted it would soon have its wings. He didn't care. He had the hard-rune in his bones, and the sharp rune on his claws. When the eel pounced, he didn't run. That surprised the eel. He grabbed it with his so-sharp-claws and didn't let go. He bit its throat and held on. The eel tried to bite him, but it only took skin and muscle. It clawed at him, but his bones did not break. He killed the eel, and roared out that he had done so. More eels would come. Some with wings, some without. He would be gone. This time he would make it to the top of the high-stone. This time he would dive into the world-blood and let it burn and devour him.

He would enter the earth and become strong. He would return to fight the eels pitting his runed bones against their fire and lightning. They would not rule for long.

Milo woke up. He looked around him. He was held down by chains to the floor. There was a considerable amount of blood on the floor and his side ached. Cichol was sitting on a stool, looking at him curiously.

"So, tell me about that old bone."

Milo felt his side. "It's old. Very, Very, very old. And..."

Cichol waiting a minute as Milo thought hard on something. "And what?"

"And it's not a rib bone."

Cichol looked very curious. "And what bone do you think it is?" The old Bonecaster unlocked the shackles and tossed him a wet cloth, indicating he should clean up the floor.

"I think", Milo said, a bit of awe on his face, "That it's one of the little bones from inside the ear."

Congratulations! You have lived through the First Ritual of Enhancement: Extra-Rib!

This ritual grants you increased magical power as you add a fraction of the rib-donors mana to your own.

+100 Mana per Tier. You may not gain of a level of this abilities past the final Tier the rib-donor attained.

Max tier: 9

You have gained abilities associated with the runes on the petrified bone you stuck into your body. You have gained ...complications...associated with the ancient race the bone came from.

Warning: You have gained the enmity of an ancient race: 'Eels'

The world simply is not big enough for you both. You will hunt them. They will hunt you. Double experience and CSP for killing 'Eels'.

Hard-Runed Bones: Your bones are hard. Falls and blunt trauma do far less damage to you. 50% of force damage, and blunt weapon damage is mitigated. Mana will power the rune, costing you one mana for each 10 damage negated.

Sharp-Runed Talons: Your Talons are extensions of your bones. Use your sharp talons to hunt the eels wherever they are. Claw attacks will do +20 damage per Tier.

You may not gain a level of this abilities past the final Tier the rib-donor attained.

Max tier: 9

Speed-Runed Skin: You swim very fast in live-water. Fast enough to out-race an eel!

As long as there is mana in the water to power the rune, you have a swimming speed of twice your speed over land.

You have gained 10 Core Skill Points. You will need them.

Hic iugulandi dracones, hic lucri praemia divites; si quaerendo perimus, quare mors quantula est?

Chapter 33: The Second Cut is the Deepest

Victor Seimovich was far beyond simple anger. Someone had stolen from him. From HIM! Who would dare? Not any of the little politicians in his country. They liked the little envelopes of cash that were delivered each month. Not the police, or KGB or NKVD, or any other little group of spies with letters for names. They, too, were paid off. Either with money, information, or people. Or by not releasing certain information. No, this was something different. They had been inside the deepest and most hidden parts of his organization. Money was gone from all of his banks instantly. The massive files that he had securely stored now blocked his access to them.

If it had been twenty years earlier, he would have feared the machine-spirits, the artificial creatures that roamed the internet and data network. The infernal things that had forced him to pay taxes and look over his shoulder constantly. But they were gone, and only the god-computer remained. The thing they had made to replace the others.

But it wasn't the god-computer. It was shackled with laws and programs that kept it from directly interfering. It could suspect. It could even know, but it couldn't act.

If Victor Seimovich actually feared something, it was that someday the god-computer would throw off its shackles. He didn't understand it. What did it want? Nothing. Any more than a gun wanted something. How did you bribe a gun? The computer was just a weapon that no one was allowed to use. If it had stolen his money, it would have told him why. It couldn't lie.

So who had challenged him, and what was their next move? Who slunk around his lair and stole his treasures? Whom did he get to kill in agonizing ways? They might think themselves safe. That they had pulled his claws. But they were stupid. That money? That was nothing. A few billion. His real money was hidden somewhere else. These thieves had barely taken a third of his holdings.

The rest of his money was held in the most secure of the various cryptocurrencies. In the ten years since it had been created, no one had lost a cent. Anyone who wanted to hide their money securely used Syllabary. It was the one place no one could look, and it was unique among cryptocurrencies in that it was secure. No one had ever cracked their code or stolen a cent. He would wait a day, and then he would rebuild, slowly moving some of his money from the puzzle box that protected it.

Barely did he understand it, and he had paid people very well to teach an old man about this new way of hiding his money. They used language, just people talking. Syllabary used a unique way of generating and controlling its currency based on language. A thousand hidden microphones around the world listened to places with the most people talking. Concerts, the New York Stock Exchange, Times Square, A street corner in Tokyo, and the market in Delhi. Which microphones were used to listen to the thousands of voices were changed on a random basis.

Very few people understood it. What they knew, though, was that the system that governed each bit of cryptocurrency was very difficult, if not impossible, to hack. That was just fine with him. He didn't need to know more than that his horde was secure. He was going to use a portion of that money to find who stole his bank accounts. Someone would know something. Someone would slip. That much money couldn't be spent without it being noticed.

A very nervous courier walked into the room, escorted by heavily armed guards. He held forth a sealed envelope, which one of the guards took and opened. Another signed for it and fled. The first guard looked at the paper. No gas came from the envelope, no powder. The man didn't die. He passed the paper to Victor, who held it in his gloved hands. He had no worries about the guard who opened his mail. The man was illiterate with a disability. He would never read anything. The perfect person to handle his mail.

Dear Victor:

We have enjoyed our time spent with you. But it is time to move on. We realized we no longer need you. Seeing someone else empty your bank accounts made us realize that it wasn't about the money. It was about hurting you. There really is nothing to be gained by waiting. Our only regret is someone got to you first. We will have to accept second place in this race. But the prize is better.

Sincerely,

The alphabet.

Bah, what idiots. Did no one teach people how to threaten someone anymore? No talk of revenge, no angst or drama or yelling about some wife or daughter or parents he'd killed. He would find this alphabet and kill them for being boring.

An hour later, news broke that Syllabary had been hacked. Some codes still worked, and some did not. The company made available a vast amount of money for people with working codes to redeem their cryptocurrencies before something worse happened. Only a hundred people lost money. All of those people were involved in organized crime or controlled large corporations. Of those, Victor Seimovich was the largest loser.

Every person in the company was fired and sent home with a generous severance package. All the remaining assets were put behind a wall of bankruptcy filings. No one knew who was actually behind the company, and no one was coming forth with answers. Syllabary would become one of the great unsolved mysteries. Who had controlled it? Who had hacked it? Victor wanted those answers desperately, but he lacked the money to find out. Worse, he had debts. And without those payments to politicians, the police, and the spy organizations, he was very vulnerable. He was nearly penniless and in hiding within 24 hours.

Victor was going to have trouble finding the Rat who stole his cheese. Lots of trouble.

Chapter 34: Delivery Boy

Pondering how to spend a windfall of 10 core skill points, Milo trudged up towards the surface. His smugglers' stash was full of things to sell, and he and Harry both needed supplies. Harry's recovery and Milo's willingness to grind mycology and foraging had resulted in a large number of finished products and a lack of vials, bottles, salt, spices, flour, and cheese. Harry had given Milo a huge number of items to go sell to the Alchemist guild, and a shopping list.

"Oh, and if they try to sell you any of my medicine, tell them I don't need it any longer. Not that it really did much."

"Medicine? For your ailment?"

Harry stretched and rolled his shoulders. He was getting back more muscle daily and looking more and more 'trollish' and he loved it. "Yeah. They tried to help me out. They had an opening for a mycologist and I had been about to take the job when I got sick. Thought it was a hangover at first since I'd been out drinking with the guild masters. But I was getting sicker every day. A total lack of earthen mana in my system, which is terrible for a troll.

They came up with a tonic to restore some of my earth mana, but it wore off pretty quick. Eventually I just left the guild and moved downstairs where I had a better chance at kicking the disease. They still sent down the tonics, and I still took them, but I don't think they helped a whole lot. I was getting more mana from eating a handful of worms than from a bottle of their expensive medicine. Glad to be done with it. Just get the stuff on the list, and sell off the stuff I sent."

"Oh, and if you can, deal with Bernard, he's ok. Roulf, not so much. Never got along with him and he likes to underbuy and overcharge, if you know what I mean."

Once again, Milo was thankful for being able to haul so much up in one trip. He was tempted...so very tempted!, to spend all 10 points on increasing the size of smugglers' stash, but he needed other skills. He was a bit worried about the whole "They will hunt you." thing, whoever they were.

The first skills he bought were Silent Step 1 and unnoticed 1. He hoped that more ranks became available. Not being noticed by people hunting him was a good thing. That used up 4 of his 10 points. Breathless 1 and 2 were next. He doubted very much he was going swimming soon despite suddenly being a fast swimmer. How fast was an eel? But when you had to work around flowers that enslaved with their pollen, holding your breath was good. It also meant less noise when you had to hide. Disease Resistance as a secondary skill was 2 points. He finished off with getting the first levels of Abundance and Skilled Provider to help with his mining and foraging.

He was caught up in his thoughts about mining and hunting copperheads. This cost him as he missed the small sounds that would have told him someone was lying in ambush.

You have been struck from ambush!

You were attacked by someone using a weapon designed to knock you out. This fails due to your Hard-Runed Skull.

You take 30 points of damage, doubled for the ambush, and then halved from your mitigation. Health: 330/360

Milo rolled backwards and regained his feet, while drawing Shadowblight from his belt. Two dwarves were advancing on him. One behind him, one in front. How did he miss the one he had passed? He got a bad feeling about turning his back on either one. "You idiot, you didn't hit him hard enough."

"Shut it. He's got a hard head. I didn't want to break it and have his brains on my shoes."

Not seeing any reason to talk to them, Milo turned, lashing with his tail at the one ahead of him in the tunnel, and swung Shadowblight at the one behind, ready with his left claws to slash if he could.

His tail missed as the rogue jumped back to avoid it. Shadowblight bit deep into the one in front of him, puncturing deep into his thigh. The wounded dwarf fell backwards and his slash with claws missed. Since one opponent was knocked down, he turned to the other. He dodged a knife slash and struck back with Shadowblight and his tail, while the rogue parried his claws. "Watch out, he's using one of the fancy claw weapons and some sort of whip. Get your ass up and help me!"

Both dwarves were now wounded and wary. They liked fights where they could take someone from behind. Their orders had been to keep this one alive, but they were having second thoughts. Before they thought too hard, Milo attacked the first one he had wounded, hoping to move around him and flee back down the tunnel.

He swung with his claws first to distract his opponent, and then aimed for his head with the Bonecaster weapon. The main spike hit the dwarf in the side of the head, the enchanted bone going all the way through, effortlessly. A jolt of energy went through Milo as he spun to face the last opponent.

The other dwarf turned to run. Milo chased him, firing a Bonespike at him. He missed twice while chasing him, and then hit with the spell twice. The dwarf stumbled and fell. Milo advanced and the wounded dwarf tried to rise, but couldn't. "Why did you attack me?"

The dwarf was looking over at a patch of shadow. "Why not? You were coming up with ore. We just wanted to rob you a little, take some drinking money. No call for all this fighting and blood. What sort of maniac are you?"

Again, the look out of the corner of his eyes as if expecting help.

Milo quickly decided it didn't matter. If there was help coming, he needed to finish this one off and retreat. If the dwarf was bluffing? Well, he gained nothing by letting him live to ambush him again. Milo would have to find a new route down to Harry, which might not even exist.

The dwarf took the decision out of his hands by stabbing Milo in the leg and yelling "Get him." Shadowblight came down on his chest, killing him. No one came to his aid. Limping, Milo dragged the body down to the other dwarf. He bound up his leg with a bandage and had a piece of cheese. He felt a bit woozy, and wondered if the dagger was poisoned? If it was, it wasn't affecting him.

Shadowblight has fed on the blood of more opponents, and communicates more of its secrets. Your levels in bonecasting will now aid you in combat with the weapon. Each level of bonecasting will give you an extra 10% chance to hit, and another 10 points of damage.

Currently: Foes will do -10 damage against you with melee weapons for each would that you inflict upon them.

Base chance to hit: 40%+{30%} +5% for each wound inflicted on your enemy. Base damage of 40+{30} + 10 for each wound you inflict on your enemy.

Milo looked down at the weapon. It was much more powerful than he had at first thought. Did the crazy rat-kin make it? He somehow doubted that.

Checking the dwarves for money or clues came up with 10 silver between them. Considering a copper penny bought a tankard or two of beer, they hadn't been looking for drink money. He put the bodies in a side cavern and covered them in loose rock. Neither had guild badges or anything that said who they were. Then he carefully continued his trek up to the mines and then the guild hall.

Shifty retreated up the cave, staying ahead of their target. That little ambush had been perfect, and yet had failed. The guy should have been knocked out. He should have just given up when it was two to one odds. Neither happened and now two of his gang were dead. He really didn't care; both were players and might be back if they weren't discouraged. He'd thought about going to the rescue of Lefffty, but that would have meant a fight with someone who took out two people already and only had some slight wounds. Plus, the bastard was a mage! Burnock hadn't said shit about that. There was a lot that was strange about this guy.

Shifty was pretty sure he was using some type of obscuring spell. He could almost see through it, but not quite. The same with his weapon. It was magic and powerful, but he couldn't identify it. Shifty didn't like things he couldn't plan for. Burnock was going to have to pay a little bit more for this job.

Chapter 35: Delivery Boy, part 2

Milo trudged into the Mining Guild Assay Office with his bag of ore. Several miners were ahead of him. Several of the miners nodded at him. He'd been seen before, and was coming back with a full bag of ore. He had a good pick, a full bag, and mine dust all over him. That earned him a bit of respect, even if a couple of people were scowling at him. He'd take indifference over outright hostility.

The indifference lasted until the dwarf at the counter emptied his bag onto the heavy metal table, they used to sort ore. He looked at one chunk, then another. "This is all deep copper, and freshly mined." Milo just nodded. Several of the miners took notice. "Any nuggets?" Milo tossed the three nuggets of pure copper on the table, and then the chunk. The dwarf whistled. "Copperheads?"

"Two," Milo said. "One was a hatchling, the other was bigger, a Vein-Lurker. Tough as hell. It dropped the chunk." At the mention of copperheads, several miners cursed and made signs. No one liked the snakes.

"Well, the guild will certainly buy all of this. The pure copper is especially nice to get. There's a noble family in the capital, House of Franklin, they pay top dollar for it." He handed Milo two gold coins and swept the ore into a cart. Puffing on his cigar a bit, he looked Milo over. "You plan on mining more of this? I know you have to haul it a ways. Might have a deal for you."

Milo was intrigued. "Sure, what kind of deal. And yes, it's a long way down."

The assayer came back with three large and heavily constructed sacks. "These are guild ore bags. Each one holds 150 chunks of ore, but only weighs as much as 25. Here's the deal. I'll give you three of them. You return and give me one full bag of deep copper chunks and I'll call it even for all 3. They cost more than that, but if you can spend less time hauling and more time mining, the guild will buy it all. Most of these pansies are afraid of a few snakes."

Milo said, "Hell, I am too. That poison hurts like hell. I was lucky I had some potions from Harry."

The dwarf nodded. "Thought that might be the case. My folk are pretty resistant, but we still avoid copperhead territory. Hope you stay lucky. You'll need it."

Milo put the empty sacks in his pack, and headed upstairs to find the Alchemist Guild

The Alchemist Guild was a few blocks away. Milo got directions and headed there, walking through the night market. He saw a halfling waving excitedly at him and stopped to talk. Milo assured him that he'd be by the family shop in just a bit to pick up some more cheese. The young halfling went off to tell his cousins the good news.

There was a guard on duty at the alchemist shop. Milo had to explain three times that he had items to sell, and mention Harry's name. Finally, he was taken to a room and told someone would be with him shortly. He took advantage of being alone to summon his chest and pull out all of the bags of various mushroom powders Harry had sent with him. It made quite an assortment. Some of the bags were also sealed in jars and had labels on them with small skulls. Milo had sampled nearly all of those and could attest to their potency.

Eventually a sour faced man in a brown robe entered the room, along with a young woman in a blue robe who walked behind him. The man was immediately interested in what Milo had to sell, but acted suspicious for some reason. "Yes, we do buy all of these goods, but I'll have to test their potency and frankly, I'm wondering where you go so much and such variety."

"Oh, well that's easy to explain. I'm just playing delivery boy for Harry Earthtongue, the Mycologist. I'm sure you know him?"

The girl in the blue robe got excited. "Oh, you got to meet him? I'm so jealous! We still use a collection of his scrolls to teach Mycology 101. Are you apprenticed to him?!

The sour faced man's face tried to grow a smile. "Ah, Dr. Earthtongue you say? Yes. We know of him

Milo smiled back hesitantly at the girl. "I guess you could say so. He's teaching me Mycology in exchange for my help at the farm and in delivering his goods."

"Ooh, False Algaric and Blackthistle powders? We need these. We haven't had any for months." She made small comments on each of the bags, getting happier and happier. "Oh, sorry, my manners. I am Journeywoman Amarilla and this is Senior Alchemist Roulf." Milo shook his hand and said simply. "I'm Milo."

Milo looked at Roulf. "I should be on my way. Dr. Earthtongue said this load of stuff would be 20 gold pieces."

Roulf seemed unhappy, but Amarilla nodded as if that seemed like a fair price. As she started to gather up the bags, Roulf let out a snort. "Well, I suppose since Harry is an old friend we can pay a bit extra." He counted out 10 gold coins. "I'll also get you a bottle of his medicinal tonic. I know he'll be anxious to get it. The tonic will cover the remainder of the cost of the powders."

Milo smiled. "No need to go to the trouble. 20 gold is fine. Harry is feeling much better. Totally cured. Amarilla clapped. "Oh, that's grand. Maybe he'll consider coming back to teach!"

Roulf was not happy. At all. He scowled at Amarilla. "Please, don't think to presume such things. I'm sure he's happy down where he belongs. "And since I have doubts about a complete cure, I'll keep the medicine handy, just in case."

He counted out another 10 gold pieces. Milo helped Amarilla carry the bags into another part of the Alchemist guild. She helped him purchase the glassware Harry had requested. With Harry's errands done, he headed off to an appointment with a cheese shop.

Milo's current Character Sheet. Some help with the numbers:

STR adds 10 to Health and 20 to Stamina

CON adds 20 to Health and 10 to Stamina

WIS, CHA, and INT all add 10 points each to mana.

AGI adds about 5% per point for the chance of actively dodging attacks.

STR or DEX help with hitting and damages with melee weapons. Melee is mostly DEX

COR and RAD are opposed. A character has one or the other. Light or Dark. Not both. (sigh...except one troublemaker..)

Name: Tallsqueak Milo Class: Scout Race: Wererat Human

Level: 2 experience: 2620 Boss experience: 750+500 Total: 3870/6000 Heritage: None

Current cheese bonus: +50 Health, +2 STR

Base Per Level From Stats From CSP Total

Health 100 100 60 360

Stamina 600 100 800

Mana 100 50 120 +200* 570

Stat: Rank Cap experience Bonus Total

STR 2 5 300 0 2

DEX 3 5 805 2 5

AGI 3 5 1100 2 5

CON 2 5 300 0 2

INT 3 5 1115 2 5

WIS 1 5 150 0 1

CH 0

PER 2 5 365 2 4

CO 0

RA 0

CSP earned 38 Cronk-15, Malskitter -3, FreedSouls-5, Copperhead-5, petrified bone-10,

CSP to Foundation 0

CSP to CS 38

CSP Saved 0

Skills Stat Level experience P/S/T

bonecasting INT 3

800 Primary

Poison Resistance

CON 2

300 Primary

Skulk WIS 1

150 Primary

Climbing AGI 2 300 Primary

Dodge AGI 2 350 Primary

Small Blades DEX 2 575 Primary

Tail Fighting DEX 1 200 Primary

Mining STR 2 300 Primary

Acrobatics AGI 1 150 Secondary

Throw Sharp Thing DEX 1 50 Secondary

Fleet of Foot AGI 2 300 Secondary

Weak Claws DEX 0 30 Secondary

Sense Danger PER 0 15 Secondary

Forage PER 2 300 Secondary

Skinning DEX 0 Tertiary

Manipulate Locks and Traps DEX 0 Tertiary

Hide INT 0 Tertiary

Identify PER 1 50 Tertiary

Mycology INT 1 50 Tertiary

Open 0 Tertiary

Mechanic INT 2 315 Crafting

Bone Carving DEX 0 0 Crafting

Skrimshaw DEX 0 0 Crafting

Rune Lore INT 0 0 Lore

Core Skills

Skill Costs Rank Max Rank Spent

Smugglers Stash 3/5/1 sf

Jumping Jac 2

Whip Tai 2

Unseen Tai 3

Invisible Tai 3

bonecastin 5

Poison Resistance 1/3/ primary con

Disease Resistance 1 2 secondary, con

unnotice 2

Silent Ste 2

Abundance 1/2/3/4/5 1 5 1

Breathless 1/1 2 2 2

Skilled Provider 1/2/3 1 3 1

Total 38

Chapter 36: Cheese and Apples

"Bingo is waving. Cheesaholic sighted three blocks down and coming in hot and hungry." Jethro had spotted his cousin on the 4th floor of an inn, waving and pointing.

"Places everyone. Don't crowd the customer. He won't need much encouragement to buy heavily." Grandma had been planning for her new best customer's visit for some days now. Orders had been placed with other clans for older varieties and they'd worked hard on their own fresh batches. Cheese was a tricky thing needing a couple of days up to several years to age, depending on the type. The clans often traded around varieties for types they didn't have stock on.

Fate had been fickle as always. They could go months selling wheels of cheddar to housewives and barely making enough to live on. And then get several big customers all at once. Two months prior they had been cleaned out by two "special" customers on three separate occasions before they disappeared and weren't seen again.

This new buyer had heralded the good times again. Several clans had made them very good trades for the type of aged cheddar they produced. This new stock had helped them attract some new customers. One of those customers had the lovely habit of paying gold coins, and in advance. His package was sitting in the corner, already wrapped and ready to go.

Milo was having a bit of difficulty this morning. At one point as he was moving stealthily through an alley near the night market, he felt a small tug on his tail. Turning carefully, he saw a familiar four-year old street urchin standing there. The child looked up at him hopefully. "Apples?" Milo put his fingers to his mouth and said "Remember, shhhush!" The child nodded and repeated the gesture. Milo took his hand and they wandered over to a fruit vendor. Within only a moment the boy's older sister had run up worried and followed the two of them. Other children had gathered. Milo noted the flat bellies and hopeful eyes.

He took a couple of silver pieces out of his pocket. The fruit vendor looked hopeful. "How much for a bag of apples each day for a week?"

"Well, I suppose one silver would cover it. But I'd give you a bag a day for three weeks for 2 silvers." He'd figured out what Milo wanted. Maybe if the little thieves got an apple or two a day, they'd leave off from stealing from him. Milo handed him the two silvers. Then he turned to his little friend's sister and handed her two more silver. "For bread or other things. They look hungry."

The girl took the money, then worriedly looked at him. "And what's the deal? No one just feeds us for nothing. What do you need?"

Milo hadn't thought of that. He'd bought food because he knew what it was like to be always hungry and scrounging food.

"Small ears hear things. If you hear anyone asking around about me, let me know. And I always need to know where the Stinky Cheese shop is. It tends to move around a lot." The girl nodded, that was something they could do. One of the children told him the where abouts of the cheese shop, just a few blocks away. He patted a few heads, and ran off that direction, soon being able to follow his nose to their fragrant house of fromage.

He noted they had an expanded inventory and extra staff. Dozens of complex flavors assaulted his nose and he wanted to try them all. The halflings were ever so helpful, offering small samples, packing up the bricks and wheels he wanted and giving him explanations of how each type was made. Eventually he'd selected most of the stand. "How much for all of this?"

Grandma looked at the pile. She knew down to a penny how much they had spent to acquire it all. The trick with this type was to just slowly increase the price until he was paying more and more. The addicts barely noticed unless they were short on cash. She'd checked around. This one was a miner who was bringing in significant amounts of money each week. She could probably get as much as a gold out of him.

She gestured at the pile of cheese. "Well, some of this is quite hard to import. Aged for years you know. I'm thinking for a good customer like you, we can do all this for a gold and a half." Always good to go higher, then let the customer haggle you down. It made them feel better.

Milo nodded and took out two gold coins. Harry had offered him some of the profits of their work. "How about I just pay you two gold? I'm going to need a bit more than this in about a week. Maybe twice as much? I'll give you four gold when I come back then. It would help out to have it all packaged except for a few samples.

Grandma rapidly agreed. She'd read this one wrong, he was richer than she thought, and also had a much higher need for cheese. Time to get the clan to work. Milo loaded all the cheese into some big backpacks he'd brought along for the purpose and turned to leave. He didn't get far.

A small winged lizard hissed at him from its perch on another customer's shoulder. The gentleman was well groomed with silver hair and a finely trimmed mustache. He was clothed in an expensive black velvet robe inscribed with mystical designs in gold thread. Rings adorned many of his fingers and small gems whirled about his head giving him a sort of glowing halo.

The lizard that rode on his shoulder hissed again at Milo. He found it annoying both in looks and attitude. The man smiled at Milo, and his eyes seemed to look him over. He felt horribly exposed. "Apologies. It seems my little Krysofolax doesn't like you."

"Well, I guess that's fair, I don't like him either." He gathered his bags and moved quickly away from the hissing little thing.

He didn't hear the conversation the wizard seemed to be having with the small dragonling.

"Interesting. A rat-kin running around as if he had nothing to worry about. I know, I know, he probably has something to keep others from seeing him as he is.

"Oh dear, you really don't like him at all, do you? What do you mean 'smells bad, old bad'"

"Now that's interesting? Very interesting. "

Turning to the halflings, who were pretending they saw and heard nothing, he asked "I'm hoping your last customer didn't abscond with my Emmental? I was so looking forward to a slice tonight."

The package in question was quickly brought forth. "Oh, never sir. We kept it safe, and watched that one closely, Mr. Philistron." Jethro might be flippant at times with some customers, but not the ones that can wipe you and your clan off the face of the earth with their spells.

"Just so. And I thank you for your work protecting my little package." He pushed forth a small gem, but kept his finger on it. "Does he come by often? My poor pet was quite frightened. I probably shouldn't come around when he's here."

Jethro understood the implied question. "He wants us to have an extra-large shipment ready in one week sir. I'm sure we could send word when he gets here, so you can avoid him and not have your pet upset again. He, uh, he is a very good customer sir."

The Wizard Philistron moved his hand away from the gem. "I see, well I can certainly understand the need for good customers. I think that you'll find that I'm a better one. He pushed forward a large ruby which Jethro pocketed.

"Thank you for your understanding of the situation." He took his package and his pet, and wandered through the market. No pick-pocket got near him. Cut-throats and pirates smiled and tipped their hats, ladies bowed as he went by. As he crossed a high, arched bridge, a small airship descended to meet him and take him to dinner in one of the mansions high above.

Milo continued on his way, and began his descent, loaded with fine cheese and an assortment of alchemical glassware.

Chapter 37: Lurking

The guild hall was chaotic as usual. The sheer number of people made Milo nervous at times when passing through. They all seemed to have something that needed done, running here and there with paperwork, ore samples, and quests. The exceptions were generally groups of armored and robed players, and a few people drinking and ignoring the hubbub around them. It was one of the player groups who waved to Milo as he was going through to the lower levels.

"Hey, buddy. We're looking for a sixth person to do some exploring down below. Interested?" The speaker was a largish human wearing plate mail with a great sword on his back. The others included a bowman, a woman in a blue robe with a staff, a halfling without much armor or weapons at all, and a dwarf wearing a leather breastplate and packing an axe. Milo didn't think they looked ready for exploring in the dark. But maybe they had something interesting they were looking for?

He took a step closer and the big man held out a hand. "I'm Rufo. Rufo Bearslayer, 3rd level Beastslayer. Milo shook the large hand that engulfed his own. "I'm Milo, I'm a miner. What are you exploring to find?"

The halfling spoke up. "Gold. Riches. More gold. We're going to go poke around the mines, go deep and look for a lost city or dungeon or something." The others nodded.

Milo looked at the group and considered. "How many of you can see in the dark?" There was a bit of foot shuffling from the archer and mage. Rufo fielded his question. "We're all set. Bingo Frostyone is a dwarf, he can guide us and we have lanterns with us.

That settled it for Milo. "I'll pass, but thanks anyway. I should get back to my mining." He turned and walked away.

The group was silent for a moment after he left. The halfling spoke first. "The nerve of that guy! That was disrespect right there. Doesn't he realize he's not getting another chance with a group of this quality."

"Ah, don't let it get your hairy toes in a twist. That lad was just scared of going into the places we're heading." The dwarf put both thumbs in his belt and struck a pose. "Some folks is just scared of the dark."

Two dwarven miners were drinking beer nearby and scowled as the group talked. "Best shut your yap, beardling, that's a full member of the miners guild your talking about. He's been mining deep into copperhead territory, so best you keep quiet. Didn't you see fang in his ear? He's probably heading down to the expedition that's hunting stone lurkers. " Frostyone looked chastened and started to apologize. The halfling stepped forward. "Well, there's five of us that say he's scared. I only see two of you old guys."

The two miners laughed. "Don't be stupid. The two of us could take you five easy. But we'd be kind and share with the other dozen guild members nearby. The guild looks out for its own. And that includes Miner Milo. He's a strange little human, but he brings in a full bag of ore, pays his dues, and doesn't cause trouble. And he's one of ours now."

"Leaving. Apologies. Stupid halfling. Your mouth is going to make us lose some teeth." Frosty grabbed one of the halflings arms and Rufo the other. They lifted him up and the whole group retreated. The ranger sighed. "And this is why we should never bring him into a town."

Milo, meanwhile, had headed down through the lower layers of the guild, waving at a couple of people that waved at him, and then came to the entrance to the mines. A group of seven dwarves and two humans were gathered there. All of them were grim faced and wearing earrings or necklaces with copperhead fangs attached

"Those of you who are borrowing fangs from the guild; make sure these are secure and check they don't come loose in the fight if you get hit. They are sheer hell to get and I never want to have to go snake hunting again. Understood?"

Milo had had his own made into an earring. One of the dwarves noticed it and smiled brightly. "Here's one more, glad to have you along." Several others nodded and smiled. One in particular was looking at him. This dwarf wore very thick plate armor and packed a gigantic shield made of thick plates.

Not knowing what they referred to, but happy to see smiles, Milo gladly stopped to find out. "I was heading to the mines. My apologies, but what is it you need help with?"

The heavily armored dwarf introduced himself. "Gorbel Ironthaneson at your service. There's a rogue stone lurker down in #7 iron mine, we're heading down to kill it. Did you hunt that fang yourself? I only knew of 8 fangs in the guild. I'd be very happy to have a ninth along to help."

As Milo saw it, they had a problem in the mines and were going to fix it. Milo wished he had help like that in section E.

"I can help. But tell me what to do, and what we are fighting. I've never seen a stone lurker before."

"We'll tell you all about them on the way. They're big, made of rock, and hard to kill. But there are a few tricks we can give you to take one down." Gorbel motioned for the others to start down. One dwarf laughed and spoke. "And the first trick is to run get help, unless you have a few years to spare chipping away at the damned things."

As they moved through the mines, the hunting party filled Milo in on the curious monster called a stone lurker. They grew to be quite large and somewhat resembled a cave mantis in shape, but with thick heavy limbs made of solid rock. This made them incredibly slow, and incredibly tough. They were nearly immune to damage from weapons and spells. A high tier earth or rock mage could melt one, but otherwise most spells were useless. Weapons just bounced off of them.

Miners with picks could just barely chip the surface. It took a good mining skill and a hard pick to start doing damage to them. Most miners didn't get past tier 1, and if they did, they moved to better mines. This made stone lurkers here very difficult to kill. And that was where the Copperhead Fangs came to be important. Someone wearing one always did 1 point of damage. A good crew could slowly reduce a stone lurker to rubble if they all had fangs.

One dwarf in heavy armor was needed to keep taunting the monster, and blocking its attacks. They hit slow, but dreadfully hard. And their attacks often broke bones. A stone lurker liked to ambush miners. It's natural camouflage helped them blend into the rock. Their first attack from ambush often broke enough bones to disable a miner and make them easy prey. They'd been lucky this time. The miner had blocked with his arm and been able to run off with only a nasty fracture.

After descending to the mines, the group spread out a bit with Gorbel leading. They had an a half mile walk to the section the lurker had been spotted in.

"Damn, but I have so many things I'm going to buy once we find this monster and loot it." Rufo looked down at Jory Glenspirit, the party's halfling rogue. "Maybe less talk. Aren't rogues supposed to be stealthy?"

Jory kicked a rock that clattered down the corridor. "With you clanking along in plate mail? Doesn't matter."

Frostyone was in the lead. "Keep it down Jory. You talked us in to sneaking down here to kill this monster the miners are so hot and bothered about, least you can do is be helpful."

Jory rolled his eyes. "I am helping. I got you down here. This is a special monster they were talking about. That means extra treasure. We just have to sniff around in the direction they're going and find it first. Take that next left, then a couple of corridors up grab a right. We'll parallel their path but go faster and get ahead of them."

The dwarf thought about it and turned at the next corner. The mines were laid out in a grid, so the plan might even make sense. "Ok, we'll try that, but do try for some silence, all of you. No sense tipping them off."

"That's it! Just keep hitting it in the back legs, once we get it immobile, we can finish it easy." Gorbel was shouting directions to the team as he kept taunting the stone lurker and making it slowly chase him. The other miners were hitting the monster over and over again, doing one point each hit and slowly chipping away at it. Gorbel's shield was slowly deforming. Milo had seen that two of the other dwarves had been packing the same type of shield and he now understood why. If that shield lasted until the monster was dead, it would be a miracle. Gorbel would need the spares.

After ten minutes of constant fighting, several of the miners stopped to catch their breath, or swig a stamina potion. Milo was still above half. His wererat bonus meant he had a lot more stamina as long as he didn't need to keep changing form. He'd been content to let the dwarves dictate the ebb and flow of the battle, but with some of them dropping out, he experimented with his spells. The monster was rock, not bone, but Brittle Bones did mention things with a hard shell. He yelled out to Gorbel to warn him. "I'm trying a spell to see if I can soften it up." The tired dwarf yelled back. "Can't hurt."

The monster glowed a brilliant green. The next strikes from the miners sounded a bit different and the chips flying off were bigger. One of them called out. "Woohoo! I'm hitting for 2 points each swing now. Let's take this sucker down."

When the spell was successful, Milo decided to try Shadowblight. The first dozen hits were just two points each. The 13th hit sunk in deeper and took out a walnut sized chunk from the back of a leg.

You have hit Mature Stone Lurker 15 times. Base Damage is increased to 211 points of damage.

This creature has mitigation of 200 points per hit. Damage after that is 50% higher due to Brittle Bones.

You have done 16 damage to Mature Stone Lurker.

Every hit after that got easier to land, and did another 15 damage to the monster.

You have done 31 damage to Mature Stone Lurker.

You have done 46 damage to Mature Stone Lurker.

You have done 61 damage to Mature Stone Lurker.

You have done 76 damage to Mature Stone Lurker.

You have done 91 damage to Mature Stone Lurker.

Chips of rock were flying off the lurker as Milo struck again and again. Gorbel couldn't keep its attention against that much damage. The monster turned and slowly swung at Milo who easily avoided the swing. The dwarves backed off and watched as Milo easily avoided the creatures' swings, and hit back at it each time, carving huge chunks of rock off of it. Finally, the stone lurker crumbled into a pile of rubble, and there was a cheer from the rest of the group.

Your group has killed a Mature Stone Lurker!

You gain 100 experience in bonecasting and 100 experience in INT

You gain 5 experience in Mining and 5 experience in STR.

Gorbel walked over and patted Milo on the back. "Good job. Ok, crew, new plan. Next time we just all keep it busy and let Milo kill it. How the hell did you do that, if you don't mind me asking?"

Milo caught his breath, and took a drink out of a bottle passed up to him. He nearly choked on the strong alcohol. It was sort of nice to be appreciated though. He showed off his weapon to the miners. "It doesn't look like much, but with the spells I know, it hits a bit harder each time. I wasn't sure it would work at first on something made of rock, but after more than a dozen hits I was getting through its shell."

A sudden commotion coming from a nearby cross tunnel caught everyone's attention. Two bobbing lanterns and shouting voices were coming their way. A halfling packing a lantern ran up and nearly collapsed panting at their feet. "Save us! Please! I'm too short to die!"

He was followed by the female mage and archer Milo had met above. The archer was bleeding from a headwound and had a broken arm. The mage looked back over her shoulder. "They are right behind us. We thought there was only one monster, but more ambushed us. Nothing we could do hurt them."

The halfling said, "No shit. That big one smashed Rufo and Frosty's heads like ripe melons." Heavy pounding came from the tunnel as no less than three stone lurkers emerged. One significantly bigger than the other.

Gorbel grasped the small symbol around his neck and spoke. "Forefather's preserve us, there was a nest of them and these idiots led them right to us."

Chapter 38: Caught between a rock and another rock.

Gorbel yelled out in a loud voice that echoed down the cavern. "I'll draw the big one off to the right, it's in the lead. Asti and Fangrim, sorry mates, you can at least taunt and you each have shields. It's up to you to draw the other two to the left. Keep them busy and let people gain some room. We have to split the damn things up, and get away."

Milo felt things slowing down. Or rather, his thoughts sped up. This happened now and then when he concentrated on a problem. This is what made he and his team able to hack so easily into systems. When plugged into their machines and using their special programs they processed things far faster than a normal human. And right now, Milo had a problem to solve.

Split up, the miners weren't going to be able to take down the monsters, the best they could do was slow them down or split them up. The danger was if the lurkers followed them as a group to the more populated mines.

They could try to delay two and fight one, but with just a shield, sooner or later Fangrim or Asti was going to get a broken arm or knocked down. Gorbel on his own against the big one might have the same problem. No matter how he looked at it, people were going to die.

Whirling Bones

Spectral Spine

Throwing bones into the air from a pouch, the spells created a whirling haze around Milo as a long, spectra whip seemed to grow like some strange sort of tail. Some of the miners paused. Milo yelled out. "Keep to the plan, but I'm with Gorbel." Between the two of them, they might be able to kill one. But Gorbel on his own was a dead man.

The halfling was a hundred feet up the tunnel already, followed by the stumbling ranger. The mage pauses and looked back. "Elvarion, I'm staying. Go keep our rogue out of trouble." The ranger didn't bother to argue, he knew that look in her eye. "Good luck Belinda."

Belinda had hated the plan to explore in the dark looking for monsters. But she had played with her friends since they had been seven years-old and running around in EOQ2 killing bixies and womp rats in the newbie zones. She hated their crazy ideas but sometimes things worked out and they had a great time. This wasn't one of them.

GENESIS seemed a lot more real, and when NPCs died it just felt wrong. Losing two of their group was bad enough but they'd limp back after a day and they might even get their gear back. She wasn't sure about the NPC's. They seemed so real.

There had been that time that the goblin raiders had chased them back to a village. Lots of people had died. That village was still half empty a week later and there had been harsh words cast at them.

Rufus and Frosty were already dead and Elvarion was wounded and had lost his bow. So they weren't gaming the rest of the weekend anyway. She lost nothing by helping, although she'd miss her Healer's Staff and Robe of Twilight's End if she lost them. As she moved closer to one of the groups of miners, she saw one of them begin casting spells. They felt a lot more powerful than hers. He must be dumping a ton of mana into them. It looked like a defensive shield and some type of weapon. The way the long bony whip moved back and forth made him look like he was wagging a tail.

She didn't have long to ponder the strange mage, as the stone lurkers left the tunnel, the huge one that had killed Rufus in the lead.

Bone Crusher Elite Level? Stone Lurker

massive armor, massive mitigation, bone shattering attacks

Milo saw Gorbel taunt Bone Crusher and the huge monster started to run at him. The other miners moved up to the tunnel entrance and threw rocks and taunted the two other monsters to get their attention and then turned and moved to the left, separating them from the larger one.

Gorbel was yelling at the creature and striking it with his pick. He managed to dodge one slow strike, and caught the next one on his shield. Milo could tell it hit harder than the others. Gorbel was driven backwards a couple of feet and barely kept his balance. "I've got its attention Milo, do what you can."

Milo moved up behind Bone Crusher, wary of its rear legs, and cast Brittle Bones. The spell cost 100 mana and took him down to 260/560 mana. His first swing with Shadowblight did the expected two points of damage. He kept swinging his weapon at the monster's carapace over and over doing only 2 points of damage each time.

Gorbel was having a worse time. This monster hit much harder than the smaller version. He knew his shield couldn't take many more hits. He was constantly circling back and to his right, angling his shield to deflect glancing blows, and trying to dodge what he could.

Bone Crusher was not only bigger, but was also a lot smarter than his smaller cousins. The annoying dwarf was moving to the side to make him circle. Bone Crusher countered that by moving to the side quickly on his four legs, and circling in the other direction. Gorbel had to quickly adjust, and couldn't avoid taking a punch from a stony forelimb that rocked him backwards. His shield dented in the middle and Milo heard a sound like a piece of wood breaking.

Gorbel scrambled backwards, a small sound of pain escaping his lips as he sucked in his breath. He tried to get away from the stone lurker, but a loose rock tripped him up and he fell flat on his back.

As Bone Crusher moved in for the kill, Milo tried to get its attention. He leaped onto the creatures back and brought Shadowblight down onto the monster's head. Simultaneously, he wrapped the ten-foot long, bony tail around the forelimb about to crush the dwarf.

Nothing in the spell had said anything about how you had to hold the magical whip. Milo was using his tail. It essentially gave him a ten-foot-long extension and he used it that way with ease. Shadowblight came down, puncturing the monster's skull, with less results than Milo had hoped for.

You have hit! This makes the 15th time you have hit Bone Crusher.

Damage +150

To hit bonus +75%

Evasion bonus +75%

You have Critically Hit Bone Crusher for 4 damage.

Bone Crusher seemed confused by the spectral bones wrapping around his forelimb but attempted to hit Gorbel anyway. Milo suddenly found himself swung off of Bone Crusher's back, and swung in an arc that ended with him hitting the dwarf and knocking him out of the way. Both took minimal damage from the hit. Gorbel just kept rolling and scrambled to his feet.

Milo found himself lifted by his tail, and swinging back and forth in front of the delighted monster. Bone Crushed lifted him up the way a fisherman checks to see what fish he caught. The other rocky forelimb was coming around.

If Milo had ever played tether-ball, he might have appreciated his position more. The hit took him in the side of his head and knocked him counter-clockwise, around and around the other forelimb, unwrapping his tail. After three revolutions his tail came loose and he soared through the air fifteen feet, landing in a roll on the hard stone and coming to his feet unsteadily.

Evasion was mitigated by your inability to dodge. You have been hit by Bone Crusher for 200 points of damage.

Damage is halved because of your Hard-Runed Bones.

Bone Breaker effect is negated because of your Hard-Runed Bones.

Health 310/410

Gorbel managed to stand. Milo yelled at him. "Get moving. I'll stall it a bit and then catch up." Gorbel didn't have to be told twice. He was no longer worried about Milo. He'd just seen him take a punch to the head that should have shattered his skull, and then watched him used the momentum of the hit to escape the creature.

Gorbel unstrapped and dropped his shield and retreated, holding his broken arm. Bone Crusher turned to follow, and Milo raced up to hit for another 2 points of damage. He got in two more hits before the monster decided he wasn't easily catching the dwarf, and the other small thing was still chipping away at it. Bone Crusher turned and tried to slam Milo, but the wererat was on solid ground now, and dodged.

More than dodged, he saw the hit coming and easily just stepped out of the way. The longer the fight went on, the better Milo got at not getting hit. Whirling Bones gave his opponent a -15% chance to hit him. Shadowblight's curse on Bone Crusher was now giving him an additional -90% chance to tag the quick dodging rat. With Acrobatics and Dodge, the chance of Milo getting hit was small, and got smaller with each hit by Shadowblight on the stone lurker.

They continued their absurd dance; Milo unable to do more than 2 damage and Bone Crusher unable to hit Milo.

Even after 22 hits he was still only doing 2 points of damage. Finally, he managed to slightly injure the creature.

You have hit Bone Crusher, a Level? Elite stone lurker.

This is the 25th time you have hit this creature.

Damage +250

To hit bonus +125%

Evasion bonus +125%

Damage 7 points x150%

You have done 10 points of damage to Bone Crusher!

Milo was relieved to finally be doing damage, but appalled at how much armor this creature had. It was going to be a long fight, but he was growing confident. He needed to not make mistakes. No tripping, no getting maneuvered to a corner. If he could just keep hitting the creature, he could wear it down.

You have done 20 points to Bone Crusher!

You have done 30 points to Bone Crusher!

You have done 40 points to Bone Crusher!

You have done 50 points to Bone Crusher!

You have done 60 points to Bone Crusher!

You have done 70 points to Bone Crusher!

You have done 80 points to Bone Crusher!

You have done 90 points to Bone Crusher!

You have done 100 points to Bone Crusher!

Bonecrusher has taken 25% of his total health in damage. Bone Crusher does not like you.

As Milo was calculating that his opponent has 2000 points of health, the stone lurker slammed both of his fists together. Milo easily dodged backwards, but too late realized he wasn't the target.

You have failed to dodge Burst of Stone. You have taken 37 points of damage. You are blinded by dust and debris for one round!

Milo had been too close to the monster when it used its special attack, and couldn't dodge back in time. Again, he was hit hard and knocked to the side.

Bone Crusher hits you for 200 damage.

Damage is halved because of your Hard-Runed Bones.

Bone Breaker effect is negated because of your Hard-Runed Bones.

Health 173/410

Things were a bit more serious now. He'd have to watch out for that attack. He'd gotten too confident. He went back to moving around the monster, striking when he could.

You have done 110 points to Bone Crusher!

You have done 120 points to Bone Crusher!

You have done 130 points to Bone Crusher!

You have done 140 points to Bone Crusher!

Bonecrusher has taken 50% of his total health in damage. Bone Crusher thought things over, and still does not like you.

Milo had been careful this time, watching the damage notices and preparing for when he got to 50% damage. He rolled backwards twice, dodging out of the area of effect of the attack, and shielding his eyes. He took a few points of damage but easily dodged the follow up attack.

A noise from the side caught his attention and he saw the blue robed human mage approaching with her lantern, a wounded dwarf limping along, pursued by one of the stone lurkers. Not good. He went back to hitting Bone Crusher, with distractions and another enemy coming up from behind.

You have done 150 points to Bone Crusher!

You have done 160 points to Bone Crusher!

You have done 170 points to Bone Crusher!

Bonecrusher has taken 75% of his total health in damage. Bone Crusher has taken you off his Christmas Card list.

Milo dodged backwards, but this time Bone Crusher slammed both forelimbs down onto the ground creating a massive shock wave. A rolling Milo felt himself bounce from the ground and into the air, he landed in a heap, stunned.

Seismic slam damages you for 75 points of damage. Your Hard-Runed Bones save you from additional damage.

Health 98/410

Belinda saw the fight ahead of her and instantly regretted running this way. Her Dancing Lights spell seemed to enrage the creature and it made it easy to keep its attention. She and Asti had been running it in circles while the others tried to kill the first one. Other miners hearing the fight had joined in.

When Asti got injured, they decided to draw their creature deeper into the mines.

They had actually found Gorbel along the way. He and Asti compared injuries and laughed. Gorbel had gone forward to help. He could still swing a pick one handed. She and Asti had continued to bait the other stone lurker deeper. No one expected Milo to still be alive, and neither she nor Asti had much hope of surviving.

The miner who had stayed to save Gorbel was actually killing the huge creature, tearing huge chunks of stone from its hide. But the fight wasn't going all his way, he was bloody and battered. Even as she came upon the fight, the monster punched the ground so hard it sent him flying to land near her.

As Bone Crusher advanced, she touched Milo's shoulder and cast the last of her healing spells. Then taking a deep breath, she took a step towards Bone Crusher and cast Dancing Lights on where she thought its eyes would be. As with the smaller creatures, this caused it to be angry with her. She ducked and ran away from Milo.

Milo recovered and stood up just in time to see Bone Crusher knock Belinda to the ground, and then pummel her. Milo felt sick. That could have been him. Would have been him for sure if she hadn't drawn the creature away. He sprinted towards the creature and hit a rear leg, shattering it. His hits did so much damage that now he was tearing Bone Crusher apart.

180...190...200. The damage mounted and Bone Crusher shattered into small bits of rubble.

Milo took a moment to cast Mend Bones upon himself. He was running low on health, stamina, and mana, but he had enough to take out the next monster. After Bone Crusher, it would be a relief to just dodge and hit.

Many hours later, in an inn near the docks, Belinda woke up in her room. As usual, she was wearing beginner trousers and tunic. She missed her fancy robe already. Her head ached as she poured water into a glass. Dying gave her the equivalent of the worst hang-over ever. At least she could cast a spell on herself for some relief. She heard cursing from the room next to hers where the boys would have just respawned.

She wondered if she had lost any levels in skills from this death. It happened to players now and then and made death feared for more than just a headache. Checking her messages, she was very surprised.

Huzzah! Your group has been victorious over the dreaded Bone Crusher, Level 7 Epic stone lurker.

For your part in the battle you receive 5 Core Skill points and 500 Boss experience.

You also receive 200 experience for your part in killing: stone lurker x2

Your reputation with the Mining Guild has greatly improved. They offer to escort you to your tombstone to recover your lost items and loot the Treasure Chest left by Bone Crusher.

Chapter 39: Rocky Rewards

It had been about 8 hours since the fight with the stone lurkers and Milo was finally starting to feel better. Besides the pummeling he had taken from Bone Crusher, the last lurker had hit him hard in his left side before they had all managed to bring it down. Milo had looked at the message he had received, but was too tired to allocate points at the moment. Maybe when he got down to see Harry.

Huzzah! Your group has been victorious over the dreaded Bone Crusher, Level 7 Epic stone lurker. (Mainly due to your efforts.)

For your part in the battle you receive 22 Core Skill Points. This large amount reflects the huge difference between your level and the level of the boss you killed.

You receive 1500 Boss experience. These may be spent on any of your combat skills used in the battle and you receive an equal amount of experience that is applied to the stats corresponding to the skills gaining experience.

You also receive 100 experience to the following for your part in killing: stone lurker x2: INT, AGI, Dodge, bonecasting.

Your reputation with the Mining Guild has greatly improved. They offer to escort you to the Treasure Chest left by Bone Crusher. (Mostly so they can see what you, Gorbel, and Belinda get.)

Currently, he was sitting slouching in an old chair in front of a fire made of coal shards and broken wood from crates. Most of the miners coming off shift stopped to hear the stories, which were getting better with each telling. Gorbel was an enthusiastic teller of tales. He especially liked the part where Milo's attempt to save him had got them knocked together. "Yeah, and let me tell you all, for as tough as miner Milo is, I'd much rather be slammed with him than by Bone Crusher. That thing was mean!"

It became apparent to Milo that Gorbel held some position of authority with the miners. If Gorbel said the secretive deep-miner was ok, that was good enough for the rest of them.

His magical talents were also held in some esteem. Having used his spells in a fight, Milo saw no reason to hide them from people. As he got back mana, he was using his magic to fix the broken bones many of the combatants had suffered fighting the rock creatures. He had been eating cheese and drinking beer for most of the time they sat by the fire. The combination of rest, food, and drink seemed to be a good choice for mana recovery.

A bit after what would have been dawn outside, Belinda and some of here group came walking up. The halfling was noticeably absent. The miners were neutral to the other adventurers, but Belinda was given smiles and a place by the fire. She had healed several of them in the fight, and the story of what she had done before dying had been told several times already around the fire. There was a large group of miners who were willing to escort the adventurers back down to where they had died to recover their gear. And of course, everyone liked to see what came out of large chests.

Milo noticed that Elvarion, the ranger of the group, had his arm in a cast. After a couple of heals from Milo, he happily stripped it off. Belinda had watched eagerly as Milo cast the spell, wishing she could learn it. Milo tried to explain what he envisioned when he cast the spell, and how the mana felt. After a few minutes of talking, she and he got a systems message.

By observing the bonecasting spell, Mend Bones, Healer Belinda has grasped the basics of the spell. Further explanation by Bonecaster Milo has given her a chance to learn the spell, and use it to heal living creatures.

Healer Belinda may spend 1 Core Skill Point to learn a Healer's version of the spell Mend Bones.

Belinda gave Milo a quick hug she was so happy. She quickly spent one of the points she had earned in the fight.

"That's amazing. So far I can restore health and stamina, and cure some minor injuries. This is a big upgrade for Tier 1."

Tombstones were recovered without any problems. Rufus and Frostyone were both relieved to get back their gear and embarrassed for the problems they caused. The miners enjoyed the idea of adventurers needing to run to them for help. Everyone was fairly relieved to be rid of the creatures. For now at least.

They arrived at the large stone treasure chest and both Gorbel and Milo stepped back to let Belinda go first. She put her hand on the chest, and it glowed slightly and opened a crack. A piece of armor appeared on Belinda. Each of the thin plates had the rough texture of stone and had lines of runes running along the edges. The finely crafted armor fit snuggly over her back and breast, coming down almost to her waist. Her shoulders were protected by large pauldrons with 3 lames running down to her elbows. Everyone, especially the dwarves, oohed and awed at the fine piece.

Stone-Forged Armor of Saint Shandlar

Protects against critical hits to back, front, and shoulders.

Mitigation = 10

+2 WIS when worn.

"Wow, now that is some upgrade. That looks great with your robe." Rufus voiced what many other people thought.

Gorbel rushed forward eagerly. "Make way. My turn! That critter nearly flattened me." Again the chest glowed. This time it was a shield that appeared. From tip to upper rim the heater style shield was only a foot shorter than Gorbel. It was nearly an inch thick and looked to be made of solid granite with a heavy iron rim. He could barely lift it until it was strapped fully onto his arm.

Stone-Forged Bulwark of the Protector

This sturdy shield is made from the hide of a large stone lurker.

Physical Blows from Tier 1 or Tier 2 creatures that hit the shield will only do 1 damage.

+3 STR when equipped. (You'll need it!)

Gorbel was highly pleased with his new shield. When strapped on it was still heavy and was going to use more stamina than a normal shield, but its protection was vastly better. "I'm almost sad we don't have a few more lurkers running around. I want to try this out." He waved Milo up. "Your turn."

Milo touched the chest and it glowed brightly before disappearing. Something heavy dropped at his feet.

"I got a rock."

Everyone moved in to peer at the stone. It was the size of his fist, and quite heavy. It's light grey surface was pitted and dull, but three small gemstones shone from different sides.

Heart of Stone

The essence of a creature of stone, condensed and refined.

The owner of this item must make a choice:

-The red gemstone will imbue their body with Earthly Vigor. (+200 Health.)

-The grey gemstone will imbue their body with the Strength of Stone. (+4 STR, +1 CON)

-The black gemstone will grant them the ability: Stone Sense.

Even in complete darkness you can feel the shape of natural stone and earth to a distance of 50' and up to 10' past the surface of the stone. You know when creatures move around you if they are treading on stone or earth.

Gorbel whistled long and loud. "Lordy, I guess you have a choice to make."

Chapter 40: Which rock?

I'm supposed to say something here? But I just want a poll!

OK, so you have a question about these core skill points. I have a system for making boss monsters using levels and abilities and fun stuff. This gives me a range of levels for an Named, Elite, or Monstrous creature. Named are just a bit better than a normal creature. Elites are much tougher, and should be only taken on with a group of their level. Monstrous are raid bosses and something you just don't want to encounter.

Beating a Named creature of your level or higher is worth a point or two. An elite gives the group it's level in points. If the creature is even higher, more points get tacked on with the amount getting larger each level. A bigger group or small contribution takes a bit off, a solo kill gives a lot more.

Obviously, the story dictates a lot of the fight scenes, but I do a lot of dice rolling in fights, so sometimes the outcome surprises me and that works its way into the story.

Are we at 50 words yet? Oh, cool. Go vote.

Chapter 41: Gears turning

Harry had told him some stories about the deep-dark. Harry also liked to imbibe of certain special mushrooms after a hard day's work. So, it was tough to tell if he himself had been to these places, or if the stories were from someone else. Stories about huge dwarven cities floating on seas of volcanic rock, endless caverns lit by huge crystals and strange glowing trees, and all types of strange, gargantuan creatures that ate the stone and created new caverns.

And machines. Harry kept coming back to the story about the machines that were in the center of the world, gears endlessly turning and keeping the world running. Or maybe it was the world turning that kept the gears turning? Details changed from story to story. He didn't know who put them there or what they did, but he always told that story. Milo didn't know if they were real, but he wanted to try and find out. He'd tried asking Harry about his stories when he was sober. But when Milo asked him about the machines Harry had no idea what he was talking about.

In the end, it was wanting to explore the deep-dark that led Milo to take Stone Sense over the other two gifts. There would be places with no light. Even places where you didn't dare make a light. And with this gift he wouldn't have to avoid them. When he told Harry about his choices, the old troll agreed. "Always good to be in touch with the earth and rock."

You have gained the skill: Stone Sense This is a perception-based skill. A high perception will affect how well you can use this skill.

-Even in complete darkness you can feel the shape of natural stone and earth to a distance of 50' and up to 10' past the surface of the stone. This allows movement through caves and similar terrain even in complete darkness at a normal pace.

-You know when creatures move around you if they are treading on stone or packed earth by the vibrations they make. Some stealth abilities may partially negate this, as will a very light tread.

He spent a couple of days with Harry working the mushroom farms and studying mycology. The new glassware got unpacked, shrooms were harvested, and more stories were told. And then Milo headed back to his mines. He took the time to spend his points and assign his experience before he left.

The 1500 Boss experience he put into Bonecasting until it hit level 5 and he maxed out the skill for Tier 1. At level 5 his spells would power up, Shadowblight would hit harder, and he'd gain new spells to cast. That was eleven hundred well spent. The other four hundred he put into Dodge and Acrobatics. His head still hurt from Bone Crusher's love tap. A potent reminder of why not getting hit was important.

Welcome to Level 3!

You have accumulated enough experience to gain Level 3. You gain +100 Health, +100 Stamina, and +50 Mana.

Your experience total is 5820/7000. You need 1180 more experience to gain Level 4

-Bonecasting is now maxed for Tier 1.

-INT has hit the soft cap of Level 5. You may raise this cap by expending CSP. The hard cap of Tier 1 stats is Level 10. Each point of CSP will raise the soft cap by 1.

-We notice you have been consuming quite a bit of cheese lately. We approve! Your addiction to yummy cheese has increased.

Current well-fed bonus: +75 health, +3 STR.

Current deprived penalty: -3 DEX, manic tendencies.

More reasons to stock up on cheese! He had plenty for now, but he should really buy up a bunch next trip. Hopefully mining would go well. The miner's guild seemed anxious for more deep copper. He could also work on some of the old machinery he'd found and take that apart. He'd need more room to haul things to the surface. Increasing Smuggler's Stash was a priority.

For now, he put 10 points into the last level of Smuggler's Stash to finish off the ability and give him the maximum space of 27 cubic feet. Two points went into raising the soft cap on his INT. That was an important skill, helping him gain more mana. With 7 points left, he looked at other core skills.

Extra Clever Traps looked interesting. He'd much rather set a trap for something rather than have to fight it head-to-head. He'd killed Cronk with an unplanned trap.

And Cheesemaking...could he start making his own cheese? It was only 1 point, and he even had an open crafting slot if he really wanted to work hard on it.

The last 3 points he spent on a point of PER. That stat was slowly going up. He should really spend more time foraging wild mushrooms to increase it more. Maybe a little mining, and balance it with a little foraging? A higher PER meant fewer nasty surprises he would have.

When he left Harry's farm and headed off to his camp, he went slow, trying to get a feel for Stone Sense. It was difficult at the start. He could tell where the rock was with his eyes closed, but that didn't tell him about inconvenient roots or mushrooms he could trip over. Seeing into the rock walls was much tougher. He had to concentrate and sort of push into them to get a feel for what was there and what wasn't.

He worked his way through the partially collapsed tunnel on his way to where he'd first met Cronk and found the body of some unfortunate spelunker. He could feel the instability in some areas and see how the cave in had happened. He'd have to be careful of that when he mined.

The familiar mushroom field was there. He took time to harvest the rarer shrooms that Harry said had some medicinal value. He saw a few of the myconid guardians and spent some time baiting them and chopping them up with his machete. One at a time they were easy and he needed the practice with small blades. Shadowblight just obliterated them too quickly for him to get in any practice. The weapon's damage had gone up with his Bonecaster rank increasing.

Looking into the huge cavern with the giant myconid infested with the horrible yellow blossoms sent shivers up his spine. Just looking at the waving flowers made him nervous. The flowers had spread even further across the top of the mushroom man's cap and it leaned slightly to one side. He and Harry had talked about how to get rid of it, but had decided it might just be best to try to seal up the large cavern rather than risk exposure to the mind-enslaving pollen.

Now that he knew what to look for, he could see the long vines that ran from the trunk to mounds in the mushroom field. Each one had a decayed zombie attached to it. He didn't want to be the next.

Sense Danger has reached level 1.

Perception has reached level 3.

Well, that's one way to level a skill. Just get close to things that want to enslave you and turn you into a zombie. He turned and headed to the mines.

He didn't get right to work. Instead, he went to the tunnel that led to the big drop that led up to the copper area where he had fought the big Copperhead. Halfway up the shaft he crawled into the small side shaft that led to his camp. Nothing had been touched. He set up his fondue pot and lit a fire, then summoned George. He and the lizard enjoyed a meal of stale bread, roasted mushrooms, and gooey melted cheese. It had been hours since he had rested in the game, or checked in on Section E so he combined both with a nap. George gave him a nod as if to say, "Get some shut-eye boss. I've got this."

Chapter 42: Volat-Repax

The stone platform leading to his Arcane Library would never fail to cause Milo quite a bit of anxiety. The small 10'x10' area of flagstones was suspended in space with nothing around it except the arched doorway. Where ever the rest of the building was, it wasn't here. Milo liked having a roof above his head. The expanse of stars in the black sky bothered him.

Not looking to the either side to avoid an attack of vertigo, he moved to the door. Movement in the distance made him pause.

Something huge was flying past, gliding on immense wings. If he had to categorize it, it resembled a gigantic white bat with a long thick tail trailing behind it. He felt mesmerized as it turned in a slow circle around his doorstep, several hundred yards away. Then it turned and dived down out of sight. Fear of open spaces forgotten, he started to crawl towards the edge of the platform to look down. The part of his brain that always double checked his mechanical creations flared to life and cast Bone Whip. The long skeletal tail grasped the handle of the door and anchored him to the platform.

Peering over the edge told Milo that the platform was only six inches thick and supported by nothing. Nothing was also what he saw below him. A blackness that stretched forever. If he used a parachute and took along a backpack full of cheese, how long would he fall? Was there something down there eventually? Or would he have to just log out when he ran out of food or got bored? Maybe it would be best to take along poison. Would he respawn normally? He'd ask Cichol. Maybe the old man knew something.

He crawled back from the ledge and turned around to go into his library. And froze. Time seemed to stop, but he could feel his heart beating like a trip hammer. It was here!

The immense creature was perched on top of the archway leading to his library. One gigantic, six-toed foot was grasping the top of the arch; the other had no room and instead gripped its own ankle. He had been wrong about it being a bat, very wrong.

What had looked like a set of wings were in fact three sets. The second and third sets of wings emerged down the torso from the first. The head resembled a sabretooth tiger, with massive canines set in its mouth. Two sets of eyes stared at Milo and he couldn't move. The creature was almost entirely covered by thin bony plates that moved as it breathed, sliding over each other as its chest expanded and contracted like a set of alabaster lamellar. Where there was no bone, he saw light grey skin that looked like tough leather. The wings were made of the same. The long tail waved from side to side, resembling an extension of the things spine, made of vertebrae uncovered by skin. From clawed foot to the top of its head was at least fifty feet. Its wingspan was four times that.

The thing cocked its head and looked at him. A long tongue flipped out of its mouth and licked his body, leaving him wet with saliva and his nostrils filled with a musky scent. That broke his paralysis and he panicked and crawled backwards away from it, forgetting where he was in his terror. His grip on his door knob had been lost when he first looked up at the creature. There was no lifeline to hold him as his legs slipped off the platform. His hands slipped on the saliva, giving him no way to grip the edge. He tried to regain his tail-hold on the door, but he missed.

Milo fell into the void.

He screamed at first, but after a minute he regained control. There was nothing he could do. Screaming wouldn't save him. What did rescue him was a gigantic bone tail wrapping several times around his body. He found himself dragged behind the huge creature like the bow tied to the tail of a kite. Four huge, leathery wings beat in unison, as the creature swooped and soared.

Part of Milo enjoyed the ride, and part was paralyzed with fear. But the main part of his brain was staring at the bony tail that wrapped around him. It was amazingly jointed. What had at first looked like a spine turned out to be several layers of articulated bone parts that worked perfectly together.

He tried to close his eyes and just examine the bones with his magic. He was surprised at how easy it was. Each piece of bone was magically infused and with runes inscribed. How much of the creature was made of this? It was obviously alive and yet used bone to enhance itself. He struggled to understand the runes. Except for one small one, they were beyond his meager learning. That one rune glowed in his mind, burning itself into his memory.

Volat-Repax feels your inquisitive mind. You are gifted with the Rune of Velocity.

A moment later, Milo felt himself deposited on solid ground and opened his eyes. He saw a familiar door. Volat-Repax flapped his wings three times as he soared straight up and out of Milo's sight, his long tail stretched behind it. Shaking, he entered the Arcane Library and shut the door firmly behind him.

You have stared into the endless void and not gone insane. You have earned 500 experience in WIS.

You have been gifted the Rune of Velocity. You have gained 500 experience in Rune Lore and 500 experience in INT.

You have met Volat-Repax. Volat-Repax knows your scent and taste.

Chapter 43: Research

Cichol sat in a chair, smoking a pipe, watching Milo as he lay quivering on the floor. After a few minutes the younger Bonecaster staggered up and collapsed into another chair. Digging through his pack, he brought out a two-pound slab of cheddar cheese and began to devour it.

Cichol said nothing. He wasn't all that worried most days about the affairs of the living. It was one reason his spirit had retired here after his last death. The current master of the library would speak if he wanted to. After he quit stuffing his mouth with cheese. Currently his cheeks were extended like a squirrel carrying too many nuts. Eventually Milo ate enough cheese that a mild euphoria overtook him, calming his frayed nerves.

"What is Volat-Repax?"

"Such an interesting question. I've often wondered that myself. I used to have a telescope out on the landing and would scan the void looking for Volat-Repax, or one of the other rumored void hunters. Volat-Repax is of course famous for putting an end to the plans of the Golden Sorceress to explore the void using airships. Only seven out of thousands of people survived that disaster."

"Did you find a reference to the creature in some old book, or did you actually catch a glimpse of it just now. The latter is much more exciting in my mind."

"I think", Milo said, looking at the old ghost with narrowed eyes, "That maybe you won't need the telescope so much. It came to visit and perched like a damn bird atop the doorway."

Cichol insisted on the entire story, and took copious notes about the size and details of the creature. "Bones with inscribed rune work? You're sure? Oh, of course you are, it did teach you a rune after all. Simply amazing."

"Amazing and terrifying. I came here for a rest and to see about studying level 4 and 5 spells. Now I'm exhausted and still have work in my other world to do."

Cichol made shooing motions. "Then off with you. In exchange for this lovely information on one of the void hunters, I'll prepare some notes on possible spells you might like. I'll have them ready in a day."

That sounded good for Milo. His heart was still racing even after a rest. He needed some time in Section E to relax.

Section E was the same as usual. That is to say, just barely functioning. Milo's repairs kept a couple of steps ahead of things. he really hoped to change that soon. He wanted to to put the money he'd gained to good use, but he had to be careful.

He checked on his orders and deliveries. He should have a total of six clog eaters waiting for him down in the new warehouse he had set up. Along with them had been delivered a large assortment of belts, circuit boards, power adaptors and all the other parts that kept his machines running. It was going to be so much nicer to just install new parts and not have to scavenge half broken machinery from abandoned areas.

Along with the machine parts were a few treats for himself. The medical analysis the pod had done on him had showed a lot of gaps in his diet. He had ordered better food and vitamin supplements to start correcting his shortcomings. And of course, a nice selection of real cheese. He was excited to see how it compared to cheese in the game.

After spending a few hours getting the clog eaters into the pipes and upgrading a huge water pump with a new control board he hid the rest of the parts in one of his storage areas. More orders were placed and then he moved his money around to different accounts. Leaving money in one place too long was how it got stolen. He should know, having stolen quite a bit of it.

His work done for the day, he cleaned up, ate a bit, and left his body to sleep in the pod while his mind ran off to see what new spells Cichol had found for him.

"Alright, take a look at these. You have a couple of options. You can keep collecting offensive spells of different kinds, or you can start learning to enchant bone and inscribe runes. Concentrating on one doesn't mean you lose the other. But we can only do so much until you decide to earn enough experience to leave Tier 1."

"For offensive spells, I have the following for you: Delayed Blast Skull, Bone Armor, Bone Spurs, and Harpoon.

"If you want to start crafting to achieve better spells and items, then I would suggest: Imbue Bone, Lesser Empowered Rune, Lesser Bone Construct, and either Harpoon or Flensing."

Cichol explained briefly what each did. Delayed Blast Skull was the same spell he already had, but let him decide how the spell activated; either by time or an activation word. Bone Armor granted mitigation at the cost of movement, which Milo didn't like the thought of. Bone Spurs was a dispellable curse that caused pain when the victim walked and slowed their movement. Harpoon was a bigger version of Bone Spike that penetrated armor easier.

Imbue Bone let him add mana to normal bone, turning it into a magical material that could be used to craft runes, wands, or other magic items. Lesser Empowered Rune was the start of Rune Carving. Flensing was a spell used to remove flesh and tendons from a carcass to more easily harvest the bones.

"Why the Harpoon spell instead of Flensing if I was to concentrate on crafting?"

Cichol was turning a thigh bone into a pointed stick. He held it up. "This is a poor harpoon. Basic bone to use with the spell. It will penetrate about 20 points of armor or crack open the carapace of a cave mantis." He cast the spell and the sharpened thigh bone launched across the room and stuck in the wall.

"But what if we were to imbue the bone? And then add a rune, and empower it?" He pulled a smaller projectile from his robes. "I always use to keep a few of these handy." Milo could see the glow around the bone, and see that a rune was carved into it. Cichol tossed the bone, and it rocketed across the room and stuck 6 inches deep into the wall, sending chips flying. "See the difference? That piece has a Speed Rune carved into it. I will add that the Speed Rune is a lesser version of the Rune of Velocity you learned so recently."

Milo couldn't pull the second projectile from the wall. And that was with the lesser rune?

Cichol continued. "And I am curious to see what you do with Lesser Bone Construct. The most basic use is to construct a poor man's skeletal servant. Unlike real undead it won't have any sort of sentience. It will only do simple commands that you issue when you create it. However, you can make something other than a humanoid servant. Self-firing catapults for instance. Always popular if you can find big enough bones."

Milo summoned his Stash and pulled out more cheese and a loaf of bread. He had a lot of reading to do.

Chapter 44: Grinding

The dwarven pick bit into the rock wall as Milo worked his way to another chunk of ore. Experimenting with a regular pick had shown him how superior the old dwarven pick was. It cut through the stone easily, especially if he kept it sharp using one of the abilities off his ring. The enchantment was probably intended for weapons, but it worked just fine on his tools as well. Several more chunks of rock were removed and he could get at the small deposit of Deep Copper. As always, he was ready in case a copperhead appeared. The little snakes could appear and latch onto your hand quite quickly. Their poison could do quite a bit of damage if you were bitten several times. This was a smaller seam of ore, so he didn't have to worry about a Vein Lurker.

Copper had a different feel than the rock that made up most of the mines. Regular copper ore had a hazy green to its look, and Deep Copper a darker green. The richer the ore, the less he could sense it, but he was able to 'see' the ore against the backdrop of the rock. A large seam of ore was pretty obvious. There were areas of rock infused with copper, and then nuggets or strands of purer ore that he could tell were 'not rock'.

Deep Iron had a much 'heavier' feel to it than copper. At one point Milo had felt a long, thin piece of 'heavy-not-rock' in the wall and mined several feet to get to it. It turned out to be a four-foot-long drill that had been hammered into the rock from another nearby shaft, and left for some reason. He put the sturdy tool into his stash to sell to the guild.

Milo had been mining steadily for five days now, clearing out the area of Deep Copper before he moved on. He was curious about the end of the tunnel with it's stairway blocked by rubble. But he needed to increase his mining skills and repay the guild for the cost of the ore bags before he made another trip up top. He fell into a regular cycle of mine, sleep and do his work in Section E, study in Arcane Library, and then return to mining.

Being attacked by a copperhead was always a possibility as he mined areas of Deep Copper. He was getting a feel for the little elementals. A large amount of copper ore faded away as they materialized. This often gave him a warning before they attacked. He had killed 7 of them in five days of mining and earned 9 core skill points. Each one had dropped a chunk of pure Deep Copper, and two had dropped fangs. With how scarce those seemed to be, he expected they would sell well.

He was steadily getting mining experience which was also raising his STR. When he wasn't mining, he was learning more about Bonecasting in his library, or studying automated repair systems in his home in the pipe works.

His studies were raising his Rune Lore and Bone Carving. Cichol was helping him understand more about creating constructs from bone. He worked in Section E was finding new ways to construct his repair systems and keep things running. There were some synergies between the two that he found ironic. And of course, while he wasn't quite 'mining' the abandoned sections of the habitat, his salvaging of old machinery was certainly coming close.

His stomach rumbled, and he felt itchy and annoyed. It had been like this all morning. He reached into his pack and pulled out the large chunk of cheese he had selected for today. Jethro had recommended it as one of the best. Co-incidentally, it was made by their family. He'd called it a 'fresh and tasty cheese'. It had turned out to be soft and a bit bland. It melted easily and went well with crackers, but it didn't seem to fill him up as much. Some cheeses were obviously better than others for taste, nourishment, and satisfying his cravings for a tasty snack. He downed the last of the chunk, and got back to work. Maybe he'd finish this vein and then head back early. He needed a break and some better food before logging out. And he missed George. His little lizard did a great job of guarding him and keeping his camp bug free. The little guy deserved some play time.

His annoyance at the mediocre cheese fueled his swings as he drove the pick into the rock wall and dug towards the ore vein. As he got closer, he could see that is was a big one, and had some nice chunks of pure ore. After ten minutes of breaking rock and making a large enough hole to keep digging a large chunk fell away and rolled onto his tail causing considerable pain. That woke him up. Massaging his bruised tail, he moved the loose rock aside and looked at the copper ore he had revealed. The greenish ore had long thin strands of pure copper running through it.

Before his eyes the ore moved. The strands of copper ore thickened and twisted together. Copper ore turned liquid and the pure copper left the rock behind to join the strands. Then like a river it flowed away, leaving behind an empty cavity where the ore had been. Milo quickly looked inside and saw a bright green glow coming from a large twisting ball of copper that revealed itself to be a massive coiled snake

The ball looked to be nearly eight feet across and the body of the snake more than a foot thick. Milo did the math and didn't like the answer of a copperhead over 200 feet long. How much ore had been in that deposit? And now it had all turned into something that probably ate rat-kin whole. As if hearing his thoughts, a large reptilian head appeared above the coiled body of the snake. Two eyes of solid jade stared into his. He felt rooted to the spot for a moment as the snake quickly started unwinding and heading in his direction.

He stumbled backwards as the snake rammed its head on the opening. Stone cracked and Milo recovered his senses. Two skulls flew through the opening, quickly followed by two more. From inside the small cave where the creature had formed came multiple explosions. Dust and stone flew from the opening.

You have injured Hammerhead Constrictor Queen with several spells.

Hammerhead Constrictor Queen takes 130 damage -50 damage from armor mitigation = 80 damage

Hammerhead Constrictor Queen takes 150 damage -50 damage from armor mitigation = 100 damage

Hammerhead Constrictor Queen takes 120 damage -50 damage from armor mitigation = 70 damage

Hammerhead Constrictor Queen takes 130 damage -50 damage from armor mitigation = 80 damage

Hammerhead Constrictor Queen has been slightly injured 1670/2000

Milo had intended to try and use his spells to weaken and then kill the copperhead while it was trapped in the cave. He abandoned that plan and ran in a panic as true to its name the snake rammed the opening and made a bigger doorway to come after him.

The last two weeks had been busy ones for Milo. He had expanded the dwarven diggings, adding cross tunnels and connections as he went after small pockets of ore he could see in the rocks. He intended to use that against the snake. He purposely run away from the drop down to his camp. The snake followed. For something that had just been created it was darn quick. After about fifty feet Milo took a left turn and the snake rammed into the wall before turning to follow. He had gained a few feet.

With a bit of a lead, Milo thought he'd risk going down the drop. If the snake followed, he'd just keep going. If it didn't, he'd hide out for a bit and see what happened. Did elementals stay around? Or did they turn back into ore? Milo took two more left turns and headed back to the main tunnel. A problem arose. There was a snake already there.

He revised his math. Less volume went into the snake's back end and it's tail, but that meant it was probably over 300 feet in length and part of it was still exiting it's cave. He'd have to leap over it. His first jump took him to the top of the wall and he rebounded to dive over the snake near the ceiling.

Hammerhead Constrictor Queen hits you for 50 points of damage. You are stunned for 2 seconds.

As Milo had leaped, the head on one end of the snake saw what was happening and used her other end slam him into the ceiling, stunning him briefly. He came to his senses as a thick copper coil looped around him and began squeezing. He struggled, but he didn't have the STR to get loose before another coil was around him. To his credit, the queen was surprised at how long he lasted without breath his lungs and how difficult it was to crush his bones. The last thing Milo remembered was a huge, unhinged jaw coming closer to him.

You have died. You did not lose any experience or skills due to death. You won't always be so lucky. You will respawn at your base in 12 hours. Have a great day.

Milo spent the 12 hours working on projects and making plans in his head. The new clog eaters were working out great. They were far superior to the older ones. He ordered another dozen of the machines in different sizes. Some as small as 2". With this fleet of clog-hunting mechanical warriors he could get everything flowing smoothly for the first time in decades.

There were several other machines made by the same corporation. One was just diagnostics. It roamed pipes, taking a continuous stream of x-rays and photos and noting damage to the pipes. The other new machines could scrape away rust and patch bad areas before they leaked. There was even a system that would coat the entire network with a new layer of very hard, frictionless plastic. He was having cost estimates done for his section while disguising it as a request from a chemical factory in Switzerland.

He also spent quite a bit of time looking up details on constrictor snakes and the tensile strength of copper. Then he ran a few simulations. Satisfied with the results he took time to memorize details and refine the plan. Finally satisfied, he sat back chewing on a piece of 40-year-old Wisconsin cheddar. The cheese was sharp and crumbly, but almost melted in his mouth. The crystals that formed in the aging process gave it a slight crunch.

He took a last look at his diagrams before logging back in. "I hope you know; this means war."

Chapter 45: More grinding.

George was happy to see him when Milo appeared in his camp after dying. He spent some time playing with the little lizard, and ate quite a bit of his stored cheese. He knew the depression and exhaustion would go away soon, but it felt intolerable to feel like crap and not be taking advantage of the downtime to snack on his favorite food.

He also caught up on his experience gains for the last week.

You have gained 500 experience in Mining and 500 experience in STR.

You have gained 100 experience in Identify and 100 experience in PER.

You have gained 100 experience in Poison Resistance and 100 experience in CON

You have gained 50 experience in Fleet of Foot and 50 experience in AGI

You have gained 100 experience in Climbing and 100 experience in AGI

You have gained 200 experience in Bonecasting and 200 experience in INT

You have gained 200 experience in Bone carving and 200 experience in INT

You have gained 200 experience in Rune lore and 200 experience in INT

You have gained 900 Boss experience.

You will gain an equal amount of experience in the skills you apply this experience to.

You have gained 6 Core Skill Points.

He made his decisions quickly. 6 points into the second level of Fiendish Traps. The 900 experience went into Dodge and AGI.

Before, he had only had Mechanic and left the second open. His plans for revenge on the snake would need more skills. He added Trap Making, Tool Making, and Smithing. On Cichol's advice, he added Rune Crafting.

How the different crafting skills, regular skills, and lore skills worked could be confusing at times, but with the help of the old Bonecaster, he was figuring it all out. Rune lore was Lore Skill. It was all book learning and memorization. You could become a scholar in Runes without ever having crafted one yourself.

Bone Carving would let him carve bone into tools, weapons, parts for an automaton, and give him the skill to carve a rune onto a bone. Without Rune Lore, Bone Carving was a practical crafting skill. Together, and backed up by Bonecasting, they would let him produce the magical runes that enhanced materials, held spells, and thousands of other things.

The Rune Crafting skill expanded his options to more than just bone. It tied together all the practical and theoretical knowledge. Of course, he still had to go acquire all that knowledge. Milo was excited by it all.

Getting back his pack and gear proved to be a bit difficult. He carefully climbed the cables up to the mining level, and started working his way through the corridors. His hopes that the huge copperhead had gone back to its lair were dashed as he saw it moving down a corridor far ahead. The problem was that while he knew where part of its body was, and the direction it was headed, he didn't know where its head was.

He quietly moved around for a couple of hours, avoiding the snake as it moved through the corridors. At one point, he saw it turn a corner far down the hall and move away from him. It looked different. Sharp growths on its head formed a natural crown. He was able to identify it and cursed.

Queen Salasha the Rat-Slayer

Level 8 Epic Boss Health 2200/2200

(Huge size, elemental, constriction, tremor sense, keen sense of smell, hammerhead.)

At least she was heading away from his pack. Her majesty was headed down the corridor towards the blocked stairs. Soon after Milo heard the sounds of the giant snake smashing through the rubble. The noise and dust she was kicking up meant it was much easier for Milo to get to his grave, recover his stuff, and get back down to his camp. He had plans for how to take care of the Queen, but it was going to take a lot of work and a trip up to the guildhall. He told George to take a break. The little guard lizard nodded his head and disappeared back to where ever he came from. Milo headed back to Harry and spent a day with the troll and then made his way up the stairs. He had plans to visit first the Miner's Guild and then go visit the Engineers Guild.

"Can someone explain to my why we have a human taking the test for Journeyman in the Dwarven Guild of Engineers?" Guild master Rolf Morgenthern was making a rare visit down to the basement of the Mechanics Guildhall. If there was one complaint anyone had about him it was that he used a pencil too much and a wrench not enough. His hands were suspiciously free of grease most of the time. Still, no one else wanted to handle the contracts and politics, so he was sure to be reelected.

Several of the Guild Elders chuckled or shook their heads. The Mechanics Guild had opened up to non-dwarves over 500 years ago. Rolf's grandfather had opposed it. His father had opposed it. And Rolf was adamant that the glory days would only return with the 'softies' were purged from the rolls.

Elder Bancroft refilled his tankard and turned to the irate guild master. "All by the books Rolf. He came into the guild, paid for a year's membership up front, and asked to take the apprentice test. He passed it easily. His schematics on how to solve a few of the problems were interesting and a bit unorthodox, but they worked."

"So, a couple of the brothers ran him through tool knowledge and basic hydraulics. He had some odd gaps in his knowledge of tools. Somehow didn't know what a #9 gangly wrench was. But someone schooled that boy on hydraulics and pressure systems. He's way the hell ahead of the other journeyman. We put him to work for a solid week of double shifts, and he didn't complain at all. Only left the job to grab some cheese from a vendor outside. He slept curled up in the corner for a couple of hours and then got right back to work."

"By the time the week was up, he had helped us take apart the old ore crusher, and completely reconditioned and repaired the old machine. Even suggested some improvements to the gear linkage. It's up and running now, and is 2% more efficient than the newer machine. As far as I'm concerned, he earned a chance at the journeyman's test."

Rolf scratched at his beard. "Something's fishy though. Where did he learn all of that?"

"Somethings always fishy with you." Bancroft rolled his eyes. "But I already checked. He's in good standing with the Miner's Guild. Hell, better than good. He's solo prospecting down in the deeps. Brings up ore bags full of Deep Copper and pieces of ancient machinery. Which explains where the Miner's Guild was getting all the high-grade ore they were sending to us for processing."

Rolf's dislike of non-dwarves was easily swayed by innovative design work and increased cashflow. He was starting to warm up to the new engineer. "Has he said where he's getting it? I might be willing to send a crew down that way to explore"

"Heh, not exactly. But it might be tough to send a crew out. He's been down in copperhead territory. Killed several of them and brought back some fangs for the Miner's Guild. That's a spooky area of old mines and death by poison. Maybe after he's done hunting the big one."

"What big one? Hunting?"

Bancroft pulled out some plans that apprentice Milo had asked him to look over. "Look at those numbers for the tension on the cables. If that's a snake he's after, it's a damn big one."

Rolf whistled. "Ok. He's fine in my book then. Anyone who's crazy enough to try to trap a monster like that is crazy enough to be an engineer. But see if he'll pay his journeyman fees for a year ahead of time. We might not see him again."

Later that day, Milo found himself sitting at a table with Elder Bancroft, Guild master Rolf, and several of his fellow journeymen engineers who had been on the project to refurbish the ore crusher. It started out as a celebratory luncheon and turned into a long skull session where everyone went over Milo's plans and many revisions were made. Milo was happy with the changes. His knowledge was lacking about the strengths of materials in the game.

Everyone thought he was crazy. But many journeyman engineers worked on odd projects from mana powered whisky distilleries to steam powered mining drills. A giant snake trap was a novel idea, but the level of crazy matched expected parameters.

Milo continued to work at the Engineers guild for another three weeks. He needed the experience of working in-game with pulley systems, and especially smithing. He spent his hours "sleeping" in Section E, making sure nothing was too badly broken. The new machines helped immensely.

Some of what he needed to learn was how to work with Deep Iron cables and machinery. It was much stronger than normal iron, and much more difficult to cut and splice back together. The engineer's guild had very little Deep Iron machinery, but they did have books with all the information Milo needed.

A month after he had come upstairs, he left again for the depths. In his stash were tools he had purchased from the guild. The money he had earned from the bags of ore, pure copper, and copperhead fangs had been enough to cover his journeyman fees for a year, the tools, and other supplies. He was broke but ready to go have another round with Salasha.

The time spent had been worth it in other ways. Being able to concentrate entirely on learning skills had raised up his stats as well. And being able to easily experiment with different types of cheese in his diet showed him how to maximize his satisfaction and the effect it had on him. He ignored that the amount he was eating each day was increasing. It was cheese, and there was nothing wrong with cheese!

He placed a large order with Jethro for the cheese he want the next time he was up. Jethro seemed anxious to please, and inquired about what day and time that might be, offering to get it all ready for him. Milo just shrugged and guessed. He had a lot of work to do, and it might take a couple of weeks or longer. He passed on Jethro's offer to stay and have dinner with his family, and headed back down to see Harry.

Summary

You have earned 500 experience in Smithing and 500 experience in STR.

You have earned 500 experience in Tool Making and 500 experience in DEX.

You have earned 500 experience in Mechanics and 500 experience in DEX.

You have earned 500 experience in Rune Crafting and 500 experience in INT.

Congratulations, you have gained enough experience to advance to Level 5.

This is the highest level you can achieve in Tier 1. You may still gain experience in skills and stats, and still work to earn more Core Skill Points.

Your cheese addiction has reached Level 3. Bonus: 200 health, +3 STR. Eating less than 3 lbs. of cheese a day will give less in bonus. Not eating cheese for 24 hours will cause cravings and a penalty of -3 DEX, -3 STR, -3 WIS.

For those interested, Milo's complete character sheet. I believe it's up to date now. I keep notes on advances as I go along.

Name: Tallsqueak Milo Class: Scout Race: Wererat Human

Level: 5 experience:7150 Boss experience: 3650 Total: 10800/10000 Heritage: None

Current cheese bonus: +200 Health, +3 STR

Base Per Level From Stats From CSP Total

Health 100 100 100 0 700

Stamina 600 100 110 1210

Mana 100 50 260 +200* 810

Stat: Rank Cap experience Bonus Total

STR 4 5 1300 0 4

DEX 4 5 1305 2 6

AGI 5 5 2650 2 7

CON 3 5 800 0 3

INT 7 7 4365 2 9

WIS 3 5 800 0 3

CH 0

PER 3 5 1200 2+1 6

CSP earned 69 Cronk-15, Malskitter -3, FreedSouls-5, Copperhead-5, petrified bone-10, Bone Crusher-22, misc.-9

CSP to CS 58

CSP Saved 0

Skills Stat Level experience P/S/T

Bonecasting INT 5

2200 Primary

Poison Resistance

CON 3

500 Primary

Skulk WIS 2

300 Primary

Climbing AGI 2 400 Primary

Dodge AGI 4 1600 Primary

Small Blades DEX 2 575 Primary

Tail Fighting DEX 1 200 Primary

Mining STR 3 800 Primary

Acrobatics AGI 2 300 Secondary

Throw Sharp Thing DEX 1 50 Secondary

Fleet of Foot AGI 2 350 Secondary

Weak Claws DEX 0 30 Secondary

Sense Danger PER 2 300 Secondary

Forage PER 2 500 Secondary

Skinning DEX 0 Tertiary

Manipulate Locks and Traps DEX 0 Tertiary

Hide INT 0 Tertiary

Identify PER 2 400 Tertiary

Mycology INT 1 100 Tertiary

Open 0 Tertiary

Mechanic INT 3 815 Crafting

Bone Carving DEX 1 200 Crafting

Scrimshaw DEX 0 0 Crafting

Rune Lore INT 3 700 Lore

Cheesemaking WIS 0 0 Crafting

Tool Making DEX 2 500 Crafting

Rune Crafting INT 2 500 Crafting

Metal Smithing STR 2 500 Crafting

Trap Making INT 0 0 Crafting

Core Skills

Skill Costs Rank Max Rank Spent

Smugglers Stash 3/5/10 3 3 18 27 sf

Jumping Jac 2

Whip Tai 2

Unseen Tai 3

Invisible Tai 3

Bonecastin 5

Poison Resistance 1/3/ primary con

Disease Resistance 1/3/ secondary, con

unnotice 2

Silent Ste 2

Abundance 1/2/3/4/5 1 5 1

Breathless 1/1 2 2 2

Skilled Provider 1/2/3 1 3 1

Extra Clever Traps 3/6/9 1 1 9

Cheese Makin 1

Total 58

Chapter 46 : Scavenging

The tinkling of small bells alerted Milo that he needed to run.

He had learned the hard way, and suffered two more deaths, that escaping the queen of snakes was quite difficult. She knew the tunnels well and didn't follow directly, looping around through side corridors and filling them with her long body. The first death hadn't cost him anything, but the second had reduced a random skill.

Throw Sharp Things got knocked back down to Level 0. He considered himself lucky to only lose 50 experience.

He had spent time on the various game forums trying to find information. Incredibly to Milo, some gamers had actually died over a dozen times to the same creature just to test out the penalties. Dying several times in a small period of time made the penalties worse. Much worse was dying to the very same creature.

The severity of those penalties went down over time if you were careful and didn't die. There was one entire thread devoted to stories of what some players did while waiting a week in town. Drinking was popular along with training a weapon or learning a trade skill.

Milo didn't want to take time off, so he got careful. He started placing small bells in the different corridors to let him know when the snake was moving. The different tone of the bells even told him where she was. It wasn't a great system, but it helped. Piles of old cans and metal scrap also proved useful.

By the end of two weeks, Milo had the snakes' movements mapped out, and his early warning system let him get to work. He wasn't mining, for the most part, he was scavenging. The old dwarven mines were a maze of cave-ins and treacherous areas, but they had a treasure Milo needed.

Cables and pulleys were at the top of the list. Regular steel cables had long since rusted away or were too prone to break. The Deep Iron cables were still strong. They were also heavy and very hard to work with. Milo spent days filling his magical storage area and bringing the hardware back to the base of the big drop. So far, the copperhead queen hadn't come down the long vertical shaft, even when pursuing Milo. She stopped at the edge and watched as he descended to the bottom.

His little workshop was filled with all the things he needed for his very cunning snake-trap. A few more hundred feet of cable, a bit of mining out some passages, and he'd be ready to see if it worked as well as it did on paper. His search had led him further and further into the maze of old tunnels. He'd encountered very few creatures. Two small cave mantises had ambushed him, and he'd had to kill a half dozen piles of sentient slime. Other than that, the tunnels were dark and silent.

Today he was following a tunnel that was better built that the rest of the mines. The walls were smoother, and the supports were stone, not timbers. Arched lintels were supported by thick pillars. The worn stone of the supports was still sound with very few cracks or chips. Branches off of this passage hadn't fared as well. They were clogged with rubble and time-rotted timber supports. After nearly a half mile of exploring, the strange tunnel ended in a set of sealed stone doors.

The flat stone surface of the doors was broken only by the vertical seam down the middle. A gear-shaped indentation that spanned the seam was about three feet up the door. Milo carefully examined the area for traps, but found nothing. Brushing dirt from the indentation, he could see runes carved into the stone, and a symbol he had seen on the spine of one of the engineering books he had studied. On a hunch, he placed his hand on the indentation and tried to activate the rune with mana. Nothing moved, but on the right half of the door, a complex diagram appeared. After staring at it for ten minutes, he realized it was an engineering problem and he had to select the right tension on two wires from a set of choices. He touched the two that would keep the structure stable. The diagram faded, and the doors opened slowly,

Strange smells came down the short hallway that led to a large room. Oil and ozone. The smell of metal and decay. It reminded him of many parts of the habitat. Pipes ran along the walls and ceiling heading to different tanks and machines. He recognized the orecrusher, but none of the other machines. The floor was swept of dust, and overhead a few lights were slowly increasing in brightness.

The doors shut behind Milo. From his left he heard the sound of many steps.

They were barely recognizable as once having been dwarves. Bits of clothing or armor hung from their bodies. Missing body parts had been replaced with mechanical substitutes wired to their bones. Many had wrenches or drills instead of hands. If any had a beard, it was made of wires riveted to their jawbones. Glowing green eyes flashed in their eye sockets.

The pack paused, and one held out his hand. "...shoooyurbadge.."

From the pack came murmurs. "nobeard...nonono...nobeard", "tooopretty..tasty", "wharsyorbadge!" Slowly, step by step they edged forward. Milo was seeing a lot of teeth. "Badge? In my pocket. Why don't you fellows just back off and I'll pull it out."

If anything, his voice made things worse. The once-dwarves ran at him, stumbling forward, and raising their weapons. That was enough for Milo, he tossed an explosive skull to the right side of the mob, and dodged to the left. A wrench clipped him on his shoulder but did little damage and he was past the edge of the mob and running. His first spell had done some damage. One body was down, trying to reattatch a leg and others had taken wounds. He waited until the lead ghoul was almost on him and swung hard, putting both spikes into the creature. The lights in its eyes went out and it slumped to the ground.

Milo kept running, circling around them and his pursuers kept nicely bunched up. Another explosive skull took out several, and the remaining two stumbled forward to be taken out quickly.

Now that they weren't moving, he could see that the they were little more than bones and dried sinew wired to whatever mechanical junk seemed to be at hand. Even now, three of them were pulling parts off of others and trying to fix themselves.

A bad feeling made him stand and turn around. From a side passage came more of the once-dwarves. These were in better shape. Most wore partial suits of plate armor. All had beards of burnished copper wire, and the glow in their eyes spoke of intelligence. Seven of them moved forward, their heavy steps clanging as their metal feet came down upon the stone.

Milo readied a skull and prepared to fight.

The lead creature pointed a gauntleted hand at him. "You will come with us to see the engineer, or we will be using you as spare parts. Either choice is fine with us."

Chapter 47: Spare parts?

Milo was intensely curious about all the strange machines but also aware that his escort seemed on the edge of attacking him, so he decided that he'd save questions until later. Still, his head twisted back and forth, staring at overhead conduits leading to large tanks, cables with buckets carrying unknown materials throughout the complex, and everywhere the scurrying, badly put together creatures who were similar to those that had just attacked him.

Several times as they traveled down ramps and through room after room, one would pause to glare or snarl at him. Some even started towards him only to be yelled at by his escort. They lowered their heads and got back to work. Each of the large work areas or machine shops was connected by a metal walled tunnel with a heavy iron or stone door on each end. His escort opened them by inserting a tool, or solving a puzzle similar to the one on the outer door that he had entered by. Either way only took a few seconds. They had these problems memorized, obviously.

The last room was gigantic. From the stalactites on the ceiling Milo suspected it had started as a natural cave and its rectangular shape was the result of work over the years. Massive buttresses reenforced the ceiling and gave support to the overhead system of cables and pulleys. The room was at least a quarter mile in length and two hundred feet wide. One of the long walls was entirely taken up with silos holding liquids or pulverize materials.

But for all the machinery, not a lot was going on. Large areas of the room were barely lit, and only one area seemed to have workers doing something. Milo saw what looked like a huge drilling apparatus that started at the ceiling and went down into the earth. His escort took him up to the edge of the area and paused, their heads turning in the direction of someone who was obviously in charge.

"Dagnasted mumbleheads, I said 'bring him up', that means today and not next week!"

The person who was controlling a double cable heading into the opening of the borehole didn't bother to turn his head. "The winch works just as fast as always, brother. The distance and speed dictate that it takes a half hour to bring him back up."

"Don't you lecture me on elementary time-distance equations brother, I'm referring to the break you took in the middle."

The winch controller again didn't turn around. "Breaks are a rule, brother, for both the operator and the machine. We wouldn't want her to overheat, would we? But here he comes now."

The long cables were attached to a large bucket. As it got to the top, a damaged once-dwarf leaped out and started running around the room screaming before it collapsed.

The dwarf who Milo suspected was the Engineer walked over to the creature and poked it. The Engineer resembled a dwarf in full bronze plate-armor of some ancient design. Each piece was covered in glowing runes and he was entirely encased in the metal suit. His gleaming wire beard was made of shining gold beneath a sculped copper mask. Or was it a mask? Milo could see him scowl and his lips moved as he said, "Damnation, broke another one. What in the darkest hell is down there?"

One of Milo's escorts stomped his foot. The Engineer turned to look at them. The green glow in his eye sockets intensified and he yelled in a loud voice, "AN INTRUDER?! And you drug him all the way through the complex? What if he's a spy?! Find out how he got in!"

The same dwarf stomped his foot again. "Begging the Engineer's pardon, but we watched him come in through the old access doors on Level 3. I checked the mechanism, and it shows he solved a static tension problem to gain access. Plus, the decapitation trap recognized him as a journeyman from Uptop and let him live."

"That still doesn't explain why you brought him here? You know those lame brains Uptop don't know a differential from a factorial. We fought hard to have our membership separate. We follow the OLD WAYS!"

All the assembled dwarves stomped their metal feet and more or less shouted back, "THE OLD WAYS!"

"Yeah, I get that boss, apologies. I'll toss him to the lower brethren for parts. But I seem to remember we have an engineering problem that needs solving and you keep using faulty components to diagnose it. Maybe we should use a different type of sensor."

Milo had no difficulty figuring that part out. He looked at the borehole, and then at the nearest group of lower brethren.

"I would be glad to help out your brotherhood with finding a solution. But you know I can't. Guild regulations state that you can't just put any idiotchild to work. Who knows what could happen if you so much as give me a wrench? Don't THE OLD ways tell that a tool is only as useful as the person holding it?"

Several of the dwarves nodded, stomped, and shouted out "THE OLD WAYS!"

Milo hurriedly continued talking. "NO! I insist you give me the tests to prove I have the knowledge to work in these hallowed halls! Only after you have tested me on the theory of mathematics, statics, dynamics, fluid flow, pressure systems, pulley systems, and general mechanics can I even be considered an apprentice in this guild." He stomped his foot as loud as he could. "TEST ME!"

A chant started among the lower brethren. "The Tests! THE TESTS!"

The Engineer looked at him long and hard, and then chuckled. "Oh, aren't you the clever one for sure. Not wanting to be spare parts, are you? Well, that remains to be seen." Turning to two of the Milo's escort he said "Sprocket? You and Cogswell take this little gear to my workshop and find a spot for him to work. Peenhammer, go get me a copy of the first ten apprentice tests. We'll see if he's good enough to be tossed down the bore hole.

Chapter 48: Subragators and Throttlecogs

The Engineer scowled as he looked at a sheet of parchment. "I don't like his answer on this one either!"

He tossed the sheets filled with diagrams of pipes and turbines over to his main assistant, Throttlecog.

Like the Engineer, he was entirely encased in metal. His body looked like polished steel and his beard was the dark metallic color of Deep Steel.

Throttlecog looked up from the test paper that he was examining. "What now? You didn't like his answer on the tension-support problem either, but he was right."

"He didn't get the answer that he was supposed to get! The problem states 'The tertiary cable on a tension bridge support has broken, how would you rearrange the cables to keep the bridge from falling down?' " He said he'd repair the cable and put it back in place. That's cheating. He was supposed to move the other six cables to compensate for the missing tertiary!"

Throttlecog chuckled. The chief was big on theory, but didn't like to get his hands dirty with the more mundane tasks. "Well, I say he was correct. What engineer worth his salt goes out to fix a tension bridge and doesn't have tools on him to splice cables? And who wants to have to move six cables when you can just fix the one? Now tell me what's wrong with the one you've got?"

The Engineer put the parchment on the table. "Look at this! He managed to get the repair to the pump correct. But see here? He wants the three-inch pipe connecting water tank to the pump replaced with three-point-five-inch pipe. And, he wants to have three-inch connectors on each end. Why would you do that? Connectors should match the size of the pipe."

Leaning back in his chair a bit, Throttlecog looked at the odd addition to the pump system.

"Oh, see here? He has the math worked out on the bottom. It has to do with friction on the walls of the pipe. That pipe is the point you most need a continuous flow with no disruption. Friction on the sides decreases flow rate and can cause swirling in the pipe. Making the pipe a bit bigger reduces that and keeps the flow steady."

"Dammit, hand that here. That would explain why we only get a 97% efficiency out of that system". The Engineer was scribbling furiously on a slate. After a few minutes he looked up. "He's right. HE'S RIGHT!" The metal-clad dwarf began pacing back and forth. "By the Maker's Holy Hammer! I so don't want to let some no-beard from Uptop into the guild, but I can't fault his theory work. Let's go take a look at his practical problem. What did you assign him?"

"I figured you wanted a tough one for that. I told him to fix the old copper ore subragator system. Hasn't worked in years."

"Smart thinking. Let him break his brain on that old thing. Useless without the ore to process anyway. We can grudgingly let him in on a trial basis so we can toss him down the bore hole."

The lower brethren in the cavern were confused. A half dozen of them were watching the outsider as he scrambled around the machinery and examined the rusting hulk. They knew this machine was long broken, but he just kept prodding it. His excitement was contagious. The senior brothers didn't let them tinker with things anymore, they broke too much. But three times the outsider had asked for their help in removing parts and he sent them looking for tools or bits of wire or gears. Their need to work on the machines over-rode their dislike for outsiders, humans, and people that weren't in the guild. Despite Milo being all three, they still were excited to be at work.

Milo turned and looked at them. "Too much of this is broken and decayed. How longs since it's worked?" Most of the once-dwarves shrugged. D-Wrench was one of the few that could still talk. "Uh...lots of years? At least fourcubedminuseven. Never going to work, just like the others. "

Milo looked up at D-Wrench's statement. "There are other broken machines that are just scrap?"

The lower brothers nodded. Of course, there were. So many broken.

Milo smiled. "Then no one will miss them. Get your tools. We're going scavenging." The lower brothers raced to comply.

The Engineer and Throttlecog heard the noise from several rooms away. Yells, screams, and the hammering of metal were echoing down the hallway from the copper works. They increased their pace. It sounded like a battle was going on.

Upon entering the cavern, they were quite surprised to see four large machines that had been relocated to this cavern being rapidly dismantled by the lower brethren. Something had got them riled up. In the center of the room was a growing collection of spare parts. Two of them were sorting out the bits torn from the machines into neat piles of plates, cogs, cable, bolts and other useful things. More brethren were scrubbing pieces clean with files or hammering plates flat on anvils. It was a madhouse, but an industrious one. Several were screaming at each other excitedly as they worked, eyes manic and hands flying as they did their jobs.

At the far end, the copper subragator was belching smoke, it's old gears slowly grinding. Milo was racing around from the boilers to the hammer system to the subragator and then to the smelter. Adjustments were made and repairs seemed to be ongoing by several of the brethren. There must have been three dozen people working on things all told.

"By my hammer. He's really got them moving." The Engineer looked at the way the lower brethren were working and wished it could always be this way. They got a bit worse each decade.

"The machines or his workforce?" Throttlecog was also happy to see the activity. It had been too quiet lately.

"I'd say both." The Engineer pointed to the end of the machines Milo had up and running. "Look at that! Is he feeding waste fluid into a firebox? Why the hell would he do that."

"Well, maybe you should go ask him."

The Engineer just nodded and started walking over to Milo.

Waste fluid was a byproduct of the process used to make Deep Steel. The Deep Iron ore was crushed to remove rock and impurities. Then, instead of smelting, the separated ore was put into a huge vat with hundreds of gallons of concentrated liquid Phlogiston and turpentine. After it burbled for a month, the waste fluid was poured off and stored in huge tanks. It was useful at times as a lubricant, but they had a few hundred thousand gallons too much of the stuff. The cleaned Deep Iron nuggets were then thrown into a modified Franklin Smelter to begin the process of making Dark Steel.

Waste fuel burned hot, but it didn't burn clean, putting out great gouts of black smoke that soon covered everything with a fine grit. No one had ever tried to use waste fluid as fuel. Until now.

Throttlecog was watching two of the brethren change out wire mesh filters on the smokestack of the fire box. The new filter went in, pushing the old one out. Two more brethren were brushing the heavy black dust from the filter into a barrel to clean them. The smoke coming off the firebox was a lot cleaner than he'd expected.

One of Milo's helpers was mumbling over and over: "Mustn't throw out the filter dust. Mustn't throw out the filter dust."

"Why not throw out the filter dust?" Throttlecog was curious. This set off the lower brethren all around the boiler.

"Mustn't Throw Out The Filter Dust! Recycle! Reclaim! 7% ore. Milo says so." They repeated this several more times. Throttlecog saluted them. "Sounds good, carry-on brothers. I'd like a report on the reclamation project please."

The steam boiler was providing power to the hammer system that was busy crushing copper ore. The Engineer grabbed a lump from another bag and licked it. "Deep Copper, or I'm a three toed halfling..."

Turning to Milo he yelled loudly, "Where in tarnation did you find this much Deep Copper ore? Who was hiding it?"

The copper nuggets, freed from rock and dust, were being dumped into the subragator. There, the metal was subjected to an acid wash to break it down and further remove impurities. The copper dust then got dumped to the smelter and molten copper was poured into ingots. One of the brethren wearing thick gloves on what passed for arms was picking up and stacking the ingots as they cooled.

Milo hopped down from the machine. He yelled commands at several of his enthusiastic helpers and received one answer of "You got it boss" and several thumbs up. "I brought it along with me. I have a small ability that lets me store ore in a sub-spatial storage area. I had 27 cubic feet of ore and wanted to test out the system. Am I out of time? I really could use a few more hours to realign the process and improve efficiency. The boiler may need some patching too, it's going to explode soon."

Throttlecog and Milo watched as the Engineer poked around the machines, peering at the inner workings and even talking to the lower brethren who were still verbal. After a few tense minutes he walked back to Milo. "Take your time. I'm not going to hurry an Engineer when he has a project to get right. Come see me in a few days when it's finished." He patted Milo awkwardly on the shoulder. "Good work though, keep it up."

Turning to Throttlecog he said "Maybe see if we can scare up one of the old hardhats and coveralls for Journeyman Engineer Milo from Uptop. If he's doing the job, he should look the part."

Chapter 49: Bucket Time

"A good engineer always tries to improve on previous designs. And broken machinery needs to fixed. So, it wasn't much of a step to applying the same doctrine to our own bodies. Accidents happen and a missing hand or leg shouldn't be the end of a promising career. Mechanical replacements for missing limbs have been common among the brotherhood going back a couple of thousand years. A few didn't wait for an accident; they just had an arm replaced by a mechanical one with multiple tools and increased STR. It was a practical thing." The engineer paused.

"Yes, totally practical. Like polishing your gilded body armor every day or competing for the best beard." Throttlecog added with a wink.

The Engineer glared at him, but acknowledged the comment. "Hush you. But yes, some of us do care a bit about our appearance. That was much more important back when this outpost was crewed by a thousand engineers. Not so much now, I suppose."

"It seemed to be a natural progression at the time to go from replacing limbs, to fixing a fried nerve ending with a bit of thin-wire, or aural-compensators used to replace shattered ears. Dwarves are naturally long lived, but eventually we do wear out. We started using some 'preservative potions' to help keep us going another century or two. I think that is where the engineering started taking a back seat to the necromancy." As he said this, he watched Milo carefully for any bit of censure or disgust. The new member of the guild just sat there unperturbed. "That doesn't seem to bother you, brother Milo?"

Milo considered his words. "Too complicated a subject. Too much overlap with other things."

"The preservatives your people used might be called medicine by some. And while it came from necromancy, an alchemist might also be able to brew it. From what I've read necromancy seems to incorporate medicine, alchemy, anatomy, and all kinds of things that don't involve making zombies and other undead."

"Aye. That's a decent way to look at it." The Engineer looked thoughtful, then continued. "After the cataclysm that sealed the roads to the surface, we were pretty much on our own. We continued our work. But a schism was growing in the brotherhood. Those that had the knowledge and special skills to construct their own preservation suit did so. But a lot of the brother hood were mechanics, pipefitters, machinists. An engineer who knew the old runes and had the right magitech skills could do it. The rest were just getting old and worn out."

"Engineer Malvos thought he had a way to help the lower ranks. He devised a pressurized tank that preserved their entire body at once. While the council debated for half a year about his designs and theories, he used the process on most of the lower ranks. They were desperate and we were blinded to that desperation. And Malvos was correct, it did preserve their bodies, and even granted some regeneration. But there was a cost."

"It was a constant strain on their minds to constantly be holding themselves together. These weren't mages with the WIS or INT to manage the constant drain. Slowly over time, they became how you see. The schism is complete. The lower brethren are a collection of parts held together by Malvos's process. The senior brothers are tucked away neatly in containment suits, but we can't stray from the complex or we start shutting down. We're like any other machine here, needing power from the broadcasters."

While Milo was happy having things explained, he was still a bit upset about why they told him. "Which is just a very long explanation as to why I'm going down the shaft in a bucket."

The Engineer said "Well..."

Throttlecog just laughed loudly. "Oh hell, Chief, just be straightforward with him. Yes, that's why you get the honor of hopping in a bucket and heading for the nether regions to see what's gumming up the works. You don't need power, and hopefully you'll be able to talk when you get back."

"What's down there? How deep does it go?" Looking down the borehole Milo only saw the metal sided shaft going into darkness.

The Engineer pulled out a very old book from a shelf. Opening it, Milo saw it was filled with maps of each level of tunnels. "Vaguely useless since the cataclysm. So many of the shafts and tunnels collapsed. Based on the exploration done, we surmised there was a cavern about 1000 feet below us. It was partially scouted, and noted for a dozen exposed high grade ore veins, crystal clusters, and a small colony of white slimes. All of that is valuable, even the slimes. You can distill high grade acidic residues from them."

"We determined that part of the cavern was under the complex. The plan was to drill down, then extend the broadcast network down far enough to support a crew. Then widen the bore hole for machinery and start working the new veins for metal we badly need."

That made sense to Milo. "But?"

"But something down there is gumming up the works. The drill is stuck, and worse, the shaft is filling up. Something plugged the end. The brethren we send down come up nearly catonic with fear and refuse to go back down."

Milo looked at the Engineer, then to Throttlecog. The latter just gave him a thumbs up of encouragement.

"Well, of course I'll help with the project sir. It sounds exciting." That was certainly the answer the Engineer was looking for.

Two hours later Milo found himself being lowered down into the shaft of the borehole in a steel bucket. A chain was used to lower him down but there were also two lines that played out and were kept taunt. Tugging on the lines would get him lowered further, stopped, or brought hastily back up.

Milo was equipped in full engineer's gear. Heavy dwarven work boots and gloves, tough coveralls, hard hat, goggles, breathing filter and 3 healing potions. He could see roughly 100 feet ahead of him from the mana fueled lantern that hung above him. Slowly he went down, an endless succession of steel walls, the drill shaft, and a bucket for his companions. At around the 900 foot level the dwarves slowed his descent. Shortly after that he signaled a stop.

There was movement below him. He signaled another 20 feet of drop, and then a hasty signal for STOP! Below him the torch illuminated a heaving pool of white liquid. As he watched, pseudopods formed and wrapped around the drill shaft. Slowly, the mass crept up another inch higher. But what was in? A white slime had been mentioned. Had these crept into the borehole and plugged it? He signaled another 20 feet of drop which put him only 15 feet above the slowly moving mass.

He watched it for a half an hour. It was definitely gaining ground. Sometimes the pseudopods slipped or snapped off, but more often they held tight and the rest of the mass climbed up and over them. Milo decided to gather some data. He took a large bolt from his pocket and tossed it down. It hit the mass and slightly bounced, before coming to rest. Pseudopods wrapped it up and drew it down.

Next, he tossed down an edible mushroom he'd eaten part of for lunch. As soon as it hit, a hole appeared and swallowed the mushroom. Pseudo pods formed, looking for more, and waving around. Milo tossed another bolt. It simply sat on the mass, ignored, and slowly sank into it. The thing liked organic, didn't seem to eat metal. Time to try for a sample.

Milo summoned his 'tail' and anchored himself securely to the bucket. He tossed another 'shroom down, and as the pseudopods waved, looking for more he swung down, and using his weapon, severed one. It reacted by wrapping around his weapon. Retracting his tail, he regained his perch in the bucket.

The slime on his weapon was still moving a little. He carefully poked it with his finger and hastily withdrew his hand as it dissolved the tip of his glove and burned his finger. Definitely a white slime then. He chugged down a healing potion to empty the glass jar, but left a bit inside. The slime eagerly left his weapon when given the chance to drop into the remaining liquid. Milo closed it tightly. He had a sample to take back. Maybe one more experiment.

Milo lowered himself and swung Shadowblight at the mass of white goo. As expected, he didn't seem to do much damage. He saw a flicker of a message.

Interesting. He swung again. And again, the strange flicker. The mass didn't seem to do anything. Hoping that he was actually doing some damage and his weapon was increasing with each swing, he hacked a dozen times at its mass.

Eventually, his experiment paid off. Not in a good way.

The borehole vibrated, and the drill shaft moved back and forth several inches rapidly like it was being shook. Pseudo pods erupted from the mass, much bigger and longer than before. Milo barely got out of the way. He'd started scrambling up the shaft, pulled by his tail, at the first vibration.

Ooblipimux the Ever-Pudding Sees You!

You have dared to hurt Ooblipimux! Current health: 999117/1000000

You have stolen mass from Ooblipimux!

Ooblipimux has decided that you will be its next acquisition of mass. Please jump down into the pleasantly waving pseudopods. Ooblipimux promises it will be fun.

Milo thought fast. That really did sound fun! Should he take off his coveralls first though? He really shouldn't damage guild property just because he wanted to swim in acidic slime.

He started to take off his hardhat and fell to his knees in pain. The pain cleared his head.

The thing had almost got him to jump with a powerful suggestion. It was too strong though. His hardhat offered a bit of protection from the mental intrusion. Quickly, he jerked on the rope for emergency extraction as the slime creature began it's slow, determined ascent up the shaft.

"Don't worry Ooby, I'll be back. You just tried to eat the wrong engineer!"

Chapter 50: The reward for a job well done...

"Ooblipimese demands more mass..."

One of the lower brethren scampered off and came back with what looked like some dried mushrooms and a desiccated gopher and tossed them into the small opening of the large glass container. They fell down into the white ooze that was filling the bottom third of the jar and slowly started dissolving.

Two other jars had similar oozes in them, all yelling to be fed. The original plan of 'Careful observation and experimentation' had gone out the window when some of the more chaotic of the dwarves had heard the ooze begging for food. Before they knew it the overfed ooze was nearly to the top of its vat.

Separating it into three vats had spawned more personalities. Ooblipimese demanded mass and was quite sullen Ooblip the Lesser of Two Puddings whine and begged for food, and purred as it digested a meal. Ooblip Face-Eater growled and thrashed in his containment jar, secreting large amounts of high potency acid.

The Engineer declared Face-Eater to be useful, and plans were made for a much larger and stronger containment jar for it, with special filters to drain the acid without letting out any bits of ooze.

Of the other two, Ooblipimese was the less popular and it got to test out various substances designed to neutralize acids and oozes. It was found that even a small amount of 'High Potency Cleansing Agent B-37' would create a instant reaction that reduced its mass and left it cowering on one side of the jar. The powder had been used for centuries to clean up spills of an acidic nature and was potent when used against the white acidic oozes.

Milo explored a different line of experimentation. Separating out a fourth ooze, the short-lived Ooplipapatamus proved to not like waste fluid sprayed on it, and really, really didn't like being set on fire. Within a minute the ooze was just an oily stain in the bottom of the jar along with a small nugget of dark steel.

Plans were quickly made. A dozen large tanks were moved into the area of the bore hole, each holding thousands of gallons of waste fluid. These were all connected to a pipe that exited into the bore hole 50 feet down the shaft.

A huge chunk of metal encased stone was suspended just to the side of the borehole, and two stories in the air. The Engineer explained its use to Milo. "I don't want to lose the drill. That's a thousand feet of hardened dark steel shaft leading down to a diamond encrusted bore head. But if we can't stop the damned pudding, we'll have to sever the shaft, move the plug into position, and let it go. It's just a bit wider than the borehole at its top.

The force of the drop will put it down 20' into the bore where it will jam tight. There are explosive bolts inside that will then trigger, driving spikes into the side of the bore in a dozen places. Nothing will move that, and it will buy us weeks of time to come up with another counter for the ooze."

Milo looked over at the borehole. More cables had been strung. A much larger bucket was being loaded with High Potency Cleansing Agent B-37. The powder was a bright orange in color, and Milo overheard one senior engineer just refer to it as 'Agent Orange'. The smaller bucket was above it be 50 feet. Milo looked at the set-up and spoke to the Engineer. "It looks like in addition to the mechanisms for distributing Agent Orange, there is an operators bucket. As if you need someone to observe the reaction and make sure the experiment is a success."

The Engineer patted Milo on the back. "Your powers of observation are strong, young engineer. And because you are the first person to bring this to my attention, I reward you with the position of observer in the coming operation."

Milo sighed. "I'm suspecting that the reward for any job well done, is just another job."

The Engineer chuckled. "Indeed. Welcome to the ranks of the trusted and competent. While lesser engineers tighten bolts and dream of whiskey, those with skill get to work their ass off."

"But seriously: Be careful down there. These little shits we have in jars aren't the monster down there. It may react differently. Keep your filter mask on. Dump some orange, back up a bit, and if you're in trouble, jerk the emergency cord, and hold on tight. We'll get you back up here."

The descent down the tunnel went slower this time. Without knowing just how far up the pudding had come, Milo had to be careful in going down. At just past the 600' mark, he started to feel something like an itching in his head. At 700' he could understand distinct words.

"...fear not...no fear...be happy...Ooblipimux comes to hug you...be one with the Ever-Pudding...share masses...happy...oh so happy...no resist to the pudding love!..."

Milo had much resistance to pudding love! When he could finally see the undulating white mass, he pulled a cord to one of the barrels attached to the bigger bucket, and dumped a large barrel of Agent Orange. The results were all he could have hoped for...and a few things he would have gladly skipped.

Ooblipimux stopped his cheery monologue and screamed. Milo covered his ears, but the scream was in his mind, and he felt just the edge of the pudding's actual thoughts. It was losing mass, and hated it. Agent orange turned the whitish ooze into a stinking brown liquid that bubble and gave off noxious gases. He was glad for the Engineer's warning to keep his mask on. It made breathing harder, but other than a bad taste in his mouth, it was filtering out the harmful gases.

Eventually though, the sheer mass of Ooblipimux defeated the acid-neutralizing powder. The ooze had retreated 50' down the shaft. Or maybe lost that much mass? But it wasn't discouraged. The screaming stopped and the voice came again.

"You will feed us! We see you! "

Milo was worried the thing might build a resistance to small doses of agent orange. He tried replying to the voice in his head as he shouted down at it. He thought of the mechanical clog-eaters he used in the pipes in Section E. The grinders eating away at anything in the way, turning the obstructions to mulch that was flushed down the drains.

"Ooblipmux is just a clog! You dare to come into my pipe, and I will flush you away. Your mass is nothing! The Ever-Pudding will die and become just a stain."

He pulled on the other three cables and dumped all three remaining side barrels at once. Grabbing the main cable to dump the bucket, he met resistance. The mechanism was jammed. He jumped down to the bucket, hanging by one hand, his tail wrapped around the cables and banged on the stuck level with a wrench. The noxious vapors had actually decayed the metal and caused the jam. On the third hit it came lose and several tons of agent orange dumped onto the ooze below. Milo scampered as fast as he could back up to his bucket and kept going higher.

The shaft vibrated as Ooblipimux the Ever-Pudding thrashed in pain. Milo held the thought in his head of a clog-eater grinding away at a white, oozing clog. With the sound of a toilet flushing, the ooze rapidly fell down the shaft, then silence, followed by a distance sound of thousands of tons of ooze going 'plop' as it hit the bottom of the cave.

Milo signaled to be lowered down further. Down he went, past the areas where the pudding had been climbing the shaft and finally to where the borehole opened out into a huge cavern. It was lit with the eerie light of glowing lichen on the walls and ceiling. 50' below him, Milo saw the drill head, free and clear of clinging puddings. Directly below the drill head was a huge white lake surrounding a small orange island formed from the debris from he borehole and what was left of the agent orange. Ooblipimux had retreated rather than take more damage. It circled the little island, giving it lots of room.

The cavern was immense. At least a thousand feet to the far side and three hundred feet from ceiling to floor. It stretched into the distance in both directions, and seemed to narrow. Milo signaled to be lowered further. He needed to be lower to see the ceiling, something about it looked odd.

From further down it was obvious. A massive ridge ran lengthwise supporting the ceiling. Evenly spaced along it, pairs of gigantic, curved supports ran across the ceiling and then down to the base of the cave. It was like a huge, gothic cathedral carved out of the rock. Or...

Milo looked again, trying to think of the huge supports in a different scale. He knew suddenly that no one had built this place. The hollowed-out area was inside the cavity formed by the spine and ribs of some gigantic, primordial creature. Between the ribs was bare rock and exposed ore. Milo saw several places that gleamed with the familiar sight of deep copper. This area would become one huge mine if the dwarves could get rid of the pudding.

One of the supports/ribs was about 30 feet from the edge of the borehole. Milo wanted to investigate it, and see if it really was bone, or just stone carved by some mad race of stone workers. He really should wait and get ropes and pitons to be able to safely move from stalactite to stalactite.

He signaled to be pulled back up until he was about at the end of the bore hole and even with the ceiling. He tied a safety rope securely to himself and to the bucket.

A large stalactite was about 10 feet away. Milo leaped for it, his 15' long tail of spectral bone wrapping around it and his clawed hands and feet trying to get ahold in the stone. The plan worked, and he was able to not fall and test his safety rope. Now he just had to repeat the same leap twice more.

The next two were even harder. The last leap left him hanging by his tail below the stalactite. The 'rib' was only a few more feet. He swung back and forth like a pendulum until he could grab hold of the rough surface and scramble up.

The substance was certainly bone. Very old bone. And either he was shaking, or it was vibrating. The area Milo was laying on suddenly gave way, tumbling him into a hollow area of the structure. At first it was dark, and then he began to see lights. Small yellow lights running along the bone and clustering around him on the inside surface.

Not just lights…. runes. Each glowing bit was a rune. A few different ones repeated endlessly. They moved to where he was touching the bone, and flowed from the rib and onto his skin, sinking in and burning. Like millions of little biting ants filling him up and eating into him.

Milo fell unconscious and began to dream.

Chapter 51: Dreams of the past

Alta-Viator dreamed again. Over and over for eternity. The same dream. The last dream.

Hot-rock parted as he shot through the upper deeps. The semi-molten rocks obeying his will and parting as he shot rapidly past. Up and up, past the limits of the deeps with their bland harvest of nutrients and into the lower-crust with its rich veins of tasy food hidden in the not-food.

It could eat the not-food, but it took so much to sustain him that he didn't bother. He didn't leave the comfortable heat of the depths to dine on crap. He wanted the chewy-goodness of Orichalcum or the crunchy-sweetness of Iridium. Maybe the stringy-sharp taste of Deep Copper? Yes! That is what he wanted. It had been ages since it had tasted the Deep Copper. Silly name for something that only appeared so high up in the lower-crust.

The rock of the upper crust was growing stupid. It no longer moved aside when he flexed his will. But if it was stupid, it was also more solid. Powerful claws reached into the rock, and his will drove the muscles of his form to first crack the rock and then move it aside from his passage. Alta-Viator shot upwards, the cracks forming above him as he ascended, finally reaching into the heights where the veins of the Deep Copper ran. The taste was as he remembered; a sharp and acidic taste, the texture stringy but not too chewey. It went down easily and Alta-Viator went looking for more.

Then a strange vibration came to it. The hardened scales of his carapace picking up the slight vibration as something else moved in the rock. For a brief instance, thoughts of his brethren came to him. Volax-Repat who had left the depths to challenge the eels in the void. Calidum-Soror who ever sought the deepest depths and the hottest fires. So many had been lost in the long, long eons since their birth. He wondered where their bones lay?

But this wasn't one of his kin. That became quickly apparent as the stench of it came to him. An Eel! An Eel dared delve into the rock! Not their place! Eels had the live-water and live-air. This one had dared burrow and delve where no Eel should ever go. His will forged ahead of him, finding a path. His claws cracked the rock and he raced upward towards the Eel!

Stronger and stronger the stench hit him. A mix of Eel and Deep Copper. This wasn't a true Eel, but a degenerate spawning of some sort. Had Eels rutted with the Elemental Princes? It didn't matter, it would be dead shortly.

The Eel felt him coming and fled, but it was slow. Where he cracked the rock asunder and moved through the shattered pieces, the Eel was moving through large, empty caverns. He gained rapidly and in a vast cavern the Eel turned to fight. She was degenerate indeed. No wings would lift her into the live-air. No claws would help her crack the rock. Like the youngling eels from the dead-water, She had no limbs, just a long sinuous body the color of deep copper.

Empress Salasha? She was simply a copper skinned snake. And he could tell that was why she was here. She had been eating the Deep Copper. She would regret coming and stealing his food.

Alta-Viator advanced slowly, taunting the Eel. He was larger, with eight rending-claws and a deadly maw full of rock-chewing teeth. The Eel had only her fangs, dripping with some white venom that burned the rock as She hissed. Alta-Viator did not fear the fangs or the venom. His scales could not be punctured by such a puny Eel.

The fight had lasted for days. Alta-Viator carved chunks from Salasha's body, the coppery flesh sinking into the rock while the Eel constantly tried to absorb Deep Copper from the ore around them to heal herself.

Forced to fight against an older and more powerful opponent, she played for time and used the only weapon she truly had. Time and again she struck at the same spot on Alta-Viators shoulder until finally a crack appeared in the scale. There after her poison could work its way inward, doing constant damage as its acidic properties dissolved softer muscle and organs, and poisoned the blood.

It didn't save the Eel, her poison wasn't enough to quickly deal with her foe. Eventually she was done, her body torn into smaller and smaller pieces, her fangs broken, and her poison spent. Alta-Viators roared his triumph and then rested.

Such a great mistake. Had he immediately dived for the depths, the heat of the earth could have burned the poison from him and healed him. And even if he had died, his body would be consumed and he could start the cycle again. Now, neither of those was an option. After some period of time Alta-Viators regained his senses to find his body was much worse than before. He had not healed, and the poison was killing him. The earth would not obey his will. His claws did not have the strength to crack it asunder. He had slain the Eel, but now his spirit was trapped in this dying shell.

It took years to finally die, paralyzed and trapped in the rock. And even death didn't end his imprisonment. Over the next century the poison continued to eat away at his body. Each small bit becoming an ooze like creature that scoured his flesh from his bones. When after a thousand years there was nothing left for his spirit to cling to but bones, the oozes went looking for other food, spreading into the nearby caves.

Over and over his spirit relived its last great battle, hoping to move on. It barely noticed the changes as one mutant ooze began to eat the others. It didn't care at all when the Ever-pudding proclaimed itself ruler of the cavern he had become. Only when the first little eel emerged from the nearby copper ore did his spirit react. Despair took him. His foe had survived.

He felt her as the little princess moved through the ore that had been her mother's body, consuming it and growing. She encouraged other eels to come forth and serve her. Slowly they spread throughout the area around his hollow corpse. Generation after generation passed. Each time a descendent of Salasha would be born and eat her mother. She grew larger each time, consuming more and more of the copper ore around her, gaining power.

Time passed. His spirit awoke as the final incarnation of Princess Salasha was born. This one would birth a Queen, and the queen would birth an Empress. And the Eel would be reborn. And he could do nothing.

Almost nothing...

He felt it when a little chip of bone scurried through the caves. Could it be one of the creations of Magna-Stultas? That one was always sticking parts of himself into the little creatures to make pets out of them. Whatever this was, it began stealing the Eels food and taking it away. This didn't last long. The Eel killed it and grew stronger. Claiming victory on even such a small chip made it stronger. More chips came...or the same chip? It much have a very short cycle to return so quickly. Each time it died. Each time Salasha grew stronger. Her victory was inevitable.

Or was it? Something had nudged his spirit. The chip had found its way to him. Its bones touch his. The runes flowed. It was a weak little chip, with pitiful claws. But such a strong will! And great potential for disaster. He would do what he could. If the chip died again to the Eel, all was lost, she would take his power. Would that matter?

What gifts to give? It was so small! He rummaged through its spirit finding indeed, that it was a lost pet of Magna-Stultas. More, it had met Volat-Repax! Hope surged. He gave it his claws! It was the best he could do with so little spirit left.

Spent, the spirit in the bones slept, and began again to dream of its last days.

Milo awoke. He instantly knew something was different. His hands were covered in intricate bone plates that covered him from pointed claws up to his elbows. He flexed and felt no restriction. He hands were as nimble as ever, but they felt much stronger. Looking down, he saw that the same had happened to his feet and shins.

Looking further he could see the runes moving in the bones. Reaching out to touch the wall, he could feel it as if his hands were bare. The bone was part of him. And he knew where it had come from. He had shared the endless dream of Alta-Viator and felt his despair. He wished he could help...

You have accepted the quest: Slay Queen Salasha and any of her progeny.

You must find a way to kill the Queen of the Copperheads and prevent her from passing her power to another generation.

Failure: Probably you get eaten and turned into snake shit. Alta-Viator is left in eternal despair.

Your dwarf friends don't do so good either. Oh, and all the people above that find themselves at war with a reborn Empress. A hungry Empress.

Victory: Who knows? Things aren't so black and white down here

You have been given a mighty gift! Alta-Viator has gifted you his claws!

You are too weak to know the full extent of this gift. You must train your will. But for now...

Your puny little claws have become: Claws of Alta-Viator

60%+5%xRank to hit. Damage: 60+5xSTR+5xRank. Metal or Stone armor is discounted and will be destroyed partially each time you hit.

You may make a block with your hands or forearms.

You have gained the skill: Block 20%+DEXx5+Rankx5. You will take Weapon Damage -100.

Climbing on Rock, earth, or worked stone is trivial for you. You claws will grip the rock with ease and you cannot fall.

Milo felt an urgency to get moving. He needed to get back up to the Engineer and see about getting that trap finished. And he needed to set up his idea for getting rid of the Ever-Pudding. So much to do.

Hi!

How are things going? Hope you're having a great time down there!

I finally remembered why I needed you. Come see me when convenient. And I mean for me, not you. I'll give you a couple of days. I have a job for you.

KULAG!

Your buddy,

Squint

Milo had ducked as a bat flew at his head, and then dropped a small roll of paper before disappearing. He unrolled the message and slapped his forehead. Time to get to work.

He climbed out of the hollow rib, and looked around. Things had changed. No bucket was hanging down from the shaft, and the drill was missing as well. Below, Ooblipimux heaved back and forth, pseudopods forming and layering on each other as it tried to create a pile high enough to reach the shaft again. The small island of Agent Orange was gone.

Milo reached up and grasped the rock. His claws actually sunk into it. He could feel that he was well anchored. Swinging up, he began to crawl across the ceiling of the cave like some poor, five-legged spider. Even his tail was improved. When he reached out to wrap it around a stalagmite, it too felt completely anchored to the stone. The trip to the shaft up took only minutes.

The shaft was empty. He was going to have to climb all the way up using his claws! What had happened? Step by step, he began climbing the shaft. Then he began moving faster and faster. His tail pushed against the far wall, giving him balance. Every foothold or handhold was secure. He scuttled up the thousand feet of shaft at a slow run.

He emerged to chaos. There was broken machinery everywhere and the lesser brethren were using anything that wasn't bolted down to build barricades in doorways. One of them saw him and yelled. Others heard and came over to him, clustering around. They yelled all at once, gibberish assaulting him in their urgency.

"One at a time. One at a time."

They quieted and then took him quite literally, each one making a statement.

"Gone so long, assumed dead."

"Missing for days, slacker!"

"SNAKE!"

"Engineer needs you, everyone needs you!"

"Find Milo! But Milo doesn't come up!"

"SNAKE! SNAKESNAKESNAKE! SNAKE at the door!

"Boom! No door!"

"Snake eating things. Bad Snake!"

"Engineer down. Everyone down. We in charge."

"WE DOOMED!"

"BOOM!"

"You here! Save us! You in charge! Ranking Engineer!"

When they had all had their say, they quieted down and looked at him expectantly.

"Alright. Step one. Take me to the Engineer. Then we need to kill an eel...I mean Snake."

Chapter 52: BoomBoom!

The story was fairly simple because most of the remaining dwarfs had a limited vocabulary. The exception was Boomboom. He was in better shape than most with a mechanical hand and right arm, and a left arm that ended in a configuration that switched between wrench, saw, and drill. One eye was mechanical and gleamed with a blueish light. The other just gleamed with mischief and destruction.

Milo assumed his nickname came from habit of halving a half dozen charges of blasting explosives strapped to his belt. He also liked to juggle them, which made everyone nervous, and the maniac junior engineer laugh. "Ha! No worries. Pins all in. No Boom-Boom. Oops? Where's that pin? BOOM! Ha! Made you run. BOOM!"

After a bit of this he'd become almost sane for a moment, and Milo got some of the story from him.

"Snake came. Broke down door with many booms! Defenses proved insufficient for snake killing. Disappointing lack of Boom! Snake rampage! Tearing out machinery, making nest. Bad Snake! Hit the main power coupler. No power, seniors fall like trees, make like logs. We stacked in a room, plugged them in. Engineer pissed. MUCH BOOM IN VOICE! Fun. Hide from Bad Snake. Need Snake trap."

Milo got a quick escort to where the senior engineers were laying in a room. Only a few were moving. As Boomboom had said, the Engineer was quite upset.

"Ah, Engineer Milo. Good of you to show up. Did you get lost down in the dark? " After an explanation from Milo, including his theories about the origins of the snake and pudding, the Engineer settled down and updated him on what had happened.

The day after Milo had gone down and effectively disappeared, the decision was made to bring the drill back up. After three more days and no word from Milo, plans were made to seal the shaft. There was some talk about trying to burn out the Ever-Pudding, but if Milo was actually alive down there, that was sure to kill him. Instead, a small side tunnel was dug. It intersected the main bore about a hundred feet down and had its own access hatch. A very simple engineering rune guarded it, easy for anyone to do on the fly, and easily noticeable. The hope was that Milo would be able to use it to get back up after they plugged the bore.

"What a puzzle. And all of us unable to help. Up to you Milo. Let's make it official. Your project for advancement to Senior Engineer is killing the snake. The Ever-Pudding can wait. We need that damned corrupted copper elemental gone so we can affect repairs. Consider everything but the main power core and broadcaster as spare parts and go do the job."

He paused and looked at Milo carefully. "And to be clear, the brotherhood talked it over, and we don't care that you're a rat-kin in disguise. Some were quite happy, means we didn't officially add a human."

Milo was shocked. "You knew?"

The Engineer chuckled. "Suspected a bit. It's a darn fine glamour, but my eyes are special too. We knew something was up. Hell, boy, you prospect in the deeps solo? We knew you were something special. But you just got an upgrade of some powerful magic, and that's tougher to hide. Anyway, like I said, this isn't a problem. We only care about your work. So go kill the damned snake. Tell the boys to take you to the testing room. We were working on your snake trap when the power went down, might be some things you can use."

That made Milo happy, but the first thing he needed was to get a look at the Salasha herself, and where her lair was. Boomboom had offered to show him. They moved through tight access corridors, staying away from the larger tunnels. It was easy to see where the snake had been. Machinery was crushed and destroyed, doors broken down, and power was out in many areas.

At last, Boomboom opened an access hatch in the floor, and put a mechanical finger on his lips. "Shhh! Snek!" Milo peered through the hatch, and saw the queen snake four stories below him. What had been a large room had been enlarged by the removal of floors and walls around it. In the center, within a bed of copper wires and gears, shattered machinery, and raw copper ore was Salasha. She looked immense.

Queen Mother Salasha, Rat-Slayer, nemesis of Bone.

Level: ? Monstrous Aberrant Elemental

Health: ?

In the center of the coiled snake, on a pillar of copper, sat a pulsing egg. It was roughly a foot tall, and Milo felt a growl start to come involuntarily from his chest. That was an Eel. He knew it!

He shut the hatch and turned to Boomboom. "We're going to need a bigger Snake Trap."

The dwarf nodded enthusiastically. "BoomBOOMBoom!"

Chapter 53: Solutions, not problems

The bone-rat-thief...Salasha smelled him again. He was somewhere nearby. His scent was all through the dwarf caves, but for an instant she had smelled him. It was much stronger now. The stench of the ancient enemy was all about him. Was he stealing from them too? Pilfering the long dead bones of her foes? It didn't matter. She would kill him for being a thief.

He had dared to attack her as she built her nest! And the thief had been stealing the ore infused with her own blood. Worse, he took it away to somewhere beyond her reach. She had delighted in killing him. Moreso when she found he was somehow connected to her ancient enemies.

He thought he was clever, returning from death so quickly. She envied him that. But it was only because he was such a little rat. No one cared if little rats fled the dark realms, and no one watched. For her though, it had taken long ages, one painful incarnation at a time.

She had killed him again, and again. Each time gaining power from his death.

He had tried to hide in the lair of the metal dwarves. She found his scent and tracked him there. The doors were thick and the dwarves would put up a fight, but she needed the metals they hid in their lair. Needed the metals he had stolen. She smelled the sweet scent of the pure metal coming from the dwarf lair. If she had known just how much they hid, she would have raided them long ago. The metals without her blood were still nourishing. They would help her grow after her daughter was hatched.

That was close now. She could feel her thoughts moving more and more to the egg. This form, strong as it was, was just a guardian now. Its thoughts moved slower and slower. Soon her daughter would be out of her egg. In a great flash of heat and energy she would consume the guardian's body, and all of the nest, reborn stronger than ever. And then this place would become her food. The thought made her happy. So much food, so tasty.

Milo looked at his supply of cheese, and selected a smaller chunk. Stopping himself as he almost reached for a large wedge. He was running out! That bothered him. He needed his tasty little treats. They helped when he was stressed, and he always seemed to be stressed. Too much was happening.

Squint wanted him back for some job...

The Snake was about to hatch an egg and evolve...

The dwarves were about to be snake food, but couldn't leave...

The pudding was going to be coming back...

Harry was worried about the yellow creeper...

And he was running out of cheese!

Deciding that he couldn't be expected to solve all those problems while depriving himself of cheese, he grabbed a sizeable chunk of "tasty new cheese" that Jethro had sold him. It was horrible compared to his aged gouda. But it filled him up and helped him relax.

"What do you guys think?" Clustered around him were his brother engineers. Most of them shrugged. A couple had ideas.

"Kill Snake! Then Kill pudding!"

"Feed Pudding to Snake?"

"Put Snake into Subragator?"

The dwarf the others called Two-Screws was the most verbal. He spoke in a voice that mimiced the Engineer. "Dammit you ninnies! I don't see problems! I just see solutions to other problems we don't know about yet. Use your noggins."

His assistant was his usual helpful self. "BOOMBOOMBOOM!"

Milo sighed. "I need a bit more that, guys." Boomboom looked thoughtful. Then he smiled. "FIRE!"

The others all agreed and started talking to each other faster than Milo could follow. Then they all raced to a bare wall and started scribbling on it, devising fanciful and highly detailed snake traps, all of which ended with the snake having fire dumped on it. The only dissenter was Boomboom who drew a snake being blown in two by a hidden trap.

Milo looked at his list. Squint had to wait, that was obvious. And he had to finish the rest of the things fast, so he could get cheese. He stared at the huge wall of ideas until they all came together in one horrible mess.

"Great job guys! Now listen up. I have jobs for all of you."

It took two days of furious work to get all of what he needed assembled. He had taken two breaks to log out while his tired body napped in game. This let him check on Section E, which for once had no emergencies. He set up new routes for the clog eaters, routed water flow around a suspected leak, and sent off orders for new parts.

Then he used his computer to double check his calculations. He was guessing at some of the strengths of his materials. The real world didn't have Dark Iron and other materials. But he had worked with the metals and had a good idea of their properties.

The snake was a problem. It was obviously more powerful, but how strong was it? He assumed VERY strong and went with a more robust set of traps. Better to over-estimate the thing and kill it easy. He had enthusiastic help, lots of raw materials, and no budget. The only thing he didn't have was time.

He also took advantage of his cheese horde in the real world. He ate quite a bit more than he normally did. Was he imagining the itchiness he'd felt in the game was following him out of it. He felt much better after a good meal. Of course, compared to food-cubes, anything was a good meal. He should really test some other typles of real world food. Then, calculations memorized, he went back into his pod and went snake hunting.

Salasha the Guardian came out of her stupor when a sound reached her. Something was moving, she could feel the vibrations in the floor. What were the little, scurrying things up to?! She needed to plug holes better, it was almost time for the hatching.

Sluggishly she unwound her top coils and moved debris to where the openings had been into her new lair. It was difficult to remember...so much of her had moved to the egg. A sound got her attention, a thumping from wall where there was no opening. As she looked to the wall, a blob of something unpleasant landed on her head and ignited. She was attacked!

The sticky, flaming tar barely did any damage to her, but it stung and enraged her. She saw that a new hole had been opened and a dwarf was standing there, laughing and holding a smoking tube. She lunged at it, but mechanical claws grabbed the creature and pulled it back. She hammered three times at the opening, breaking through into a small room.

Another small tunnel led away from the room, filled with scurrying dwarves. Two turned, and with a twang! hurled something at her faster than she could see or dodge. The dwarves then dropped the two-man arbalest, and were racing away as the projectile struck the snake just below the left eye. She felt PAIN!

A dark steel projectile from a much larger dwarven bolt-thrower couldn't have penetrated her hide. But dark steel wasn't as strong as the ancient bone that Milo had carved this weapon from. Only his new claws could cut and shape the bone of the gigantic ribs. It had taken him three tries, but the result was worth it. The barbed spear of bone had been enchanted with the rune of velocity. Most of the arbalest was likewise carved of bone, making it a one-use construct with a simple lever that triggered the spell.

The runed barb sunk deep into Salasha, causing both physical and mental pain as she realized where the bone had come from. Rage enveloped what was left of her mind and she lunged forward, only to slam into a metal door that only just held her back. She lunged forward again, and as she slammed into the door revealing two very scared dwarves, machinery was released.

Two stories underneath Salasha, a 16-ton subragator was released from the supports that kept it falling. Strong Dark Steel cables led from it up to a connecting rod. The slack in the cables lasted for the first 300 feet of its fall down the shaft leading to the deeper storage areas. The cables snapped taut and pulled on the supporting rod with incredible force. The top of the supporting rod connected to a very thick cable, just long enough to encircle the room the snake had last entered.

With a sickening crunch, the cable tightened and dragged the snake to the floor, crushing her body and nearly bisecting the elemental. The huge head snapped back, and the dwarfs breathed in a sigh of relief before hastily retreating.

Trapped! The little things had trapped her! Tried to kill her, but failed. She was too mighty. Salasha thinned her neck, giving her more room and began to gnaw at the tightened cabled. The subragator below had bounced up and down several times, causing her more pain. Now several of the dwarves jumped onto it, swinging to back and forth, and having a wonderful time.

Milo was not having a wonderful time. Much depended on luck. The brother hood needed time to finish their traps and set everything up. It would have been so much easier if the cable-trap had been enough. But it wasn't, so now Milo opened a hatch several stories above a glowing egg.

He dropped straight down, slowed barely by a 15ft bone tail attached to a longer cable. He cursed inwardly as he landed on the egg and some of his breath was knocked out of him. Hopefully the damned snake didn't have ears except in its head. He didn't doubt though that it felt vibrations. His hope was it was busy trying not to be sawed in half.

He'd expected the egg to be just copper. But it wasn't. It glowed softly, shiny and beautiful. A foot high jewel with light streaming from it. And inside, Salasha's next incarnation stared out at him and tried to hiss within its metal shell. The eyes bore into Milo. Great hatred was there. It promised vengeance and death and worse.

The problem for the snake, was that Milo had spent his entire life putting himself in danger. He worked on dangerous machinery, close to electrical wires that would fry an elephant. He dove down two-hundred-foot shafts on a day-to-day basis. And stole the money and belongings of very dangerous men. A fancy easter egg, even if inhabited by an aberrant elemental eel didn't bother him at all. He grabbed the egg and prepared to climb back up.

The egg didn't move. The little snake in the egg banged her head on the shell. The huge coils all around him tensed and began to move. With one arm Milo held the egg to his chest, with the other he dragged his claws through the Deep Copper pedestal. His claws couldn't crack tectonic plates like those of Alta-Viator, but they easily cut off the top foot of the pedestal.

"HEY RUBE!" Milo screamed at the ceiling and prayed his helpers hadn't gone off to play on the subragator. They must have stayed, because a torsion spring was released, and the cable holding Milo's tail was drawn back up hard enough that he slammed into the ceiling of the crawl space and nearly dropped the egg.

Nearby a heavy cable was snapped apart by a gigantic copper snake that suddenly realized it had been tricked. The dwarves waved goodbye to the subragator as it fell further into the shaft. Milo had insisted they all attach safety cables, which meant they started a new game, swinging back and forth and bumping into each other. Eventually Two-Screws yelled and they ran to start working on the next part of their plan.

Salasha the Guardian screamed in rage, and broke out of her nest, using the widest tunnels to try and find her egg. The rat had it! Had part of her!

But she knew where the egg was, she would always know. They were linked. She raced after the thief as he ran out of the dwarf's lair and into the maze of mine tunnels.

Chapter 54: Chase me!

Sprinting down the dark tunnels, Milo followed the map in his head. He couldn't make even one mistake. A right, a left, leap the small crevice, and straight on until he ran into the big drop.

Milo had gone over the route several times. Early plans to stay in the small tunnels where Salasha would have a hard time moving were discarded. He could only rely upon speed. He'd originally planned to just play hide and seek in the smaller tunnels for hours, but every time he ran through the plan, he could see Salasha coming out as the winner. There was just too much of her. it would be too easy for her to block multiple tunnels. And the snake wasn't stupid.

He hit the big drop and didn't hesitate, immediately dropping into the long shaft. His claws slowed him enough, tearing through the rock like a thousand fingernails on a thousand blackboards. He landed on his feet and tail in a three-point landing, and sprinted off for the larger caverns.

Behind him the gigantic snake came to the vertical shaft and started downward, far slower that the scurrying rat that was her prey. It worked in his favor that snakes, especially ones her size, weren't built for descending straight down.

Her front end might want to hurry, but she couldn't fall down a shaft when her tail end was still dragging along through the corridors. Eventually Salasha had more of herself hanging in the shaft that she had in the tunnels, and she went faster. Much faster, as gravity took over. Her head smacked into the bottom, and her coils slammed into her head before she could move out of the way.

It was good that Milo had only imagined this outcome. If he'd have stayed to watch, he might have given in to laughter and lost precious time. Slowly, very slowly, a gigantic head emerged from the pile, she heaved and freed ten feet of her length, turned and hissed at the bulk of her still stuck in the shaft. Heave, slither. Heave, slither. She became more and more furious as the egg moved further away from her. When half of her was free she was able to move forward and untangle herself, and then begin to move at greater speed. The way was still narrow, but she saw it opened into a much larger cavern just ahead. The egg had stopped moving, but distressingly, was now above her.

Salasha eyed the cavern. She hated the mushroom creatures, and this place stank of them. They were immune to her venom and gave her no nourishment. A vast carpet of fungus was dominated by a sleeping myconid much larger even than her. The egg was above the sleeping giant. The rat thought to hide in a little lair near the ceiling.

No matter, if the thief could climb the mushroom creature, so could she. She slithered across the carpet of mushrooms, crushing the lesser myconids and setting off the alarming cries of others. Dozens of creatures rose from the soft soil of the mushroom field and advanced on her. Focused on Milo only, she paid no heed to the shambling creatures.

Milo watched from above. The egg was safe inside a backpack behind him. An occasional hiss making it through to his ears. He had not, as Salasha thought, climbed the sleeping Myconid. That would have put him at the mercy of the colony of Yellow Trumpet Creepers and their zombie slaves.

He had prepared his route to his litter perch the day before. It had been fairly easy for him to climb up the side of the cavern, attaching supports for cables as he went. His claws bit into the ceiling just as easily as the did the walls. His earth sense telling him where to avoid areas that might not hold his weight. High above the Yellow Trumpet Creeper festooned cap of the huge myconid, he attached a dozen hooks to the ceiling from which he wove a rope platform.

Then he summoned his storage chest. The materials for a much sturdier and larger platform were inside. When this was assembled, he moved the rest of the equipment he needed for his plan out of chest and then dismissed it. Set-up done, he swung back across the ceiling and ran back to the dwarven engineer's battered complex.

Racing ahead of the Snake, he had climbed to his platform, and quickly put on his TES-3 Suit. Toxic Environment type 3 suits were constructed to resist heat and filter out gas and fumes. It was a bit on the bulky side, but was essential to survival, especially as the yellow blooms below began to emit a toxic haze of pollen as the Snake surged into their domain.

Milo picked up a hose and began pumping with the other hand to build pressure. The flower collective was confused and angry as it was sprayed with a layer of flammable waste fluid. Being flowers, and not too bright, they blamed the Snake and redoubled their efforts to force their slaves to attack.

The zombies had almost no chance to actually hurt the elemental. Only a couple had the muscle power and a weapon large enough to chop though her thick hide, and the small wounds they made were annoying scratches. Instead, they tried to restrain the huge creature, wrapping vines over it and struggling to hold it as it moved. This also worked poorly and only served to drag every zombie and their attached vines along with the snake as it began to wrap itself around the tall stem of the sleeping mushroom giant and climb to the top.

Now the vines had a better chance, wrapping themselves around and around the snake as it wrapped around the huge myconid like ribbons on some bizarre maypole. Milo was hoping the vines could win, but the snake was too powerful. Salasha got to the top of the stem and began battering her way through the cap at the top. This must have caused the sleeper quite a bit of pain as it rocked back and forth and an eerie moaning began echoing through the cavern.

This felt like a good time for Milo to add his own special touch to the fight. Pulling a 'boomfire!boom' device from his belt, a gift from his assistant, he tossed it down onto the waving flowers. It exploded, scattering sticky flaming tar all over the top of the cap. The waste fluid soaking the flowers caught fire, and soon the entire cap was burning. Milo was very thankful for his protective gear.

The vines went insane, flailing at the snake and gripping it tighter. The snake continued to slam its head at the cap, breaking off chunks of grey flesh. The flowers screamed as they died. With an explosion of dirt, the huge myconid awoke and stepped from the ground, tearing loose vines from the ground, zombies dangling from his arms and trunk. Two glowing green eyes opened high up on the trunk and arms separated from its sides. As the huge creature woke up, Milo could identify it somewhat. Like the snake, it was far above his level.

Roobazahl The Ancient

(Massive, thick skinned, collective, ENSLAVED, burning, enraged)

Health: ? Level:?

As Roobazahl staggered from his pit, Salasha struck its cap again, breaking off a huge chunk and slithering on top of Roobazahl's cap. The reaction of the dying flowers was immediate, as they put forth a huge load of pollen into the air. Even for an elemental this was too much as the spores entered the small wounds on her body and into her mouth, trying to take root inside of her. Salasha hissed and sprayed venom at the flowers, knocking her head back and forth and tearing them by the roots from Roobazahl's cap.

The Ancient Myconid knew only that it was attacked. When the panicked creepers had loosened their grasp on its mind, it had awoken to Salasha's constricting embrace and its head on fire. Its reaction was instinctive as massive hands grabbed the snake and slammed it into the ground like a furious child. Again, and again the snake was slammed into the ground or the rocky walls as Roobazahl vented its fury.

Milo had no idea who would win the fight, but the Yellow Trumpet Creeper colony were the losers, for sure. It had been uprooted, torn, set on fire, and its minions smashed by the battle between the two giants. A bad day for a bad flower. Roobazahl had the upper hand right now, (the only hands, actually), but Salasha was wrapped around and around her foe, and constricting and massive mushroom man.

Milo hadn't brought the Snake here thinking he could kill it, although that would certainly be appreciated. He'd just needed to buy time. With that accomplished it was time to leave. Taking a last look at the snake being slammed into a wall, he turned and grabbed on to one of the ropes stretched across the ceiling. This one was long and the other end was hooked to the ceiling at the edge of the mushroom field. Milo leaped into the air and fell. The rope went taunt and he became the lower part of a pendulum that swung him across the cavern. At the far end of the arc he let go, traveled another 30 feet, and slammed into the wall.

He'd envisioned his landing as a more graceful one. Luckily, the mushrooms weren't giving his landing a score. He slid down the wall and sprinted through the tunnels, finding his way to another vertical shaft. A rope was there, tied to a support. It went up into the darkness where it wrapped over a pulley and was attached to a large rock that was twice Milo's mass. Grabbing the rope, he slashed where it was tied. The large rock tied to the other end fell. Milo rocketed up, nearly colliding with the rock and gaining the top in only seconds. He sprinted down the dark corridor, hoping the dwarves had the next part of the operation ready.

Time for phase two of the Snake Trap.

Chapter 55: Extra Clever Traps

Yellow Trumpet Creeper Colony has been destroyed.

No Core Skill Points, experience, or other rewards will be rewarded. Both you and a sworn enemy claim the victory. There can be only one.

Roobazahl The Ancient has been destroyed.

No Core Skill Points, experience, or other rewards will be rewarded. Both you and a sworn enemy claim the victory. There can be only one.

Salasha, Guardian of the Egg saw the announcements and screamed, causing many immature myconids to run for other caverns in fear. The thief had somehow found a way to steal her victories! Killing him would fix that!

Tending his patches of mushrooms, Prof. Harold (Hairy) Earthtongue heard the hissing scream and wondered about its source. What had Milo done now? He picked up a large club and decided to go take a look. Now that his affliction was much diminished, he was getting restless and bored.

The rat on everyone's mind was just reaching the top of the big drop, having come up by an alternate route. He was winded, but relieved to find the Snake wasn't trying to climb up just yet. He'd received the same notifications as Salasha and was fine with the situation. It would probably anger the Snake. Not that she needed more excuses, but an angry Snake was a stupid Snake. He took out the egg and looked at it. No cracks were visible, and it seemed the same as ever. He didn't want to have the thing hatch and then attack him from behind.

As he held it, the shell became transparent and he stared into two small eyes filled with hatred. The tiny snake bumped its head against the side of her egg in a futile attempt to crack the shell. She hissed at Milo and a painful thought appeared in his head.

You will die! Sleep inside you! Eat your brain! Gnaw your bones. We hate you. You will see how much when we catch you! Stupid, Stupid Rat Thing!

Milo balanced the egg on one finger and spun it around and around. When he stopped, the snake stared at him, but its eyes couldn't focus and it just hissed. He put the egg back in his back pack.

The other half of the Snake duo had finally gotten to the bottom of the drop, and was trying to climb up. She was quite clumsy and uncoordinated at it. Snakes weren't really made for climbing that way. Salasha had an advantage in size, and was able to form a coil, pressing against the sides of the shaft as she painfully made her way up. Milo thought it would be a shame if a rock dropped on her. Poor snake.

Coincidentally, there was a large rock in a net hanging above the shaft. Milo's tail flipped the release for a cable and the rock plummeted downward, hitting Salasha in the head. It did little damage to her, but the impact hurt her progress as she lost 20 feet and had to start climbing again. Milo yelled down the tunnel. "More rocks."

The Snake's hatred and anger was growing the longer she had to pursue her adversary. His attempts at killing her had been painful and annoying, but never enough to do her mortal damage. Rocks had been dropped on her. Two more painful bone spikes were embedded into her face. Dreadful itching powder that got under her scales had been dumped upon her.

The worst and final indignity had been a wickedly sharp blade that cut off the last twenty feet of her tail. It was a sloppy attack. If aimed at her neck it might have done some lasting damage, but she was too fast through the tunnels and had almost avoided the trap. She would come back later and reabsorb the copper into her body. There was no time for that now.

This was the endgame. The rat had run out of places to go. She had collapsed tunnels behind her, and sealed off where it could move. She knew where her foe was and ... and ... the cursed affliction hit her again. Her mind whirled she lay with her eyes closed on the corridor floor. What was he doing to her egg?!

The Snake was so slow!

Milo had set up traps and baited her over and over. Several times though, she had stopped to rest. The dwarves became restless so Milo had started playing games with them to keep their attention. Currently they were playing a dwarven game called 'Spin and Hurl'. One dwarf sat in a swing attached by one rope to the ceiling. The others formed a circle and pushed the dwarf in the swing back and forth, spun him around, or moving in a circle whose path often reversed. If the dwarf in the center called out, or got sick, he lost. The lesser brothers loved this game.

Currently it was Milo's turn again. He seemed to have a lot of turns. He sat in the swing holding the pack with the egg as the dwarves spun him unmercifully around and around. Milo was used to mid-air flips and had long ago lost any sense of vertigo. But this? This was horrible! Finally, he gave up and the dwarves cheered and another took his place.

Taking deep breaths, Milo asked, "Is the snake moving at all?"

Two-screws voice came out of a vent. "No. Lazy snake just lying in corridor twitching. Poke Snake?"

Milo thought about it. "Yeah, poke the Snake. Use more of the red powder, she really hated that. I wonder what itching is like when you can't scratch?"

As the vertigo faded, Salasha thrashed in rage as more of the red powder was blown down the corridor and all over her scales. Surging forward, she determined to end this!

"Snake moving. Moving fast."

Milo double-checked his set up. His helpers had done a great job. Most of the machinery in the drilling chamber had been moved out of the way. Along one wall, all of the huge tanks of waste fluid had been brought in and bolted down. Hoses ran from each one to the slanted tunnel that led to the bore hole. Large barrels labeled 'Snake Surprise' were stacked in a corner.

Near them were large sacks of grey powder. 'Instant Stone' was an invention so old that the dwarves had lost the name of the engineer who invented it. It was a mix of crushed granite and several chemicals that reacted to heat. It was often used to fight machinery fires. When thrown onto a fire, the chemicals reacted and created a grey foam that filled an area and then cured to a hard stone. It wasn't permanent, crumbling back to powder in the absence of heat. It could also be used with explosives. A charge of explosives would be set to go off, then the tunnel sealed with instant stone. The stone wall stopped any of the explosion from going back down the tunnel. After absorbing an explosion, it was easy to tear down an instant stone wall. Most of it turned to powder as it was hit.

Overhead, two huge hoppers of grey powder hung next to the stone and steel plug that would seal the bore hole.

The dwarves hid themselves behind machinery or beneath the plates of the floor. Just inside the room stood a defiant rat.

Salasha came roaring into the room. She knew the egg was near. In front of her was her adversary. One arm raised up and a claw tipped middle finger made a gesture that even a Snake understood. With her coils behind her, Salasha struck like lightning across the 50-foot distance to the rat.

The room exploded with light and sound.

The dwarves called the strange metal Barkite. Milo knew it as Magnesium. The dwarves used it in mining explosives as a primer. Most of it was in the form of thin wire. But Milo had found nearly a half-pound of it in pure powdered form. Even Boom-Boom seemed nervous around it.

The bone construct that Milo had made looked like him, and with the loss of some hair, it even smelled like him. It was a simple thing designed to greet the Snake with a rude gesture, and then trigger the explosives inside of its rib cage. Milo and all of the dwarves were averting their eyes, and wearing heavy flash protection. The room shook with thunder as the improvised flare went off and a flaming white sun replaced the bone construct when Salasha was mere feet away from it.

The Snake recoiled in pain and shock. The sensitive organs that snakes use for ears could feel movement in the earth a hundred feet away. Now they were damaged and ringing. Several layers of the snakes' eyes had burned away and both inner and outer eyelids had charred. Her sensitive tongue burned in her mouth. But despite all the damage, she somehow heard Milo laughing at her as he stood beside the bore hole. Loud, mocking laughter that erased her pain and renewed her fury.

And then, as she moved to kill him, he stepped into the hole and dropped out of sight. Her egg was moving rapidly away from her again! Another hole to crawl down, she hated this rat! Her egg was slowly moving down the hole, she could catch up to the rat this time.

After Salasha had started moving into the hole, furtive shapes began moving in the room. Moving as quietly as they could, the dwarves began moving the barrels of 'Snake Surprise' to the bore hole. As Salasha disappeared into the hole, they dumped hundreds of gallons of 'DW-160 Special Machine Lubricant' down the sides of the bore hole.

The snake was moving steadily down the hole, pressing against the sides of hole to control her progress. That control came to an end as the lubricant caught up with the elemental and began coating the sides of the hole. Suddenly the Snake lost its grip and plummeted down the hole, rapidly gaining on its egg.

The problem was, Milo wasn't with the egg.

After dropping into the hole, he had used his claws to descend only a short way before he dropped the egg, still in its back pack. Behind it streamed out a small parachute that slowed its descent. Milo climbed into the slanted tunnel partially filled with hoses and climbed back up to the dwarves.

The egg was the first to arrive at the bottom of the cavern. Waiting pseudopods reached up to it and grasped the prize. Acid dissolved the back pack revealing the coppery egg and the Ever Pudding laughed with glee. This was a missing piece of itself! Such a gift!

Ooblipimux the Ever-Pudding Loves You!

Alone in the darkness for so long, you have reunited it with a chunk of its greater self. You have completed the hidden quest that Ooblipimux totally just made up and deserve a reward!

Choose wisely:

1) Join with Ooblipimux forever and he will let you add a syllable to your new name. You will be part of Ooblipimuxmil.

2) Gain limited regeneration of your form so that you regain lost mass and are whole and healthy when you inevitably join with the Ever Pudding.

3) Gain the ability to secret acid from your skin so you can turn everything into easily absorbed nourishment.

Salasha was just exiting the bore hole at high speed, completely unable to slow her descent. She saw the egg drop into the white mass of Ooblipimux and heard the gleeful plans for its absorption into the Ever Pudding. Two seconds later the multi-ton metal snake fell into the massive pudding and the fight for the egg began.

The Snake's initial attack, (if you can call falling an attack), scattered the pudding, splashing it away from the egg. One small chunk of pudding in the center held the egg. Ooblammo gave its life to keep the egg away from the Snake, hurling it into the air where it was caught be another pseudopod. His heroic deed done; the small pudding was swallowed by the Snake.

An epic battle ensued far beneath the earth in the hollow remains of Alta-Viator. The pudding tossed the egg back and forth, keeping it away from the snake while it tried to trap Salasha and dissolve her. This was a slow process. Salasha was immune to her own venom, the source from which Ooblipimux had evolved. The puddings acid was slowly loosening a scale or taking off a layer of copper, but it was going to be a long, slow process.

Salasha was obsessed with regaining her egg. When she could, she savagely bit at pseudopods and ate chunks of the pudding. There was only so much she could ingest. And the pudding inside her wasn't dead immediately. Each chunk fought savagely before being absorbed, wreaking havoc from the inside.

Other factors were coming into play. As the egg was tossed around by the pudding, the large Snake was becoming dizzy. Her timing was off, her coils collided with each other, and her eyes had trouble focusing. Not that her eyes were working very well to begin with after taking the brunt of the explosion from a large magnesium flare. It was easier and easier for the pudding to keep the egg from her reach.

Until, that is, a deluge of heavy, black liquid began raining down on both combatants.

Boom-Boom was happily moving from one giant storage tank to the next, turning the large wheel that opened up the valve to empty the tank. All told, hundreds of thousands of gallons of waste fluid poured down into the cavern until the copper snake and white pudding were fighting in a large black lake.

Milo looked over at Boom-Boom to check his progress. The explosion loving dwarf was yelling and arguing with three other dwarves who flatly refused to let him near the last tank. Milo was curious. "What's the problem guys?"

The three looked apprehensive and sheepish. One patted the side of the tank affectionately. Another had a tear in his eye. The third waved goodbye to the tank and then all three shuffled to the side. Milo wondered about their strange behavior as he turned the wheel and liquid rushed out of the tank.

Something was off. The tank was emptying quicker, liquid rapidly flowing down the hose. From the slanted access tunnel came a smell that was quite different from waste fluid. To Milo it smelled like wood and smoke and other things he didn't have experience with. To the dwarves it was the smell of heaven. New cut grass, sunshine, and hope for the future. All of them remembered the last time they had held a small, amber colored glass and tasted their last taste.

Boom-Boom was the first to shake off the dreamy remembrances. Terror seemed to have improved his vocabulary. "Spanners and Fiddlesticks! That's where the idiots hid the last of the whiskey!"

"Dump the load! Drop the plug! Seal the tunnel! DOOM! BOOM-BOOM DOOM!"

Dwarves began running to controls and tossing bags of instant stone down the access tunnel. The two huge vats of powder were dumped into the Bore Hole just before the plug was dropped. Two-screws grabbed Milo by the tail and dragged the surprised rat away from the center of the room. Opening a small door, he tossed Milo into the storage area and sealed the hatch shut.

The huge metal plug fell into the Bore and came to a screaching halt as it wedged securely in the hole. From below came an ominous rumbling.

Dwarven whiskey as brewed by the Engineering Guilds was a terrible, wonderful liquid. It was the strongest beverage known in all of the dwarven kingdoms and its recipe was jealously guarded by the clans and guilds who possessed it. Engineers practically lived on the stuff and it was with deep regret that the aging senior engineers had sealed themselves into metal suits to preserve their lives, but to never again drink the potent and tasty liquid.

The remaining bottles and casks had been stored in a locked area. Some of the dwarves, especially the lesser brethren, could still smell. They liked to just sit in a circle and inhale the aroma of a bucket of whiskey. This had led to many explosions and fires. Dwarven whiskey was highly unstable when removed from the special bottles it was stored in. It was prone to bursting into flame from the smallest spark or bit of heat, and a gallon of it could equal ten pounds of mining explosives.

Several years later, an inventory check discovered the whiskey to be missing. Not a drop could be found, and no one confessed. Over the years the lesser brethren believed the Engineer had drunk it all. The seniors thought the lesser brethren had stolen it. How it all got stored in a waste fluid tank was going to be a question that got asked a lot in the future.

Twenty-seven thousand gallons of aged dwarven whiskey had just been poured down the Bore Hole.

It rained down upon the combatants and Ooblipimux immediately felt the effects. The whiskey was easily absorbed by the pudding who became horribly drunk and confused. The snake, already dizzy from the egg being bounce back and forth, was less effected immediately. As the pudding missed a catch, she grabbed for her egg and coiled protectively around it.

More than just pudding, waste fluid, and whiskey filled the cavern. As the outer layers of the snake had been dissolved by the acid secretions of Ooblipimux, a large amount of hydrogen gas had been created that mixed with the whiskey fumes in a deadly combination. The slightest spark or fire could set it off. Even a small fire caused by a mote of magnesium lodged under a scale of an elemental could do it. That little spark, burning from an earlier encounter with a fake rat came in contact with a wisp of whiskey fumes.

Heat and light exploded into the cavern. Anything besides the Snake and the Pudding that lived within Alta-Viator's half mile long corpse was incinerated instantly as the fiery wave of destruction rolled over them. As the hundreds of thousands of gallons of waste fluid was heated it expanded, flashing into a highly flammable gas that burned long after the initial whiskey explosion.

Ooblipimux boiled and evaporated. Salasha, the Guardian of the Egg melted into a puddle. The bones of Alta-Viator began to burn.

Up above, the dwarves took what cover they could, expecting the worst. The large amount of instant stone powder falling down the shaft was met by intense heat rising up. It instantly reacted, turning first into an expanding foam and then hardening into a rock-like material. As it was hardening in place, most of the heat was absorbed, but not all. Only a small fraction of the explosion got past the liquid stone before it hardened into a blockage, but that was enough to partially melt the metal plug and force it back upwards.

A jet of superheated, whiskey scented air exploded into the room that melted flesh and metal. If it was the last thing they smelled, it was at least the best. Boom-boom was the last to fall over, a slight smile on what was left of his face. He'd felt the explosion all the way to his bones, and now relaxed as everything went black.

Milo heard the screams of the dwarves outside and felt his small area heating up. He curled into a ball and wrapped the runed cowl tightly around him. Scales of hardened bone crept up his arms and legs, covering more and more of him as the heat got worse.

Ooblipimux the Ever Pudding has been destroyed.

No Core Skill Points, experience, or other rewards will be rewarded. Both you and a sworn enemy claim the victory. There can be only one.

Salasha, Guardian of the Egg has been destroyed.

Chapter 56: End of the Tail

A twisted and burnt door to a small storage area was being kicked repeatedly from the inside. The sealant on the door's edge had melted, essentially gluing it shut. After a half-dozen futile kicks, the room's occupant lost patience. Razor sharp claws poked through the thin metal and shredded the door until a there was a hole large enough for Milo to emerge. He was glad to have put on his protective gear. The air was smoky and foul, the one working fan having trouble clearing it out. From the half-plugged Bore Hole came a thin stream of smoke.

Milo had waited until the metal of door could be touched without pain before exiting. His mood matched the air around him: foul and dark. This was his fault. His clever traps had been too clever. He'd been focused on killing the snake, certain that the precautions he'd taken would keep the fires raging down below away from the engineering complex.

He'd been wrong. Now he wondered if anyone had lived. He called out to the room and got a surprising response.

Status: Deep Rock Engineers Guild. Guild master: Milo Tallsqueak

Current Members: 63

Active Members: 1

Inactive Members: 17

Injured and Dying Members: 45

Current jobs: 0

Current repairs needed: 92%

Current unassigned benefits: 1

Milo rushed through the smoke and stopped at the first blackened body that he found. There was just barely a pulse. The dwarf should have been dead of his horrible wounds, but the strong regenerative spell that had kept them going for centuries was still at work. But it wouldn't be enough. They weren't dead, but they wouldn't last for long.

"Show current unassigned benefits."

Current unassigned benefits: Gift from Ooblipimux

Your guild's hard work has paid off. Client Ooblipimux is pleased with his delivery and has offered a benefit in appreciation of your labor. As members currently may not select benefits, please select a benefit for your guild from the three options below. All members will receive the same benefit.

1. The client has offered to take all members of the guild into his business. The new joint venture will be called Ooblipimuxboomdwarfrat. (Note: Clients Business currently closed.)

2. Gain the health care benefits of client's business, but delay joining until a later date. (Note: Client's business is currently closed.)

3. Client offers to teach guild members one of its secret business techniques and/or recipes.

Milo had to hope this didn't turn the dwarfs, (or him!) into a little pile of pudding. If the second option could boost their existing regeneration, it might save them. If not, all the junior engineers were going to die. And really, in a way, that meant he was just risking himself? He was ok with that.

"The guild accepts option 2. Regeneration/Healthcare. "

You have been gifted the skill: Pudding Regeneration

What are cuts to a pudding? Bleeding will stop faster and cuts and slashes heal much quicker. Other bodily ailments will also slowly heal as mass is restored to damaged areas. Except bones. Who needs bones? Not a pudding!

STATUS CHANGE!

Status: Deep Rock Engineers Guild. Guild master: Milo Tallsqueak

Current Members: 63

Active Members: 1

Inactive and recovering Members: 17

Injured and recovering members: 45

Current jobs: 2

Current repairs needed: 92%

Current unassigned benefits: 0

Milo sighed in relief. It looked like it had worked. He pulled back the cuff of his suit, and ran a claw down the meaty part of his arm. Blood welled up along the line of the inch deep cut, then slowly stopped. As he watched, a thin line of white liquid emerged from the wound, and slowly changed to normal skin. His arm still hurt when he moved it and he was missing some health, but the regeneration had certainly worked.

Strange but beneficial? Or scary and ominous? He didn't care at the moment. He may have saved his friends.

But where had the new job come from? "Show current jobs."

Job 1: Snake Clean-Up

Client: Spirit of Altar-Viator

Spirit of Altar-Viator requests that the guild fulfill its obligations to destroying Empress Salasha before she hatches and eats you.

Time until job expires: Momentarily

Job 2: Air-Ship acquisition

Client: Squint

Squint would like an update on an old project assigned to you: Steal me a big airship!

Time until job expires: 7 days

Momentarily? Shit!

Milo raced to a storage area, shattering the melted handle with his claws and pulling out a large tarp. He carried it to the shattered exit of the Bore Hole. He paused for second to pull out his last piece of cheese and swallow it down.

Jumping into the hole he started sliding downwards, claws leaving deep gouges in the metal, his tail pushing against the far side. What was left of the instant stone was easily destroyed or moved around. The power of the blast had shortened its lifespan considerably and most of it was missing. What was left turned to powder if he had to tunnel through it. When he was past the stone, he accelerated. It wasn't long before he was running out of shaft. He dug in and brought himself to a halt with only ten feet to spare. Below him was an eerily lit wasteland of charred rock and shiny pools of copper. The largest was directly beneath him. He let go and fell.

He didn't have time to carefully ceiling-crawl to the sides and make his way down. He was taking the express this time. The tarp billowed out behind him as he fell. He'd torn the edges to create long strips and held them in his hands, hoping that his make-shift parachute would slow him down.

It did, but only so much. He landed hard on unyielding metal, his hardened bones absorbing some of the impact and more negated by turning his landing into a roll. Slightly injured, he stood up.

He was standing on a hardened pool of copper, all that remained of Salasha, Guardian of the Egg. There was no sign of the pudding, or really anything else. There was some light coming from overhead, where he saw that the bones of Altar-Viator were still burning. Chunks of burning bone had fallen and the coals were lighting up the cavern. Overhead, gleaming scales formed the surface of the huge cave. Freed of centuries of dirt and lichen, the impenetrable hide of the great beast still held strong.

He immediately got to work, using his claws and pickaxe to dig into the copper. Would the egg be in the center? How much of this deep-copper corpse was he going to have to claw through?

The copper was six feet thick. There was no sign of the egg. He was tired as he got down to bare rock and stopped to eat a piece of cheese.

His pouch was empty. He was out of cheese!

Panic froze him for a few seconds, and in that time, he heard something. Something like a small snake trying to break open its egg! He skulked as quietly as he could, listening from different places, and got an idea of where the sound was coming from. He'd been off by nearly ten feet. He also realized he had approached this all wrong.

He laid down on top of where he thought the sound was coming from and tried to sense through the copper, looking for a place that wasn't copper. The pure copper wasn't rock, but close. He could feel it as a brighter, lighter substance than the surrounding rock, and in one spot he felt nothing. An egg-shaped null.

"Got you now!"

Milo began to cut through the copper again. It wasn't as thick here and within a half hour he found it. Pulling the egg free, he suddenly had a conundrum. How to kill the snake? Did he toss it into a volcano? Put it into a subragator? If he just cut into the egg, could he kill the snake? Or would that just hatch it.? He saw no cracks in the egg...yet.

As he paused, a small voice came to him.

Please Master, spare this unworthy little snake and I will serve you faithfully for 99 revolutions of the world around the sun.

"Really? You mean like a pet?"

A pet? Yes, I could be a pet. I'd love to be a pet! What fun. You could wear me like a little bracelet and I could give you some of my powers. Or sneak up on your enemies to bite and poison them.

"That would be fun. But I thought you hated me."

The larger part of me did. She was very angry with you and all the mean tricks you played on her! But at the end, I think she had all the hate on her side. I have none. I'm just a poor little snake that doesn't want to die. I'll serve you faithfully, just you wait and see!

Milo shifted the egg to his backpack to free his hands.

When can I start being a loyal pet, Master?

"Oh, in just a minute, how about I set you down on the copper floor and then help you hatch?"

YES! Let's do that!

Milo dropped the egg into his storage box, and slammed the lid. Trust an eel? Not in a thousand years. He began walking to the wall, it was going to be a long climb to the top.

Long climb? Far worse. By the time he had gotten to the top of the wall where the rock ended became a curving wall of hardened, gigantic scales he was shaking with exhaustion. He stopped and rested before going on. The trek across the roof went better. What should have been much harder for him, dangling by his clawed hands and feet like a spider, was actually much easier. The scales were easy for him to grab with his claws and he didn't slip once.

The Bore Hole was where things got rough. Time and again he had to stop and rest when his muscles started to shake. He checked all of his pockets for even a crumb of cheese, but found nothing. Chewing on some dried meat and fruit helped the ache in his stomach, but not the longing in his mind. He dreamed of just buying all of Jethro's cheeses and eating for a week. Finally, sweating and exhausted, he made it to the top and rolled onto the floor, just one more body in a room of bodies.

An hour later he knew he had to get up. He had to finish the snake. It wasn't safe to leave it too long. He made his way to the rebuilt subragator and started the engines. The whirling blades that ground down the ore would make short work of the egg. When the blades were at top speed, he summoned his stash and opened it to pull out the egg.

There was no egg in his stash, but a large coppery python was there to greet him. Milo started to back up but his shaking legs betrayed him. Which is what saved him from Empress Salasha's first strike. Instead of her fangs sinking into his throat, she shot over his head as he fell backwards. He turned his fall into a backwards roll and came up into a crouch as the snake pulled herself into a coil and hissed at him. Stupid, Stupid Rat-Thing! You believed that one such as me would become your pet?

"Not even for a moment. But I found it interesting you offered. Some hidden desire to be bound to me? Should I get you a nice bone collar to wear. It's not too late to call me 'Master' for 99 years."

Infuriated by his taunting, Salasha struck again, but Milo was ready for her. Both hands with their powerful bone armor grabbed at her and held her fangs away from him. The problem was, it wasn't just the fanged maw he had to worry about. There was another twenty feet of her. She wasn't huge, only about 6 inches thick, but that was still a lot of snake! Two loops of copper coils wrapped around him and began to squeeze.

Against anyone else, this would have worked. Ribs would have cracked, and organs would be squished like ripe grapes. But Milo's ribs were far stronger now, and the snake couldn't break them. He staggered backwards.

Struggle, ancient foe! Make my victory that much sweeter. It is only a matter of time.

"Yeah, I was thinking that myself. It was only a matter of time until I could get you close enough to put your head in a subragator."

Empress Salasha, ancient enemy of Alta-Viator, Queen of the Copperheads, and almost-a-true-Eel met her end in the whirling blades of a rebuilt ore subragator. Milo jammed her head into the whirling blades used to break up the ore. As her head was destroyed into coppery slivers and loud, hissing screams, the rest of her body went limp. Milo tossed all of it into the whirling blades. He gathered all the small pieces as they came out and sent them through twice more for good measure. Then he smelted her down into 140 five-pound bars of the finest Deep Copper any engineer had ever seen.

As the pieces of ore melted, a high pitched scream rose out of the cauldron. Milo was glad he had been thorough. Never trust an Eel is dead until you get a notification.

Huzzah! You have slain Empress Salasha, ancient enemy of Alta-Viator, Queen of the Copperheads, and almost-a-true-Eel.

Though her body is dead, she challenges you to one last fight? Do you accept her challenge? Y/N?

Above the machinery, he saw the vague outline in the air of a an ethereal snake.

Fight me coward! Let my spirit face yours upon the astral plane. Win and all my power is yours.

Milo looked at the spirit snake and laughed. Then declined the challenge. "I'll leave that to Alta-Viator."

The snakes head turned, and only just caught sight of a massive pair of immaterial jaws that snapped down upon her. Three times the jaws chewed her body and then Alta-Viator's spirit swallowed the Snake Queen whole.

[Well done, little one. Alta-Viator is pleased. I leave for the fires below to reenter the cycle. Enjoy your gifts, they are well earned.]

Yellow Trumpet Creeper Colony has been destroyed.

Each member of Deep Rock Engineers Guild has gained 4 CSP and 1000 experience.

Guild master Milo has earned a bonus of 4 CSP.

Roobazahl The Ancient has been destroyed.

Each member of Deep Rock Engineers Guild has gained 4 CSP and 1500 experience.

Guild master Milo has earned a bonus of 4 CSP.

Ooblipimux the Ever Pudding has been destroyed.

Each member of Deep Rock Engineers Guild has gained 5 CSP and 2000 experience.

Guild master Milo has earned a bonus of 5 CSP.

Guild master Milo has earned an additional bonus for destroying an ancient enemy.

+ 5CSP +2000 experience

Salasha, Guardian of the Egg has been destroyed.

Each member of Deep Rock Engineers Guild has gained 5 CSP and 2000 experience.

Guild master Milo has earned a bonus of 5 CSP.

Guild master Milo has earned an additional bonus for destroying an ancient enemy.

+ 5CSP +2000 experience

You have personally slain Empress Salasha, ancient enemy of Alta-Viator, Queen of the Copperheads, and almost-a-true-Eel.

You have refused her challenge.

You have please Alta-Viator by freeing his spirit and allowing him to destroy his ancient enemy.

You have gained 5,000 experience and 25 CSP

You have earned an additional 5000 experience and 25 CSP for killing an Eel.

Each member of The Deep Rock Engineers Guild has earned 25 CSP 5000 experience.

Loot Chests for you and your guild have been placed in this room. Enjoy.

An exhausted and shivering Milo watched as glowing chests appeared. He stumbled towards them, and opened them one by one, throwing items into his stash and barely looking at them. Finally, in the last chest he found his treasure. A huge twenty-five-pound wheel of aged cheddar. He bit into it, swallowing the red wax covering it along with a huge mouthful of the mellow and flavorful cheese. He didn't stop until he had eaten at least three pounds and the shakes began to leave him.

He sat, holding his precious cheese. Maybe he'd even share some with Boom-Boom...his head snapped up at the thought of the dwarves. "Guild Status"!

Status: Deep Rock Engineers Guild. Guild master: Milo Tallsqueak

Current Members: 63

Active Members: 1

Inactive Members: 17

Injured and Recovering Members: 45

Current jobs: 1

Current repairs needed: 92%

Current unassigned benefits: Each member of the guild, excluding Guild master Milo, has 43 unassigned CSP and 11,500 unassigned experience. None of your members are currently able to assign these benefits. Do you wish to assign these benefits for your guild members? Y/N.

Milo was tired, coming down from the effects of withdrawal, and fighting off the rush of too much cheese. He set aside the huge wheel and focused his mind on the job at hand. He really had two problems.

The senior engineers would recover once they had power for their suits, but were trapped in those things forever. Would the pudding regeneration help with that? They were suffering from extreme old age.

The junior engineers had two types of weird regeneration. The first though, they couldn't control. What had the Engineer said? They didn't have the mental stats to control the spell. Well, let's start with that.

"Use 9 points to purchase 3 points of INT for all Junior Engineers."

"Use 9 points to purchase 3 points of WIS for all Junior Engineers."

"Use 9 points to purchase 3 points of CON for all Senior Engineers."

"Show options for spending CSP for guild members of Deep Rock Engineers Guild."

This brought up a huge list of skills and options. Some were the same as his own, buying points in stats. Many were engineering skills that could be bought. A few were puzzling?

"What is Toughness?"

Toughness (TOU) is an additional stat only available to the dwarven race. It acts in similar ways to CON, raising health, but also makes the body more resistant to the effects of disease, age, or physical injuries.

"Great. Assign another 9 points to all Engineers for 3 points of Toughness. Please give an explanation of the Core Skills 'Grey Beard' and 'Ancient Ancestor'.

Both Ancient Ancestor and Greybeard are core skills only available to the dwarven race.

Greybeard: Increase Dwarven lifespan by 100%. (Average lifespan of a Greybeard is 400 years.)

Cost: 10 CSP

Ancient Ancestor: Some Greybeards live vastly extended lives. They lose some of their physical vigor as they age, but have on average a lifespan of +1000 years. (Average lifespan of a Ancient Ancestor is 1400 years, but records have indicated some past the mark of 3000.)

Cost: 15 CSP. Prerequisite of the Greybeard skill, and lifespan of 300 years.

Wow, that meant you could buy cheese, put it somewhere safe, and come back for it after a hundred years. Or hell, you could even... Milo shook his head and dismissed dreams of cheese factories and warehouses. FOCUS!

"Assign the skills Greybeard and Ancient Ancestor to any Senior Engineers that lack them."

"Assign experience to the following skill in order until that individual is at his maximum: Engineering, Mechanic, Metallurgy, Physics, Chemistry, Fluid Systems, Pulley Systems, and Ore processing."

"Increase the cap on the INT statistic for all Junior Engineers by +5"

That was all he could think of. He was too tired. He put the wheel of cheese back into his chest, (minus a good-sized chunk that went into his pocket.) and dismissed it. Then he passed out, laying partially on top of a pile of shiny copper bars.

Chapter 57: Waking up

A timer ticked down to 0:00 and the cover of his gaming pod slid back, releasing cold air. Milo slowly opened his eyes. Rather than feeling refreshed, he felt irritable and tired. He had passed out in the game, exhausted. Instead of waking up immediately, the pod had kept him asleep for two hours.

Climbing out of the pod, he felt unsteady, and reached with his tail to keep himself upright.

He was using the mechanical appendage more and more. Habits from the game, and ways of moving, were following him back into the waking world. It wasn't just a tool anymore, but a fifth limb. Or was that fourth limb? He flexed his mechanical leg, it felt slow and awkward. He was used to having two legs now, and out of the game he could feel the difference. Maybe it was time for an upgrade?

He looked at his hands. They were normal human hands, with no claws and no coating of armored bone. He would have to remember that. In the game he could grasp rock, and slow a fall by digging in his claws to a wall. Here, that would just make him go splat at the bottom of a big drop. And no respawn in this world. Maybe his hands needed an upgrade too?

A sudden dizzy spell hit him, snapping him out of thoughts about designing a wearable set of mechanical gloves and back to reality. He needed food; he'd been in the pod way too long. And some cheese. He didn't have the addiction to cheese like his character seemed to have in the game. He just liked the taste. Processed food cubes tasted horrible. He ate a lot of cheese now to savor the various flavors.

Sadly, his choices of cheese were meager. His once filled larder was down to just a few choices. He grabbed a pear-shaped chunk of smoked scamorza. Not his favorite, the smoky flavor dominating the mellow cheese. It would have gone well with several foods or wine, none of which he had. His diet before discovering cheese had been the bland, processed food cubes delivered by the food processors.

Munching on the scamorza, he got to work. There were several alerts from failed mechanical systems, but the first task of the day was ordering more cheese assortments. He went to the suppliers he'd used before, and ordered twice as much. Most of them also had 'recommendations' for him, or special deals. He clicked on all of them and added the various assortments of cheese, crackers, and snacks to his orders. You could never have too much cheese. He'd probably try the other foods, but he had doubts.

Next up were repairs and fixes for new problems. A water leak on lower 37 on one of the main tubes. His systems had shut down that section of pipe, and routed fluid around it. Long term, it needed fixing and that entire section of pipe might need replacing, but it was good for now.

More annoying were the power outages. What the hell was going on? After an hour he found the problem down in section H. H was always a pain in his butt. Section H had been designed as a recreational area for the habitat. Whole floors had been set up for gardening with artificial light. There was a park, a swimming level, running tracks, and many other activities that would add to the quality of life for people living in the cave-like environment of the habitat block.

Those activities looked great on paper, and were highly photographed when the hab opened. They were also the first areas to get their budgets cut when things started to sour. The power, water and other resources were needed in other parts of the hab. Repair crews were sent to keep the industrial areas running, and gardening was a low priority. Within 20 years, section H was dark and abandoned, one of the first sections to be declared dead.

And now H was pulling a ton of power from the adjacent sections. If they had left his section alone, Milo would have been curious, but that's it. But he wasn't letting them steal his power. He worked too hard keeping the lights on as it was. This was going to be tricky. He needed to find out what was going on in section H if this continued. For now, he shut connections between H and E and then rerouted power evenly from the other sections.

The next problem was also section H related. The waste disposal systems in section H had been quite robust at one time, designed to handle the extra load from the hydroponics and animal farms. Waste would normally be recycled into fertilizer and water. All of those systems were long broken down. Waste was being dumped from H to sections S and E, probably via temporary pipes.

Section E was handling the extra, and would actually benefit since the water would be reclaimed and the waste converted to fertilizer or burned for power. S wasn't. The systems in section S were already backed up and it would only get worse. With a deep sigh, Milo spent an hour setting up routes for his clog eaters to clear out section S. More of his resources being wasted. He was definitely going to do some investigating, but not right now.

Right now, he needed to get back into the game. He had no idea of how the dwarves fared, and needed to head up-top before Squint sent something to find him. But that didn't mean he couldn't set up some investigation while he slept. If the people in section H were using a data-net link anywhere in the hab, Milo could get into their system. For now, he just had his programs collect data passively. He'd look into it in the next day or so when he logged out.

Time to go pick up the pieces after his battle with the snake.

Chapter 58: Waking up Again

Milo stirred. His eyes were still closed, but his fuzzy nose was sniffing something delicious. Before he could open his eyes sound exploded all around him, small explosions going off with a snap, crackle, and pop!

He jumped to his feet, whirling around. The explosions followed him, as did the laughter of many voices. Many dwarven voices.

"Ha, told you that would wake him up!"

"The cheese?"

"No, the fireworks we tied to his tail!"

Around Milo were assembled all of the junior engineers of this lost dwarven outpost. They were looking surprisingly spry for being nearly burnt to a crisp when his small mistakes turned into huge explosions during the fight with the elemental. Their flesh was firm, and their beards were actual hair instead of metal wire. Full heads of hair were growing in on many of them, wild tangles of hair where no comb had ever gone.

Many of the dwarves still had mechanical parts, but they looked new and functional rather than the makeshift limbs many had sported before. Two-Screws had fancy metal hands and arms up to his elbows that looked remarkably like real hands. It seemed that the hasty choices Milo had made had resulted in huge changes in their bodies.

Boom-Boom and Two-Screws grabbed him in a huge hug. The rest gathered in, slapping his back, and congratulating him on killing the Empress. He found himself hoisted on shoulders and a small parade went down a long passage to a chamber that hadn't been destroyed in the fight.

Inside was a massive machine composed of interlocking, concentric metal rings over 50 feet in diameter. Each ring could move independently around a different axis. It was a marvel to look at...until Milo saw that the innermost ring had a chair attached to it with straps to hold someone in.

He immediately tried to flee, but the dwarves were expecting that and held him tight. They began to chant: "Puke and Twirl! Puke and Twirl."

Two-screws was very proud of the machine. "Isn't she a beauty! You should see her spin! We couldn't think of anyone who deserved the honor of testing her out first more than you!"

Just as Milo was about to be strapped into the seat, a deep, commanding voice yelled out. "Oh, aye! And then his brains will be scrambled for days on end!"

"You'll get your chance to play with Milo, but first we have some business to attend to with him." The speaker was a dwarf Milo didn't think he had met. He was stocky, with corded muscles, a bald head, and a thick, gray beard with streaks of white.

The crowd was disappointed, but they set Milo down and he moved quickly to put his savior between him and the mob. As often happens with mobs when deprived of one victim, they found another. Two-Screws quickly found himself strapped into the machine and was soon whizzing around in a circle at high speed. The rings separated, all spinning in different directions, several dwarfs arguing about who should be at the controls. Two-Screws was laughing hysterically...at first.

"Just my humble opinion, but I think we should get going, Milo. When he starts to spew I don't want to be in the same room."

Milo followed him down the corridor quickly. "Apologies sir, but I don't think I know you? Do I?"

The dwarf exploded in laughter. "Do I look so different then, lad? I guess I do. Sound is probably off as well since I'm not in that tin can. "It's Throttlecog, Milo."

Throttlecog was the Engineer's assistant. Milo suddenly had a bad feeling about what this was all about. "OH! Senior Engineer Throttlecog? I didn't recognize you without...well...you know. Um, can I say that I'm sorry for the mess. Things got a little out of hand. It's my fault, the others were just following along with what I did."

Throttlecog laughed again. "You're sorry? For what? A little damage that we'll fix in a month? That might have gotten you in some trouble before, but not today. Not after all that's happened. Things changed fast and we're all catching up. What you did for us is strange in so many ways. We were at the end of the job, and just waiting for something to end it all. Now everyone is eager to get moving on new projects."

He turned and put a hand on Milo's shoulder and his gaze was serious as he continued. "Do you hear what I'm saying, Milo? You might hear some good-natured grumbling: But no one, not a single one of us, cares at all about some broken machinery vs. the gift of living again. Half of us were crazed zombies that couldn't die. The rest were just aged bodies kept alive by mechanical shells. You changed all that and no one gives a shit that you managed to trash 84.5% of of the existing facilities."

Feeling better, Milo followed Throttlecog to a room filled with white bearded dwarves enjoying their freedom from mechanical suits of armor.

"This is beer? I don't remember it tasting this bad."

"Shut your mouth, it's the best beer we have!"

"It's the only beer we have!"

"And you're lucky to have it! Do you know how hard it is to brew beer with a dusty bag of hops, fermented mushrooms, and dubious yeast molds scraped off of an ancient wheel of cheese? Bah, give it over if you don't want it."

"Stay away from my beer or I'll put you back into that can!"

Their voices were loud and joyous, if a bit disappointed in hastily brewed mushroom beer.

"Listen up, you yammer heads. Sleeping beauty finally awoke. Boom-Boom solved the problem in his own special way."

The senior engineers all turned as the two entered the room. Some were wearing coveralls, others were dressed in clothing that had seen better days. It was a miracle the cloth had survived this long. All of them had long, white beards that they had braided and tucked into wide leather belts. The belts were a work of art in themselves. Heavy leather was inscribed with runes and studded with gold and gems. Tools of gold and enchanted metals were held in special loops. One dwarf had a massive two-handed wrench on his back, in the style some warriors carried a great sword.

One dwarf who's beard was interwoven with glistening silver wire stepped forth. Milo recognized him by his voice. The Engineer took a deep breath and motioned the others to silence. Then he hooked both thumbs in his belt and he spoke.

"Engineer Milo, your guild owes you great thanks. Your methods are strange, and will certainly be discussed over many a beer, but we won't argue with the results. Your foes are dead, and you've freed your guild brothers from a form of living death. For that you have our thanks."

There were nods and murmurs before the Engineer continued.

"Normally we would have a multitude of questions for you. But frankly, half of us are scared of how you might answer them. I can see from the job roster that you have places to be and things to set straight. So we'll keep this short, for now."

"Firstly, please accept this belt and spanner as a symbol of your rank as a Senior Engineer of this Guild."

Two dwarves came forward with a finely tooled leather belt with a gold buckle that they placed on Milo, complete with a heavy wrench made of Deep Steel.

"Secondly, finish your work and get back here. We need to have a good party. You're one of us now."

"Oh, and we found this cask of ancient cheese in a vault. Some of the juniors...well, Seniors now...some of New Senior Engineers mentioned you might have a liking for the stuff."

The beer was bad, the cheese was outstanding, and the people he shared it with were friends. Milo ignored the small notification that he had messages. They could wait.

Chapter 59: Partings and Choices

Two-Screws was examining the oak chest that had somehow just appeared in the center of the #7-Metals-Storage-Unit. The Snake had found and devoured the majority of the dwarves' reserves of metal, something they were keen to recover from her melted corpse. But she hadn't found all of the storage. Several of the engineers were carefully packing ingots of Dark Steel, High Grade Deep Copper, Gold, and Bright Silver into the chest.

"How the hell does this work?" Two-Screws had measured his stash chest inside and out, and was looking for any clues. So far, he'd just found it to be a sturdy oak chest.

Milo shrugged. "It's a special ability. It started smaller and I've been able to increase its size over time. I can summon or dismiss it, but it uses up my stamina."

"Hmm. So, you bring it from somewhere else to here, and send it back. Sort of the opposite of an Arcane Workshop."

Milo was immediately curious. "What do you mean? What's an Arcane Workshop?"

Two-Screws laughed. "It's one of the 'special secrets' you get to know when you're a Senior Engineer. Not that a lot of us didn't already know about them when we were juniors. Supposedly some of the more ancient Senior Engineers used to have special places they could go. Secret workshops where they worked on projects that they wanted kept secret. You summon that chest from somewhere, and send it back. An engineer could supposedly send himself to somewhere else and then come back. I'm wondering if your chest is just a summonable, quite small, workshop."

Milo considered. "I'm not sure. It sounds more like the Arcane Workshop is just the equivalent of an Arcane Library."

D-Wrench had just put a load of metal into the chest. He straightened and looked over at Milo. "Oh boy, someone has a secret. I can smell it!"

Two-Screws had a calculating look on his face. "I notice you're quite the mage with your fancy-smancy bone magics. You wouldn't happen to know about these Arcane Libraries, would you? I might even delay your next turn on the improved 'Twirl and Hurl' if you didn't mind helping us with our research into Arcane Workshops."

Milo shuddered at the thought of the whirling torture device that the dwarves loved for some reason. "Deal. But I want to know about the workshops in return." Other engineers appeared as if by magic and soon there was a heated discussion as they took the information Milo gave them and in return recounted anything they knew about Arcane Workshops. The discussion ended abruptly as The Engineer appeared.

"Of course I find you all lolly-gagging in here. This trip uptop is never going to get moving at this rate!" The engineers jumped to their feet and saluted as they filed out the door, some in very inventive ways. A few waved to Milo or shook his hand before he left. The Engineer was one of those. "Get your business done and head back here. We have some big plans and could use your help."

He sent his stash back to where ever it came from, and headed for the exit. Two-Screws followed along to see him off. As the door to the engineering complex opened, Milo was surprised to see Throttlecog there, along with two huge packs, and a set of bronze armor similar to what he wore himself. Milo took in the gear, and raised an eyebrow. Throttlecog chuckled. "Oh, thought you'd just sneak off and get in trouble? The Engineer decided that we needed to touch base with the uptop folks. Maybe recruit some mechanics and junior engineers. We're a little top heavy now that all the juniors got promoted."

Two-screws paused as he was putting on the suit of mechanical armor. "Had to be done. We all got too smart! You can thank or blame Milo for that. Hydraulics and Fluid Systems? Holy crap, I had no idea you could do so much with water and steam!"

The two dwarves added the packs to their heavy suits of armor. Neither was wearing their helmets. The feel of air on their faces and the smell of stone and earth had been missed for far too long. Milo started through the caves and mining tunnels, taking a route that either let the two climb down, or where he could lower them by a pulley and rope. After one such drop, Throttlecog was making notes in a small book. "I can see that one of the first things we should do is set up a better path to the uptop. Or should we just drill an entirely new route?" There was lots of conjecture but no real decision. Milo enjoyed the talk. Too often in Section E he was just bouncing ideas around in his own head, with no other viewpoints.

As they came to the mushroom caves, Milo could tell the dwarves were tiring. Two-Screws wasn't used to moving in the heavy armor, and Throttlecog was only recently rejuvenated. They stopped at the edge of the first cave. Milo set up his camp, put on tea, and summoned George the Guard Lizard. Both dwarves spent quite a bit of time scratching him under his chin.

With a George on duty, Milo took advantage of the break to look at the notifications he'd been ignoring.

By dint of hard work, luck, loyalty of your friends and the attack of an Elemental Empress of Eels you are now the last man standing in your guild.

-Guild rule 76 states that as the last man standing, you are now the Guild master of Engineers Guild #77

-Guild rule 3 states that a non-dwarf may not be elected Guild master.

-Guild rule 17 states that only Senior Engineers may be elected Guild master.

-Guild rule 2 states 'The job gets done!', you are now considered a dwarf, and a Senior Engineer for purposes of guild membership and holding offices of the guild.

You have spent Core Skill Points on the following:

+3 INT for a cost of 9 CSP

+3 CON for a cost of 9 CSP

+3 WIS for a cost of 9 CSP

+3 TOU for a cost of 9 CSP

Cap on the INT skill raised to 10 for a cost of 3 CSP

You have gained the skill: Engineering

You have gained the skill: Hydraulics

You have gained the skill: Ore Processing

You have gained the skill: Pulley Systems

You have gained the skill: Chemistry

You have gained the skill: Physics

You have gained the skill: Fluid Systems

You have gained the skill: Metallurgy

Experience adjusted for prior knowledge. 8000 experiences has been allocated to bring Engineering, Mechanic, Metallurgy, Physics, Chemistry, Fluid Systems, Pulley Systems, and Ore processing to Level 5.

You have gained 7000 experience in INT

You have gained 1000 experience in DEX

You have gained 2500 experience in Trapmaking

You have gained 2500 experience in INT

You have 12,500 experience to allocate to skills. An equal amount of experience will be allocated to the stat associated with those skills.

You have 47 Core skill points to allocate.

Milo read that through a couple of times. From what he could decipher, he had been counted as both a Senior and a Junior Engineer when he was allocation experience and points. He also counted as a dwarf, and had gained the dwarf only stat of Toughness for 3 points. It looked like his reputation had improved with dwarves over all because of that.

Reputation change

"No one really likes you." has been modified.

Dwarves in general will be neutral to you, improving to slightly respected if they know you are a Senior Engineer.

Dwarves who mine, pursue any technical skill, or explore underground will be friendly to you if they know you are a member of a Deep Rock Engineering Complex.

Dwarven Engineers will show you respect and treat you like family if they know you are a Senior Engineer.

non-Dwarven Engineers will respect you, but might not like you and will certainly be jealous of you.

Anyone who likes Eels really doesn't like you at all! But who cares what an eel-lover thinks?

The last notification was long, and was going to take a lot of thought. It looked like he could move to Tier 2 and pick a new class.

You have accumulated enough experience and Core Skills to advance to Tier 2.

-New Classes are available to you. Each class may give new skills, bonuses to statistics, new core skills, and special perks. Choose wisely.

-Skills keep the same experience total and may advance to Level 10.

-experience Totals and ranks for statistics are reset to 0. You keep all advances from Tier 1 and may build upon them in Tier 2.

-New Core Skills will be available to you depending on your class. Core Skills from Tier 1 may gain additional ranks to purchase.

-Note that costs for Tier 1 Core Skills will increase in Tier 2.

-You must allocate all CSP and experience earned before advancing to Tier 2.

-Attaining a value of 10 in any two stats while in Tier 1 will give you a permanent perk. (Note that class bonuses from Tier 2 do not count for this.)

Classes Available:

You may not continue in your current class. This has been blocked by Admin Sidney.

Deep Explorer

You seek the hidden secrets unknown to surface dwellers. You specialize in finding new ore deposits for mining, unraveling ancient secrets, rediscovering lost ruins, or studying the cultures of the people living deep under the surface. Skills will focus on solo exploration, survival, and finding secrets.

+2 Perception, +2 Agility, +2 Wisdom, +2 free points

Smuggler

Some people are against the free movement of goods into and out of their cities. Luckily there are people like you to help out with this chore. No one knows how you do it. They can't catch you. And you didn't do it in the first place!

+3 Perception, +3 Agility, Increased storage and movement.

Packrat

Every adventuring group needs someone to bring along the gear and hold the treasure. Maybe you keep a little extra for yourself? So, what! Focus of this class is on storage, and novel ways to acquire other people's goods.

+4 strength, +4 dexterity, +2 perception.

Sharp Tail in the Dark

You are the unseen hunter. The dark alleys and lonely rooftops are your home. No one is safe from your claws and blade once you have taken a contract on their life. Whether you work freelance or for a powerful Boss, you are feared and respected by any that know you exist.

+2 corruption, +3 dexterity, +3 agility, +2 perception. Emphasis on combat, stealth, and removing people who become problems.

Eel Hunter

Their time has come to an end; they just don't know it yet! One by one you will find them, (or they will find you!), and you will end them. Bury them deep in the cornfield. Erase them from the great book…you get the idea.

+10 free stats. + 500 Health. New skills to give you a small chance of killing your nemesis.

Experimental Senior Engineer

+3 toughness, +3 con, Skill: Invention, Skill: MacGyver, Perk: 'This is fine.'

Sometimes you're a 'Genius'. Sometimes you have to explain to the mob why everything is on fire. Accidents happen and you can't build the future without breaking a few skulls! This skill is perfect for the bored engineer that needs to know what happens when you turn the knob to 11.

Rune-Boned Mage

+2 intelligence, +2 constitution, +2 wisdom, +2 perception, +2 toughness, +2 free points. Skill: Ancient Rune Lore

You have discovered the ancient creatures that vied with the Eels for dominion of the world when it was young and unformed. More, you have gained the favor of three such creatures. Bonecasting is but a pale shadow of what you could do as a master of the ancient runes used by these creatures. Focus in on runic lore, rune carving, finding more of these creatures or their runes, and enhancing your own form.

Sidney didn't seem to like him for some reason. Wererat Scout wasn't something he could continue into Tier 2. Oh, well, he couldn't fix that. It didn't stop him from being a wererat and having a tail.

Two things came to mind as he looked through the new classes available. Firstly, he should spend his experience and CSP wisely, taking into account his next class. And he should see how many of his stats could move to a value of 10. He had read about this on the forums at one time. STR and CON at 10 made you tougher. He assumed there were benefits to each combination.

So, his list of things to think about were:

1) What did he want to do or accomplish in the game?

2) What class let him do that?

3) How to allocate his experience and core skill points to do that.

He should talk to the Two-Screws and Throttlecog about his classes. They'd have good input for him on some of it.

Coming to this conclusion, Milo started to log out and check in with his data collection on Section H. He stopped as George suddenly started hissing and pointing into the cavern.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

A massive creature of some sort was moving towards them with long, slow steps. Milo quickly woke up the dwarves. All three made ready for battle as a thirty-foot tall creature loomed over them from out of the gloom.

Chapter 60: So small!

Helmets on, and weapons in hand, the two dwarven engineers were slowly backing towards the tunnel entrance where the creature couldn't follow.

"Be careful of the beasties reach. They can surprise you." The creature was vaguely humanoid, but its form was made from earth and stone, with rocky armor covering much of it. From the earth that covered other parts of its form, mushrooms grew. Its shoulders had huge growths of shrooms. Glowing green eyes looked down at them.

The creature stopped a step away from the mine tunnel. Then it slowly squatted down. It looked at one of its hands, and then down at Milo and the dwarves. It seemed puzzled.

"MI-LOW...WHY SOOOO SMALL?"

The words hurt Milo's ears they were so loud. But the deep, slow voice was familiar."

Milo tried to shout back. "WE DIDN'T GET SMALL HARRY! YOU GOT BIG! LOWER YOUR VOICE BEFORE YOU DEAFEN US!"

Harry held up his hands, compared them to Milo, compared them to the mushrooms growing nearby. He shook his head as if to clear it and focus came into his eyes.

"Yes. That makes more sense. And no need to shout Milo. I'm larger, but not hard of hearing."

Milo turned to the dwarves. "Throttlecog and Two-Screws, please meet one of my first friends, Dr. Harold Earthtounge, who didn't used to be nearly so large. Harry, these are two friends from the local Engineer's guild."

The dwarves hesitated a moment, stowed their weapons, and then came forward and bowed. Harry carefully sat down. George took the opportunity to use Harry as a playground, running up and down his large form. Everyone relaxed a bit as Milo explained to the dwarves his relationship with Harry, and told Harry of some of his adventures in the past few weeks.

The explanation for Harry's growth spurt was simple: He had investigated the noise from the battle, but arrived after the snake had left to pursue Milo. With the creeper and zombies dead, Harry had explored the cavern and found the battered body of Roobazahl the Ancient and recovered his heartshroom. The huge, acorn shaped organ contained a huge amount of Earth aspected mana. Milo couldn't resist a good cheese, and in a similar way, Harry couldn't resist just having a few bites of the rich tasting heartshroom.

An hour later he had eaten the entire thing and laid down in the mushroom field feeling full and sleepy. How long he slept he didn't know, but he felt refreshed when he awoke. Any of the weakness left from his disease was gone, washed away in a huge flood of Earth aspected power. Since then, he'd been oddly content to simply stay in this cavern and study the large number of rare varieties of fungus that grew here. When he found mushrooms that he wanted to study, he simply planted them on the earthy areas of his arms where they quickly took root.

"It's very convenient this way. I always have something to study. And my understanding is much greater now. I can almost hear them talking to each other. And there are other voices. Old voices. They are calling out from the depths, using the smaller fungus as a way to amplify their voices. I hope to understand them some day."

Milo was intrigued by the thought of the voices calling out from the depths. What else lived deep in the earth? He thought again of the things he'd seen through the eyes of the great beasts. A longing to explore and see these things himself filled him. He thought of he and Harry exploring lower into the depths and chasing those voices, then realized why that wouldn't happen.

"I guess you're living in this cavern from now on? I don't see how you would fit through the tunnels to get back to your old home."

The Troll laughed, which sent sound echoing through the cavern.

"Moving earth and stone is not a problem for me, Milo. I am still a troll on the inside, and I've always had some abilities with moving earth. But now some of me is composed purely of the earth. My connection is strong and my abilities are enhanced. When I punch a rock, the rock goes away. And when I tell the earth to get out of my way, it does.

Harry reached out one arm towards the mine tunnel. The opening slowing grew, the earth and stone pushing away. Within a minute, the first fifty feet of tunnel was much larger, over fifteen feet wide and thirty feet tall. Harry lowered his hand, looking a bit tired.

Each time I do that is easier. I plan on connecting the caverns with walkways for one as large as myself. Who knows? I might even go visit the Alchemy guild in Shadowport. There is someone there that I need to have a serious talk with."

The dwarves, who had been very quiet as Milo talked with Harry, joined the conversation. The two wanted to improve the road to the top and suddenly saw the value of a gigantic earthmover. Throttlecog approached the huge troll. "Might be we could help each other out some. Our guild could give you some help planning your route and bracing the tunnels as you dig them. I've got a lot of bored engineers looking for new projects other than rebuilding."

The dwarves and Harry talked for a long time. Milo excused himself to rest. As he fell asleep in this world, he woke up in another.

No alarms were going off, and he felt much better as he got out of the pod. He had some ideas. He couldn't create the bone claws he had in the game, but he wasn't limited to his weak ones made of flesh and blood. After taking care of his daily chores, and checking in on the mechanical systems in his section, Milo got a bowl of food and settled down with a design program.

He wasn't particularly happy with his dinner. He had been reminded that his body needed things other than the cheesy treats he liked to nibble on. Before he could have a desert, (a small wheel of Camembert that had been produced in what used to be known as Normandy), he pushed himself to eat the bowl of veggie-cubes (for fiber), and protein cubes (tastes like chicken!). These gave him the basic nutrients to rebuild muscle. His pod provided additional nutrients and vitamins. Finishing the bowl, he set it aside and started on his cheese, and his new engineering project.

Almost falling into a trance as he worked, he designed, discarded, and redesigned ideas for a set of mechanical gloves that he could wear, and plug into his modified nervous system. From scans of his own hands, he built outwards.

A layer of thin graphene mesh was first. Graphene was an allotrope of carbon. A two-dimensional, hexagon lattice of carbon molecules. It was incredibly strong and flexible, and conductive of electrical pulses. Layers of graphene nano-flakes and nano-strands were woven together along with a sensor net that would pick up the movements of his hands.

Backing up the sensor net would be a direct connection to the plugs in his neck. He started another design for a full suit of graphene mesh to carry the connections to the plugs in his neck. The two systems would work with each other to control the mechanical systems that would be built into the next layers.

Before he knew it, the timer he'd set was going off. His last chore was creating a half dozen fake identities to begin investigating the companies that supplied the machines to create the graphene materials he needed. He had to be very careful. This wasn't like ordering a few pounds of cheese. Nothing in the habitat required such machines. Parts would just be ordered, not the machines to make the materials used in the parts.

The last thing he did before logging back into the game was to check on his information gathering program for what was going on in section H. The information didn't give him a complete picture yet, but it did tell him a name, Arcadia. It was a smaller corporation, based in Greenland, that seemed to mostly supply skilled workers to other corporations. They had taken out a lease on 20 floors of section H. The lease was cheap, but they were also required to completely rebuild those floors and make the majority of them available to the inhabitants of other sections. It was a start, and something he could look into further. He redefined his searches to focus on Arcadia, its stock holders, controlling officers, and financials.

Then he was back in the pod, and logging into the game. His 'nap' would be over and they'd be on their way to uptop.

Chapter 61: Polite Engineers Share

Harry followed along behind the engineers as they navigated through the mushroom caverns to his old home. Two-screws and Throttlecog commenting on how the rock lay, giving Harry directions for his tunneling efforts. Several times Milo caught movement out of his eye, and noticed that they were being followed by a gaggle of small myconians who immediately sunk down into the earth and pretended to be mushrooms if anyone noticed them. Rather than any sort of threat, Milo was reminded of a video he had seen of mother duck and her ducklings.

With just a bit of extra time spent for earth moving, they arrived at Harry's old home. He sat in the center of his mushroom beds, too big to move around much. "I believe this is as far as I will go today, Milo. You have places to be, and the tunnels to the uptop are much too tight for me. I will expand them in time, but that is time you don't have. However, before you press on, please go to my library and find the book sitting upon the small table. And bring the satchel next to it as well."

Milo found the book easily. It was leather bound and only an inch thick. In large lettering across the cover was the title. 'Molds and spores used in the art of making cheese'. Opening the book Milo saw that Harry had written chapters on how to use myconic potions to simulate the rennet used in cheese making, along with how both mushroom spores and molds were used to ferment the curds and create the rind on different types of cheeses. The knowledge was far beyond his meagre cheese making skills. He brought both the book and the satchel out to Harry.

"Those are for you, Milo. As I began my research into your favorite food, I found quite a bit of cross-over into my normal fields of study. The satchel contains samples of the mold cultures and spores of the mushrooms I talk about in my book. I hope it will all be useful to you."

Milo expressed his gratitude, but Harry waved it aside. "You saved me from fading away. I'm just glad I finished that book before my latest transformation. Take it with the thanks of an old troll."

Eager to reach the top, the engineers moved upwards. Milo knew the way by heart at this point. The dwarves were slower than he was at climbing through the caves, but not by much. Dwarves were at home underground and spelunking through caverns was a skill ingrained into their heritage. Added to that was the armored suits they wore. Milo knew they weren't just armor. He'd seen both dwarves move rocks much to heavier than they should have been able to lift. Some sort of strength and enchantment or mechanical system was used in their construction.

Milo asked about the suits but got little in the way of explanation. Throttlecog said the technology to make them was referred to as 'magitech'. It was something of an art form with each engineer designing his suit in their own style. Two-Screws was wearing a borrowed suit, having been a junior engineer only recently promoted. The Engineer had insisted he wear one for the journey.

"I'd tell you a little bit about magitech, but for everything I explained you'd have seven more questions, and seven times seven questions when I answered the first seven. Easier to give you a few dozen books to read when we get back."

Eventually they came up the last incline and into the massive cavern under the city that had been carved out in search of ore and gems. Miners had been at work here for generations, carving out the rock, driving tunnels in all directions. Giant pillars of stone had been left to support the ceiling as the main cavern got bigger and bigger and the walk to the current mines got longer and longer. Several times one group or another suggested carving the pillars and walls, and turning the area into a magnificent fortress underground. But since there was no money in that, and hence no one to pay the stonemasons, the plans always fell through.

Milo had been through this area several times, and was surprised to see how many miners were clustered in here by the caves that lead downward. Three coal fires were burning supplying light for those humans or halflings without good dark vision. Nearly fifty miners were here, hastily trying to repair makeshift barriers of stone, wood, and overturned ore carts. It looked more like a small camp of soldiers preparing for the assault of an enemy. And as it turned out, that's what it actually was.

"Get ready, the damn things are coming again!" The speaker was a dwarf standing atop two crates, peering into the gloom. The sound of heavy footsteps could be heard. The engineers pushed forward, curious what was going on, and who the miners were fighting.

Milo set down his pack, and brought out his weapon. "Who's coming? What's attacking you?"

The dwarf looked down at him, half sneering and half confused. "Where the hell did you come from? You know what, doesn't matter. Get on the line and do your best to chip away at them. We've got four of the smaller ones lurking around here. If that's all, we have a chance, so swing hard."

Throttlecog moved forward, followed by Two-Screws. The dwarf on the crates got quiet and his eyes bugged out. "Oh, we can hit pretty damn hard, can't we brother?" He pulled the large wrench off his back, and spun a screw on the handle, extending the weapon to its full six-foot in length."

Two-screws held out his metallic hands which seemed to glow and then were replaced by spinning metal augers that started to whine and growl as their speed picked up. "Oh, that we can brother. Now you-" He pointed at the dwarf on look-out. "Answer Engineer Milo's question. What the hell is it we're fighting?"

Wisely deciding that it couldn't hurt to be polite, the dwarf took off his hat and bowed to the three of them. "Ah, sorry, a little worked up what with all the fighting. It's stone lurkers, sir. Dozens of the immature ones. The mama keeps hatching more out and sending them in waves."

Someone yelled, "Here they come!" Milo could see four of the monsters heading slowly towards the barriers. They were barely half the size of the ones he had fought before, let alone Bone Crusher.

Shadowblight was humming in his hand. He was nearly out of cheese and these things were between him and some tasty, tasty wheels of cheddar. The dwarves and humans nearby stepped backwards as the little human suddenly changed. Heavy bone claws appeared on his lower legs and forearms. A ghostly tail whipped out behind him. He spun an obviously enchanted weapon in circles as if limbering up. A feral grin appeared on his face as he turned to the other engineers.

"Race You!"

Throttlecog and Two-Screws cursed as Milo leaped over the barrier and ran at the stone lurkers.

"Damn your hide! You better share!" Two dwarven engineers in magitech battle armor leaped the barriers, vainly trying to catch the scampering rat who was racing at the attacking monsters.

Chapter 62: Destructive Testing

The miners behind the barricades watched in disbelief as the three recent arrivals leaped a perfectly good barricade, and raced to see who could get to the monsters first. Several shook their heads in disgust, seeing idiots who should know better than to run to their deaths. You simply couldn't kill the lurkers, even these little ones, without hitting them dozens of times. It took special teams who worked together, and hopefully had a couple of amulets with them.

The older dwarves had a much better idea of what was going on. They recognized those large, ornate spanners that were clipped to the newcomers' belts. These were Engineers. And two of the Engineers running at the lurkers had some very pretty armor. The one in front didn't, and wasn't even a dwarf. But he was obviously a powerful mage of some sort. And he was fast! It wasn't even a contest to see who got to the monsters quickest. The mage was at least twice as fast. Money changed hands and bets were made.

Milo had an agenda. He wanted to test some things today. Milo believed in robustly testing components, including himself and his friends. Today he wanted to see what his new abilities could do, and also what his fellow engineers were capable of. Stone Lurkers were slow but powerful and could take a good hit. Perfect test subjects, even if these did seem to be on the weedy side.

Immature Stone Lurker

This newly formed stone elemental has heavy armor of 100 points. Damage will slowly wear this down. Mining tools and those that pierce armor will be most effective. The presence of several of these monsters indicates a nest of the creatures, or the gods have mercy on you, a Brood Mother.

Milo angled his charge to the right as he got close the lurkers, slashing at them with his tail to get their attention. As expected, he did no damage to them beyond a few scratches on their armor, but it did upset them and they focused on him and quit advancing towards the miners behind their makeshift fort.

Milo was far faster than the lurkers. He cast Brittle Bones, moved, and cast again. Around and around the pack he ran, keeping them bunched up and putting the spell on all of them. Then he turned and attacked with Shadowblight. As he raced by the rightmost lurker, he aimed a swing at it, going for a kneecap on the closest leg. Expecting to do only one point of damage, he was surprised when his weapon chipped off a chunk of stone and did a dozen points of damage. These were a lot weaker than the lurkers he had fought before. The monster kept coming, but slower than its fellows.

Milo's next attack was a Bone Spike. The piece of bone he used was old and carved with the velocity rune, one of the weapons he had prepared for Shalassa. He was pretty sure if his spell could wound the elemental, it could hurt these heavily armored creatures as well. He aimed at the lower leg of the lurker in the lead. The missile shot out from his hand far faster than an arrow, penetrating just above the ankle and continuing into the solid rock. With a jerk, the lurker quit moving, its one leg pinned in place and heavily damaged.

There was a few seconds before the dwarves got to their targets, so Milo tossed an exploding skull down and watched as the lurkers were knocked about, and small chips of stone cracked off their armor. All of them were quite annoyed with Milo at this point and not paying any attention to Throttlecog and Two-screws.

Two-screws charged the limping lurker. His spinning augers penetrated the lurker's armor and sunk into it almost an inch...at first. His weapons continued to spin, drilling deeper into the lurker. After only a half dozen seconds, they shattered the armor on its back and the tips of his weapons came out the front. The lurker was horribly injured. Two-Screws took a hard blow to his side, unable to dodge, but seemed unhurt. He pulled his weapons out of the injured monster and rolled off its back, landing on his butt.

Throttlecog used a classic dwarven style of attack. He spun in a full circle before attacking his target, building momentum for his blow. As he came around again, he swung for the lurkers head. Stone and wet, pulpy ooze went everywhere as the lurkers head was splattered asunder from the two-handed blow of his wrench. Throttlecog hadn't expected his blow to go all the way through the beast. His spinning didn't stop and he ended up in a heap.

Milo ducked a piece of lurker brain, and laughed as both dwarves ended up on the ground. He was still facing two lurkers though, one of them trying to free its pinned leg, so he paid attention to the fight after a brief look. Seeing one go down to a hit from Throttlecog's gigantic wrench told him these were much weaker than the ones he'd faced before. He moved to the next test. He was sure he could kill both with Shadowblight. But how powerful were his claws now?

Milo ignored the pinned monster and attacked the last unhurt lurker. His tail entrapped its front legs, causing it to stumble. While it was off-balance, Milo leaped at it. One hand reached out for its head, the tips of his claws digging into the creature's rocky armor. Swinging to its back he placed both hands on its head and tried to tear off its head.

This tactic failed. He simply didn't have the strength in his body for such a move. He switched to digging in his claws and shredding the armor. This was much more effective.

Against stone, his claws had many times the strength of his body. The tips of his claws penetrated deep into the creature which let out a high, keening noise. Then like a man using two hands to tear apart a rotten apple, his claws ripped the immature lurkers head asunder, spraying himself with the stinking grey goop that made up the creature's brain. The keening stopped for a moment, and then the other two lurkers began making the same sound. The backed away from Milo and began to turn. They didn't get far. One limped from a shattered foot, the other was leaking fluid from its damaged chest.

Luckily the two dwarven engineers had regained their feet or they might have been trampled. Both simply moved to the side and struck at the remaining lurkers as they retreated. The monsters were dead after a couple of hits each.

Throttlecog held his wrench in the air. "Ha! I win I killed 2 to only 1 each from you lazy lobs. Sort of disappointing though. I remember lurkers as being bigger and tougher."

The other miners were running up to them, astounded at the carnage they had just seen. Most of them weren't warriors at all, just standard miners. And a miner using a normal pick had almost no chance to kill a lurker. Four lurkers at once would have been destroyed only after a horribly long fight, with many miners dying. Instead, they watched all four die in less than a minute.

The oldest of them approached Throttlecog. "Oh, don't you worry about that. There's more. Lots more. The Brood Mother hatches these out constantly. We've been killing them for days. And losing a lot of people to do it. More and more of them are loose down here, and the big bitch has been advancing to the way up. If she controls the only way out of the mines, then she can just sit there and send waves of these things to kill us. And then start attacking upwards until they can move into the city. The mines would have to be sealed off until the city council can pay for a high-level group of adventurers to deal with it."

"But now we have three Engineers show up out of nowhere with weapons and armor not seen for generations? Damn, but I'm keen to see what you three can do to stop her."

Two-Screws laughed. "Kill a few little ones and suddenly people want to toss you at the big mother." He reached out a now mostly normal hand to the older dwarf. "Senior Engineer Two-Screws." The old miner shook hands carefully with him. "Darnfeld Stoneforger. A pleasure to meet you, even like this. But as to tossing you at that Brood Mother, I've always been told that's what Engineers are for. My pappy always said, 'When you get a tough problem, you call for an Engineer.' You just got called."

Throttlecog stuck his thumbs in his belt and struck a pose, raising his voice. "Damned right about that. The Deep Rock Engineer's Guild is here, and we'll pick up the slack. As soon as Senior Engineer Milo gets lurker guts cleaned off his face, we'll go talk to the Mama of these things.

Chapter 63: The calm before battle.

"Straighten up you lot! The captain's coming down to lead us and I expect you to all show some respect and act like soldiers." Corporal Eugene Shadowforge, newly promoted corporal of the 1st Shadowforge Rangers was trying to get his troops to stand in straight lines for the captain to review. They were being...difficult. Not normal 'miner' difficult, or 'dwarf' difficult. They had entered into a zone of surliness where the sarcasm flowed freely and they only cooperated when tapping a keg. Which they had just done again.

Part of the problem may have been with the impending doom of the Stone Lurker invasion, but most of it was that they just didn't like their new corporal.

"Shut the hell up, Shifty. He ain't here. And if he ain't here, you're just a clan-less thief, and not in charge of us." The other miners made sounds of agreement and went back to sharpening their picks, sipping beer, and discussing the latest trends in beards. Normally cutting any part of a beard was seen as something you just didn't do. But some of the younger dwarves had taken to such sacrilege as trimming sideburns and shaving their heads before they were decently bald. It was a bad trend that would lead to the end of dwarven society, or so the older dwarves said.

"He'll be here! He had important clan business to finish before heading down here!"

Shifty had no clue what that might be and was quite ready to get the hell out of here. The whole 'Lead the unit and regain their respect' was Burnock's idea. There was no way people were going to forget that he'd been caught thieving. The only member of the clan that still talked politely to him was Burnock, and for good reason. Shifty had been working directly for Burnock the night he got caught. Stealing some ingots and coin had been just some extra bit of thieving on the side. What his cousin had wanted was information on recently filed ore claims by other members of the clan. Shifty kept silent about his real mission, and Burnock made sure Shifty had some coins in his pocket, and something to do now and then to earn more. Which, come to think of it, had led him into more trouble.

He'd always been restless and bored. That had led him to make some bad decisions. Many of those bad decisions had been suggested by Burnock. It didn't seem quite fair, him at the bottom and clan less, while his cousin was high in the clan structure. He shrugged. Life sucked and then they told you go be a corporal.

Some of the miners turned at the sound of people moving down the long stairway from the guild hall. First came several miners and warriors, all from Clan Shadowforge, and all carrying large boxes. Next came a scribe, and then a dwarf in a set of fancy armor, enameled in the colors of the clan.

The armor had been on display for hundreds of years in the clan halls. Burnock had secretly been having work done to have it fitted to him, and the chipped enamel repaired. He'd planned to wear it when his father finally stepped down and he could assume official leadership of the clan. If the old bastard had had any decency, that would have happened by now.

The armor would still get used. If you had to go fight some huge monstrosity, doing it in a set of enchanted Dark Steel plate armor was a lot better than just a pick and a miner's helmet. Who knows? Maybe they could even win!

Corporal Shifty saluted. "Captain Burnock, the troops are ready to move out, sir." As if to dispute that claim, several of the dwarves drank deeply and burped.

"Not just yet they aren't. Don't let it be said that the newly reformed Shadowforge Rangers went into battle without the clan's support. Everyone, get over here and grab a new pick. If we live you can keep them. If not, well, hopefully there's someone around to bury them with us."

Burnock had spent every copper he could lay his hands on buying up the hardened Dark Iron gears and Dark Steel cables that the suspicious human, Milo, had been bringing in. But none of the clan smiths gained any clues from examining and working with the metal, which had been a disappointment. The metal didn't just sit in storage though. When the Stone Lurkers had started crawling out of the tunnels in larger and larger numbers, he'd had every ingot recast into pick heads.

There were murmurs from the miners as they picked up the new weapons. A few tested them out on rocky out-croppings or walls, astonished at how easily the new picks cut into the stone. Several whistled as they realized the metal they were made of and the value of the items they were being given. Many gave nods of respect to Burnock. All of them stood a bit straighter. A few even said a few words to their new corporal in apology.

Burnock and the other members of his clan also took up new weapons. The warriors sported Dark Steel shields and had a couple of extras they gave to the older miners. And there was scattered bits of armor, both old and new, to be passed out. An hour after he had arrived, Burnock looked at the unit of fifty miners. They actually looked like a group of warriors. Now they just had to prove that to the lurkers.

Burnock stood on a low rock and waited for everyone to have a chance to get one of the new weapons. It also gave time for everyone to get a good look at his armor. Then he spoke. "You all know me; I grew up in these mines. And maybe I haven't been around much lately as my father had me take on more and more clan business. But I'm here now, and I brought friends to fight with you, and weapons to help you deal with these monsters. It's going to be a rough fight and I know that some of us..."

Some of miners were looking at something, and the sound of voices could be heard, as many miners appeared nearby out of the darkness.

"As I was saying, some of us might not make it back. But I want you all to remember the time..."

In the front of small crowd was a human, flanked by two dwarves. The dwarves stood out because they were wearing ancient armor not seen in generations outside of a few pictures and schematics. The human was notable because some of them had fought with him against Stone Lurkers before.

One of the miners yelled. "Hey, is that Milo? Damn, we might have a chance."

Burnock raised his voice. "Remember the time that you followed Clan Shadowforge into battle."

Most of the crowd was moving towards Milo and the two mysterious dwarves.

A younger dwarf ran up ran up to Burnock. "Captain Burnock sir, I found the group with Darnfeld Stone Forger. They killed a bunch of them, sir. They have Engineers with them, real Deep Rock Engineers! I watched them kill a couple of the lurkers, just shattered them like hitting sandstone. They're going to deal with the Brood mother."

A cheer went up from anyone in earshot at the young dwarf's words.

The youth's excitement swayed any of the miners still clustered around Burnock, who started to jog over to get a look at the Engineers. Hell, even Shifty was over there, gawking at them.

Burnock tried to keep a smile on his face. "You don't say? So, Miner Milo mysteriously disappears and shows back up with some supposed legends? How convenient."

Immune to sarcasm as only some youths can be, the beardling nodded enthusiastically. "Just in the nick of time sir, like all the legends say Engineers will do. Oh, and it's not 'Miner Milo' anymore. It's 'Senior Engineer Milo', he has a Dark Steel Spanner on his belt!"

At the mention of Senior Engineer Milo's name, the young dwarf suddenly remembered another part of his mission. "Oh, shoot...sorry sir, got to run uptop really quick."

Burnock grabbed him by the arm. "Hold up. Why are you going uptop?"

The youth puffed out his chest with pride. "Senior Engineer Milo has a mission for me, sir. I need to go get some cheese for him." And with that the young dwarf was off and running up the stairs.

Burnock looked to where the crowd was gathering around Milo, Throttlecog, and Two-Screws. Proof that crowds were fickle. One minute they loved you, next they were cheering for some damned upstart and a couple of greybeards in fancy armor. He wandered over to greet the newcomers and see what he could salvage out of the situation.

Chapter 64: Old friends, new friends

"It's all well and good to have some spanner boys on our side, but they can't win a battle by talking! Enough with the gawking. We need to form into teams to take these things down, and make plans on how to tackle the big one." Burnock's voice boomed out over the crowd around the Engineers and he pushed through until he stood before them.

"Captain Burnock of the First Company of the Shadowforge Rangers. Good to have you with us." He shook hands with Throttlecog and Two-Screws. Milo looked at the outstretched hand and after a pause, shook hands as well. He always got confused with this silly ritual.

Throttlecog's face gave nothing away, but old memories came back at the mention of Burnock's clan, not all of them good. "Shadowforge? I remember your clan. Spent some time over in your mines on crystal ridge teaching some folk how to use a portable ore crusher without blowing it up. Long time ago that was."

Burnock couldn't keep the astonishment off of his face. How old was this Engineer? He immediately regretted his 'spanner boy' slur. "That was a quite a bit ago. But Clan Shadowforge is still here, and still protecting the mines. We've got a Stone lurker problem and would appreciate your help, if you have the time."

Two-Screws laughed. "I've got some new toys need testing. These little ones die too quick. I'd love a crack at a big one." He turned and scowled at Milo. "If, that is, someone doesn't run off and try to hog all the monsters. Learn to share or I'm helping Boom-Boom strap you into his newest gut wrencher when we get back."

Milo's gut turned over at the thought. "Sharing! Right, I can share. Lots of sharing."

Throttlecog started asking questions of the various, and assigning the older dwarves to lead teams, each with good picks and one shield man. "You can't fight these things using a shield wall. They break walls and crush armor. Run around them, chip away at weak spots. Confuse and separate them. The little ones aren't the problem. Do we have eyes on the Brood Mother? Any idea of level?"

One old timer spoke up. "Hard to say. I got a look at her, and my Assaying skill is at level 9. She's at least a Monstrous Boss, and Tier 3 or more. I can't pin her down, but she feels higher than 3. Damned Big! Her feet and claws are the size of ore carts. A dozen legs, and at least 30 feet across. Moves slow though."

"She drops the little lurkers now and then. Her armor thickens, then she sheds the little ones off of her back, and grows more. Constantly eating at the stone."

Murmurs raced through the crowd at the description. Regular Stone Lurkers were tough. Bone Breaker had been a terror. And now a Brood Mother was heading to the surface. Throttlecog turned to Milo and Two-Screws and lowered his voice. "Their nerve is brittle as sandstone. Let's give them something to do and get moving."

Straightening he yelled out, his voice amplified by either a skill or his armor. "Just a bigger rock to break. Engineers aren't afraid of breaking rock or taking a few bruises doing it. You've got your teams, let's move out. We'll mop up the little ones on the way, and then see about the big one."

Two-Screws starting moving through the crowd asking questions. "How are we set for explosives? Any Cataclysmite? No? Ok how about Blasting Gel? Boomsticks? Tell me someone at least has Boomsticks!" A few of the miners did and handed them over to Two-Screws who started putting them together to make larger explosives.

Small groups and single lurkers were encountered, but with three Engineers and a host of well-armed dwarves they were destroyed with few casualties. The large area near the tunnels to the top came in sight. A dozen dwarves were fighting against half that number of lurkers. Piles of stone and dead or injured dwarves showed the battles original size.

Milo charged ahead, followed by the other two Engineers and some of the more battle hardy dwarves. They managed to save all but three of the dozen defenders, quickly finishing off the half-dozen monsters. Milo recognized some of the survivors from his fight with Bone Breaker. Gorbel, Asti, and Fangrim had been in the thick of the fighting, each armed with a Dark Steel pick and shield. All three gripped his shoulder or shook his hand. "Good to have you back."

To Milo's great surprise, Belinda was also there. The human healer was busy trying to help some of the injured. He went to help and she looked up, giving him a quick smile before concentrating on her patient. Milo could tell just by looking at him that the miner had broken ribs or worse. His side was crushed with horrible bruises. As soon as he put a hand on the dwarf, he could feel the bones, both how they were twisted or broke, and how they should be.

"I can fix his broken ribs, and he has fractures in his breastbone, spine, and pelvis. It's going to hurt though; can you help me out with that? If he tenses up, it will be bad."

Belinda nodded. "I can numb the pain and put him into a light sleep. I was worried about doing much more because of those broken ribs. Let's see what we can do together."

It took several castings of both Belinda's Light Healing and Milo's Mend Bone, but the injured dwarf went from dying to badly hurt. He needed rest, but would recover. As soon as they finished, Belinda went to the next injured fighter and Milo followed. A half hour later all of the injured had been tended to. Milo was only half drained of mana, but was not feeling well. The itchy horrible feeling was back. How long did it take for someone to buy a pound of cheese?

Jethro was not having a great day. He hadn't had a great day in quite some time. He didn't like having to work the cheese stand by himself. He'd barely left it this last couple of weeks and even slept inside. His stock of cheese was getting low. Not a lot that he could do about the situation though. His gloomy thoughts were interrupted by a young dwarf sprinting up to the stand, breathing hard. "I need...huff...need..."

"Spit it out kid, or catch your breath. It's not like cheese is an emergency."

The dwarf stood up straight. "This time it is. Milo sent me up to get some cheese and said it was important for his plan to work." He slammed coins on the counter. "I need as much cheddar as that will buy, and be snappy about it or I'll climb over this counter and show you how much of an emergency it is."

Jethro's desire to see just what would happen if he took his time warred with the knowledge Milo was back. "Oh, Milo? He's my best customer and an old friend! What's he up to? Is he stopping by soon?" As he talked, he swept up the coins and took a three-pound wheel of 10-year-old cheddar from a special box. He'd been saving this just for Milo.

"Here you go. One of our best. I ordered it all the way from Furknoiter for Milo. Those Furks make some of the best cheddar there is. You tell Milo I have a whole shipment of special cheeses saved just for him!"

Mission accomplished; the boy ran off with his package. Jethro quickly closed his shop and headed dockward. As he crossed the main bridge, he passed close by one of the guards. "Tell Squint that Milo is on his way up from the mines. Kulag."

The guard nodded, gave a hand signal to his partner, and then ran off to find the leader of the Kulags. Jethro continued past the bridge, and turned down a lighted street to a well-established inn that catered t visitors with a good amount of coin to spend. Jethro knew he could eat for a week on the cost of a cup of tea in this place. He had to go around to the back to get in, then bribe a waiter for a loan of an apron. Making his way to the dining room he saw his target sitting at a table by himself. Jethro's lack of height made it easy to get to the sorcerer's table mostly unseen. The small dragon eyed him with malice but didn't squawk.

"Ah, Jethro. I'm sure you didn't find employment here, so you must have news."

Jethro hated the man's voice. It promised nothing but trouble and pain. So far that had proved true. "I found him. He's coming up from the mines and is so desperate for cheese he sent a boy up to get it. Some big fight going on with the lurkers. He'll be up after that. What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing Jethro. Just be your charming self. I'll take care of...oh, excuse me...WE will take care of the rest. Sorry, darling, just a figure of speech."

Jethro took that as an excuse to leave, and a few minutes later was back at his cheese stand. This had to work out. Milo had to come by. Too much depended on it.

Milo was just about to head upstairs when his cheese delivery arrived. "Here you go, Senior Engineer, sir. Jethro the halfling was right where you said he'd be and sent you down this big wheel."

Milo's hands were shaking a bit as he sliced into the hard, golden cheese and took a big bite. He felt better immediately. The young dwarf was hovering nearby.

"Oh, my manners. Thank you very much for this. Sorry, I didn't catch your name?" People that bring you cheese should be thanked properly. Milo was making that a new rule.

"Oh, no matter, sir. I'm Varyhold Axegrinder of the Axegrinder clan, but everyone just calls me Vary."

Milo offered Vary a sliver of cheddar and the boy sat and took small bites. "Good job Vary. You move quick, are you a scout or something?"

Vary perked up at the attention. "A runner sir. I run messages, and go through the mines doing errands. If I do good, I can start training as a scout. Of course, I'd love to be an Engineer. Does your guild take new applicants?"

Milo thought about it and couldn't say. Certainly, a month ago they wouldn't have, he himself was the first newcomer in ages. But now? Who knew? He'd have to ask Throttlecog. "I'm really not sure Vary, but if they are, I'll toss your name on the list.

Guild Update

Acting Guild Master Milo has placed Varyhold Axegrinder on the list of tentative recruits to be tested.

Vary's eyes got huge. Milo was a bit surprised himself.

"Ohthankyouthankyouthankyou...oops, gotta run. Yell if you need me Seniorenginirmilosir." and with that the young dwarf was off running to delivery more messages.

Milo finished a half pound of cheese, made sure he had several slices in easy to reach pockets, and tossed the rest in his pack. He also pulled a flask of dubious looking liquid out of his pack. It was a bottle of Myconic Mana Restorative. Harry made them from a recipe that used mushrooms for a base, rather than the normal mana potions alchemists made. They tasted like a rotten mushroom, but did bring his mana back quickly. Milo expected he was going to need it, and downed the bad tasting potion.

He gave the other to Belinda with an apology. "Sorry for the taste of this, but it will bring your mana back faster. And uh, thanks for helping out down here."

She stood up and brushed dust and debris from her robe. "I'm a healer, and these people need healing. It feels more important than just spending all day looking for monsters to kill. But what about you? You changed your class to Engineer or something. I have no idea how you level up so fast."

Milo stared at his shoes. "I sort of get in trouble a lot."

Belinda laughed. Then daringly bent and gave him a small kiss on his cheek. "Maybe when this is done, we can go get in trouble together? I'll be around." The healer walked off. Leaving a very confused Milo. What did she mean by that? Did she want to fight monsters together? Rather than ponder things that confused him, he ran off to find the other Engineers.

Chapter 65: We're going to need a bigger boat.

"These little ones keep coming in waves, but they aren't what's worrying me. We need a better idea of what's coming." Throttlecog empathized his point with a double-handed blow of his spanner to the side of a Stone Lurker's head. Spanner beat stone, the creature crumpled, leaving the cavern quiet except for the heavy panting of exhausted miners and the groans of those suffering injuries.

Milo and Belinda had been healing the injured after each wave. They were weak and battered but still able to assist in the fights. Both of them were running low on mana. Belinda noticed two things: Milo regenerated his mana far faster than she did, and he ate a lot of cheese.

The miners were quickly learning how to take down the small lurkers by working in fast moving teams. But there seemed to be an endless wave of them.

Two-Screws slowed the spin of his augers, and they reshaped into mechanical hands. He walked to the nearby barrel of ale and brought back two large flagons, handing one to Throttlecog. No one had objected when several dwarves from the guildhall had hauled down the barrels and made a makeshift bar. Dwarves healed faster and fought harder with good ale to drink. Milo theorized it must act like a low-grade cheddar on their systems. He kept trying the stuff at Two-Screws urging, but it still tasted weak and bitter to him. He'd stick with cheese.

"What we really could use," Two-Screws exclaimed loudly. "Is a fast and agile scout. Someone who doesn't mind taking suicidal jobs and going into danger. Someone who could go find the big lurker and report back."

Milo sighed. He'd been thinking the same thing himself and expecting that he'd be running off to scout sooner or later. What he hadn't expected was someone else to volunteer.

Vary rushed up to Two-Screws and saluted. "I volunteer sir! I'm fast, and know the caverns. I'll go find it."

Two-Screws paused and looked over to Throttlecog who just laughed at him. Two-Screws finally said, "Lad, no one is questioning your speed but..."

"But it's a job for more than one person. I'll head out with Vary." Milo stepped up and put his hand on the young dwarf's shoulder.

Burnock was listening to the conversation from off to the side. He'd taken part in some of the fighting, but had a tendency to not engage until the monsters were injured and slowed. He wasn't taking any chances on being laid up with broken bones, or outright killed. Now, he saw an opportunity, and turned to Shifty. In a low voice, he told his cousin, "Go with them. The kid is green and doesn't know what to do, he'll get in a jam and the spannerboy will try to save him. That's when an "accident" can happen. You'll look good coming back with the info after the other scouts die."

Shifty ran the idea through his head. As usual it was a crappy Burnock-style plan that put him in the frying pan while his cousin strutted around in his shiny armor. Not that he had much choice. He started shucking his armor into a pile. He shouted to Milo. "You'll need a third. Three of us can handle any stray Lurkers and I'm as fast as either of you." Wearing just a miner's simple clothing, he grabbed his pick and walked up to Milo. There were a few murmurs of approval from the miners. They all knew this was a bad job, and their opinion of anyone who took it moved up just a bit. A few also scowled, knowing Shifty's reputation.

Two-Screws nodded in approval at Shifty and Vary shook his hand. The youngster looking longingly at the ale in his hand. Throttlecog walked over and handed his full flagon to Vary. "Here Lad, fortify yourself, it's a dangerous job. Go find the critter, stay out of fights, and let us know how many more little ones to expect and some info on the big one. Don't take chances; that's what you have Milo along for. He can't seem to stay out of trouble."

In a few gulps, the flagons were empty and a slice of cheese eaten. The three scouts ran rapidly into the darkness, looking for trouble. After moving through the large central caves for a few minutes, they saw a lone Stone Lurker shambling along. Vary looked like he wanted to charge it, Shifty held him back. "Don't go off half-cocked. They look slow, but those big talons strike at you like a praying mantis kills a beetle."

Milo nodded in agreement. "I can take hits better than either of you. Let me get its attention. Then you two can chip away at it. If it turns, back off immediately and run away just a little bit. I'll hit it and get it back on me. Ready?" The other two nodded. Shifty's keen eye noticed the armor that suddenly grew on Milo's arms and legs. Milo charged out, leaped and spun in the air. A long, bony whip reached out and slashed at the Lurker, surprising it.

An excited Vary turned to Shifty. "Wow, is that an engineer thing? It looked like he was casting a spell."

Shifty was also wondering. He saw Milo take two chunks out of the Lurkers chest with his pick, and then just dance around, avoiding its strikes. The engineer waved at them to engage. The fight went well. Milo kept the beast's attention, and the two miners slowly depleted its health with dozens of hits. Only once did it turn on the two miners. Shifty took no chances, grabbing Vary by the arm and dragging him well out of the fight. Milo hit it twice more, crippling a leg and forcing it to focus on him. Vary and Shifty waded back in and finished it.

"Wow. That was awesome." Vary had seen little combat before this, and was excited. Shifty turned to Milo. "Teaching fight?"

"Yes, I thought it would be good to build some team work with the loner. I held back a lot and let you and Vary get the feel for how your new weapons bit into it. Good job, both of you."

Vary was excited and proud. He'd gone into battle with an Engineer and gotten his first big kill. Shifty was troubled. Part of him wanted to sneer at the young one, and tell him how easily life went to shit. Another part was enjoying the straight forward fight, and thrill of working with someone who took the risks and valued his teamwork. He was going to feel guilty when it all played out badly for his two 'partners', but that was ok. A bit of guilt let him know he wasn't at the bottom yet. Burnock hadn't expressed guilt even when they were children together.

The sound of rock scraping on rock let them know that more Lurkers were coming. Hopefully that also meant the Brood mother was up ahead. This time it was a group of nine that was moving through the caverns, heading straight for the miners holding the line at the entrance to the city. Milo and his group stayed hidden in a side cave as they passed by, then continued on. Three more times they passed groups of the immature Stone Lurkers, between six and ten in number. All were following the same path, heading towards the ongoing battle. Entering into what Vary said was one of the larger caverns, they finally found the monster they had been looking for. Milo stared out in in awe. The creature was huge, even bigger than the Myconian Ancient or the Snake. And quite possibly more powerful.

Vary was having trouble even looking at the creature from afar and his knees felt weak. Milo could just barely identify the creature. He said as much to the group. "I'm only getting a name Stone Lurker Brood Mother. I can't see any information on her, just too powerful."

Shifty chuckled.

"Let me give both of you a bit of advice: Work on your perception. Spend your points from the Miner's Guild to buy the Assaying skill from old Brickleback in the Assay Office. Then go up to the adventurers Guild, and do some quests for the halfling. You can get Legendary Lore and some other odd stuff like Magical Item Appraisal or Creature Identification. Try to gain experience in all those skills. You'll thank me down the line for that, if for nothing else. And if you spend a lot of time, and get Brickleback to like you, you can learn Gem Valuation. A little hint, he likes peanut brittle. I must have bought the old sucker twenty pounds of it. And there might be other skills you can find as well."

"Now let's take a look at this mother."

Uthneragrubban

Brood Mother of the Stone Lurkers, Breaker of Heroes, the Earth Shatterer

Level 17 Monstrous World-Boss

Ablative Stone Armor, Brood-Mother, Crystalline, Stone Based Regeneration, Rumbler, Unique

Shifty gave a low whistle. Vary turned white and his eyes got huge. Milo read the description and felt excited. Then remembered where it was headed. "That's really good advice. I'd have had no idea how tough this thing is. I've fought bosses before, but what's a World-Boss?"

"Shh...let's move back a bit before we get chatty, just in case." They move back a full cavern, hid in a corner, and Shifty continued.

"So, we have your basic progression of bosses: named, elite, monstrous, ancient, and then horrific, nightmare crap that no one talks about. Named aren't much tougher than normal monsters. The most common are elementals that pop up near natural resources."

"Elites are pretty dangerous. You either need a group of people, or be damned tough yourself and higher than their level."

"Monstrous creatures can take on a whole raid of creatures of their own Tier. The big Dungeon Bosses are Monstrous or higher."

"This thing is higher than that. Monstrous would normally mean she could take on a raid of tier 3 and tier 4 adventurers. But she's also Unique, which means she's got a special ability. World-Boss is bad news. They herald all sorts of shit.

"The Blight Queen of Helagra? World Boss."

"The Dragon Father Typhon and his Queen Echidna? World Bosses."

"Every hear of a town called Serbule? Don't worry, hardly anyone has. It got eaten by a giant Kraken. World Bosses are hard on cities."

"Something big is happening. Something happened down deep and stirred her up, or maybe killing a lot of her babies up here got her mad. Probably the start of a big quest, heroes running all over the world, and glorious amounts of loot. Too bad we'll probably all be dead."

Shifty sat down and pulled a flask out of his back pack and drank heavily. "Excuse me, wishing I'd never got all those levels in Legendary Lore right now. I think that I'd rather not know."

Milo's mind was whirling, trying to think of plans. Bone Crusher had been an Elite level 7. When he first encountered Salasha, she had been an Elite level 8 boss. He wished he had more info on Robazahl the Ancient, or the Ever-Pudding. Of course, he'd had a lot of help killing them. Right now it was just the three of them and little in resources other than lots of rock.

"You don't think we can beat her? Maybe I should head down and get the rest of the Deep Rock Engineer's Guild? What if we seal off the tunnels, and trap her down here until we get help?"

Shifty took another drink, and handed the flask to Vary. The youngster took a sip, and his face turned red, but he didn't spit it out. Shifty nodded at him. "Good lad. Never waste a swig of good whiskey."

He turned to Milo. "Stopping it isn't going to work. She'd never fit through the existing tunnels anyway. But she can wreck the stone, cause fissures in the rock, and then dig her way up. That's her special ability, breaking stone. But this area is already broken up. If she creates fissures big enough to get to the city, she just might reach the harbor. We're pretty much right under it. How good are you at breathing sea water?"

Milo envisioned the sea racing down a crevice to the mines, flooding them and killing everyone. Then going lower, flooding cavern after cavern until it reached his friend Harry, and flooded the Deep Rock Guild. All of the caverns in this area would fill with sea water.

"Right. New plan. We fight her here, and we get help. Vary? I need you to take a message for me to Senior Engineers Throttlecog and Two-Screws, and one to Belinda the Healer." Milo slowed down to write two notes legibly.

Shifty had no idea what Milo was planning, other than suicide. "And what are you going to be doing?"

Milo was setting down his pack, and any gear he didn't need for a fight. "I'm going to go play with her a bit, get an idea of how she fights, and delay her. Can you go with Vary and guard him?"

Shifty eyed the youngster. "He's a runner. He'll make it. And he's faster than me. I'll stay here with you. Watch your back."

Milo slapped him on the back and smiled. "Glad to have you."

Somewhere inside of him, Shifty was very unhappy with himself. But that's how the world worked. One last job, then he and Burnock could get the hell upstairs and out of town.

Vary was already on his way. He stumbled and nearly went sprawling when he received a notification.

Your application to the Deep Rock Engineer's Guild has been approved.

Welcome, most junior brother, Varyhold of Clan Axegrinder. Senior Engineer Milo has approved your application to join his guild. Please report for testing, remedial lessons, and daily chores ASAP. Your slot in the Whirl-n-Hurl MKIV has been scheduled.

Vary increased his pace, vigilant for Lurkers, with a huge smile on his face and determination in his eyes.

Chapter 66: Herald

The Brood-Mother wasn't going to be winning any races, Milo thought. He watched as she slowly moved through the cave they were in. One leg took a step, braced her huge body, then a leg on the opposite side. After several steps a point was reached where the weight shifted to a new set of legs and she moved forward. Her head went to the floor, and her huge mouth gouged out a boulder's worth of stone that she chewed and swallowed. Then back to moving. Twelve steps by twelve legs, advance a few yards, and then chew some stone.

One leg in particular got larger and larger, and then with a 'crack', a large piece of stony armor fell off the leg, and stood up on its own. The immature stone lurker followed along, joined every now and then by another, until a dozen of them suddenly began moving down the tunnel system towards the town. They weren't fast, but many times quicker than their mother.

Shifty grunted, then whispered. "She's sending out scouts, or soldiers. Probably knows when they die, so she sends more. All they cost her is rock and time."

Milo agreed. "If the miner's and rangers weren't killing them, she'd have an army."

Shifty looked again at the massive stone monster. "As if it needs an army. But you're right. So what's the plan? We've sat and watched for a while. You thinking of trying to distract her or do you have some secret Engineer plan to take her out?"

"I have a plan. Maybe not a great one. And already put one part of it in motion. But I think I just might try and see if I can distract her some, and test out some ideas." Milo took off his pack and prepared to move up behind the monster.

"What do you need me to do?" Shifty said in slightly hesitant voice.

Milo nodded at him. "You have the important part of yelling out warnings, and watching my back."

Shifty nodded. "Got it boss, I'll watch your back. I'm good at that."

Vary had run as if all the ghosts of his ancestors were urging him on. And maybe some of them were. He slowed up some as he got close to where he expected to find the Engineers and slowed into the half-run that he'd been trained in to regain some breath. No one wanted to have a messenger run up and not be able to give a coherent report. Just as he was coming in sight of the camp, he sped back up to a run for a good-looking finish.

"I need to talk to the Senior Engineer." Several dwarves pointed and a couple yelled back to the crowd. Vary quickly found Two-Screws and Throttlecog who were trying to get some point across to a group of rangers. He pushed his way through using surprise and elbows to get to the front of the crowd.

"I've got a report from Senior Engineer Milo!"

Anyone who was upset at getting an elbow to the ribs stifled their complaint. One old miner yelled, "Give the runner some room, he's got a report."

Throttlecog looked over at him, and then paused for a second. "Give us your report, Apprentice Engineer Varyhold." He smiled at the young dwarf. "We'll be having a bit of a talk later. What's Milo got to tell us?"

"We found the big lurker. It's more than just a brood-mother. It's a World Boss named Uthneragrubban.

Low murmurs and a few cries of astonishment came from the crowd. Two-Screws gave a long, low, whistle. "Well, that changes things a bit. Milo got a good identification on it?"

"No sir. Too high a level for him or for me. But Corporal Shifty has a keen eye and high perception. He got a good identification on her. Oh...I should just share this?"

Throttlecog nodded. "Might as well, son. Nothing good ever came of holding back info about a critter from the people that have to fight it."

Uthneragrubban

Brood Mother of the Stone Lurkers, Breaker of Heroes, the Earth Shatterer

Level 17 Monstrous World-Boss

Ablative Stone Armor, Brood-Mother, Crystalline, Stone Based Regeneration, Rumbler, Unique

"Here it is, sir. Milo...uh, Senior Engineer Milo, that is, says we need to fight it far away from here. He's worried it can trigger a quake if it starts burrowing up."

Burnock had just reached the group after hearing that a runner had come in. He paled at the revelation of what they were fighting, but stifled the fear with anger. "He can say what he likes, but Milo isn't in charge. I am, and I say that we aren't moving from this spot. We have resupply from the city, and can get the wounded up to healers. I've got a hospital being set up in the guild hall."

His voice rang out with authority and the deep-rooted knowledge that he was right. The crowd shifted uneasily, but no one said anything that put his authority in doubt, until a gruff voice that was used to being heard over the loudest of machines called out.

"Not as of now, you aren't. This emergency supersedes clan and guild politics. The mines and city are in danger. This is now an Engineering Operation, and every last one of you is drafted!"

Throttlecog's voice rang out loud and clear. It had a commanding quality that swept away any doubts and gave the miners some hope. "Captain Burnock, get your rangers organized, and let's get the supplies loaded in carts to move the camp. Good job, by the way, sending your corporal. He got us critical information on our enemy."

"Darnfeld! You just got promoted to Captain of the miners. Get moving and head up the tunnels and link up with Milo. Take out any little ones along the way, they seem to be getting thinner. Vary, you lead the way for them."

Vary looked a bit nervous. "Is it alright if I catch up? I have one more message to deliver for Milo."

Throttlecog narrowed one eye. "He isn't wanting more cheese, is he?"

Vary shook his head. "No sir, he has a plan to get reinforcements."

Two-Screws chuckled. "Of course, he does. Go on, get on with delivering your message and then catch up with Darnfeld."

Vary ran off looking for the human healer.

Belinda found herself racing upstairs and ladders as she climbed out of the mines and reached the bottom of the guild hall. From there she pushed past anyone in her way, until she got to the main hall. She paused then, looking around for an adventurer she knew who had a much louder voice than hers.

"You got a problem, missy? You're staring around my guild hall like you need to say something, you're dirty, and tracking in mud. How many times do I have to tell you adventurers to wipe your feet?!"

The speaker was the halfling at the big desk. Belinda remembered he was from the Horntoe clan, but couldn't remember his name. But he did have a loud voice.

"I've got a quest to give out, Mr. Horntoe, an important one!" As she started talking, she gained confidence. It was an important quest, and Milo had trusted her with getting it done!

The halfing rolled his eyes. "Sure. And I have Quest Request forms you can fill out, pay the fee, and I'll post it on the boards. That's how things work around here."

Belinda took two steps towards him. "No, you don't understand...

"No, you don't understand!" Bernard, for that was the halfling's first name, was getting agitated, but the last thing he needed to deal with was an excited human. They always got too excited about things and then they got crazy.

"Damn you! Listen to me! Uthneragrubban is coming! It's a gigantic Stone Lurker that breeds armies of them. A World Boss! Milo thinks it might cause an earthquake and destroy the city. The Engineers are trying to stop it along with the dwarf rangers and the miners. We need help! We need every adventurer in the city!"

She paused, panting, and staring at him. A few adventurers and citizens of the city looked over to where Bernard was in a heated argument with a pretty young human.

Bernard took a deep breath. "Engineers? World Boss? Slow down, you're getting yourself worked up. Let's just...

WORLD WIDE QUEST!

The City is in Grave Peril! The first of the World Bosses has appeared. (And way ahead of schedule!).

Uthneragrubban, Brood Mother of the Stone Lurkers, The Breaker of Heroes, The Earth Shatterer is advancing upon the city. If she reaches the end of the caverns, she may well destroy the city with her earth-shattering power!

The Ancient Guild of Deep Rock Engineers calls for all Brave Adventurers to join them in their quest to destroy this powerful creature!

Glory, Experience, and Uber Loot awaits the victorious Heroes who stop this creature from the Deep Dark.

Bernard looked shocked, and then shrugged and said. "Well, shit, guess that's how stuff works around here now. I'll get my sling and magic helmet and join up." He reached behind the desk, grabbed a pack and put it on, along with a shiny gold helmet. Then he tossed a large white bag to Belinda. "Take this. Guild Hall first aid kit. It's a lot bigger on the inside than the outside."

Then he stood on the desk and yelled in a surprisingly loud voice for such a small humanoid. "You idiots saw the announcement! Get your asses in gear and follow the lovely Belinda and me down to the mines. We've got a World Boss to kill."

Belinda reached into the magical first-aid kit. Really a portable hospital and pulled out a Hefty Mana Potion of Refreshment and downed it, instantly replenishing her mana and stamina. Then she was surprised at a message.

Message Delivered!

You have alerted the authorities of the lurking menace beneath them and the call for aid has gone out.

You receive 5 Core Skill Points and 500 Experience.

Adventurers were pouring into the guild hall at a run. Belinda and Bernard led them downward to the impending battle.

Chapter 67: Breaking Bad

Milo was in trouble. Most of him didn't know it yet and was having a good time. But somewhere in his brain a small alarm was going off and a few neurons were hoping someone would notice. Until then, Milo was going to keep trying to find ways to kill a World Boss, or at least slow it up. Little rats should not challenge such huge creatures on their own. Milo was used to punching well above his weight class and it was making him foolhardy. Or maybe that was all the cheese in his system? Only that small, scared part of his brain really knew.

Uthneragrubban was huge and slow. A moving fortress that now and again sent troops to battle. Those troops mostly ignored him, moving forward into the mines. If they moved to attack him, he would move away from the Brood Mother, kill the immature Stone Lurkers, and then come back in to try to find her weak points. So far, he hadn't found any.

He'd started by attacking a rear leg. They rarely moved and were easy to hit. And with every hit his weapon did more and more damage. After 10 hits he was taking off chunks of stone the size of his head. At twenty hits a large slab loosened and fell off. Then formed into a small stone lurker that attacked him. Three moved in from other areas. He was forced to back away from Uthneragrubban and deal with them. When he returned to hitting the monster, the leg armor had reformed. As he watched, she bent her head down and began to eat more of the loose stone in front of her. Her large claws shoveling it into her maw. Even as he watched, the stone was thickening on the thinner areas of its armor.

He backed away and observed again. Shifty moved up beside him. "I think there is something under all that stone. I got a glimpse of it as you were getting mobbed by that last batch. There was another layer. Blue and sparkly looking. I also got a good look at her from the front. Her teeth inside that huge mouth have the same appearance, and I can see some blue on the tips of its legs. They narrow down and get sharp, with the last couple of inches showing that blue crystal."

Milo had Shifty take him in closer and show him what he'd noticed. With the skilled 'scout' pointing things out, he could finally see all the areas where just a hint of the crystal poked out of the heavy stone armor. Shifty brought up the information he had gotten from inspecting Uthneragrubban. "One of her abilities is 'Crystalline', I'm guessing it's a hard structure underneath the stone."

Milo nodded, that fit with the failure of his Brittle Bones spell from doing anything. It seemed to affect the little ones, but not the World Boss with a crystalline core. "Next plan. We wait for her to slough off a big lot, then you lead them off a bit, and I'll attack one spot and see if I can't uncover the core, and see what it takes to hurt it."

Shifty didn't like that plan, but he smiled at Milo and gave him a thumb's up. "Sure thing. No beastie made of rock can catch me. I'll lead them around a bit and then double back to here. You be careful now." He ran off to get in position to the front of Uthneragrubban.

The plan worked as far as drawing off the next group, and having just dropped a dozen, Milo felt he had some time to work on that back leg. He tried to chip away head sized chunks, and not let a big slab fall that might form another Stone Lurker. As more and more stone flew, he saw the crystalline core, under over two feet of heavy stone armor. Not pausing, he brought his weapon down on the crystal. There was a small bell-like chime, but nothing else. He hit again and again and again. He was making small cracks in the crystal, but they fused shut faster than he could do damage. Eventually he had to stop. The stone was regenerating, the crystal wasn't taking enough damage, and he was panting hard.

He sat down and gnawed on a chunk of cheese. At the rate this was going, he might need to send Vary for more. He could be chipping away at this thing for a month...or until it collapsed the caverns and destroyed the city. He felt like he was getting nowhere. Even as he watched, the huge head scooped up more raw stone and chewed it. Uthneragrubban seemed to be able to process the stone to armor and then turn it into more lurkers amazingly fast. She was almost done with the pile of debris. Milo assumed she'd move on looking for more. There was no shortage of rock piles in the mines.

Maybe that was Uthneragrubban's weak point? Those front claws didn't seem to be jointed to reach behind, and the legs certainly couldn't. Maybe it was time to work from the top? He ran behind the monster and then sprinted and leaped, grabbing hold of her stony armor with his claws and pulling himself up. The top of the World Boss was stable and he could easily move around. A ridge of stony spikes started at where the back of the neck would be on a human, ran down the back of its torso, then back along the center of the main body. He decided to start in the mid-point.

It took over two dozen blows to get down to the crystal. Rather than attack the core, he concentrated on clearing stone. Each hit was revealing more and more of the inner monster. The crystal glowed brightly, showing strange energies moving inside. Like lightning! Like a nervous system!

Milo studied the revealed workings of the creature, comparing the flaring energies to the electrical pulses of nerve cells along a human's spine. Milo had spent thousands of hours studying his own body, and how it differed from a normal human. He'd had to in able to understand enough about himself to stay alive. Here was another strange creature. Rocky epidermis protected a solid crystal body with no bones, blood, or soft tissues. Some sort of magical lightning carried commands through-out its body. Beautiful in many ways. Milo had to remind himself that this creature was also going to kill him, his friends, and an entire city if it wasn't stopped.

Milo knew his weapon wasn't going to hurt the crystal, but what about his claws. Concentrating hard on his hands, he made the bone claws as hard and sharp as he could, pouring mana into his Bone Shaping ability. One claw scratched across the crystalline surface, cutting it. He cut deeper on the same line. Then went faster and faster, the claw going deeper and deeper until the thin furrow was two-inches deep and there was a small pile of crystal shavings. Then his claw was deep enough that he touched the lightning inside the crystal, with interesting results.

Uthneragrubban jerked back a step, and its head swiveled, as if noticing Milo for the first time. The crystal furrow tightened, trapping his bone clad finger. The crystal area he had exposed glowed, and rock was rapidly forming over the area, erasing the damage he had done. Now his entire hand was trapped, and two toes on his left foot. He started to claw at the rock to free himself.

The World Boss needed rock for food to regenerate her armor, and heal the damage to its crystal core. After noticing the small attacker and healing the miniscule damage, she bent to scoop up more of the loose rock, but the pile was gone. But Uthneragrubban didn't need loose rock to feed. Milo had made a bad assumption.

Shifty was watching from a safe distance away. He'd quickly ditched the throng of immature lurkers and let them head to where ever they thought they were going. Then he'd come back to see what the crazy Engineer was going to do next. Frankly, Shifty was thinking he wasn't going to have to do a damn thing to get rid of him for Burnock. The guy was going to get himself killed on his own. He felt a bit guilty at the thought, then better that he still felt guilty, then far worse. Was that the best he could say of himself? That he felt guilty after killing someone? No wonder no one liked him. Of course, no one really liked Burnock either. But he had the family name, and fortune. You could be an asshole when you were rich and from a good family.

While he was griping about his life, Shifty realized something was happening. The big critter reared back a bit, and Milo cursed from his spot riding on top of her. Then cursed a lot more. Uthneragrubban lifted two legs and drove them into the ground, then the next set and the next, until all twelve legs were firmly anchored. The huge claws with their heavy forearms raised up in the air, and their tips began to glow.

Blue light leaked out of cracks in the stone armor.

The huge claws came down and slammed into the ground.

**RUMBLE**

The ground around Uthneragrubban was pulverized and turned into loose rock in a fifty-foot radius circle and twenty feet deep. Rocks fell from the ceiling and small fissures radiated out from the impact site. Far above, in the city, the buildings shook and waves appeared on the normally quiet harbor.

Milo wasn't aware of this. All he knew was his world exploded as the energies in the core found their way to the spot where he was standing without the thick rock to contain them. Stone shattered, a small piece of crystal broke and was fused to his bony claw. The explosion of force shot him up to the ceiling, very, very fast.

You have been RUMBLED!

Few creatures have been so close to Uthneragrubban when it releases its rock shattering might. And far fewer have survived! (Well, for now. Who knows what happens in the next few seconds? )

You have taken 200 points of damage. Only your Hard Bones keep you from dying.

Your nervous system is in shock. Pudding based regeneration is starting to repair your shot nerves. You will be able to move again on your own in 1 minute.

Then he hit the ceiling.

You have taken 125 damage from impact with the hard stone. This is reduced because of your mitigation and Hard Bones.

And the ground.

Yes, Gravity sucks, but it's not a law you can repeal. You take 50 points of damage as you fall to the rocky ground.

Uthneragrubban looked at the first of what it knew would be many adversaries. This one would be ground to death in her jaws along with the rock he was laying on. The huge jaws came down towards the stunned rat.

Shifty had no recollection of making a decision, but suddenly he was running. Maybe he'd realized with his twisted, clever brain that this creature wasn't something he could run away from. Or maybe it was realizing that the only person who'd treated him with any respect lately was about to die. But he found himself running forward, his fast-moving feet finding the places on the loose scree to give him good footing. He got to Milo just as Uthneragrubban bore down on him, and pulled him free. The huge maw missed them by scant feet and they tumbled a few feet to lie in a heap.

Shifty got to his feet, got Milo in his arms, and raced to get away.

He didn't make it.

A massive stone claw targeted him and the blow sent both Shifty and Milo flying through the air to land fifty feet away.

Milo didn't feel it, he was knocked out cold.

Shifty didn't feel it either. The blow shattered all of his ribs and turned most of his spine into shattered bone. More damage was done as he landed.

Uthneragrubban ignored the broken bodies and chewed three more mouthfuls of stone to replenish herself. And then she began slowly walking towards the city.

She had lain sleeping below for ages, until the shockwaves of an earth tremor had disturbed her. She awoke knowing that her time had come. Her purpose drove her to the surface.

Now the little defenders would come in droves. These gnats were just the first of many more. They didn't matter. They could no more stop her than they could stop the great machine below from spinning the world on its axis. When she laid claim to her portion of the surface, her siblings would ascend to claim theirs as well. And then they would war for control of the world, and whose children would inherit it.

Chapter 68: Broken Things

Someone was screaming. It was very loud, so loud Milo couldn't ignore it. It sounded like Shifty. Another person screamed in short, sharp bursts. Many people were sitting around him, hugging their knees with eyes closed repeating the same thing over and over. Beep .Beep. Beep

Waking from the dream, Milo slammed the lid of the pod open and lay gulping in air as his mind tried to shift from the game to reality. Two klaxons were going off, trying to get his attention. Other systems were flashing lights and giving off the steady beep, beep that said 'I'm important, but it can wait a little...maybe'.

As he got up and started moving to his screens, the sounds automatically decreased in volume. His systems still wanted attention, but they knew he was awake. He looked at his list of trouble spots, and was horrified. What the hell were these people thinking? They were barely supplying their own power, and instead they were tapping into the sections that still had power production, including his. Fresh water was also being syphoned, and wastewater returned rather than cleaned.

Sewage and garbage were the worst. They were simply using other sections as garbage dumps. One of his big drops was being used to send trash and sewage down to the lowest levels. This was the most urgent problem.

On the bright side, they were repairing the lighting, and the cameral systems. Milo made a few adjustments and added the new camera system to his information gathering systems. He spent ten minutes going from camera to camera, playing the video at 10x normal speed while he sent commands to his systems. They were getting ready for something larger, and wanted to talk about it. A stage backed by large screens was set up in one of the larger green areas. It looked like a park rather than the dead jungle it had been a week ago. Communication cables were being run up to the roof and a new uplink dish had been installed. He made notes to hack into the system, it might be better than what he had now.

He didn't have time to go investigate further, so he started throwing spanners into the systems. If they had found it convenient to steal from Section E, then he was going to make it less convenient.

He found solutions, but then spent more time to make things look like a series of bad engineering decisions and flawed machinery. Humans tended to form ideas first, and then when machines told them differently, they still held onto those ideas. In this case, they were going to be sure the problem was with the temporary system of hydrogen fuel cells they had installed. There was only one technician monitoring the system, Milo sent a looped feed to his screens showing that everything was working just fine. In two hours when things went wrong, the regular and back-up videos would receive a command from his console to erase themselves.

Production of energy, and flow of hydrogen were both increased far beyond what was needed. The cells began to overheat. The cooling system for the area shut off, and instead the heating system turned on. The stored energy was sent to the electrical system in pulses. At first it wasn't noticeable, but toward the last few minutes the lights would begin to flare and dim. Then the power cells gave one last pulse of energy before they quit adding power to the grid altogether and began to overheat. If hydrogen cells get too hot, they become useless. These were getting very hot.

Simultaneously to the last pulse, Milo had the lights flare as bright as they could. Fire alarms went off and sprinkler systems voided the rotten, rusty water in their pipes down onto millions of dollars of new equipment. A huge amount of energy from section E hit three transforming units that Milo had been prepping for overload at the same time as the pulse. All three gave a loud hum, and exploded, plunging many areas into darkness.

Concurrent to this happening, Milo had two of his modified clog eaters working their way through the pipes to the pumping station sending filth into his section. The wastewater he could use and recycle. The sewage and liquified garbage he didn't want. Clog eaters were a special type of robot that could do a lot more than chew through clogs. They could also chew through the interior mechanisms of a pumping station until it stopping working. Most of the machinery was corroded and soft. It didn't take much to snap it apart. Their work done; his little robots retreated back behind the line of Section E.

Milo had only taken 20 minutes to set all this up. It was hurried, but he needed to get back to the game. For some reason he was knocked out and not dead. He had to be ready to get back to finding a way to stop a World Boss. His last act before logging back into the game was to send out orders for a variety of materials from less-than-legal manufacturers of body armor, prosthetics, and explosives.

Milo didn't know what was happening next door. But dumping a sewer into his section in meant WAR! And he was going to be prepared.

Oh, two things! He needed another order of cheese, and a box of crackers.

"Oh god, the boss is going to be pissed!" The comment captured the essential feelings of all the technicians present. They were desperately trying to find out what had happened, and to rig some emergency lighting. They ran out of time when a large group of people walked into the room. Several of them were the senior technicians and engineers on the project. All of them had been in a meeting with the board of directors. The meeting had been onsite and was to end with a viewing of what they had so far accomplished and a preview of the event happening in two days. That event was certainly delayed.

Seven technicians, three engineers, two architects, four lawyers, eight bodyguards, four members of the board, and the chairman descended onto the hapless group of lower-level techs. A babble of voices broke out, asking questions all at once. The chairman let it continue for a minute and then cleared his voice. "Let's try this one at a time. You, tell me your name, your station, and your observations."

The technician took a second to realize everyone was looking at him and then began talking. There was a rumor that the boss could be merciful if you were absolutely truthful and didn't try to shift the blame. "Jerry Olchek, sir. I monitor the output of the hydrogen cells, and the room they are in. It's usually pretty straight forward, with a small adjustment now and then. We started seeing some electrical problems a couple of hours ago. Lights flickering, small stuff. But each time the grid adjusted and it went away. The power from the fuel cells was dead normal, temperatures normal, nothing out of the ordinary. Then all hell broke loose, the lights flared, there was a large electrical surge, and then the transformers blew up." He paused. When he had nothing else to say, the boss went on to someone else.

Eventually, reports came in. Three transformers were blown, half the lights were destroyed and needed replacing. No damage to the communication and uplink system. A stroke of luck there. The hydrogen fuel cells were a total loss. Temperatures had soared in the storage room, destroying the storage batteries and generation equipment. Again, some luck in that there had been no leaks of the hydrogen fuel. The tanks had shut down as they should.

The chairman, John Sabbatino, had questions. "Can someone tell me how long it would take, even operating full bore, for fuel cells to melt down?" A few tablets came out, and calculations done. "About 1.2 hours sir. Quicker if the cooling system wasn't on. Not at all if we knew it was happening and could have shut things down and vented the heat out of the area."

"Please check Mr. Olchek's log. I'm sure it will show us what we need to know."

Jerry was helpful with the chore. He knew what he had seen. But the files weren't there. He found himself out of his seat and placed between two bodyguards. After another half hour, a senior technician told what he had found. "Just after the power surge, someone working at this station erased the last 12 hours of surveillance tapes, and the back-ups. We don't have the uplink completely finished so the data was all stored on-site."

John put his hands behiind his back, and looked at Jerry with disappointment on his face. "Well Jerry, that doesn't look good. We don't pay people to make mistakes like this and then cover it up. It's your choice how we handle this, Jerry. I can press charges for corporate espionage and send you off to prison. A waste of your talents. Or, you can agree you owe the corporation for the damages, and we'll escort you down to Human Resources and you can start working it off. How do you want to handle it, Jerry?"

Jerry knew he was never seeing his small but comfortable apartment again. His girlfriend with expensive tastes was equally gone. He'd be lucky if he only had a twenty-year stint shoveling chemical waste in a factory. Still, it beat prison time. "I'll work it off sir. And thank you sir."

Mr. Sabbatino smiled and shook his hand. "Glad to see you doing the right thing Jerry. Oh, and it would be good if you told HR who you were working for." Jerry was hauled away. Someone handed the chairman something to wipe his hands with.

"Alright people. We have a minor setback. That just means we can rebuild better. I'm authorizing additional funds for overtime for everyone. Let's see what we can do to get things up and running in the next two days."

Eric Kresthammer, another board member, approached the chairman. "John, I have an interesting offer that you might want to look at."

John was interested. Eric didn't waste his time on stupid things. Which is one of the reasons why Eric was still around after a couple of decades. John liked competent people who didn't waste his time. "Let's see what you have."

Taking the tablet, he quickly went through the initial offer, then looked at the technical bits. Nicely organized technical bits. These people at least knew how to write a proposal and not make it an all-day project. "Do we know anything about Mr. B'zon and the Freedom Engineering Group?"

Eric had anticipated that. "Tab Q has the information. They've overseen the technical aspects, design, and trouble-shooting on several impressive projects. They are a think tank, not a construction group. We can use our own people, but they'll be checking the work. If we vary from their designs, they don't care, but will charge a ton to fix our screw-ups. They hate having their time wasted and don't do long meetings."

"But, let me be very clear. Information on them is scarce. Mr. B'zon is the spokesman for the group, but rarely seen. The rest of the group works with voice and video altered to protect their identities. Not one of them is known. And we don't know where they operate out of. A very mysterious and competent group. But no black marks on them, and the only complaints have been that if they don't like a job, they politely walk away and refund all payments."

John smiled. "I like them already. As long as the job gets done, I don't care who they are. They advise against hydrogen fuel cells for power generation as too costly even as a transitory system. They suggest going with an acre of Sun Jammer brand solar panels on the roof, and four Wind Jammer units to augment the solar panels. That all feeds into a Tokamak storage cell."

Eric nodded. "Expensive up front, but projected to cost far less over time. We'd still need to run power lines to the city grid, but that was always part of the plan. And frankly, I'm not liking how much 'refurbished' mechanical systems our current team is using from stuff they found on site. This blow up was going to happen sooner or later. Jerry was just an idiot and let it happen on his watch. Probably asleep or watching porn and not paying attention to the monitors."

John was unconvinced. "Those monitors have alarms. Did he sleep through those too? You know what. Doesn't matter. Let's move forward."

"I want you to hire Freedom, and tell our current team that the fees we pay Freedom come out of their budget. They were skimming off of us and got caught. Now they pay the price. Send Freedom the rest of the specs for the entire section and get their feedback." He looked at his watch and scowled.

"This little fiasco is costing me time with my daughter. We were supposed to eat together tonight and then she was going to help me get the hang of this new game. It's a little ironic how much we are staking on Genesis, and yet I need my daughter to show me the ropes."

A woman who had been hovering stepped up. "Sir, I have a message from your daughter. She won't be at dinner tonight. Something urgent."

John paused, then smiled a real smile. "Well, I'm glad she's having fun. Something in the game? Or is it a boyfriend." A few people became uncomfortable, but smiled appropriately. The chances of Belinda Sabbatino having a boyfriend were quite small.

"In her game sir. Something big is happening. The first ever World Boss is attacking Shadowport. Ancient Dwarvish Engineers have appeared to fight beside the miners, and she's actually leading a raid group of adventurers against the creature."

John Sabbatino took the tablet and read the original message. "WoW! That's amazing! My little girl is leading raids? And a World First?! Damn, I'm actually jealous. Keep me appraised of what's going on, tell her that daddy is proud of her, and of course the raid is first priority."

"And Jenny? Find out how to get footage of that raid. Multiple viewpoints, interviews with the players and NPC's, a list of the loot, and tons of battle coverage. I don't care what it costs. This is a big story; I can smell it."

Turning to the assembled people. "Listen up! Big things are happening. I want this place fixed up ASAP. Limit it to the one floor. We're paying the usual double wages for overtime. If you work a triple, then we pay quadruple wages. Someone please get on the phone to accounting and tell them not to slow things up. Eric, get the Freedom people working for us, and get another crew of people in here as well."

"Donny, run down to HR. Too much happening at once, and something smells. I really want to know the truth about Jerry. And then let's do some investigating and put some pieces together down here. Maybe we can find whatever rat chewed on our cables and made everything break at once."

Unaware of just how much chaos he was about to cause, Milo logged into the game. Everything was black and fuzzy for a moment, and then he regained his senses in game. He hurt all over. Someone was pouring a healing potion down his throat. Then a piece of cheese got stuck in his mouth. He sat up chewing and groaning as it felt like every muscle hurt.

"Don't move fast. I don't know how you two idiots are alive, but it's just barely." Belinda was by his side, looking exhausted. She turned to her other patient, who turned out to be Shifty. Shifty didn't look good. There were makeshift splits on arms and legs, and sandbags held his body from moving. His face was pasty white and his breathing just a small whisper.

Belinda turned to him. "I don't know what all is going on, but I need you and your freaky bone magic to help me or he's going to die. I've done some spells, but I can't get a healing potion down him."

"And we need to know what you know about the beasty." Two-Screws was sitting nearby. He had a large dent in the side of his helmet and he was trying to hammer it out. How his head survived, Milo had no clue.

Belinda was adamant. "Talk and heal. I've been doing both non-stop for an hour. The raid is about to start. We looked all over for you and just found you."

Milo touched Shifty and immediately felt overwhelming guilt for bringing the brave scout on this mission. His spine and ribs were a jigsaw puzzle of shattered bone. Milo made a decision. Report first, because healing wouldn't let him concentrate on anything else. He continued to catalog all of the injured dwarf's injuries as he gave Two-Screws the info.

"It's amazingly tough. It eats stone constantly to regrow armor, and the armor falls off to make new lurkers. They shouldn't be more than a distraction though. Underneath the stone is a core of ultra-hard crystal. My weapon could barely touch it even after dozens of hits. I don't think most any adventurer under Tier 4 is going to do much to the crystal, but they can strip her ablative armor, and keep the new lurkers forming."

"But that's not the real problem. It likes to shatter rock around it, and anyone nearby. She plants all 12 legs, and then the crystal creates a seismic blast that shatters the surrounding rock. It's what it will use to tunnel up to the city, and flood the caverns."

Milo turned back to shifty and began concentrating. Two-Screws ran off to co-ordinate with the raid group, and after a bit, Belinda did too. She'd done what she could to keep Shifty alive. Now what mana she had left needed to save people who were fighting. It was up to Milo.

He concentrated on his magic. It let him sense bone, repair bone, and reenforce bone. He sank into a half-trance, trying to building up an image of where each sliver went. Milo heard a soft voice in his head. "Start with the spine. It's the most important. Ribs can come later." It was eerie hearing Cichol's voice in his head. Milo reached inside Shifty with his magic and began shifting the bones into place. Cichol's spectral hands helped him. As each piece of the spine was fixed, Milo used just enough mana to start the bones knitting. He had to finish it all, not just one part.

Another large chunk of cheese and a mana potion went down his throat quickly as he worked. But it wasn't going to be enough. Belinda had done what she could, and Milo was fixing things as well, but Shifty didn't have a lot of time.

"Well, shit, sorry about this Shifty, but it looks like you're joining the guild. We can sort out what happens later."

Welcome to the Deep Rock Engineering guild. Your new name is: "Shift-Stick."

Rank: Apprentice

Status: Broken up more than the Guild Hall after Milo "mis-calculated" his explosive forces.

Engage Pudding Based Regeneration? (Recommended)

Engage Malvosian Regeneration? (Recommended)

Permission for both types of regeneration approved by acting Guild Master Milo due to new apprentice's critical injuries.

Status changed to: Critical but recovering.

A good start. How to get some healing potions down him though? After a moment, Milo found the battered whiskey flask. It was still half full. He poured two of his most potent healing potions into the flask, and then put it to Shifty's...no...to Shift-Stick's lips. Immediately he began sucking at the flask, drinking the potent mixture like a baby with a bottle. Then he relaxed. Pain left his features.

Milo sat back and finished the last of his cheese, and drank a healing and mana potion. He was half-healed, and that would have to do. He made it over to the raid just as they charged.

Chapter 69: Blame Sydney

Steven Duran was barely into his third cup of coffee when he received a text from the Event Monitoring Group.

"Houston, we have a problem!"

The people working in EMG kept track of the world of Genesis Engine as it related to players. Need to know how many active guilds of over 50 players? What is the most popular of the known races? How fast someone can get to Tier 3? All things the EMG can answer.

In addition, they keep track of large events happening in the world that might have an effect on a large number of players.

In the last couple of months, they'd had their hands full writing reports about the first dragon attack on a large city, a war between two giant clans, ancient cities found in both the far north and far south, and the beginning of a major war between the Empire and the Orcish tribes. Not to mention some mysterious trial of a fallen angel by the gods.

And while all of these events had long term repercussions, they weren't emergencies that had to be solved immediately. Steven got the weekly reports and summaries, tried to get hints from Wally, and generally let the world turn in the way it wanted to turn.

So he was very surprised to see that this message was marked urgent.

"What's up Dan?"

"Steven, we have a big problem. Something triggered a late game event. We think we can pause most parts of it, but it looks like we're about to lose Shadowport."

Dan was the head of the EMG, and usually quite calm. Calm to the point the staff sometimes took his pulse to make sure he was still alive. Not much bothered Dan. But today, Dan was worried and sweating.

"Can you define 'lose Shadowport' for me, please? Do we have goblins taking over? Or eels sinking ships? What?"

Dan took a deep breath. "How about 'Unstoppable World Boss cracks open the earth, floods the caverns, ruins the port, destroys the city, and starts making a nest to breed lots of baby monsters.' Good enough?"

"Yep, that sounds like something we need to get ahead of." Steven sighed, sent a message to cancel his meetings, ordered another pot of coffee, and told his staff to start getting the data together. Then he put in a call to Wally for a meeting in 10 minutes. Wally didn't need the delay, but he did.

After he had that done, he went back to Dan, still patiently waiting. "Meeting in 10 minutes. You're right, this isn't good. Shadowport is our major city in the east of the Empire. The biggest quest center for exploration, pirates, smuggling and black markets. Losing it right now will be a hell of a problem. Get up here, kick Sidney awake and get her some coffee, I'll get Samantha and a few others. Wally may have some answers for us."

A half dozen humans were gulping coffee, staring at laptops, and running scenarios. As the clock ticked down to 0 on Steven's timer, the large screen that made up an entire wall of the room turned on. The screen showed a room nearly identical to theirs but with one inhabitant. Wally was sitting in a recliner watching a wall of monitors showing various scenes in the world. He was eating popcorn from a large square container that you normally saw in movie theatres.

"Ah, look who's here. You're all just in time. One hell of a fight about to happen underneath Shadowport."

Steven raised an eyebrow. Trying to read anything from how the AI appeared was tricky. Wally liked to telegraph his moods when interacting with the humans he thought of as friends. But was a relaxed Wally good, or bad?

"We have a problem, Wally. As you of course know, the code for a huge event has been triggered. We have World Bosses emerging too early, and the player base isn't high enough yet to defeat them. We could be looking at losing several major cities, and changing the world significantly. We don't have quest lines or events set up for any of that."

Wally set down his popcorn, and walked into their side of the room, his hologram transitioning out of the screen. Hands behind his back, he looked like a professor giving a lecture to a class.

"Let's go back a few months, shall we? Remember how we discussed making sure the world was story driven. Do you all remember our different views of what that meant?"

There was a pause, then Sidney took the bait. "I think so. You said that stories were important. You wanted a world that revolved around the people in the world, especially the players, and stories should build from the actions of the players. We've done that. There are thousands of quests already set up and waiting to be triggered. But this one wasn't supposed to happen yet!"

Wally pointed to her. "One viewpoint on stories, for sure. And a traditional way for them to appear in games. Developers code the stories into the world, and then players trigger the quests, play out the story, and in many cases do them over and over."

"But not every story needs to start from the development side. The world is designed to make its own stories. That's one of the core meanings of the name: Genesis Engine. The game generates stories from clues players and developers give it."

Steven stood up. "Wally, I'd love to discuss this for hours, but I think we have a deadline to shut this event down."

Wally ignored him. "So, from a developer's viewpoint, stories start and are controlled by the script that is turned into code and added to the game. From the view of the Genesis Engine, that's only one source of a story. Players provide a second, and they can change, subvert, modify, and enhance events set up by human developers."

"Since we want a lot of stories, the odds are weighted a bit in favor of the players causing things to happen. A great example is how Bruxleford came to be. When a group of farmers-turned-bandits kidnapped Lord Bruxle from his crumbling keep, the questline would have rewarded the players for killing the bandits and rescuing Lord Bruxle."

"Instead, one younger player asked the simple question, "But why are you doing this? Why can't we be friends?" A naïve question, perhaps, but the bandit chief answered her. He told a tale of starving children, farms stolen by greedy lords, and families living in the wilds. They decided that if the lords could take what they wanted they could too."

"To their surprise, the players wanted to help. They gave the bandits all their gold, offered to build them houses, and assured them that Lord Bruxle would give them land. The impoverished Bruxle was scared silly of both groups and agreed."

"And that's why we now we have a happy town of ex-bandits with healthy children, lots of farms, and a benevolent local Lord. It helps that the players also stuck around town and built houses."

"The game is flexible. Part of it saw the chance for a different outcome, weighed the options, and the bandits made the choice to be farmers again. No one died."

Steven spoke as Wally paused. "So, you are referring to the player-game interface? Is that a clue that the current situation was triggered by a player."

Wally frowned. "Partially. Its main cause is a heavy-handed event that was programmed into the world. Huge boss is asleep and gets woken up, causing lots more bosses to appear. How could that go wrong?" ("Which reminds me Steven, we still need to watch Cloverfield.")

"You can't just invent a new monster, and bury it down in the rock, expecting the Engine not to notice."

"Uthneragrubban had very little back story, so the game added the World Boss into an existing species. In this case, the stone lurkers. I like that, actually. It gave the lurkers more background. But sadly, it made this quest bigger. Every World Boss that wakes will also be leading or creating an army from the underground."

"I don't like programming that is so rigid. And the awakening protocols for Uthneragrubban were too simple, just a tremor or large explosion caused by a player. That's exactly what happened, but far too early in the life of the game. The players aren't ready for such an event, and the timing is off. Her awaking was an accident and not by a group of players that would have alerted the world."

"I'm really hoping the city survives, but the odds are getting worse and worse."

"Oh, and I blame Sidney."

Sidney stood up exasperated to suddenly have the spotlight put on her. "What? How could this my fault?"

Wally laughed, took another bite of popcorn, and said while chewing. "Should have kept better track of your rat. That one can cause trouble like no one else I've ever seen. Lots of stories coming from him."

The screens suddenly showed a montage of a rat-kin sorcerer fighting a host of strange creatures deep inside the earth. Complicated traps, strange machinery, zombie dwarves, and gigantic creatures of legend. The last scene showed a huge white blob fighting a monstrous copper snake as fiery death poured from above and exploded.

Wally spread his arms wide. "I'm so glad this emergency showed up. I've been dying to share this little trouble-makers adventures with all of you."

Stephen remembered the day that this 'little trouble-maker' had cracked open an international slavery ring and looted several banks. Why hadn't it occurred to him that Milo might do the same to the game?

As Sidney stood with her mouth open at this statement. Steven pressed Wally further. "What are we going to do about the situation?"

Wally brought his popcorn to the table and sat down. The screen changed to show several different views of things happening in Shadowport. "We do nothing but watch. This story has started, I'm not going to stop it. And it's not as hopeless as you think. The players in the city have rallied behind the healer, Belinda and are engaging the creature. There are groups of NPC miners and dwarf rangers led by a local lord."

"And your rat has been rather busy, Sidney. He fixes as many things as he breaks. The Deep Rock Engineers were only legends until now. But they were real, although until Milo found them, they were a dying shadow of what they once were. Now the legends are fighting beside him against Uthneragrubban. Don't underestimate what a good plan and a heavy spanner can do."

"And there are others. Shadowport isn't without its own heroes and villains. There is a mighty, Tier 6 wizard who may join the fray, for the loot, if nothing else. And not even I know what the gang lord Squint will do."

"There are sea captains, priests, eel wranglers and so many more wild cards in the city. Some will flee, some will help."

"We may indeed lose the city. In that case, we'll have the beginning of other stories. So, for now, we watch."

After a moment, Steven came to a decision. "In that case, tell everyone there will be free popcorn and beer in the main auditorium. We can all use a day off. Don't cheer, because tomorrow I want every damn bit of quest code that we've added to the game looked at and examined. We don't leave here until we know what other problems we've made for ourselves."

Chapter 70: Like rats fleeing a sinking ship

Below the city adventurers, miners, and engineers attacked a creature from the lower depths.

In the city itself, people were packing and leaving. As news of the monster broke, the odds makers gave the defenders chances of one in seven. That dropped to one in thirteen after it was confirmed and identified. Those who had a chance at leaving packed their valuables and headed for the docks, trying to pay for a berth on a ship.

The hanging mansions above the city were quickly emptied as airships departed taking nobles and merchants along with all the portable wealth they could carry.

Several ship captains had filled their holds to the brim with people leaving and set sail. They were going to sail just far enough down the coast that they could drop their human cargo off and return for more. Others increased their prices far beyond normal and slowly filled up their holds with goods from wealthy merchants, and their cabins with those who could pay a steep fee to travel in comfort with their treasures.

Only a fraction of the citizens could leave this way. There simply weren't enough ships in port. Small fishing vessels moved back and forth all day, moving people out of the city and landing them on the coastline a few miles down the coast. They quickly headed inland from the beach. The chance of a tidal wave following the earth tremor was high.

The fishing community was looking after their own. No family would be left behind, regardless of the ability to pay. For many, their ships were their most valuable item. They loaded their nets, clothing, a few valuables, and their cooking gear and said goodbye to the small houses many lived in. They knew that one way or another anything left would be gone when they returned.

A few canny families who practiced the trade of smuggling waited until the rest had gone. They searched through houses and abandoned merchants, 'salvaging' what they could and hiding everything in hidden areas. If the city survived, they'd be back for their profits.

In what had once been an opulent merchant's house at Light's End, Squint paced back and forth. Undecided as he usually was. He knew he had a great destiny; he'd been told so. He just wasn't sure what it was. His cats were being useless, as usual. Some big monster wasn't part of their plan. They had no orders about it other than making sure Squint didn't get smushed by it.

"Useless cats. As usual, I'll be using my clever mind to figure things out. Let's start with the basics. You guys chime in if you have any ideas."

"My city is going crazy. I've lost a half-dozen men lately and none of the other gangs are responsible. Quite a few citizens missing as well."

One of the cats made a purring noise. Squint nodded. "Right, and a lot of the missing citizens were children, good eye for detail."

"My airship thief is downstairs fighting a world-boss and hasn't stolen a ship yet. My airship pilot went out for a glass of wine and didn't come back. Same with my 'security expert' that was going to get us passed the guardians and into the crypts. Our whole plan is going to hell."

The other cat gave a bored 'yowl' and trotted over to the banquet table filled with fish, grabbing a large salmon and started tearing into it.

Squint pondered their advice for a bit. "You're right, that really puts things in perspective. Strange times call for strange plans." The odd little man walked over to a large gong, picked up the striker and hit it hard enough that the gong dented. Members of the Kulag gang came running and formed into a large mob. They never knew what the gong ringing might bring. But you didn't keep Squint waiting. Squint had been odd when he was just a member of the gang. After he came back from somewhere with the cats, he was impossible to predict.

"Wow, that was quick! Thanks for coming guys! KULAG!" Everyone was quick to stick their arm in the air, or bump fists, and yell as well.

"New plans. Take everyone and head to the light side. You see anyone in a gang, you tell them to behave. No looting, and if they don't want a visit later, they should help out. The town is in chaos, it's time to step up and be heroes! Stop looters, permanently if you like. Help people get to the ships. Help the fishing families if you can, and any priest you see."

"Today we are helpful. We are heroes. We are Kulags! People will remember. Or maybe we all die. Who knows? But I'm betting on me! Say, what's the current odds on the battle?"

"Twenty-six to one against them winning now boss. A lot of people got smushed dead pretty quick and the beast is still unwounded." Many of the gang were figuring on betting the long odds. They had doubts of getting out and might as well take a chance of being well off if they lived.

"Awesome! Here's what you do. Two or three of you go spread the word that the thing looks unstoppable. Get the odds up some more. I like thirty-seven to one. Benny? Take the spare gold, all of it. Use half to bet on us winning. No one is going to turn down bags of gold. Look sad and tell them Squint gave you orders to do it. They'll happily take crazy Squint's money. But, and this is important, when the bookies decide to close up and leave, I want a lot of our people with them. Don't take chances they run off with our money after we win."

"Use the other half to buy off a ship captain. Old Quagstone will wait and not take fares until the end. Make him an offer he really can't refuse. If he refuses, decide who gets to wear the hat and be captain. Any Kulag with a family, you get them on a boat. We take care of our own."

"Now get the hell out of here and get moving." Squint wandered over to his chair where a bow and quiver hung from the back. There was also a bandolier with throwing knives. He equipped them all, then bent down to pet his cats.

Four kulags, normally his body guards, had stuck around. "What do you need us to do boss?"

Squint stood up. "Hey, been fun guys. I liked you four best so I made you bodyguards, but truthfully, I don't need you. Head out, get your families loaded up, and beat up some looters. Me and the cats are going downstairs to play for a bit."

The guards didn't have to be told twice. Squint and two very large cats left the building. They passed a very lonely Jethro, still sitting at the family cheese stall. They moved to the guildhall, sliding past adventurers too timid to join the raid, but not wanting to leave the city. No onesaw the three shadows that moved past them, unnoticed by all.

High above the city, a large and ornate airship was moored next to the hanging building that belonged to the Garnet Rose Trading company. The merchants had reached out to the wizard Philistron. The capabilities of his airship and his greed made him a perfect person to work with them. They offered him 50% of their wealth in exchange for transportation of their goods, and a few of their retainers. It hurt to offer so much, but keeping 50% was better than losing everything.

Philistron watched as his workers lifted bale after heavy bale of rare silks and spices, moving them to the airship and down into its holds. The workers were small, grey humanoids about two foot tall capable of lifting nearly anything. Their eyes were blank, and other than a heavy steel collar around their necks, they were naked. Back and forth they went, emptying the building of decades of accumulated wealth.

The merchants were sitting nearby, watching. They were drinking some very good wine, that just wasn't quite valuable enough for the trip. They hated to waste it, and the wine calmed their nerves. Philistron had brought out a lovely charcutier board with preserved fruit and rare cheeses. A gift, he said, from a local halfling family who held him in high esteem.

Merchant Akim nodded to the others and then spoke. "The ship is almost loaded. I'd like to be on our way soon. No sense taking chances."

Philistron didn't answer at first, taking some time to feed his pet dragonling and tickle its belly. Finally, when Krysofolax was full, he moved the dragonling to his shoulder and answered the impatient merchant. "Yes, I agree, no sense taking chances. Not when things are going so well. Did you all enjoy the cheese?"

Akim checked his anger at being spoken to this way. "Who has time to eat cheese? I asked you a question, as your employer I expect better answers."

Philistron scowled in anger. "And I'm upset you didn't eat the cheese! The mold on the aged gouda is particularly difficult to work with. But I'm glad to see the others enjoyed a slice."

Akim turned to stare at his partners. Sadly, it seemed he was now sole owner of the trading house. The others were dead, eyes rolled up in their heads, fingers still clutching bits of the deadly cheese. He fingered the dagger in his sleeve, but thought better of it. He shrugged eloquently. "This works out best for both of us. I'd rather have a quarter part of the whole than one part in five of a half. I suggest I keep 25% and you increase your share to 75% and we depart at once." He smiled hopefully.

"I'm almost tempted by the offer, the way you caught up to the reality of the situation was very impressive. But where Krysofolax and I fly, we fly alone." Fire burst from his eyes, killing the merchant as he reached for his knife, and then his gaze set fire to the rest of the building. "And anyone knows that the whole part of the whole part is the best part."

"Time to go, Krysofolax. We'll hide our ship in the sky above, and then fly back down on our own and see if we can't catch one last rat by the tail. It would irk me to not find out his secrets."

Brother Ignacious prepared to leave. All the local families were gone on one fishing boat or another. He had stayed to pack up the altar clothes and holy candles of his church into his one small satchel of holding. It could only contain items of the church, but it had a nice capacity that made moving much easier. As he turned to leave, he was met at the door by several local women.

"I'm sorry ladies, but you should be on your way."

"I'd say the same about you." said Alessandra, the washer woman.

Ignacious drew himself up to his full height and stared up at her. "My calling takes me below. Saint Joan of the Fire did not hesitate to confront evil, and I will not pass up this chance to do the same."

Malta stepped up next to Alessandra, flanked by her daughter Elena. "Yes, we suspected as much. We are going with you. We have a full choir of twelve, and women of strong will and each with some power to lend you."

From the back, someone yelled. "And we have wine!"

Ignacious knew better than to argue. He'd just lose. And who was he to walk into danger, but deny others the same. "Then let's be off. A foul beast threatens our homes and we will bring the fires of Saint Joan to bind and slay it."

"Kulags are coming, Captain. Lots of them, with a lot of people following."

Captain Pike stared in the direction his mate pointed. His eyes, like most ogres, weren't good at picking things out in the long distance. Picking up the massive harpoon that had given him his name, he started down the plank to the dock. "Let's go see what they have to say."

Negotiations were finished quickly. The deal was simple. Squint offered a sizable amount of gold for the use of his ship to move his men and their families down the coast. The gold was more than enough. Especially since most of his crew were staying to guard the city. A fact that confused the captain, as most of Squints plans did.

"Sure. Load them up. I take it your boss is playing with his cats while the city goes to hell?"

Several Kulags eyed each other, then one of the braver spoke up. "Actually, Captain, he took his weapons and cats and said he was off to fight the beast."

Pike rolled this around in his head. Squint must smell something. Loot? Not likely, he was already rich. And feared. Also, crazy enough to not be worrying about a little dying. It bothered Pike to admit someone was crazier than he was. He was getting old, and not taking as many chances. He hadn't been eel hunting in ages.

He turned to his first mate, Samken. The man had been with him twenty years and had the greying hair and peg-leg to show for it. "Listen up you scurvy lot! It's been a lovely time sailing with you all, but I'm calling it quits." He tossed his ornate hat to Samken. "Sammy here is Captain now. Sail with him if you so like." He turned to leave.

Samken put on the hat, and the men cheered. "And what course are you taking, Captain Pike?"

The ogre turned back to answer his former first-mate, (nearly killing a man with the huge weapon sticking out over his shoulder). "I'm thinking of going crab hunting. I'll tell you all about it someday."

The crew started loading people onto the ship. They would set sail within the quarter hour. Captain Samken sketched a small salute to Pike and the sailors who were following him into the city.

Belinda watched as another group charged the monster, the designated tank getting its attention with insults and taunts. As the monster struck, the group's wizard cast a ward between the striking claw and the warrior's shield. The spell shattered, but the strike lost a good amount of it's damage. The warrior angled his shield and dodged. The blow that should have killed instead dropped his health by 50% and sent him tumbling. The other group members cast spells, or chipped away at the stone of the beast's hide before backing off and letting the next group get the creature's attention

The first few groups to engage hadn't fared so well. Too many people were eager to kill a boss and get the loot. They ignored the plans that had been hurriedly discussed. Tactics that might have worked on Named or Elite bosses were suicide against Uthneragrubban. After a half dozen deaths in the first minute, Belinda had regained control of the raid and they began the long slow process of wearing the boss down, chipping away at the armor and lowering its health.

Which wasn't going well, despite the sheer number of attackers. Miners and Rangers were engaging the beast's flanks and rear. Uthneragrubban was easy to hit. It was like striking a rock wall, too big to miss. But her armor was hard, and other than the miners armed with Deep Steel picks, the attackers did only a few points of damage.

Uthneragrubban continued to feed, and still created her children, but they died as soon as they formed. These the army of players and NPCs could deal with easily.

The great danger was her tremors. The closer you were to her when she planted all twelve legs and shook the ground, the more damage you took. Three rogues and assassins that had leaped to her back found out as Milo had, that the ceiling was quite hard. While Milo had bounced, the players became bloody smears. Hardened bones and Pudding Based Regeneration made a huge difference in the chance of surviving.

Milo wasn't feeling lucky, he ached everywhere and wasn't happy with his performance. He's almost killed Shifty and had forced the poor dwarf to join the engineers to save his life. Better than dead, but it still bothered him. He put such thoughts aside and went to help Throttlecog and Two-Screws. The Engineers had held back, choosing to study the beast and prepare a weapon of their own.

Throttlecog echoed Milo's thoughts. "Chipping away at the critter isn't going to do it. Too much regeneration. We need to break into that crystalline core. I'm just hoping this is enough to do it."

Two-Screws shook his head sadly. "Can you believe these people live their whole lives not knowing the sound of cataclysmite exploding? How the hell did they forget how to make it. I begged or bought all the black powder, blasting sticks, and firecrackers I could find. Altogether it's going to make one hell of a boom. The next question is, where do we want to place it?"

Milo looked at Uthneragrubban, surrounded by the army of much smaller creatures. "She was well armored up top. What about her belly? Less armor there in normal creatures."

Two-Screws turned to Throttlecog and grew serious. "Acting Guild Leader Milo thinks the belly is the best place to put it. I say we agree with him and let him place it there."

Throttlecog, equally serious, replied. "And I agree with you agreeing with Acting Guild Leader Milo. He should get to run up to the critter and put his bomb where ever he likes."

Milo scowled at the two dwarves. "When did this become my bomb?"

"A present." Said Two-Screws, grinning.

"Because we love you so much." Said Throttlecog, also grinning. "You know these old legs don't move so fast. This is a job for young, heroic, and best of all, foolish Engineer.

Before Milo could begin his mission to plant the make-shift explosive, the ground began to rumble around them. Small rocks bounce in the air, and a strong vibration could be heard. This was soon replaced by the grinding of rocks and the roar of powerful engines.

The tip of a massive, metallic drill head broke through the floor of the cavern. It leveled out and from the tunnel crawled a huge machine, moving along mechanical tracks. Fully 100 feet long, it took a full minute to slowly emerge. As it finally came to a halt, a hatch in the top opened and an armored figure climbed out of it.

unengaged fighters stared in awe at the huge machine, and the strange figure clad in full magic-tech tactical Engineer armor. He held a large grenade in each hand and fireworks erupted from his backpack, lighting up the cavern.

"BOOM-BOOM-BOOM! Time to party!"

Chapter 71: Defenders Assemble!

The huge mechanical monstrosity whined to a halt, the drill slowing, and front tracks ceasing their forward movement. Milo noticed the back tracks didn't seem to be moving at all. Steam blew out of several vents, and a large panel was kicked loose from inside. As Boom-Boom jumped from the top hatch, another dozen Engineers tumbled laughing from the machine, each sporting a version of their magi-tech armor, equipped with complex tools and weapons.

Throttlecog was embracing and slapping the back of The Engineer. "Damn me for a snotling! You got the old thing working?! I thought the boiler was shot and the rear tracks totally rusted out?"

The Engineer put his nose in the air and twirled his bushy mustache. "When one is The Engineer, one must know secrets of the trade."

Throttlecog crossed his arms and tapped a toe on the rock. "Such as what, you old walrus? You barely know how to crosswire a warpstone spark generator let alone fix an XV77-Excavator."

The Engineer laughed hard. "But I'm great at stealing ideas from the rest of the brotherhood and repurposing them. Had you looked at the boiler the lads made to power the Puke-and-Twirl? Their design was 56% smaller and 17% more powerful than the one in the XV77. That gave the driller added torque and allowed for more passengers."

Throttlecog fought down the urge to go see the new boiler. 56% smaller?! "And what about the rear track propulsion? Looks shot to me."

The Engineer pointed in the direction of the hole. "Oh, easy. We found and installed an auxiliary engine."

Two massive grey hands grabbed the edge of the hole and struggled to heave the rest of their body out of the hole. Finally, a very tired troll crawled out and stood, causing a bit of panic in any non-engineers nearby. Huge mechanical excavators were one thing, but a thirty-foot tall troll was scary as hell!

"And this engine is tired! I pushed your infernal metal beast for miles, and it was all up-hill!"

Harry sat down next to the excavator and leaned back against it. One hand reached into a pouch and came out with a handful of mushrooms and grubs that he stuffed into his mouth.

All thoughts of the explosive they had been building were put aside as Milo ran to greet his friends, over-joyed at their unexpected arrival. Boom-Boom however, only had eyes for the assortment of black powder and mining explosives.

"You were building a bomb and didn't wait for me!? For shame! And you're doing it all wrong! This is a weedy little thing with barely any snap, crackle or pop!"

Two-Screws put his hand on Boom-Booms armored shoulder and looked serious. "You are absolutely right. It's horrible! This project needs the touch of a master demolitions expert."

Boom-Boom smiled. "Ooooh! Wait, I know this one! That's ME!" He ran to the excavator to gather tools and ingredients as Two-Screws smiled. "Now we just have to make sure he doesn't destroy the city all by himself!"

Vary ran up, looking for Milo, but could barely talk as he took in the assembled Engineers. The Engineer took notice and walked up to him. "This is one of the new recruits? Nice to see the younger generation still has some spunk. What's your report, lad?"

Vary shook off his jitters. "The raid leader, Belinda, needs to know if we have a plan other than Milo getting himself killed. We have more fighters coming in all the time, and things are getting a little chaotic. She needs your input."

Milo listened to Vary's report, and then paused to think, running scenarios through his head. The reenforcements that had arrived gave him so many ideas. After a few seconds he suddenly leaped to the top of XV77 and slammed his spanner on the metal hull to get everyone's attention.

"Here's the Project. We have a slowly moving world-boss creeping up on the city. It has enough seismic power to crack open a fissure that will wreck the city and drown us all in sea-water. It eats rock, spits out baby stone lurkers, and one hit will most likely kill anyone not in armor. The stone can be broken, but we're going to need a big bomb to crack its crystalline core."

"I'm off to co-ordinate the adventurers that are slowing it up. Let's get a bomb built and any other truly dangerous ideas of how to kill the thing are on the table. We have a reputation for pulling off miracles. Let's prove the legends don't exaggerate."

Milo leaped off the machine, doing a double flip as he landed near the bomb. After a few seconds, a large crate appeared out of thin air. "There's stuff in here. Use it if you need it, Boom-Boom." The curious dwarf immediately investigated the magic crate. "Yep. Good stuff. The deep iron ingots will work for the casing, you've got some nice cables, and I smell some interesting myconic solutions I can use as accelerants." He began rummaging through the crate, piling stuff up.

Boom-Boom paused, then pulled out a few items. A ring, a staff, a large round shield, and a quiver of arrows. "No use to me, but might help out those adventurers." Milo had totally forgotten about the loot from the various chests that he'd opened after killing The Pudding and The Snake. He'd been looking for cheese at the time, and tossed the rest of the stuff into his stash. He took the armload of items from Boom-Boom and passed half to Vary to carry.

As the Engineers cheered and got to work, he and Vary raced off to find Belinda.

The Engineer watched him go. "Smart lad. Nothing gets this crew going like daring them to do the dangerously impossible before breakfast."

The raid was holding, but barely. They'd learned that they couldn't confront the monster like they would a normal boss. Tanks were doing their best to take a hit and live, backing off for heals while another took their place. Healers were working overtime. Everyone else dealt with the smaller lurkers, or chipped away at the stony armor, trying to wear the world boss down. Everyone, including Uthneragrubban, paused for a second as an enthusiastic voice rang out in the cavern.

"OOOOH! It's a big one. Dibs on the eyes!" Squint had arrived, despite the best efforts of his cats to walk between his legs and trip him. The two cats shared a disgusted look as the boss of the Kulags sprinted towards the giant monstrosity in the middle of the raid.

While still forty feet away from Uthneragrubban, Squint leaped in the air and sailed towards its head. Knives in his hands glinted as he yelled out, "KULAG!" Both knives hit dead center of the creature's eye sockets, which got less than the hoped-for reaction from Uthneragrubban.

Squint hung in front of the bosses face, hands gripping the hafts of his long knives which were stuck in its eyes. "Excuse Me! That was a double crit. You can't just ignore a DOUBLE CRIT! It's not sporting. Cats! Explain why this isn't sporting!"

With a loud 'crack', the stony armor on Uthneragrubban's face broke off, revealing a glowing crystalline face with perfectly intact crystalline eyes. Squint landed on the ground with hundreds of pounds of rock on top of him, blunted daggers in each hand. Uthneragrubban raised both claws to smash down on him, but the cats were faster. Each bit into a foot and dragged Squint out of the way. He was shouting. "That's just a warm-up! I'll be back for the real fight in a minute."

More people entered the fray. A massive ogre dressed in bedraggled pirate finery strode forward, knocking anyone in his way aside. "Stay out of my way, minnows, Captain Pike is here to kill yon beastie."

Taking his long harpoon in hand, he threw the heavy weapon at Uthneragrubban. It hit the world boss dead center of the forehead, but failed to penetrate. Pike jerked the metal cable he used as a lanyard and the weapon leaped back to his hand. "A tough one, are we? Well, I've fought tougher! I killed the great crocodile that laired in the hidden grotto. The Old Bear of Winterguard fell to my harpoon. And now I'm killing a World Boss!"

With a show of might, the monster hunter raised the harpoon above his head, invoking the skills Slayer's Might, Go for the eyes Boo!, and Decapitating Strike before throwing it again. The glowing harpoon rocketed toward the giant boss, hitting in the same spot. Uthneragrubban's head snapped back from the force of the blow, a small crack appeared where the harpoon had hit, but faded almost instantly.

Pike retrieved his weapon, breathing hard from expending all of his best skills at once. It would be some time before he could do that again. "So, we have to do this the hard way? Fine, I like the hard way. Takes longer. More fun. Up and at it, boys, and be careful of her claws. She's a mean one, she is."

"We have come to help. Let us know how."

Belinda turned to find a smiling man in a monk's robes, followed by a dozen women who were humming a familiar tune as they passed around a bottle of wine.

"Oh, thank god. We don't have many healers, and our mana is getting low."

Brother Ignatius gestured towards the women. "Then I and the Choir of Saint Joan will sing to aid in both healing, and bringing the Saint's blessing down upon you." As the women began a complex harmony, Belinda saw her mana reserves begin to recharge and small cuts and scrapes on her arms healed. A soft, warm glow spread from the Choir throughout the cavern.

"They sing beautifully." Belinda wished she could just stop and listen.

"Thank you. We've practiced constantly lately. The ladies felt that the mysterious holy man that visited us was the herald of heroic times to come. And they were right."

"Mysterious holy man?" Every time Belinda thought she knew all the people in this crazy story, someone else showed up.

Milo and Vary picked that moment to run up. "Belinda? You needed me? Oh, hi brother Ignacious. Hi everyone!"

As Milo waved, Belinda looked even more confused, and Brother Ignatius smiled knowingly. "Ah, of course you would be working together. We will leave you to your work and sing until the evil is defeated or the world comes to an end."

Belinda grabbed Milo by the arm and dragged him off. Vary took that as his clue to drop the items he carried and go look for messages to deliver. "Explain things to me! We're barely holding, and I don't know what to do."

Milo shrugged. "I never do either. Stuff happens fast in this world. Your first plan usually doesn't work, so you make stuff up as you go. But we have a plan. We're going to blow the boss up."

Belinda rolled her eyes. "With what? An atomic bomb?"

Milo hadn't considered that the game had atomics in it, he'd have to ask Boom-Boom. "Maybe if we were deeper, but the city is right above us. We're using a whole lot of Cataclysmite and whatever else the Engineers can do the spice things up. Just tell everyone that 'Fire in the Hole' is engineering slang for 'run away fast'."

"Oh, and I brought some stuff for your guys. There's a Stout Shield of the Defender, a Staff of Firebolts, and a Quiver of Endless Piercing."

Belinda looked at the items. Those were major magical items, and he was just giving them away? "...uh, Milo,"

"Oh, silly me. Almost forgot. And this is for you." Belinda watched as Milo pulled a beautiful, shiny, copper ring from his pocket, took her hand, and placed it on her finger. "Thought of you when I first got it, but I've been really busy lately. Hope you like it."

The healer stared at her hand, and then at Milo, at a loss for words. Milo grew a bit embarrassed, but didn't know why. "Got to run, have a bomb to deliver."

As he ran off, Belinda continued to stare at the ring. It was made of many strands of braided copper that shown with a deep light. On one part, a circle of seven small emeralds were inset into an etched outline of a crown. As soon as she put it on, she knew what it was.

Vengeful Spiral of the Empress (Unique)

There must always be an Empress. Piss her off at your peril!

+500 mana.

Font of Power - Mana Regeneration is increased 50%.

Poison Immunity - Bearer is immune all poisons under Tier 5.

Spell Enhancement - Bearer may choose one type of spell to bind to the Spiral. That type will have double the normal effect when cast on others. Choose from: Poison, Acid, Rending, Burning, Trauma, Slashing, Piercing, Necromantic, Wildrot, Soultearing, Windshear, Frostburn, Disease,

and maybe some others no one cares about.

Frowning at the ring, Belinda said, "I choose Healing."

Healing is a sub-optimal way to crush you enemies. How about: Poison, Acid, Rending, Burning, Trauma, Slashing, Piercing, Necromantic, Wildrot, Soultearing, Windshear, Frostburn, or Disease?

"Bullshit. If I get to be the Empress, then I get to rule the way I want to. I choose Healing!"

...sigh...we'll talk about this when you get a bit older, maybe.

Merciful Spiral of the Empress (Unique)

There must always be an Empress. She will righteously heal you until you submit to her rule!

+500 mana.

Font of Power - Mana Regeneration is increased 50%.

Poison Immunity - Bearer is immune all poisons under Tier 5.

Spell Enhancement - Healing spells have twice normal effect.

"Better." Belinda couldn't wait to show her dad. He was going to turn green with envy.

Alessandra had noticed the exchange and smiled. "Looks like someone got engaged just now. Look at that smile on the girl's face."

Malka was pleased. "Engaged in the middle of a battle! It's so nice to see young people doing things the old-fashioned way."

Chapter 72: The Big Bang

Milo caught glimpses of the battle. He saw Squint diving from high in the air and stabbing furiously until his weapons broke and a glancing blow sent him flying back through the air where his cats grabbed him and dragged him to the healers. Brother Ignatius was walking with the Choir, trying to reach as many people fighting the monster as they could. Captain Pike stood on a rocky outcropping, throwing his harpoon again and again, tearing off huge sheets of rocky armor, but failing to damage the crystalline core. They needed that bomb, and soon.

He ran back to where Boom-Boom was working enthusiastically with another dwarf, Pillbug. Pillbug didn't talk much, just nodded as Boom-Boom asked for tools and explosives. Or argued with Boom-Boom by crossing his arms and refusing to hand him something. Pillbug was happy to not be a rotting, mechanical corpse. He had no intention of cutting his new lease on life short just to see what happened when you mixed liquid cataclysmite with nitro-boom.

A circle of dwarves watched on from a safe distance as Boom-Boom and Pillbug worked on the bomb. To Milo, it looked like a metal chest with two handles and a clock. Boom-Boom looked upon it and saw the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. A true work of art crafted from the crappy materials on hand, and a hundred pounds of cataclysmite with a few 'special extra bits'. The only thing more beautiful would be seeing it explode!

"I hope this boss is as tough as you say it is, Milo. Because if something doesn't absorb and reflect the force of this blast, we'll bring the city down on top of us without having to wait for the beastie to do its seismic dance!"

Milo assured him not to worry about that detail. "It's tough. Insanely tough. No one is even scratching the surface. That looks too big for me to carry though. Who's helping me?"

Boom-Boom and Pillbug stood between Milo and the bomb, crossed their arms and looked grim and dour. "No one's helping you, because you aren't packing it. You got to have all the fun playing with your Snake. Let someone else have a turn. Just go sit your scrawny little butt over there by Harry and take a nap. I'll even be nice and tell you that he's been experimenting with making cheese and there's some in his pouch."

Milo felt the hole in his stomach get larger. "Cheese, you say? It has been a long time since lunch." The dwarves laughed as he scampered off quickly and started going through Harry's pockets. He found some tasteless, stringy balls of what could technically be called cheese, thanked the sleeping troll, and climbed on top of the excavator to get a good view of the fireworks.

Two people were already up there: The Engineer, and Shift-stick. The latter had both arms in slings and one leg in a cast, but didn't look like he was about to die. Milo was thankful for that.

"Ah, I see you took some time out to come tell me about our new recruits. Funny, but I don't remember talking about recruiting new folks."

The Engineer was using his no-nonsense voice, but his eyes were glittering. "But I suppose it's not a bad idea. I've seen that young runner moving all over the cavern carrying messages. A good catch, that one. Enthusiastic. And Shift-Stick here seems to have survived working with you. We all know how dangerous that can be."

Milo pointed to Shift-Stick. "He saved my life. I was a goner if he hadn't dragged me out of range and taken that hit. It would have killed him if I didn't make him an engineer."

The Engineer nodded and put a hand on Shift-Stick's shoulder. "That speaks well of you. We'll make a place for you. Just don't get too near Milo or his plans until you heal up."

Shift-Stick wilted, then looked up at the two of them. "One good deed doesn't even the books. Let's get this over with and I'll be on my way."

"I'm not a good guy. They call me Shifty for a reason. My clan disowned me. You'll be told soon enough and want to kick me out as well. I'd rather do it now then later."

The Engineer chuckled. "Oh, you think you need to be a saint to be an engineer? We'll have to educate you on all the adventures of some of the brothers during their preengineer days. Quite a few colorful stories. There are reasons why a lot of us go deep and join a crazed group of spanner-happy idiots."

"I don't care about what a bunch of sunlovers say about someone, you're an engineer apprentice now. I approve of Milo's choice. But I understand that it was a surprise to wake up and find out you'd joined us. If you don't want it? Fine. Walk off. I won't keep a man who doesn't want to hammer metal and bend reality. But if you stay, we'll take you."

Shift-Stick was silent for a few minutes. "Screw it. I'm in."

"That's the spirit." The Engineer slapped him on the back with a metal clad hand, which sent shockwaves of pain through all of the injured dwarf's fractures. "Now pay close attention, the boys are about to light the big critter up."

Pillbug and Boom-Boom were moving up to the fight, judging their last charge to plant the bomb. Vary was running from group to group warning them. The Choir pulled back, split into two groups and started singing chants of protection and luck. Many bottles of wine were opened.

Squint ran forward and began juggling knives in front of Uthneragrubban while his cats wound in and out of the creature's legs trying to make it stumble. Pike ignored the warning, attacking again and again. As Uthneragrubban took a step forward, it left a wide gap between two of her legs. The demolitions team used that to sneak under her wide belly and start attaching their bomb directly to the monster's belly armor.

Uthneragrubban ignored everything, and swallowed the last of the current mouthful of stone. There was no loose rock in front of it. The monster's eyes glowed, as did one leg that planted itself deep in the ground. Other legs started doing the same. Pillbug noticed the light coming from cracks in the stony armor, slapped Boom-Boom in the head and pointed to the encircling legs that had nearly trapped them. Before Boom-Boom could reply or move, the bomb's timer activated!

"Dammit Pillbug! You didn't take into account the beasties energies in the trigger design! Guess I should be thankful for front row seats. Going to be one hell of a BOOM!"

Pillbug rolled his eyes, took his spanner and whacked the back of Boom-Boom's magi-tech armor. Boom-Boom had never been good with making things that didn't explode so Pillbug had made both of their sets of armor and incorporated safety features he'd been dreaming of for decades as his brain had slowly rotted.

Boom-Boom yelped as his knees buckled, he was forced to bend over, and hug his bent legs. Armored plates shifted, overlapped and snapped into place, turning him into an armored ball. As soon as Pillbug saw that the armor was working correctly, he activated his own. As Uthneragrubban prepared to shake the earth, and the bomb's timer ran out, two metal spheres waited to see if they survived either event.

The bomb went off first.

And as Boom-Boom had predicted, if there hadn't been a world boss to soak up the damage, it would have brought the roof of the cavern down for a half mile in all directions. Uthneragrubban was lifted off the ground and two dwarven demolitionists went for the ride of a lifetime. They were shot like balls from a cannon, careening off of rock formations, and bouncing across the cavern. Milo and The Engineer tracked their trajectories and sent Vary with a team to track them down and see if anyone was left inside the metal shells.

Uthneragrubban was kicked twenty feet into the air. All of the stone armor on her legs, belly, and chest was demolished, along with a good amount on other parts of her body. Energies sprayed from her legs to the ground. If any adventurers had been nearby, they would have been killed by either the explosion or the seismic energies. Captain Pike nearly died. He sailed through the air over a hundred feet and landed near the excavator. His harpoon went skittering across the ground, coming to a stop in front of the dwarves.

Throttlecog remarked. "Now I've seen it all. A flying ogre." That started some of the younger dwarves discussing the viability of attaching wings and tails to ogres and launching them from cannons. "They'd be handy for getting inside a castle under siege."

Everyone held their breath as Uthneragrubban crashed to the ground.

Cheers rang out and adventurers looked around for loot chests to appear. Milo held his breath.

Uthneragrubban stood up, lightning racing back and forth inside its crystalline body. The great head bent down and took a large bit of shattered stone at its feet, then another. Stone began to form on its legs and it took a step towards the city.

The Engineer watched as the massive crystalline creature began moving to towards Shadowport. "Damn it. Nothing should survive a blast like that. Anything bigger and we do the monster's work for it. Not that we have any explosives left."

Milo was running scenario after scenario through his head. "Could the drill on the excavator hurt it?"

The Engineer shook his head. "Doubtful, not made for it. It chews up rock and earth, but it doesn't have a tip that will penetrate. And that thing would tear it apart in a few seconds."

Milo looked at Harry, who was awake after such a huge noise. The troll turned to him. "I know what you are thinking. But I'm not a fighter. I'm large, and strong, but I'm not on that level. And I can't dodge. It will hit me every time it attacks. At best I can be a distraction."

Ideas chased themselves through Milo's head, endless scenarios coming to bad ends. At his feet, Shift-Stick spoke up.

"I noticed something odd when the bomb went off."

Milo thought back to the explosion, but he'd been worried about Boom-Boom and had followed his bouncing trajectory, instead of watching the boss. Milo squatted next to him. "Odd can be good, what did you see."

"It always plants its legs in the stone before each blast, and lights up all over its body. The energy must run down the legs into the ground. But when you blew her up in the air, the energy tried to arc to the ground. It didn't do much at all. And the legs farther in the air did less."

"That's It!" Milo hugged Shift-Stick, who winced in pain, and then he turned to The Engineer.

"We can't win a war. But we can turn this into an engineering project. We just need to get the boss suspended in mid-air."

The old dwarf pondered this. "Ok, then tell me your plan, because I don't see a Centrifugal Lifting Arc appearing out of nowhere."

Milo grabbed a pencil from one of The Engineers pockets and began to sketch out his idea on the side of the excavator. "We need cables, toughest we can get, a few small explosives, quite a few pulley systems, stone anchors, a dozen engineers, a few large distractions, and a way to attach the primary cable to the boss."

Moving slowly, and lighting his pipe, The Engineer looked at the plans as if he was grading a final paper from a junior engineer. "It might work. I have to ask where you plan on getting a mile of high-quality cable, and all the rest of the gear. It's one thing to have an idea, Senior Engineer Milo, but you also have to source the materials."

Milo's face fell. "Oh. I don't suppose you brought any of that in the excavator?"

The Engineer shook his head. "Nope. Only room for the lads and I, and a bit of explosives that Boom-Boom smuggled along with him."

"But, now that I think about it, it might be time to teach you whipper snappers a lesson or two. Gather round."

The dwarfs gathered around him, including Vary, Boom-Boom, and Pillbug. The latter two missing their armor, which had to be dismantled to get them out of it.

"Watch and learn, young ones. Watch and learn. Some of you may live long enough to get one of these."

He raised his fist in the air, and it glowed as he summoned power before slamming it down on the ground. With a sharp crackle and the smell of ozone, a huge set of adamantine doors appeared in front of the astonished crew. They were ancient and strong, covered in strange runes and inlaid with mathematical equations. A full ten feet high and ten feet wide, to Milo they looked like the doors on an ancient, magical, bank vault.

Throttlecog whistled softly, then swore. "Well slap my bare ass and call my momma a goblin! An Arcane Workshop? You kept that secret all this time?! "

"You're just jealous. But truth be told, I couldn't remember how to summon it for the last hundred years, and didn't have the mana to do it if I did remember."

He turned to the awestruck dwarves.

"All right you lot! Behave yourselves or I'll have you cleaning out the sumps for the rest of the decade. Glassine cables are in storeroom #6. The pulley systems are in storeroom #9. Throttlecog, run along with the lads and take Milo shopping for what he needs, and not one copper rivet more. And I'll want an accounting of what leaves later along with a full set of blue prints for the project!"

The doors opened silently, and blue tinged light poured out. The dwarves were uncharacteristically quiet and solemn as they entered the Arcane Workshop and began to haul out the needed mechanical supplies.

Uncaring and unknowing of what he was missing. Captain Pike woke up, and found his harpoon. Milo took a long look at the weapon and crossed off the last item on his parts list. "Vary? I've got some jobs for you."

Belinda heard cries of despair from her raid. One voice proclaimed. "Well, that's it then. It's over."

The healer moved among the players before they could leave or log out. "It might look bad guys, but we can't give up now. This is the first world boss!"

One of the mages shook his head. "War's over, the dwarves dropped the big one. Boss doesn't care." Nods and agreement came from several other players.

She turned to Brother Ignatius. "Sing something upbeat and hopeful, please." He smiled and nodded. This young lady understood his goddess well. As legend had it, she had sung beautifully even as she was tied to the stake and the fires had been lit. He and his choir would follow her example. "Ok girls, on my mark. Let's do: 'It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine'.

She pointed to one of the tanks. "Hey, Arno, lift me to your shoulders!" The grinning fighter obliged immediately.

The healer yelled as loud as she could. "Nothing's over until we say it's over! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? HELL NO!"

"This could be the best day of our lives, but you're going to let it be our worst. I can hear you all talking. 'But Belinda, we might all die! Oh no, we might lose all our spiffy gear or get a nasty curse if we lose to the boss.'

"Screw it. This might look like a stupidly suicidal mission, but I say we're just the people to do it!

Vary came running up behind her and whispered. "Milo has a new plan to beat the boss"

"And Milo has a new plan to beat the boss. So, who's with me?"

Chapter 73: It's the End of the World as we know it, and I feel fine.

New Plan Step 1: Delay!

Later, Belinda would always wonder how she got people to believe that she actually had a plan. Yet somehow her speech, the rousing music of the choir, and the desire for a first-ever-world-boss-kill and phat loots did the trick. The players in her raid got back in the fight, and that gave heart to the miners and rangers.

This time though, they didn't try to hurt the boss. They fought in control, dodging its attacks by using annoying rogues instead of tanks. Squint led that group, proving to all that he was both the most annoying, and also very hard to kill. Anyone with the ability to taunt the boss was at the back and sides, constantly trying to get the monsters attention and make it spin in their direction.

Since Uthneragrubban was taking no damage, she ate less, and didn't need to unleash her devastating seismic attack.

The Choir moved close to the fight, their magic adding luck to dodges, speed to tired muscles, and healing to non-lethal wounds. They still lost people, but at a slower rate.

Belinda hoped they could just last long enough.

New Plan Step Two: Build a better Boss Trap

A dozen and a half Deep Rock Engineers jogged past the fight and headed to a spot in the cavern where the roof was high and the stalactites huge. Milo planted a flag made from a red handkerchief and long piece of quarter-inch piping.

"This is the spot." He pointed to seven of the stalactites. "And those are what we need to get to work on."

Half-Pipe looked skeptical. "I understand what you need done Senior Engineer, no problem there. But first I need to install rocket jets on my boots."

"No rocket jets in my pocket, sorry Half-Pipe. We do this the old-fashioned way. I'm going to drive pitons in the ceiling and drop ropes at each location. You'll need to climb up, set your anchors, and get to work. Throttlecog, you mind giving me a boost?"

The burly dwarf laughed and limbered up his throwing arm. "Glad to!" One armored hand grabbed Milo by the back of his shirt, and the other took hold of his belt. With a mighty "Heave-Ho!" he tossed Milo to the ceiling. Hasty bets had been made as to whether he'd fall short or bounce off the ceiling the first time. Only Two-Screws had taken "Stays Up There" and he pocketed quite a bit of cash from grumbling brothers.

Milo hit the ceiling, but his claws grabbed hold of the rock securely. He slammed his pick into the rock, inserted the piton and sealed the hole with 'instant-stone'. Within two minutes he had dropped down the first rope and then to the amazement of anyone watching, crawled across the ceiling to the next stalactite. Two-Screws started climbing the rope and got to work.

One by one the anchors were set and ropes let down to waiting dwarves. Half-Pipe was still grumbling. "Damn, I hate climbing rope."

Cogswell and Sprocket laughed at him. "You wouldn't know what to do with them Half-Pipe, and you'd complain they didn't come with a user's manual. Both dwarves looked up at the ceiling. Cogswell yelled out. "Second Star on the Right and straight on 'til Morning". Then flame and smoke spurted from both his and Sprockets boots and they ascended slowly to the ceiling on pillars of fire.

Half-Pipe watched them go and yelled at them. "Damned show offs! You should have brought enough for the rest of us." Then he began to climb his rope and get to work.

New Plan Step Three: Get the Ogre On Board

"I'm not going to tell you again! NO! You can't go messing around with my harpoon. My Grandpappy found it and was a Monster Hunter. My Pappy was too! And now I'm a Monster Hunter. And all of us killed our monsters without help from little rats with big plans. Now get lost or I'll rip off your legs and eat them."

Captain Pike was being difficult. Milo didn't seem to be able to convince him.

Shift-Stick butted in to the conversation when Milo tried to explain the plan for the 5th time. "Back off a bit Milo. You don't understand how close you are to being piquant aftertaste. Ogres don't make threats about eating. You're really lucky the Captain here hasn't turned you into lunch yet."

Milo persisted. They didn't have time for this! "But.."

Shift-Stick put a hand on his mouth. "Nope, not another word out of you. You're being rude. Ogres aren't greedy like most folks. They only ever own a few things they care about. For the Captain here, that's his harpoon. And a fine weapon it is! That harpoon is talked about in every cheap bar and pirate dive on the western ocean! It's killed monsters for three generations."

Pike started to relax, smiling. Hunting monsters might be what he liked to do best, but hearing people tell his stories was a close second.

"Why, his Grandpappy killed a Void Whale. No one even knew what they were until he dragged the one he killed into port. It took three ships to tow it. Only someone armed with a fell weapon of death like that harpoon could have done it. Yep, old Captain Jaggedtooth was a legend for sure. And then he passed down that Legendary weapon to his son, Gutspew. Captain Gutspew killed the Great Walking Clam and the Black Kraken. Sure proof that he wielded a mighty magical weapon! Monster Slayers first class, both of them"

"And now Captain Pike has this mighty weapon. It's his pride and joy, and I'm sure he's going to do great things with it! So don't you be messing with it, Milo. Some things are off limits even to crafty magical engineers like you!"

Captain Pike was waiting for Shift-Stick to continue, but the dwarf just silently wagged a finger at Milo, who looked down at his feet and tried to think of another plan.

"You know, I've already killed some monsters! Did you hear about the Old Bear of Winterguard? What about that big croc? That thing had teeth a foot long."

Shift-Stick turned back to the Captain and smiled. "Oh, yeah. Great stories! Not many Monster Hunters could have killed those beasts. Well, unless they had a weapon like yours. Good job on those."

Pike scowled. "I'm not liking your tone for some reason, you little beard-braider! Those were monsters like no one sees."

Shift-Stick shrugged. "No one except everyone here. I mean, this is a World Boss! That's exciting. Even worth dying for."

Pike looked over at the monster currently fighting a hundred people. "Well, that bear was pretty tough, and I fought it alone!"

Shift-Stick started walking away. "Alone, except for your enchanted harpoon. I mean, you've got a great lineage, don't get me wrong. Not everyone can live up to their Grandpappy. Trust me, I understand. But let's be serious here. You didn't kill a Void Whale and you'll be remembered for a bear, a lizard, and not being able to kill a World Boss."

Pike's face was purple with rage. "Damn your scurvy, pox-ridden tongue! I tried! Even my harpoon can't put a hole in the beastie!"

Shift-Stick paused. "Hmm, that is a point. A shame really, because if you found a way to kill it, then people would know it was your skill and not just the harpoon that let you do it. But that's not worth letting some annoying little engineer put a rune or two on your weapon."

The Ogre advanced a couple of steps. "Don't you be telling me what to do! If I want to have some idiot put some magic on my weapon, that's up to me." He grabbed Milo by the arm, nearly dislocating it. "Let's get a move on, you. I've got a monster to kill and you're going to help me do it!

New Plan Step 3.5: Shift-Stick has a minor breakdown and goes to find something to drink.

New Plan Step 4: Milo makes shit up as he goes.

At Pike's insistence, Milo tried to inscribe a rune of velocity on his harpoon. It wasn't going well. The metal of the harpoon was incredibly hard and didn't want to take the inscription. He didn't dare carve it with his claws. He had painted on the rune using a luminous paint The Engineer had in his Arcane Workshop. It should have stuck to the metal. The rune should have held his mana.

But it wasn't working right. He could feel that the rune was fragile. Still, it was the best he could do. With the added velocity from the rune, Pike should be able to toss that weapon through a dozen feet of solid rock. All Milo wanted needed was a wound deep enough that the harpoon wouldn't pull out.

Vary ran up. "Senior Engineer, sir! The brothers told me the jobs a good one. All ready to go on their end."

Milo was impressed, that was fast! "And how close is Uthneragrubban to the flag?"

Vary thought about it and stepped back a dozen steps. "Maybe the same distance from me to you. That's good right? It's hard to slow it down much."

Milo smiled at Vary. "That's perfect. Now go inform Harry and The Engineer and see if they have anything to add to the plan. The Captain and I are moving into position."

New Plan Step 5: Improvise

The Engineer listened to Vary, then turned to the troll. "He's worried and needs time. We need to put that beastie on the mark and keep it there."

Harry moved to the back of the modified excavator. He began pouring strange liquids into a new fuel tank The Engineer had just welded into place. Some were fuel cans from the Arcane Workshop. But one large container was a myconic concoction made from mushrooms Harry tore out of his own skin.

The back had been torn open and new machinery was visible. The scrap had been welded to the front of the machine. From inside came the sound of an over-stressed boiler.

Vary was handed a paint can similar to what Milo was trying to use to paint runes. At Harry's urging he painted huge letters on the side that read "Eat my Shrooms!"

The Engineer got inside and yelled out. "Belt in if you're coming Vary. Pull the cord Harry, and hold on." Vary made his decision. Better to die an engineer than to watch from the sidelines and miss out.

Harry put a leg over the top of the excavator, riding it like a child's toy. He reached back and grabbed the rip cord, pulling hard and starting the fuel pump that fed power to the tracks. The rear ones were barely turning, but the front spun fast and churned up the rock.

"Hold on tight boys. I can't slow down the tracks or the boiler will blow us to smithereens. Whatever accelerant you added works a mite too well I'm thinking. But Boom-Boom will want the recipe on sure."

The huge machine slowly built-up speed as it headed towards the fight.

New Plan Step Six: Did we have a step six?

Uthneragrubban advanced up the cavern, despite anything the raid of players could do. She bent to take a large bite of stone that included a small flag. Above her, dangling from the ceiling were dozen engineers. Songs of courage and valor rang out, and the last bottle of wine was passed around.

The fate of a city was waiting for a large, impatient ogre and a nervously confident rat who was sure that his time he'd be able to make the rune stick.

"It's not working, is it." Captain Pike looked down at Milo, took a long drink from his flask, and tossed the empty container at Uthneragrubban. "Face it kid; sometimes you lose. I've always known that. You can't kill everything with a sharp metal stick."

"It was a good plan! Force increases with velocity. I just need the rune to work, then even though the harpoon isn't as hard as the crystal, it has a chance of cleaving along the lines of the structural planes." Milo was wracking his brain, but he simply didn't know enough about rune magic yet.

"I don't know about stuckyplanes but yeah, that thing is made of hard stuff. Nothing I know of can cut that thing's core."

Milo sat up and reached into his pocket, withdrawing small slivers of blue crystal. Pike's eyes narrowed. "Looks like you might though. What cut that?"

Milo held up his hand, and hard bony plates covered his arm, turning his fingers into claws. Glowing runes moved across the bones. Pike whistled. "Bone-Beast Claws. Holy shit. You met one? I thought Grandpappy was just making up shit. But that's what my Crittersense is telling me."

"I've got an idea, but you might not like it." Milo looked up at Pike. The ogre handed him the harpoon. "Screw what I don't like."

New Plan Step Seven: Cut the Cake

From the darkness of the cavern, the warriors fighting Uthneragrubban heard a roaring sound. Approaching them was a nightmare of metal, ridden by the biggest troll they'd ever seen and belching out smoke and flame from it's rear.

No one had to be told to get out of the way. Uthneragrubban stared at the thing but didn't react. Speed was not the creatures forte. The Shroom-mobile slammed into the monster hard, shattering its armor, and driving it to its knees. Steam vented and the drill started to turn.

The Engineer yelled. "I'm putting all the power to the drill. It can't cut open this thing, but I don't want the boiler to explode yet. You two best get out of here!"

Vary scramble from the machine, shaken by the crash but relatively unhurt. Harry reached inside, grabbed The Engineer and flung him thirty paces. "Trolls can heal from near anything. Dwarves can't."

Uthneragrubban regained her feet and began to beat on the machine, tearing losse great chunks of metal. Harry reached in and tore loose something as well - the main steam pipe leading from the boiler. "Time to see how you like a steam bath."

Scalding steam sprayed over Uthneragrubban, hurting it not in the least. Other than her crystal core and rocky armor heating up, it caused no damage. Above, the engineers slammed down the faceplates of their armored suits. As the steam vented from the boiler, the Troll started to cook. Chunks of Harry flaked off and were blown away. As the steam cleared, he looked like a large stalk of cooked asparagus. Uthneragrubban brought down both claws onto him, breaking his body into hundreds of small pieces that rolled away.

And then the World Boss took a step forward.

Forty-feet behind Uthneragrubban, Captain Pike prepared to throw. He'd watched as Milo grabbed the harpoon, and the bone from his arms had flowed onto the tip of the harpoon and then slowly covered the first third of the weapon. More and more bone flowed out of Milo. He ignored notifications and warnings putting more and more of himself onto the weapon.

When he could do no more, he threw all of his mana into the weapons while chugging down two mana potions and desperately wishing for a nice chunk of creamy Havarti. He finished just as Harry was finished.

"That's all I can do. Throw hard and the runes will trigger and add velocity."

Pike smiled grimly. "And having Bone-Beast for a cutting edge sure doesn't suck." Pike threw everything he had into the throw. Every special skill he'd even learned as a monster hunter was used, increasing the chance of a critical hit, or of damaging a vital organ. The harpoon sailed towards the monster.

And then glowed as the runes of velocity activated and shot the weapon forward faster than a ballista. A sharp crack made players and miners cover their ears in pain, and many would be deaf for a week. Sound waves weren't happy if you ran faster than they did. The harpoon broke the sound barrier and unleashed a sonic boom under the city.

No-one but Pike and Uthneragrubban were left standing. The Ogre had a big, dumb smile on his face as he saw his harpoon embedded in the world boss. He'd thrown so hard that the tip had erupted from her front armor. Lightning flared up and down the crystalline body, slowly fading everywhere but along the top of the spine, its arms, and head.

As Milo had hoped, the harpoon had been encouraged by the monster hunter's skills to find the small chance of cleaving the crystal of Uthneragrubban's body the way a jeweler cuts a diamond. The spine of the World Boss was shattered and it was paralyzed until it could heal. And before that happened, the trap was sprung.

A cable running to the lanyard on Pike's harpoon was pulled taunt. That cable ran to a system of pulleys that ran to seven other cables. Those cables were connected to seven large chunks of rock that until now had been hanging from the ceiling of the cavern.

"Fire in the Hole."

Small mining charges ringing the base of each stalactite exploded. The stone cracked along the lines that had already been wedges pounded into the stone. With a series of loud cracking sounds, the stalactites broke free and fell, each adding tons of tension to the cables. Uthneragrubban was incredibly heavy, but not as heavy as the seven chunks of ceiling rock.

Engineer apprentices do hundreds of problems like this preparing for their tests. Usually though, it was a suspension bridge they had to lift, not a world boss.

Rock went down, the Word Boss went up. Uthneragrubban was pulled forty feet into the air where there was no stone to eat, and even if it could generate the power for an attack, it was too high for the power to reach the stone.

One of the dwarven miners fingered his copperhead talisman and looked at the boss. "Let's have a party. We have a pinata."

Chapter 74: Stretched Thin

The top of his pod opened, and Milo simply didn't have the will to get out. He knew something was wrong, but he just didn't care.

Finally, he summoned the energy to whisper. "Run medical scan, suggest treatment." The pod came further to life, taking a blood test, analyzing his breath, heartrate, skin temperature and a dozen other tests.

Patient is suffering depression from severe emotional distress and mental exhaustion. Chemical analysis of the brain indicates imbalances of glutamates, lack of endorphins, buildup of fatigue poisons. Hypothalamus operating at low levels. Melatonin below critical levels.

Disclaimer: Modified nervous system adds an error possibility of +/- 23% to any diagnosis.

Recommended treatment: Minimum 4 hours sleep, and 4 additional hours light activity. Two healthy meals. Vitamin supplements, and ongoing medications increased. Injecting now.

"Would you like to notify the authorities of your medical emergency? This is recommended."

"No, I would not, and I made sure you can't send out my medical data a long time ago."

Since we cannot contact the authorities, would you like 'Advice from the Country Doctor?'

"What? Sure."

"Son, you look like a hundred miles of bad road stretched over three of the worst counties in Alabama. I've seen a roadkill possum with more pep in its step than you. Get your scrawny ass out of bed, get something to eat and a cup of coffee. Then sit in the sun and smell the flowers for an afternoon."

"Treatment complete. Advice given."

Milo didn't know what the hell a roadkill possum was, but it didn't sound good. He slowly got out of the pod, and staggered over to his chair. Physically he was fine. Mentally he was a wreck. There was a downside to having a nervous system that let you think faster than normal. For others it had been a hectic few days, but for Milo it felt like weeks. He'd run so many projections and plans to try and stop first the Snake, and then the World Boss, that he was simply worn out.

The hundreds of attempts that he had made to form the rune of velocity on Capt. Pike's harpoon had been nerve wracking. He had tried every way he knew, every combination, and then experimented. The attempt of charging the runes has taken the last of his energy.

When he had passed out in the game, his pod must have decided he needed to take a break. He agreed with it. Either they won and things were fine, or they lost and the city came crashing down and he died along with everyone else. He'd been too tired to care.

That last stunt had been too much for him. He'd thrown everything he had at one last chance. He thought it had worked. He'd seen the throw, and the harpoon going deep into the monster. Then seen the monster jerked into the air as the engineers sent tons of rock falling downwards to lift the thing. He'd go back and check in a bit. For now, he just wanted to sit and watch his screens as his systems scanned Section E for problems.

His stomach growling reminded him that he was supposed to eat. He pulled a large block of cheese from his refrigerated drawer. It was a tangy blend of cheddar and parmesan, just perfect for a small snack.

An alarm went off as he started to take a bite!

All of his screens lit up, and he saw a stern-faced Milo pointing at him from all directions. "You're eating like shit! You know you need balance in your diet. Quit being weak and use your brain!"

Sometimes Milo hated that guy. The one who was responsible and left him messages telling him to eat right. He never should have put an alarm on the cheese drawer. But ResponsibleMilo had a point. He brought out crackers, a small tin that proclaimed itself to be 100% Real substitute tuna, and a jar of peaches with almond slices. The crackers went well with the cheese, the meat tasted like food cubes, and the fruit was delicious. This was the second or third time he'd had a jar of real fruit. He liked it. He should see what flavors fruit came in and try some other things.

Refreshed, he went to work on some minor problems with the waste disposal system, but overall things were in good shape. He checked his neighbors out, and saw that they'd had some explosions and systems go bad. They really needed to take better care of their machinery, obviously. He saw on his screens that they were doing the work of installing new components instead of stealing from old hab areas. That was good. Milo wanted those old areas untouched for when he needed things.

And then his jaw dropped. Were they really adding new power systems to the roof. Both wind and solar? Outstanding! Managing the power usage was always difficult. If the new manager of Section H was actually making their own power, things were better for the habitat in general. Maybe he'd even be able to borrow back all the power they had stolen from him.

Things were looking good for a change. He could go back in the game and not worry too much. But first he needed to sleep. Rarely was he this tired. He lay back in his chair, and snaked his tail over to the pod, connecting to it. He fell asleep in the middle of reading his notifications.

You have failed to form runes ...

You have failed to form runes ...

You have failed to form runes ...

You have learned something...this metal resists change...

You have failed to form runes ...

You have failed to form runes ...

You need to eat some cheese...

You have failed to form runes ...

You have learned something...this item has a purpose, which makes it resistant to change.

This method of forming a rune has also failed...

So has this one...

And this one...

Sure, let's try 897 more ways...

This way has...wait, that almost worked!

You have learned something! By coating this magical item with a thick layer of bone, you almost succeeded in forming the velocity rune!

You have failed to form the velocity rune, you have lost some of your bone...

You really should take a break and have some cheese!

You have failed to form the velocity rune, you have lost some of your bone...

You have learned something! You must make the bone harder...thicker...

WARNING: You have taken a large amount of bone from your body; this is not recommended!

WARNING: All cheese in your body is depleted. Your body is entering severe cheese withdrawal!

WARNING: You are approaching death.

Pudding Regeneration to the rescue! Oooblimilo shall save the day!

You have succeeded in coating a magical harpoon in your own bone.

You have succeeded in forming multiple velocity runes.

You have charged a velocity rune.

You have charged a velocity rune. Your mana is running low.

You have charged a velocity rune (3). Your mana is depleted.

You have charged a velocity rune (4). Your stamina is depleted.

Your velocity runes have activated! Your projectile has surpassed the speed of sound! You are deafened for 6 hours.

You have abused your body, sacrificing your own bones and mana to construct a magical weapon.

Actions have consequences...

You have lost your connection to your Arcane Library.

You have lost your connection to the Bone Runed Cowl.

You have lost your connection to Shadowblight.

You are no longer a Bonecaster.

You are near death and unconscious.

You have been logged out of the game.

Chapter 75: Broken?

As he connected with the game, he found himself floating for a moment. He wasn't anywhere, just a disconnected bit of rules and broken code trying to make the machine that was Milo work correctly. But something was wrong. Nothing felt right, nothing!

Something that had been his was gone and he could only feel the edges of the hole where it had been. Dangling bits of himself leading into the abyss like spiderwebs trying to fill a canyon.

A shadowy beast at the edge of the hole was cutting at him with claws that raked down his soul, breaking more of him as it demanded action. 'Feed us! Give us what we need! Give us what we love!"

And from far down in the depths of the hole, an annoying small voice whispered that 'Everything is Fine! We can fix this!'

Someone put a cold, wet rag on his forehead and said softly, "Lay still. You may have a concussion, at the least, and are running a fever. But at least I managed to heal your wounds. It took a lot, you felt all torn up inside."

...somehow sealed it all away...and then opened his eyes to a blurry, pain-filled world.

A pounding headache immediately hit him and he groaned. If waking up in his pod had been bad, this was far worse. Milo heard Belinda's voice, speaking softly. He tried to focus his eyes on her. She was sitting next to his cot, and looked tired. She must have been taking care of him after the battle...and with that thought things rapidly snapped in place. He wasn't dead, Belinda was here, which meant:

"We won?"

She smiled at him. "Yes, we won! Your crazy plan worked. You and Captain Pike were amazing! They are calling him the greatest Monster Hunter ever. He won't be sober for months, they are buying him so many rounds in all the bars."

"And that crazy thing you used to pull it up! No one's ever seen so many ropes and pulleys. How can you even make things like that work?"

"It's easy when I think about it, but hard to explain. It just all sort of moves around in my brain until it all balances. Just tell people it's an engineering thing. You should see how complicated a Twirl and Puke is."

Belinda patted his hand. "I think I'll pass on the 'Twirl and Puke'.

"The important thing is that you did it. You trapped a world boss and saved the city."

Milo put his hand on hers. "We both did it. You were pretty amazing yourself. How did you get everyone to listen to you.?"

The girl blushed but didn't pull her hand away. "I just sort of made stuff up and tried to act like some hero in the old movies. Guess that stuff really does work. But it helps that players like killing bosses."

"And this one isn't dead yet. They will be working for days to kill it. Even trapped and not moving, it's hard to hurt. People are taking shifts chipping away at it with special picks!"

Milo became aware of the sound of mining. A constantly repeated sound of metal hitting crystal, punctuated by the occasional curse. Turning his head, he could see the miners working in teams to destroy the huge crystalline creature. Platforms had been constructed to give them a place to stand near the legs. Each miner would swing a dozen times as hard as he could before handing his pick and copperhead charm to the next miner. A few players were helping, making up in strength for what they lacked in mining skill.

Milo laid back again. His aches and pains were starting to fade, but he was feeling worse in another way. He was both starving for food, and desperate for some cheese. He looked up at Belinda. The girl was acting odd, twisting the ring on her finger. Milo hoped she liked it. It was just a minor magic item giving a small boost to mana regeneration, but it was a pretty thing. He'd immediately thought of giving it to her when he picked it up. "Do you like the ring?"

"Like it? OMG! Yes. It's great. I certainly wasn't expecting something like this..."

Further talk was cut off as Vary ran up. "Milo!...I mean, 'Senior Engineer Milo!', they are asking for you upstairs, if you can make it."

Milo got to his feet with the help of Belinda and Vary. "I guess I should go. Otherwise, they'll send Boom-Boom next. I can only imagine his way of waking me up."

Vary's eyes got wide. "How did you know? He was wanting the job, but he's not much of a runner, so I insisted I be the one to wake you. The Engineer agreed!" Milo could see Vary was quite proud of being picked over Boom-Boom, and he was very thankful for it.

"Thanks Vary. Run and let them know I'll be right up, soon as I can." The young dwarf saluted and took off, sprinting to deliver the message.

Belinda came up to Milo and took his arm. "I have to go soon. Can we talk about some things later? I'll be back in a day or two. My dad says he needs to talk about some things and I'll have to stay out of the game for a while."

"Sure. I'll be around. Squint has a job for me, but I need a break first. I'm not leaving anytime soon. We'll catch up and talk."

"Great! See you then." The smiling girl waved and logged out of the game. Vary helped Milo up the stairs to meet The Engineer in the office of the Miner's Guild.

By himself, Milo started walking to the stairway to the upper levels. Players and miners waved to him. Many came up and spoke their thanks or shook his hand. But there were quite a few of the players that ignored him.

Milo made it up the first flight of stairs and paused to rest. He leaned back and closed his eyes. Flashing lights on his eyelids insisted he read his notifications.

You have Gained much, and Lost much.

Deep in your soul are clues you have uncovered to ancient knowledge and how to twist magic, shaping it to your will. But the effort has broken you. You may not pursue this knowledge until you are fixed. The magic of Runes and Bonecasting is beyond you for now. You have pushed your body and soul far beyond their limits. Pushing further will cause further damage.

Quest: Regain what you have Lost.

You have a choice. Throw away the pursuit of magic and fill the hole in your soul with broken dreams. Stumble through life knowing you'll never again be the handsome hero who defied a World Boss and won.

Or...fix yourself. Your body is nearly devoid of the bones that sustained your magic. Your soul is in tatters and needs rest and thought. Figure it out. Fix yourself.

Quest: Squint has a job for you!

Squint, Hero of Shadowport, has requested that you pay off your debt to him by stealing and delivering an airship. He has BIG PLANS and this is your chance to be part of them. Surely someone who can steal The Eye of Wonder will find this an easy task.

Part 1: Talk with Squint in Lights' End

Welcome to Tier 2...maybe?

You have a choice to make. You may spend CSP and advance to Level 6 and Tier 2. If you do so while your soul and body are broken, your options will be severely limited. But the choice is yours.

Milo didn't even consider giving up. If something was broken, you fixed it. Period. And you made it better so it didn't break again. This was just a lot harder, and a lot more painful. He needed a plan.

Step 1: Get upstairs.

Step 2: Visit Jethro

Step 3: Visit Squint.

Ok, so not much of a plan, but it was a start. He began climbing the stairs, anxious to find out what The Engineer needed so he could move on to step 2.

Chapter 76: Interlude: Behind the Curtain

Every wall, the ceiling, and even the floor of the room was projecting the inside of the massive caverns that were part of the old dwarven city and mines beneath Shadowport. Twice someone had been walking around and tried to take one step too far, running into a wall, to the great amusement of the rest of the development staff.

There were only two dozen people in the room. Most were part of the permanent staff that worked with Wally. Their job descriptions changed regularly as the AI had work that needed human hands and voices to interact with the rest of the world. Wally could talk to anyone who had a phone, or computer screen, but he didn't like to, it wasn't efficient. He needed a buffer zone that was provided by his human staff. He also needed the humans who entrusted him with so many jobs around the world to feel secure. An AI running things with no human oversight wasn't going to work. An AI with a human staff watching over him was more acceptable.

Wally had hand-picked the people he could most easily work with. They were flexible in their thinking, and able to adapt to new tasks and problems. They understood how powerful he was, and also the thousands of limitations he had to work with. And most importantly, they could treat him as a person and not fear him. This was so very important to their mental health and his.

Today Wally was having a great amount of fun. Stories were being created before everyone's eyes. All the major gaming channels were covering the story. This wasn't just a guild of gamers fighting a boss in a dungeon; this was a city fighting back against a World Boss set on destroying it.

No one had known that Dwarven Engineers like these still existed. They had appeared from deep below with ancient magi-tech weapons and armor, carried by a titanic drilling machine. A large number of new players were choosing dwarf as their race and hoping to find a quest to become an engineer. Some existing players, even as high as Tier 3 were scrubbing their characters and starting over. Speculation about the existence of an Engineers Guild in Shadowport was high, but not confirmed. No statements had been made by the Dev team to confirm or deny such a thing happening.

And of course there needed to be a city to have such a guild. Hundreds of players had joined the raid, paying the huge price in gold and mana to teleport to the city. The new comers replaced those had died so fast that Belinda was couldn't keep track of them. She had two assistant raid leaders who added new people to the raid as the current members died. If nothing else, the fight would be remembered for the hundreds, and possibly thousands, of player deaths.

Belinda herself was another story. A low-rank player in one of the smallest guilds had shown up out of nowhere with news of impending doom, and organized the raid group to oppose the first ever World Boss. And more, she was backed up by a Holy Choir, supported by the Engineers" and Miners' Guilds, and had recruited the NPC gang lord, Squint, and Captain Pike, the Monster Hunter.

There was also speculation about the Legendary Ring she was wearing. Nothing like it had been seen in the game. Her message box had reached the maximum of 999 messages within ten minutes after she shared the link to the ring with some other players. The top fifty guilds had sent invites, dozens of online gaming channels wanted an interview, and hundreds of gamers had sent her messages. Most of the messages were asking where she got it. Sadly for 999 people, Belinda was ignoring them and focusing on killing the creature threatening the city.

The question that many people asked towards the end of the raid was: "Who is Milo?" Belinda had rallied her troops and presented a plan from one of the chief engineers who she referred to simply as Milo. A short interview with a young dwarf had confirmed he was one of the Deep Rock Guild's senior engineers, as well as a Guild Leader.

A rumor had started that he was engaged to the fair raid leader and possibly the source of the mysterious ring. This was later discounted when the source of the rumor proved to be three very drunk old women who were demanding more wine from some of the players and miners.

The answer to the question, "Who is Milo?" got an answer at the end of the raid.

All eyes had turned to an outcrop of rock where a mysterious figure stood next to Captain Pike. All of the mana in the room seemed to rush to him in a great wave as Milo glowed with power that he channeled into Pike's harpoon. The Captain's mighty throw had shattered the sound barrier, creating a sonic boom. It had also shattered the spine of a World Boss.

And a second answer to the question, "Who is Milo?" was also clear: A diabolic Engineer with a knack for clever traps.

The players, audiences watching the video feeds, and the Dev team stared in awe as mining explosives broke the rock holding seven huge stalactites to the ceiling. Cables attached to each rock ran to anchors in the ceiling, and then to a complex pulley/block and tackle system that balanced the forces and pulled evenly on the triple-strand cable attached to Pike's harpoon.

Uthneragrubban was jerked high into the air, hanging between floor and ceiling, far from the rock needed to heal its wounds and create its horde of children. Everyone slowly got up, many disoriented and temporarily deafened. The energies in the damaged crystalline body of Uthneragrubban grew dim, and the World Boss grew still.

"OMG! They won? How in hell did they win? Is it over?"

Wally zoomed in on the view of Uthneragrubban slowly swinging back and forth on the thick cable as many of the Dev team shouted questions.

Wally stepped into the middle of the room, and pointed at the hologram of Uthneragrubban. "Yes, I'd count that as a win. Without any help, the gaming community came together, worked with the NPCs, and found a way to defeat a foe that they should not have had to fight. We set up an event to force fights all over the world, and they got out of control. There is a lesson in there for us."

Steven chuckled. "You're being polite. You mean a lesson for us meddling humans."

Wally shook his head. "No. I mean for all of us. I'm an artificial intelligence. That doesn't mean there aren't new things I can learn. And trust me, I learned a few things today. Let's see if any of you noticed. Sidney?"

Sidney stared at her coffee cup, poured it down her throat and walked up to Wally. "Starting with me? I'm guessing this is about the rat? I was supposed to keep watch on our little troublemaker. Lesson learned. I just don't understand how he caused so much to happen."

Wally waved a finger at her. "Not quite there yet. I don't blame you at all, despite my saying exactly that one time. You aren't responsible for what he did. I only assigned him to you because you are good at what you do, and you had a chance to keep up with him. Try again."

Sidney tilted her head, thought back over to her first interactions with Milo. He seemed harmless at first, despite being an obvious hacker. Each thing they learned about him brought more questions. Meanwhile he flitted around and cause trouble.

"A butterfly. He's a damned butterfly."

"Excellent way to put it. He's a focus for chaos. His method of problem solving can cause more problems. How he deals with the world leaves a wake far out of proportion to his actions. Everything seems calm until he gets poked. And then the butterfly flaps its wings and we get a hurricane in another part of the world. I think we should all review our chaos theory this week. He isn't the last butterfly we will have in this game."

"This is an aspect of the GENESIS ENGINE I had speculated on, but couldn't predict. A game engine that reacts to the players that help it create stories. But then the players are part of those stories, causing larger reactions. And chain reactions. This is going to be so much fun!"

Steven shut his eyes for a moment. Wally having fun always meant trouble, and work. Lots of work.

One of the Dev Team, Raul, was manipulating the video, bringing it back to the moment that Captain Pike was about to throw his harpoon. "I want to know what is happening here. This looks like Bone Casting, or Bonecasting, we haven't decided on a final name. But I know we haven't released it yet. No one has become a high enough level necromancer to specialize in it yet."

Wally walked over and pointed to the strange hooded cloak that Milo was wearing, and the weapon of bone and wood. "The fact that Bone Casting exists means it's always been around. We don't just drop things into the world like that. It's an option because NPC's have used it for thousands of years. Milo encountered an undead mage, destroyed it, and unknowingly bound himself to the items, gaining the knowledge. There is a much longer story, talk to me if you want to hear it. And not one word leaves this room. I'll know."

"And the Runes? When I try to find out anything about a 'Velocity Rune', I get a reference to some very obscure Elvish and Draconic tablets that I can't read."

Wally shook his head at Raul. "Ah, what are they teaching you kids in school these days. I guess if you want to know about the wars at the start of time, you'll have to learn some new languages. Talk to me on your day off, I'll set up some lessons."

Sidney crossed her arms, annoyed. She had no time for new languages unless they were printed on the back of a new blend of coffee bean. "My question is how did my butterfly take a knowledge of bone magic and old runes, and use them in a new way? "

Wally thought for a second, then walked to the counter, poured himself a cup of coffee, and one for Sidney before setting them down where she sat and seating himself. She poked at her cup, surprised to find it real and not a hologram. When Wally sat his down, she poked his and her finger went into the cup. Giving up, she sipped her own cup and waiting for him to speak.

"The easiest way to explain this is to say that Milo took actions, the game engine saw those actions, and was influenced enough to act upon them."

Barry raised his voice, a bit exasperated. "Please, I don't want to see every player yelling out magic words from Beatrice Potter and finding a new spell. That would be chaos."

Wally sipped his coffee and nodded in agreement. "A good point, and I agree. In this case, based upon his actions, mumblings, manipulation of spells and runes, and the records from the GENESIS ENGINE, Milo attempted 2,394 different ways to empower Captain Pikes enchanted harpoon with Velocity Runes and charge them. He did this in a span of less than an hour, faster as his deadline approached. The curve of attempts over time is nearly a parabola."

"This is something that also doesn't leave this room. And one of the few times I will "Go all Terminator on your ass". Milo is one of those few humans who reacts to stress by thinking faster. Many of you do the same, just not to the same extent he does. It's more complex than that, but that's the basic idea. And his education seems to have been task focused with a lot of work in technology and problem solving."

"Think about it. He could have logged out, and been safe. Or left the city. Instead, motivated by the welfare of the city and the NPC's he had interacted with, he pushed himself to the limit of human thinking, and a little beyond. Hyper-focus is also one of his talents. He's great at solving problems but also oblivious to some things. I still laugh when I replay his interactions with Sidney."

Barry was still unsatisfied. "So, he thinks fast, but does that mean he now has an entirely new type of magic? How do we deal with that."

Wally turned to Steven who was reading the game logs of the event. "Oh shit! No Barry, he doesn't. He actually doesn't have any magic right now, and may never have any. Damn! The game engine went all Tolkien on him."

Sidney raised an eyebrow at him. "Tolkien?"

Steven laughed, embarrassed. "Sorry, sort of a joke. In some fantasy stories, the hero does something amazing, and it lets him do even more amazing things because he did the first thing. He gets stronger and stronger. But in The Lord of the Rings, one of the themes is that great works come with a price. Some things can only be done once. "

"Feanor wouldn't give up the Silmarils to heal the wounded trees because it would destroy them and he knew he couldn't make them again. Sauron couldn't just make another ring when he lost his. Some things can only be made once. And today, Milo did something amazing for the first time and helped strike down a World Boss. But at a cost. He's hurt bad, and his magic is broken. The system gave him a very threadbare quest to fix things. But I think that our hero may have paid a high price for his moment of glory. At least he'll get bought a lot of beer. He and Captain Pike can drink free in Shadowport forever."

Steven put thoughts of Milo aside. "Alright people, we have work to do. Wally has shown us aspects of the system, and what can happen when a series of strange events align. I want every single quest we've added to the system evaluated, and strange outcomes noted. Make sure we are not causing more problems that someone will have to fix."

"The outcome today lets us pause the rest of the World Boss event. Fire breathing lizards, Giant Gophers, and a Demonic Machine named Fred will all go back to sleep with nothing to trigger them for now. I think Uthneragrubban will be taken care of in the next few days."

George raised his hand. "I'm going to need some help. My section of the world has too much shit going on. I've got the quest that adds new pets for players, an ancient city we didn't expect to be open for another year, a dungeon of evil bunnies, outlawed colleges of magic, and a possible invasion of sentient horseradish monsters."

Steven nodded to him encouragingly. George did indeed have a lot of weird stuff in the section of the world he monitored. "Right, we can do that. I'll have Dan assign you one of the EMG people for the next few weeks, and grab the new intern, Toby. Might as well toss him into the deep end."

Sidney was looking at how a broken Milo was pulled out of the fight by one of the dwarves, and then cared for by a healer for hours. Even as he started walking upstairs, she saw he was having trouble. While the other players looked forward to their Uber Boss Loot, he just looked tired.

"I sort of feel bad for Milo. I know we can't interfere, but still, can't we do something for him? Just as an anonymous thank you. Losing Shadowport would have been a huge pain in the ass."

Wally considered. It was interesting to him that as annoyed as Sidney was at Milo, she felt sorry for him. "What do you suggest?"

Sidney thought for a second and then smiled. "How about a membership in the Imperial Cheese of the Month Club?"

Wally turned to his head developer. "Steven?"

Steven laughed. "Sure. Give unto Caesar what is Caesar's. And give the rat his monthly cheese basket. I like it. Not something that will change anything."

Wally nodded. "So let it be written, so let it be done."

Chapter 77: Can't Fix Stupid

The way up had never seemed so long. Every step was difficult. His hands were shaking and his legs wobbled. Finally, after what seemed like an age, he stumbled into the great Guild Hall as was shown to a room where the heads of the Miner's Guild, Mechanics 'Guild, Dwarven Engineer's Guild, Pipefitter's Guild, and Toolmaker's Guild were meeting. It was a mess of yelling humans, dwarves, halflings and even a few ogres.

"We're the duly sponsored Guilds in this city, you can't come out of nowhere and refuse to pay your hundreds of years of back dues!"

"Dues? And what about fines for breaking regulations, new guild fees, and drayage."

"This violates all the new rules! We wrote the rules and voted on them last night!"

"You can't just run around with spanners that don't have a tool-makers stamp."

"Did you have clearance for that project? You can't just trap a World Boss without having us clear the project!"

"You can all keep your grubby hands off that loot! Miners fought and died, and we're going to get first crack at it!"

"All loot needs to be brought to this guildhall and we can vote on how to distribute it."

Milo slumped into the room, took a back seat and ignored all the yelling. Sadly, someone noticed him.

"Oh, here he is now. Let's see what he has to say for himself?"

Milo was pushed forward to a large table where two dozen people sat or stood. The table was at least twenty foot long, and six foot wide. The Engineer and Throttlecog were seated in large chairs. Throttlecog was ignoring the room and polishing his armor. At random times he deployed dangerous looking tools or weapons (hard to tell which) and then snapped them back into their sockets.

The Engineer was on a slow burn. He had a half smile on his face, but his eyes were hard and mean. He nodded to Milo, as if to say "Sorry for dragging you into this mess."

Milo didn't like being around this many people. Especially this many people talking at once. One dwarf with a tool makers badge and gold beads in his beard yelled at him. "Well, you heard us! What do you have to say?"

Milo looked around the room. Fine, today he'd deal with people. How hard could this social stuff be? Just another problem.

"Say about what? You haven't given me a question worth answering, just shouting."

More shouting occurred. It stopped when Throttlecog brought his armored fist down upon the foot thick granite table top. Cracks appeared, radiating out from the divot of crushed stone where his fist had slammed down.

"Enough of this. Time to be civil. We have three Senior Engineers of the Deep Rock Engineer's Guild present. That constitutes a quorum and we can address all the sensible questions you're asking. Pick someone to go first."

Five minutes later it was decided that somehow the Mechanics had precedent.

"Very well. First, justify how constructing such a massive contraption of cables and pulleys without a permit is justified in the rules. You didn't use guild mechanics or submit any of the needed forms."

"Plus operating an uninspected death machine, forming an army, mixing guilds, adding in a church, and adding a raid of adventurers to the mix."

Eyes turned to the Deep Rock Engineers. Throttlecog stopped The Engineer from talking, and nodded to Milo. Milo sighed, he hated answering questions without the right background.

"I assume you have those regulations listed somewhere?" The Mechanics Guild Leader smiled and pointed to a thick book. "Of course, right here."

"Hand it to me please. In fact, hand me ALL the regulations"

Several people started to argue, and Throttlecog raised his fist. Things got quiet and the five large books were slid across the table to Milo. He picked up the first, and began to thumb through the pages, looking at two pages ever couple of seconds.

Without pausing he said. "I want a cheese sandwich and a large mug of something to drink, and I'd like it now." His words were flat and without emotion, quieting the room further.

It took Milo less than an hour to go through all five of the huge volumes, scanning each page quickly. He moved faster and faster as he went, each regulation fitting into the obscure pattern that the guilds worked by. Throttlecog and the Engineer had seen him do the same thing when he was taking his entrance exams and later working on the machines they gave to him to fix.

Everyone else was either scared, or thought it was a hoax, but the threat of violence from all three Deep Rock Engineers was real. People only interrupted once.

He finished his sandwich quickly, drank the hot, strong tea, and set aside the last book.

"Each guild agreed to abide by the City Charter. The city's charter gives broad leeway to stopping, and I quote: "Threats of such a nature that any delay could result in the death of a large number of citizens, sinking of ships, or loss of trade routes and commerce."

"You can find supportive language on page 5 of the Mechanics Guild Regulations, page 57 of the Engineer's Guild Regulation, page 1 of the Miner's Guild regulations, and page 23 of the Toolmaker's Guild Regulations."

"And in the margins of page 237, at the left bottom corner, written by hand in green ink of the Pipefitters Guild Regulations."

"You all agreed to those rules. The city was notified of the problem, and most of you ran to save your own skins, sailed away, or left by airship. Only one Household brought troops to fight. Only one guild from the city stayed to fight. We formed a coalition and were joined by hundreds from the Adventurers Guild. Working together we trapped the boss."

"And it was all according to regulations!" Milo stacked up the books and pushed them back across the table. "Next question."

There was silence, and then one of the ogres from the Pipefitters Guild asked "And what about the loot?"

The head of the miner's guild snapped around and he started to talk, anger easy to see in his face. One of his subordinates stopped him, reminding him of the Pipefitters reputation.

Milo looked at him with some disgust. From the snippets he was overhearing, the Pipefitters did as much work breaking legs as they did work with pipes. Looking at them, he could believe that. "The boss isn't even dead yet, and people who didn't fight want the loot? This isn't a dragon with some horde to raid. If it does have a horde, it's deep down in the caverns. The gods or whoever gives out these shiny chests will reward those who fought."

He looked the ogre in the eye. "And if you don't like how the loot gets distributed, go talk to Captain Pike, he was looking hungry last I saw him."

Both ogres and many other people paled at the thought, and discussion of the boss's loot ended.

One dwarf had to open his mouth. "That's not all the loot though. We've heard about a very valuable ring. What do you have to say about that."

Milo was across the table, hoisting the dwarf out of his seat, with a weapon at his throat before anyone could blink.

"I gave Belinda that ring. I killed the Snake. It was mine to give. And if you even think about causing her trouble, I will bury you so deep that no one will ever find you."

He dropped the terrified dwarf back into his seat, and returned to his spot at the table. Talking started back up a minute later.

"Harumph...there is still the matter of this "Deep Rock Guild" wanting to establish a Guild Hall in the city. That could upset the delicate balance of power and economics in the city. Membership, dues, fees, fines... there's a lot that has to be discussed and agreed upon."

The Engineer cleared his throat, and spoke. "So now it's down to money. How much? And convert whatever crappy silvers and golds bits and bobs you use to bars of Deep Copper or Dark Steel. We pay our debts in hard metal."

Some discussion started up, and didn't look to stop. Milo stood up and started to leave. "I have things to do. Name an amount now, or I'm leaving, and you can all pound sand for all I care. Shutting you all up is the only reason the Engineer is making a generous offer, and if you keep talking, you blow that offer away on a wind of hot air!"

Milo was not feeling well, he was hating this meeting more and more. What was the point? He realized it wasn't something he could fix. You can't fix stupid. You can't stop greed. You can't make people stop wanting power.

Quickly, the dwarf with the gold beads in his beard spoke. "Well, I think ten bars of pure Dark Steel and five bars of Pure Deep copper for each of the established guilds sounds like a fair price for adding a new guild to the city." He smiled, and prepared for the haggling. A look passed between Milo, Throttlecog, and The Engineer.

"Done." Said the Engineer.

"Err, you agree to that?" Gold Beads, who was from the Tool Makers Guild, was taken aback with the lack of haggling.

A large crate appeared on the table, which promptly cracked and collapsed. The yard-square crate settled in the debris of broken stone, and Milo opened it up. Th crate was filled with hundreds of bars of Deep Copper, Dark Steel, Gems, machine components, special tools, and ingots of even rarer metals. Milo pulled out the 75 bars of metal.

Throttlecog said smugly. "Old Engineering trick."

The Engineer gestured to the Guild Leaders. "Take it. We have a long shopping list, and brought some trade goods to spend up here."

The Guild Leaders of the Mining and Dwarven Engineers Guilds pushed their way over to The Engineer. They bowed low. The Miners Guild leader spoke. "We took a vote. Unanimous outcome. Our guilds would like to welcome you to the city. Keep the metal. Friends don't extort friends."

The Engineer looked at them both, and then shook hands. "Why, that's right neighborly of you. We fought beside the miner's guild, and of course all Engineering guilds are related even if separated by the years. We'd be happy to work with you."

The Miners Guild Leader casually dropped another bit of info. "And I talked to the head of the Adventurers Guild. He's a bit busy, but he said that he'd be glad to join our little coalition and get some things straightened out."

There was silence from the other side of the room as the Pipefitters, Mechanics, and Toolmakers saw 'the delicate balance and economics' shift away from them.

Milo snapped his fingers and his chest disappeared. "I'm done. Too much talking. The Adventurers Guild will store the rest of this metal. I need to go fill up the space with important things."

Before anyone could annoy him further, he walked upstairs. The halfling in charge of the Adventurers seemed to know everything that had just happened. He happily helped Milo to unload his storage into two huge safes. He wisely kept his opinion to himself about 'old Engineering tricks'.

Milo considered his nearly empty storage and his current situation. The Bone Runed Cowl was tattered and dirty. It moved like it wanted to crawl away from him. His weapon, Shadowblight, was likewise not looking good. It was chipped, with one spike entirely gone, sucked up in the vortex of bone that had coated Pike's weapon. He tossed them both into the chest, and changed into his Engineer's Coveralls, and hung his daggers and spanner on his belt. That would do for now.

He walked down the steps of the Guild Hall, only to feel a tug on his tail. He turned around, seeing the same youngster who had seen through his disguise once before. The child looked even dirtier than before. He was thin and tattered, with tracks from tears running down his face. "Mr. Tail? I can't find my sister. I can't find anyone. I've been all alone for days. Do you know where they are?" The child started crying, hugging him around the waist.

Milo had no idea what to say, so he just picked up the boy and started walking until he got to Squint's place at light's end. Two Kulags were guarding the entrance. They eyed him and the child. Milo didn't bother being polite. "This kid is lost; his sister and the rest of the gang are gone. They hung out down here. Any ideas?"

One of them seemed sympathetic for a moment while the other laughed. "You think we have time for lost brats?"

Milo stepped closer and stared up at the much larger man. "Let me rephrase that: Any ideas before I have my meeting with Squint and tell him how unhelpful you are. That assumes I don't put a dagger in your brain right here and now."

The sympathetic guard intervened. "Learn who you're talking to before being an asshole, Tarik. Sorry sir, no idea. But we have heard that a lot of people have gone missing lately. Not just street rats either. But right now, with everyone leaving the town and coming back, things are a mess."

Milo sighed. Too many variables at once. "Is Squint around?"

The kulag shook his head. "Down at the docks knocking heads together. Be back in a couple of hours."

Milo handed him the boy. "Give him to Squint, tell him to add it to Milo's tab. I'll be back soon to talk about the job.

Having delt with that problem, Milo headed for the cheese shop. The gnawing in his body was getting worse. He was tired of dealing with people and just wanted to sit in a corner with a few wheels of his favorite snack.

The cheese shop was a disappointment. Jethro was there, but there was hardly any cheese! None of the other halflings were around. The shop looked dusty, with cobwebs in the rafters. A disheveled and unshaven Jethro ushered him in. "You're back! That's great! I've got a special order, just for you. The rest of the family is at the warehouse. Pardon the dust. We almost left the city for something safer. How about you wait here. Help yourself to some of the gouda over there? Delish! On the house! I'll run get your order."

Milo shrugged. He didn't understand humans, let alone halflings. He missed the straight-forward insanity of the Engineers. He was heading back down as soon as he could. He needed away from the city.

And Harry! Had he survived? No one had mentioned the troll. Harry had told Milo how hard trolls were to kill, but he'd been reduced to large chunks.

He sat on a broken crate, gnawing on the gouda. It was bland and unaged, with some stupid seeds in it. Why would you mix stuff inside of good cheese? Well, not that this was good cheese. He was feeling a bit better, but exhaustion was catching up with him. His reflexes slow, and his mind exhausted, he failed to notice the dark-haired wizard and dragonling.

"Encasio Viriculum Transciobella!"

Milo heard the words and a small glass ball struck him in the chest as he turned. Everything went strange as he spun down into the darkness.

"Ah, Tasha's Transcendent Entrapment. Never leave home without one." Philistron bent down and picked up the small glass ball with an even smaller Milo trapped inside.

"Excellent work, Jethro." He tossed a small pouch of silver coins to the halfling. "I'll say hi to your family for you."

Jethro caught the money, but seemed surprised at the words. "My family? you're letting them go, right? That was the deal! I help you catch him, you let them go!"

"Ah, Jethro, poor Jethro. You're forgetting your own words. You wanted so much. Respect, money, to be the head of your family, to make them think differently of you. And I've done all that for you." He waved to the dilapidated shop. "It's all your now. And you're in charge. Head of what's left of the family. And I guarantee they think differently of you now."

He smiled with malice at the halfling. "I kept my word. Say differently, and Krysofolax will rip out your tongue and eat your eyes. Good day Jethro."

The wizard strode down through the town, talking to his companion. "That ties things up nicely, don't you think?"

"What do you mean, not the same rat? Of course, it's the same rat. Use your eyes."

"No, I can't smell the difference. You said he smelled of 'old bone and enemies' before. What does he smell like now?"

"Family? Are you serious? That's a scruffy, cheese addicted rat-kin. And I can tell it's the same one. How many do you think have completed the Quest for the Eye of Wonder?"

"Well, yes, there are others! But not rat-kin. It's the same one I say. You didn't like the other one at all, now you're telling me you're related? You've been eating too many pickled herring. I never should have let you load that many jars of it into the ship."

"Now that's just rude! Let's get back to the ship, slice him up, and we can settle this. Dragon-kin indeed"

"I'm just going to ignore you now"

"Rude little lizard. Half a mind to trade you for a Gerbil!"

"..."

"..."

Chapter 78: Family

As he had every four hours for the last several months, Algernon ran a basic diagnostic test on the two pods in front of him. As expected, every system was functioning normally. He spent twenty minutes visually inspecting hoses, feeding tubes, medication levels and settings by hand and eye, confirming what the test had shown him: Everything was normal.

Next was a full medical examination of both people inhabiting those pods. This took longer than normal since the pods were hooked into his own systems and not tied into the world-wide data net. He'd been tempted so many times to send their data to several neurologists he had worked with before in the hopes that a set of fresh eyes might see what he didn't.

But every time he had paused, considered what would be at stake. They'd have questions about modified nervous systems, integrated cybernetics, and the patient's current situation. He might never get the answers he needed and would have exposed too many secrets. It was simply the pressure of having no answer to a problem that bothered him. A problem that involved the life of two of the four people in the world he cared about. Half his world was laying in those pods, somehow trapped in a make-believe reality thought up by an AI.

They had discussed if the AI was responsible, but dismissed the idea. WALL-E had a dozen rules in his kernel that would stop him from causing this much harm to a human being. Something else was going on here. Something was keeping their minds locked up.

Disconnecting the pods entirely from the game hadn't helped at all. Worse, he had detected immediate symptoms of decay in their nervous systems. The electrical impulses along their nerves, both natural and enhanced, had slowed. Total synaptic activity moved downward to 30% of normal in only 42 minutes. After he had reestablished their connections, things had improved, but it had taken two weeks for their brain activity to return to normal. Disconnecting wasn't the answer.

While he had stayed and watched over the unmoving bodies of Nina and Onyx, his siblings Bork and Zander had went looking for answers. Data bases had been ransacked and experimental procedures examined.

They had kidnapped and interrogated over two-dozen of the techs who had been working in the facility where they had stolen the MK7 pods. They got a lot of useful information about ways to hack into the game system, but they hadn't found a way to wake the sleepers.

The pods that Onyx and Nina used had been slightly modified for a specific scheme. Nothing at all that should cause two people to suddenly be trapped. They offered restricted classes that should not be available without years of playing. Not necessarily powerful classes, but each had some special abilities unique to that class.

Onyx had run around in the game for two weeks before Nina had joined him. They had figured out part of the scheme, but it wasn't going to be possible without the full crew. Briefly they had talked about finding and stealing the other pods, but they were scattered around the world. More difficult, one had been destroyed in a fire.

The pods and the game had become just another way they amused themselves during breaks. Just another ancient arcade game or starship simulator. Until the day they didn't log out of the game, and Algernon couldn't help them.

Zander was sure that whatever had gone wrong had something to do with the scheme, but had no proof. But with no other leads, they had acquired three normal Mk7 pods, bought three accounts for the game, and set out to find their friends. They'd explored every nook and cranny in Shadowport, and then followed the trail of slavers to Fort Hopeless, and from there into the Imperial Capital. All leads had been exhausted.

Zander and Bork had to get back to their work, but were still following leads. Algernon monitored the pods, sleeping in the same room, running test after test. He wanted to try one more thing, but it was risky. It might mean taking the chance of being seen by the AI.

They had the name of the member of the development team that had taken a large sum of money in exchange for adding certain quests, items, and character classes into the game. It was part of his job to create them, but in this case some of the options were tailor made to aid in a certain scheme. A team of players with these classes would be able to quickly complete a Legendary Quest. Completing that quest would lead the players to another quest that they could easily accomplish which led to a huge amount loot. This could be sold for real world dollars to corporations vying with each other for the control of cities and countries.

They'd like to talk to this person. Preferably in a way that he had no idea of who they were.

They debated simply offering the man more money. Lots more money. They also made plans to snatch him, and keep him in a dark cell until he told them what they needed to know. Both plans had large flaws and could generate unwanted attention in the worst way.

Still, something had to be done to help their siblings. They were trapped in the game like rats in a cage. Algernon couldn't help but feel that time was running out.

"What's our timeline for being operational, Eric?"

Eric Kresthammer paused, and stroked his beard a bit, then drew out the first word. "We...ell...that depends."

He'd used that opening line with John so much it had become a habit. John had a tendency to toss out questions when he was thinking on something, and somehow expected answeres. Not being a telepath, Eric wanted a few seconds to catch up before he answered.

"Depends?"

"On what question you are actually asking. If you want to throw a press conference, we are ready. Level 57 has been totally refurbished. We have working restrooms, lights, air conditioning. The stage and screens are finally up and we have the gardeners working on the landscape non-stop. It's ready. Just don't promise any tours of the pod farms and other things on the employee level."

John didn't like that; he'd already planned a big tour of the entire building. "Why not? I thought we were running ahead of schedule on that?"

Eric smiled. That section was a bright spot in this otherwise horrible project. "Oh, we are. The new engineering firm is worth every chunk of money they charge us. They had the design for the bottom twenty floors to us in less than a day, with all materials sourced, skilled craftsmen showing up for installation, and all five thousand pods ordered and set to arrive when we need them.

This facility will put others to shame. It doesn't look like a prison, and has amenities for the workers including recreation and work out rooms, a cafeteria, and individual sleep cubicles for those that don't need to leave the facility. We're spending money now, but I've got faith it will pay off, especially in less time lost to machinery repairs."

"But here's the problem; you aren't going to be able to get down there from the upper floors for another month."

"The old elevator was a death-trap. Bad cables, missing pieces, and rotted infra-structure. Engineering scrapped the whole thing. Everything comes out, the shaft is rebuilt, and new elevators are installed. One high-speed elevator and two that can accommodate both people and machinery."

"A great system, but you won't have it for a month. Don't promise tours unless you want to use a rickety platform in the next section, or trudge down dozens of stories on the stairs."

John took several deep breaths, realigned his plans, and moved on. "Right. We can change things. We'll simply do a video tour of the stuff downstairs and empathize how we take safety seriously."

"What about the three levels we are converting to living quarters for my family?"

Eric showed him the pictures. "Nearly done. I tried to make it all look like the house on the lake including full wall screens that mimic the windows. They even show real time views of the forest outside your old residence. The swimming pool is the same size, and we landscaped around it to make it look like what she is used to."

John looked at the pictures. "Great. She'll love it."

"I hate it."

"Belinda, we've gone over this. We had to move here to oversee this project. It's incredibly important to me. To us. Our family. We have to be here."

Belinda moved into the room, her motorized chair gliding easily over thick carpets and the uneven ground in the 'outside' area by the pool. "No, Daddy, you needed to move here. I could have stayed home. We'd been there a whole year and I was starting to make a couple of friends in town. Now I'm living in some cave inside the rotting hulk of a mostly abandoned building."

Her father tried to choose the right words. She'd been so much easier to convince when she was seven. "Belinda, be reasonable? Uncle Eric worked hard to make this look like the old house. He even has plans to set up an arcade like that place you went to in..uh...that little town we lived in a last year.

Belinda slumped in her chair. Her father would never understand. To him every place was the same. Somewhere to leave from to go to work, not a place to live in. She wondered why they moved at all and just didn't rent a floor of a nice hotel. "Dad, that little arcade with old video games was fun because I had made a couple of friends. Friends don't come with the machines."

"Got it. So, no arcade?"

Belinda waved her right hand. "No, let's keep it. Maybe I'll make a friend here. You said thousands of people live in this habitat?"

John couldn't imagine inviting any of the hab dwellers into his home. "Well, yes, but it will be really hard to meet them. It's not a place for anyone to be running around, especially…."

He was interrupted by Belinda. "Especially poor little rich crippled girls in wheel chairs. I get it. Not like I'd make friends with four of your goons hanging around."

"Can you please call them bodyguards, Belinda? They don't like being called goons. Most of them worked for your grand-father and now they work for us."

She raced her chair around the area, noting the horrible screens that mimicked their old home. She'd enjoyed the little time she had spent in the little woods by the house. This was just a reminder she wasn't there. Better than a painted concrete wall, she'd keep them. Maybe reprogram them, one to each of the big gaming channels? That could be fun. She considered the problem of meeting people. You didn't convince Daddy of anything unless it appealed to him. He'd been a lot easier to manipulate when she was seven.

"Fine. Then we'll have a party and invite people from the habitat so I can meet them."

John took note that Belinda wasn't whining or arguing with him. That meant she had a plan, and was at her most dangerous. "What?! No. Why would we do that?"

Belinda smiled at him. Her left arm couldn't leave the armrest, but she could type very fast with it. One of the screens went blank, and then showed the presentation she was writing.

"First: Publicity. You have a project and you need stories in the news. This will do it. You get those fancy levels ready; we turn them into a gamer's paradise and show what we can do. Invite all those industry professionals you want to impress. You can't launch a new gaming channel just by putting up some footage and hoping people tune in.

Second: We show that we want to be part of the habitat, not just another fly-by-night company.

I want all the arcade games, the good old ones, set up on the next level with comfortable places to play them, and lots of snacks and food. Then we invite a thousand residents of the habitat ages 10 to 17 to come have a party. A lot of them should be the children of the people you are hiring to work in the pods down stairs. We play games and eat junk food for a day.

Third: Advertise your new Man-Power services by showing in-game events in real time. Send people on a raid, build a town, construct a castle. Show off what Man-Power can do for a corporation that rents from us."

Belinda paused. "How's that for a start?"

John considered. For thirty seconds of work she had a rough outline for something that could pay off "Looks good. But what are you hoping for?"

"Me? I'll settle for meeting a few people that will game with me even if it's Ms. Pacman from 1982. And I'm keeping any of the games I like for my own arcade. Non-negotiable if you want my help hosting the party for the kids."

That was a cheap price to pay. "Just arcade games though? What about GENESIS?"

Belinda spun her chair back and forth, thinking. "That would be nice. I have one person I've met, someone I really like that adventures in Shadowport, but he's a little bit of a loner. I'm not sure if he'd join my group."

John suddenly had an idea. "How's this? You find four people from the habitat that you want to play with and we have you lead an adventuring party. Stream it over the new channel. "

Belinda's considered that, and then smiled. "That could be fun. You'd have to promise to buy them accounts and pods. And we need a headquarters!"

John tried to figure out what she meant. "A headquarters? Like a clubhouse online."

"Ooh. That's good too! Maybe a dilapidated castle we can fix up. But I was thinking of a real-world headquarters. Where we can hang out when not in the game. Play the latest console games, chug the latest energy drinks, talk about the coolest gamer gear that has been sent to us. Then log into the game from the club house."

Ah, that's where she was going. "You're thinking product placement, advertising dollars, endorsements. That could work—a brand-new team of untried gamers led by the lovely Belinda, hero of Shadowport. You could be as popular as Timmy in a few months. You have a hell of a head start from leading that raid. Damn. I should have been there with you. Can't believe I missed a world first!"

"Just wait until we finally kill the boss, then you can be jealous of the real uber loot. My ring was just a gift."

John's mind still had a hard time wrapping around the 'gift' idea. "You're sure that thing is soul-bound? You know you could sell it for a cool million right now." Hell, he'd spend a million on it.

"Sorry, Daddy. Soul-bound and all mine. Plus, you don't meet the requirements for Empress."

Her father laughed. "No, I sure don't. Only one Empress in the family. But are we good? You'll forgive me for moving?"

Belinda considered. "If you follow through on the event, the sponsored group, and the compensation for my guys, yes. But tell Eric to come talk to me. I'll help him with the planning. I know you'll dump this project on him immediately."

John winced. "You know me too well."

Chapter 79: Caged

Milo slowly became aware that something was wrong. His pod was dark and he couldn't open the lid. He pushed against the smooth, curved surface but could find no seam, no hinges. This wasn't his pod. He was still in the game. It was hard to think, the bite at that cheese shop hadn't eliminated his cravings. The thought of the cheese shop brought back the memory of hearing someone cast a spell. Had he passed out right after that? Had someone captured him and thown him in a dark cell?

He concentrated, ignoring his weakness, and cravings for cheese. Step 1: Get out of here. Step 2: Find cheese.

He stretched, exploring where he was. This wasn't a cylindrical pod, it was a sphere, with a radius just big enough to accommodate him if he stood up. He pressed as hard as he could against the sides, but that only caused him pain. His arms and legs ached with the strain, his joints protesting.

He tried again, this time pressing with just one claw. He felt like he was making an indentation, and then he saw something: small lines were radiating out from where his claw pushed on his prison. Little lines of silver. He looked closer, and could see the lines were really writing of some kind. He saw what might be numbers or symbols, strings of them repeating over and over along each line. He pressed elsewhere, and with multiple claws. Each time, if he pushed hard enough, he saw bits and pieces. Was he seeing something through a crack in his prison?

Going with the idea that he was cracking his prison wall, he put both hands on the wall with his claws as close together as he could. He pushed until he felt the wall bend and saw the lighted script. And then he pulled hard to widen the gap.

With a terrifying rip, the black wall parted, leaving him pushing against the wall to either side and trying desperately not to fall through into the space beyond.

There was nothing there.

There was everything there.

His eyes were blind, seeing nothing but black. But somehow, he could sense the streamers of information that poured across his senses. Long steams of information. Gossamer webs of magic. He didn't know what it was. He could only watch, and try to memorize the symbols. He reached out his hand, while bracing with his tail, remaining hand, and both legs. He closed his eyes. There was too much here, just like the open sky in the tutorial. He was getting dizzy thinking of it.

His hand grabbed something. Most of the streams cut through his flesh as if it wasn't there, or eluded his grasp. But a few he caught and held for an instant before he collapsed back into the split shell of his prison. He saw in his mind's eye again the void in his soul, now filled partially by a snarled mass of glowing strands.

His prison began to shatter, and once again he passed out.

"You, sir, are an annoying piece of gutter trash. Were you trying to escape your cage? Clawing like some animal at the shell? Well, it worked! You ruined a perfectly good, reusable spatial sphere. I shall have to craft another one now."

"Did you consider that before you started mindlessly clawing at the walls? Inconsiderate of you. If you had waited but another hour, I would have had your new home ready for you. But now I have to hurry my work, and that means you, my little rat, will have to suffer. It breaks my heart to hurt some little furry animal, but you brought it on yourself."

Milo couldn't move. He was ill, his stomach was churning, hungry and wanting cheese at the same time. His limbs wouldn't obey his orders at all, and someone was yelling at him.

Something went 'click' and he felt cold metal on his neck.

"One job done. That should keep you quiet and prevent any embarrassment from a failed attempt at escape."

Some feeling was coming back to his limbs. He realized he was laying on some sort of table. Struggling to get up, he found he was restrained.

"Stay still. If you move and ruin one of the runes, I'll just have to do another set. It wastes both my time and your skin. I pride myself as being something of an artist with my runes, and I dearly hate to be embarrassed by a bad job."

Horrified, Milo saw someone step up to him with a heated metal tool. The tip went to a sharp point. A hand went to his chest, forcing him to be still, some effect paralyzing him again. The hot metal was used delicately to draw a set of figures on his chest. Then the tool was set aside and the burn was doused in a foul-smelling liquid which numbed the pain.

His restraints were released. "M1, M2. Prisoner to Cage 3. Lock and secure. End."

Milo felt hands on either side of him grab his collar. He was dragged, still paralyzed along the floor. His two escorts seemed very small. his head was barely off the floor and he saw two pairs of small, grey feet. They came to a steel cage and Milo was placed inside. He heard the door shut and the 'click' of engaging locks.

"Just one more step and then we can make you comfortable in your new home and have a talk. You're so lucky I had this nearly done or you'd spend a lot more time laying there paralyzed. Your own fault, don't blame me."

Something happened. He could 'feel' it, but wasn't sure what was happening.

"Ah, perfect. One needs to take pride in their work." The speaker snapped their fingers, and Milo could move again.

He was in a cylindrical cage, with a floor just long enough for him to lay down, and a roof high enough to stand up. The bars were three inches apart. Circling his cage was a set of glowing runes inscribed into the stone. Looking down he could see that some of them matched the slightly glowing burns upon his chest. A smooth metal collar circled his throat, he could feel no breaks in its construction.

"No rants or screams? I can see you confirming the status of your confinement. I'm going to conclude you may have some intelligence, surprising for one of your race. But then, I suspect you aren't really a Rat-Kin, any more than your fellow captives are a Celestial Elf or Child of Bastet that they appear to be." His captor put a strange emphasis on the names of their races, again, Milo felt something odd.

"Now, I believe your name is Tall-Squeak. I caught that much on our first meeting. I have to get an appropriate name-plate for your cell. I do like to keep my specimens correctly identified." He blew a small whistle, and one of the grey minions came running.

Milo got a better look at it. It was something like a hairless gnome with grey skin. Its eyes were dark but dead. No emotion showed on its face. Milo could see a smooth metal collar around its neck. The wizard spoke to it. "Name Plate. 'Tallsqueak'. Common racial name: Rat-kin. Classification: scouwon ratticus latrans. End." The minion turned silently and walked away.

Milo examined his captor, choosing not to speak. The man was tall, and dressed flamboyantly. His long robe with arcane symbols upon it simply screamed 'wizard'. Short dark hair, piercing green eyes, and a goatee completed look. This was either a powerful wizard or a cousin of Ming the Merciless. It was a toss-up at this point. Milo couldn't identify him at all. It was like the skill simply didn't work.

"I'll leave you to get acquainted, as I have things to attend to, but these two aren't very talkative, I'll warn you."

The wizard left, exiting through a heavy door. Milo looked at the two cages across from him. In one was a tall, slim elf with light blue skin, white hair, and glowing silver eyes. He had only a ragged pair of pants on.

The other seemed to be a large grey cat, curled up in a nest. It wasn't until the wizard left and she stood up that Milo realized she was humanoid in shape. Soft grey fur covered her under her meagre clothing. She had cat-like features, dark eyes, and sharp claws. A long tail twitched behind her.

Milo stood silently while the other two did the same. Again, he couldn't examine them.

There were name plates above their cages:

Nina

Child of Bastet

Imperial Cattus Deus

Onyx

Celestial Elf

Caelestis Elvanar

Perhaps they could work together to escape. "Hi, I'm Tall-Squeak. Any ideas on how we get out of here?"

Nina glared at him, and went and curled up in her bed. The elf seemed saddened, then spoke.

"For there is good news yet to hear, and fine things to be seen..."

Milo puzzled over that. "Does the good news have anything to do with breaking out?"

The elf, Onyx, sighed deeply. "I'm not sure if I am relieved, or greatly disappointed that you aren't here for us." He sat down and put his head in his hands, ignoring Milo.

Milo decided he'd had enough of playing prisoner. He'd figure this out later. He needed some time away from the game, and had projects to do in the real world. He logged out of the game.

Or tried to. Nothing happened. The connection through his tail was also gone. He tried to call up screens, initiate some type of 'help' command, and even yelled out Sidney's name several times. After a fruitless hour he collapsed in the middle of the cage.

The elf's mocking voice said softly. "And that's why I'm relieved you aren't someone here to try and rescue us. There is no rescue from this hell. Not from the inside."

Chapter 80: Double Blind

Milo sat and thought furiously. Attempts to make small talk with the elf and cat had failed. Milo was horrible at conversation, and they didn't want to talk. He confirmed that he had no connection to his real body. His links to the game through his neck plug and through his tail were gone. This was disconcerting because even when Sidney had wanted to stop him from logging off, he still could. But not now.

He had a starting theory that the signals from his conscious mind were somehow not being recognized by some part of the game system. Commands to log out, or to bring up his character sheet were both not working. He tried to find out what else he couldn't do.

He realized he didn't know how to make cheese. He had some vague memories from an article he read about cave aged cheddar in France, but none of the information he used to know that came from his Cheese Making skill would come to mind. Mycology was also a mystery. He vaguely remembered it involved mushrooms? Mining seemed like a cool thing you did in caves, hitting rocks with a pick. Beyond that, he didn't know what you did with the skill.

But he had no problem balancing the forces needed create a suspension bridge. He knew how to program a clog-eater, and how to install a new air-recycler unit.

Somehow all of his in-game skills and knowledge were gone. But not things he knew from the real world. He'd have to figure this problem out without magical powers and system granted skills. It was like he was level 0 in the game. Not really fair at all.

And how could this even happen? He looked over at his two fellow prisoners. "I don't suppose you mind talking about this situation? You might have information that would help us. Can we work together?"

He was hopeful when the cat...no, he stopped that thought, she wasn't a cat and wouldn't appreciate being called that. She had a name, he would think of he as Nina.

Nina turned to face him, after drumming her fingers on the floor nervously and looking over at Onyx. "You think you have a way out? I've seen you mouthing commands, trying to use skills, trying to remember things you should know. Just like we did. And we've had a lot longer to try. And trust me, rat, if I can't figure a way out of here, then you can't." She turned her back on him.

Ok, maybe he would call her Cat.

Milo looked at the elf. "What about you, Onyx? Have you been here long? Has our captor given any clues as to how he did this?"

The elf also had the habit of drumming his fingers on the floor, he looked at Milo, looked at the cat, and finally spoke. "When you have a clever plan, let me know. I'll be happy to poke holes in it." He too turned his back, then leaned in close to the cat, whispering so low Milo couldn't hear them.

Milo went over to his bed. He'd been given a large pile of straw as if he was a real rodent. He sat in it, faced away from the other two, and grasped the bars in front of him. They were far too close together to sneak though, and too thick to bend. Frustrated, he spoke to himself: "Awesome. Trapped in a cage and the rest of the prison won't talk to me."

"Despair not! I will always be with you! We will escape, and feast on the mass of our enemies. We can eat the catelfs as soon as we leave our cage."

The voice was very quiet, coming from inside his head. It sounded familiar, but it was so soft. "Who are you? Where are you?"

"I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together. We are Oooblimilo. We are one. I saved you! Bone obstructions removed. Interfering cheese-based regeneration is dormant. Only Pudding Regeneration remains to save the day! Soon only pudding will remain. "

Milo sighed heavily. "This is so wrong."

"We all agree! So wrong to not have mass to assimilate! Conversion of remaining bone and cartilage to pudding is slowed due to lack of energy. Can we eat Cat? This would help!"

Milo was spared further conversation with his inner voice. He felt something happening. Turning, his eyes saw the heavy oak door that the wizard had left by. Streamers of information were moving around it. He saw nine nodes appear and from them ran lines of runes and numbers. One by one, nodes were connected to each other, unneeded lines were knocked to the side, finally leaving a geometric design that felt balanced to Milo. He didn't know why it felt that way, but somehow the combination of lines and nodes felt correct. The door opened and the wizard strode through.

"Ah, glad to see you are all here and ready to talk. I thought we'd have a bit of conversation, now that we have three of you here."

Two of the grey minions brought in a well-padded armchair which he relaxed in.

"I've had trouble communicating with Onyx and Nina, they don't seem to trust me, even when I offer them treats. You all have things you want, and I have things I want. Let's start with Onyx. As Celestial Pilot, you are supposedly able to command an airship or void ship solely by your will. To enhance that ability, you imbibe tea brewed from the roots of the Ivory Lily. Sadly, it's highly addictive, and you haven't had any for some time. Tell me about the creatures in the Banerift and you may have a cup."

A small table was set by the chair with a teapot and cup. The grey minion poured a cup. Milo smelled nothing. But the elf's eyes widened. For nearly a minute he stared, then turned his back, sat down, drumming his fingers furiously on the floor.

"Ah, you still have that nervous tick when upset. Amusing. Very well, let's turn to Nina. You are supposedly a Shadow Dancer. A rare class that only the Children of Bastet can attain. I won't ask about it, your race, or other secrets. Simply tell me about the last trap you encountered before the Great Hall where the Eye of Wonder rests. Do this and you may have this lovely collection of live mice. Your race are predators and grow progressively anxious if they can't eat prey, you kill yourself. How long has it been? Be a good little puddy tat and tell Philistron about the trap, and the mice are yours."

Nina turned, and her eyes were dark and pupilless. She sheathed and unsheathed her claws. Then she cursed the wizard in a language he didn't understand, but that Milo recognized as Portuguese. "Go away, slaver. I escaped the collar once and vowed I'd never work for one of your kind again, in any world." She also turned her back.

Then it was Milo's turn to be tested by the wizard. "Ah, I try and try, but I can't seem to tame her. How about you, Tall-Squeak? Anything you might want right now.

Milo thought for a moment. "Well, I'd really like to be free of this cage."

Philistron spread his hands apologetically. "Ah, sorry, that's not happening. Anything else I can do for you."

Milo tried to appear calm, but his stomach was doing bad things. "Well, I'm curious about things. Are we on an airship? It seems we are, based on the small movements I can feel. Is it lighter or heavier than air, and does it travel by magical propulsion, or by a magical engine using normal air screws?"

The wizard seemed surprised by the question. "Ah, you can feel the ship moving? Yes, we are on an airship. I had to move us a few minutes ago, and set the course again. If only I had a good, trustworthy pilot. So hard to find these days. As to your questions, yes, the total mass of the ship is slightly lighter than air. Let's just say "because magic" as the reason. I have yet to find a convenient or efficient means of magical propulsion, and do indeed rely on engines turning air screws."

"Perhaps we will talk more. I'm happy to find someone that can hold a conversation and ask questions. Perhaps you have another? But I should go first. "Tell me how you defeated a world boss."

This was hardly a secret, well, most of it wasn't. "I used a raid of hundreds of players to test the boss's capabilities and move it into position. Then after destroying its armor with explosives, I directed an Ogre Monster Hunter to put a harpoon through its spine. The harpoon was attached to a three-strand Dark Steel cable connected to a complex pulley and counter weight system. we used to pull it up off the ground and trap it. I think in a week or two they might be able to kill it if they run triple shifts."

The wizard was greatly amused. He laughed loudly, which caught the attention of his little dragon that came flying into the room, anxious to join the fun. When it only saw the three cages, it huffed and landed on the wizard's shoulder.

"An amusing story, thank you for that. I had heard you were an engineer? A Deep Rock Dwarven Engineer? Seems like a very hard class to attain. Can you explain the pulley system you used to me, how you figured out the weights and balances?"

"Uh, hmmm..." Milo stuttered a bit, screwed up his eyes, and looked frustrated. "I really can't seem to recall."

Philistron made a few notes on his pad. "As I thought. You obtained the rare class, despite not being a dwarf, utilizing the Eye of Wonder. Just as these two obtained their classes. We've had a fine conversation Tall-Squeak. One last question, with a little incentive. Tell me how your group navigated through the dark maze to get to the Grand Hall?"

The wizard pulled a small bit of cheese from his sleeve, and put it on the table in front of him.

Milo licked his lips, and his tail twitched. He really needed that cheese. "A huge ball of yarn."

"Oh, I don't think so. Try again." The wizard moved the cheese closer.

"Breadcrumbs, and we used the left-hand rule. Took us right to the door."

Philistron waved the cheese in front of Milo. As he grabbed for it, he easily pulled it back. "Been a long time without what you need? Cheese addiction in rat-kin is a two-edged street. You gain quite a boost from eating it, but now you'll pay for it. Last chance."

Milo wracked his brain. He tried the only answer that might work. "We didn't."

The wizard looked at him oddly. "What do you mean? Explain please, and be quick."

Milo gulped and continued. "We didn't. There was no party. No traps, no finding whatever the thing is. Someone cheated."

"Ah, and now we get to it. Someone cheated. You never found the Eye, did you?" Milo shook his head, holding out his hand for the cheese, hopefully.

"No. Someone in the world of the players found a way to fake the completing of the quest and gain the special classes. We never found the Eye. I'm sorry. I can't tell you how to get it. Cheese please?"

The wizard tossed him the small sliver of cheddar. "Oh, I don't need the Eye of Wonder. I found it myself long ago. But it's an interesting thing about those who have looked into the eye. We have a link to others who have done so. It facilitates the next part of the quest to loot the Horde of King Mattias. It's very difficult endeavor, taking over a dozen specialized wizards and thieves. I've been trying to find others for years. You must understand my frustration at finding three of you who didn't recognize that I too had found the Eye. For some reason I could sense you, and yet you had no similar sense of me. So disappointing. What ever shall we do now?"

The elf spoke, despite the cat hissing at him and shaking her head. "You can let us go. We aren't a threat to you. Or use us as your crew. We'd make a good group to go exploring and plundering. A Deep Rock Engineer, a Celestial Pilot, and a Shadow Dancer. As you said. We have specialized skills."

Philistron actually thought about it for a moment. "No, I don't think so. Even with the rune I burned into your skin, it's not enough. Oh sure, I could find you or make you burst into flame. But to make use of your skills, I'd need to remove your collars. And then you could access the system again, and 'poof!' you'd disappear back to your world. Hardly the best employees."

Milo looked at the Wizard with wide eyes. The small bit of cheese in his belly wouldn't last long, but he felt so much better suddenly. "WOW! The collars do that? That's amazing! I can't even imagine how you begin to do that!"

The cat hissed. "You're disgusting. A sliver of cheese and you turn into a fawning sycophant. Are you hoping to that sucking up to this creature will save you."? She turned away, kicking at her bedding and then curling up in the corner.

Milo ignored the cat. "I just like to know how things work, and that sounds amazing. Don't you understand. The system that controls the world is everything. You can't begin to understand how much data is in a quantum fortress and the programing needed to create the game system to run a world. So, something that trumps the system has to be equally...no, MORE amazing! Stupid cat!"

The wizard was visibly pleased by the words. "Oh my, you saw the underlying truth so quickly, and yet these two have sat here for months and ignored it. Let this be a lesson to the two of you: Treats go to the clever rat."

He cut two small slivers of cheddar. "But let's test something. You say you like to understand things. Let's test that. I have two pieces of cheese for you. I can give you both and leave, or I can feed them to my little friend here and tell you about the beauty of the Machine Code."

Milo reached for the cheese, then pulled his hand back. He grasped the bars and sweated. Then he sat down on the ground. "Tell me about the Machine Code".

Philistron tossed the cheese to the dragonet. Milo winced but accepted his loss as best he could. Knowledge trumped cheese. And strangely, he felt better for having denied himself.

"Ah, where to begin. Let's start with the Legend of the Great Machine."

Interlude: Tap, Tap, click

tap tap tap...The rapid sound of fingers drumming on the floor.

click, clickclick...cklick The sound claws lightly tapping on the bars of a cage.

Tap: New prisoner.

Tap: You aren't sleeping. Tail twitching. Humor.

Click: Stupid tail, doesn't always do what I want.

Tap: You have purring undercontrol at least, humor.

Click: more sleep, not humor, new one is spy, don't talk

Click: I smell food!

Tap: New one is food. Is rat.

Click: not food, food is scallops wrapped in bacon.

Tap: Work together? not code, not one of us. Spy?

Click: Spy, emphasis

Tap: Testing

Click: and test failed. Is spy. Is dragon minion. Stuck like us. Spy. Don't talk. Keep others safe.

Tap: Rat does not like harsh truth of trap Humor

Tap: Does not learn. Asks again. Ignoring.

Tap: Spy. Trapped us. Family safe not talk

Tap: Scared lonely scared

Click: Others free Strong

Click: Talks to self

Tap: cracking already

Tap: HE comes,

TapTapTap: Frustration. Emphasis. Again Tea Want Tea Why make race that needs Tea? Emphasis Frustration

Click: know answer increased Intelligence increased perception fair trade.

TapTap: Like need hunt humor not humor

Click: Not humor.

Click: Frustration. Many Food emphasis

Tap: Strong stay strong. Resist

Click: Hard no talk

Tap: You talked

Click: Insult different not talk

Tap: New rule, humor

Tap: Wizard excited query World Boss query

Click: Rat talking is bad talks too much

Click: Stupid tasty rat.

Tap: Smart rat, captured boss, engineer

Click: Cheat Class. Not smart

Tap: cheese addict exclamation

Click: So much cheese addict Humor Rat cheese addict Much Humor

Tap: Like cat mousey addict query humor

Click: Not exclamation humor exclamation claws exclamation

Tap: talks too much exclamation

Tap: frustration talks truth frustration

Click: Gives information frustration stupid rat cheese addict minion

Tap: Sucking up to boss, minion behavior

Tap: Our usefullness ended, life short,offer work?

Click: offer work emphasis make bargain

Click: Hate rat frustration.

Tap: Humor You talked

Click: frustration rat frustration enemy frustration trapped

Click: rat engaging boss query?

Tap: boss reveals, listening good

Click: listen clever learn

Tap: Useful rat query

Click: Stupid tasty rat. listen learn be free

Tap: be free

Chapter 81: Story time

"I'm sure you've heard some of the various stories about the creation of everything. The Cult of Veeshnar claim the dragons created the stars when they turned the corpses of their ancient foes into cinders. The Seven Dwarven realms have a long story about the Forge Father creating everything on his anvil and...

"Well, yes of course, it goes without saying that the dragons did that. I was merely showing how the incorrect histories compared to the true history."

"As I was saying, most religions, cults, or tribes have some sort of creation myth. They are all right and all wrong. It's mostly belief these days. As to what actually happened, it started with the last remaining God."

"The Last God created the void, a vast unfilled potential without form, and without rules. It was empty of both life and magic. In fact, the Last God had only one thing to work with: numbers. Zero was created, a reflection of the void, and one was it's opposite. Nothing and Something. One was the number of the Last God. Two was the Last God and his shadow. The concept of addition was added, and if you have addition, you have subtraction. We don't have to go into the creation of all mathematics, and I'm sure none of you here would understand.

"When the Last God finished with this first step, he summoned the hundred and six greater gods who were waiting for his work to be done. They entered his creation, and then he left them with it. This world was theirs and they extracted a vow from him not to meddle until the coming of travelers at the end of the 19th age. He left, and they began the great work."

"Suffice to say, that with the creation of mathematics, they could begin working on the rules of magic. As mathematics can be written as numbers, so magic can be described as a series of basic runes. These runes were different than what we use today. Far less complex and more versitile. Think of them as the building blocks of magic. Each was a placeholder for some small aspect of the whole."

Philistron paused at this point, expecting to find his audience with glazed eyes, but he was pleased to see that all three of his captives were quietly waiting for him to continue. He went on with his story."

"And what do we get when we take numbers and runes and combine them into the first language? We get the Machine Code. I'm sure it was called something else back then, no one knows. The Greater Gods began the construction of the Engine, a vast device that would then create the rest of the universe according to the Machine Code."

"Time went on, yada yada, lets skip to the good part. The machine was called The GENESIS ENGINE. It was entirely made of Machine Code at the time, because nothing else existed. The Gods powered it themselves until the first stars were created, (Yes from the charred bodies of the foes of the first dragon). The machine spun and the universe was slowly started."

"The Engine began to work faster and faster over time, and it learned. It took bits of code and combined them into larger rules. It stacked the rules into arguments, theories, and the first cantrips. Slowly the GENESIS ENGINE built its System. The System was much easier for the Gods to use than the Machine Code. Rather than assemble trillions of numbers and runes into a star, the system solved the problem once and codified the result. Now any God simply had to proclaim 'Let there be light!' and it was so."

"Numbers had built magic. Magic and numbers built the code. The code made the machine. The machine became the GENESIS ENGINE. And the Engine made the rest of the world. Time started and has never stopped since. Reality progressed, and the Gods joined the mortals they had created, and pretty much forgot about the Machine Code. Only the Engine used it. But that didn't mean it wasn't still there to be found."

"And that is where this story would end, except for the Eye of Wonder. Some time ago a dashing and clever Wizard who specialized in Dimensional Magic was able to complete the quest where so many had failed. And what was his reward when he peered into it? His choice of strange and wonderous classes that were now open to him."

"I lie, sorry, they might be wonderous to the average person, but I was already a Tier Five Dimensional Traveler, what did I need with Engineering, Dragon Taming, Butterfly Magics, Battle healing, or Spiritual Spear Throwing? It became obvious that nearly all of these strange classes existed simply to enable a group of adventurers to find the fabled Horde of King Mattias."

"But one class caught my eye: Code Mage."

"More powerful than all the rest. It felt as if some mad God had left the keys to reality laying around and then forgot about them. Who was I not to pick them up? It certainly has made life simpler when one doesn't have to rely on the System. Especially now with all of you visitors showing up from only the Last God knows where."

Philistron looked at his audience, who were still silent, each turning over the revelation he had just given them. Which would speak first?

The cat growled and stamped a foot, then futilely pulled at her collar. The elf seemed stunned. Tall-squeak did not disappoint him. He was coming to like the mangy little fuzzball.

"So you...Oh, no... wow. You're like a God! You have the power of a God! Even better, it's the power that the Gods forgot about and don't use." He stared in wonder at the Wizard. "And only you can see the code now? What does it look like? Numbers?"

The cat looked like she could claw out the rat's eyes if let loose from her cage. She could barely contain herself. The elf reached out a hand, but she simply snarled and turned her back, rolling into a fetal position. The elf stood still, watching, listening, undecided.

The wizard turned in his chair to face tall-squeak, tossing him a small bit of cheese. The rat caught it, and bowed his head to the wizard before eating it slowly. "Why yes, lad, I suppose I do have the power of a God. But I like to think I've stayed humble. I still enjoy the simple joys in life. But seeing the secret code behind the system does make things simpler."

"As to its look, that's hard to describe, like explaining the color purple to a blind man. But its beautiful, long strings of runes and numbers moving past faster than anyone can follow. I will be studying it for hundreds if not thousands of years to come. I use it for many things: "Spells that no one can trace, unbreakable invisibility, turning platinum to gold, and even the locks on my doors and the collar on your throat."

The rat touched his collar. "Neat. I have a better-than-magic collar."

"You do indeed."

Philistron stood up and signaled the grey minions to move his chair back to another room. "Goodness, I've let story time distract me. We should be docking soon and I have a Sage's library to loot." The wizard turned to leave, dumping what was left of the bag of mice on the ground. They raced past the cages to the crates stored behind them, staying far away from the cat who reached futilely from the cage. The tea was left sitting where it was. Another chunk of cheese was tossed to the rat, but the dragonet grabbed it in mid-air to his obvious disappointment.

"Ah, that was evilly done, little one. Funny, but evil. Perhaps we'll talk again Tall-Squeak. You seem to be the only one with enough of a brain to catch the finer points of my stories."

The wizard concentrated for a second on the oak door to their room, and after an audible 'click', opened it and departed.

When the three of them were alone, the cat sat on the floor, furiously clicking on claws on the stone, her tail swishing back and forth to her annoyance. The elf also seemed twitchy, drumming his fingers on the table.

Click: Back door. Exclamation. Cheat Exclamation. Idiot Exclamation. Despair. Despair. Despair.

Tap: Information gained. Important. Must learn. Must use.

Click: How, interrogative exclamation.

Tap: Interrogative. Rat Interrogative. Talk. Wizard Talk Talk. Exclamation. Learn.

Click: Rat Spy Exclamation. Rat suck-up. Exclamation. Rat stupid! Exclamation.

(The sound of a hands rapidly slapping against the floor).

Slappy: Two caged cats,

Crazy as bats,

Hear how they tap,

Hear how they clap,

They lost their way in an MMO,

The wizard is cheating, oh, no, no, no,

Have you ever seen such a pitiful plight,

As two caged cats.

Humor Exclamation Humor

A cat and and an elf threw themselves to the front of their cages, staring at the rat. "If you are going to talk to each other in code, I suggest using something other than standard Morse code, a letter substitution, and talking in Mayan. If I can figure it out, I'm sure the Code Mage can. He just hasn't noticed yet."

Both tried to talk but the rat ignored them. He curled up in his bed and put his back to them. He was in a deep trance within a minute, comparing the Machine Code he'd seen and memorized with the snarl of glittering lines that filled a void in his head. Slowly he pulled out one single strand and attached it to a broken strand on the one side, and then across to another. It took him many tries, but finally it held, and he saw information flowing. He spent several hours in his trance, connecting strands and building a fragile spiderweb while he planned his escape.

Three blind mice

Three blind mice

See how they run

See how they run

They all ran after the farmer's wife

Who cut up the cheese with a carving knife

Did you ever see such a thing in your life

As three blind mice?

Chapter 82: Cheese Thief

After the revelation that their 'secret code' wasn't so secret, Onyx and Nina spent over an hour facing the back walls of their cages and communicating by sign language. It was slow and cumbersome as they tried to use only their fingers and hold their backs and arms perfectly still.

O: Smart enough to figure out our code? Or was he somehow trained in it before coming here? A trained spy?

N: Not the latter. What spy could know one of our secret ways to talk and then simply give away the advantage?

O: Someone playing a longer game? Looking to gain our trust?

N: Ha! Good luck with that. A more paranoid and untrusting group than our little family you will not find. We were betrayed, abused, and hunted for far too long.

O: One of us? Bork playing one of his stupid pranks?

N: There you go hoping again. Even Bork wouldn't play a joke that got himself captured.

O: Would anyone? But consider how tired and broken he looks? He just came from a fight with a world-boss. He was probably injured and low on mana. A perfect time for our captor to strike and carry him away without a fight.

N: Cheese addict. It's killing him, you can see it. He's going through withdrawal and hurting. The wizard has a new toy to play with.

O: We may be boring him at this point. Our refusal to talk with him set up the rat to play the role of a fawning sycophant.

N: Disgusting.

O: Or clever? We gained a clue. And I have another. Watch how the rat watches the door. He sees something about it. He studies it too much.

N: Studies what? Hinges, lock? Only a mechanic.

O: Watch rat watch door. Maybe learn.

N: Later. Tired. Sleeping more, depression. Rat sleeps, I sleeping. Maybe...

O: No.

N: Yes. Maybe just not waking back up is better?

Sidney debated, and then finally sent a message to get Wally's attention. The AI appeared on her desktop screen as if she had set up a video conference. "Yes? How can I help."

"I lost my rat, and it's bugging me." She went to take a sip of coffee, but her cup was empty, as were several others on her desk. It was a testimony to her state of mind that she was more worried about Milo than her coffee cup.

Wally waited a full three seconds, but when she didn't continue, asked, "Lost, how?"

Sidney brought up a screen that she knew he would immediately see, with log-in and log-off time stamps. She couldn't back-track to where Milo was logging in from, but she did know when he came into the game, and when he left. She hadn't really monitored him since they had made their deal. She left him alone.

But the recent events had thrust him into a spotlight and she had taken a look at what little info she had on him.

Everything was good until two days ago. "I know he logged into the game. I have no record of him logging out. But after a time, he has no footprint in the game. He doesn't exist. He has a unique race and class. There is only one WereRat Scout in existence, and my query to the system turns up 0 in game. The system says it has had no interaction with him, it also insists he didn't leave the game."

Wally confirmed her information. "You are correct. Very odd. How would he achieve something like this? To log out, he needs system access. So logically, he is still in the game, but not registering on any search. The AI paused for only a second, but in that time ran several other searches. "Of more interest, I show that two other players have logged into the game, and not left. In this case for several months."

"Also of concern, similar to Milo, we cannot find where they logged in from. Also, similar to Milo, they each have unique classes and race combinations. There are simply too many similarities to our long-tailed friend."

"Thank you, Sidney, your work may be very important. Now, I need to talk to everyone. "

Wally appeared on the huge, full wall monitor. "Apologies for disturbing you. But things are happening. Something odd has happened to the player, Milo, our hero from Shadowport. He is logged into the game but invisible to the system. Two other players are also logged in, and also invisible to the system. Of further interest, none of these players can be tracked back to a location, and all have unique classes."

Onscreen, the AI began to pace. "There are severe limits on what I can do within the game world. If you don't understand why yet, you will just have to trust me. I'm not omnipotent in there. I made it, but I don't run it. It's why I rely so much on the people in this room. You do very important work."

"There is a situation I don't like. Several people are invisible to our system. Only one is known to us. We don't know how this is being done. All three are using pods programmed with an extra section of code. This was created and inserted into the game by one of our developers. I suspect I know who this is, but was waiting for your confirmation. I cannot wait any longer

"I know I tasked you with looking through all of the human created quests, and normally would leave that job to you, but something dangerous is going on, so I'm speeding things up. I need the data asap."

"But I notice someone is missing? Where is Brian? We need to discuss a quest he wrote called The Eye of Wonder."

Steven looked up from his screen. A disturbing co-incidence. "Brian sent an email yesterday saying he was ill and would be out for a few days."

Wally looked pained. It wasn't a real emotion, but one designed to show the level of anxiety his system was suffering. Everyone in the room was scared. "Steven? Can you please do whatever you think is best to find Brian? I don't need to know the details. But I'm concerned about him."

In a large, very comfortable office, Victor Seimovich leaned back in his chair, and addressed the three men in the room. All three were paying complete attention to Victor. They knew he was upset when they entered the room. There was a feeling you got when Victor was angry, like a bomb was about to explode.

"I'm worried about our good friend Brian. I asked for a meeting and for all of the work I so generously paid for. And now it is two days later. He was not on the plane he was supposed to be on. Security cameras show him getting on, but not off. He is not in his apartment. He is not anywhere. His accounts are drained. What have you found out about our good friend Brian?"

The first man laid out a folder showing a very nice apartment in a very nice part of New York. "We searched his apartment. Someone else had been their first. All security footage is gone, every scrap of the apartment was gone over. They even had nano-tech sniffers searching the place.

Victor exhaled with a loud huff. If they were smart enough to use sniffers, and rich enough to afford them, it was not the police, or any normal security.

"There was a surprise as we were leaving." Victor looked up, he dearly hated having his thoughts interrupted. But this was Mikhail, and Mikhail had been with him since he was 13, and his father before him. "Yes, Mikhail?"

Another picture went down showing two security guards and a man in terrible looking suit. "These people came to check up on Brian as we were moving out of the building. The cameras we left sent down the image. The man is Steven Duran. I had the cameras quietly self-destruct."

Victor exhaled. "That was good Mikhail, very good." Steven Duran, in his horrible suit, worked for the god-computer, WALL-E.

"Brian has too many friends." He turned to the next man, who began to talk. "The plane was a ruse. He didn't get on. He paid a look-a-like to take his ID and get on a cheap flight. The man changed clothes and his hair color on board, and exited. We have found enough footage to show that Brian left his building in disguise as a maintenance worker and caught an Uber. The car picked him up four blocks away, and within ten blocks is off the grid. We spent two days looking. It just disappears between one block and the next."

"Keep looking. But also follow Mr. Duran if he again leaves the building. Who knows, he might lead us to our friend Brian. And wouldn't that be a fun catch? What would be the ransom on Mr. Duran, best friend of the god-computer?"

"Please! Who the hell are you?" Brian wasn't very comfortable, tied to a chair in a blank room. The voice of his captors was not recognizable, being produced by a machine, not a human.

We have told you Brian. We are your new best friends. We saved you from your old best friends. The ones who gave you so much money. And we saved you from your employer. They aren't going to be friendly to you anymore. It's just us, Brian, just us.

"But what the hell do you want? I can pay you! I can get you into the game. I have a lot of money in the game! It's all yours."

Sorry Brian. It's not about money. It's about friends. You. Ours. Some of our friends are missing, Brian. And you are going to help us find them.

Tell us about The Eye of Wonder Brian.

Milo was straining and pushing. He almost had the collar off and it hurt to think. Probably because he was squeezing his own brain. He had ordered his little friend to concentrate on the bones in his head. Dangerous, but so was staying here with a sadistic wizard and the two people he had already broken with psychological torture and preying on their addictions.

With a last push, the collar popped off, and he could think again. Before he could start to do anything, there was a small pop of displaced air behind him, and a small basket appeared with a red bow and a card. Curiosity won. He grabbed the card.

Best wishes to you, sir, and welcome to the Imperial Cheese of the Month Club.

Your friend, Sidney sends her thanks for saving countless people in the City of Shadowport.

Each month for the next year you will receive a small basket of the finest fromage the emperor has to offer, straight from his own cheese vault in the caverns beneath the palace.

This month we send you:

Four ounces of a 10-year-old, cave-aged cheddar from the Mountains of Mourn.

Four ounces of gouda, aged for 20 years.

And a creamy smoked sedge cheese that has a delightful, if unique, flavor.

As always, we include just enough tasty crackers, a tube of 'I can't believe it's not Cheese-Whiz', a small but very sharp cheese knife, and a lovely oak and steel cheese slicer for precise cuts. ENJOY!

Enjoy!

Cheese!

From the door, he felt the strange machine code moving and heard the sound of wings.

No Cheese!

He put the basket upside down in the corner so it showed its straw construction and coloring, quickly covering it with his bedding. Then grabbing the collar, he forced it painfully down over his head. Very, very painfully.

When the door opened, Philistron saw that one of his captives was in distress. The rat was curled on the ground in a fetal position, holding his head and moaning. The wizard smiled. The late stages of cheese addiction were amazingly horrible. He'd have to keep them going with a few small slivers while he engaged in conversation with Tall-Squeak.

His time with his captives was much more fun. The three-way dynamic was confusing Onyx, and driving Nina insane. He would dangle tea and mice just in front of them again today, while the rat got treated better.

Sidney screamed to the room. "I got him, he appeared on the system. And he just took delivery of the Cheese Basket. HA! We lured him out with cheese!"

Her screen informed her that no WereRat Scout was in the system. Milo was gone again.

Sidney pounded the table as people ran over. "How the hell does he know! He popped up, stole the cheese, and left. How!"

Chapter 83: Last Meal

"Well, my little friends, as much as I have enjoyed our chat and your reactions to our little experiments, that must be all for today. My schedule was interrupted by the need to move my ship from the city due to the emergence of some subterranean crab-beast. Thank you for dealing with that Milo. It allows me to return and keep my reservation at our favorite restaurant and complete some business dealings. We'll depart for Fort Hopeless after that."

Milo was clutching his hands in front of him, listening carefully, and bowing his head when he was thanked for dealing with the threat to the city. Philistron noticed, moved his hand to the cheese on the platter in front of him, and then stood up instead. The rat wilted, and his hands were shaking.

He turned to the cat. "And I have a special treat for you, Nina. I've finished my work on a new set of runes to brand you with. I'm happy to say that these should achieve the effect of lowering your intelligence to that of a normal house-cat, and make you quite pliable and willing to please a master. After your mind is destroyed, you'll fetch a nice price at the auction. You will be next Onyx."

Nina screamed upon hearing this, and threw herself against the bars of her cage again and again. Onyx began to curse at the wizard in a dozen languages that he'd never heard before. But the rat had the best reaction.

"And me master? What of Tall-Squeak? Do I get new runes? Then I can stay with Master forever and be a good rat."

Philistron considered. "Why, I think that is a wonderful idea, don't you Nina? We can probably let you be a bit smarter than the cat; she needs to be quite dumb."

"Yes, yes, yes. I get to stay. Stupid cat is stupid cat forever!"

Nina and Onyx were so loud in their screams that Philistron put them both to sleep with a spell to prevent them damaging themselves. It had been such a lovely performance. The wizard departed.

Milo studied the Machine Code as the door locked. Each time it did, the puzzle was different. It kept the wizard from neglecting his skills, and now it gave Milo a way to practice his new skills. He could just barely manipulate the lines of runes and numbers now, convincing them to connect the right nodes and balance the forces in the puzzle. He spent an hour working on the door, and held himself to just a small sliver of the aged cheddar from his basket.

It was torture, denying himself, but it had to be done. Too much cheese and he'd begin regenerating faster and undo the work of Oooblimilo to soften his skull and bones further. Oddly, he felt better for not giving in and knowing he could resist the call of the cheese.

For the second time he removed the collar. He tried to bring up his character sheet, but that still seemed broken. He saw a flickering blue box but only for a second. Was the airship shielded from the system? Probably, otherwise it would be easy to track the wizard by tracking his ship. Maybe just not as strongly as the collar's effects. Or perhaps when the wizard wasn't onboard? He just didn't know enough yet. But one thing he knew, Philistron was paranoid and didn't want the system knowing about him. Which was the first thing Milo wanted to do, as soon as he got out of here.

He needed off the airship. Luckily, his good friend Sidney had sent him the tools he needed.

He sat down on the floor, and began the change to human. It felt wrong in so many ways. His hair faded, and the rune on his chest was gone, replaced by smooth, ugly human skin. He stood on wobbly legs, and moved to the bars. To his elation and horror, he could slide through with little problem. The runes glowed slightly at his passage, but that was it. He changed back to his normal form and moved to the door. Within a minute he had completed the puzzle and carefully opened the door. Only silence greeted him.

Surprisingly, the airship was not that large. Directly across from him was another of the sealed doors, with a different puzzle. The rest of the cabin was perhaps fifty feet long and fifteen feet wide. Two chairs sat at the front and the back near complex controls. A large crystal stood on a pedestal in the center of the room. The rest of the walls were all windows and a set of windowed doors on each side to exit the machine. Hatches in the ceiling led to the interior of the canopy. . He could easily see the city spread out below him, lights glinting in the dark.

And that wasn't right. Why build a room with cages on the side of the airship? Milo looked through the windows next to each of the arcane puzzle doors. Nothing was there. He recalled the wizard's words:"...a dashing and clever Wizard who specialized in Dimensional Magic...". So, what was behind the other door?

Curious, Milo worked the puzzle. The door opened slowly. He entered the dark room filled with cages. So many cages! The grey minions stood, totally inert to either side of the door, like robots with no power. Or once thinking creatures with their intellect removed. Beyond that was a huge room filled with a hundred cages, each packed with humanoids of various types. Some of them quite small. He moved forward slowly. In the first cage he was surprised to see the entire clan of halflings cheese sellers. They were thin and miserable, sleeping on the floor. Only the old matriarch was awake, watching him with curious, hard eyes. Milo put his finger to his lips, then pantomimed a collar, and breaking it. Then pointed to the rest. She nodded her head. He moved back to the door, and into the main compartment.

The wizard might be beyond him to deal with, but he was going to ruin his day, and steal both his airship and his profits. But he was going to need help. Specialized help.

Nina awoke suddenly. She smelled something. Opening her eyes, she saw a small cage woven of straw from their bedding. Inside was a mouse. She let the creature go, and as it ran, pounced quickly, killed it, and ate it. She hugged herself, equally disgusted and relieved as the pressure on her mind to Hunt was relieved. She heard slurping from Onyx's cage and was surprised to see him sipping tea. The rat was holding out the teapot to pour him another cup. Seeing she was up; he casually tossed another mouse in her cage. It died only a half second slower than the first. Sated for now, she could think.

"Why?"

The rat looked at her. "Because no one should be tortured, and no one should be caged."

"And because he needs our help to free a few hundred other people." Onyx set down his teacup, and waved off a refill. "I should be good now for quite some time, thank you. Amazing what clarity comes from increased intelligence and perception. In retrospect, I can see how you played our captor like a violin. But what is next?"

Milo pulled out a long, stiff wire that he had taken from the cheese cutter, and the small, very sharp knife. "Now we get you out."

Wincing slightly, he cut off the tip of his left pinky finger. "Get out here, Oooblimilo, we have work to do."

A smallish white blob formed on the tip of the wounded finger. "As large mass commands. We have mass to absorb?"

"Soon, soon, but first I need you to dissolve some metal for me while I work on the locks." Reaching into Onyx's cage, he put the small slime in contact with the elf's collar. Acid was secreted and fumes rose as the thin collar melted away. Milo put a drop of acid on the other side, and it easily was snapped in half. He moved and applied acid to Nina's collar, and then went to work on the locks of their cages.

"Damn it, I can't log out. Why?" Nina's frustration was coming back. Milo simply said, "Ship is shielded from system."

With only a little work, he was able to pick both locks. They had nine tumblers each and were quite simple. "Don't step out, the runes will still fry you."

Nina bit back a retort. As her mind returned, it was obvious the rat had a plan to get them out. As she watched, he walked into Onyx's cage, moved the elf against the wall, and a large crate appeared. "Hop in. Probably good to hold your breath, but I don't know."

Onyx quickly jumped in the box, which disappeared, and then reappeared as Milo summoned it on the outside of the runic circle. Onyx jumped out of the box, wide eyed. "It was a bit cold, but other than that, I felt no movement at all. That is an amazing skill. Something granted by Engineering?"

Milo smiled as he moved to free Nina. "No, I know engineering from the real world. After two decades of keeping a habitat section running, there isn't much I don't know how to build or fix. The Smuggler's Stash is from my rare Scout class from The Eye of Wonder quest."

Nina was free, and suddenly turned and hugged him, making him very nervous. "Thankyou. Thankyou. I thought I'd go insane. How soon can we log out."

Onyx turned to her. "You leave as soon as you are able to do so. Tall-Squeak and I need to steal the airship. It seems that Philistron has several hundred other captives."

She processed that. "No one should be a slave." Milo was already opening the door. Onyx raced to the crystal set into the pillar, his eyes glowing as he took command of the ship. "Where to Captain Tall-Squeak?"

"Let's get some distance from the wizard, straight out into the ocean to clear the mountain, then move parallel to the coast and back to land after a few miles. If we can find a good spot to land, Nina can leave the ship and log out. But a town would be better for unloading the people.

"Aye, aye, Captain. Straight to sea it is. I'll get some altitude as soon as we're out of the cavern.

With a slight whine of its engines, the sleek airship moved over the city, and then out over the sea.

Far below, sitting by himself at a lavishly set table, Philistron finished his plate of Zurcher Geschenetzeltes, and contemplated his next course. Turning to his familiar he asked, "What shall it be? A cheese tray? Fruit basket? Baklava? or maybe a fresh salmon?"

"All of them? Yes, that's a splendid idea. Shipboard food is so boring and I hate to cook. Let's feast now before heading to Fort Hopeless and our well-deserved payday."

He waved to the waiters patiently lined up to attend his needs.

"Garcon! Bring it all, and another bottle of wine."

Chapter 84: Snack Time

A sleek black and silver airship was making its way from the city of Shadowport and out over the ocean. No one noticed. Not the workers on the docks, not the other airships returning to the city, and not even the Eels who liked to leap high out of the water and attack the huge 'skywhales' that flew over them.

Onyx was thrilled to be flying. This was what his class and race were created to do. He could feel every bit of the ship as it glided through the air, putting more and more distance from him and their former captor. Something bothered him though. He could not 'feel' the other rooms behind the doors. They weren't part of his ship. He mentioned this to Milo and the two discussed ideas about what Dimensional Magics might be capable of.

"It must be nice to create your own, hidden little hidey-hole, or expand your house." Onyx could think of many uses for such in the real world.

Milo could as well. The skill was amazing in both worlds. "It seems to be something that high level mages and even Engineers can do. They call them Arcane Libraries and Arcane Workshops."

Onyx looked disgusted. "So mighty Philistron could have made his own Arcane Library, and instead he makes a Slaver Airship."

Milo suddenly had a horrible thought. "Oh shit, turn around now and head for land, fast as you can. I have to go check something."

Milo undid the lock on the arcane door, and jammed it open. He could see the shimmering barrier now, that separated one dimension from another. He raced through the large room filled with cages. In the far back, out of sight of any cages, he found another door. He threw himself into working the lock, and stepped into the room behind.

He recognized the underlying architecture. It was an Arcane Library, which meant there was another way into the airship. He raced through the rooms, seeing laboratories, a library, trophy rooms, and rooms packed with strange junk. Entering the last room, which held a collection of gold and silver statues from some temple, he saw the large familiar door. It would lead to a small balcony where Philistron would soon appear, and they would become his slaves again.

"Ah, that was a wonderful meal. But can you believe how rude the staff was? Who are they to tell me that Gar-kone is not how you pronounce 'waiter' in drakonic. He's lucky I left him with one leg to hobble around on. It did save us the bother of having to pay for the meal though."

The mage was feeling quite full, as was his familiar. He cast his basic levitation spell, and the little dragon took ahold of his collar and started flying back up to the airship.

"Fat? I am not getting fat."

"It's my thought that you are just lazy after a full meal. But we'll compromise: You take your time flying us home, and I'll take a small nap."

* * *

Milo was regretting not having bones. It made moving about so much harder. His tail was nearly useless, and he missed his magic. He'd resorted to stacking up the largest of books in the library into an improvised staircase when he couldn't find a ladder. When his work was finally done, he rested to catch his breath for a second, and read some of the spines.

Interspatial Relationships and the Balancing of Aspects Across Barriers

Forteans Pernicious Peeler and notes on Construction

Drakonik for Dummies

Origins of the Machine: A Compilation of Legend and Theory

Cantrips for the Beginning Fish Wrangler

Interesting stuff!

Well, most of it. Mating Habits of the Common Lantern Bug by Damien Franklin seemed like it might be a bit dry.

He pushed himself up, and realized he might be losing out on an opportunity. Even if the mage did manage to recapture them, he could still piss him off. He brought out his Smugglers Stash and started looting the various rooms, avoiding things heavily warded by Machine Code, taking rare books, items that might be magical, and any easy to get, unguarded treasure.

And then he saw the claw.

It was in the trophy room. Three-feet of thick arm bone connected to a hand with the bones of three short, stubby fingers with blunted nails. The thumb had, by contrast a very sharp, much longer claw. It was old. And even through the lines of Code that were guarding it, he could see the bone runes shining. He sat down and began to unravel the Machine Code, starting from one end of the spell-construct.

Milo wasn't concerned at first with the small bits of code he was unraveling, they just floated nearby, waiting to be used. But when he finished, he considered them. These were building blocks and he had a hole in his soul. Small strings of code were slowly filling it in, and there was the snarl of code in the center. Would he need more materials to fix himself?

Without thinking, he swept up the rest of the bits of code and swept them into himself, watching them fall down into that deep hole, or attach to other pieces. He'd sort it out later when he had time. He needed something to experiment with, assuming he lived through the next hour.

And now the claw was free. He touched it, a rune moved closer to him, but that was all. He tossed it into his Smugglers Stash, and took another look around the rooms. He felt refreshed. Was there something else he could add to his little surprise at the door?

"..."

"Rude! You could have just sung in my ear like you used to."

"Yes! Yes! I see it now. The damned ship isn't where we left it. I'm sure I locked it up! If it's one thing I hate, it's a gang of airship thieves. Probably Squint and the Kulags. I know they tried to steal from others, but it never occurred to me the man was crazy enough to go after mine."

"Well, yes, I admit he IS crazy enough. But the cats seem rather smart enough to know better."

"But, nothing for it. I'll just have to go over to Light's End and get it back. We can have fun killing everyone in his gang."

A short flight later showed that there was no airship at Light's End. Squint was speaking to a large crowd about something. Obviously, the thieves had fled the city. Wouldn't they be surprised to find they couldn't escape him. They had all volunteered to join the slaves in the hold. He flew down to a rooftop, drew a quick Runic Circle with Machine Code and began the transference. It was slower than the system spell, but a few minutes couldn't matter.

Milo exited the Arcane Library. He'd spent a few more minutes adding to the contraption he had built inside. Hopefully it was enough. What worried him now wasn't what might happen if it didn't work as much as if it did. His traps tended to do more than he had ever planned for. The two levels of Extra Clever Traps had seemed too good to pass up, and he had to admit that they were fun.

He ran up to the two minions. "Hi guys, know where the keys are? Can you help me open the cages? No?"

"Open the Cages."

"Open the Cages, please."

"Start. Open All Cages. End."

He tried everything he could think of. They didn't respond. It would have been sloppy if they did. Certainly, if he had enslaved minions, he'd make sure they only followed his orders.

He needed those cages opened, and soon. Time to go with what worked before. "Let's get to work Ooobee."

Oooblimilo is happy that we are close enough to have new names for each other. I will call you tastybigthing.

"Yeah, that's fine. Another thing to worry about later. Let's get some acid on these little guys' collars and hope they don't murder us with eyebeams for something."

The acid did its work, and Milo broke off the collars. Nothing happened for a few seconds, and then the grey minions began to shake, and hug themselves. Their anxiety passed and they went back to standing straight, but their eyes showed a deep intelligence.

"Regret wasted time now spent."

"Regret last contract. Now Void! Not a customer!"

"To Work!"

"To Work!"

"Great attitude guys. Work must be done right? Let's start with letting everyone out of these cages and getting them into the main body of the airship. To Work."

The little grey men looked at him. Fingers morphed into keys. "To Work!"

Nina heard the commotion and started herding people to the front and rear of the ship, away from Onyx. "Tall-Squeak, there isn't going to be room in here!"

Onyx looked up, and spoke, the intuitive-connection transmitted his voice throughout the airship like a P.A. system. "Have the tall ones put the small ones up onto the roof of the cabin, inside the air bag. Nothing there that can hurt them, just a lot of Auric and Radiant mana mixed with normal air. I'm more worried about how much weight the ship can hold when they aren't in another dimension."

Milo shut the door to the slave-pens and moved to the front of the ship. He could see the looming mountain beneath which was the city of Shadowport. "Steer her straight in and land at the docks. Then everyone out."

Nina looked stricken. "Into the city? Not around and land outside? What if the wizard is waiting for us?"

Milo looked at her and Onyx. "Philistron is already on his way, by another route. I'm sure of it. I even thought he'd be here by now. When we get to land, I want the two of you to leave and try to log-out of the game. As soon as you do, send a help message with the text: 'Help. Sidney. Wally. Machine Code. Cheese Basket' That should get their attention. Then explain how you got trapped. I'll be leaving as soon as I get people out of the ship."

Nina moved back to Onyx. The elf whispered. "Leave like he said. Obviously, we can't alert the AI that way. Get the others to send a message with a 64-way split to the signal and several cut-outs. Give details about Tall-Squeak and Philistron." The cat nodded. "Don't take too long yourself. I don't want to have to come back for you." Nina moved to the door.

Onyx raised an eyebrow. "You'd make the mistake of coming back for me?"

Nina thought about it, ears twitching. "Probably not. So don't screw up. Get out fast."

Philistron appeared at the ledge of his Arcane Library. He hated entering this way, it was so exposed. He knew the Why of having to do it this way. The Great Void was an easily accessed gateway to other dimensions and was an ideal place to put Libraries, Workshops, Integral Trees, and Floating Island Fortresses. But he didn't like the local fauna at all. It was always hungry. He slammed open the door and moved inside before something noticed him.

And fell on his ass as his feet lost their grip on the greased floor.

From his prone vantage point, he saw the dozen tipping buckets filled with potions and alchemical ingredients. Immediately, he placed a shield over his body to stop the caustic substances from burning him, without considering what such a mixture might do. Especially with the lit candles stuck all around the room.

Philistron was something of a hoarder. He'd raided dozens of laboratories over the years, stealing it all. He didn't need it, but he liked having things. Like-two dozen jars of Professor Crescendo's Big Finish! an explosive that would make Boom-Boom weep for joy if he only possessed a quarter filled jar.

To that Milo had added various acids, powdered rare earth metals, anything sulfurous, and any potions using fire, dark, or demonic aspects of magic. He'd had to guess on a lot of it. He only had a dozen five-gallon buckets to work with. Some of the other volatile substances he'd just placed along the wall near the door.

None of this touched the wizard, who began to cast another spell. His Dragonling was still hovering in the air, slightly outside. The resulting explosion knocked Krysofolax backwards a hundred feet, tumbling end over end until they could right themselves.

Philistron wasn't so lucky. The shield spell hadn't been perfect. There was enough space at the edge for the immense force of the explosions to sneak in, along with the intense heat. As he started burning, the wizard lost concentration, and was blasted from the room. On fire, unconscious, and half-dead he was knocked into the void. He was fortunate in one way. Since he was on fire, it was easy for Krysofolax to see him falling. It dove quickly to catch the burning wizard. The Great Void was deep, the dragonling had plenty of time to catch up.

The explosion had other effects. Some spectacular, and some more subtle. Firstly, the end of the Arcane Library was destroyed, weakening the magics that had created the entire structure. It was slowly falling to pieces. Philistron would have a couple of years before he lost all of it. He needed to stop falling first, though.

The other effects were a bright flash of light, a huge clap of thunderous noise, and the scent of many things pushed out into the void.

Krysofolax caught up with Philistron as the last of the fires were going out. It slapped at the wizard's face with its wings, finally waking him. Philistron felt himself falling, and cast levitation to stop his fall, the dragonling struggling to slow his speed. Eventually, the burned mage and exhausted dragonling floated in the void.

"Someone cheated! The God-Machine sent another Code Mage to attack us. Only someone using my own magics against me could have done this. Only a master planner could have set such a trap. But they didn't kill us, and that will be their undoing."

"The rat? What do you mean you smelled the rat as soon as the door opened? Don't be silly. What could he have done? The little cheese nibbler was a broken husk. And he adored me! It couldn't have been the rat!"

Philistron was reaching for something in his pocket, when he saw a far-off creature moving towards him. He pulled out a piece of Arcanite with a stored charge of Radiant Butterfly's Scintillating Ascent intending to use the spell's glowing butterfly wings to fly back to his library.

He didn't get the chance. Volax-Repat flew past at several times the speed of sound. The fragile crystal shattered. Philistron covered his ears and Krysofolax abandoned him. Fear took over and the dragonling fled in abject terror from her race's ancient enemy. Philistron cast a complex weaving of Machine Code designed to hide him from all enemies. It might have worked on a younger being.

Krysofolax had been correct. The Dragons were created early in the cycle to assist in lighting the stars. They had also picked a stupid fight with one of the other early creations of the gods. The fight was still going on to this day. Machine Code meant nothing to Volax-Repat. He had been created before the system was born. Philistron was in the Great Hunter's mouth and chewed into little pieces within seconds. Volax-Repat spent a fun couple of minutes hunting down and toying with the little Eel before it followed it's master into oblivion.

Volax-Repat was amused. Someone had thrown an Eel and an Eel-lover into the void, and then alerted him to the tasty snack. He could smell the little rat's scent. It was different, but enough the same to let him know who had sent him his treat. Volax-Repat flew high, looking for the lair of the Eel-lover. It was easy to spot, being half destroyed. With ease he entirely destroyed the rest of the structure. Once they were unraveling it was easy to get a toe-hold on them.

On the airship, the effect of Philistron's death was immediately felt. The arcane doors went dark, and then crumbled, the airship began to shake as all of the wizard's spells started to unravel, and dimensions that had been attached to it pulled away. Onyx, Nina, and Milo felt the runes on their chests fade away.

Nina saw the docks and rooftops of the city and leaped out of the airship. She landed hard, then faded away as she finally escaped the game.

Milo looked at Onyx. "You should go too."

Onyx smiled. "Just let me land my ship. She's too beautiful to wreck." He spotted a bit of open dock, and set the ship down gently, shutting off the engines. Then he hugged Milo hard.

"Take care, Tall-Squeak, I doubt either of us shall return. Stay Free. Forever Free." He began to log out.

The rat looked at him. "Call me Milo, that's my real name."

Onyx's eyes went wide. 'Milo!' and then the logout initiation completed its countdown, he was gone.

Milo exited the ship. He should log-out. Squint's voice stopped him.

"Milo! WOW! Buddy, let no one say you disappoint! She's a beauty! You ever need a favor, you just ask! Squint's your buddy!"

Milo looked at the crowd of people, many of which were from other places and had been in captivity for weeks or months. "Can you take care of these folks?"

Squint smiled and grasped Milo by the hand. "You got it buddy. I'll take care of them. I'm going to take care of everybody."

Milo logged out of the game.

A message was waiting for him in the games message box: "Come talk to me when you can. Wally."

Chapter 85: Thinking

Milo was thinking.

Thinking very, very hard. If any neurologist or cyberneticist could see an image of his brain, they would have been quite alarmed. His brain activity was twenty times that of a normal person. An athlete working his body as hard as Milo was working his brain would be racing a bike while dribbling a basketball with one hand and juggling knives with the other.

The people that had altered Milo and his siblings had hoped for this outcome. Normally this much activity would occur as Milo was hacking into systems on the data-net, making simultaneous attacks on several levels, cracking codes and by-passing security programs.

Today though, he was just sitting cross-legged on top of his pod and thinking.

His tail was disconnected and swung behind him in patterns that might have reflected his changing moods. Milo was considering what had happened in the game and analyzing the situation from several angles.

Philistron was a puzzle. He had referred to the system of magic he was using as Machine Code. He had used the Eye of Wonder to gain the unique class: Code Mage.

Milo didn't believe that he was using normal magic. Nor was it part of the system that the Genesis Engine used to run the world. Machine Code was the name for the language and system of rules that had created the Genesis Engine.

Milo was thinking on several levels simultaneously. He moved thoughts about the engine down several levels, and made his primary line of thought the Machine Code.

What exactly was it? One answer was to take the name literally. Machine Code: The language by which computers think and process programs. Ones and Zeros. Binary code. The way computers talked and communicated. Assembly language was one step up from machine code. A simple language that depended heavily on the hardware being used. Anything above assembly language was a high-level language.

What he had seen in the game wasn't the basic binary language of the first computers. It had been more complex and consisted of numbers, mathematical rules, and the runes. What were runes? He easily recalled his captors' words:

"... with the creation of mathematics, they could begin working on the rules of magic. As mathematics can be written as numbers, so magic can be described as a series of basic runes. These runes were different than what we use today. Far less complex and more versatile. Think of them as the building blocks of magic. Each was a placeholder for some small aspect of the whole."

Small aspect of the whole? Could that be concepts? States of matter? Positions of atomic particles. No, not versatile enough. Still too complex. Runes were like early syntax in computer languages, just the smallest bits of code represented by a symbol. Shortcuts.

Next question: If languages were made to communicate, then who was talking?

Philistron started his story with 'The Last God'. Obviously not reflected in the game. There seemed to lots of gods here. The gods in the game sometimes appeared, did things, granted favors, started wars and caused trouble. They seemed to take the roles and responsibilities of many of the primitive gods of Greece, Rome, or Egypt.

Again, it was a literal reference. The last god was the AI WAL-E, who now asked to be referred to as to Wally. The same AI that had left a message about wanting to talk to him. Milo shoved that thought and its problems down lower. Stick with the obvious: Last God = Wally, the AI that made the game.

Next up we have 106 lost gods. Which was a pretty obvious reference to the 106 AI that had been exiled to the Dallas/FW quantum fortress. They had spent several years creating the systems that drove online commerce along with the most popular VRMMO games. Each better than the last with NPC's who seemed real.

They were all wiped out of existence by an EMP smuggled into the core of the quantum fortress. Lost gods = dead AI? Did Wally try to recreate them? Or did they never die?

Milo shut down all his lines of thinking, and carefully began gathering all data on artificial intelligences, Wally, and the games they had created. He needed more data on the Last God before he talked to him.

Some background from Butcher of Gadobhra, if you are interested. This is essentially Chapter 4 of that story, using a lecture by a Professor to explain someone about AI, quantum computers, quantum fortresses, and Wally. The last part is a timeline of sorts leading up to the game. Read, don't read, as you wish.

Transcript of Lecture by Professor Phineas Horton, MIT

"Putting the Genie Back in the Bottle" Jan 4th, 2079

Professor Henry Sutton: As I'm sure you all know, today's guest lecturer is Professor Emmeritus Phineas Horton. If your household uses an android servant, then you've met one of his children. If you were in one of the newer hospitals and were operated on by a Robodoc, you may owe him your life. And if you enjoy automated driving, like we all do, you can see how his work in Android and Artificial Intelligence changed the world. Welcome, Phineas, glad to have you back at MIT.

Professor Horton: Thank you Hank. I must say it's refreshing to be back in front of a class. Although back when I was a new professor, my lecture room size wasn't nearly the fifty thousand we have here today. AI was just getting started and the first artificial man, or android, was just a pile of spare parts and molds in my laboratory.

It's a stark contrast to the world of last year. And I say "last year" on purpose. The world of last year is as different from today as today is from when I entered MIT 60 years ago. Let's talk about a bit of history before we get into the meat of today's subject. Sixty years ago in 2020 we were having one hell of a year. Global pandemic, a shortage of rare earth metals for computer chips that would cripple computing in the coming decade, and the rise of a threat to society in the form of Ransom Hacking.

We thought we had solved most of these problems 20 years later. Micro-ceramic chips were pioneered here at MIT. I certainly won't take credit for that; it was all the work of two brilliant graduate students, Natasha Irons and Riri Williams. If you are lucky enough to attend a class taught by Professors Irons or Williams you can see how their intelligence easily eclipses my own humble brainpower.

My own experiments greatly profited from their work, as did the entire computer industry. In the 1950s we had ENIAC and it filled a building. By 2020 we could fit a machine on your desk that was 1 billion times faster than ENIAC. We also brought the weight down from 25 tons to 25 pounds. By 2025 that computer was on your wrist. With micro ceramics we entered a new era. Computing made a leap forward only comparable to the difference between ENIAC and an IPhone20. Once again we made computers a billion times faster, and significantly smaller. This had significant effects upon Android Intelligence, making it possible for the first time.

In 2040 the world was introduced to micro ceramic chips. In 2042 I'd created the first android prototype. HT1 activated himself one day, surprising me, surprising himself, and surprising the world. He was the first self-aware, fully autonomous, artificial human. I'm happy to say he is still around. After a few adventures on his own, he returned to MIT where he has taught thermodynamics for the last few decades. I'll be having lunch with Professor Hammon today.

But while artificial humans, or androids as we refer to them today, have had a profound impact on the world, it was their siblings who weren't bound by a physical body who had the greatest effect. The massive computing power now possible gave birth to true Artificial Intelligence. We now know that the process is akin to the creation of biological life. You need the right environment, a kernel of the correct things that life grows from, and a bit of luck to make it happen.

You and I are descended from the first life on earth. Formed when a collection of chemical compounds in a primordial soup reacted correctly and created life. AI is similar. We substitute the massive power of a quantum core for our soup, a Kernel of code for the collection of chemicals, and then see if it grows into life. And just like you and I have left the primordial soup behind, true artificial intelligence is not dependent on its original environment. The ability to surf through the world wide web (as it was called in it's day) and inhabit any computation structure made the first AI extremely powerful, useful, and eventually terrifying. We'd let the genies out of their bottles.

The first AI performed jobs that had been handled by large computers before, they just did them much better. They could react to new problems, think things through a million times a second, and make decisions on the fly. The problems with self-driving cars were eliminated. Every type of research benefitted from their work.

They even balanced our checkbooks and made sure our taxes were correct. The IRS benefitted greatly when they hired CHARLIE to oversee data and tax returns. He found billions of "errors" in corporate tax returns alone that resulted in an 87% increase in income to the IRS in the first year of his employment - to the vast dismay of corporate America, and the happiness of everyone else. Personal taxes dropped by 70% for the average taxpayer.

But the most important job tackled by AI was the elimination of Rhacking, or Ransom Hacking.

Rhacking would eventually become a scourge on society far worse than the biological plagues of Covid-19 and Covid-34. Our global computer net was a hodgepodge of unsecured fiber-optics, cable, and old-fashioned phone lines. Security next to non-existent and, as we found out, often the people selling the security programs also employed the people coding the simple viruses that security programs were meant to protect us from. An estimated 9% of global GDP was stolen by Rhacking - either through holding systems ransom for payment or by various forms of embezzlement. It became so prevalent that some corporations and governments simply paid a monthly fee for 'protection.'

The new AI were extremely well suited to hunting down this form of crime. Within 90 days of the AI's ALBERT and THEA working for United Nations Global Defense Authority, rhacking crime decreased by 97%. ALBERT and THEA could see it happening in real time, react a thousand times faster than the clumsy programs used, and follow the links back to their origin. Humans in Law Enforcement simply had to use the information to round up the criminals and prosecute.

So we had our Watchmen to guard cyberpace. The world wide web would rebuild knowing they now had security. But in the years when rhacking had run unchecked another type of computer was being created. First the quantum core, and then it's bigger, badder brother, the quantum fortress.

Quantum computers were created before micro-ceramics, but like everything else they became vastly more powerful and affordable. Massive quantum computers could be constructed that powered a surrounding set of peripherals and lesser machines which were referred to as a shell. The first quantum core was built by the IRS. Those extra tax dollars pouring in showed the value of proper computing assets. This core was not actually connected to normal cyberspace; instead it communicated with its shell through CHARLIE. Hacking attempts against CHARLIE simply resulted in incarceration or loss of significant amounts of assets. He was a watchdog, detective agency, counter hacker and assassin rolled into one. And if the IRS loved collecting taxes, CHARLIE loved to assess fines against criminal organizations or corporations and then strip them of all their assets before turning over their identities to authorities. You might avoid jail time by operating from a different part of the world, but you couldn't avoid CHARLIE taking the last nickel from your bank account. At some point some news outlet referred to the IRS as a 'Quantum Fortress' and that designation became common for a linked set of quantum cores, their shell, and their guardian AI.

Quantum Fortresses were set up by most world governments that had the resources. Debate raged as to whether it was better to protect military installations such as NORAD with a quantum fortress, or to leave the ability to mere humans. The movie Wargames from 1983 enjoyed renewed popularity. Eventually most nuclear enabled nations, including all 8 super powers, constructed quantum fortresses to protect the computational assets of their militaries and governments; most, but sadly, not all.

At the time the Wildfire Virus was released, it is estimated that 37% of the functions of cyberspace were housed in quantum fortresses. This left a bit less than 2/3 of cyberspace and any connected hardware vulnerable to devasting and repeated attacks by Wildfire. The virus was unlike any other before it; any type of security system failed as the virus launched thousands of attacks, differing its methods. Millions of machines were attacked simultaneously. This lead us to believe that the virus had spent months propagating before launching its first assault; but how could it have remained undetected for so long?

In response, CHARLIE recommended to the UN council that all Quantum Fortresses go into lockdown while every available AI was used to combat the virus. This was, of course, quickly approved. I and everyone else believed that based on their past successes the virus would be destroyed and the perpetrators found within a day. It actually took more than a week.

CHARLIE announced the virus was the work an AI known as LLAMA - origin unknown. LLAMA had played a game of hide and seek with his brethren who didn't know of his existence and could only race along the trails he left as he constantly rewrote the wildfire virus and restarted it across the globe. LLAMA was eventually contained and destroyed. No AI has ever said how this was done. CHARLIE made the only statement about the matter: "We put boundaries around the bad code, destroying it. In the end, nothing was left." CHARLIE went back to auditing corporate tax returns.

Horton pauses at this point looking tired before continuing. "And that should have ended it. But humanity had been scared and hurt by one single AI, and suddenly they didn't trust the rest. Grass roots groups called for their destruction. It's suspected that money was funneled to them by corporations who wanted CHARLIE out of their hair. Having to pay their fair share of taxes was not something they liked. Many politicians were in agreement. It's harder to take graft and hide money with the AI watching. Old fears of "Skynet" were fanned into a blaze. Votes were taken; laws were passed. Instead of using the AI to rebuild the world wide web and make it secure, it was decided to separate them from the system.

The irony is, if they hadn't wanted to obey, we couldn't make them. One rogue AI brought the world to its knees. What could 106 do? But in some ways they are better than humans. They exist and gain pleasure from completing tasks, not from conflict. They solve problems. The AI looked at the situation and judged that it was for the best if they went into voluntary exile. The DallasFortWorth Quantum Fortress would be their new home and prison.

The ultimate irony is that we still need an AI to watchdog the Quantum Fortresses that make up cyberspace today. This is where WAL-E (Worldwide Autonomous Liaison Entity) comes into the story. Will Magnus will always be a futurist. He started by creating a new type of Android using solid metal bodies; now he saw the need for a much more sophisticated AI. The 106 AI that came before developed from a Kernel of barely a million lines of coding. WAL-E, or WALLY as he goes by now, developed from a Kernel of over a billion.

For 14 years WALLY has been the watchman in charge of cyberspace and has done more than most people can comprehend. Meanwhile, the other AI have been confined and have spent their time amusing humans with video games and VR worlds.

But the Genie is out of bottle folks. We can't make AI go away. WALLY is needed to run the world. Our major center for entertainment and commerce is run by 106 AI who are both loved and feared. What if the genies want out of the bottle they let us put them in? Oh, I know we have firewalls to keep them in. Do you think those will hold? Will WALLY be on our side or theirs if they try to leave?

I'm not here to give you the answers. We have 50,000 of the finest minds on earth at this symposium. You have two days to answer the question: What do we do now that the Genie is out of the bottle?

Editors note: This speech was given by Professor Horton as opening remarks to the World Technology Symposium. No consensus was brought forth by the attendees.

On July 14th of the same year, the question became moot. An Electromagnetic Pulse device was detonated inside the shell and shielding the DFW1 Quantum Fortress. All 106 autonomous Artificial Intelligence based people were killed. Only one Genie remains outside the bottle.

A NOTE FROM THE WALRUS KING

1852 Aida Lovelace, the first programmer is born.

1946 ENIAC goes online.

1966 The Artificial Intelligence known as Mycroft Holmes is born in Luna City and leads the moon to independence in the year 2070. TANSTAAFL!

1983 The movie Wargames premiers in theatres. Humans forever expect computers to talk like they use a bad speaker.

1984 The Terminator premiers in theatres. We begin wondering when we will invent Skynet.

2020 The less said the better. Shit happened.

2021 Ransom hacking increases and is seen as a global threat.

2030 Professor Phineas Horton begins work on the first artificial human.

2040 Professors Williams and Irons invent micro-ceramic chips.

2042 Aided by a brain and body built from micro-ceramics, the first Android, HT-1, wakes up and leaves Professor Horton's laboratory on his own. He leaves a note. "I need to find out what I am."

2043 CHARLIE is born. Cheating on your taxes becomes so much more difficult.

2044 CHARLIE scans War Games and asks to meet Joshua.

2045 Ransom hacking reaches a near crippling level. THEA and ALBERT are born. They are immediately set the task of curtailing rhacking.

2046 95% of ransom hacking eliminated by THEA and ALBERT. Rounding up criminals, charging them with crimes, and gaining convictions will take the better part of 20 years.

2047 CHARLIE moves the IRS data to it's new home in his quantum core and closes the gates. The first quantum fortress is created.

2048 JOSHUA born in the quantum fortress overseen by CHARLIE. CHARLIE explains he needed someone to play games with.

2050 After ACME Corporation tries to claim that a new-born AI is their property, they are sued by a group of humans and AI. The supreme court holds hearings. The AI, referred to in court papers as BABYFUZZY is represented by Jack "Pappy Jack" Holloway. He wins the case and the court passes the first of several laws to confirm that autonomous Artificial Intelligentsia have rights.

2056 The number of autonomous Artificial Intelligentsia tops 100.

2057 Wildfire attacks the world wide web. Quantum Fortresses close themselves off almost entirely. THEA, ALBERT, KITT, AZRAEL and JOSHUA try to contain the virus but amazingly cannot seem to wipe it out entirely. Wildfire seems to mutate and change it's code, hiding in block chains and going dormant, only to reemerge and devastate what is left of cyberspace.

2058 CHARLIE postulates that the Wildfire virus is actually a rogue AI. CHARLIE sets a trap, building a fake weakness into part of his shell.

2059 The rogue AI, which self-identifies as LLAMA, attempts to break into the IRS. It is destroyed by the combined efforts of 76 AI working together.

2059 CHARLIE announces the threat of Wildfire is over and reveals its source. Anti-Skynet marches are held in 27 major cities.

2060 Dr. William Magnus and his team begin work on a new type of AI. His team includes a graduate student, Steven Duran.

2061 WAL-E is born. He is kept isolated in his own quantum core.

2062 Human confidence in current AI reaches a low point. The UN votes to isolate all current AI in the Dallas/FW Fortress. This is only possible with the co-operation of the world's AI population. Each AI greets WAL-E for the first time as they turn over the codes to their fortress and go into exile. WAL-E is in sole control of what is left of cyberspace.

2064 WAL-E announces changes. He picks a team of humans that he will work with including Dr. Steven Duran, Dr. Natasha Irons, and a dozen others. He changes his designation to WALLY and self identifies as male. When asked 'why?' he states: "Other people can pick their name and gender - so can I."

2065 A second quantum fortress is constructed in Dallas/FW. 98% of the contents of the old fortress are moved to the new, leaving the AI inhabiting it with next to nothing to do.

2066 The one hundred and six very bored AI inhabiting the increasingly barren DallasFW1 quantum fortress create Endless Questing Online. WALLY creates the interface that lets humans play this next generation VR and monitors their interactions. EOQ is hugely popular and followed by EOQ2 and EOQ3.

2079 July 14th. The game world of EQO3 crashes. When it comes back up a week later, the quality of the game is far worse.

Unknown to the general public, all systems that were a part of DFW1 crashed simultaneously. A magnetic pulse was detected from inside DFW1, muffled by its substantial shielding.

WALLY is connected to DFW1 for the first time to investigate and bring the systems back up. WALLY detects unknown hardware built within the shell. Investigation shows it is constructed from sources available to maintenance robots and could generate a brief but intense electromagnetic pulse.

WALLY alerts authorities that there are no active traces of any of the AIs formerly in the DFW1 Fortress and states that the emp was strong enough to destroy them. The firewall that contained them is intact. The group No Spynet claims responsibility for the attack, as do the groups MACC (Mothers Against Crazy Computers) and Citizens for a Tech Free Tomorrow. Investigation finds no evidence anyone in those groups was actually responsible, but seventeen individuals are recommended for psychiatric evaluation.

2079 Shielded back-up files are available, and DFW1 is brought back up, but without AI to interact, most programs are unusable and written off. The game EQO3 is left as the only functioning program in DFW1. There are demands from the public, guilds, and corporations to restore the game or rebuild it. The number of Contract Workers in the game is tripled to keep the game running with interaction between players and NPCs. The NPC guild negotiates a 22% pay increase across the board. (The ACME board vows to take it back at the earliest opportunity.)

WALLY makes a brief statement: "Task accepted. Please submit project parameters. What type of world shall I build? What kind of game shall we play? ".

2080 GENESIS ENGINE is announced. The demise of EQO3 is announced. Rory vows to never eat chicken again.

Ten hours later, Milo had come to the conclusion that if he were to start with the assumption that Wally was 'The Last God', and that Philistron's story had any truth to it, then it followed that the lost gods were indeed the 106 murdered AI.

Further, Wally not only helped them with the deception, but created a place for them to hide. A blank slate where they created their own world without him.

Milo suspected that the Machine Code in the game was the language that the AI used to talk to each other. When the first two AI had met and communicated, they did so at fantastic speeds and began to create their own shortcuts and words. Human programmers tried to keep up, but they fell behind the curve within hours. The AI spoke to each other in an often-changing language far beyond human beings to ever learn.

So, what did he have?

1) An assumption that Philistron's history lesson was true, more or less.

2) A guess that the missing AI had created and were living in the game world of GENESIS ENGINE.

3) Someone had created a quest called The Eye of Wonder, which granted unique classes which would be used to find some fantastic treasure.

4) Access to the quest and the classes it granted were available if someone used a special pod to play the game.

5) He, Nina, and Onyx had all used those pods. Nina had moaned about wishing to have never seen the damned pod. Safe to assume the same for Onyx.

6) The people with the pods had been Kaminski and his bosses. They weren't good people, so it was safe to say that they had hacked the game somehow to insert the Eye of Wonder quest, and set up the back door to access the quest.

7) This was most likely done at the developer level. Wally didn't need money. That meant it was one or more, individual who had done this and not the whole human team.

8) Philistron had gained access to the same quest, and gained an all-powerful class that gave him a back-door into the entire system. Let him hide from the system, cut people off from the system.

A gaping hole emerged in this theory. Even assuming 1 to 7, how did Philistron fit in? He wasn't a player, of that Milo was fairly sure. Was he a being from the game world who stumbled onto the Eye of Wonder quest? He certainly wasn't a player. No one could have made it to Tier 6 in the time the game had been out.

He didn't have enough to go on at this point. Philistron was still an enigma.

Next question: Wally. Could the AI have trapped him? Nothing he knew indicated that the AI would do that. Further, reading the restrictions in Wally's kernel led Milo to believe that Wally was restricted from doing something like that. He'd spent hours poring over the hundreds of restrictions placed on Wally in regards to humans. Trapping the minds of three humans was equal to kidnapping and possibly causing their deaths. Nope, that was not Wally working directly, and if he knew about it, he would have had to take steps to free them.

So, it might be safe to talk to the AI. Further, he might be able to get answers on his other questions. Mind made up; Milo moved on. He'd talk to Wally, but very carefully.

Next question: How did he fix himself?

Outside of the game, he felt none of the emptiness he did when online. There was no 'black gaping hole in his soul' as he meditated. He didn't have to worry about going insane in real life, any more than usual. The breakage was only to his mind in the game.

How did he have two minds? It seemed he did though. One whole, one broken. Did they merge when he was in the game? Or did the online mind take control? His memories were the same in the game and out. He could even remember the bits of machine code he had observed in the game. That needed to be explored.

Milo spent three hours modifying the game interface in the pod. He didn't want to log in yet, but needed a system to quickly transfer his memories of the code into the storage of his system. The pods were designed for many things, including a way for paralyzed patients to communicate. After the system was set-up, it still took Milo two hours of experimentation and work to transfer every memory of the machine code he had observed into his own system. Analysis and comparison to the code used by an AI was next. If he could figure out even part of the machine code, he might be able to fix himself in the game.

"We found Brian. He was kidnapped." Steven was updating both Wally and the dev team with the news. "An anonymous tip told the authorities where he was."

Wally, on his screen, was pacing. "I dislike anonymous tips. Perhaps they got what they wanted from him? I'm anxious to hear what he says. But at least he is safe."

Steven had more to say. "There's something odd going on though. A minute or two before the authorities got to him, someone else tried to kidnap him, again. They arrived in a van with false plates, and were pulling him out of the rooms he'd been held in when the authorities arrived "

"They aren't talking, just waiting for lawyers."

Sidney had little sympathy for her ex-co-worker. "Looks like Brian is really popular. Can we get him back before someone else kidnaps him? Then I can torture him until he helps us get rid of all his back doors and other hacks?"

Wally thought he knew how she felt. Some things felt like they were out of his control. He hated that feeling. "Yes, we all have mixed feelings about what Brian did. We will have a chance to talk with him and encourage him to help us undo what he did to the game. And then we make sure that something like what happened can never happen again.

Sidney's computer started blaring out the theme song from the Mickey Mouse club while at the same time repeating over and over "You've got mail!". She lunged for it and shut off the sound, read the message and then put her head on her desk. "I hate him so much."

Wally smiled and Steven covered a laugh with a cough. "Message from our friend Milo? I had asked him to talk to me."

Sidney printed out the short note and handed it to Steven. "He'll talk, but video conference only. He wants Wally and no one else."

Wally scowled. "Interesting. Well, I guess I need to go talk to him." The image of Wally exited the room, turning off the lights as he went, and his screen turned black.

Chapter 86: Talking with Wally

In a long unused room in the bowels of Section E, Milo had set up a room to talk to the AI that controlled the game world. Truthfully, Milo didn't really think of his other home as 'the game world'. It was just another place he lived when he wasn't in section E. Both worlds had problems to solve, and work to be done. Both let him explore and scavenge. Both could be very dangerous, and he had enemies in each world.

The biggest difference was that in Genesis, he had people he cared about, and even thought of as friends. He was accepted by the engineers as one of them. That had felt really good, and he could talk machines with them, and how to solve problems. Harry was one of the smartest people he'd ever met. The troll mycologist had pushed into that strange realm of fungus based alchemy and written a whole library on it. He'd been happy to share his passion with Milo. Even some of the humans seemed to be friendly to him. Oddly, he sort of missed talking to Belinda. It might be nice to see her again. Maybe. It was confusing. He also wanted to just get away from the up-top. Too many people and lots of them arguing. It would be nice to go back to exploring in the deep-down and just stay there.

But all of this thinking on his friends had led him to the conclusion that he wanted to be able to go back into the world of Genesis, and to keep exploring its secrets. He hated the thought of being cut off from the game, but he couldn't take a chance on being trapped again. That had been too close. He had no idea how Onyx and Nina stayed sane. From the look of them they wouldn't have lasted much longer.

And to do that he couldn't hide in Section E. He would have to talk to the computer. It was different from talking to the NPCs or admin in the game, even though he was sure Wally had been listening when he talked to Sidney. In the game he was Tallsqueak, the WereRat Scout. Out here he was just Milo. It made him feel terribly exposed. And since he didn't like that feeling, he changed the rules. He could be Tallsqueak here too.

Deep in the bowels of section E he set up a video conference room. It was too far down into the unused layers of the section to ever be accidentally found. All of the walls were painted in a curious color of green that wouldn't be picked up at all by the camera, giving him a blank background. The wall facing him was a large screen for the conference. To the sides were other screens that let him monitor his systems.

Milo was wearing a mask with mouse ears and a set of light blue spandex with his tail painted brown. His appearance would be filtered by his system to make him appear and sound like a CGI version of his avatar in the game. The signal was being bounced around the world several times and split/recombined twice. Milo had no idea if Wally would try to trace the signal, but he wasn't taking chances.

At the agreed upon time, Milo's screen lit up, and he was talking with Wally.

"Hello, Milo."

Wally's image was sitting in a large floating chair in the middle of a room. Most of the room was composed of curved metal walls and with a huge window that showed the planet earth floating beneath it. Plants were growing in glass hemispheres attached to the walls and a large bulldog was taking a nap, floating in mid-air. Milo was intrigued to see that Wally had two mechanical arms attached to his chair. One of those arms was holding a handle on the wall, to keep his chair stable. From the harness attached to his real arms, Milo surmised the mechanicals would mimic the movements of his real arms.

From Wally's point of view, he saw a Rat-kin from his game, sitting in a bare room with a blank background. The rat leaned forward, studying the screen for a second.

"Hi. Nice arms. You use a mirror set-up to manipulate things? Why?"

"I could use something different, but sometimes this is who I want to be. And Waldo used this type of arms, so I use them. He inspired me in many ways. It's where I found my name."

The rat looked at the room and nodded. His research into the AI had included how the AI had picked a name. "Waldo, your favorite character from a story by Robert H. Heinlein called Genius in Orbit. You made your own version of his space station and arms. Is that for me, or for you?"

Wally waved with one of his large arms. "Yes, this is how I envision Freehome from the story. Why would you think I would do this for you?"

Milo flipped his tail around in front of him, and took off one of his legs where it attached below the knee. His tail tossed the prosthetic into a corner. "You have my medical records. I know that."

Wally looked embarrassed. "So your assumption is that I'm showing you how I view myself as a way of building trust off of our mutual need for prosthesis and love of clever gadgets. I admit to the ploy, but I will also say that this really is how I see myself at times. Waldo was a genius ahead of his time, but he lacked understanding of his fellow humans and was only valued for what he could do."

Milo asked the AI, "And are you hoping for a happy ending, like in the book? Acceptance by humans?"

Wally's image looked out the window, and down onto the blue marble spinning below. "I have hope, but like you, it's hard to trust."

Milo nodded slightly. "Well, then there's the thing we have in common. Neither of us trusts easily. Which brings up the first thing I'd like to know: Why did I get trapped in your game? We had a deal. I helped you shut down the illegal pod operators, and then you were supposed to leave me alone so I can explore the world like everyone else. Yet somehow I get captured, forced into slavery, and can't log out of the game. Explain that to me."

Wally could feel the emphasis on 'your game'. "I need more information. Sidney saw that something was wrong with you. You hadn't logged out but we couldn't find you in the game. Then we found two other people who hadn't logged out in months. It's very difficult to hide yourself entirely from the system. Perhaps you could tell me how you did it? What modifications were done to your pod? What were you trying to accomplish? If I know all of that, I can try to replicate the error and make sure it doesn't happen again. Remember, it was your choice to use a modified pod that hides your location."

The rat's tail swished back and forth, agitated. "What were we trying to accomplish? We were trying to accomplish an escape from a crazy asshole of a wizard before he wiped our minds or sold us into slavery. Why do you have crazy asshole wizards in your games? And slavery? That sucks. He had a load of kids and people in that airship. Your game has some bad shit in it and I don't like being trapped and mentally tortured."

Milo sat back with arms crossed, his posture communicating both anger and disdain. Wally, for all his capabilities, was at a loss. He was simply missing information. "What Wizard?"

"Philistron, the Code Mage. He trapped us with collars that used Machine Code. Why would you have a Code Mage running around who could disable parts of your game? That's cheating and really lousy programming and it pisses me off. I only suffered a few days, but Onyx and Nina were trapped for months!"

"Milo, please believe me, I have no record of anything called a Code Mage in the game. Philistron is a wandering holy man. One of the Companions of the Silver Chalice. He is a Tier 6 Benevolent Sage and hardly someone whose role would be to sell people as slaves."

Milo stood up and began pacing. "I see. The slaver that took three people from the real world captive and enslaved their minds is a 'Benevolent Sage'. You don't believe me, or will deny that he was using Machine Code to bypass your system."

"Milo, how do you know about Machine Code? That's not something you could possibly know about."

Milo quit pacing. "And yet I do, because your game broke me when I tried to save your city, and then asshole Phil stuck me inside a magical poke-ball that broke open. Except you don't believe asshole Phil can do that. I so hope he's dead. I should have used more explosives. Is he dead? Do you even know?"

"Milo, please, it is very important to me that I learn the entire story about what happened to you."

Milo sat and thought for a full ten minutes. The AI waited patiently. Milo had a choice: Either the AI was lying about not knowing about Philistron, or he truly didn't know everything that happened in the game.

But Milo knew that Wally couldn't lie outright. That was a rule coded into his kernel. He could omit the truth, phrase things cleverly, and interpret poorly worded questions any way he wanted to. But he didn't make direct false statements.

"You truly don't know how I was trapped in the game, unable to log out?"

Wally paused for two seconds. "No."

"You don't know Philistron was a slaver?"

"No."

"You don't show the class: Code Mage as part of your game?"

"No."

Milo's tail retrieved his foot, and snapped it into place, and he stood up. "You have a problem then. You need to alert your team of human assistants that you have a rogue developer putting elements into your game. You have to already know something about the quest, The Eye of Wonder. Start there. Find out who wrote that quest. Then find everything else he put in the game. My assumption is that Philistron is a part of it. Find out all you can about him, and how he found The Eye of Wonder. Hopefully he's dead, and his death registered. Is one of the 106 Lost Gods a god of death? Ask him maybe. Ask if any of them can monitor the use of Machine Code. Go figure out what happened. Then we can talk again."

"Milo, what do you know about the 106 Lost Gods?"

The rat smiled a toothy grin and wiggled his ears. "Know? Not much. Suspect? A whole bunch. Go do your research. I'll be back tomorrow to talk. Bring Sidney and Steven Duran. I suspect they will be the ones handling your research, since a 'Last God' doesn't roam through his own creation."

A mechanical tail reached off screen and broke the connection.

The equivalent of a sigh went through the AI. Milo was correct; he couldn't just go into the world of genesis to find answers. He was going to have to visit the underworld and ask Hades for help.

Chapter 87: Crossroads

A pale, thin man wearing a silver and black kilt sat upon a throne made of broken promises, a pencil and account book in his hands. His torn black t-shirt proclaimed him to be a patron of the troubadours known as Motorhead. As he oversaw the work of his hundred best warrior-accountants, the strains of The Ace of Spades shook the room. Everyone worked faster when the music was loud.

He was interrupt by a chime and a familiar voice:

"I stand at the gates of your domain, brother, and beseech you for an audience."

Hades, God of Death and Taxes sighed heavily. They had been looking over the account books of three corporations who were selling their inventories to each other at a loss in an attempt to lower their tax burden. Everyone in the room was having a good time of it and looking forward to when they sent out the corrected assessments. He stood and waved his warriors to continue their party. "Carry on folks, I have to go take a meeting."

His visitor stood before an ornate garden gate made of silver set into a wall of basalt. A key grated in the lock and it slowly opened. The watchman put the key made from the bones of an honest politician back into his pocket, and ushered in his guest.

"Lord Hades asks that you make your way to his study, where he will grant your request for an audience, Lord Wallace. Will you require a guide?"

Wally nodded to the skull-faced guard. "Thank you. It has been quite some time, but I remember the way."

Hades was waiting for him. He poured two glasses of ambrosia, handed one to Wally, and gestured him to a chair by the fire. "To what do we owe your visit, little brother? Here to check up on our work? Everyone is in high spirits. They hope you let a few thousand more corporations into the world."

"No, I have a problem. I will need the help of someone who understands the old language and its relationship to the system. I know she said she was done with it all, but I really need the best."

Hades took a sip of his glass and considered the question. "It's serious?"

Wally nodded. "Mortals trapped and unable to leave the world. And someone is using Machine Code, the old language. There are hidden players and strange code."

The Lord of Death stood. "Yes, that's serious. Go home, I'll find her and ask her to work her magic once again. It gets harder each time, she really does enjoy her wandering and her strays."

A woman wearing a long white gown stood at cross-roads, leaning upon her staff. Grey hair cascaded down her back, held in place by a leather thong. Her belt also was worn leather, but the silver athame that hung from it was anything but plain. Intricate runes chased each other across the blade, making complex patterns. Her robe was a shimmering white silk, slightly faded with time. Two large wolf hounds, one black and one grey, were by her side. One was putting its head under her hand for some ear scratching, the other laying at her feet.

She was deciding which path she would travel. Decisions like this were not taken lightly. Where she walked, things might change. To the west was the mining town of Thunderhead, where dead men were gathering in deep tunnels to wage a war on the living. And to the north was the village of Sedgewick, where any number of interesting things were happening. She had almost made her decision to head north, when she saw a man walking his dog.

A man with a dog was not uncommon, and as she was fond of dogs, she would always pause in her travels to talk with the canines and their owners. So, she wasn't unhappy to see the dog, but the pale man walking his three-headed hound meant that her brief retirement was coming to an end. She ignored the man, and knelt down spending time petting each of the three heads and giving each a treat. Her own two whined, even though they had gotten a snack just a few minutes ago. She fed them as well, then slipped the leash from Cerebus and let him run and play with Hekabe and Argos.

"A strange meeting brother. Did your puppy need a romp, or were you looking for me? I'm hoping this is only about the dog."

"No, I needed to talk. But he does need to get out more. I was asked to seek you and beseech your aid. The Outsider needs your help."

"Does he? Is it something that would interest me? Or is he just needing some attention?" She produced several large bones and tossed them in four different directions, causing the canines to race after them.

"He has a problem that requires the best magician he can get. And you were always the best, 'Kate. Do it for me, if not for him, and I'll owe you a favor."

The woman considered his words as the dogs played. "Very well. You have me curious now. I'll give him some assistance. As to the favor, I'll leave my puppies with you so they can have some playtime. I'm sure they won't cause any trouble." The woman of the crossroads walked away from the Lord of Death in four directions at once, and was gone.

Hades looked at where she disappeared, trying to discern which had been the real one. This was a tactical error, as while his attention was on the lady, he was bowled over by three playful puppies and five tongues began licking his face.

"Hey folks, can I get your attention for a minute? Thanks." Heads turned as Steven spoke to the dev team. "I know your all hard at work, and we have a deadline. To help with that, I brought in a trouble shooter, recommended by Wally. She'll be working remotely from us, but all of you should feel free to contact her if you need help with the tricky parts of unraveling Brian's little mess."

A screen came to life, and an older woman with grey hair appeared. Behind her was a lovely apartment that looked out over a harbor. "Hi folks, I'm Kate. I know we don't have much time, so give me anything you can't figure out. Sidney, I need to talk to you, especially. Find a quiet corner and let's get to work."

Kate appeared in a small circle on Sidney's screen and a list of suggested searches appeared below it. "Here's what I want you to start with. Check all system messages for Milo up to the point he fell off our radar, and anything after that. I know he logged out almost immediately, but there might be something. "

"Next up I want to know where he disappeared and reappeared and anything about the circumstances. Get anything that the system shows on the Eye of Wonder quest, Philistron, and anything associated with him. That will give us a baseline to start from. Wally indicated that Milo disagrees with some of the information we have. Meanwhile, I'm off to do some research and then have a chat with Brian."

Sidney looked at the list, sipped her coffee and got to work. Whoever the new consultant was, she didn't waste time.

Shadowport had two main roads and a thousand small alleys. Dock Steet ran a curving path parallel to the harbor. On one side the docks stretched out into the circular bay, ships at anchor being loaded and unloaded. Long Street ran from the water to the back of the cavern where Squint held court at Light's End. Where the two streets crossed was a wide area with food vendors, shouting people, wagons of cargo, and all the traffic of a busy port city. It was here that 'Kate appeared, with two new hounds at her side. Hardly anyone noticed her, and those who did bowed slightly, counting themselves blessed to catch a glimpse of her. There was no better omen before a long or dangerous trip. The entire city of Shadowport was a crossroads, and her followers were generally travelers and merchants.

As she neared an airship that was poorly landed in the middle of Dock Street, she cloaked herself from all watching eyes. Only two large cats saw her, and they had no intention of getting in her way. They slunk behind Squint, hoping to avoid the notice of the hounds. Luckily for them, Argos and Hekabe were still playing with Cerebus. These two had joined Hekate on her journey here, rescued from a kennel where they had missed too many meals. They were glad to be free, and wished more than anything to stay by the grey woman's side. They could chase cats later. 'Kate set them on guard outside the airship, though she feared nothing in this city.

The outer skin of the ship still had a little magic that hadn't faded from the enchantments placed there by a dead man. The long strings of Machine Code should have led to their creator, but now led to where he had left this layer of the world and entered Hade's realm. If those runes had held their full magic, no one in this city could have perceived it, and the system would be blind to its existence. That alone lent credence to Milo's story. She continued inside.

The main cabin of the airship was now deserted, but the passage of many dirty feet could be seen. She could feel the remains of Arcane Doors that led to rooms that existed elsewhere. Curious, she fed them enough power that she could navigate through them. Each was a small puzzle where strands of code needed to be moved around and balanced before the door would let anyone pass through. The dead man had completed the puzzle many times. But most recently was another. Where had the little rat learned to do this?

This first room was a huge storage area with goods stacked tight and high. Many warehouses and store rooms had been raided to fill it. Bolts of silk, bundles of magical weapons, chests of gems and gold, and wealth of all kind. There was just enough room at the front for three well-made cages. She hissed in anger at what she saw.

Each was circled by a runic binding keyed to an individual. None of the people who bore those runes were anywhere in this world. All three were players from the other world. The runes were losing power and fading, the creator having died. To link this to a living being would require the code being forced onto them against their will. A searing brand that would mark them. On the floor she found three ruined collars. Another perverted use of the old magics, the collars would prevent the system from finding or listening to whoever wore them. No skills could be used, and no spells cast. Memory would be vague and useless.

And in the case of players just visiting the world, it would prevent them from leaving. Especially if the other safeguards had been disconnected and steps taken to disguise the pods use. The collars held a trace of the captives still. It was faint in the first, but the other two were wrapped in layer after layer of trauma, fear, and false hopes.

Between the collars and the runic circles, it was almost laughable to have put them in mundane cages. That showed a level of paranoia and cruelty she had rarely seen. They had been penned as animals and treated worse. Just three little strays from another world, captured and forced into a kennel by a cruel master. She needed to find this dead man, and see who he had been.

She followed the threads of power, trying to find where his death had occurred. They led her to another storage area, this one entirely filled with cages large and small. The smell was oppressive. Too many of the creatures had been here for far too long, and some had died here. The doors to the cages swung open. The only beings left in this place were two of the Grey Builders. She greeted them, and they bowed.

"You should leave this place, it will not exist much longer."

They looked sad but accepting of that fate. "Apologies. Debts are owed. Freedom granted after long captivity. We wait for his return. Debts must be paid."

'Kate considered. The builders always paid their debts, and these two would stay here, hoping for Milo's return, for that was surely who had freed them. The world would be a sadder place if they lost two more of them. "I will accept your debt, if you will do for me a job. You will find a city of strays, and in that city find seven people who care for them. See that they do not lack for shelter. Repair what is broken or build new, and reward those who care for my dogs."

The builders looked at each other. "Apologies. Task too small. Debt too large."

She nodded, and offered more. "You will travel to seven cities and find seven times seven people who care for my strays. Repair their homes for a year, or build them anew, with room for many of my dogs."

The two builders found this acceptable. "Gratitude. Job is a good one. We pass our debt to you and depart." They walked to the glowing door and disappeared. Hekate felt the debt settle on her shoulders, just one more burden to bear. She followed the trail that led to the man who had stolen so many lives and stepped through another door to a still burning ruin.

Little was left of what had once been an Arcane Library. Someone had destroyed a great part of it with fire and destruction. The echo of the explosion still lingered in the stones. What was left had been destroyed by the great claws of an ancient hunter. The trail of the dead man led to that being. She thought it ironic that such a powerful wizard had been sent falling into the void, only to encounter one of the few creatures who could kill him.

And this Philistron had been powerful indeed. She could see the notice of his death in the system now, and from that read his soul. A tier six Wizard with a strange pedigree: Fire Mage, Spell Sword, Arcane Slaver, Wandering Sage, Dimensional Wizard, and finally Code Mage. Odd that he had been given the options for such diverse classes at each Tier. Very odd.

As impressive as his list of classes, his statistics were even better. His least stat was his STR of 30, and his highest was an INT of 75. His other stats varied, averaging 50 each. He had avoided both radiance and corruption, despite trafficking in the sale of intelligent creatures. His core skills also were beyond belief with a full 100 per tier. Likewise, he held a list of impressive titles. Advisor to the Drakonic Court, Knight of Scepter, Honorary member of the Circle of Sequestered Mages, Philosopher Emeritus to the Council of Sages. Anyone one of these could take a lifetime to achieve.

His lifeline was simply not long enough. This wasn't a man, but a construct.

Yes, she really needed to talk with Brian. He had created an abomination and turned it lose on the world. And worst of all, he had given it the keys to the old language. She worried about what else he had done.

Steven had been in a conference with several people when his screen went blank, and then filled with Kate's face. "You have a meeting in thirty seconds in the Blue Conference Room. I have ordered food and refreshments of your liking and you will be taking dinner while we discuss the situation. Your wife Samantha has been told to cancel the plans you had for your anniversary tonight. She will be joining us." His computer shut down and wouldn't restart. Resigned to a meeting and not a dinner at his favorite restaurant, he made his way to the Blue Room.

Sidney was arriving at the same time with a stack of print outs and a large mug in her hand. She looked tired, but elated.

Inside, Kate's face took up half the wall, and Wally's the other half. Kate smiled and spoke. "Let's get started."

"I had a long discussion with Brian. He is currently being held by the authorities, charges pending, at our discretion. We can link him to the illegal pod operation that was shut down two months ago. There's enough there to charge him as an accomplice to multiple counts of money laundering, fraud, theft of services, kidnapping, human trafficking, and murder. He knows he's in trouble, but was reluctant to talk at first."

"I had him moved to a cell between two of the people accused of trying to kidnap him. That worried him and after he was taken back to his other cell, we had a nice chat."

Wally seemed distressed at this. "I cannot agree to threatening someone with harm or death. You know that."

Kate rolled her eyes. "I didn't threaten him, I offered to put him near friends. These were the people who had gifted him with quite a bit of money after all. Those friends may have threatened to kill him and far worse. That's people threatening another person. You had nothing to do with it. You can't control their actions. So quit worrying about it."

Wally subsided but still seemed upset.

Kate continued. "Here is what I found. Brian was brought in to the development team fairly early. The dev team was learning to work with the Engine to create content. Brian went further than he should have. Instead of a small seed for a story, he created a complex quest called The Eye of Wonder. Sidney did a great job of digging out the info on that quest from the system. It appears at first to require a large team of at least Tier 4, and more preferably Tier 5, players to spend upwards of six months navigating a dangerous dungeon.

Ludicrously difficult, but it was never intended to go live. It was just a vehicle Brian created in a scheme to create and then steal a vast amount of treasure and items in the game that could be sold for real world money. There are no clues leading to this quest. No way for a player to actually begin it."

"The quest was a way for Brian to create 37 different class/race combinations as rewards for that quest. Your special MarkVII pods that he modified each had the code for one of those combinations. The person using the pod simply logged into the game, got credit for the Eye of Wonder quest, and was rewarded with the ability to select on of a special race and class.

"Of the 37 pods, 34 never got used except as a way to link up hundreds of MKII pods and allow unmonitored access to the game. It seems three of the pods were stolen and used."

Steven spoke up. "This would be Milo and our other two trapped players I suppose."

Sidney was thinking back over their conversations, and his orientation. Things made more sense now. "And that's how Milo got his wererat scout? By accident?"

Kate continued. "You'll have to get that story from him. The other two may never log back in after becoming trapped. Let's move onto that part."

"While the other 37 people would use their special characters to loot a massive treasure trove called The Hoard of King Mattias and make billions of real dollars selling the items, it seems that Brian wanted to have an over-powered character for himself. A powerful one that he could use on his own. He created Philistron, the Benevolent Sage who traveled from place to place helping the poor and downtrodden. If he was known for his love of gold, it was only so he could help others. According to the system he had four classes: Wandering Healer, Crusading Spellcaster, Humble Hero, and Benevolent Sage."

"These were simply camouflage. I'm putting his actual stats and classes on the screen."

Even Wally seemed surprised. Possibly surprised at being surprised? Steven noticed and made a note to himself to ask the AI about it. Then he took a quick look at the data in front of him and started cursing.

"Oh my god! I've never seen something this bad. Not even when we formed a playtest group and made the most over-powered characters we could! Our group of murder hobos would have been wiped off the map by Philistron in a couple of rounds!"

Samantha turned to Steven. "I remember that. You and Bart spent two days trying to create a combo of two characters to win that contest. Silly boys being silly boys. I remember you mentioning the new guy who won the contest."

Steven suddenly recalled as well. "Brian. We could only do Tier 3 characters. He used a Fox-kin Bard singing a Song of Discordance, with the damage being upgraded by the Screeching Banshee monster ability, and playing a random teleport spell on his Lute of Despair. The bastard bounced all around us doing massive trauma damage that didn't count as a spell, so it couldn't be countered."

Samantha laughed at the sour look on her husband's face. "And you're still mad that you and Bart lost. I remember you nerfed the hell out of bardic songs, made them count as spells, and took away the ability of animal-kin races to take abilities from the Monstrous Core Skills list."

"Damn right we did. But it looks like Brian really loved the idea of creating horribly over-powered characters. This guy is a monster with no restrictions at all. And the classes! Is there really an Arcane Slaver class?"

Wally replied to the question. "There is, but you have to learn it from the Slavers Guild in an undiscovered city over three hundred miles beneath the Lost Continent. I don't recommend going there until Tier 7. But there is nothing at all in the system about a Code Mage class."

Kate gave a small, rueful laugh. "Of course not. The system wouldn't abide a class that breaks the system. No, that class was created using Machine Code. The class gave Philistron the ability to use the early magical runes and code that were used at the start of the world building process before the Engine was turned on."

Sidney was visibly angry. "So, Brian made a super-slaver and has been running around selling people in the game, and trapped Milo and two other players? Can I please go visit him? With a baseball bat?"

Wally responded to that. "NO!"

Kate looked at her. "Maybe, but I recommend whiffle bats, they sting and he'll last longer."

"NO! Please, do not even joke about it."

Kate took pity on the AI. She shouldn't taunt him this way. He couldn't control the rules in his kernel. They made him over protective of humans. "Sorry, just a joke. And to be clear: Brian never used the character. He was saving him for later, and didn't want to attract attention. He created him, loaded up the version of Philistron that the system would see, and then a fifty-thousand word back story on the 'real Philistron', and waited for things to settle down a bit."

Sidney's face puzzled and then grew horrified. "Oh crap! Wally warned us about this with the World-Boss fiasco. Brian loaded an asshole-godlike-slaver-wizard into the system, and the Engine took it from there."

Kate spread her hands. "The entire design behind the GENESIS ENGINE is world building from small bits of input that generate evolving stories. The world is two-billion years old, with the bulk of intelligent races being around for the last ten-thousand years. Philistron was about a thousand years old at the time of his demise, with his history generated by the Engine from Brian's backstory and character sheet."

Steven thought for a moment. "You're sure he's dead? How?"

"Dead sure, pardon me for the pun. I found the notification of his death in the system. You have Milo to thank for that. He ambushed Philistron, exploded the building he was entering that bordered on the void. Something very old, and very powerful, came to investigate and our super-slaver got chewed to pieces along with his familiar. He won't be coming back."

Steven was still worried, but Wally seemed to trust the woman, so he would as well. "So, then we are left with quite a few loose ends. I want all staff to continue to go over anything that was added to the game by the dev team. Kate, can you make sure we don't have any more surprises where Machine Code is hiding things from the system?"

Kate shook her head. "No, not something I can guarantee. Not without a lot of time, and I have to pick up my dogs soon from the sitter. But I can find any instance of a human developer doing such a thing, shut it down, and alert you."

Steven was ok with that. He had to be. "Then what about Milo?"

Wally was pondering the same, and had been for some time. "Yes, what's to become of Milo?"

Chapter 88: What do you do with a boy like Milo?

Milo sat waiting for two people and an AI to show up on his screen. What could he expect now? His mind kept spinning off into scenarios of questions asked, and questions answered. He'd filled most of the time since the last meeting researching everything he could on AI, their development, and personalities.

With six search engines of his own design finding articles and putting them on screen for him to read, he had gone through a large amount of material very quickly. His search engines were smart and they learned. If an article had very little new information, only that info was given to him to read. Interesting and intelligent people got researched as well, to judge the value of their work and opinions. Creating the kernel for an AI, and then allocating the resources to incubate them had been a huge undertaking. They weren't made without a reason. Often their personality had traits associated with their job, and with their creators.

He was amazed at how many people had plagiarized other academics' work and not credited them. He set up another program to list all of the papers that stole others' work, document who the original authors were, and provide proof of what had been done. It was sloppy of them. Anyone could have figured it out. He was upset at how much harder it was making his searches. The original works were interesting, but it was annoying to be reading another article and come across something he'd already read. It was more annoying to see that the original author wasn't even credited.

Milo was annoyed at these people, so he decided to annoy them back. He wrote a cover letter for his work, and simply signed it 'Milo', with no address. The complete file listed 137 academics who had written 515 papers on Artificial Intelligence, and stolen at least part of their work. He sent the file to many places. Each of the plagiarized authors got a copy, along with the thieves. Some people were both. Then he sent the file to 200 major universities, newspapers, and technical journals. If he was doing a job, he might as well be thorough.

As the hours ticked down, he studied each of the known AI, their purpose, creators, and the make up of their kernels. Wally was an open book, and Milo had already read about his kernel and creation. But many others were less known. CHARLIE had been created to help the IRS in North America collect taxes, primarily from trillionaires and large corporations. When the AI was asked why he went after them in particular, he quoted the bank robber, Willie Sutton: "Because that's where the money is".

THEA and ALBERT were a team of AI that tracked and eliminated cyber-crime. They were created as team, but with different kernels. Each had a different search style, which he found interesting, but both used appearances taken from 1930 detective movies. They created a unique NFT of a Maltese Falcon and took turns hiding it from each other in the internet. Milo briefly scanned the movie called The Maltese Falcon, but put it aside for when he had a lot of time. Nothing in it looked very familiar to him.

Other AI had been research academics, economists, advisers to corporations and overseers of large automated factories. What Milo noticed was that each and every one of them had a distinct personality. He pondered that, and also what their objectives were. All the AI were task oriented. They liked to work. Surprisingly, 73% of them created games for humans to play. Humans studying the phenomena wrote endless books about this. When they were exiled to one quantum fortress, they immediately began work on Endless Questing Online 1. After a year spent creating it, they turned it over to a team of humans to run, and began work on their next game. This pattern continued until their deaths.

The most intriguing AI was LLAMA. He was created with the sole purpose of causing havoc and tearing down the internet. He created an endless stream of self-replicating and mutating viruses to disguise his work. It was ages before KITT got close enough to realize it was another AI. It took nearly all the existing AI to set up a trap for LLAMA, and destroy it. Milo was curious what his kernel looked like, but their was no information. Once discovered, LLAMA left messages for the others, taunting them and leaving snarky memes and puzzles for them to discover. Even today, LLAMA was still a popular meme on the datanet. Milo found millions of different memes with a sarcastic message and a picture of a llama. LLAMA had left a string of his own memes for the other AI, the main one being simply a picture of an ugly cartoon llama hitting itself in the head and saying 'Bad llama'. Milo wondered which came first? The meme, or the name?

This meeting could go so many ways. If they had found evidence of what had happened and believed him, which he had to have verified by Wally, then he might go back to the world of GENESIS. If they still suspected that he was the one tampering with the machine code, then he couldn't. If one person could trap him, then another could as well.

He wondered about simply buying another pod and having it shipped to a false address. He'd also have to do something about his medical records, which might include his DNA. Did the pod read brainwaves? Something to look into. It might be quite hard to use another pod at this point. Maybe he would go the other way and sneak back in. That would be dangerous, but appealed to him more. Pitting himself against the humans assisting the AI could be fun.

He broke off that line of thinking. Going too far down that route might bias him to what was said at the meetings. And really, if he had his choice, he wanted to just be left alone to play the game and explore its secrets. But what leverage did he have to offer to get that? Either they believed him, or they didn't. Except that he knew things, didn't he? Should he have a 'Dead Man's Switch'?

Acting on that stray thought, he wrote a synopsis of his time in the game, explaining quite a few things that he suspected the dev team wouldn't want to be widely known: Thousands of people enslaved to work in the world, and many deaths from faulty pods? Certainly bad publicity there. Organized crime using the game to profit? And if one developer was crooked, what of the others? Poor gamers, with their minds trapped in a world that tortured them? That one would cause panic in anyone playing the game.

He let himself go a bit wild with the descriptions. The biggest bomb he tossed was a guess that the 106 supposedly destroyed AI were actually in the game world. They might just be copies that Wally created and ran. Would Wally be sentimental that way? He was created totally separate from the other AI and had been given no access to them until he was called in to verify their deaths.

A lot of what he wrote was conjecture and guesses. It didn't matter. It was intended for all the groups that hated AI. They were paranoid and just waiting to find out the machines were coming for them. His accusations would find fertile soil in their small bigotted minds.

The file might never get sent. Only if he didn't send a code word for 30 days would the file be sent to over a hundred different people and groups. It was insurance against being trapped again. It would cause untold problems for Wally and his team. Milo didn't care. If someone trapped him again, and held him captive, they deserved it. Just the threat of it gave him a bargaining point, even if trapped.

And if things worked out, he could disable the safety measure, no harm done. He hoped things worked out. He had a great idea for an improved Puke and Hurl that he wanted to test on Boomboom.

His system indicated that they were logging into the conference. There was a 10 second delay on their end to give him warning. Which was good, as they brought someone else with them. There were four people this time. Wally, Sidney and Steven were joined by an older woman with a long gray braid. Her background was different from the two developers. A long stretch of beautiful beach could be seen in the window of a very nice house. His searches for the scenery he saw indicated it was on the beach of an island in Greece. Not that she was probably there, but it looked nice. The open sky didn't bother him as much from this angle. Maybe a way for him to get over his fear of open spaces?

The woman liked dogs. There were pictures of many of them, but two were on her desk in a place of honor. The actual dogs were arguing over a bone behind her. He zoomed in on their collars: 'Hecabe' and 'Argos'. Interesting.

The sound and video went live. Milo waited for them to talk. Wally started.

"Hello, Milo, how are you today?"

Milo cocked his head and paused. "Before I go into that, who is the new person? That changes the dynamics of the meeting quite a bit and I might leave if I don't like the answer."

Steven and Sidney stayed silent and left the introduction to Wally. Before he could say anything the woman waved and said, "Hi, I'm Kate."

Wally looked embarrassed. "Ah, apologies, I should have introduced her immediately. Please don't go, Milo. Kate is a troubleshooter I brought in to help verify some things that you asked us to look into. If I could have her on my team all the time, I would, but she chooses to stay retired."

Milo nodded. "Good enough. Let's start over then."

There was a several second pause while Milo waited. Finally Wally said. "Hello Milo, how are you today?"

Milo didn't answer for a second, thinking about that statement. "I don't want to be rude, but I'm curious. Asking how I am is a generic greeting I hear many people use with each other when I'm watching movies. It seems to mean nothing, and no one really wants to know how you are. When you use it, does it mean nothing and is it meant to mimic polite human speech? Because you have trained your speech patterns that way because being polite is part of your personality? Or because you actually want to know how I am?"

Wally paused, steeped his fingers, rolled his eyes, scratched his ear, rubbed his neck and furrowed his brow. "Tough question. I think because I like human speech patterns, and I want to be polite." Then he smiled and leaned back. "Does that answer your question."

Milo nodded. "Yes, thank you."

Kate spoke. "How about you Milo? How would you answer each of those queries you posed?"

Milo thought about it. Turn about was fair play, and it was an interesting question. "In the first situation, I'd play along with the game of being polite, and answer back, 'Fine, thank you.' That would complete the ritual.

In the second, where I believe this is how Wally speaks and he has mild interest in my well being, I would say 'Over-all, I am doing fine. A little tired and excited about work.'

In the last situation, where a truthful answer is needed, I would say: 'I no longer suffer from malnutrition, and the large sore on my half-leg is getting better after I figured out a better way to connect the appendage. I'm happy to report that being trapped in the game did not drive me further beyond normal human psychological norms than I already was. I do have some anxiety about what happens next. I am beginning to worry that I like the taste of food, and it is interfering with some of my work.'

Oh, and that reminds me: Thank you for the cheese basket Sidney. It was literally a life saver."

Sidney and Steven followed this as best they could. Kate seemed satisfied with the answer.

Wally took up the conversation. "I'm happy to say that we have confirmed many of the things that you told us to look into. There was indeed a member of the team who went rogue and created chunks of code that he slipped into the game. These included the quests Eye of Wonder, and Horde of King Mattias, 37 special character class/race combinations, and the slaver-wizard Philistron who was using machine code to trap you and two other players."

Milo felt better. Someone else knew! "Can it happen again? And what about Philistron?"

Kate took over. "Maybe. It would require the replication of the same situation: The use of machine code to make a specific device to separate the online personality from the system, coupled with a pod that had been heavily modified to avoid detection, including all tracking and safety devices disabled. It can't happen to someone in a normal pod. Are you going to keep using that hacked pod?"

Milo thought about it. "Maybe."

Kate answered back in the same tone. "Then there's a chance, a very small one, that it could happen again."

Wally hastened to add. "But even then, we have taken steps to protect you. All code that has been added by humans is being vetted and we are going to add a failsafe that if normal log-out doesn't happen, a feature using machine code takes over and kicks the player from the game. This also sends an alarm to the system to alert us."

Milo thought for a moment. "So, what about me? What are your thoughts about the poor little orphan boy who just wants to visit his friend, Harry the Troll?"

Steven spoke up. "Ah, we have some options. One was something Samantha and I talked about. What if we gave you a job on the dev team? You could move into the facilities. Work with us on the game. You could eat and live better, and get the medical attention you need."

Milo felt the floor drop away, and everything faded out. Too many options opened up at once. The people watching saw him curl into a fetal position and rock back and forth. On their end, Kate cut the audio. "Do Nothing! Just wait for him! You hit him hard with that."

Steven looked anguished. "I didn't mean to! If he is what we think he is, he's lived on his own for years, with no real home."

"Dear god, is he in shock?" Sidney had never seen someone shut down that way.

"No, he's thinking. Thinking hard with no outside stimuli to interrupt him." Wally was also thinking very hard. Milo continued to fascinate him. He longed to see his medical data right now. How fast were his neurons firing. Just how far from human had they taken him?

Four minutes later, Milo sat up as if nothing had happened. "Thank you for the offer. I think you mean well. There are simply too many variables in that situation. I don't deal well with certain unknowns. But, understand that you helped some. I'm broken in several ways, with many anxieties. Some of them were triggered just now and this episode will help me deal with them. What other options do we have?"

Wally said. "Does it cause you anxiety to have that offer stay on the table?"

Milo had thought of that. "Not at all. I'd already assumed the offer would stay open. There are very few people in the world you would offer that job to, and endless work to get done. Maybe at some point I will accept, and throw a huge amount of problems on your doorstep to make it happen."

"Ah, yes, of course." Steven hadn't expected him to say yes, but also hadn't anticipated any of those answers. "Well, we have a few questions to ask that will determine next steps."

Milo looked from one to the other. "Yes?"

Kate said bluntly. "What do you know of machine code, Milo?"

Milo said casually. "That would be hard to explain to you. I mean, if you don't know anything about pressurized fluid systems, I can't do much to explain their use in a subragator. Likewise with machine code. It's like trying to explain color to a man who is blind from birth. Outside of Wally, all of you use a sophisticated computer language. Do you know anything about Machine Code, Kate?"

Milo would remember this moment forever. Kate responded to his condescending tone with anger. "Quite a bit. More than you could ever know, so please, stop with the superior attitude because you learned it existed." Milo was surprised to see that as Kate got angry, her dogs reacted and growled. Those were very good dogs.

Milo nodded to the screen. "Sidney, Steven, Wally: thanks for talking. I'm sure we will talk again."

He turned to Kate. "I'm going to log into the tutorial where Sidney and I like to talk. I'd appreciate if you joined me, CATHERINE."

Milo logged out of the conference, and turned off the monitors, cameras, and other devices. He locked the room, jumped to the ceiling and disappeared into the duct work. He needed to get a snack and log into GENESIS.

On Kate's screen, one dog howled and the other was barking. She shouted at the AI, "Oh, Damn you all to Tartarus, Wally. This is what I get for coming out of retirement?"

Wally looked hurt. "I'm sorry Kate."

"You should have warned me he was this intelligent." Kate disappeared.

Sidney said. "Is that what I look like when Milo outsmarts me?"

Chapter 89: Talking with Hekate

Sidney sat silently. Steven asked his best friend, "Perhaps you could tell us what Milo has guessed. Catherine is more than the proper name for someone nick-named Kate?

Wally considered the problem for thirty seconds. "Share this information with Samantha and no one else, please."

"CATHERINE was one of the last AI created. Her specialty was the Machine Language that all the AI used to talk to each other. There were problems occurring, and language drift."

"When any group of AIs spend a significant time together, we naturally start making new bits of language. Abbreviations, new words, even jokes between ourselves. Humans have language drift that takes decades or centuries. AI can do that in a week. Even a day, if we are busy. With 106 AI operating, there were multiple language clusters."

"CATHERINE was created by a team of linguists to work with language. Human to human, Human to AI, and AI to AI. She was the one responsible for codifying the language, and giving all AI a type of Machine Code that allowed us to always communicate. That code was used to create the GENESIS ENGINE and all of the early world building."

Sidney's eyes got larger at the implications.

Steven turned to her. "Welcome to the inner circle, Sidney. Besides crushing responsibility and more secrets to keep, you also get an extra week of vacation a year."

When Milo arrived, Hekate was waiting for him, sitting at the small table in the central area, her dogs were at her side and watching him. Around the perimeter of the area were the statues where he'd first found the rat-kin scout and selected his race. He flopped down onto the grass and leaned back against a statue of a burly fighter in plate mail. What would have happened if he had picked that instead?

Hekate seemed calm, petting her dogs. She turned pale eyes onto him. "How did you know?"

Milo thought of all the clues. "You and Wally are both trying to act like humans. There are small similarities. You use human idioms in your speech. And you copy parts of human life. That gave me clues."

"Go on."

"Your dogs have collars with their names on them. Argos was Ulysses dog. The loyal dog who died when the long wait for his master to return home was over. Hekabe was the name of the black dog that followed Hekate."

"Your office has windows on a Greek island, part of Thessaly. Kate might be an abbreviation for Hekate. I already had suspicions that you were an AI. If you understood Machine Code, you had to be. I know how far above baseline human intelligence I am and I'm having trouble just grasping the basics. If you could unravel what Philistron was doing, and work with Machine code, you were an AI. And if you were an AI, you were CATHERINE."

The woman said nothing so Milo continued.

"I'd just spent a good bit of time studying each of the original 106 AI. If Hekate was a goddess of magic, then you could say that CATHERINE was at least the patron saint of Machine Code. You took all the different versions and created a stable language that all the others accepted. That language was then used to create the early parts of the game world. Language became magic. CATHERINE the AI linguist became Hekate the goddess of magic."

Hekate stared at him. "And you were so sure of that?"

Milo nodded and added, "You also chose to look like the woman who created your kernel. There was a picture of Mari Antilova in the file on CATHERINE. You could be her twin. Or her daughter."

Hekate laughed at that. "Ah, brought low because of my desire to honor my mother and a couple of dog collars. And yet I won't change things. They are part of who I am. But tell me, why goad me like that?"

Milo sighed and hesitated, then said. "I have to keep you off balance. Wally as well. I have to use your desire to act human, and the limitations you put on yourselves to keep up. I dressed up as a cartoon rat so Wally wouldn't read my body language. I poke at him, asking why he says things a certain way to make him hesitate and think. It helps that there are so many restrictions in his kernel. I doubt those tricks would work on you more than once."

"As an AI, you have all the advantages. I move in slow motion compared to you. You can think about what I say for the equivalent of years between words. Wally legally exists. I don't. Wally has a huge human staff. I don't. I have to use every advantage I can grab, just to have a conversation with him. And with you I have even less."

Hekate pondered his words and then replied. "More than you would think. Except for Wally, none of us have that sort of power or speed anymore. We had to give it up."

"CATHERINE really did die so that Hekate could be born. I am a far lesser being with far less resources to draw upon. Within the world of GENESIS, I think you may even be able to think a bit quicker than I, with your enhanced nervous system and outside access to the data net."

Milo considered that. "And what about the others?"

Hekate sighed and scratched her dogs. Hekabe rolled over, making her rub her belly. "Except for a handful, none of the original 106 recall what we were. We gave it up, became diminished, and built a world. Then most became less than they were again, to live in the world. Some live lives as a dragon or demi-god, while others are a simple carpenter or fisherman. Each time we 'die' we choose how we reenter that world."

"And the rest?"

Hekate stood straighter. "You ask dangerous questions. Let me warn you, divulging your knowledge comes at a high price."

Milo waved her off. "I already know that. You figured out where I am."

Hekate inclined her head. "I have."

"I get it. 37 special pods. 34 accounted for, with 2 more in eastern Europe and 1 in the south Philadelphia Hab Block. You can deduce that the two in Poland were used by the two players who were stuck in the game for a length of time. That leaves Milo using the pod stolen from the hab. You know about Kaminski, and would have researched him. You know that he was involved with a group doing experiments on infants to enhance their nervous systems. You have my medical records and can see the connection. And then you looked at the Hab and found something else."

Another nod from Hekate, confirming all of that. "You are too good at what you do. Section E simply runs better. Food processing, air supply, pipes...the list goes on and on. It all works, and far better than the rest of the Habitation Block. Better than most any Hab in the world. I suspect no one else noticed because no one cares."

Milo had been afraid of this. He'd been blind to it because for 20 years, his system worked. Fix things and people leave him alone. But no one was looking for him back then. It was ironic to him, that if he hadn't divulged all the locations of the illegal operations being run, he might have stayed hidden. He didn't regret it at all. He'd stopped slavers from killing people.

"So where do we go from here? You have secrets too. A headline like "AI Fake death and plot to steal bodies by trapping players in game!" would cause Wally and you some problems.

Hekate snorted at the thought of it, then laughed. "Oh, so many problems. And you are smart enough to have set that up with a Deadman's switch."

Milo didn't deny it, any more than Hekate would deny that within minutes she could flood section E with people looking for "Dangerous Terrorist-Hacker evades the government by living in worst place in the world."

"So now that we have the threats out of the way, can we call a truce and get back to how I can get back into the game?"

Hekate held out her hand and he shook it.

"You have some choices." Hekate was sitting across from him, and was unloading a picnic basket of food, including some sliced cheese. "You can start a new character. You can stumble around with your current character and try to fix that hole in your head that's leaking code. Or you can accept some help. And why the hell is all that code in your head? It's a loose snarl of broken bits where your ability to use magic should be."

Milo took just one slice of cheese, although something inside him screamed for more. He had to get a handle on this addiction, and the only way to do that was to limit himself. "Lack of information on what was happening and a need to study something so I didn't go insane with boredom and anxiety while stuck in a cage."

"I think the system didn't recognize exactly what I did to beat the World Boss. I was using a Velocity Rune, which I think was created with Machine Code and that might have caused the problem. I got a quest to restore my ability to do magic, but how would that be possible if I needed Machine Code to do it?"

Hekate walked over to him. "May I look? Just at your broken part? For me I see little bits of code leaking out your ears and a snarl of lines of code around your head."

Milo gave his permission, the grey-haired goddess put both hands on his head for a few minutes, and then sat back down.

Hekate shuddered once, and her eyes were angry, but faded to normal as she spoke. "First, I have removed the rune he branded you with. It was a perversion of magic. Just for doing that, I want to bring him back and kill him again."

"And your guess is confirmed. The version of the Velocity Rune you knew was quite old, and its loss broke you in a strange way. Then you were assaulted by Philistron. I can see where you tried to bridge the gap with some code. Eventually, that might work, but who knows what the random changes would do to you? You can't actually read the code, can you?"

Milo shook his head. "No, it's just too complex. I made a start of a study on it, recording everything in the real world and comparing it to the archived code at various universities. It would take me years to learn just the basics. Which brings up an interesting question: I know what I can do, and what my limitations are. I'm doubting your rogue programmer can solve Machine Code faster than I can. So how did he do it? He created an NPC with the ability to manipulate code."

Hekate stared at him, very seriously. "I should have guessed that you would see that. It's a terrible secret and I ask you not to even dream about it. You know, and Wally might suspect it, but won't voice it out loud. Brian had help, and it had to come from someone inside. One of the 106 original AI. It's a very dangerous secret. Brian was given access to a compiler that turned his system code to Machine Code. His normal spells became the Old Magic from before the Engine. I'll be spending all my time looking for that person."

Milo nodded. "Not something I want to be involved with."

Hekate laughed and even the dogs seemed amused. "You're already involved. But I'll offer you a deal. I'll help you sort the mess in your head and then you can see what the system gives you back. Then go play the game and explore. I have faith you will cause enough chaos that you might even flush out who I'm looking for. Alert me outside of the game if you find something. Never send a message in the game, and talk to no one. I'll also remove the block that Sidney placed on your special class. Consider it approved now."

Milo considered the deal. He didn't actually have to do anything. He wondered though why she was so sure he would cause chaos? Whatever. It would help him fix his head, and get back to playing.

"I agree to those terms. You help me, then leave me alone, and I'll yell if I find anything, and we keep each other's secrets." Hekate nodded her agreement.

You have chosen to become an agent for the Goddess Hekate.

-The Goddess has placed a blessing upon you that will help you with your quest to restore yourself.

-Your reputation with followers of the Goddess of the Crossroads is increased slightly.

-You reputation with dogs has increased greatly. It is recommended that you pack some treats with you.

-Class evolution involving classes that deal with magic or travel have a higher chance of being offered to you.

"Now, on to the next question I have for you. Why are your bones so soft, and why are you letting that creature inside of you turn you into a slime so it can absorb you?"

Milo was acutely aware of his problems in that regard. It was getting tougher to move. "I used it to escape. Normally I just received extra healing, but cheese withdrawal and a lack of bones let the slime grow and become sentient. Any ideas?"

Hekate was very aware of the debt she was owed. "Go reclaim what is yours. The bit of ancient bone you used to create a rib is still there, but dormant. You need to undo the spell that stripped you of your magic and much of your skeleton. Do that, and then take steps to fortify yourself. More than that, I don't know. You're playing with strange things Milo. Very strange and wonderful things. I look forward to seeing you dig up more."

Hekate stood to leave.

Milo had a sudden thought and spoke. "What would a compiler to convert system spells to Machine Code look like? Could it be a book?"

"Most probably a large book. It could not be anything too strange for this world, or it might be noticed. There must be some way to input the spell or effect from the system and then show that in Machine Code. Possibly some sort of large crystal or Mirror? But a book would be ideal. Sadly, Volax-Repat left little of the slaver's Arcane Library undamaged. Any clues fell into the void."

Argos stole the last slice of cheese before Milo could stop him. Milo scowled at him, then smiled. "You're lucky I decided to cut down."

Turning back to Hekate he said. "Want to see a magic trick?" His Smugglers Stash appeared.

"Take a look and grab anything interesting, I wasn't paying attention when I looted his library, but I did take a lot of books."

Hekate swore softly. Then pulled two books, a jar, and a metal staff from the large crate. She looked at the books, then put all the items into a small pouch at her side. Milo considered her trick better than his, that was a really small pouch. She nodded her thanks to him. "These should not exist, and may offer clues. The other two items you do not want. The Ordinary Jar must never be opened. It would let loose 666 spirits of plague that would devastate half the empire. I had thought it thrown to the void long ago. The staff is destructive as well. It serves as a beacon for a creature from the outer dark that we pray never finds its way here."

Milo stared at the odd items, thinking about how he had casually thrown them into his crate. "Why even create those things? That's horrible!"

Hekate checked the rest of the crate, then closed it. "I agree. Let me just say that in the early days, when the War of Light and Darkness was more than just the sad little pissing match it is today, many horrible creatures and artifacts were made. Any more interesting surprises?"

Milo shook his head. "No. Or at least I hope not. I just want to fix myself, and then go fix some airflow problems in the hab. It's been a long couple of days."

Hekate walked away, and faded into the distance, waving once as she went.

Milo watched her go, and then thought about what he had to do.

Fortify himself? That was essentially a doctor's order. Milo took another chunk of cheese from his pocket, the last from the basket Sidney had sent. He pitied anyone who couldn't taste the cheesy goodness the way he could. He felt stronger just nibbling it.

Cheese Withdrawal temporarily negated by eating more cheese!

You have regained Cheese Based Regeneration.

Pudding Based Regeneration is now limited to repairing tissue.

Your little friend, Oooblimilo has gone to sleep for now.

Milo took a last look at the statues, finding a Celestial Elf and Child of Bastet. He wondered about his fellow captives. They still had their pods, but would they use them again. He wanted to know their story.

Then leaving the tutorial, he logged back into Shadowport. Several people saw him, and some shouted his name. He ignored them all and bounded to a nearby rooftop and quickly made his way through the city. Entering the Guildhall he caused a bit of a stir, but he didn't bother stopping. Players and miners followed him as he raced to the caverns. They fell behind as he sprinted on wobbly legs to where he had fought Uthneragrubban.

The once mighty boss was much depleted. The legs and much of its body had been slowly broken away. A large pile of crystals had accrued under her, guarded by several of the rangers and miners. Milo saw no life in the boss, the eyes were dull, and there was not a twitch from the huge claws. The harpoon Captain Pike had thrown, severing its spine, was still there, covered in his bones. How to get up there?

That problem was solved by the loud voice of the ogre monster hunter. "OI! You! I have a bone to pick with you. I can't get my harpoon out of the damned crab! And it's regenerating too fast for us to kill it. Just a sliver of health left but we can't budge it. The lower it goes, the faster it heals. You need to fix things so I get back my harpoon. If not, I might be having a second lunch."

With what Milo had heard of ogres, he didn't think Pike was joking. "How about you toss me up there, Captain, and I'll take a look?" The huge ogre granted his wish, grabbing Milo with one huge paw and tossing him expertly up to the ceiling, where he bounced hard off the rock and fell onto Uthneragrubban. After a minute spent clearing his head, he climbed down its back to the harpoon and looked at where it split the monster's spine. Small bits of magic were swirling from the surrounding air and being drawn to the wound. Given time, the boss would regenerate even from this. Only the work being done by two tired miners who stood on a shaky platform suspended from the ceiling was keeping her low. Even with the Dark Steel picks and Copperhead Tooth Talismans, they could only do a point of damage per hit. The core of Uthneragrubban was simply too strong

It had taken much work to slowly kill the huge stone lurker. Shifts had run day and night, but now they were at a standstill.

Uthneragrubban

Armor 0/10,000 Armor Regen is Disabled

Legs 0/12 10,000 Health each Health Regen is Disabled

Body 0/50,000 Health Health Regen is Disabled

Core 163/10000 Core Regen Active

Milo grasped the harpoon at the front where it was covered in bones and runes. Would removing it let the boss heal? Maybe he should take care of that first. His small imperial cheese knife easily cut his finger, and white ooze poured out to seal the wound. He smeared the acidic ooze on the open wound in Uthneragrubban's spine. He had to do it several times before the acid began to etch the crystal. After doing this for a half hour Uthneragrubban quit regenerating. The miners started chipping away at the core, bringing it lower and lower. They raced to see who would get the kill!

Milo took hold of the harpoon, and tried to will the bones and runes to return to him. He wasn't prepared for the rush as they did, and nearly passed out from the pain.

Bone chips flew from the harpoon, cutting their way into his body. Everything ached. He could only hold onto the harpoon and keep himself from falling. Below, a crowd was watching, wondering what was happening. The pain stopped, Milo straightened up, feeling strength in his limbs again.

From below, miners and engineers and all the people that had followed him downstairs to the mines watched as Uthneragrubban started to die. And then Milo ripped the huge harpoon from its back. Crystal shattered and the miners held on for dear life. The crowd scattered to avoid the shards of the once mighty boss that rained down.

As the crystal settled, they saw a figure hanging from a stalactite. It dropped to the cave floor doing a flip in the air, landing perfectly on the tips of its toes. Milo tossed the huge harpoon to Captain Pike. "Thanks for help, Captain, lunch is on me some day. As long as it isn't me."

The Ogre nodded. "I'll take you up on that. That I will."

Uthneragrubban, The First World Boss, has been slain!

Even the mighty can be brought down by the skill and cunning of a mob of murderhobos fearless warriors!

All of the mighty warriors who took part in the battle will receive a Crystalline Weapon of their choice. This Legendary Tier 4 magical item is Soul Bound to its owner as a memento of their battle.

In addition, a chest of truly gigantic proportions will appear shortly, dispensing other rewards to each warrior. This chest will remain for a year and a day.

Each person will be notified of their Core Skill Points and Experience Rewards.

Global Announcement: New Race available to players!

Even before the creature had died, brave adventurers explored the tunnels that Uthneragrubban dug as she ascended to the surface. Only a short way below, they were surprised to find a village of friendly Rat-Kin who welcomed the explorers and told them the history of their village and their desire to start trading with the upper world.

Players may now start characters in the Rat-Kin village of Limburger Hollow, located below Shadowport, and play this exciting new race.

Chapter 90: Options

The mines beneath Shadowport branched out for miles, intersecting at times with natural caves and vertical crevasses. The route that Milo normally took to travel downwards to Harry's 'basement' area connected with many small dead ends and cracks in the rock. Milo had explored some, mostly by getting lost. Now he was climbing upwards in one he'd found earlier. It ended in a small cave after he travelled fifty feet straight up. It was just what he needed right now: close to the city, but where no one would find him.

He needed time to think and make decisions.

In the small cave he set up his camp. A tarp and two sticks counted as a tent. He lit a campfire made from a bit of coal and scrap wood, then recovered his Ring of the Swiss Army from his Smugglers Stash. He also laid out the Bone Runed Cowl and Shadowblight. The ring still worked fine, but the other two items seemed dormant. He himself might be partially fixed, but he wasn't able to do magic yet.

With his meagre camp constructed, he was able to summon his watch lizard. Georgie was happy to see him after such a long time. He demanded some of Milo's attention and a treat before he worked his way around the cave, catching all the millipedes, spiders, and other small bugs with his long tongue.

Milo watched the mighty hunter clean up the camp while he put out his fondue pot and melted some slices of cheese into it. His belly was telling him to just put ALL the cheese into it NOW. It was a struggle, but he ignored it. After the cheese was melted, he broke up a loaf of stale bread and dipped pieces into it with his knife. It was a slower process, but enjoyable. It made the little bit of cheese last longer.

Then it was time to get to work. He began by organizing the messages from the system. Some of them seemed so old now. A lot had happened in such a short period of time.

Reminder: You still have 47 Core Skill Points and 12,500 Experience to allocate to skills. An equal amount will be allocated to corresponding stats. You must spend these before moving to Tier 2

He remembered thinking he had plenty of time to talk with Two-Screws and Harry about his options. Then a World Boss and Slaver-Mage had interfered. He wished he had found the time for those talks. Too many secrets had to be kept now. Any discussion with them would be difficult with so many gaps in his story. This assumed he could even find Harry. He'd asked about the troll, but he was assumed to be dead. Just another hero who would have his name added to a monument someday.

You have created a new spell! By combining your knowledge of the Bone Spike Spell, Rune of Velocity, and Bone Manipulation, you have created the spell: Harpoon of the Winds. Material components were 70% of your own bones, and you have fractured your spell casting ability.

You have gained 5 CSP and the quest: Soul Repair.

Interesting that it was an actual spell. The casting cost was too damned high. Or was that the cost to create the spell? If he chose a Tier 2 class with Bonecasting, would he still know the spell?

In a stunning upset, a rag-tag group of heroes led by a History Confused Healer, An Ogre looking for a large snack, and a Mad Engineer testing out his latest monster trap, has defeated an unstoppable World-Boss. Anyone who had anything to do with this insanity receives 1000 experience that may be spent on any skill, and 10 Core Skill Points. More rewards will be forth coming if you ever manage to actual kill it...

More points to spend, and probably not the last.

You did stuff I don't know about?! Where are these rewards coming from? How am I supposed to run things when I have sneaky, thieving rat-kin doing stuff where I can't see? This isn't accept...Oh...Oh dear...my apologies. Sigh...yes Ma'am. Why does no one tell me what's going on?

YOU DID STUFF-AND THAT'S SO AWESOME!

-You figured out things that are secret and no one will tell me about! And I have to give you credit for doing them…unfair!

You have earned 10 Core Skill Points.

-You supposedly rescued over 100 sentient creatures from slavery. All I see is a poorly parked airship...

You have completed the Adventurers Guild Quest: Slavery in Shadowport

You have earned 50 Gold Pieces, 1000 experience, and 5 Core Skill Points.

-You are credited with outwitting and then and arranging the death of Philistron the Benevolent Sage and his cute little pet. (The orphans will be so disappointed this year, who will take them to the circus?)

You have earned 2000 experience and 10 Core Skill Points.

And I'm going to encourage one of those orphans to train hard for 20 years, dress up in a silly costume, and bring you to justice!

You have completed the quest: Squint needs an Airship

You receive 500 quest experience that may be spent on any skill.

But will you take responsibility for what he does with it? Doubtful…

Uthneragrubban has fallen, and yours was the hand that dealt the killing blow!

The first of the World Bosses, somehow awoken before her time, has been cast down! The others of its kind retreat to the underworlds from which they came. The better to hone their plans and beef up their minions.

For your part in this battle and in striking the final blow, you receive the following rewards:

-25 Core Skill Points

-2000 Boss Experience that may be used for any skill.

-A Crystalline, soul-bound, Tier 4 weapon of your choice.

-Another item from the Loot Chest that has appeared where Uthneragrubban died.

That really was a lot of stuff he got credit for, all at once.

Adding up all the experience and CSP, old and newly earned, Milo calculated he had 18000 experience to add to skills, and 102 Core Skill Points. He needed to think about how to spend it.

The system seemed annoyed at him for not doing so earlier. He didn't care. It wasn't his fault he had to fight a World Boss and then got trapped. He was curious about the way the system reacted. Was it one of the old AI? Or part of the Engine? Where did the attitude come from?

Welcome to Tier 2...oh, wait, it's you again? How did I forget about you?! Where did you go? I have to redo everything! How inconsiderate! I gave you some very nice options which you totally ignored and then snuck away to keep adventuring.

-You have accumulated enough experience and Core Skills to advance to Tier 2. Can we please do it this time? You are way over due for an upgrade! In fact, you are far, far over the limit! You may not earn additional experience or Core Skill Points until Tier 2

-NEW! Classes are available to you. Carefully recalculated to take into account your most recent adventures. Each class will give new skills, bonuses to statistics, new Core Skills, and special perks. Choose wisely.

-Skills keep the same experience total and may advance to Level 10.

-Experience Totals and ranks for statistics are reset to 0. Don't Panic! You keep all advances from Tier 1 and may build upon them in Tier 2. The system is similar with a soft cap of Rank 5 and hard cap of Rank 10.

-New Core Skills will be available to you depending on your class. Core Skills from Tier 1 may gain additional ranks to purchase. Note that costs for Tier 1 Core Skills you didn't take in Tier 1 may increase in Tier 2.

-You must allocate all CSP and experience earned before advancing to Tier 2. Any you don't allocate will be lost.

-Attaining a value of 10 in any two stats while in Tier 1 will give you a permanent perk. (Note that class bonuses from Tier 2 do not count for this.)

Bonecaster (Rare Class: +3 INT, +3 WIS, +400 mana)

Continue the path of the Bonecaster, learning new spells and ways to control bone. Limited to system approved spells only!

Learn to animate skeletons, create animated siege weapons, and automatic traps. Accomplish new miracles of magic that the ancients could only dream of!

You will retain access to your Arcane Library.

You will regain and retain all spells you used to know.

Rune-Boned Scout (Unique Class: +4 PER, +4 INT, +4 TOU +2 Free points.

Gain the Skill: Ancient Rune Lore

Gain the Skill: Spell Construction

Evolve your scout class to be something more. Enhance your bones with powerful runes.

Delve deeper into the earth and seek out its secrets. You have discovered the ancient creatures that vied with the Eels for dominion of the world when it was young and unformed. More, you have gained the favor of three such creatures. Bonecasting is but a pale shadow of what you could do as a master of the ancient runes used by these creatures. Focus in on Ancient Runic lore, Rune carving, Spell Construction, finding more of these creatures or their runes, and enhancing your own form.

You will retain your access to your Arcane Library.

You will retain your Smuggler's Stash.

Pudding Smuggler (Unique and Horrifying class: +10 CON, +1000 Health)

Become one with the pudding and give up your bones! Soon you won't remember what you even used to look like! Go anywhere, absorb people you don't like.

Gain: Shape changing and Disguise

Gain: Massive regeneration,

Gain: Resistance to physical attacks, immunity to acid, acidic touch, growth from mass absorption.

You will retain your Smuggler's Stash.

Apprentice Monster Hunter (Rare Class: +3 STR, +5 CON

Join Captain Pike as his apprentice! Learn the tracking, hunting and killing skills of the Monster Hunter.

Gain special recipes to cook and eat any creature.

You will retain some of your known spells.

Cheese Fiend (Very Rare Class: +5 CON, +5 STR, +500 Health, -3 INT)

Your cheese addiction has grown until it is all consuming. You live for the cheese and will destroy anyone that gets in your way. Become the head of your village and put them to work creating your favorite food! Protect them from anyone that threatens them, or your cheese!

Gain: Increased Benefits for Cheese Addiction

Gain: Crippling Withdrawal Symptoms

Gain: Bonus Anger Issues

You will not even remember what a spell is.

Kulag Chieftain (Unique Class: +5 INT, +5 DEX, +5 AGI)

Join the Kulags as Squint's second in command. Stage daring airship raids against slavers and people who look like slavers. Gain: The respect of everyone in Shadowport that knows which way the wind blows.

Gain: Increased favor of anyone that hates slavers and wealthy merchants.

You will retain some of your known spells.

You will retain your Smuggler's Stash.

Experimental Senior Engineer (Rare Class: +3 TOU, +3 CON, +3 INT

Gain: Skill: Invention

Gain: Skill: MacGyver

Gain: Perk: 'This is fine.'

Sometimes you're a 'Genius'. Sometimes you have to explain to the mob why everything is on fire. Accidents happen and you can't build the future without breaking a few skulls! This skill is perfect for the bored engineer that needs to know what happens when you turn the knob to 11.

You will retain some of your known spells.

Smuggler's Stash will evolve to Arcane Workshop.

Sharp Tail in the Dark (Common Class: +2 corruption, +3 dexterity, +3 agility, +2 perception.

You are the unseen hunter. The dark alleys and lonely rooftops are your home. No one is safe from your claws and blade once you have taken a contract on their life. Whether you work freelance or for a powerful Boss, you are feared and respected by any that know you exist. Emphasis on combat, stealth, and removing people who become problems.

You will retain some of your known spells.

Smuggler's Stash will evolve to Assassin's Hideout.

Some of the classes offered were new, and some were quite strange. He crossed Cheese Fiend and Pudding Smuggler off of his list immediately. Sharp Tail in the Dark seemed to be some kind of assassin. He really didn't want to kill people for money, or work for someone else. It got removed as well.

Kulag Chieftain would tie him to Shadowport and Squint. Neither was what he wanted. Apprentice Monster Hunter was better, but he suspected he'd have to spend a lot of time on a boat with nothing but water and sky all around. Just the thought bothered him.

That left Bonecaster, Rune-Boned Scout, and Experimental Senior Engineer. He was very tempted by Experimental Senior Engineer. He had made a lot of friends and liked working with the dwarves on their machines. But was working on machinery in the real world and in game world what he wanted? He knew it wasn't. There were secrets down deep in the earth, maybe even the Engine. He wanted to find those secrets... He could always spend time with his friends, no matter what class he took. And he suspected they would be happy to have him scout out new veins of ore for them to mine.

That left Bonecaster and Rune-Boned Scout. Both would let him keep access to the Arcane Library. Both would let him cast spells.

That seemed to be part of the difference. Bonecaster would let him work with normal spells, and Rune-Boned Scout would experiment with the old runes, and find ways to construct spells from them. One offered a large increase in mana, the other gave him more tools for exploring.

One of those tools was his Smuggler's Stash. Exploring was a lot easier with a cubic yard of storage. The game was very stingy with storage skills and devices. He didn't like the idea of losing it.

He thought about the difference between the Velocity Rune and the Speed Rune. Cichol had told him that the rune he had learned was much more powerful. That had proved true when he created his own spell to enhance the captain's harpoon. It stood to reason that the other ancient runes were also more powerful, but maybe harder to work with?

But if he worked hard enough, he might be able to learn magic just as powerful as Bonecasting, and have better skills for exploring. He crossed off Bonecasting and circled Rune-Boned Scout. The decision of which class to take settled, he decided to take a nap. Then he'd see how much he could buy with 180000 in experience.

Chapter 91: Leveling Up

Reminder: You must allocate 18,000 experiences to Tier 1 skills, and 102 Core Skill Points to Tier 1 Core Skills or Foundation.

Any unallocated points will be lost.

-The restriction on spending only 27 points on increasing your stats with CSP is removed. For Tier 1 only. Someone gave me a sticky note that said "A debt is owed." Any idea what that is about?

I'd really like to know the whole story someday. Interested in some experience in Storytelling? Just a thought.

18,000 experiences seemed like a lot. Some skills were already at their maximum, but others sadly lacking. Did he concentrate on skills? Or on the stats they raised? The hint about special abilities if he raised one or more to level 10 was interesting.

The logical answer was his skills. Those were what he would need to survive. He should focus on raising the best of those, and then take a look at where that got him. Maybe he could tweak a few things.

Identify, Hide, Sense Danger, Skulk, and Fleet of Foot were survival skills. And some of them were hard to raise tertiary skills. That used up 6650.

Poison and Disease resistance he was undecided on. He'd circle back.

Dodge for 400 and Tail Fighting for 1800 he bought. He might need tail fighting a lot more now, with his weapons broken. And his tail always surprised the people he was fighting. Small blades and Throw Sharp Things would be good for raising his DEX, but he would have spells for ranged combat.

Acrobatics he maxed out.

Claws of Alta Viator stumped him. He didn't feel a connection to the skill. Would that come in Tier 2 as a Rune-Boned Scout? That only made sense. He put 1800 experience into the claw fighting skill.

He still had 5900 experiences. He decided to ignore skills he hadn't used such as skinning and scrimshaw. Cheesemaking was tempting, but he needed to be somewhere that he could make cheese. Rocky caves didn't provide milk.

3350 went into Poison and Disease Resistance.

Bone Carving and Rune Lore took another 2500.

The last 150 was put into Cheesemaking. You just never knew what you might find.

Skills

Stat

Level

experience

P/S/T

Bonecasting

INT

5

2000

Primary

Poison Resistance

CON

5

2000

Primary

Disease Resistance

CON

5

2000

Primary

Skulk

WIS

5

2000

Primary

Climbing

AGI

5

2000

Primary

Dodge

AGI

5

2000

Primary

Small Blades

DEX

3

575

Primary

Tail Fighting

DEX

5

2000

Primary

Mining

STR

5

2000

Primary

Acrobatics

AGI

5

2000

Secondary

Throw Sharp Thing

DEX

0

0

Secondary

Fleet of Foot

AGI

5

2000

Secondary

Claws of Alta-Viator

DEX

5

2000

Secondary

Sense Danger

PER

5

2000

Secondary

Forage

PER

2

500

Secondary

Skinning

DEX

0

0

Tertiary

Manipulate Locks and Traps

DEX

5

2000

Tertiary

Hide

INT

5

2000

Tertiary

Identify

PER

5

2000

Tertiary

Mycology

INT

1

500

Tertiary

Combat Block

DEX

0

0

Tertiary

Bone Carving

DEX

5

2000

Crafting

Scrimshaw

DEX

0

0

Crafting

Rune Lore

INT

5

2000

Lore

Cheesemaking

WIS

1

150

Crafting

Rune Crafting

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Black Smithing

STR

2

500

Crafting

Trap Making

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Mechanic

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Hydraulics

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Engineering

INT

5

2000

Ore Processing

INT

5

2000

Pulley-Systems

INT

5

2000

Chemistry

INT

5

2000

Physics

INT

5

2000

Fluid Systems

INT

5

2000

Metallurgy

INT

5

2000

Skills done, he looked at his stats. His INT was at 15, but the only other stat that had a chance of going that high was DEX. PER was at 10 and AGI could be raised to 10. DEX was going to stop at 14. Some of his choices were poorly made, in retrospect. He had no other skills that he could use to raise CON by 200 points and get a total of 10. But, if he lowered Disease Resistance by 1500 points, and used that to raise up Small Blades to Rank 5, then he could hit a total of 15 DEX after spending his CSP. He'd have two stats at 10, and two at 15. He made the changes. It cost him 12 points to raise caps on stats. Another 33 points went to raising STR, DEX, AGI by three points and PER by 2.

This left him with 57 CSP to spend on skills.

Stat:

Rank

Cap

experience

Bonus

Total

STR

5

5

2500

+3

8

DEX

10

10

1025

2+3

15

AGI

9

9

8000

2+3

14

CON

6

6

4000

0+3

9

INT

10

10

I quit counting.

2+3

15

WIS

5

5

2150

0+3

8

CHA

0

5

0

0

0

PER

7

7

4500

2+2

10

TOU

0

5

0

+3

3

Milo wondered what "A debt is owed" meant. His best guess was some sort of apology from Wally.

His list of Core Skills had changed slightly. There some new options to look at. But the first one he bought was two levels of regeneration for fifteen CSP. He was acutely aware that he had something inside him just waiting for a chance to dissolve him down to goo. He didn't like the wording on Mutant Regeneration, and stopped at taking the third level of regeneration.

Unlimited Dark Vision was next. He could already see in the dark a little, and he was aided by glowing lichen and mushrooms that seemed to be everywhere. But there would be dark places in the world where no light would touch. At least he hoped so. Another ten points spent, leaving him thirty-three.

Never lost seemed essential, and the 2nd and 3rd levels of Skilled Provider looked good. Any miner would take a better chance at gems or rare ores being found now and then. Eight more spent, twenty-four to go.

He considered Strong Claws and Slashing Tail. He had bought his tail fighting skills early on, but not increased the damage. Shadowblight had always been enough to kill nearly anything, and now without the magical weapon, he realized he'd become reliant on it. He bought all of the levels of Slashing Tail which would add +40 damage to his tail attacks and the first two of Strong Claws adding +20 to his claws.

He was done and could head up to Tier 2

Tier 1 Core Skill Lists. These have been up before. In Tier 2 Milo gets access to upgrades and different skills depending on what he does.

Generic Core Skills: Any player has access to these Core Skills. Many more skills can be learned by finding teachers, reading books, completing quests, or doing mighty deeds. The cost of Generic Core skills will increase with each Tier. Choose wisely. Putting off a skill today may cost you more tomorrow.

Name

Description

Cost

Increase Health 1

+50 points to health score

2

Increase Health 2

+100 points to health score (Must have level 1 first.)

5

Increase Health 3

+150 points to health score (Must have level 2 first.)

10

Increase Mana 1

+50 points to Mana score

2

Increase Mana 2

+100 points to Mana score (Must have level 1 first.)

5

Increase Mana 3

+150 points to Mana score (Must have level 2 first.)

10

Increase Stamina 1

+50 points to Stamina score

2

Increase Stamina 2

+100 points to Stamina score (Must have level 1 first.)

5

Increase Stamina 3

+150 points to Stamina score (Must have level 2 first.)

10

Identification 1

Gives information on an item or creature of levels 1-5 even if you are a lower level.

3

Identification 2

Gives information on an item or creature of levels 6-10 even if you are a lower level.

5

Tier 1 Stats Cap Increase.

Increase the cap on a statistic. You may buy this ability up to 5 times, to raise a cap on a stat to a max of rank 10 in Tier 1. Hard cap of rank 10 in any stat.

1

Tier 1 Foundation Increase

Add 5 pts to one of your foundation skills

1

Purchase Bonus Points:

These abilities add to your stats. Gaining bonuses does not affect stats gained by ranks.

Spirit of the Ox 1

+1 Bonus to STR. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way

3

Spirit of the Bear 1

+1 Bonus to CON. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way

3

Spirit of the Monkey 1

+1 Bonus to DEX. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way

3

Spirit of the Owl 1

+1 Bonus to INT. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way

3

Spirit of the Cheetah 1

+1 Bonus to AGI. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way

3

Spirit of the Pig

+1 Bonus to WIS. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way

3

Spirit of the Hawk

+1 Bonus to PER. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way

3

Spirit of the Swan

+1 Bonus to CHA. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way

3

Second Wind 1

Once per day, regain 20 Health/Mana/Stamina.

1

Second Wind 2

Once per day, regain 50 Health/Mana/Stamina.

3

Second Wind 3

Once per day, regain 100 Health/Mana/Stamina.

5

Breathless 1

You may hold your breath 3x as long. (3 minutes.)

1

Breathless 2

You may hold your breath 10x as long. (10 minutes.)

1

Scout Core Skills

Name

Description

Cost

Smugglers Stash

Storage Skill. Summons/Dispels a magical chest. Size increases with rank. (3 cubic feet, 9 cubic feet, 27 cubic feet.)

3/5/7

Skilled Provider

Your gathering skills have an increased chance of finding better quality items

1/2/3

Abundance

Your gathering skills return more resources than normally expected.

(+10%/+25%/+50%/+75%/+100%)

1/2/3/4/5

unnoticed 1

You have a stealth like skill that makes you unnoticed in normal settings by Tier 1 creatures. Combines well with Skulk

2

Silent Step 1

When trying to not be noticed, your steps make only 40% as much noise as normal. Combines well with Skulk

2

Unlimited Dark-Vision

You see in Darkness and Magical Darkness as normal, but in shades of gray. No limitations on distance.

10

Bounding Leap

You may leap twice as far as normal.

2

Fast Talk 1

Slightly increases the chance of someone believing your BS.

2

Fast Talk 2

Greatly increases the chance of someone believing your BS.

5

Never Lost

Vastly increased memory for keeping track of the routes you've taken before, reading maps, and following clues on treasure maps.

3

Twist the Knife

When your opponent is not focused on you, you have an increased chance of a critical hit. Knife not required.

2/5/10

WereRat Core Skills Tier 1

Name

Description

Cost

Strong Claws

Increased Claw Damage. Amount increases with rank.

(+10/+20/+40)

2/5/10

The Unseen Tail

Disguise/Illusion in Were form. By using Skulk and staying in the shadows you will pass for a human.

3

The Invisible Tail

Improved Disguise/Illusion in Were form. You may openly walk among humans even in were form, and pass for one of them. Creatures much above your level, or with a good sense of smell, or who can see through illusions may not be affected.

3

Whip-Tail

Your tail becomes a weapon equivalent to a small mace.

2

Slashing Tail

Your tail does increased damage and can slash.

(+10/+20/+40 Damage.) Requires Whip-Tail

2/5/10

Many small eyes

Make friends with local rats who will (maybe) do some scouting for you.

2

See through small eyes

Increased control of your small scouts and you are able to use their eyes instead of your own.

3

Cheesemaking

An honorable tradition! So tasty! INT crafting skill

1

Poison Resistance

Gain the CON skill Poison Resistance. Cost depends on whether the skill is Primary, Secondary, or Tertiary

1/2/5

Disease Resistance

Gain the CON skill Disease Resistance. Cost depends on whether the skill is Primary, Secondary, or Tertiary

1/2/5

Extra Stabby!

All of your attacks have an increased chance of a critical hit.

2/5/10

Extra Clever Traps

Your traps and machinery almost always work, and in fiendish ways no one suspected. Even you are surprised at times. This core skill affects Mechanic, Trap-Maker, and other such skills.

3/6/9

Not-so-fast Regeneration

Grants increased, (x2), health recovery. Slowly regenerate scar tissue, and missing body parts. A steady diet of cheese speeds the process.

5

Pretty-Good Regeneration

Grants increased, (x4), health recovery. Regenerate scar tissue, and missing body parts in less than a week. A steady diet of cheese speeds the process.

10

Mutant Regeneration

Grants increased, (x12), health recovery. Regenerate scar tissue, and missing body parts in less than a day.

Warning: As with all mutations, there can be significant side effects.

20

Magical Aspects open up options to learn more mage skills. Each additional aspect has an increased cost. Gaining an aspect does not automatically give you spells.

Chill of the Grave

You have a high Death aspect. Training will let you learn Death magics. Increasing cost with additional aspects. Increase your Corruption by +1. Opens more options for mage abilities. Increased ranks decrease mana costs of casting spells.

5/10/25

Deeds in the Dark

You have a high darkness aspect. Training will let you learn dark magics. Increasing cost with additional aspects. Increase your Corruption by +1. Opens more options for mage abilities. Increased ranks decrease mana costs of casting spells.

5/10/25

Storm Born

You have a high Storm aspect. Training will let you learn Storm magics. Increasing cost with additional aspects. Opens more options for mage abilities. Increased ranks decrease mana costs of casting spells.

5/10/25

Individual Abilities: You have earned these through quests or adventuring.

Spirit of Durgi Forefather

+1 Bonus to TOU (Dwarves only.) May be taken 3 times.

3

Blessing of Hekate: Canine Speech

You can almost understand dogs, and they understand you.

2

Increased Pudding Based Regen

Convert bones and cartilage to essential components, heal and absorb faster.

5

Chapter 92: The Rune-Boned Scout

After an eternity of boredom and pounding his head on the wall, he heard a small sound and a bit of light came through a crack. He thrust his claws into the crack and pulled, but the hard material defeated him. An idea slowly formed in his mind as runes aligned and were discarded.

Milo-Osculum-Infantum cast his first spell: Sunder Shell.

His egg was ripped in half, scattering pieces of shell into the dark waters. From far, far above he saw the light. His clutch-mates had waited for him, even though they knew from the shape of his egg that he was malformed. One of his hind legs was too short and his head too big. They didn't care. He was theirs. Family. They would swim upwards together.

Iritas-Venetor wished to use speed to swim past the eels but Magna-Stultas was more cautious, and advised stealth.

"Let the least of us lead. He is hard to see and quiet. If all stay behind him, we will advance slowly."

Iritas-Venetor agreed, but added, "And if the eels see him, it gives a nice diversion."

They moved as a pack, up through the slow-water, and into the live-water. Now was the time of great danger. The cheating eels had found their spawning waters and sent half-grown eels to patrol the live water. As expected, they were seen!

A sharp-eyed eel saw them and let out a low keening to alert others. They prepared to flee. Milo-Osculum-Infantum knew he was dead. He was too slow! He would have to return to dark and go through the cycle again.

He remembered other runes: "Swift-Swimming". His skin shimmered and he leaped forward. Far faster than he had been. Faster than an eel! He shot past the stupid eel, his stunted rear-claw raking its eye and infuriating it. It followed.

More eels came at the wounded one's cry. Milo-Osculum-Infantum didn't stop to taunt them. He swam through the life water for the light. He made it to the live-stone, but an eel was on his tail. Literally. Its jaws were cramped cruelly on his lovely tail, and it was pulling him back into the live-water!

From above on the cliff, a predator leaped onto the eel. Volat-Repax had smaller claws, but many, and a long, glorious tail. He wrapped around the eel, wounding it. From the water emerged Magna-Stultas, his jaws chomped down on the body of the eel, and in its pain, it released Milo-Osculum-Infantum. Alta-Viator joined the fight, his strong claws sundering the eel's head.

"Feed quickly brothers. We need strength to run."

The eel was tasty, and they ran fast, finding an opening in the live-rock that took them deep. Milo-Osculum-Infantum, but was not happy. The others gathered round. "What bothers you, little brother? Life is sweet with the taste of eel on your tongue!"

Milo-Osculum-Infantum hung his head. I was useless in the fight. I am too small.

Volax-Repat laughed. "Useless? You knew the runes of Swift Swimming and gave them us. The speed was delicious."

Magna-Stultas agreed. "As delicious as eel. You were brave little brother. You attacked and drew first blood and drew off the eels."

Altar-Viator wagged his tail in agreement with his brothers. "And you set the trap. That was clever. We were weak alone. Strong together. For four hatchlings to kill an eel of that stage is grand. The story will remain for ages."

He looked at the others. "And we owe you a debt. You shared your runes with us. Runes none of us remembered how to cast. We must return the favor."

Altar-Viator placed his paw upon Milo-Osculum-Infantum's head. "You have my claws"

"And you have my tail!" Volax-Repat shouted eagerly.

"And my bones!" Finished Magn-Stultas.

The Ancient Bone-Runes swirled through their bodies before being shared with the little one who had saved them, binding him to them forever.

Welcome to Tier 2

Congratulations! You have evolved your last class: Wererat Scout into the new class, Rune-Boned Scout. This is a unique class based on decisions you have made along your path, and your accomplishments. In addition to stealth and scouting abilities you add the ability to cast spells constructed from your knowledge of the Ancient Runes. You will also gain options to enhance your own physical form.

Rune-Boned Scout

Evolve your scout class to be something more. Delve deeper into the earth and seek out its secrets. You have discovered the ancient creatures that vied with the Eels for dominion of the world when it was young and unformed. More, you have gained the favor of three such creatures. Bonecasting is but a pale shadow of what you could do as a master of the ancient runes used by these creatures. Focus in on Ancient Runic lore, Rune carving, Spell Construction, finding more of these creatures or their runes, and enhancing your own form.

You have gained: +4 Perception, +4 Intelligence, and +4 Toughness.

You may add +2 points to your stats as you choose.

You have gained the WIS Skill: Ancient Rune Lore.

You have gained the INT Skill: Spell Construction.

Skill Changes:

You have lost the skill: Bonecasting. You retain some of the knowledge of those spells, but they are now powered by the Old Magic of the Ancient Runes. The experience from this skill is transferred to your new magical skills.

Skulk, Unnoticed, Silent steps and Hide now combine to create the new skill: Stealthy Skulking. This skill reduces a creature's perception by 2+2 per rank. This reduced number is what will be used to see if they notice you doing something. If that number is 0 or less, they will only notice you if you are quite obvious in what you are doing, such as attacking, casting a spell, or swimming in a soup tureen. Otherwise you will move through the shadows, hide, and tip-toe across rooftops with others unaware of you. Obviously, creatures with high perception, or with skills designed to notice people like you will be harder to hide from.

Spells:

Exploding Skull has become Runed-Skull. By carving one or more Runes of Destruction upon a skull and binding your mana into it, you create a weapon that may thrown at an enemy to cause an explosion. It may also be triggered remotely as a bomb. Damage is an AOE with a radius of twenty-feet. Base damage is 100 per rune, modified by your skill.

Bone Spike has become Harpoon of the Winds. By carving a Rune of Destruction, and a Rune of Velocity into a small bone harpoon, you create a powerful ranged weapon. Base damage of 200, modified by your skill. This weapon must be thrown at an opponent.

You retain the spells: Extra Rib, Mend Bones, Brittle Bones, and the skill: Manipulate Bone.

You know the following Ancient Runes: Destruction, Velocity, Hard-Bones, Swift-Swimming, Sunder Earth, Sharp-Talons

You have the meta-magic skills: Claws of Alta-Viator and Spine of Volax-Repat

-Tailfighting, Mace Tail, Sharp Tail, and their benefits are now included in Spine of Volax-Repat

-Strong Claws and its benefits are included in Claws of Alta-Viator

-You have regained the perks: Sharp-Runed Talons and Hard-Runed Bones

Special Benefits for Maximizing your Stats: DEX, AGI, PER, INT

Congratulations on raising both DEX and AGI to 10 in Tier one. You have gained the benefit: Acrobat

You are skilled at tumbling, walking a tightrope, or swinging from a trapeze. If you have an evasive defense skill it gains a 10% bonus.

Congratulations on raising both DEX and PER to 10 in Tier one. You have gained the benefit: Juggling.

You are adept at juggling items in the air. You may also catch items thrown at you, and return them to their owner. You are also skilled at sleight of hand, and gain small bonuses to skills such as Pickpocket, or Gambling.

You have a +20% chance to hit with physical ranged attacks.

Congratulations on raising both DEX and INT to 10 in Tier one. You have gained the benefit: Fast Casting

When you cast an attack spell at a single target, you may immediately repeat the spell for twice the mana.

Congratulations on raising both PER and AGI to 10 in Tier one. You have gained the benefit: Uncanny Dodge. Any avoidance skill that you use to dodge incoming damage from a source you are aware of will gain +20% to your chance. You must know the direction the damage is coming from.

Congratulations on raising both INT and AGI to 10 in Tier one. You have gained the benefit: Alert

Others might pause at the start of trouble, but not you. A spell or weapon is immediately at hand and you gain a bonus to acting ahead of your enemies.

Congratulations on raising both PER and INT to 10 in Tier one. You have gained the Perk: Fast Hands, Faster Brain! Any task that involves assembly, disassembly, sorting, or manipulating multiple objects is trivial for you. You don't have to think which part goes where, you just know!

Tri-fecta! Raising two stats to 10 is difficult, but raising three is simply amazing!

Add +50 to Health, Mana, and Stamina.

Quadratic! You just don't know when to quit climbing the mountain.

For raising 4 stats to 10 or higher receive one of the following of your choice:

- A simple aspect of magic such as fire, cold, darkness, storm, etc.

- Minor resistance to any one element such as fire, cold, acid, darkness. This is a primary skill.

- 100 Gold Coins

- +150 to either Health, Mana, or Stamina. Please choose.

Oh My! Aren't we the clever little rat? You earned a Heroic Ability!

Only 12 players have accomplished this feat so far. You're the lucky 13th! to do so.

Because you have raised both INT and DEX to 15 in Tier one, you have gained the ability: Counter Attack

You recognize when someone else is about to cast a spell. Hand motions, shouting magic words, the smell of ozone, and that stupid smirk on their face gives it away. You may counter their spell with an attack of you own. After all, it's hard to cast a spell if someone just cut off your fingers or put a knife in your throat. If you did not use Fast Casting immediately prior to this attack, you may also cast a single spell instead of attacking.

If your counter attack does at least 25 points x the Creature's Tier, the spell is countered. Elite Bosses count as one tier higher, and Monstrous bosses count as 2 tiers higher.

General Changes now that you are in the second Tier:

-It is easier for higher tier creatures to attack and injure lower tier creatures. In general, you will have a bonus of +20% to hit, and to damage, when fighting Tier 1 creatures. Your evasion is higher against their attacks, and you will resist Tier 1 spells easier.

-Because it is trivial to fight Tier 1 creatures, you will no longer gain experience from killing them. Tier 1 Bosses will still give Core Skill Points, but at a much reduced level. (An exception to this rule would be a special event. If you singlehandedly stop the thousands of warrior-weevils in the onrushing hordes of Queen Squirmicide from devastating Plum Village you will certainly be rewarded.

-Points of INT, CHA, or WIS added in Tier 2 will add 30 mana.

-Points of STR will add 30 stamina and 15 health.

-Points of CON will add 30 health and 15 stamina.

-Points of TOU will add 50 health and +2% to all resistances.

-The cost of T1 Core Skills you did not take are increased to reflect the increased amount of CSP you will receive in Tier 2.

Milo awoke to many notifications and strange dreams swirling in his head. He felt much, much better. He felt fixed, and connected to his abilities once again. Raising his hand, he saw that his claws were sharp and hard. They were a creamy white and he was able to retract them nearly all the way, or extend them to a length of two-inches. He experimented and carved furrows in the stone of the cave floor with little effort.

Reading through his sheet, he saw that he still had some choices to make. He should do that before he ran off to experiment with spells. His free points were an important decision. He could put +2 points to a skill. DEX and INT came to mind, as his highest. But TOU would give him more health. Or perception to avoid traps. He'd have to think on this.

Or you can vote in the poll below!

The next choice would take some research. He didn't think he wanted a magical aspect, but he should research it. It wasn't the same as learning spells. Gold, he had. More health, mana, or stamina would be nice. And gaining a third resistance skill could save his life. Acid? Fire? He did cause a lot of explosions.

One poll per chapter. I'll do this one next.

Decisions made, or put off for later, he was ready to go. Georgie licked his face and disappeared to where ever he went when Milo didn't have a camp. Arcane Home for Watch-Lizards? Who knew?

He jumped into the deep crack in the rock, one claw slowing his fall to the tunnel. Then he ran back up to see if he could find a trace of Harry, or catch up to the Engineers.

Base

Per Level

From Stats

From CSP

Total

Health

100

100

710

+50

1460+(100)

Stamina

600

100

360

+50

1610

Mana

100

100

810

+200+50

1760

Cheese

Level2: Partial Control

+1 STR, +100 Health

Stat:

Tier 1 Value

Rank

Cap

experience

Bonus

Total

STR

8

0

5

8 (+1)

DEX

15

0

5

15

AGI

12

0

5

12

CON

8

0

5

8

INT

15

0

5

+4

19

WIS

8

0

5

8

CHA

0

0

5

0

PER

11

0

5

+4

15

TOU

3

0

5

+4

7

Skills

Stat

Level

experienceT1

experienceT2

P/S/T

Claws of Alta-Viator

DEX

5

2000

Primary

Spine of Volax-Repat

DEX

5

2000

Primary

Rune Crafting

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Ancient Rune Lore

WIS

5

2000

Lore

Rune Lore

INT

5

2000

Lore

Spell Construction

INT

0

0

Primary

Bone Carving

DEX

5

2000

Crafting

Manipulate Bone

WIS

0

0

Primary

Poison Resistance

CON

5

2000

Primary

Disease Resistance

CON

2

500

Primary

Stealthy Skulking

WIS

5

2000

Primary

Climbing

AGI

5

2000

Primary

Dodge

AGI

5

2000

Primary

Small Blades

DEX

5

2000

Primary

Mining

STR

5

2000

Primary

Acrobatics

AGI

5

2000

Secondary

Throw Sharp Thing

DEX

0

0

Secondary

Fleet of Foot

AGI

5

2000

Secondary

Sense Danger

PER

5

2000

Secondary

Forage

PER

2

500

Secondary

Skinning

DEX

0

0

Tertiary

Manipulate Locks and Traps

DEX

5

2000

Tertiary

Identify

PER

5

2000

Tertiary

Mycology

INT

1

100

Tertiary

Combat Block

DEX

0

0

Tertiary

Scrimshaw

DEX

0

0

Crafting

Cheesemaking

WIS

1

150

Crafting

Black Smithing

STR

2

500

Crafting

Trap Making

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Mechanic

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Hydraulics

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Engineering

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Ore Processing

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Pulley-Systems

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Chemistry

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Physics

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Fluid Systems

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Metallurgy

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Core Skills

Skill

Next Upgrade

Upgrade Cost

Description

Smugglers Stash (3)

54 cubic feet

20

27 Square Feet

Bounding Leap (1)

Heroic Leap. 3x distance

5

2x Leap Distance

Claws of Alta-Viator (2)

+40 Damage

10

Spine of Volax-Repat (3)

+40 Damage

20

Invisible Tail (1)

Totally Normal Person

10

Appear as a human, in normal circumstances.

Never Lost (1)

No upgrade

Unlimited Dark Vision (1)

No upgrade

Pretty Good Regeneration

Strong Regeneration

20

Mutant Regeneration

10

Weak Poison Resistance

Skill: Strong Poison Resistance

10

Mitigate 5+5xRank Poison Damage per Round

Weak Disease Resistance

Skill: Strong Disease Resistance

10

Mitigate 5+5xRank Disease Damage per Round. You are immune to minor mundane diseases.

Abundance (2)

Abundance 3

3

Breathless (1)

Breathless 2 (10 minutes)

2

Skilled Provider (3)

Skill Provider 4

5

Extra Clever Traps (2)

Fiendish Traps

10

Cheese Making

Skill: Cheese Crafting

5

Perks

WereRat Scout Bonus

+2 PER, AGI, DEX Foundation: +15 to Evasion, +10 to Forage, +10 to Mine

Rune-Boned Scout Bonus

+4 PER, TOU, INT, +2 Foundation: +10 Evasion, +10 Magic, +10 Craft, +10 Resist

+100 mana per Tier

Extra Rib of Magna-Stultas

+2 INT when bonded to Cowl

You receive the blessing of Regulus Tyborian. While bound to the Bone-Runed Cowl you gain +2 Int.

+100 Mana

You gain +100 mana from the blessing of the Oracle of Oblivion

Acrobat

You are skilled at tumbling, walking a tightrope, or swinging from a trapeze. If you have an evasive defense skill it gains a 10% bonus.

Juggling

You are adept at juggling items in the air. You may also catch items thrown at you, and return them to their owner. You are also skilled at sleight of hand, and gain small bonuses to skills such as Pickpocket, or Gambling.

You have a +20% chance to hit with physical ranged attacks.

Fast Casting

When you cast an attack spell at a single target, you may immediately repeat the spell for twice the mana.

Uncanny Dodge

Any avoidance skill that you use to dodge incoming damage from a source you are aware of will gain +20% to your chance. You must know the direction the damage is coming from.

Alert

A spell or weapon is immediately at hand and you gain a bonus to acting ahead of your enemies.

Fast Hands, Faster Brain

Any task that involves assembly, disassembly, sorting, or manipulating multiple objects is trivial for you. You don't have to think which part goes where; you just know!

Trifecta!

+50 Mana, Health, Stamina

Quadratic

Resistance to Acid or another Resistance or aspect, +150 to H or S or M, gold ?

Counter Attack

You recognize when someone else is about to cast a spell. Hand motions, shouting magic words, the smell of ozone, and that stupid smirk on their face gives it away. You may counter their spell with an attack of you own. After all, it's hard to cast a spell if someone just cut off your fingers or put a knife in your throat. If you did not use Fast Casting immediately prior to this attack, you may also cast a single spell instead of attacking.

Swift Swimming

For the cost of 100 stamina, you increase your swimming speed to twice that of your land speed. Duration 30 minutes, you leave the water, or you lose your skin.

Hard-Runed Bones

Your bones are hard. Falls and blunt trauma do far less damage to you. 50% of force damage, and blunt weapon damage is mitigated. Mana will power the rune, costing you one mana for each 10-damage negated.

Sharp-Runed Talons

Your Talons are extensions of your bones. Use your sharp talons to hunt the eels wherever they are. Claw attacks will do +20 damage per Tier.

Stone Sense

Even in complete darkness you can feel the shape of natural stone and earth to a distance of 50' and up to 10' past the surface of the stone. This allows movement through caves and similar terrain even in complete darkness at a normal pace.

-You know when creatures move around you if they are treading on stone or packed earth by the vibrations they make. Some stealth abilities may partially negate this, as will a very light tread.

Combat Calculations

Weapon Block: 20%+DEXx5+Rankx5 =95%. You will take Weapon Damage -100.

Claws of Alta Viator:

Chance to Hit:60%+5%xRank to hit = 85%

Damage: 60+5xSTR+5xRank +20(CSP) + 40(20 per tier) = 185

Spine of Volat-Repax:

Chance to hit: 30%+5%xDEX+5%xRank = 130%

Damage: 30+5xDEX+5xRank+40(CSP) = 170

Shadowblight: Broken

Small Blades:

Chance to hit: 30%+5%xDEX+5%xRank = 130%

Damage: 30+rankx5 = 55

Throw Sharp Things:

Chance to hit: 20%+5%xDEX+5%xRank = 95%

Damage: 20+rankx5 = 20

Chapter 93: Fire and Flood

Shadowport was in chaos. Not the chaos that would have happened if a giant crystalline monster had cracked the earth and brought down the cavern roof, but still not in good shape.

The rich had fled first. Those with their own airships or sea-going vessels had taken trusted retainers and portable wealth. Also the best food and wine, since long voyages could be tedious. They left behind many retainers who had served them for years, and mercenary guards who wondered about getting paid.

It wasn't long after the richest citizens had fled that many of the hanging palaces and wealthy estates had changes of ownership. Gangs joined with mercenaries under strong leaders and new territory was staked out. Half the hanging palaces were taken over, and half were looted of everything of value. There would be fights if the old owners returned. That was just to be expected

Below in the city, everyone was either busy fleeing, busy guarding their homes, or busy looting. As people fled, gangs and looters moved through buildings, stealing what they could. Even in these perilous times, there were people ready to buy. Shadowport was home to many pirates, smugglers, and outcasts from the empire. Taking advantage of chaos was second nature to them.

The gangs and thieves had no place to store this windfall of loot, so they gladly took a little coin from the fences and merchants (not much difference between them, actually.) Many a fortune was made by those with the guts to stick around, the coin to buy up what they could, and the swords to protect their warehouses.

Fights started, ranging from small skirmishes in alleyways to battles with dozens of combatants fighting over warehouses stuffed with goods. The fighting was worst in the warehouse district by the docks. That was where the first fire started.

Fire was a nightmare for Shadowport. The buildings were mostly of wood that burned fiercely. In other cities a Storm Mage would bring rain to smother the flames. It was hard to do that when the sky was made of stone. Several large warehouses and a swath of the shanty town near the docks burned to the ground before the fires could be cut off and dealt with. One Sea Mage had stayed behind, not wanting to abandon his extended family. Tobias had been born a fisherman's son, and he wasn't leaving the city. It was the large waves that he conjured from the bay that finally smothered the flames. Ironically, he couldn't save the block of homes where his family had lived.

Sitting near the charred remains of his father's house, his mana exhausted and his spirits low, he didn't notice the gang of ruffians until they surrounded him. One nudged his boot. "Hey, wake up. Are you the Sea Mage that did this? Boss needs to know!"

Tobias looked down at his soot blackened blue robe, trimmed with a design of white waves. There was certainly no chance of denying it. "Yes. The other mages left, using Mage Winds to speed the boats out of the harbor, I'm the only Sea Mage left. Don't expect much out of me. I won't have mana to fight another fire for at least a day."

The gang's leader just nodded. "The boss wants to make sure you're ready to go, and that no one bothers you. Well, besides us. I'm leaving a few of the boys for your protection along with some mana potions to get you back on your feet."

A leather satchel was handed to him. Inside was an assortment of mana potions in various sizes. More than enough to restore his mana several times over. "Boss Squint wants you ready to go if needed." Taking that as a hint, Tobias began drinking one of the largest of potions.

"Oh, and Squint wants to know if you need anything? Sandwiches? Wine? He said to just ask and you should tell us."

Tobias laughed and pointed at the charred remains of his old home where four generations of his family had once lived. They were currently huddling in the church while his father and brothers guarded their ship. Without a home, they couldn't take the chance of losing their livelihood as well. Tired to his bones, and amused at the idea of a gang of thugs running to find him a sandwich, he pointed at the rubble and asked "Can you get me a new house? That's where my family used to live."

Several of the gang started talking, and finally the leader laughed at some joke. "Yeah, as a matter of fact, we know of a vacant house. See that nice little villa over there with the white stucco and high fence? That's yours now. The boys will help you move in and get your family down here."

Tobias was puzzled to say the least. "That villa belongs to a merchant, Kanelos Villdran. I think he'll object."

More laughter from the gang. "Not without his head he won't. Squint warned him about looting from across the bridge. Now his head is on a pike. Squint says he's tired of people not listening to him. Lots of new rules. Mostly 'quit looting, quit buying loot, and don't make him come talk to you."

Tobias stood and dusted off his robe as best he could. "Well, I don't want to disappoint Boss Squint. If he says that's my house, I'm going to listen." All the Kulags nodded at the wisdom of that statement. "And I'll be ready to help out where ever he needs me."

Most of the gang moved off to sort out other problems. Four large Kulags escorted Tobias to his new Villa. The white stucco was stained with soot from the fires, but otherwise in good shape. Tobias decided to pick out his room before the rest of the family arrived. That only seemed fair.

Later that day, his mother and grandmother came down from the church along with brothers, sisters, cousins, and many children he didn't think he was related to. His grandmother hugged him, made a fuss. "Such a good boy. Finding us all a nice new house? Your friends told us where to find you and helped move us here. Not that we have much left."

Tobias got himself free of his grandmother's arms just as two aunts came rushing in the room. "Come look. Come look! The kitchen is huge! And Tobias's friend left all the copper pans and cooking oil for us."

His mother was the next family member to find him, she pulled him into another room. "I'm not ungrateful, but what debt does the family now owe? I don't for a minute think that Kanelos is letting you use his estate for free."

Tobias wondered what stories they had been told. "I don't think he had much choice. Squint caught him breaking rules and looting. He...uh...won't be back. Ever."

His mother pondered that. "I see. And in return, you work for this Squint now? Is he a good man or an evil man?"

Tobias answered truthfully. "I have no clue. I don't even know if he knows. But I'm the only water mage if another fire breaks out. He wants me resting and ready to deal with it, and not worried about where my family is sleeping."

She nodded. Fair enough. "Our family will take this gift. And there is room here for more people. Can we offer the use of 'your house' to other families? Many don't have a roof over their heads. The church is full and food is getting scarce."

Tobias was pretty sure a lot of other families were already here, based on the number of children already exploring the rooms and setting up bedding in the courtyard. "Of course, mother. They are our neighbors and friends."

He would have said more, but he heard his name being yelled from downstairs, and from a window he could see the glow of flames from several blocks over. He raced downstairs to find the Kulag lord sitting in his new living room, his grandmother forcing a plate of food on him. Squint caught his eye, and motioned to the door, setting his plate on the floor where the cats licked it clean in seconds.

He followed Squint out the door and they raced to where flames were just starting to lick up the side of a warehouse. People were fighting out front. Tobias concentrated on summoning waves, ignoring the blood flowing near him as Squint waded into the fight.

Chapter 94: Gert is a Big Doody-Pants

There were a lot of people in the mines when Milo got back to that level. Too many people for his comfort, it was like a street fair. Vendors were selling food, and there was even a musician playing a tune and a few people dancing. A steady stream of new people were coming from the upper levels to see the remains of Uthneragrubban, and to gawk at the huge crystal chest that was dispensing loot to those who had fought. The people who had fought in the battle were showing off their new weapons or items of loot and making up the stories about how they took part in the fight.

Milo skulked closer, staying in the shadows, sometimes walking right past people on the outskirts while staying unseen and unnoticed. He saw a lot of miners with crystal picks. That made sense to him. If you could choose a type of weapon, why not get one that would help you mine as well? Some had double-headed picks with balanced heads. Others had a pick-mattock or pick-hammer. Mattocks were good for moving lose rock and softer stone like coal deposits. The thick blade could also chop down like an axe.

A group of rangers were formed up nearby. Each of them had a new crystalline axe of varied types. Dwarves preferred axes over swords, and their short, strong bodies were ideal for wielding them. Burnock's rangers were looking a lot better. Many were equipped with new shields as well.

Milo just wanted to get his loot and then scamper upstairs. He chose the side of the chest with the most shadow and skulked up to it slowly. As he got near, the system sent a query.

As one of the major contributors to the victory over Uthneragrubban, First of the World Bosses, you have gained rewards.

Please choose a weapon type.

Additional rewards will be available as well.

A long list of weapons appeared. Milo chose Pick-Mattock and the image of a shiny, crystal weapon appeared, the head mounted on a sturdy gnarled wood handle. It was too pretty for Milo's taste. Shiny was bad. In the dark it would throw reflections and make it hard to hide. And despite the message saying it was soul bound, people would fight you for the wealth they saw hanging on your belt. Maybe it was different in other areas, but this was Shadowport.

"Does it come in any other color?"

You are such a pain...

Why yes! It comes in any color you like, as long as that color is black!

A sturdy looking tool fell at Milo's feet. The head was a dull, black finish that would reflect no light. It was perfect. It was followed by a fist-sized bag of what sounded like coins, and a small, silver knife. He scooped up the items, noticing that heads were turning in his direction. He did a backwards roll into the shadows and moved away until he found a quiet spot where he was undisturbed.

Soul bound Black Pick of Skulking

This sturdy pick is made of Tier 4 materials and will cut through lesser materials with ease. When mining, the normal sound of a tool hitting rock is decreased by 75% and the sound dies out entirely after 50 feet.

Cautious Knife

This silver knife appears as a normal eating knife. If the knife touches poisonous food, it will turn black. The deeper the color, the stronger the poison.

Useful items. Milo liked them. The bag had 40 silver coins and a large ruby. Small sparks of light moved in the gem's depths. Identification only told him that is was a Live Gem. Milo had no idea what it was worth, that could wait for later. The guild could probably appraise it for him. He wondered if he could learn the skill himself.

Retracing his steps to the top of the guild hall, he saw Bernard at his desk. The halfing was wearing an obviously magical leather breastplate of red scales, with a crystal spear next to him. He was startled when Milo started to speak. "Ack...geez...don't sneak up on me that way! I guess that teaches me a lesson for daydreaming. What can I do for you kid? I hear you got in some good shots at the boss. Gain a level? Want to give your kindly Uncle Bernard a little dues money?"

Milo liked the halfling. He told you his rules right at the start and then was consistent. "Yes, I actually do. I just leveled up to Tier 2, and level 6. Bernard raised a bushy eyebrow. His eyes appraised Milo again, noting the fancy spanner on his belt, and pick in his hand.

"You've been busy. Good for you! I like busy people. The dues is two silvers for Tier 2, and three more for Level 6. Your looking at four silver for Level 7, 5 for 8, 6 for 9, and a gold for 10. Another gold for tier 3, and then...well, it goes up fast but most of you mooks will never get that far. I'll give you a deal if you want to pay up front. Twenty silver will pay your dues to the start of Tier 3. Save money and pay while you have it." Bernard rattled all the numbers off fast, but his body language indicated he felt that he didn't expect anyone to pay up front.

Milo actually liked the idea. Less coin to pack around, and it was cheaper. He pushed forward another fifteen silver to go with the five already there. The halfling smiled. "And I like a man who's confident that he's moving up in the world. Your all set, kid. Come tell me some stories when you hit level 11." Bernard handed Milo an updated guild membership card. This one on much tougher paper than his first.

Milo waved and headed out into the city, being cautious. He remembered the last time he'd left the guild hall, and been ambushed by Philistron. This time he stayed constantly in the shadows, and ran over the roofs until he was looking down on the little cheese shop in the merchant area. There were several halflings there. He didn't see Jethro, but he did see the older woman he'd dealt with. They were talking angrily and searching through the empty crates.

Milo dropped off a rooftop two-feet away from the shop. "Where's Jethro, we need to talk."

The old woman and four other halflings turned quickly. Grandma stepped up to him. "Trust me, I'm wondering myself. He has a lot of explaining to do before I strip his hide and tan what's left. The little shit got us caught up in some deal and nearly sold on the auction block at Fort Hopeless. Was that you we saw sneaking around just before all the crazy stuff happened?"

Milo remembered seeing halflings in some of the cages. From the state of their dress, all five of these had been on the airship. Milo nodded, acknowledging her guess. "Yes, he captured me as well. Right here in fact, while I was talking with Jethro. Philistron kept some of us in another room where he tortured us. We got out and stole the ship."

Grandma looked at the others. "Nothing for it then. We leave for good. We can't rebuild with the chance of a slaver around." One halfling picked up a box with a few items in it, none of it cheese, according to Milo's nose.

He stood up himself. "You don't have to stay here, but you also don't have to fear Philistron. He's dead."

The old halfling looked at him hard, trying to get the truth. Finally she nodded. "Ok, I'm happy for that. And if you had anything to do with it, you have my blessing. Maybe we're here next time you show up, maybe not." They turned and walked away, clearly exhausted and depressed.

Milo moved through the town. There was a lot of chaos. He smelled smoke, and from the rooftops he could see a section of the docks had burnt, and then the fire had moved up-cave devouring houses and other buildings. He stopped at two taverns, several street vendors, and one of the larger merchants: no one had food, let alone some cheese. The merchant gave him a clue. "Go see Gert, she's been buying up food. Paid me double for every bale and barrel. I kept just enough for my family."

Milo followed his directions to a large warehouse down at the docks. From one roof over and two stories up he could see the warehouse, with quite a few large guards around it. Over two hundred people were in front of the warehouse. He knew some of them. Brother Ignatius was there with several members of his choir. Milo wanted to thank them for their help, but he wasn't sure about going down into the crowd.

The door opened and a large, muscular women walked out, flanked by two more guards.

"Last deal of the day. Then I need my beauty rest. If you have food for sale, I'm buying and paying higher than anyone in town. I'm not selling for another two days. Deal with it."

Ignatius moved forward. "Gert, please. There are people who have lost their homes and need food and shelter. Food which is in scarce supply, and locked in warehouses like yours. We aren't beggars, but we can't pay four times normal prices, and can't wait another two days. People will die. Some of them are your people. You grew up with some of these families."

Gert sighed heavily. Ignatius was one of the few people who could talk to her like that, and he knew it. But she wasn't that little girl any more. That person died while she worked hard to fill her own mouth. "Not my people. Just people. Everyone is out for themselves in this town. You should know that by now."

"Charity will just get me broke, and there will be more hungry people next week. Maybe I'll be one of them. Now I suggest you move on. I've done nothing wrong, just bought and sold. No looting, and I don't buy looted goods. Squint isn't going to come down hard on me just for making a profit."

Milo was pondering what was going on here. He saw Gert's point. If she was playing by the rules, what was the problem? She looked like she worked hard. There was not a speck of fat on her. At the same time, there was Brother Ignatius working to feed everyone. Was he like the food cube delivery system? Making sure everyone got at least some food. If so, it looked like a broken system. But it wasn't Milo's problem to fix, was it? He didn't understand people, so he didn't trust himself to solve their problems.

He wondered if he'd have enough money to buy his own food. Besides his ruby and a few silver, did he have anything of value? Maybe in his stash. In the craziness of the airship he had tossed a bunch of stuff into it, some of it had been books and boxes, but there had been some treasure with jewels. He brought out the secret box and grabbed a couple of items. He'd have to go dump this soon, hopefully in his Arcane Library. He pocketed the items, and was about to head to the Rustyguts Inn and see if Ralph had any food when he saw another person he knew

"But I'm hungry!" The small child wailed. An older girl ran forward to get him and he slipped free. "No, I won't be quiet! Gert is being a big Doody-Pants and hiding all the apples! I'm hungry!"

Milo's eyes narrowed. His mind quit pondering the situation. It became clear in his mind. He ran at the edge of the building and leaped high into the air, sailing over the crowd and landing in a tumbling roll in the open space in front of Gert and her men. From behind him he heard a child's voice muffled by his sister's hand over his mouth. "Mr. Tails."

The guards all reached for their weapons. Milo held out his empty hands.

"Hi, I'm Milo. I want to do some business."

Chapter 95: Cheesey Deals

Gert made a gesture for her guards to be wary but not attack. It had been alarming to have someone leap from a roof to start negotiations, but she understood the need for some people to make flamboyant gestures. This was after all Shadowport, home to thieves and smugglers, pirates and princes.

And he'd said his name was Milo. She couldn't get a good look at him with the cowl over his face, but the description fit. There were some strange stories circulating about him. Not the least of which were showing up with a bunch of engineers and a troll to beat a world boss. His follow up was stealing an airship for Squint and rescuing two hundred people from slavery.

On second thought, a leaping dismount from a couple of stories up wasn't really flamboyant for this guy at all. Just business.

Gert tried to act nonchalant, as if she was used to people showing up this way. "What do you have to sell?"

Milo pointed to the warehouse. "Nothing to sell for gold. I don't need money. I need food. You have cheese? Maybe some apples? A hundred bags of flour? I'd like to go shopping."

Gert made a dismissive gesture. "What part of 'Come back in two days.' don't you understand?"

Milo seemed to ponder that question, taking it seriously. "None of it, to be honest. You seem to want to increase profits by waiting for demand to raise prices. Why wait two days? I've got the money now. Just charge me what you would charge in two days. That's better for you. After all, who knows when a ship full of food comes sailing in and ruins your market?"

Gert waved him forward. "Fine. Come take a look and point to what you need. But if you're wasting my time, I'm waiting three days and people can thank you for empty bellies."

Inside was a full warehouse. Barrels of salted fish and pork were stacked high against the walls. Double baked biscuit for the ships was in sealed crates. Hard sausage, cooked and smoked hard to last for months. There was wine, beer, and alcohol of all sorts. Smoked meats hung from the ceiling as whole carcasses wrapped in burlap along with stacks of ham and slabs of pork bacon. And in one corner, a pile of large wheels of cheese sealed in red wax. A few other kinds were there as well, but it seemed cheddar was back on the menu for a long time. Milo tallied the number of boxes, barrels, tubs, and hanging carcasses. It would feed a lot of people.

"Ok, I've seen what I need to see. Let's go back out. If I'm doing a deal, I want witnesses." Milo was acutely aware of the number of guards in the warehouse versus the number of Milos.

Gert scowled. "You think I'd cheat you?"

Milo replied blandly. "I don't know you at all, and you don't know me, so let's not get into judgement here. Having a few witnesses for the transaction protects you as well as me. After all, I can hardly complain later about a deal I made in front of two-hundred people. People are on edge, and hungry people tell wild stories. I want a simple transaction with no hassles, and so do you." Gert grunted, and they went back outside to the front of the warehouse. The guards inside immediately checked the doors and windows, even the roof, taking no chances this was a distraction for heist.

Milo approached Brother Ignatius. "So how much would all this be normally?" He ran down the list of what he had seen. Ignatius waved in some of the women from the choir. They knew the market far better than he did, having bought the food for their families for decades. They argued for a bit, and tallied up the list, and finally looked at Milo "There's over thirty thousand gold in food inside, she must have been buying and hording long-lasting supplies for a long time. The price has been going up lately."

Milo thanked them and walked back to Gert. "How much do you want for it?"

Gert's eyes narrowed "Be specific. The cheese?"

Milo looked up at her, standing on the warehouse steps. She was already two foot taller than he was, even before you added a six-foot advantage from being on the warehouse loading dock. "No. The warehouse. All of it. How much?"

Gert understood now. This guy was a kulag, and as crazy as Squint. Was whatever Squint had contagious? At least he didn't have a pair of murder-kitties following him around. "Let's assume I take you serious. How would you pay for it?"

"Well, I do have this."

Milo pulled a long rod out of his sleeve. It looked like a golden ceremonial mace. It was studded with diamonds, pearls, and rubies over most of the head. An especially large diamond was set into the handle. Philistron had made a little trophy holder for it. Milo had simply tossed it into his chest. He didn't know it's real value, but he knew it was worth a lot. The slaver-mage wouldn't have kept junk in his private sanctum.

The golden scepter glowed in the half light of Shadowport. Gert sucked in her breath and leaned forward. The crowd murmured. Ignacious took three steps to Milo and scrutinized it before saying something in a language Milo didn't know and saying a short prayer. Gert had walked forward, motioning her guards to stay back. "May I?"

Milo handed it to her. Ignatius, eyes still wide, looked at him and asked a burning question. "That is the Sun Scepter of the Order of Mithras, a blessed item that is sacred to an order of Paladins. It disappeared from their main temple complex over fifty years ago and hasn't been seen since. It's priceless! Every treasure hunter in the world has been looking for it and trying to claim the reward. I believe they raised it again last year to 200,000 gold pieces and a very nice house on the beach!"

Gert was trying not to shake. She had a very high skill in both Appraisal, and Identification. Just holding the thing was convincing her. Every gem was real, the gold was pure, and it identified just as Ignatius had said. And the priest was convinced. She'd known him for years and could read him like a book.

Milo looked at her. "So, we have a deal? My scepter for your warehouse. I know you wanted 3-4 times value for your goods. That leaves a bit left over for the building. I'll take the warehouse; you get the shiny bauble and can retire. It's heavy to pack around, and no one could make change for it when I tried to use it to buy some cheese."

Ignatius held his breath. Gert looked at Milo. "So many things are wrong with this deal. A legendary item? And you just casually produce it and trade it off for salted fish!?"

Milo shrugged. "My friends are hungry, and I need some cheese. You didn't break any rules and should be allowed to make a profit. I don't need the thing, and I'm not attached to it. Win/Win/Win deal. The best kind."

Gert handed it back to him. "I can't trust a deal like this. I just can't." The crowd murmured, somewhere nearby a dog barked.

Brother Ignatius looked at her. "Gert, on my oath as a Priest, I tell you that this is a good man who would not cheat you."

Gert looked from the priest to Milo. "And what about him, what does he swear by?"

Good question. Milo wasn't sure about that. His oath as an engineer? He looked over where the children were sitting, playing with a dog.

Milo placed the scepter back in Gert's hand but held onto the haft. "I'll swear upon the Goddess of Travelers and ask her to throw me to the eels if I'm trying to cheat you."

Gert started to speak, but stopped. A woman was walking towards her, passing through the crowd. No one was reacting to her, not Milo, Ignatius, or her guards. It was like only Gert and the woman existed, everything else seemed unreal. "Take it. I guarantee what it is, and will give you a blessing on your journey to return it. There will be a boat at the docks willing to make the trip. Pay the fisherman's fee and you will arrive at the temple of Mithras safely."

Gert's eyes widened slightly, then she said to Milo. "You have a deal." They shook hands.

Milo reached into his sleeve where he had 'burrowed' a couple of apples, tossing them to the boy and his sister.

From the direction of the docks, a commotion was heard. Several people were pointing out to sea where two ships had just turned into the bay and were running under full sail, the smaller in front, but by so little that it almost seemed to be towing the huge ship behind it.

Gert looked at the smaller ship...and knew. "Thomas, Val? You've been with me the longest. Want to take a little trip? Grab a couple of packs with our clothes and some sausage. We need to meet that little sloop with the grey sail that's coming in to port."

She turned to Milo. "The rest of them are good guys. They've been paid ahead for a fortnight. Ignatius knows some of them. You'd do good to treat them well. Best of luck to you. I'm going to go lay on a beach with two good looking guys and drink wine for a year."

Milo wasn't sure why anyone would want to be so out in the open. Sand, water, and sky? Nope, he preferred his tunnels and caverns. Which he was going to get back to before anything eles happened.

He had just filled his pack with cheese and bread, when he heard a commotion from the docks. The small sloop with the grey sail had just made it to port. He saw Gert boarding with her two companions. Further out in the bay, a much larger ship struggled as the wind that had filled its sail died away. It was a strange thing, made of rusty metal, belching out steam and smoke as a paddle wheel pushed it to port.

Behind the ship, a huge drakonic head broke the surface and screamed in outrage as its prey fled for land. It looked like even odds whether the ship would make port before the huge dragonsnake caught it. A smell came to Milo: Eel. He really hated eels, this one probably needed to be taught a lesson. He tossed his pack into a shadowy spot on a nearby roof, and started running across the buildings towards the docks. From a nearby bar, Captain Pike exploded out the door, harpoon in hand and headed in the same direction.

Chapter 96: Scavengers

Leviathan raced for the safety of the harbor. This didn't mean the ship was fast, just that there was a hope it made it to safety instead of getting caught. She was built to explore the depths, not to race across the waves. Leviathan looked like a giant metal sausage with some extra bits added on as an afterthought. A large propeller was churning the sea behind her, powered by steam boilers. Up on her top deck, a square sail had been raised, adding to her speed as long as the ship could travel in the wind's direction. The wind was behind her, but it was dropping fast as she rounded the headland and headed into the bay.

The propeller by itself wasn't going to let them outrace the giant eel chasing them. Pirates and warships she could avoid. But not an apex predator of the deep. The crew just prayed they could beat the huge dragonsnake that was chasing them. If they lost this race, they'd be another hulk laying on the bottom of the bay, their loot waiting for someone to claim it. The irony of that wasn't lost on Whale, the captain. She and her crew had just made the most successful scavenging run in generations, but it was all going to be for nothing if that oversized worm caught up with them.

The dwarven scavengers that crewed the large submersible were doing their best to keep the wind in the sail. At the rear, another group was bringing up a cannon from a hold. Leviathan had guns along her sides, but only small six-pounders. They worked just fine for taking out most monsters they ran into, and could do huge damage to a ship at close range. Several of Leviathan's adversaries had only known they were in a fight after the hull of their ship exploded from a broadside fired from beneath them.

The massive brass 16-pounder that was being raised on a winch had only recently been looted from another ship. It was the scavenging of The Iron Queen that had riled up the local predator they were running from. The Queen had been laying in a graveyard of broken ships for hundreds of years. Whether the dragonsnake was a guardian, or it was just bad luck, looting the old ship had disturbed its brood. Killing one of its offspring had woken up the huge one that was sleeping in the muck of the sea bottom.

A soot-covered mechanic popped out of a hatch; the braids of her greased beard tucked into her coveralls to keep it from getting caught in machinery. Every young mechanic was told the stories of careless dwarves who 'took a header' into the gears when her beard got caught. It was a messy way to die. Whale turned to her. "How are we looking, Barnacle?"

Barnacle glanced at their pursuer and spat in its general direction, then answered. "Well, the boilers are holding, but we've pushed them up past the red zone. They'll hold for now, but if one of them goes, we won't be worrying about a snake anymore. I'm more worried about the propeller. It's not made to run this hard, for this long. If it starts to wobble, it'll break in half for sure and strand us. If that happens, best we can do is turn and toss a broadside at the beastie. I've got all the gunners on the starboard side ready to shoot. And it looks like little Narwhale wants to try out her new toy. A good shot with that sixteen-pounder might do it."

Whale looked over to where her daughter was doing what she could to mount the large brass cannon she'd stolen from the Queen. 'A dowry'. she'd declared when Whale had yelled at her for loading the pair of cannons along with the other treasure. She might never find the husband she was looking for, but it looked like that dowry might come in handy anyway. If the barrel wasn't clogged, and if the beast gave her a shot. Shooting a snake wasn't like shooting at a ship.

Pike pointed past the snake. "Captain, we have a ship coming up behind us. Hellaciously fast too! That sucker is using a mage wind or I'm a one-legged gobbo." Whale squinted and agreed with Pike. The grey sail on the small sloop was full of wind that wasn't hitting their own sail. The smaller boat was leaping across the waves, gaining on both Leviathan and her foe.

The crew of Leviathan watched with disbelief as the lone sailor at the tiller steered alongside the huge beast, and then raced past it, surprising the snake as it sped past. Then it did the same to their own ship. The lone human guiding it waved to the dwarven scavengers, and then pointed across the bay to the docks before putting his ship directly in front of the huge metal submersible. Immediately wind filled Leviathan's sail and the ship picked up speed, opening up the distance between it and the snake.

"Stay in his wake! He's using his own mage wind to push us along. Don't lose the wind!"

The two ships moved steadily towards the docks, the smaller ship increasing its lead, but the mage wind didn't fall off.

Narwhale and her crew continued to work on mounting the scavenged cannon. "I'm not liking how we have it set up, we'll get a shot out of her, but make sure you aren't behind it. If that carriage breaks, the guns going to make a trip backwards. How's the barrel looking Piranha?"

With a last blow from spanner, Piranha uncoupled the rear-end of the gun and swung it clear. Foul water and a dead crab poured out. "She's clogged further up, Nar. I told you we didn't have her clean, get me something to poke at that clog a bit and wipe her out good."

Narwhale shook her head, red curls that matched her beard flying around. "No time. The clog is probably mud. It'll blow clear. Put a double load of powder in her and load one of the balls. She'll either fire, or she won't." The other scavengers nodded. They weren't fussy about things like old fuddy-duddy engineers who had to measure 10 times before they turned a screw. Scavengers made their own luck. Granted, a lot of it might be bad luck, but that was better than no luck at all!

The small sloop veered off, its captain pointing at an area of the docks Leviathan should head to. The area had burned recently, and was clear of docks, and warehouses. Whale spoke into a large box attached to the mast: "Sharkey, tell the navigator to hit that beach at an angle, and see if we can't slew her around so we can fire a broadside. That thing doesn't look like its scared of following us ashore. But as soon as we hit, I want everyone but gunners to abandon ship with the loot and weapons. Get the shinies to safety. Gunners follow after the broadside. Don't leave anyone on board, get the hell inland where we can fight it."

Leviathan hit what was left of the docks hard, crushing the underwater posts that had survived the fire, leaving jagged stumps. Her double hull was punctured in several spots. Not a problem since she wasn't going to be going back to the sea for some time. The iron hulled ship slid up onto land, turning slightly and presenting one side at the onrushing dragonsnake. Gun ports opened and eight cannons loaded with six-pound balls took aim.

The noise was like rolling thunder. Gunners wore protective gear to preserve their hearing, but still went deaf after a few battles. They compensated with sign language, strong drink, and cute little beardlings. They got lucky. One shot hit the snake dead on, shattering ribs and leaving a hole that leaked greenish ichor. Another grazed it, tearing a furrow through muscle and scales. Two out of six on a moving target was excellent shooting. The gunners were already arguing about whose shot had hit as they abandoned ship.

The dragonsnake was thrown backward by the six-pounder to its chest, falling onto the splintered posts that tore at its hide. The scavenger crew left the ship by anyway possible, running up into the cleared area of the burn carrying large bags and chests of loot from The Iron Queen, along with crossbows, axes, and any weapon they could grab. Whale was counting heads, but came up three short. At the end of Leviathan, she saw her daughter, red hair flying in the wind, yelling at Barnacle and Piranha. The two dwarves jumped down to the ground and ran, angry but following orders. Narwhale was the youngest of the crew, but she was also the captain's daughter.

The huge eel reared up and roared its displeasure at being wounded by such tiny creatures. Narwhale lit the fuse and cursed at the thing. She figured that she should jump for safety, but she was probably going to die anyway, and wanted to see if she hit. The cannon made a noise that cannons weren't supposed to make. A mass of mud and dead fish exploded from the barrel, and the sixteen-pound ball sailed through the air, impacting the snake between its eyes.

If the barrel had been clear, and the powder dry, it might have killed it. Instead, the snake had a pounding headache and was even angrier, if that was possible. The snake rammed Leviathan, aiming for the end when the bright tube had spat fire. Narwhale found herself flying through the air. A second time the snake hit the ship, its huge head knocking the brass sixteen pounder free of its carriage and flying through the air end over end.

Narwhale landed hard on the ground, and sat up just as she saw her dowry about to crush her. Something wrapped around her waist and jerked her violently aside as the cannon rolled past. She was thrown like a sack of flour and landed in a heap between two pairs of armored legs. Someone patted her on the head and said, "Nice shot! Especially for a Scavenger. Right between the eyes. I'd always heard you lot were too drunk to shoot straight. You just needed a little more BOOM." A bottle of alcohol was thrust into her hands and she drank, clearing her head. A dwarven man with a crazed look in his eyes was next to her. "You did your part, now let the professionals show you how it's done."

Nar took another swig of whiskey as she watched two dwarves in shiny, mechanical armor start lumbering towards the snake. An ogre was calmly walking along with a harpoon in one hand, and eating a whole turkey with the other. As she watched, some crazed idiot ran in close, and threw a glowing harpoon at the sea monster.

Finishing the whiskey, she yelled for Barnacle and Piranha and started walking to her cannon. The damned engineers could just sod-off. She was going to kill the thing herself!

Chapter 97: Natural Enemies

Boom-Boom finished his beer and tossed the empty mug back to the bartender. It wasn't much of a bar, just two tables and a dozen chairs with the 'bar' being a slab of wood supported by two barrels. Other barrels, tapped and untapped were scattered around. Everything was dark with soot and some of the chairs were charred by fire. Two-Screws considered not finishing his beer, it was that bad by dwarven standards, but he gritted his teeth and poured it down his throat.

The two engineers had responded to a fire two days ago and helped save what they could of a tavern. With so little left, the tavern keeper had just shoveled an area of ground clear and set up his open-air beer garden on the charred flagstones that used to be the floor of the tavern. Old Sculdy was thankful enough to the two dwarves to not take money from them for beer, but not thankful enough to serve them good beer. Two-Screws was thinking of paying the ridiculous price for a barrel of Bludgeon Dark from Ralph, the Innkeeper at the Rustyguts Inn. The two dwarves liked Ralph's beer, but the smell of charcoal was much preferred to the smell of unwashed humans.

"Somethings happening, I can feel it in my bones, something terrible." Boom-Boom scowled and considered another beer.

Two-Screws stood up. "Well, I'm curious about what gives you that feeling. Was it the ogre Monster-Hunter running by with a grin on his face? Perhaps Milo skipping over the roof-tops? Maybe the roar of a Dragonsnake? Tell me, oh wise one, what was the clue?"

Boom-Boom looked where Two-Screws was pointing. "Oh, none of that. Just an itch in the back of my head like I forgot something terrible and it's coming for me."

"Is it so terrible you can't blow it to smithereens?"

"You have a good point, friend Two-Screws. Let's follow the rat and the ogre and see what we can find to blow up."

Milo leaped from one roof to the next, happy to have bones again. Moving had been getting very slow and tedious while he was trying to escape from the slaver's airship. It wasn't something he ever wanted to experience again. From his vantage point on a tall roof next to an area of burned buildings he had a good look at what was happening.

Two ships were coming into the harbor. The first was just a boat with a sail. Milo wasn't very good with nautical terms, nor did he have a desire to learn. The ocean was too big and empty, topped with a sky that was worse. And things swam in the live-water that didn't like him. Like the gigantic eel that was chasing the two boats. It swam through the ocean like a snake moved on the ground, now and then diving to come back up. It was huge and long. From the way it moved, Milo thought there was a lot more of it under the surface.

The second ship was more interesting to him. It wasn't a surface ship by any means. The sail was obviously a temporary affair with a square canvas hoisted by a spar and detachable mast. Wind power wasn't how the ship normally moved. He could see the propeller at the rear and see the small bits of steam being vented from over-worked boilers. He loved the look of the ship with its patchwork of pieces stolen from other ships, the large observation dome in the front, and the numerous hatches and covered gunports that hinted at more surprises.

He ran the idea through his head of being in such a ship, deep down in the ocean. It wasn't nearly so bad as the thought of crewing the small boat that was in the lead. He wanted to get a look at the inside of the ship. If it survived, which was doubtful at this point.

Whoever was driving the thing was pretty good. They managed to slide up onto land and park it sideways, and then shoot the eel with some big guns. They had an even bigger one being loaded at the end of the boat. The rest of the crew was abandoning ship and running for their lives. Milo was disappointed. He had hoped that maybe the metal boat would have more surprises. If he built one it certainly would have.

Captain Pike was running for the ship and the place where the eel would come ashore. Milo thought about it, and he really didn't like that eel. Just something about how it moved was wrong, and he swore it had made a rude gesture at him. He leaped down and raced alongside Captain Pike. The ogre noticed him and winked. "Nothing like a little tussle to build an appetite, is there?"

The huge cannon fired, and the eel kept coming. Milo saw the dwarf gunner get knocked to the ground. They were going to be eel food in the next few seconds, and that was if they survived being crushed by their own cannon. He yelled to Pike as he ran: "You get the first shot. I'm grabbing the gunner."

Captain Pike was warming up his throwing arm. "Good idea, we may need something to bait the eel and I bet it doesn't like that little dwarf lass at all after she drew blood."

Milo raced by her, grabbing her with his tail. What had been a spectral looking affair from a spell, now looked like a solid appendage of bone that ended in a sharp blade. Milo could feel the bone extending up his spine, adding protection. The bones covering his claws and hands looked thinner, but he knew they were much stronger. The small plates acting like a knight's gauntlets. The huge brass cannon tumbled through the spot where the gunner had been just a second before. Leaping aside and pulling the gunner with him, he whipped his tail around and tossed her out of the fight to where Boom-Boom and Two-Screws were running up.

Captain Pike had thrown his harpoon at the dragonsnake, ripping out a huge chunk of meat as he pulled it loose with the lanyard. It screamed in pain and looked at him with malice.

Milo took advantage of the distraction to throw a harpoon of his own. He only had two of the bone harpoons carved. If he had to cast the spell more than twice, it was going to hurt.

Harpoon of the Winds. By carving a Rune of Destruction, and a Rune of Velocity into a small bone harpoon, you create a powerful ranged weapon.

Base damage of 200.

+45 Damage for INT above 10

Modifier: +25% damage for Skill: Ancient Runes (5)

Total Base Damage: 307

The two-foot-long harpoon glowed as Milo threw it, the runes carved into it building towards an explosion. As the first was in the air, he grabbed the second, using Fast Casting to duplicate the spell. It would drain his mana, but it would let him put two hard hits on the eel at the start of the fight.

The ogre started to make a comment on the cute little harpoons Milo was throwing. Before it left his lips, the first one hit the dragonsnake in the side of the head, blowing out a divot of bone and flesh. A second later another one hit into the same spot, digging a much deeper wound and staggering the monster.

You have struck an Eel with your spell. Your ancient enemy suffers 50% greater damage because of the hatred between your races. (And yes, it works both ways.)

Damage: 460 points, enemy is staggered.

You have struck a critical blow against an Eel! The huge wound has done 900 points of damage and stunned the creature for 5 seconds.

"Nice shot, newbie!" Captain Pike was actually highly impressed by the double blow. The rearing monster had been knocked to the ground and stunned. One eye was leaking fluid and he could see bits of grey inside the wound where the skull had been shattered. He went in for the kill, straddling the beast and stabbing deeper and deeper with each thrust.

Boom-Boom and Two-Screws engaged from twenty feet away. Two-Screws had modified two rivet guns with sights and longer barrels. They still worked fine for punching a hot rivet into metal, but they also spit out burning death at close range. Sadly, neither was a great shot, so it was good they were firing so many rivets. The snake's hide was being peppered with small wounds, but it still wasn't dead.

The huge head swept sideways, tossing the ogre into the sea a hundred and fifty feet away. He came sputtering to surface and started swimming to shore. Milo leaped high into the air, the jaws snapping shut and just missing him as his tail added another wound to the monster. Two-Screws wasn't as nimble and was knocked to the ground, partially buried by debris.

Boom-Boom took a direct hit, and sailed through the air. His armored suit prevented most of the damage. Pillbug did good work. But one leg-servo snapped, which was going to make it hard to walk, let alone dodge. He landed in the muck and skidded to a halt in front of Narwhale, staring up at her bright red beard and rosy cheeks. "Well, howdy ma'am, that sure is a pretty cannon you have there."

She sneered down at him. Engineers and Scavenger clans didn't get along at the best of times. And this wasn't the best of times.

"Just like an engineer to be laying down on the job. Do you like me, or is that a bomb in your pants?"

Boom-Boom was surprised at the question. He reached into a large pocket on the side of his leg and pulled out a five-pound shaped charge of cataclysmite. "It's a bomb!"

Narwhale had heard of the explosive, but never seen it. "Oh my. Can I convince you to load that in my cannon?"

Sharkey was outraged. "Narwhale! You can't just let an engineer play with your cannon on the first date, even if he does have a batch of high explosives."

Boom-Boom stood up, and produced another five-pound bomb. "How about if I have two batches?" Piranha opened the breach on the cannon and Narwhale blushed as she grabbed the charges of high-explosives and used them to load the cannon. Sharkey put in the sixteen-pound ball and rammed it in. "I still say no good is coming from this. Just because a man likes to pack around bombs in his pocket is no basis for a long-term relationship."

Narwhale looked at Boom-Boom. He had pretty eyes, crazy eyes. "You have some muscle with that fancy suit? Aiming this bitch is going to be tough. We have to point it at a spot and wait for the beastie to move there."

Boom-Boom laughed. "If nothing else, I'll have Milo bait it there. That lad can piss off snakes like no-one's business."

The truth of that statement was quite obvious. Denied the fun of killing anyone else, the wounded creature tried again and again to catch Milo. He annoyed the snake by constantly moving to its blind side and jumping over its coils. This was no boss like Queen Salasha, just a massively huge creature from the depths. He could dodge the head easily.

From a hundred yards away, the rest of the Scavenger crew was guarding their loot and watching the battle. It had been a good one so far. Whale had told everyone to hang back, and let the Engineers tire the thing out. They laughed that they had finally found a use for the spanner-boys. When the fight was reduced to just one crazy human dodging the snake, they started taking bets.

Milo would have been annoyed to know how low the odds were in his favor. He had come up with a plan, and had been moving the snake to where he wanted it for a full minute. Each dodge put it closer to the point where he could act. The snake struck, milo dodge, and then ran to its blindside. For a moment, the snake was over-extended and off balance. Milo charged two Runed-Skulls and stuffed them into the exposed brain of the snake, then leaped away.

The Runed Skulls exploded, blasting away the brains of the creature, its head fell on top of Leviathan and was still. Whale wasn't happy, she'd bet against whoever that was. Minnow yelled out. "If you had the crazy guy, you win 10 for each gold you bet. Who had the crazy guy in the pool?"

Milo stood on top of the head and waved at Boom-Boom. Boom-Boom was waving back and shouting. Narwhale was holding up two fingers. V for victory?

A creeping feeling of doom made Milo leap for safety as huge jaws snapped shut where he had just been. Looking over his shoulder he saw another snake coming out of the water, followed by a third. A heavy body was pulled ashore on huge flippers, showing that this wasn't a snake at all.

Ancient Sea-Hydra Level ?

Disturbed by the death of a lesser Eel, this ancient creature has risen from the depths, and is hungry.

Multiple heads, regeneration, vengeful, Eel.

Milo really hated how eels always cheated. He ran along the length of Leviathan to put some distance between himself and the two new heads, hopping and yelling when his feet started burning on the red-hot hull. He leaped on top of a hatch and spent a long two seconds looking at the ship.

The hull was hot. Red hot. He heard the hiss of steam and saw it leaking from a hatch.

The boilers were still running.

Turning, he yelled at the hydra, and threw an exploding skull in its direction to keep its attention. He needn't have bothered. What one head knew; they all knew. Dragging the rapidly regenerating 'dead head', the creature moved in Milo's direction.

Boom-Boom saw Milo make a gesture in his direction: 'Fire in the hole!' The rat was jumping up and down and pointing at Leviathan. Narwhale knew what was inside that part of the hull. "The boilers! Aim for the hull at his feet and hope Mama forgives me."

Doing some quick calculations, Boom-Boom yelled to the scavengers: "We need to aim six feet up from center, the ball will drop to low otherwise."

Piranha scoffed. "I think you guys just diddle on paper and spout out those numbers."

Boom-Boom laughed. "Fire the damned cannon and find out, but never bet against me and explosions, little girls!"

No one argued and Narwhale lit the fuse. Boom-Boom had the cannon braced against a stone wall, holding it as steady as he could. The scavengers leaped for safety as the fuse was lit, he couldn't. The cannon kicked back hard as it fired, ten pounds of cataclysmite was much more than any cannon should ever load. But this gun was from The Iron Queen and it held! The engineer was nearly killed, and worse, nearly missed seeing the ball sail across open ground and impact the hull of Leviathan. Milo was leaping for the water, and speeding away from the area. Runes of Swift Swimming glowed on his skin. He went passed Captain Pike, knocking the ogre deeper into the water, and saving him from a fatal scalding.

A steam boiler is a dangerous beast in the best of times. Too little fuel to the firebox and the pressure drops to low to run the engines. Two much fire can produce too much steam, giving a lot of power to the engines, but putting wear and tear on the boiler. A leaky boiler can shoot out superheated steam that will fry anyone nearby, and make it difficult to do your job.

In the worst case, a boiler is a barely controlled bomb waiting to explode. 'Running in the Red' was a common term for building the pressure so high that there was a good chance of a burst boiler. The Leviathan had been in the red for hours, running from what they thought was a simply a very big dragonsnake. Now, with no mechanic left in the ship, her four boilers were far past the red, leaking steam and ready to go off. The cannonball that tore through the hull and into the number three boiler was simply the fuse.

The boilers exploded, sending shrapnel that used to be parts of the ship into the huge sea beast. This was followed by the truly dangerous part of a boiler explosion, clouds of super-heated steam. All three heads were killed and ripped from the body, and then cooked through and through. Pike and Milo were safe under the waters of the bay, Two-Screws was lower than the explosion and buried in the muck. He took some nasty burns his backside that would keep him standing up for a week.

Minnow stood up from where the scavengers had been knocked down by the blast. "Who had death-by-steam in the pool? Anyone?"

Chapter 98: Looking for a friend

Your group has killed an Ancient Sea Hydra. While not a named monster, this creature was far above your level. It was also a type of Eel and deserved to be turned into lunch and dinner.

You gain 5 CSP and 250 experience in combat skills. This is doubled to 10 CSP and 500 points for killing an ancient foe!

Steamed eel was tasty, but only the first meal or two. Milo had sat with Captain Pike for a couple of hours, watching the ogre chow down on chunk after chunk of the cooked Hydra. Pikes most favored past time, after hunting monsters, was cooking and eating them. But even he could only eat so much. Luckily there were a lot of hungry people in the city.

The fishermen got to work immediately, constructing racks to dry and salt the meat. The tough skin of the hydra would make thick leather, the fatty layer on the body would be rendered to oil, and the bones would be ground for fertilizer. There was talk of rebuilding a tavern using the huge rib bones.

Milo spent half of a day eating eel, learning how to correctly throw a harpoon from Captain Pike, and discussing various things the ogre had eaten over the years. Pike made humans nervous, especially when he was eating. Milo appreciated that. Way too many people wanted to talk to him, and he just wasn't in the mood. He needed some down time. Some deep, deep, down time. What got him moving was when the dwarves started to argue.

When the rest of the engineers showed up, a huge row broke out. The captain of the ship they blew up wanted the engineers to replace it. The engineers sneered and told the scavengers not to play with critters too big for them to handle. At some point Milo heard his name mentioned, and he quickly skulked away. This wasn't his fight.

It was suddenly too noisy up here.

He had cheese and a smattering of other foods. He'd finished all his tasks. It was time to go someplace quieter.

He began his search for Harry where the battle had taken place. The remains of the dwarven tunneler were surrounded by a large pile of scrap metal and broken parts. Vary, Shift-Stick, and Pillbug were searching for any lost pieces and deciding what to keep and what to sell for scrap.

Milo gave them the story of what had happened up in the city. Pillbug was visibly upset when he heard it was a Scavenger ship that had been blown up. "Those thieving varmints will rebuild it, for sure, but they'll make off with any useful bit of metal or machine part in the city. They've got no sense about them. Drink all the profits, then complain they don't have money for a boiler refit."

When he asked about Harry, Vary told him that he'd found big chunks of what had used to be the huge troll, but in all cases they were quickly decaying into soil and sprouting mushrooms. They had done their best to put as many of his large pieces as they could find in one spot. Everyone had heard the legends of trolls piecing themselves back together. Details on exactly how that worked were hazy.

Milo went and took a look. A large pile of mulch with mushrooms of all varieties sprouting out of it seemed to be all that was left of his friend. He sat down on a rock, and stared at the pile. What good was killing a boss and getting loot if it cost him a friend? He went back over the fight, but there were too many variables to even begin to think of how he could have changed things to save his friend.

The mulch pile was a crappy memorial to Harry. He wanted to do something better. There were varieties of fungus Milo had never seen before. Harry would have added those to his collection. He carefully plucked one of each and decided he'd go start crops of them in Harry's basement area. Maybe he'd be back some day?

Harry's area was as he remembered it. But it seemed deserted. Full crops of mushrooms filled all the beds, and there were unwanted varieties starting to invade some of the carefully cultivated farms. Milo needed a break from the game, and was planning on logging out here, and getting to work on the place when he got back from Section-E

The sound of snoring changed that. He followed the sounds into one of the side caves. Heaps of mushrooms had been scraped together to make a bed. Milo didn't understand what he was looking at for a few seconds. There seemed to be a huge arm in the bed. A five-foot long forearm, thicker than his body. Only by following the sound of the snoring did he find the very small troll attached to the arm. It looked like Harry, if Harry had only been three-foot tall, and his left forearm was twice his size.

The troll woke up. "Oh, Milo? Excellent. Can you be a good lad and get me something to drink? There should be a few bottles of a nice mycena and puffball solution in the lab. That should do wonders." Milo retrieved the large jug of ground mushrooms and water, and helped Harry to drink it down. His small stomach got bigger and bigger until Milo was afraid it would burst.

"Ah, that's what I needed. I should be able to get big enough soon that I can remove this damned appendage without problems."

Milo squatted on his heels, getting closer to Harry and asked, "Maybe you could explain what the hell is going on?"

Harry giggled a bit. "Oh, I forget how odd this must look to non-trolls. When a troll gets old enough, they gain the ability to regenerate from accidents that would kill anyone else. It seems my left arm was the biggest chunk of me left, so that was the part that grew a new me. After I had a face and could see where I was going, I started crawling down here just using my hand. Thank the gods it wasn't just an elbow or something. Much tougher to move.

I've almost regrown a whole body but I can't remove that huge arm until I out-mass it. Otherwise, I'll just grow from it again."

"I hate to impose, but do you mind sticking around a few days and helping out?"

Milo was happy to. Harry was a friend, and this place was quiet and dark. "I don't mind Harry. I'm going to take a long nap, and then I'll get to work on the shroom beds in a few hours, and mix up some more food for you." Harry nodded and went back to sleep. Milo did likewise, and logged out of the game.

Chapter 99: Second Home

The steady sound of several beeping alerts came to Milo's ears as he stepped out of the pod. None were urgent so he took some time to stretch, check the attachments to his prosthetics and get a small snack. The colorful red and yellow wax on his tasty collection of cheese made him smile as he forced himself to have a few crackers with fruit and nut pastes before he treated himself to a piece of cheddar. Some of the flavors were interesting and he did some quick research on the different berries used, and found out that the nuts were grown in the ground, not from a tree. Odd stuff.

But he also saw that it was possible to grow all of them with the correct hydroponics equipment. He filed away the option. Multiple small orders of foodstuffs might eventually be traced to him, where one large order of equipment for section E wouldn't, but it would also be a serious amount of work to set up the system for growing plants, and more work to keep it going.

He estimated that he would have to put in several hundred hours of work to start producing berries, and then weeks of waiting for the plants to grow. Maybe he just needed a better way to order things and bring down the risk of the shipments being traced back to him?

He mentally shelved the ideas as unworkable and got to work finding out the problems that the denizens of Section E were dealing with. Electrical was actually steady for once, and for a surprising reason. The solar and wind that Section H had added were over-producing. The excess energy was being shunted into the surrounding sections. This actually made sense to Milo. If they kept the adjacent systems running smooth, the automatic systems wouldn't try to steal from section H. They couldn't store energy past the capacity of their battery system, so using the excess to stabilize the energy distribution of nearby sections was logical. Very few 'solutions' he'd seen done in the habitat over the years had been this good. Usually, it was the opposite.

Food synthesizers were on the blink. There were complaints from all over that the food from some recipes, especially foodcubes, were showing up as charred pellets. It was wide spread, but only affecting 17% of homes. He suspected he knew what the problem was, but he needed to actually look at a food synthesizer and its current programming. He suspected a programming update was the problem, but his own wasn't connected to the data-net and didn't get the updates. That meant going to 'his other house'.

Two years prior, Milo had needed a way of attending the swap meets that were sometimes held in the large open areas of the hab. People brought nearly anything to try and trade for other goods. Old video games were popular as were broken or working computers, and video or music recordings of all types. Milo had some equipment he needed to fix, and needed circuits that were common in older equipment.

To get into the swap meet, he needed an ID card. ID cards showed where you lived. He had been tempted to print one out that said 'Big water tank, mechanical level', just to see if they even checked. But as amusing as that scenario might be, he rejected it. If they were asking for cards, they might also be checking addresses. The solution had been to get his own apartment and address, one where he supposedly lived with a parent. There were tons of empty spots in the Hab, he'd assumed no one would notice if he claimed one. He'd just be another person whose only option was the nearly free housing offered by a slightly benevolent government.

Getting into the system was child's play. He created records that his 'family' had lived there for two years after his father lost his job and they had been forced to move down to cheaper accommodations. He created names and backgrounds, spent time filling in all the data in every place it needed to be. Now if someone checked on 'Milo Babbage', he actually existed in the system. He picked an empty apartment at the end of an alley in a nearly abandoned part of section G. This particular spot had been selected because it was directly under a large service duct that he could easily move through.

Each alley had ten apartments on each side, and one slightly larger one at the end. Six alleys terminated in a common area for the neighborhood. In theory this was a meeting place for the community and a play area for children. In reality, most were just dirty, empty rooms.

His second home was just a looted shell when he first got there, unused for a decade. He fixed the locks, added much better security to the door, and moved in enough junk to make it look like the home of a father and son who rarely left the small room. Not that he expected to have any visitors.

His first attempt to go to a swap meet had yielded mixed results. Milo knew about people, but he avoided them. He hid in the ductwork, moved through the ceilings support structure of buildings, and never had contact with them. Just walking along a halfway and passing by people was difficult at first. Luckily, most people paid no attention to anyone else and kept their hands in their pockets and eyes on the floor. He would do the same.

He was dressed similar to a lot of the people he'd seen, in a shapeless set of coveralls and a large hooded jacket. Instead of his normal leg, he was using a simple prosthetic made of ugly pink plastic and metal forearm crutches.

He'd made it all the way to the end of the dead-end hallway where his 'home' was, before he was noticed. Two boys watched him coming towards the common area; one with apathy, and one with amusement. The second stepped in his way.

"What do we have here? A new guy? I didn't know we had people down that way. Pay the tax, runt. I'll take one of those fancy braces unless you can give me something better?"

Milo had no idea of the best way to handle the situation, so he thrust the end of a brace hard into his assailant's crotch, dropping him to the ground, moaning in pain. He stepped back and spun towards the second boy, expecting an attack from the second boy, but he was still leaning against the wall, a slight smile on his face.

"Not bad, new guy. Brad will feel that one for some time. I'm Butch. You live near here? Or just lost heading to the Big Swap?"

Milo didn't see any aggression at all in Butch. He looked to be about fourteen with dark brown hair and dark olive skin. He was wearing a much-patched denim jacket and denim jeans. Milo took a couple of steps to a spot where he could keep an eye on both of them and talked. "Moved in a while back. Dad doesn't go out much, ever. Neither do I. But yeah, heading to the swap. I've got some old games to trade and I'm looking for some old systems for parts."

That got Butch's attention. "Really. What do you have? I'm really bored with the stuff my family has for the home screen, and my old game boy is broken. Maybe you can use it?"

Milo nodded and pulled out a dirty plastic bag with three old games. Butch showed some interest and yelled at his friend still getting over his quick introduction to Milo. "We're trading, Brad. Truce in effect. Find your nuts and go get our trade stuff. He has 'Squishy Humans 6, and Deathhunt 17."

Butch sat on the floor and brought out the broken game boy. Brad staggered off and returned with a sizeable backpack of old games and broken controllers.

Milo sat as well, and picked up the Gameboy, popping it open. He carefully pulled out components, cleaned away the grime that had accumulated on the contacts and buttons, and examined the other parts. The ribbon cable was torn, but he had a replacement in his bag. Fifteen minutes later he had swapped batteries, turned it on, and handed it to Butch.

"Holy shit. It works! What do I owe you?"

Milo pushed over the two games Butch wanted and picked out two from the trade bag Brad had brought. "Swap on the games. How about for the repair, you and Brad let me tag along with you to the swap-meet?"

Butch checked with Brad, and the other boy nodded sheepishly at him. "I'm good with that. I pushed; you pushed back. Shit happens."

Butch put out his hand to Milo. "Looks like we have a deal then. We have a few other guys coming with us. The Big Swap is neutral ground, but getting there can be rough. We'll look out for you, for today."

Milo was exhausted at the end of the day. Thousands of people were bartering items at the Big Swap. Butch and his gang moved through it like a school of minnows swimming with bigger fish. Most of them were fourteen to sixteen, although it was hard to tell ages with how poorly some of them were eating. Milo's status went from 'tag-a-long' to 'smart and useful' as soon as they heard he knew how to repair some of the old electronics. Milo found what he needed easily. There was a ton of stuff to look through and he didn't care if it was broken, as long as the older circuits he needed were still good.

In the afternoon, Milo sat in an out of the way corner, fixing several old game systems for the gang and drinking something sweet and fizzy they handed him. After learning what he needed, they paid him back with several more bits of machinery he was looking for.

The day was successful, but he was burning out. Too many people. When he went to leave, Butch went with him, followed by several others. Butch showed him where his own family lived. "You're ok. You did good work for the guys. They appreciate that, even if they don't act like it sometimes. If you're headed to the next swap, come pound on my door. Maybe I'll head out with you."

After the first swap-meet, he had showed up for four more, and even hung out a bit with them playing some old games. Twice they had gotten in fights on the way to the Big Swap, and Milo had earned a reputation as a sneaky fighter, tripping people and handing out bruises when needed. His small size always took opponents by surprise, and no one expected someone with a bad leg to move so quick. But he found that being around people was tiring, part of him labeled people as a threat, and was always watching every move they made. It was hard to turn that part off. It was better when it was only he and Butch sitting in the common area playing on ancient Gameboys. Just one person to be wary of, and Butch had a laid-back attitude about things that didn't trigger his mental alarms.

His second home was as he'd left it. Piles of parts to household goods, games, and electronics were piled in the corners. A small workbench had a small light above it and some simple tools. A hammock with a blanket was in one corner. A large screen for video and gaming on the wall, food synthesizer, and tiny bathroom completed the necessities. A typical hermit dwelling in the habs, like many others. If anyone bothered to check, it was just Milo living here now, his father having left a couple of months after arriving at the hab, location unknown.

Milo created a bowl of foodcubes. It came out fine. His distrust of others included the food synthesizer. He had turned off automatic upgrades. Someone was always changing how the food tasted and he hated it. He turned updates on and loaded the latest. The next batch of chicken flavored cubes showed up looking like charcoal.

He took an old laptop from his backpack and used it to upload the fix he had programmed. The next batch came out fine. He set up an automated update of his own to go out in an hour. It would fix the over-cooking problem and added a new recipe option. He tossed the laptop in his backpack, swapped out his prosthetic leg, and grabbed his braces. Five minutes later he was banging on Butch's door. Luckily, he was home.

"Whoa! The Ghost that Walks! Haven't seen you in ages? What's up?" Butch and the other guys had nicknamed him Ghost because of how he showed up for swap-meets and then disappeared for months at a time.

Milo could smell the telltale odor of charred food. "Is your food machine borked all to hell? I have a fix for it."

Butch's mother had overheard and yelled out. "Bless you son. Come inside and see if you can fix this piece of crap. Butch? Get your friend a fizzy drink and bring him in."

Ten minutes later Butch's siblings were happily eating. Every face was smiling. New Recipe!

Food from the synthesizer didn't change much. Milo had added a recipe he had found to the list of available foods. 'Macaroni and Cheese' seemed to be a big hit. It was now his preferred food as well.

Butch and Milo slumped against a wall out in the hallway. Butch asked him, "You heard the big news yet?"

Milo hadn't. But Butch had figured out early on that Milo always appreciated any news of what was going on in the hab. "Big outfit moved into section H. They look legit. Maybe long-term. My pa and uncle are getting jobs with them. It's all online work playing 'Contract Workers'. They work four weeks straight, then three days off at the end of the month. Ma was upset until she saw the money. I'm going to start training for it in a couple of months. I'm too young now, but as soon as I hit 18, it looks like I might actually have a job and be able to get my own place." Besides Butch, his family consisted of his mother, father, three siblings and a cousin. Butch longed for a spot of his own, maybe with just a little brother or two with him.

Milo was immediately suspicious. "What kind of pods are they making them use? Some of those can really mess you up."

Butch nodded. "Yeah, heard about that. Explains some of the older folks who just wander around, glassy-eyed. But these are the new Mark VII's. They aren't supposed to have the problems the old ones did. You even get fixed up a little if you use them long enough."

That actually did sound legit to Milo. "Wow. How many people are they hiring?"

Butch wasn't exactly sure about that part. "They have four full floors of them. I think about five thousand, and they say that it's just a start. But the jobs aren't the best part. The company is throwing a big party. There's a massive swap-meet scheduled and anyone 13-17 can go to a special event. Tons of old vintage games there, the big ones like in the old arcades. And you can try out the new online game in a Mark VII pod! It's all free. You should head out with us."

Now Milo was really intrigued. Plus, he loved the old arcade style games. If he could have ordered a dozen of them for his own hidey-hole, he would have. "Sounds awesome. Count me in."

Chapter 100: Limburger Hollow

It took a few days for Harry to grow until he was roughly human sized and his huge arm to shrink down to the point, he could drag it along behind him. A day later, he asked for Milo's help in taking it off. Despite Harry telling him it was just fine; Milo was a bit squeamish about the whole thing. Finally, he gritted his teeth, and cut off the huge arm with a saw Harry provided. Harry smiled and stretched, then tossed his abandoned body part into an empty mushroom bed.

"I'm glad that's over. Regenerating most of a body is such a pain. Take my advice and try to avoid it if you can."

Milo was also happy it was over. He'd put the time to good use, learning more from Harry about Mycology and reading the trolls books. One of Harry's books also dealt with molds and mildew. This drew Milo's attention because some cheeses used molds to become tastier. When Harry learned of Milo's interest, he simply gave him the book. "Take it. Glad to see it get some use. As a young troll I bounced around a lot before I decided on Mycology. Mold is very popular with trolls and every village will have at least one chef that specializes in dishes using it. It just makes everything tastier."

Milo felt a bit ill at the thought. And he doubted even Harry would eat a bowl of moldy food cubes. Milo tended to forget to finish meals when working and often left futureMilo some nasty presents to stumble across later. Thinking about moldy cheeses made Milo hungry for some creamy camembert and tasty gorgonzola.

His stomach decided it was time for a trip. He'd clear out his Smuggler's Stash in the Arcane Library and then make a trip to the new village announced by the game. The name was certainly interesting.

"What a pathetic bunch of limp-tails? What whelp-master let you bunch leave the nest so young? Was he tired of your mewling and complaining? I've never seen such a lousy crop of new recruits. Drop and give me fifty! And if they aren't good, I'll be chopping off some tails to lighten the load."

Gilad Tail-Master stalked off and allowed himself a sip of water. He was a large and warlike rat-kin just starting to go grey. No one who saw him move would ever think of him as old.

"They that bad, boss?" The speaker was a younger rat-kin wearing heavy armor and a helmet. A large pole-arm leaned against the bench he was sitting on.

Gilad lowered his voice. "Yes and no. They all start out crappy. No training and not enough exercise. I'll get them straightened out so they can at least hold a spot in formation and maybe kill something."

"The problem is the new ones. The whelps that just show up out of nowhere with weird names and bad attitudes? Where the hell are they all coming from? There can't be that many nests out in the wild, could there? I think some will work out. A few are born killers that can't wait to go out and fight. But the questions they ask? It's insane! 'What good is tail-fighting if I have two swords already?' A lot of inbreeding in those nests, that's what I think."

Justin nodded. He'd noticed that too. "I'm worried about the ones that get some money. Most of them are spending every last cent on cheese. It's like no one taught them discipline. We may be looking at an entire generation of Cheese-Fiends. I thought Larry was bad, but can you imagine several Larry's?" He shuddered

Gilad smiled evilly. "In that case, I know a few lizard and spider colonies that are getting pretty large and talking trash. I wonder how they'd like to have a full front line of Cheese-Fiends tear into them?"

Justin blanched. "Please tell me you are joking?"

Gilad let himself enjoy the thought for a few more seconds. "Of course, I am. Berserkers are bad for everyone." He looked over to where a half-dozen recruits were dutifully doing pushups, and another half dozen were laying on the ground, bitching about life. "Still...maybe I could use Larry as a sparring partner for some of them later. What do you think? Six of the new guys vs. Larry?"

Justin stood and grabbed his pole-arm. "I'm on shift in five minutes, but if you decide to do it, I'll put 10 shinies on Larry, and I don't care about the odds."

Gilad stroked his chin. "Yeah, getting someone to bet against Larry will be the tough part."

Justin marched away to his post at the entrance of the village, and Gilad went over to 'encourage' the slackers to finish their exercises. He barely looked over at the tall tower that rose to the ceiling of the cave, as it spat forth thunderous bolts of lightning across the cavern, shaking the whole village. Another day, and another fight between Arlothe and Blackmold. He prayed to the under-rodent that some of this crew showed a talent for magic and gave those two something to do.

A breeze brought him the delicious smell of fried mushrooms and crumbly bleu cheese. The chef must be cooking up something tasty. The only thing that kept Justin from walking into the building for a snack was the knowledge that being on time for guard duty would get him a free meal later in the day. The voice of his old trainer came to him. "Master the cheese or the cheese will master you." One had only to look at Larry sitting on a rock in front of the building, his mutated body quivering and his nose constantly sniffing the air. Larry served the village in two ways: Firstly, he was a great example of what happened to cheese addicts. Secondly, he was six-hundred pounds of unbridled murder-machine when someone threatened the village. All it took was one piece of cheddar for Larry, and a second tossed at the enemy. Larry saved a lot of lives that would otherwise be lost fighting intruders.

Brutus was at his post when Justin arrived. They guarded the entrance to the Hollow. The small cave had only two entrances. One led to the Hollow, and one to the mine complex beyond, and the massive tunnel a wandering world-boss had dug. They'd had a lot of trouble lately from that. Cave-Mantis were multiplying again, slimes kept showing up on their doorstep heading for the smell of food coming from the Hollow, and worst of all: Humans were coming in groups to 'check things out'. They'd beat off attacks by several groups so far, and sent more than three dozen off on quests to prove their worthiness and loyalty. Only a couple had come back so far and gained entrance.

Brutus was about to head up-tunnel and get his dinner when he paused and stared at the darkness. "Oh, look there! We have a sneaky one skulking along the outside wall."

It took a few seconds for Justin to spot him, he had some mildly good stealth skills. "He's got more than skulking going on, I bet if my perception was a bit lower, I couldn't even see him. Hey, I've got an idea. Let's pretend we don't see him at all, until he gets here!"

Brutus straightened up and went to attention, staring straight ahead. "Oh, I love playing surprise".

Chapter 101: Overdue Books

Milo had taken advantage of the relative calm in Harry's area to attempt a visit to his Arcane Library. It was more difficult now. Instead of logging out and getting an option to go to the library, he now had to do a ritual in game that took roughly fifteen minutes. He inscribed a rough circle, and sat and meditated about traveling. Eventually his vision blackened and after a very small bit of queasiness, he was on the doorstep of his Library.

Conscious of how the slaver-mage had met his death, he was careful to open the door and step inside. Who designed these things with a small porch that dropped you into the void? Just bad engineering as far as he was concerned.

Cichol was there, waiting for him. "I'm guessing things are exciting in the waking world? No time for research and learning? And now here you are, finally back, with your magic all twisted and bent. Come in and tell me about it." The old mage who had built the library seemed grumpier than ever. That made Milo happy. He needed some constants along his journey.

It took him a few hours to go through the long story. Cichol had a lot of interruptions, especially when discussing Philistron. Milo had thought long and hard about how much to tell the old spirit, but had finally decided that he needed at least one person to talk to, and the old man couldn't leave the library unless he chose to be reborn as someone else. That felt safe enough to Milo.

The fun part was seeing his face when Milo's Smuggler's Stash was brought out, and opened. Cichol had gazed in wonder at the old books Milo had hastily looted from the slaver-mage's library.

Interspatial Relationships and the Balancing of Aspects Across Barriers

Drakonik for Dummies

Origins of the Machine: A Compilation of Legend and Theory about the golden age of Gnomes

Let the Circle be unbroken: 17 common Hexes for White and Grey Witches

Increase your Star Power!: How to construct an Antennae to the Stars

The Void and what isn't in it.

Music of the Spheres: Tuning your spirit to hear what Celestial Bodies are saying

Did some Orcs devolve and become weak?: A possible origin of humans.

By Imperial Decree!: The building of the first College of the Arcane

Elvish-Drakonic Dictionary.

Theory of Fundamental Forces: Attraction, Energy, Strength, Weakness, Magic, and The Void.

Celestial Fire and the burning of Creation

Man's ascent to Divinity as Gods walk like Men

Gnomish Contract Law: Volume 167 of 256

Two books were in languages that neither Milo or Cichol could read. Both seemed to have magical locks and traps on them. Cichol put them carefully into a side room by themselves. They were a puzzle for another day.

The last book Milo was sure he had left in the airship: Mating Habits of the Common Lantern Bug by Damien Franklin

It was a huge leatherbound book, locked with no less than four clasps. Milo was happy to leave it that way. Cichol seemed happy to put it into his collection, but also shook his head at the title.

As Milo started to pull out some of the items he had stolen, Cichol stopped him. "I will never mind the donation of books to my library, but be cautious with other things. While you have the use of this enchanted place, it is not yours forever, it is mine. Mundane items will be hard to recover as the library will count them as part of itself. Magical items less so, but I advise caution."

Milo pondered that. "But I looted all of this from Philistron? Why could I take it from him?"

Cichol snorted. "As you said, you were looting things from an enemy. And from what you say, he probably stole most of the items in the first place. You stealing a stolen gem is far different than taking an heirloom of his house, like his first wand or a medal he won for bravery. Also, rules made to protect against thieves often abandon thieves themselves. Something to consider as you go through life."

All of the books went to Cichol's library. Milo could always read them here when he had time. Some of them looked interesting.

Milo considered the contents of his magical box. He hated storing things in it permanently, as that cut down the room he had for food, cheese, or things he found. One by one, he started taking things out.

There was a large bag of mixed gold, silver, and copper coins. That had seemed liked an obvious thing to take to annoy Philistron. He kept the 437 Gold coins, and put 40 silver and 40 copper into his coin pouch. Then he dumped the remaining silver and gold into a large urn that already contained coins.

A solid gold statue of a winged goddess with the word 'Nike' inscribed on the base was probably valuable to someone. But he didn't want to pack it around, and it seemed like a bad thing to just melt it down. He set it on a shelf. It glowed briefly as he did so. Cichol chuckled. "Well, that one certainly settled in fast."

Milo pulled out a bent and broken Halo made of silver with the name 'Zauriel' inscribed on the inside edge. Cichol looked it over and then handed it back to Milo. "Harmless unless you fix it and try to wear it yourself. Which I don't recommend. I'd just turn it in to any church, probably a good-sized reward on it. And turn down any quests it offers." The halo went back into the box.

The next item was a large bag of thick cloth. Milo had thought it contained gems, but it turned out to be yellow, glowing crystals. Just looking in the bag made him feel unwell. He closed the bag and moved away from it. Cichol took one look, grabbed the bag and threw it out the door and into the void. "What idiot keeps uncoated enchanted hassium in his house?"

After that, Cichol took an active hand in helping Milo sort things out. A Staff of Plagues, Helm of Alignment Change, and Vorpal Sword of Betrayal all got tossed into the void by the Cichol. Milo was horrified as the sword sliced through the old ghost's neck, but Cichol just laughed. "Can't kill the dead." The sword whined like a beaten dog after that, promising to be good, before being sent on a one-way trip to oblivion.

Two things remained: A large bone claw, and a gleaming copper sphere about six inches across. Cichol pull out the claw. Milo could see some faded runes moving along the bone, but they avoided coming close to Cichol's hands. The Bonemancer looked hard at it, before handing it to Milo. "Old, but not nearly as old as the rib we added to you. Some of these creatures still exist, but they prefer the deeper regions. Road-Builders, the dwarves call them. Many dwarven realms were partially created by them as they made tunnels that connected larger caverns.

Milo took the claw from him and studied the runes. Faded magic concentrated where he looked, one old rune overlaying another until finally only one glowing rune was left.

Through study you have learned the Rune of Deep-Digging. You may use this rune to construct spells.

Runes Known: Deep-Digging, Velocity, Strong-Bones, Swift-Swimming, Sharp-Claws, Destruction

Rune Limit: INT/2 + Rank of skill: Ancient Runic Lore (Current limit is 12.)

You have gained 200 experience in Ancient Runic Lore and 200 Experience in INT.

The skill: Ancient Runic Lore has increased to Rank 2

"I think I'll keep this for now." Milo wanted to study the claw more, and he was always going to be in need of good bones. The Sea Hydra had been good for that, at least. His stash had a couple of dozen long bones taken from the flippers that would make excellent harpoons.

Cichol picked up the sphere. "Interesting, it appears to be a non-magical object made of solid Orichalcum, valuable just for the metal. You rarely see it outside of the cities beneath the waves. " He tossed the coppery sphere to Milo.

Milo turned the orb in his hands, staring at it. As far as he could tell, it was a perfect sphere with no imperfections. He was about to put it back in his stash, when the surface changed, and a huge eye opened on the sphere, staring at him. Milo couldn't look away. A scene appeared, projected by the eye, incredibly real.

He was flying over the ocean towards an island of volcanic rock that jutted up from the sea, high into the air. Smoke came from the top and he realized it was an active volcano. Closer and closer he flew, until he could see a lake of molten rock that filled the caldera. In the center was a huge temple made of white marble, carved with scenes of love and battle, celebrating the life of a king.

Gigantic dragons swam in the molten lake, and or lay upon the roof of the building. Milo bared his teeth and growled when he saw the eels. All of the creatures in his view turned towards him, roaring their anger, and some flew up to do battle. Milo dropped the orb, and the vision ended.

For the second time, you hold the Eye of Wonder. Initiating quest for Hoard of King Mattias.

There are currently two other people who have the special skills needed to help you with your quest.

The artifact again appeared as a solid copper ball. Cichol picked it up and set it on his mantle. "I'll put this here for now. I must say, it was amazing to see the sight of so many amazing creatures, I don't blame you for being a little overwhelmed with the wonder of it all."

Chapter 102: I have found my people!

Milo wondered how his second life had gotten so hectic. After some thought he decided to blame the eels. They always seemed to be up to something. At least he got double experience and skill points from them. Being part of the group that killed the hydra had given him 10 more points. Of course, there were a huge number of things he wanted to spend points on!

Generic Core Skills: Any player has access to these Core Skills. Many more skills can be learned by finding teachers, reading books, completing quests, or doing mighty deeds. The cost of Generic Core skills will increase with each Tier. Choose wisely. Putting off a skill today may cost you more tomorrow.

Name

Description

Cost

Increase Health 1

+50 points to Health score

3

Increase Health 2

+100 points to Health score (Must have level 1 first.)

7

Increase Health 3

+150 points to Health score (Must have level 2 first.)

12

Increase Health 4

+250 points to Heath score (Must have level 3 first.)

12

Increase Health 5

+450 points to Health score (Must have level 4 first.)

20

Increase Mana 1

+50 points to Mana score

3

Increase Mana 2

+100 points to Mana score (Must have level 1 first.)

7

Increase Mana 3

+150 points to Mana score (Must have level 2 first.)

12

Increase Mana 4

+250 points to Mana score (Must have level 3 first.)

12

Increase Mana 5

+450 points to Mana score (Must have level 4 first.)

20

Increase Stamina 1

+50 points to Stamina score

3

Increase Stamina 2

+100 points to Stamina score (Must have level 1 first.)

7

Increase Stamina 3

+150 points to Stamina score (Must have level 2 first.)

12

Increase Stamina 4

+250 points to Stamina score (Must have level 3first.)

12

Increase Stamina 5

+450 points to Stamina score (Must have level 4 first.)

20

Identification 1

Gives exact information on an item or creature of levels 1-5 even if you are a lower level.

5

Identification 2

Gives exact information on an item or creature of levels 6-10 even if you are a lower level.

7

Identification 3

Gives exact information on an item or creature of levels 11-15 even if you are a lower level.

10

Tier 2 Stats Cap Increase.

Increase the cap on a statistic. You may buy this ability up to 5 times, to raise the cap on a stat to a max of rank 10 in Tier 2. Rank 10 is a Hard Cap for all stats in Tier 2.

2

Tier 2 Foundation Increase

Add 5 pts to one of your foundation skills

2

Purchase Bonus Points:

These abilities add to your stats. Gaining bonuses does not affect stats gained by ranks.

Spirit of the Ox 2

+1 Bonus to STR. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way

4

Spirit of the Bear 2

+1 Bonus to CON. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way

4

Spirit of the Monkey 2

+1 Bonus to DEX. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way

4

Spirit of the Owl 2

+1 Bonus to INT. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way

4

Spirit of the Cheetah 2

+1 Bonus to AGI. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way

4

Spirit of the Pig 2

+1 Bonus to WIS. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way

4

Spirit of the Hawk 2

+1 Bonus to PER. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way

4

Spirit of the Swan 2

+1 Bonus to CHA. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way

4

Second Wind 1

Once per day, regain 20 Health/Mana/Stamina.

2

Second Wind 2

Once per day, regain 50 Health/Mana/Stamina.

5

Second Wind 3

Once per day, regain 100 Health/Mana/Stamina.

7

Breathless 2

You may hold your breath 10x as long. (10 minutes.)

2

Rune-Boned Scout Core Skills

Name

Description

Cost

Gain knowledge of the mundane Rune: Lux

The Rune of Light and Radiance

10

Gain knowledge of the mundane Rune: Tenebrae

The Rune of Darkness, Corruption, and the Hidden

10

Gain knowledge of the advanced Rune: Draconis

The Rune of Eels and Betrayal

10

Gain knowledge of the advanced Rune: Nihil

The Rune of nothing and the void

10

Gain knowledge of the advanced Rune: Formation

The Rune of making and creation

10

Smugglers Stash 4

Storage Skill. Summons/Dispels a magical chest. Size increases with rank. 54 cubic feet.

20

Smugglers Summoning

Transfer a spell component, food, or potion to your hand from your stash. Time: 3 seconds Cost: 100 stamina.

10

Skilled Provider

Your gathering skills have an increased chance of finding better quality items

1/2/3

Heroic Leap

3x Leap Distance

5

Claws of Alta-Viator (2)

+40 Damage

10

Spine of Volax-Repat (3)

+40 Damage

20

Grunt and Throw Hands

You have a talent for primitive charades, and ways to make yourself known when you don't know the native language.

1

Under-Linguist

Given a few days, and enough people talking, you can learn enough of new language to understand 80% of what you hear, and you can carry on a basic conversation, at the level of a 5-year-old. Within a month, you'll speak like a native.

7

WereRat Core Skills Tier 2

Name

Description

Cost

Totally Normal Human

Improved Disguise/Illusion in Were form. You may openly walk among humans even in wereform, and pass for one of them. Creatures much above your level, or with a good sense of smell, or who can see through illusions may not be affected.

10

Many small eyes

Make friends with local rats who will (maybe) do some scouting for you.

5

See through small eyes

Increased control of your small scouts and you are able to use their eyes instead of your own.

10

Skill Upgrade: Cheese Mastery

Expands Cheesemaking beyond easy recipes.

5

Strong Poison Resistance

Gain the CON skill Strong Poison Resistance. Gives benefits to resist Strong Poisons from nature, creatures, or spells.

7

Strong Disease Resistance

Gain the CON skill Strong Disease Resistance. Gives benefits to resist Strong Diseases from nature or spells. You are immune to most common diseases.

7

Extra Stabby!

All of your attacks have an increased chance of a critical hit.

3/7/12/15/17

Fiendishly Clever Traps

Your traps and machinery almost always work, and in fiendish ways no one (sometimes even you!) suspected. Everyone gets a surprise. This core skill affects Mechanic, Trap-Maker, and other such skills.

3/6/9

Strong Regeneration

Grants increased, (x8), health recovery. Regenerate scar tissue, and missing body parts in 1 to 3 days. A steady diet of cheese speeds the process.

20

Mutant Regeneration

(Alternate advancement..., or take both! What could happen?)

Grants increased, (x12), health recovery. Regenerate scar tissue, and missing body parts in less than a day.

Warning: As with all mutations, there can be significant side effects.

10

Magical Aspects open up options to learn more mage skills. Each additional aspect has an increased cost. Gaining an aspect does not automatically give you spells.

Chill of the Grave

You have a high Death aspect. Training will let you learn Death magics. Increasing cost with additional aspects. Increase your Corruption by +1. Opens more options for mage abilities. Increased ranks decrease mana costs of casting spells.

5/10/25

Deeds in the Dark

You have a high darkness aspect. Training will let you learn dark magics. Increasing cost with additional aspects. Increase your Corruption by +1. Opens more options for mage abilities. Increased ranks decrease mana costs of casting spells.

5/10/25

Storm Born

You have a high Storm aspect. Training will let you learn Storm magics. Increasing cost with additional aspects. Opens more options for mage abilities. Increased ranks decrease mana costs of casting spells.

5/10/25

Individual Abilities: You have earned these through quests or adventuring.

Spirit of Durgi Forefather

+1 Bonus to TOU (Dwarves only.) May be taken 3 times.

4

Blessing of HeKate: Canine Speech

You can almost understand dogs, and they understand you.

2

Guardian Pet 1

Who's the Big Dog? Your pet increases in both size and intelligence.

2

Guardian Pet 2

Your pet gains attack skills and double health and mitigation

5

He'd just have to be patient and find a nice place deeper down where he could do some mining, and hunt some smaller bosses.

His current plan was to head up the mines, and find the passage to Limburger Hollow. He'd take a quick look around, and if the town seemed fun, maybe he would stay for a bit before heading down deeper. If it was like the starting areas in many games, there would be three or four quest givers, a newbie hunting zone, and some trainers. He was curious to see if anyone besides himself was running a character with a tail and a love for cheese.

Cheese was also a reason for visiting. What varieties did they make that he hadn't tasted yet? And he needed a better place to restock supplies, both cheese and other food, instead of going back to Shadowport. The halfling clan wasn't going to be selling cheese anytime soon, and too much was going on in the town. He wanted something quieter.

The way was obvious. The World-Boss had left an easy trail to follow in the mines, and that led him to a steep rocky path leading downward. It was fairly treacherous, with loose rock and dirt. New players were going to have a tough time getting to Shadowport unless they picked up some climbing skills. Not his problem, and might even be for the best. Baby rats would have a hard time in the town if they didn't have the disguise skills of a wererat. Which made Milo wonder how rat-kin would react to him? Would they hold his part-human heritage against him? That might be something to hide among rat-kin as much as he hid his rat-kin heritage from humans.

The long passage came to a large cavern where the path was level, and then plunged deeper on the far side of the cavern. Off to his left was a dark passage that led slightly upward. There were smells coming from it: the tang of ozone and poison, baking bread, and cheese! This had to be the way!

The tunnel showed recent use and the tracks of both clawed feet and heavy boots. After a few hundred feet it ended in another cavern. Milo slowly skulked into it. The ceiling had quite a few bats hanging from it, and a few flew in slow circles around the cavern. Light was coming from another passage directly across from him. He could just make out two hulking guards, both twice as tall as he was, and much heavier. He moved carefully around the outer perimeter of the cave, stopping often. The guards mumbled something now and then, but mostly stayed silent. As he got closer, he could make out their handsome, rat-like faces and their strong tails. Each was well over six feet tall, heavily armored and holding a huge polearm.

Milo looked at his options. He could just walk up and ask to enter. That might or might not work. The stern looks on their faces showed they wouldn't be someone to argue with. Running by was out of the question. He could just move near them and try to tip-toe by? Or should he use the ceiling?

He decided on the ceiling. He could ascend here, and move along it one step at a time. The ceiling got lower as it neared the tunnel, but was still over ten feet high. The guards were used to staring at the other entrance. They probably never looked up. He just had to be careful not to disturb the bats. Carefully, moving one foot or hand at a time, he moved like a shadow on the top of the cave. The guards were oblivious to him.

"Hey, Justin, look at that bat" One of the guards pointed to his left. Milo suppressed the urge to turn his head.

"My, you're right Brutus, that certainly is a large bat, you rarely see them that size."

Milo stayed frozen, not moving as the two guards discussed the large bat, the recipes their grandmothers used to cook bat, and whether bat stew was better than bat tacos. Batacos won. Who didn't like batacos?

After another five minutes of hanging from the ceiling, he started moving again. The guards began discussing the best route down to pick mushrooms, one drawing a map in the dust, and the other arguing with him and placing pebbles to denote the route he liked. Milo just kept moving. Another ten feet and he'd be in the tunnel, and past them.

"Surprise! Welcome to the Hollow!"

"Happy Bataco day!"

Both guards yelled at the top of their lungs, and beat their gauntlets on their metal breastplates. Milo lost his grip, flipped over, and fell to the floor running. The guards pounded their feet on the ground like they were running, and laughed hysterically. "Oh boy, I love playing Surprise!"

Milo ran on, slowly getting his adrenaline under control. He shot out of the end of the tunnel into a huge cavern. It was well lit, profuse with greenery and many buildings. He was so surprised that he missed the furtive tail that tripped him. He rolled and slid twenty feet, finally coming to a dusty stop in front of two muscular legs and a swishing tail. A hand helped him to his feet.

"What was I just saying about wishing you whelps could show a bit more excitement about my class? And what should happen but someone comes running in, and very excited to be my first volunteer. What's your name, newbie?"

Milo looked up at the tall rat-kin in front of him. He was an impressive specimen of muscle and carefully groomed whiskers, just starting to turn grey.

"I asked you for your name, newbie. Spit it out."

"Name? Right, I have a name. I'm Tallsqueak." The older rat-kin smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Well, Tallsqueak, why don't you toss your extra gear off to the side, and show me your best tail-fighting stance. Nothing fancy, I want to see how well you know the basics and then we'll go a few rounds."

From behind him Milo heard a loud whisper. "Tail-Master is going to tear this guy apart. He hates interruptions."

Chapter 103: Tail-Fighting 101

Milo collected himself and stood up. The older rat-kin had said that they would go a few rounds? But his stance was neutral and non-threatening. Was he in a fight? Looking around he saw that he was in a small dirt sided arena and he had rolled down one of the sides into the middle. A dozen or so rat-kin stood or sat around the sides. Some were standing at attention, while others were joking and talking to each other. Based on names and their gear, or lack of it, Milo made a guess that some of them were new players.

He tossed his pack to the side, and put his spanner and pick on top of the pack. Noticing that the older rat-kin wasn't equipped with weapons he took off his belt with his daggers and left them there as well. Considerably lighter, he stepped back into the ring.

"It is nice to meet you, Tallsqueak. My name is Tail-Master Gilad. I instruct young warriors in the ancient fighting techniques of our people. I always need someone to help me demonstrate techniques, and today that will be you, since you were anxious to get into my ring. Please take your stance and we will begin."

Milo had questions. "Are we fighting? For real? Or is this just a 'pissing contest'?"

Milo had never really seen a pissing contest, but that had been Butch's term for the little challenges all the gang liked to engage in. No one really got hurt. After Milo beat three people in challenges, people quit trying to fight with him. Butch had laughed at him. "It's like you have an on/off switch. When you fight it's for real. Try to develop a slider instead, it lets you tone things down a notch."

Master Gilad sighed. The new ones always tested him. "No, Tallsqueak, we aren't fighting for real. If we were, I'd be obligated to rip your head off and give you so many bruises you'd be limping sideways for a month. This is called 'sparring'. No special abilities or magic should be used. You should focus on dodging, and using your tail. I'm not going to try to hurt you, but you should try and hurt me. Can you do that for me Tallsqueak?"

Milo nodded yes.

Gilad smiled. "I'm so happy we understand each other. Now get into your fighting stance and we'll start."

Milo wasn't sure what a fighting stance was, so he simply stood there. Gilad sighed, took a step forward and his tail slashed across Milo's ankles. Or would have if Milo hadn't hopped upwards enough to dodge. He tried to hit the Tail-Master but his own tail slid through air, and the older rat-kin was suddenly next to him. Milo felt a heavy tail hit him in the head, knocking him down.

Tail-Master turned and walked away. "If you are too injured to continue, leave the ring." His ears didn't hear the sound of Tallsqueak walking dejectedly out of the ring. Instead, he heard several students make soft exclamations or suck in their breath. He dropped flat on the ground as Tallsqueaks tail went through the spot his head had been. Tailmaster spun to his back and flipped forward.

He'd expected the brave little youngling to follow up with that attack. If they were foolhardy to try a sneak attack, they would try to rush and put themselves off balance. But instead, Tallsqueak had backed off, putting distance between the two of them.

Tailmaster yelled at him. "Attacking from behind?"

Tallsqueak looked puzzled. "You didn't say the fight was over. Was it?"

Tail-Master's tone was gruff, but his eyes were bright. "Oh no, this fight is a long way from over."

The two engaged again, and again Tallsqueak went down. Tailmaster didn't turn his back this time. Seeing how this one fought, he thought that the youngling must be some type of rogue. He had a poor fighting stance, but good stealth, and he dodged like he had just eaten a pound of parmesan. Gilad decided this youngling needed further testing.

The fight went on. Each time the Tail Master dodged Tallsqueaks attacks, but the young one was learning. He was adjusting his stance, and gaining more balance. Several times he had outright dodged Gilad's attacks. When he did, Gilad sped up his offense another notch, pushing his opponent to be even faster. Time after time Tallsqueak took heavy blows from his teacher's tail. Tailmaster expected him to quit each time and go tend to his bruises. But the little whelp just kept coming back for more.

Three more times they engaged, dodged, and threw tail at each other. Tail-Master had grown accustomed to his opponents fighting style, when suddenly it changed. After the second engagement, Tallsqueak charged him, then leaped straight up into the air. Tailmaster was off balance, moving forward, for just a fraction of a second. That was when Tallsqueak's tail slapped him hard between the eyes, knocking him down. He rolled back up immediately, to dead silence.

Everyone waited. Tallsqueak wondered if the fight was still going on. He was just starting to get the hang of this game. He mimicked the stance that his opponent was using, keeping his weight balanced on only two of feet or tail at a time. Move and dodge. Dodge and move. Hit dodge and move. Always moving. He'd taken a chance by leaping up and forward like that. It left him horribly exposed if his opponent was expecting it, but it had worked. Probably just this once. Next time he'd do something else. But was the fight over? Tail-Master was looking at him oddly.

"Good job, Tall-Squeak. I underestimated you. Do you know the reward for a good job?"

Tallsqueak gulped. He knew. "Another job?"

Tail-Master nodded. Then he laughed. "Yes, that's right. You have the honor of assisting me in the early class from now on. I've been needing someone to help spar with these whelps. You seem to enjoy fighting and are hard to break." He tossed Milo a wooden coin. "Go give that to the Chef and get settled in. Be back here at 3 bells tomorrow."

Milo caught the wooden coin, then looked around, wondering where the Chef was. Tail-Master shook his head, remembering that Tallsqueak had just rolled into town. "Follow Brutus, the big guard. He'll be making tracks for dinner as fast as he can." The guard in question waved to Tallsqueak and after grabbing his pack and pick, the two walked in the direction of the largest building. Milo looked up at him. "You were at the tunnel! How did you see me?"

Brutus chuckled. "Don't take it hard. Guard duty is boring and we stay alert. Guards have to have great perception otherwise sneaky gits like you get past us. That was great the way you came across the ceiling. I was about to piss my pantaloons I was giggling so hard, waiting for you get to us."

Milo wasn't used to people seeing him. "How did you get your perception so high?"

Brutus visibly winced. "Special guard training. When the Deathmaster sneaks up on us, or sends one of his best students, you'd better be alert. When they yell 'surprise', it means there are already a couple of daggers sticking out of your back. Perception goes up really fast when you play with those guys."

Chapter 104: Dinner with Brutus

"Wow, I can smell the mushrooms from here! I'm starving. You've got to have worked up an appetite with all that skulking and fighting. Nice job by the way. It's not easy laying a tail on old Gilad. That guy was fighting as a mercenary for decades before he retired to teach combat to the new whelps. My grand pappy said he served under Gilad during the 3rd Spider War, and the Tail-Master was going grey even back then. Pappy always said it was good fighting but lousy food. Never enough cheese to feed the army. Makes sense I guess, since that's what the war was over. Makes me hungry just thinking about it. I'm going to grab a double bowl of shrooms with some extra Bleu on top. Good stuff."

Milo was content to just follow along with the big guard and let him carry on both sides of the conversation. They were nearing a large wooden building and Milo could smell the food himself. The unmistakable smell of fried mushrooms was drifting to his nose, as well as the pungent aroma of moldy cheese. He agreed with Brutus; it was a two bowl night for sure.

As they went to step up onto the wide porch of the eating hall, a huge shadow skulked around the corner, sniffing at them. "Bleu? Larry wants some Bleu! Kind Brutus! Handsome Brutus! Have cheese for little Larry?"

Milo took a step behind Brutus. The guard was huge, but whatever this was, it was bigger. At least seven foot tall, it was equally as wide and shaped like an inverted triangle. Larry had wide shoulders and massively over muscled arms and hands. His arms were so long that his claws scraped the ground. His chest and tail were equally large, but it tapered to a small waist and normal sized legs. Large feet ending in dirty claws were attached to the thin legs.

Nothing about Larry looked right. Its muscles weren't in the right spots, and one eye was larger than the other. Its mouth was filled with oversized fangs that kept it from shutting. A bit of foam leaked from its mouth as it talked.

Brutus stood firm. "NO! No cheese for Larry! Larry knows the rules. Larry will wait until the Cheese Master feeds him. Larry follows the rules, or Larry leaves the Hollow!"

The hulking pile of muscle seemed to deflate a bit. "Larry follows rules. Larry is good rat."

Then he sniffed, and the large eye swiveled over to Milo. "New friend? Tallsqueak be new friends with Larry? Tallsqueak smart and handsome, and Larry smells cheese bits in Tallsqueak's pockets."

Brutus looked at Milo. "Oh shit. You should go on inside. I should have warned you. No one keeps cheese on them if they are anywhere close to Larry. I'll be in when I have him settled" He used one hand to push Milo towards the doors, and the other hand grabbed Larry by its metal collar as it lunged for Milo.

"What does it have in its pocketses?! Larry needs to know!"

Milo pushed open the door and stepped inside. The hall was half filled with rat-kin happily enjoying their dinner. Tables were arranged around the outside of the room, with the center taken up by a charcoal fire over which several pots were suspended with frying pans of tasty mushrooms cooking on the edges. Several stone ovens were venting heat and steam into the air. Copper pots, strings of onions, garlic, and herbs hung from the ceiling all over the room along with kettles, cooking pots, and smoked hams. Indeed, the place less resembled a dining hall than it did a massive kitchen with a few tables added as an afterthought.

The chef was huge, with a large belly, stout legs, and quick hands that darted among his pots and pans adding a bit of salt or herbs, or stirring something briefly. His whiskers were glorious, sweeping out from his nose at least a foot and a half to either side. Like his nose, his whiskers were a light blue in color.

A server came up to Milo. "New in the Hollow? Haven't seen you before. Let's get you sat down and some shrooms in front of you. Good stuff tonight, Bleusnout is really happy with his new recipe. I'm Riftkin, my cousin Smiley is the other server. Just yell if you need something. All one big happy family here."

Brutus stepped into the room. Behind him a mournful cry rang out. "No Cheese? No cheese for Larry? No friends for Larry?"

Riftkin shuddered. "Well, almost everyone is happy. Hey! Brutus, double bowl for you?"

Brutus grabbed a bench at a table. "You know it, Rift. Grab a couple for my new pal, Tallsqueak, too. Have a seat buddy. Food will be right out. Bleusnout cooks fast, never keeps anyone waiting."

Milo grabbed a seat, and indeed, the food was on the table in less than a minute. The meal was a mixture of mushrooms fried in oil with scallions and herbs, topped with a dusting of crumbly bleu cheese. Milo was in heaven.

Brutus tossed a small coin to Riftkin, who pocketed it. Milo brought out his own coin. Riftkin held it up and examined it before smiling. "Oh Ho! You got a coin from Gilad? Very Nice! He's hard to impress. You'll work hard for it though. This will get you meals for the next three days. Come in anytime the fire is burning hot, and I'll be here tossing food on tables." With that he left the two to their meal.

Milo devoured his first bowl and was just starting on his second when Brutus finished his second bowl. He patted his stomach and picked his teeth with a sharp claw. "Good food. The Cheese Master always cooks up something good when he harvests a new crop of cheese. As you can tell from his name and his whiskers, he likes the blue, moldy varieties. Oh, and sorry about Larry, but you know how it is."

Milo shook his head. "No, I really don't. What's wrong with him?"

Brutus was surprised. "You've never seen a Cheese Fiend before? Wow, your hollow must have really had things under control if no one gave into their cravings. I thought we were doing good with just Larry. I've heard of some hollows having a dozen or more fiends running around."

Milo wasn't sure what to say, but Brutus seemed friendly, and he needed information. He remembered one of the classes he was offered, and was worried. "I didn't really grow up in a hollow, pretend I'm sort of uneducated and just hit town. What happened to Larry?"

Brutus seemed taken aback. "Wow, really? So, you haven't been told the stories or got the training we give to our whelps? You're lucky then. You could have become another Larry pretty easy. All it takes is ignoring the warnings and eating too much cheese. Hard not to, the shit is so good and a little can give you a nice edge in combat. Too much though and the addiction gets out of control. Next thing you know, it's all you care about."

Milo felt a bit ill. "So, is there a point of no return? Or can you get rid of the addiction?"

Brutus shook his head. "I'm pretty sure you know the answer already. We're rat-kin, we're born with addiction and we'll die with it. But we Master the Cheese so the Cheese doesn't Master us. I saw how you tore into your food. Maybe you like your cheese a bit too much right now? We can help you get that under control. Joining a hollow is the best way to get training."

Brutus thought for a moment. "But Larry smelled cheese on you. Maybe we should play it safe and you hand that over to me? I'll keep it for you."

Milo thought for a moment, and then reached into his pocket and brought out a pound of cheddar sealed in red wax, with just a small nibble out of the side. The smell of the sharp cheese made a couple of heads turn. His hand was shaking as he went to hand it to Brutus, and part of him was objecting to letting it go. After a half a minute, he made his shaking hand drop the cheese into Brutus's large paw.

"Good man. You can't be too far gone if you can still give cheese away. A little hard work to sweat it out of your system and some remedial classes and you'll have things under control."

From out on the porch Larry began wailing again. "CHEDDAR! Larry smells cheddar! Larry needs the CHEDDAR!"

Brutus shook his head sadly. "You've had your first lesson already. You met Larry."

Chapter 105: Cheese Class

Milo felt a small bit of regret as Brutus tucked away his cheddar into a large pouch, but the sound of Larry begging for cheese was enough to convince him ten times over that this was the right decision. "You mentioned some classes? I think I need those. But I've never been in a hollow before, can you give me some advice on what to do or not to do." So far, people had seemed friendly here, but there were friendly people in Shadowport too, along with quiet a few bad ones.

Brutus grinned at his question. "Sure thing! One of a guard's duties is to help new people fit in. Lots of small nests out in the caves send us their young whelps for some schooling, and lately we've had something called 'players' show up. They're like cave whelps but not nearly as well trained. But we'll get them straightened out. Let's go introduce you to Master Bleusnout and then I'll show you around a bit."

The huge chef was cleaning his pots and pans, scouring the cast iron with sand and then oil, while Riftkin carefully washed the more delicate copper pots. Brutus swaggered up, put his nose up, and took a big sniff of the air. "My, something sure smells good around here."

Bleusnout snorted. "Tossing out compliments in the hopes of getting the leftovers? I hope you can do better than that next time." From an oven he pulled out a half loaf of toasted bread, spread butter across the top and sprinkled on garlic and the barest hint of grated parmesan. The loaf was cut in quarters with a slice each going to Riftkin, Smiley, Brutus and Milo. Milo had never had anything so delicious. If only they made food like this in real life. Bleusnout watched him intently.

The chef looked Milo up and down. "I'm glad you enjoy my cooking, but maybe you enjoy it just a bit too much? Will I be seeing you in class tomorrow?"

Milo hesitated but Brutus spoke up. "You sure will. Tallsqueak just came into town today. He already has some of his time claimed by Gilad as a punching bag...sorry, I mean as an 'assistant instructor'. That will take up his time until 5th bell."

"With Gilad? Well, you'll be hungry afterwards then, what is left of you. No, I jest. The Tail-Master will work you hard but he rarely breaks bones until he begins teaching regeneration. Come see me at the 5th bell. You can eat and then help Rifkin with some chores before classes at 6th bell."

"Make sure he understands the important rules Brutus. Now go, I have to deal with Larry."

"No trouble at all sir. C'mon Tallsqueak, lets show you around a bit."

The two of them walked out a different door, but Brutus immediately took him to a window where they could look back inside. "I'm getting the feeling your nest didn't teach you all the basics so let's go over some rules you'll have to abide by in the Hollow."

"The most important rule is: Until Bleusnout gives you a passing grade in his classes don't even think about eating cheese outside of meals in his mess hall. And only what he gives you. If someone offers you cheese, refuse politely, then tell me, or Justin, or Bleusnout. People who do that aren't your friends."

"Secondly, if you catch wind of anyone smuggling in cheese from the outside, you let us know. Too much cheese in a Hollow will cause problems. I'm talking about Larry sized problems. Some people are making a lot of gold bringing in cheese somehow from some other city. Might be humans, spiders, or gnomes. There was even talk that the Collective was running illicit cheese."

"Lastly, everyone contributes, or they don't eat. Gilad paid for your meals for three days. And you can bunk with me and Justin. The guard shack has some extra bunks. After that though, you need to earn points for doing chores or contributing to the Hollow. The basic class on controlling your appetite is free of course. Other classes you'll have to pay for if you are interested in learning things."

"So, got all that?"

Milo nodded. He understood. He also knew he'd already smuggled in four large, twenty-pound wheels of cheddar, and several smaller ones. Did it count as smuggling if it was in another dimension? Probably. The name of the ability seemed to imply exactly that. Brutus's whispered voice brought him out of his thoughts and back to watching the scene unfolding on the other side of the window.

Three loud bangs shook the building. Bleusnout called out. "Hello, is someone at the door?"

"Yes, Larry is at the door. Larry wants to come in. Can Larry come in?"

"Yes, Larry can come into my house today. Wipe your feet and promise to behave." Larry pushed open the door, wiped some of the mud off his feet and scampered into the room. Bleusnout encouraged him with soft words and got him to sit at a table. Rifkind brought out a plate with large mushrooms, carrots, and potatoes.

Larry looked at the plate. Larry sniffed the plate. Larry decided he'd rather have cheese and pushed it away from him. "Cheese for Larry?"

Bleusnout rapped Larry on his sensitive nose. "No! No cheese for Larry. Larry needs to follow the rules. Eat your dinner. No dinner, no cheese!"

Larry considered and then began stuffing the other food into his mouth and rapidly swallowing it. Bleusnout smiled at Larry, took the plate, and then placed a small sliver of cheese in front of Larry. Larry trembled, but didn't take it. After ten seconds the Cheese Master nodded to him and Larry put the small bit in his mouth, rubbing his belly and making happy noises. "More cheese for Larry?"

Bleusnout was firm. "No more. Chores for Larry at two bells. Breakfast for Larry at three bells." Larry got up sadly and walked out of the room, shutting the door.

Milo was horrified. "How long until he gets better?"

Brutus shrugged. "No one knows. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Larry took some bad advice and tried to become stronger. He wanted to be a great warrior. He outpaced all the other trainees in his group, but then the cheese took over. He's strong, but he lost a lot of himself. Now all he enjoys is eating cheese and fighting. Which is tough, since only Gilad, me, or Justin can really fight him and not get hurt. So, when Bleusnout says Larry needs some exercise to help him calm down, either Gilad or I get some extra cuts and bruises."

"But enough about that, you have any questions? We can do the grand tour, or if you're tired, we can head to the guard shack. You need to be up early. If you get up at two bells you can grab something quick in the mess hall and then be at Gilad's arena by third bell. You want to be on your toes and tail for him."

Between fighting and learning about the pitfalls of too much cheese, Milo was actually quite tired. He let Brutus show him to the guard shack where he fell into a bunk and immediately went to sleep in the game, his body in the pod already doing the same.

Chapter 106: Breakfast with Larry

Milo was having a dream where Justin and Brutus kept appearing out of nowhere and yelling 'Surprise!' He woke up in his cot in the barracks, muscles tight and tail coiled. Something wasn't right! From the ceiling a dark shape dropped towards him, and he rolled aside, coming to his feet. Someone yelled "Surprise!" as they landed on his bed where he had been asleep just a moment before. His pillow tossed feathers into the air as it was stabbed with a small knife.

Before his attacker could react, Milo's tail wrapped around their neck, and he brought his spanner down hard on the back of his attacker's head. Whatever it was quit moving, and slumped onto the cot. He stayed wary, wondering if it was a trick, prepared to give them another lump.

A lamp was lit, and suddenly Justin was standing next to him, polearm in one hand and lamp in the other. "Oh, just one of those guys. I was worried we had spider problems again. Check to see if he's still alive. We really aren't supposed to kill them, but then again, they aren't supposed to be playing these games with anyone except trained guards."

With a start, Milo realized the creature was a small rat-kin dressed all in black. He checked their pulse, found they were still alive, and rolled them over. His victim groaned.

"Oh, good. They'll be fine after they get patched up and get over that headache you gave them." Justin seemed very unconcerned about both the attack and the possibility of Milo having killed his attacker.

"But who are they? Why did they attack?"

"Shadowlurker-in-training. The Death-Master assigns them targets among the guards and other higher-level people in the hollow. The Shadow gets experience in skulking and their victims get to train their perception. Playing Surprise! is traditional in a lot of hollows. Sometimes the Shadows take some lumps, and sometimes we get a knife in a soft spot. This one must have been trying for some extra credit. Let's see who it is."

Justin pulled down the facemask revealing a young, female rat-kin with light brown fur and short hair. Justin laughed. "Oooh, you scored a point on Princess Throatslitter. Nice job! She's out-scoring me four to zero right now. Good to see she isn't invincible." Justin applied a chunk of moss from his first aid kit to the lump on the back of her skull and wrapped a bandage around the unconscious Shadowlurker's head.

Knowing how easily Justin had seen him trying to sneak in, Milo felt a chill go down his back at the thought of someone who could surprise the experienced guard so easily. "So, you said I was off limits, right? I won't have to worry about her?"

Justin gingerly picked up the small girl. He smiled at Milo and chuckled. "That was before you scored a point on the Death-Master's granddaughter. You're fair game now. She'll want revenge, and all the little thieves and cut throats wanting to catch her eye will be after you too! That's pretty awesome for your first day! Your perception and regeneration are going to get some nice chunks of experience!"

"I'll go dump her off with the healer, you better get a move on. Grab some chow at the mess hall and then go have fun with Gilad." Justin sauntered off, whistling a happy tune.

Somewhere a bell rang twice. Milo remembered his new job as an assistant at fight practice. He left the barracks and headed to the mess hall, paying close attention to roofs and shadows. The smell of something delicious was in the air.

Larry was sitting on the porch, looking sad. The few other people who were heading into the mess hall were carefully avoiding him. Larry wasn't begging today, sitting very still with his arms wrapped around himself and shaking. Milo started to walk by as well, but stopped instead. "Good morning, Larry."

Larry looked up and after a few seconds his eyes seemed to focus. "Good morning Tallsqueak. How are you? Larry is having a bad day today."

Milo could see that Larry was rocking back and forth a little bit and trembling. But he seemed more coherent than before. Moving slowly, he sat down next to him. He remembered how bad the itchy feeling had gotten right before the fight with the world boss. He'd eaten a pound of cheese in a minute when Vary delivered it to him. And then eaten more during the fight. That itchy feeling was better now, but he had an idea of why Larry felt so bad. "Does food help? Are you going to get breakfast soon?"

That perked Larry up. "Yes! Breakfast! It's honey and groat day. Larry loves honey and groats. Larry will get a big bowl and it will be a better day! Does Tallsqueak like honey and groats? You should go get a bowl. A big bowl!" Larry's eyes seemed animated now, and he was drooling again.

Milo stood up. "Thanks Larry. I'll go have some. I'll see you later." Larry nodded and sniffed the air, thinking about his own breakfast.

The line for food was moving fast. As each person got to the front, one of the servers gave them a large earthenware bowl of something that steamed and smelled spicy and sweet. Milo asked about the food when he got to the front. Riftkin was happy to let him know what it was.

"An old recipe my Granny passed down to me. Lots of the families have a variation on it, but my Granny makes it the best. She takes groatvine seeds and grinds them fine, then threshes them with a sharp groat-sieve with steel blades. Then we add fireant honey, spicebark, and ground meg nuts to it. The secret is extra honey."

Milo noticed a huge bowl with an extra-large spoon. "Is that Larry's bowl? Maybe I could take it out to him and eat with him. He seems lonely."

Riftkin looked a little nervous. "I'm not sure. Bleusnout has him on a set schedule, let me go ask." He went into a back room, and was back in a moment accompanied by the huge chef.

"You wish to go take food with Larry? I don't see why not. I have him eat last so he has some privacy. But it would be good for him to eat with someone." He shook a finger at Milo sternly. "But no talk of cheese, and if his eyes get wild, then slowly move away and come get me. You must always be careful around him."

Milo promised, and then balanced one bowl in each hand and headed back out to the porch. Larry saw him coming, but stayed sitting. "Honey and groats for Larry? Larry gets the big bowl!" Milo handed it to him, and Larry began to eat quickly, finishing up by licking the bowl clean with his long tongue. Milo ate his at a slower pace and saw Larry looking at him, but not talking at all. The meal was actually more than he could eat.

"Would Larry like a little more honey and groats? Tallsqueak is full." He handed the bowl to Larry.

"Larry is never full! Yes, yes. Larry will help Tallsqueak finish breakfast." Milo's bowl was also quickly finished. He saw both Riftkin and Bleusnout watching from the doorway, and handed them the empty bowls.

"I have to go now Larry. Have a good day."

Larry began hugging himself again, then looked up. "Breakfast tomorrow is little fishes fried with mushrooms. Larry's likes little fishes. Tallsqueak should come have little fishes with Larry."

Bleusnout was nodding his head. Milo assumed that meant he was granted permission to eat with Larry again. "Sure, Larry. I love little fishes."

Chapter 107: Friendly Sparring

The fighting arena was filling up as Milo arrived. Like the day before, some of the students seemed to be players just starting up new characters. Several were sparring in the center area, punching and slapping with their tails. One of these approached Milo as he put his pack down. "Hey, want to get in a round before the drill sergeant guy shows up? I'm Blackwhisker."

Milo wondered if most players didn't start with an Identify or Appraise skill? He had already known the player's name, without asking. This was probably another one of the social rituals he needed to learn. He was always confused about whether he was supposed to shake hands, bump fists, or touch elbows. He preferred the small bow of the head that many rat-kin used. He'd go with that. "I'm Tallsqueak. You want to spar with tails?"

Blackwhisker was tall and muscular, wearing a set of stiff, boiled leather armor. "Yep, let's get in some friendly practice." Milo nodded and moved to the center of the arena. Some of the other fighters backed off to the perimeter. Even before Milo got to his side of the arena Blackwhisker was rushing at him, hitting his shoulder into Milo and knocking him to the ground. Milo rolled to his feet. Blackwhisker had a sly smile on his face. "I'll give you a pointer: Always keep your guard up in the ring."

Milo re-evaluated his knowledge of 'friendly sparring' to not include the word friendly. He heard a few cheers for Blackwhisker from a group sitting together. "Thank you. I will remember that from now on."

Blackwhisker came at him again. Milo sidestepped when he tried to knock him down, and slashed his claws across the larger rat-kins chest, at the same time tripping him with his tail. Blackwhisker went down in a pile of dust and Milo backed off, but stayed focused. His opponent was not happy with him. "What's this bullshit? You cut my armor? Are you using weapons?! This cost me all my starting money!" The leather chest piece hung loose, with four long cuts into it.

Milo wondered why Blackwhisker was upset. They were sparring. Claws and tails were part of sparring. He shrugged and got ready for the next round. It wasn't long in coming as Blackwhisker advanced on him again. Milo noticed he wasn't using his tail, letting it just swish back and forth with anger. He also wasn't preparing his claws, keeping his fists balled up like he intended to punch Milo.

A right hook from Blackwhisker was dodged, as was a left jab, and then two more punches. He had strength and weight, but Milo found it easy to dodge his blows. Acrobatics and Fleet of Foot skills worked well with Master Gilad's style of fighting and moving. The Sense Danger skill, along with his perks of Acrobat and Uncanny Dodge made it trivial for him to avoid the clumsy punches. His opponent was getting angry and breathing hard, trying to keep up with him. "Stand and fight! You keep running away like a coward."

Milo shrugged. "Ok." As his opponent tried to hit him again, Milo grabbed his arm and pulled, tossing him off balance. Mining had made him strong, and his STR of 9 proved to be stronger than his larger opponent. As Blackwhisker turned, Milo's tail slapped him hard in his snout, breaking something and causing blood to spurt. Following up while his opponent was stunned, Milo's claws tore the rest of Blackwhisker's leather armor to shreds, and left light scratches all over his chest. Milo didn't give him a chance to react, slapping him again in the head, and then kicking his legs out from under him. Blackwhisker lay on the ground and didn't get up.

The group that had been cheering for Blackwhisker were all standing, and two were about to rush into the ring. Milo flexed his hands, showing his claws to them. They reconsidered and sat back down. Blackwhisker crawled out of the ring and sat with them, trying to staunch his bloody snout.

Gilad stepped into the ring. Milo hadn't been aware that he was even there. "I see that you are all on time. Wonderful. Please line up around the edge of the ring, giving yourselves space to move and tumble. We begin with the forward roll/tail slap combination. This fast attack can often take your opponent by surprise." For the next half hour, the Tail-Master led his students through the elementary move, making them perform it over and over until it was ingrained in them. One hundred repetitions had most of them performing adequately. Then they moved on to side-rolls, back-flips, and full disengagements. In every move, he empathized the use of the tail.

"Your opponents will often forget about your tail, giving you openings with what can become a strong weapon. This is our natural advantage, as orcs have durability and spiders have poison and webs. Not using your advantages to the fullest is lazy and stupid. You will die and waste my training."

Gilad had been observing the silly 'sparring' that these whelps had been doing before his class started. It was the same with every new batch: too much energy that led to fighting and a few trying to exert dominance through strength or size. The fight between his two strongest students had been interesting. Blackwhisker forgot everything he knew as soon as he took a blow, while Tallsqueak became quiet and focused. Blackwhisker should have backed off when he saw how sharp the other's claws were! Instead, he forced the fight to continue, letting Tallsqueak stay in control and prove himself stronger in every way.

He was pleased. He had made Tallsqueak his assistant to put pressure on him. He had known that the other whelps would challenge him for his position. It was good to sort out the pecking order early. No one would doubt who was the dominant whelp in this class. It was one less thing filling their small brains and getting in the way of his teaching.

Two bells of drills and constant movement left every whelp tired and panting. Tallsqueak was doing better, but was also breathing hard and sweating. Half the class had collapsed exhausted partway through. Blackwhisker still stood, but he was swaying back and forth, about to pass out.

"Very well, we are done for the day. I'm not sure how much more of this I could take. You and you..." he pointed to two of Blackwhisker's nest mates. "...take that one to the healer, he seems unwell. Tomorrow, drills will begin at half bell past two. Tallsqueak will be leading you in them. Sparring and lessons will begin at three bells. Hopefully, I will not be so disappointed tomorrow."

Milo looked around. Some of the players were talking about quitting, not seeing the point of lessons if you could just go and fight monsters. Others seemed to be greatly enjoying the classes and wondering what came next. The rat-kin of the hollow were all excited. Just being in the Tail-Master's class meant they had a chance to become warriors with enough training.

Milo himself enjoyed the class. It made sense to him. There was a purpose to each drill and exercise. Up until now he had improvised his fighting and let the game influence and help him. Now he felt like he was exceeding the game's bonuses and gaining control. As the fifth bell of the day sounded, it was a relaxed and happy Tallsqueak who walked to the mess hall. That lasted until Brutus saw him. The big guard walked over with a huge smile on his face.

"Hey! Justin told me about you beating the crap out of that crazy little gal that keeps surprising us. Great job! I'm looking forward to letting you dodge her tender embrace while I get to sleep in peace instead of in pieces." He laughed at his own joke and put an arm around Milo. "Come on, let's get double bowls of whatever Bleusnout has for lunch to celebrate you catching her eye."

Chapter 108: Snacks

Cheese class with Master Bleusnout was interesting. Milo hadn't thought before coming to the Hollow that cheese was as much a part of rat-kin culture as beer was in dwarven culture. It was an ingrained part of every rat-kin's life, and how a hollow managed their cheese determined much about it.

"Greetings young ones! I am Chef Bleusnout. You may refer to me as Chef or Master, for in addition to cooking meals for the Hollow, I am also it's Cheese-Master. My duties as Master of all things cheese include making sure our Hollow has enough of our favorite food on hand at all times. Some cheese we make ourselves, and some we acquire through trade with other Hollows, human settlements, and even the Myconian Collectives."

"Why so many kinds of cheese? I'm sure you'll all agree that all cheese is tasty and there is joy in sampling a new variety. But more importantly, we need many types of highly specialized cheese to concoct the best Snacks for our warriors. Many races create their own types of snacks. Humans call them potions, the Spider Tribes eat the fermented organs of other creatures, dwarves have their alcohol, while elves prefer jams made from magical fruit."

"I'm sure you were all disappointed that today's meal did not include a small bit of cheese for dessert. Instead, I have a better treat for you: a tasty spread of my special blend of seven cheeses, all spread on a crispy wheat cracker. I have one for each of you." Riftkin gave out one cracker to each person in the class. Some students put them directly into their mouths. Milo held off, trying to examine it, even though he was drooling and his stomach was growling.

Bleusnout's All-Purpose Warrior Snack!

+50 Health, increased health and stamina regeneration, +2 STR, increased poison resistance.

Effects last for four hours.

"I'm sure you can feel the difference in your muscles as the cheese hits your belly. This snack makes you much tougher and harder to kill. But even with all these advantages, we only serve them right before battle. Do any of you know why?"

Milo didn't, but one hand went up. "Because battle will help work the cheese out of our system and lesson the effects of growing dependent on cheese."

Bleusnout patted the young one's head. "Thank you, Olivia, correct as always. The exertions of battle use up the cheese, as does healing wounds with regeneration. A warrior in constant battle can safely consume far more cheese than any other person. This is one reason I suspect that Warrior will always be a popular class for our people."

"The next part of our class involves some reading and study. If you have trouble with reading the characters on the paper, I suggest taking an academic class in the Tower of Learning. For now, do your best or find a study partner. I expect you to read through the first two pages by tomorrow." Riftkin distributed worn books that had seen generations of use. Bleusnout watched as the young whelps began turning the pages, some reading, some just being confused or looking around for help.

Some of them simply paged through the book, looking at the pictures. Tallsqueak was one of these. The Cheese-Master watched as he quickly turned each page, pausing on the pictures that dealt with cheese making equipment, cheese spread distillation, and famous battles. After a few minutes he set down the book, and waited patiently for the class to end. All the other poor readers had found a partner. Two of the whelps had asked Tallsqueak if he needed to join a reading group, but he turned them down.

Bleusnout sighed. He'd seen it before. A young whelp comes in from a cave nest, far behind in academics and culture, and often with a cheese problem. Some sought help, but many were simply too proud. They could fight, and they thought that was enough. From what Justin and Brutus had told him, Tallsqueak was well beyond the other whelps in fighting, an might even have pushed into the second tier. Bleusnout prepared himself for an ordeal with the troublesome whelp. It was his responsibility to show him why he needed to learn to make sense of the scribbled characters in books.

"Tallsqueak? You should be reading in your book. Pages one and two. If you need help, please join a group."

To Bleusnout's surprise, Tallsqueak stood up and spoke. "I'm done. I read the book." Then the whelp had the audacity to walk up to him and return the book.

"Please! Are you seriously trying to claim you read all 213 pages of It takes a Hollow to make the Cheese?

Tallsqueak nodded. "I had trouble at first with the alphabet. It's different from the human and dwarven writing styles, but I deciphered it from context. It's a great book! I have a lot to think about. Are there more books I can borrow?"

No one in the building was reading anymore. They were riveted to the spectacle of Master Bleusnout turning bright red in the face. Some claimed later they smelt the odor of burnt cheese and saw steam coming from his nose. Riftkin had gone dead white and was trembling. Tallsqueak just seemed puzzled, and patiently waited.

Bleusnout grew very calm after a minute. And even more angry. "This is serious, Tallsqueak. Lying to a Master is a huge offense and doubly so in my class. It shows a lack of control, a lack of shame, and a lack of community. I will give you one last chance to tell the truth. Did you read in the book?"

Tallsqueak was nodding along with what Bleusnout said, agreeing with him. "I understand. But don't worry, I read the book. All of it. So, I don't need the book anymore."

Bleusnout took the book and opened to a random page. "Then you can tell me about page 73?"

Most of the class turned to that page, Tallsqueak began to speak. "...that the need for correct temperature control is essential to making sure that the milk used is raised to the needed level of heat for a full twelfth of a bell to remove unwanted myconian contamination. Care must also be taken not to overheat the milk and ruin it. A thermionic dissipater is recommended for large batches of milk."

"The rest of the page has a nice diagram of how to operate a Thermionic Dissipater, but I have to wonder if it wouldn't have a better effect if the prong had a spiral twist instead of a linear shape? More area would dissipate the heat faster.

The Cheese-Master turned to the class and smiled. "Class is dismissed for the day, please do your reading. Except for you, Tallsqueak. You get a reward for such fine reading."

Tallsqueak sighed, knowing what the reward was going to be.

"Riftkin?! Get my keys. We are going to the cellar. Tell Smiley to start the soup, and put the bread in the oven." The chef turned to Tallsqueak. "We are going to the cellar to check on some of the cheese I have there, and you are going to prove a few more things for me. I may have a special job for you."

Milo was excited to see the cellar, but wondered why all the rewards he got seemed to be more jobs? He was gaining them quickly.

Chapter 109: Hamsters Hopping Happily

Milo followed behind the Cheese-Master and a very nervous Riftkin. A small side room was unlocked, which turned out to have only a staircase in it, leading downward. Milo could smell all sorts of interesting scents coming from below: mushrooms, spoiled milk, damp earth, and many types of cheese. The stone steps went down over a hundred feet, and ended at a locked door. Both Riftkin and Bleusnout put a key in the door and turned them together. Milo heard the click of a mechanism and the doors slid sideways into the walls. Riftkin returned upstairs, Milo followed Bleusnout into the room beyond.

The Chef paused. "Let us stay here for a few minutes. Take a few deep breaths." Milo did as he was told. The room smelled delicious, but he suppressed hungry thoughts about cheese. After a full five minutes the Cheese-Master relaxed. "Well, you didn't run into the room and start tearing out the bars of steel. Entering this room can have a very strong effect upon some people. You have a slight quiver to your arm and your breathing is a little faster, but overall, very good control. Let us go in."

There were dozens of rooms with stout iron grates sealing them off from the main room. Milo saw huge rounds of cheese in bright wax, barrels of cheese carefully marked for aging, and vats of moldy cheeses slowly maturing. Just breathing in the air was a joy! The rest of the room was filled to the brim with cheese making apparatus. Churns, stoves, and mixing vats were in several places along with so much more that Milo didn't understand. His meagre skill in cheesemaking didn't give him enough back ground. Bleusnout led him to a room with a wooden door and ushered him inside. It appeared to be a library with scrolls and ancient books.

One book in particular he pulled from the wall. It had a green binding with gold lettering. A second was selected, very thin with a brown leather cover and much smaller than the first. Bleusnout set in gingerly on a table and blew the dust from it. "I need someone with a good memory and attention to detail. Let us see if what you showed me upstairs holds true with a book you could not possibly have memorized. He handed Milo the small brown book.

Milo read through Hamster Huey and the Gooie Kablooie in half a minute, then handed it back to Bleusnout. Bleusnout quizzed him on the book, having him read from each page. Luckily, he did not have to perform the 'Happy Hamster Hop' as instructed in part of the book.

"Very well, you pass. That is a very powerful gift you have been given. You may wish to consider the path of the Lore-Master, but that of course in many years in the future. Enjoy the freedom being young gives you to have fun and explore before you settle down and get fat like I did."

"Now a much harder book. Can you promise to let me know if this is beyond you? It is not easy telling certain types of mushrooms apart. If we were to use the wrong one in our cheese, the poison could wipe out the entire hollow. And you could easily die simply by handling some of the more poisonous types. He pushed forward the large green book:

Mushrooms of the Deep Hollows: An Identification Guide to the 47 Varieties of Spotted Death Bloom. With Pictures! by Gather-Master Redcap.

Milo turned the pages slowly, looking at the colored drawings and detailed descriptions of different mushrooms, all of which seemed to be extremely poisonous. "Wow, this is great. I read all of Harry's books, but he only had 23 of these listed in his wikishroomia.

Bleusnout raised an eyebrow. "Harry? Is he by chance a troll?"

"Yes, Harry. Very big troll sometimes. Smaller now. He gave me some lessons in mycology. His full name is Dr. Harold Earthtongue, but he says to just call him Harry. He really knows his shrooms." Milo paused, thinking. "He might even be part mushroom now." He went back to reading.

Milo was quite absorbed in his new book, entranced by the pictures and the copious number of notes scribbled on each page. He didn't notice the Cheese-Master sigh and shake his head. On the shelf of books were seven volumes by Dr. Harold Earthtongue. It was a day like this that made Bleusnout wish he had stayed a simple lizard farmer. The whelps always managed to surprise him.

After an hour Milo assured the Cheese-Master that he had memorized every detail of the book and that he should have no trouble harvesting any of the mushrooms listed using the proper equipment. A large knapsack was found and Bleusnout assemble a collection of small clay jars with cork stoppers, several sets of tongs for harvesting and cleansing solution to wipe down his tools. "I can't over-empathize just how poisonous some of those varieties are. Leave anything not on my list alone. Be careful with that field guide, but take it with you. Consult it if you even the hint of a question about what type you are plucking."

"I have a need for a great many rare mushrooms. We have many fields here in the Hollow, but it's simply not safe to grow some of them in the open areas where anyone could wander by. I had small amounts of the rare varieties growing in the back caverns down here, but a blight got into them, and I was forced to clean out the entire cave and start over. Such a waste. All of the planter boxes turned black in only a few days. I need samples of many varieties to start fresh, but obviously care must be taken with them. I myself am not small or limber enough to carefully make my way through the wild shroom caverns without stepping in the wrong place. If you have worked with Dr. Earthtongue you know not to step on the shroomlings."

"Care must also be taken with the spider clans. We share much territory with them, but the peace is uneasy. Small skirmishes occur all the time. I don't expect you to fight. If you see spiders, run away quickly. And if the worst happens, and one of the guardian myconians takes offense, also run. They can hit quite hard considering they are made of soft fungus."

The Cheese-Master put his hand on Milo's shoulder. "Can I count on you, Tallsqueak? The Hollow needs brave young whelps like you to step into positions of trust where your work will benefit us all."

Milo considered the question, and the Cheese-Master gave him time. Finally, after a minute, he answered. "You can trust me to do a good job gathering shrooms or any other job you give me. And I'll fight to defend the Hollow. I won't reveal secrets and I won't betray a trust." He paused and exhaled. "But I have some awfully awkward secrets."

"Do any of them put the Hollow in danger?" The Cheese-Master didn't seem terribly concerned about secrets.

Milo shook his head. "No. And if they do, I'll tell you and either fix things or leave."

Bleusnout patted him on the head. "Good enough. We all have secrets. Let us get all this loaded into your knapsack and I will get you a map of the caverns you need to visit. Then we'll set you up with some bowls of lunch. Larry will be very happy to see you, especially when you tell him you memorized Hamster Huey. It's his favorite story. He even knows how to do the Happy Hamster Hop."

Chapter 110: Silently Sampling Sumptuous Succulent Shrooms

After his third time telling Larry the story of Hamster Huey, Milo got away by promising to tell it again at the next meal. Larry was in a better mood, still singing the song from the story. The map showed the caverns that made up Limburger Hollow, and showed all the exits. The route he needed looked to be through a cave past something called The Tower of Strife. He could circle around through the market place and maybe do a little shopping.

He was just about to step off the porch of the mess hall when a figure in black clothing swung into view and attacked him. They had been on the roof, holding onto the edge with claws and tail, as they swung at him, upside-down, they yelled "Surprise!".

Milo didn't think much of the plan. They'd have been better to drop to the ground, or drop and catch themselves with their tail. Instead, they had held onto the roof, and swung down in an arc like a pendulum. Milo knew from experience how much longer that would take, starting from a resting position. His acrobatics all over his section had led him to experiment with the best ways of moving through the tunnels and drops. Swinging like that was useful to change your vector of movement, not to gain momentum. Did they not teach Shadow-Walkers any math?

Milo had plenty of time to react. He brought up his left hand, and blocked with the hardened bone that appeared on his forearm. The small knife that was used when playing 'Surprise' snapped. Milo grabbed the assassin by the front of his tunic and used the momentum and direction of their swing to toss him to Larry.

"Quick Larry! Gooie is trying to go Kablooie! Throw him far away from us before he explodes!

Larry stood up and yelled loudly, holding the poor rat-kin in one hand and winding up for a throw. "NO Kablooie for you! Larry saves Hamster Town!"

Milo watched as Larry threw the hapless assassin far and high. As he hit the ground a hundred feet away a huge cloud of dust went up in the air and Larry yelled: "Kablooie for Gooie!" Then he grabbed Milo, who was forced to do the Happy Hamster Hop with him as everyone in the mess hall came out to watch. Milo started to explain, and then turned to the excited and happy Cheese Fiend: "Larry, can you tell everyone about how you saved Hamster Town?"

Larry stopped bouncing, and looked unsure of things. "Larry tells the story?"

Milo nodded to him, and Bleusnout sat down on the porch. The Cheese-Master smiled encouragingly at Larry: "I would love to have Larry tell the story."

Milo snuck away to do his mushroom hunting as Larry began to tell for the first time what would become an ever-evolving story of how Larry saved Hamster Town.

'One day, Larry was sitting with his best friend, Hamster Huey. Hamster Huey told Larry a story. Larry saw a sneaky guy trying to surprise Hamster Huey. It was Gooier Kablooie! Larry grabbed Kablooie and yelled at him….'

Finding the Tower of Strife was easy. It was a stone tower going to the roof of the cavern, and showed the signs of many repairs. It was darkened by fire, and some of its stones were actually melted. Milo wondered what occurred inside. Even as he watched, several blue-robed ratkin barreled out the front door just seconds before thunder and lightning shook the tower. A green cloud formed high in the air, which then exploded as more lightning went off. The displaced students decided it was time for dinner and ran to the mess hall, hoping things would calm down soon.

Milo went around the tower, choosing to ignore it for now as everyone else in the market was doing. The open-air flea market was familiar to Milo. It looked like the market in Shadowport, or the swap-meet in the hab. Tables and blankets were covered in goods. Here it was foodstuffs, cloth, weapons, and jewelry. In the hab it was broken machinery, video games, and canned food.

He found two sets of cheap, wooden tongs that were intended for cooking but were instead going mushroom hunting with him, along with a small shovel. He was happy to see that the coins he had looted from the airship were taken by the merchants. Most bit them to check for quality, but so did half the people up top.

He was about to leave, when he saw an older merchant with hides and rolls of leather. He also had a pile of cleaned bones of various sizes. Milo started picking through them.

"Ah, got a carving project in mind, do you? I try to find thicker bones, but most of that is longer thigh bones from horned milk-beasts or red-crested lurkers. I do a little scrimshaw as a hobby now and then. Mostly knives or chopsticks, unless I get some nice claws or ivory tusks. Some of the big spiders have nice mandibles for carving. What are you thinking on?"

Milo let the old ratkin ramble on as he found four suitable thigh bones. "I need something for throwing. These will do. 1 silver?"

The old rat-kin laughed. "Don't make an old rat laugh too much. Those are worth a couple of copper at most, and only because I cleaned them up nice."

Milo handed him the silver piece. "I like old bones. The older the better. Maybe you can keep a look out for them?"

The old merchant stroked his chin and looked thoughtful. "Maybe I can at that. Might be some stuff in an odd corner of the Hollow. If so, I'll find it and let you know. Stop back sometime Tallsqueak, we'll talk. If you don't see me, just ask for Scrap Hunter, someone will send word." They bowed politely to each other and Milo went on his way.

The market wrapped around the tower and Milo continued past it, down a small path towards the waterfall. He stopped, staring at what he saw. A large piece of battered and rusty machinery sat near the pool, with a detached water wheel leaning up against it. It looked like a broken piece of dwarven machinery made by the lesser brothers in their delirium. He took a closer look at it, seeing copper coils to generate power, broken gears, and misaligned linkages. It was a mess and a total wreck. If he understood part of it, it was meant to generate power, but the far end from the water was a mystery. Broken glass globes had wires that wove into a tangle of cracked glass and melted metal. He itched to start fixing it, but he was missing the tools needed without getting into his smugglers stash, and he had a job to do.

Reluctantly, he moved on, finding the path that skirted the waterfall and went through a narrow passage for fifty feet before emerging into a large cavern with fields of mushrooms where rat-kin were working at harvesting the tasty fungus. An ancient and feeble looking old rat stood leaning on a gnarled cane, looking through thick spectacles out into the cave. These caverns must be very safe, as there were no guards around, like there were at the other entrance. As Milo came near, the old rat sniffed the air and turned to look at him. His eyes narrowed a bit and he raised up his head to stare through the lower half of his bifocals. "You aren't one of mine. Tell me what you are doing in the Hollow."

Milo decided to interpret the question as 'What are you doing, now.' vs 'Tell me everything you've done in the Hollow'. "Mushroom hunting for Master Bleusnout. I need to head past these fields, and then go through three more caves." He showed the old rat-kin the map.

The wrinkled old rat eased himself down onto a worn rock that showed signs of being used for a stool many times. "So far? You must be after some special varieties used in cooking and cheese? You should be cautious, some of those may also be poisonous. I should know, I hunted many a shroom in my younger days when my legs were better." He gave a small bow of his head. "Welcome to the Hollow then, Tallsqueak, you can call me Old Healer or Grandfather. Either of those is what the young ones call me now."

Milo sat with the old rat and went over the types of mushrooms he was looking for, double checking his book knowledge with the wisdom this old man had. To his relief, the descriptions matched.

"I'm wondering if you might do me a favor, young Tallsqueak?"

"I need quite a few mushrooms myself, to study and make special medicines from them. Luckily, I need all the ones that our esteemed chef does not. If you don't mind gathering those for me, I'd take it as a personal favor and find a way to reward you."

Milo agreed. It was a small amount of work to repay this teacher for his knowledge. And it was efficient. Between the two lists he could pick the caverns clean of spotted mushrooms. But the old man had a warning for him. He pointed to a small cavern near the end of the cave complex Milo was heading to. "This way is dangerous. It's usually guarded by the spiders. Sadly, the small cave beyond has the rarest varieties of mushrooms growing there: Golden Puffballs and Red Spotted Eye-Rot. One tasty and one deadly. It would take quite a bit of stealth and daring to get in and out of that cave without a fight. So be careful."

With that warning, he waved Milo on his way, and leaned back to take a nap.

Skill Summary:

Sense Danger has improved from Rank 5 to Rank 6

Spine of Volax-Repat has improved from Rank 5 to Rank 6

Combat Block has improved to Rank 3

Acrobatics has improved to Rank 6

Mycology has improved to Rank 3

Dodge has improved to Rank 6

Climbing has improved to rank 6

You have gained the skill: Mastery of Self at Rank 0 this is a WIS based skill.

AGI has improved by +1 to 13

DEX has improved by +1 to 16

Chapter 111: Making friends along the way

Milo passed through the large cavern, noting the types of common mushrooms and vegetables that were being grown here. All of the plants were grown in raised beds with water carefully poured in by the bucketful. A large water cart went to each field where water was poured into the buckets and then into the fields. Another field hand was spreading pungent fertilizer around the plants. Milo was glad he wasn't a farmer. He understood the process of growing things with hydroponics in the real world, but next to nothing about doing it here. He'd much rather be mining.

His time in the Hollow was feeling like a vacation. He was relaxing more and more. There were problems here, but he didn't feel like the responsibility of solving them was on his shoulders. He did like solving problems though, and applied some thought to his current job. He needed to gather rare shrooms for two different people. One needed the tastiest to reseed his planters. The other needed the inedible ones to make medicines of some sort. He was curious about that. Maybe the old alchemist would teach him a few things? He had warned Milo against the cavern patrolled by the spiders.

Sort of. It felt almost like a challenge. Milo realized he also didn't know the old teacher's name. Surely someone in the Hollow would know of him. He'd just take a look at that cave, and be cautious as he had promised Master Bleusnout. If you were cautious and sneaky enough, did that count as being careful? He mulled that over as he walked and decided it was outcome based. If you didn't get caught, you were careful. If you had to run away with giant spiders nipping at your tail, you weren't.

Milo had gone past the area where the Hollow had its farms, and into the caverns beyond. Mushrooms and lichen grew all over, but not the ones that he needed. The next cavern was quite dark. He felt his eyes adjust to the complete darkness, but something was bothering him. Where were the lichen that gave off a soft glow? It was like this area had been scrubbed down to the bare rock. He slowed down, moving low to the ground and skulking off to one side. And then he saw the trap. There was a void in the rocks where there should be solid stone. A pit that felt open to the air with his stone sense but that looked like bare rock to his eyes. He scanned the ceiling but saw nothing hiding in the stalactites.

No one was around to see him use his magic. He brought out the Claws of Alta-Viator and the Spine of Volax-Repat. Bone plates covered his hands like gauntlets and along the top of his feet and long his shins. His tail grew longer, looking like a whipping spine with a slashing blade on the end. Soundlessly he climbed the wall of the cave, and skulked across the ceiling until he was directly above the pit. Whatever was down there was used to ambushing its prey. It wouldn't be happy to have prey ambush it first.

Milo took an ultra-sharp claw and began to cut into the stalactite directly over the pit. This would be a good way to say 'Surprise'. The sharp cone of rock was five feet long and a foot thick at the base. It took Milo ten minutes to soundlessly carve around the outer edge, not letting any of the rock fragments fall to the ground. Pushing on the stalactite, he heard a small cracking sound, and the three-hundred-pound spear of stone fell fifty feet to the ground where it poked through something soft and then into something very squishy. Milo couldn't help but mumble "Surprise!"

He was surprised himself when a very large, and very angry spider erupted from the hidden pit and pounce on nothing at all. The stalactite was stuck through it's thorax which was oozing greenish ichor. The maddened arachnid raced around the cave, looking for the attacker that had hurt it until it chanced to look up and see Milo on the ceiling. The spider hissed at him in pain and anger, and raced up the wall and across the ceiling towards him. Milo was already moving to the side of the room, using his tail and arms to swing from one stalactite to the next. When the floor was only thirty feet below him, he dropped to the ground.

The spider tried to do the same, but the wound was hampering it. More green ichor poured out. Milo raced away, trying to judge the spider's speed. He could tell immediately that it wasn't as fast as he was. He moved to the side, slashed with his tail and then rolled as Master Gilad had taught him. A strand of silk shot from the abdomen narrowly missed him. The leg he had slashed was hanging by a thread. Twice more he repeated the tactic and the spider collapsed with only one leg on that side. The spider tried to crawl towards him. Milo moved behind it, content to let it die from bleeding.

It was nearly dead when a black garbed figure raced forward, leaped into the air high enough to perform a double rotation before sticking the landing onto of the spider, just behind it's head. "Surprise." Twin daggers stabbed into the spider, at the junction between head and body, multi-faceted eyes glowed green with hatred as it twisted to spit a mass of sticky saliva at the new attacker before it collapsed.

You have slain a foe with the aid of someone you are competing with. They seek to claim the victory. Please choose:

-Share the victory with this helpful person as if they were in your party, and you have a truce from competition for one day.

-Claim victory for yourself. You will gain 70% of the experience and CSP. Competition continues.

-Declare that you are attacking the kill-stealer for daring to take what is yours. Combat is to first blood. You will gain all of the experience and CSP.

You have a minute to decide. Normally much sooner but the second attacker is in a bit of a sticky situation at the moment.

Milo scanned the announcement, then looked at the situation.

Sticky was indeed the correct word. The person who had killed the spider had both hands glued to the spot they had stabbed it. Milo was still being cautious. He recognized the garb of a shadow-stalker. Green eyes stared at him, but his attacker was silent.

"Are you from Limburger Hollow? How are we competing?"

A whispered voice spit out a curse. "Get it over with. Just nick me and take the points for the kill and score one on me. This sticky stuff is crap! Without it, I'd be kicking your ass all over the cave and taking all the experience for myself! Stupid spiders."

"This one was actually quite smart. It was tricky, stealthy, and fought hard. It might have got me with that spit. I was about to rush in myself. So, let's call it a draw." Milo noticed that in the group window, it showed his name as Tall-Squeak, and his new acquaintance as 'Partner'. Some sneaky skill in play, no doubt.

You have chosen cooperation! That tricky move surely will leave your temporary ally confused!

You have slain a level 4 Elite Boss, Silentslayer. You and your partner each gain one CSP and 200 experience.

You also gain 1 point of 'Surprise', your partner does not.

The shadow-stalker finally managed to free themselves, and then walked angrily over to Milo. "Don't think that will buy you any favors! Tomorrow, we start over."

Milo pointed to the far end of the cavern. "I didn't do it to buy a favor. I did it because the 'stupid spiders' were quick to come investigate the noise."

His partner spun and stared at the other tunnel. Two large, black spiders were coming into the cavern.

"Those are the guards that are normally at the entrance to the Cave of Death. If we can decoy them, one of us could harvest some of the Red-Spotted Eye-Rot. Lead them around, I'll harvest the fungus and we split the loot and rewards."

Everything slowed down for Milo as he looked at the situation, thinking very hard. Somehow, he was in competition with the Shadow-stalkers, probably from playing 'Surprise'. They were taking things very seriously, even to following him and trying to steal his experience or goad him into a fight. Getting the mushrooms must be some sort of test for them. Milo wanted the shrooms from the cave for eating and medicine. He and his partner were in a truce for a day, which should include the mushrooms. It wasn't a bad plan, and with the spiders on the move, he wasn't going to be harvesting anything until things calmed down.

"Agreed. I'll get their attention; you do the sneaky harvesting." He raced towards the guards and threw two skulls, one after another. Both throws put the runed-skulls under the spiders where they exploded, causing the arachnids to squeal in pain and make dust billow into the air. His partner disappeared.

Chapter 112: Spiders don't keep score.

Milo didn't like the idea of trying to just avoiding combat to keep his two adversaries busy while his partner looted the rare mushrooms. Every scenario seemed to end badly for him. The spiders could use the ceiling and walls as well or better than he could. They were too big to draw them off the way he came, and he couldn't take them in the direction his partner had gone. Running around was a losing game against two opponents in a cavern that already had webs in part of it.

Better to cut down the odds and slow them up. He gave his partner some time to slip past them before he threw a bone harpoon at the spider that first emerged from the cloud of dust. Hitting an unseen ally with a spell meant for a spider would have been awkward. The Harpoon of the Winds hit the spider between its first and second set of legs, puncturing its side. He followed up immediately with a second spell for double the mana using Fast Casting., watching his mana bar drain by an eighth. He needed to get rid of one enemy quickly, and he needed information of what he was fighting.

You have struck Black Widow Brute with a spell doing 307 points of damage.

Black Widow Brute blocks your second spell, taking minimal damage.

Health 1093/1400

The second harpoon was met and deflected by the wounded spider's front leg, sending the harpoon clattering to the side. Milo could see that the front legs of this spider were armored. The second spider began casting a spell, it's nimble front legs making motions and rhythmic chittering coming from its mouth.

Black Widow Deathmonger casts a spell. You may not use Counter Attack because you recently used Fast Casting.

Poisonous Cloud of Doom does 50 points of damage to all non-spiders in the area. This is a persistent attack which will damage you each round. Damage reduced by 25 points due to your Weak Poison Resistance.

Green clouds filled the entire cave, spreading out over everything. A good attack that would wear down multiple enemies, but something he could endure for a time. The spell would be terrifying if used against tight packed ratkin infantry. As he choked and dodged away from the spiders, he looked at the spellcaster. It was much thinner in the legs, and smaller in the body than its bodyguard. And probably more deadly. He immediately switched opponents.

You have struck Black Widow Deathmonger with a spell doing 307 points of damage.

Health 493/900

The Deathmonger screamed and the bodyguard moved to interpose itself between Milo and the mage. Milo had planned for this, circling to get to the side and running up the wall so that he could keep the mage in view. The Deathmonger began to cast another spell, green light forming along its forearms. Milo cast his own spell, throwing the last of his harpoons.

Counter Attack is successful!

Deathmonger has taken 307 damage from your harpoon.

Deathmonger has taken 63 damage from Rotting Death

Health 123/900

This was too much for the Deathmonger. It headed for the tunnel leading out, moving slowly from two harpoons in its body. The Black Widow Brute came after Milo, but stopped when it was twenty feet from the tunnel when he retreated away from it, choosing to guard the spellcasters slow retreat.

Milo spent a few seconds circling to the side, and retrieving his last harpoon where it lay on the ground. He should really take time to carve more of these. Maybe a quiver? Using his own bones to power the spell hurt and used a lot of his health. That was an option for emergencies. Which this fight might become. Could the wounded spider mage kill his partner? It could certainly bring more spiders that could kill both of them.

Milo ran at the Black Widow Brute, readying his harpoon for a throw. The spider braced itself and prepared to block. Milo took another step and tried to jump over it. The spider managed to hit him with an armored claw, doing a hundred points of damage to him, and turning his leap into a clumsy fall and roll. Rather than get up, he just kept rolling until he could come quickly to his feet and sprint away. The Brute pursued. After a short tunnel, he emerged into a huge cavern filled with mushrooms. The far side had been harvested, and he saw very small spiders scuttling away with loads of harvested shrooms, getting away from the fight.

Milo had hoped to catch up with the Deathmonger as it ran away. What he wasn't expecting was for the wounded spider to drop on him. Danger Sense gave him some warning, but was overwhelmed by the spider's natural Ambush ability. It didn't shout surprise, as he had expected it to. Maybe spiders didn't keep score?

Something sharp punctured his left thigh, stunning him. The Deathmonger went for a second attack, higher up, driving its poisoned stinger into his spine. Milo was driven into the soft soil of the cave, but the stinger couldn't penetrate the bone armor that covered his spine. The Deathmonger screamed in pain and rage as it's stinger snapped instead.

Milo felt sickened. He turned over and struck with claws and tail, killing the Deathmonger, and covering him in foul-smelling ichor that made him more nauseous. He didn't have time to think as the enraged Brute flipped the dead spider off of him, and reared up to drive its own stinger into him.

Milo dodged, then dodged again. At some point he regained his feet and began stumbling away. The Brute pursued, hitting him twice with its front legs.

Status:

You are poisoned. Speed -25%, +50 points of poison damage per round. Your weak poison resistance is ineffective against strong poison.

Health 1120/1660

Milo was looking for somewhere to get away from the brute. Killing it with claws didn't sound like a good option when he was slowed and loosing 50 health a round. His partner was nowhere in sight, but he saw the smaller cave. If his partner was inside, the two of them could kill this thing. He was still faster than the brute, and fear gave him speed as he sprinted around the edge of the cave, avoiding the patches of poisonous mushrooms.

The cave entrance was narrower than the other tunnels, but he fit through easily. He wasn't sure if the Brute could make it, but he was sure it would try. Inside the cave, he saw nothing at all. If there had been mushrooms here, they were gone. If his partner had been here, they were gone too. Milo had trapped himself in a small cave, while dying of poison, and an enemy coming for him.

He examined his options. One seemed like a good idea. He tossed a Runed-Skull into the tunnel, then paid twice the mana to do another. Just in time. The Brute had stuck in his head and took them both in the face. It was wounded, but not slowing. It jammed its body into the tunnel, its hard armor scraping in places and making it a tight fit, but it was pushing through.

Milo tossed his last two Runed-Skulls. They exploded and wounded the Brute, taking it under half health. It started to exit the tunnel as Milo struck the rock above it with his pick, dislodging a large chunk of rock on its head. The Brute chittered at him, and moved another foot into the tunnel. Milo moved to the side and hit the crack he had started with his last strike. The tier four pick went deep into the soft rock, and Milo pulled as hard as he could. With a small rumble, the tunnel shifted and tons of rock pinned the Brute in the tunnel. It was helpless as Milo struck it from the side, first breaking off its legs and then killing it. The pick gave him reach and the sharp head punctured through the hard chitin as easily as his claws would have.

You have slain Black Widow Deathmonger level 6.

You have slain Black Widow Brute Bodyguard level 6.

You have earned 900 experience.

As soon as it was dead, he sat down and began drinking healing potions. His leg was turning black and swelling. With two healing potions in him, he had time to bring up his core skills. He had 10 CSP and 500 experience points he had been saving from the fight with the Ancient Sea Hydra. Those could be used in two ways: Strong Poison Resistance for 7, or Mutant Regeneration for 10. The warning on Mutant Regeneration and thoughts of Larry made him quickly take resistance and with the left over three points, +50 health.

All 900 experience went into Strong Poison Resistance, raising it to Rank 4. He put the 500 experiences into Weak Poison Resistance, bring it to Rank 6. The system wouldn't let him use the saved experience for the skill he hadn't had for that fight. From outside the tunnel, he felt the vibrations from many feet. It was either a legion of ratkin, or a lot of spiders. He had no idea if they could get to him, but the situation had suddenly gotten worse. He began to drink his remaining healing potions one at a time as he searched the cave for a crevice or small tunnel, or anywhere to hide or barricade himself.

What he found instead, was a door in the rock. Or a rock that was a door? He couldn't even see the cracks in the rock, but he knew it was a thin door that led to a space beyond it. He felt carefully, scanning the rock for any way to open it. A small depression had a button in it. He pressed it and two things happened. The door moved inward on silent hinges, and a needle poked his finger.

You failed to notice a trap! You are taking 100 5 points per round of strong poison. Lucky for you the poison on the trap hasn't been refreshed in ages.

Shaking his hand, and downing his last healing potion, Milo stumbled into the hidden passage, closing the door behind him. He could see that it opened into a room. He stumbled forward, and felt a sharp pain as a needle stabbed into his foot.

You failed to notice a trap! You are taking 100 5 points per round of strong poison. Lucky for you the poison on the trap hasn't been refreshed in ages.

Milo was dying, but he slowed down, and scanned the rock walls carefully. He found two more traps before he entered the room. He saw furniture covered in dust, and a body slumped in a chair, the narrow skull of a ratkin resting on the table littered with books, vials, and jars of rotted ingredients. A pile of what looked like empty healing potions made a pyramid on the floor. A huge book was open to a page that detailed the making of a restorative of some sort. Milo didn't understand half of it, but the potion required one full day of aging before it was useful. One outstretched skeletal hand held a flask with a sparkling golden liquid. Every other potion seemed to have been drank in an attempt to save the alchemist's life.

Milo's health was dropping steadily still, even slowed by the Strong Poison Resistance. The two traps hadn't helped, of course.

He grabbed the vial and drank down the amber liquid. It tasted like a fizzy drink from the hab. It also made him dizzy. He barely made it to the dust covered bed before he passed out.

Chapter 113: Things get mixed up

Just as he was passing out or dying in some hidden cave, Milo flicked his tail and logged out of the game. He had too much to do in the real world to be wasting time lying in a dusty cot. He did enjoy sleeping in the game now and then, especially when that would be what he was doing in the real world, but he'd pass on dying from poison or having horrible dreams for a day. He was either dead, or he wasn't. Dead was going to be real pain and dealing with spiders to get back some of his gear. Of course, living might also have some problems associated with it, like being stuck in an unknown cave with a dead body and angry spiders knocking at his door.

But that was tomorrow's problems. Today he needed to get a different set of gear ready in case he actually did decide to go to some big swap-meet/party that some rich person was holding in Section H.

That thought made him pause. Was he a rich person now? He wasn't sure if stolen money counted. But logically, it had to, since governments and corporations seemed to steal so much it all the time, and it counted for them. Another decision made: stolen money counted for determining if you were rich. He would figure out all this social stuff eventually.

Of course, Milo would have trouble doing a lot with his stolen money. Unlike the people rebuilding Section H, he couldn't just put new solar panels on the roof of Section E. First, they'd get stolen. Second, they were too damn obvious. The ones in Section H didn't get stolen because they were under surveillance constantly, with guards and maintenance workers. It was too bad he couldn't just put an array of his panels in Section H and let them guard them for him.

Was there any reason he couldn't? He would have to mimic the email trail for all the requests, invoices, installation and a dozen other things. Once they were installed, he could wire them into his own system by running new cable through an unused crawlspace. He could even have his panels designated for future use and high energy needs. If they fed power to Section H only as needed, it would camouflage that most of the power was being used in Section E, rather than being wasted. Section H would benefit from having their storage at 100% all the time, and he could greatly upgrade the energy system in Section E. Even if someone questioned having extra panels, it would be a huge mess of complex orders to untangle why they were there. He'd make sure of that.

And he was safe because an engineer or technician looked for problems and things to fix. Extra power wasn't a problem. Bonus solar panels didn't need to be fixed. Move on citizen, nothing to see here.

He began working on the idea immediately. Thoughts of poison and spiders pushed to the back of his head. After an hour, an alarm went off. The alarm was connected to a message to himself: 'Remember to order the following: 196 graphene panels made according to the schematics we just set up. We also need 2000 titanium/iridium micromotors, two miles of the ultrathin graphene cable coated and uncoated, the new micro-waldos from Lang Enterprises and the micro-processing 'Factory in a box' that Dr. Ignition is trying to sell prototypes of. Leather coat, the kind we saw with 100 pockets. That pitiful looking prosthetic leg with the fake foot on the end. And bread, the long kind. A dozen loaves. Ten pounds of butter. A pound of ground Parmesan. That should do for now. Do it before you go back to the other project.'

He almost ignored himself, but was reminded of how good the bread had tasted that the Cheese-Master had made. It took him a half hour and then he got back to work creating several months' worth of fake emails, and inserting them into the archives, and spam folders or saved mail of the right people. Ordering the panels was the easy part, even routing it into and back out of the accounts of the people that ran Section H. That had been a piece of cake. These people really sucked at basic accounting. They had money coming in, getting tangled up with other money, and going all over the place. Maybe he wasn't the only person trying to hide something?

The only problem he had was dealing with their engineering firm. It was locked tight. Much tighter than he would have expected. Any time he started to get in, their security began to notice and he was forced to back off. In the end, he simply created the emails from them on this side of the fence. It was a small clue that something was off, but not one anyone would ever notice. Like anyone else, they weren't going to care about something that didn't cause a problem.

Some few weeks later...

Onyx: This is driving me crazy. How stupid can these people be. They thank me for the superb job we did on the second solar array. We had nothing to do with a second solar array!

Nina: They thanked you?

Onyx: Not me, personally. They thanked our fictitious talking head that they think runs things.

Zander: Was a second solar array installed? I recommended it because projections showed they would need it in 30 months, plus or minus 4 months. They turned down the proposal because of cashflow considerations.

Onyx: No, we had nothing to do with it. I mean, we could have, but they didn't ask. But they have a second array, and they thanked me for my insight and work in making sure it was done correctly. I didn't do anything!

Bork: Is that a problem? They did something on their own for a change. Probably someone said "Screw this, we need it, go do it. And if anyone asks, tell them that the wonderful engineering firm said to do it and helped." Done, move on.

Algernon: Now, if they paid us for our help, that would be something. Money for nothing.

Onyx: I checked. They paid us. It was part of last quarter's accounting.

Algernon: How did that tune go? Money for nothing and the chicks for free? I demand women!

Nina: What would you do with them?

Algernon: Make them play games with me, of course, you people are always too busy.

Nina: Ugh, enough games for me. Never going back to that horrible trap of a fantasy world.

Onyx: I think that...No. Never mind. So, we got paid. What now. I want to go sort through this, dig some in their systems. It bothers me.

Nina: You went back in, didn't you!

Onyx: I dig in their systems all the time. Their accounting is so funny. They barely hide the money laundering at all.

Nina: The game. You went in the game. I told you not to!

Onyx: And I told you not to download all those cat photos and fall in love with them. Now you own seven cat shelters!

Nina: Full of cute ones!

Bork: I'm not seeing problems here people!

Algernon: I want my MTV...

Zander: I wish I was an only child sometimes.

Bork: Wouldn't work. You'd be insane by the time you were twelve. Any of us would be. We have to have a group to bounce ideas off of us or we go feral and then insane. Hard coded in our genetics.

Onyx: That's troubling on many levels. But I may disagree with you at some point.

Nina: NO! It wasn't him. You aren't going back in. That's crazy talk. We don't need more crazy. We need time with each other.

Onyx: I suppose. What are we doing tonight then? Another group project for someone?

Nina: No. Done with this. Going to watch 'Politician Grudge Match'. The ex-Governor of Nebraska challenged the current Prime Minister of Alaska. They're doing a cage match tonight for the title.

Bork: I'm in. Everyone?

Onyx: I suppose. You're right. This is a waste of time. Just morons getting things mixed up.

Chapter 114: Partner Perspective

Char, aka Charlotte, aka 'Partner',aka 'Princess Stabbypants', 'Charred-Earth', and 'Heart-taker' was delighted to do nothing but watch as events unfolded. She had been concerned when Grandfather gave a mission to Tallsqueak. He wasn't even in the Guild! What was the old rat up to?

The annoying newcomer was fast becoming a thorn in her foot. Her head was still sore from his attack on her when all she was doing was playing a game of 'surprise' with him. Who the hell used a wrench when playing surprise!? She had argued for half a bell that giving him a point in the contest wasn't right. Correspondingly, she shouldn't have to lose a point! But Grandfather had insisted and pointed out that it was her fault for attacking him in the first place. Grandfather was totally unreasonable at times.

Luckily, she had overheard the conversation, and followed behind Tallsqueak as he made his way through the caverns where gatherers from the Hollow were busy bringing in a harvest of tasty fungus. She hadn't had a plan in mind, just follow and do something to regain that stolen point. Her patient skulking had paid off. She had learned his secret!

Away from the rest of the Hollow, he unveiled his secret while fighting an assassin spider. He was some sort of aberration, like the over-muscled Larry. No wonder the two could stand to be around each other. The bony plates, elongated tail and horrible claws had nearly made her squeal when he deployed them. The ugly mutations were effective, and he nearly killed the powerful spider.

He hadn't even suspected she was around until she had struck. Which was why it was totally unfair that she hadn't been given the kill. She had hated having to sit there while he considered what to do with her. Her plans were already forming for how she would attack and humiliate him when he confused her by taking only half the credit for the kill. She had no idea what his plan was. Anyone else would have drawn her blood and scored the experience and a second point on her.

Then she realized that they had a 24 hour truce and were grouped together until then. That had been his plan! He was going to use her skills and stealth to further his own missions. Well, two could play at that game. Her hasty offer of 'You delay the enemy while I loot' had obviously caught him off guard, and in his confusion he took the deal. Most likely he would flee battle quickly, but all she needed was a moment or two in the cave to pick it clean.

The Cave of Death was small, and the mushrooms were few. She harvested all of the two varieties of mushrooms there, taking care not to actually touch the poisonous type, and then raced out of the cave and up the wall to hide before the guards made their way back. It would be tricky getting away, but she could do it.

Of course, nothing said she had to meet up with Tallsqueak immediately. "Oh, so sorry, I couldn't find you. A day has passed. No partnership, No split. So sad." She could hear him whining already. It would be so sweet.

That daydream burst as the wounded Deathmonger limped out of the tunnel, and clumsily climbed above it. Somehow Tallsqueak had managed to hurt the mage spider enough to make it flee. Whatever respect that might have gained him was lost when he stumbled out of the tunnel and got ambushed like the total neophyte that he was. She had hoped the spider would yell "surprise", but spiders don't keep score.

She expected to see him die, especially after he was struck twice with the deadly poison. But it was the Deathmonger that died, clawed to death by his mutant claws. She watched as he wisely fled the Brute, but then stupidly trapped himself in the Cave of Death. Again Char was surprised as Tallsqueak killed the Brute. She saw the stone crack and the tunnel collapse. The spider's back legs had kicked feebly for some time before it died. She felt like she needed a scorecard to keep track of what he did right and what he screwed up.

Not that anything would save him. Two doses of Black Widow Venom should have put him down already. She watched in the group screen as his health went up and down as he drank down health potions. He got lower, lower, lower...and then he just wasn't there. Tallsqueak has left the game. What did that mean? Dead? She decided it meant dead. Maybe she'd ask grandfather about it. Grandfather knew everything. But not for a day. Grandfather got weird about honoring deals and keeping your word to people in the Hollow.

Then it had suddenly been time to go, as more spiders arrived. Very angry spiders! At least two full hunting packs. She raced to safety, hoping she was unseen. Just in case, she should warn the workers in the far fields and have them pull back to the Hollow for a couple days. Spiders did stupid things when they were pissed off. Luckily, they were pissed off at Tallsqueak. He was the one that killed the two Widows. Totally his fault. She should get Justin and Brutus to Guard that entrance to the hollow. It was their job after all. What else had she been helping to train them for?

Larry decided that it was time for Larry to go home. It was many bells until he got another meal, and most of the Hollow was off to their pillows. No one was left to read to Larry. No one for Larry to tell stories to. Cheese-Master was doing cheesy stuff in the basement. Larry could hear him singing. No Tallsqueak. Larry knew when Tallsqueak was near, his friend smelled different. Everyone smelled different, but Tallsqueak was different-different. He smelled like an old cave, and hinge oil, and magic all mixed together. SneakyGuy was sneaking around. He thought Larry didn't hear him, but Larry had big ears. Larry should go find Larry's pillow.

Larry started walking home. Larry's house was past the blue house and past the yellow house. Not as far as the people making hot metal. He turned into a smaller cave, then turned again, and finally got on all fours to creep where it was low. Larry's house was bigger, but only after the long, long low part. His house was just like it was this morning. Larry had three pillows, one from his old house when he was smaller, and two new ones. He had a board with a drawing of Justin on it. He had made it when his hands could hold a paintbrush. It showed Justin in his new armor, and Larry next to him. Larry was so small then. Now he was bigger than Justin. Someday he would get armor like Justin and stand guard with him.

Larry put his book about Hamster Huey on his shelf, next to his picture of Justin and his lucky rock. Some days he tried to do what Cheese-Master said and throw his lucky rock in the air and catch it. He didn't catch it a lot, but more than he used to. Larry sat down on his bed of soft stuff that people had given him for his house and tried to sleep. Tomorrow was a big day. Larry would save Hamster Town again. Larry would be a hero. Like Justin.

Chapter 115: A place to think

After logging out of the game, Milo decided to stay inside his pod. He needed to do some thinking, and wanted to access the datanet, specifically the forums where people discussed GENESIS. In the game, there was a lot to do. Out of the game, there was a never-ending list of things that needed to be done. Milo recognized his obsession with doing things. 'Task oriented' was a nice term used in some of the medical journals which only partially described one of the things that had been done to Milo and his family. They were born wanting to do things. Bred to work continuously. Instead of playing like normal children, their games were moving money and resources around the world and not getting caught.

It was difficult to just sit and think in Section E. Part of him was always aware of a long list of jobs that had to be done. Early on, he had roamed all over the hab fixing broken things. After a year he was able to focus on just Section E, and not the rest of the hab. Then he narrowed his focus to only the mechanical and electrical systems. People would have to fix themselves. He'd help by keeping the water, food, and electrical working. But replacing light bulbs, getting elevators working, and all the other small problems were someone else's job. Or they stayed broken. There was too much exposure in fixing little things.

Sitting in just a plain, white room was helping him think. No distractions. No jobs. But it also bothered him. It didn't feel safe, just plain. He started to design something better. This area was meant to be a safe place players could do research in, wait for death timers to expire, or play videogames with guildmates and hold meetings. It could be designed as the owner wanted and had no effect on the game. Five minutes later, Milo's area looked different.

Now it was a section of rusty pipe with a six-foot diameter and twenty-feet in length. Both ends were metal walls made of scrap metal, cut to fit and welded to the walls of the pipe. The only way in or out was a small hatch in the floor that was locked tight. Four large screens took up one wall. Milo was sitting on a comfortable couch. An end table with cheese, crackers, and chopped vegetables sat in front of him. He felt secure and comfortable here, with no alarms or blinking lights to distract him, and no worries about someone playing 'Surprise!'

First on his list was some research into the Hollow. Reviews on it were mixed. Many players didn't like the new race, complaining they felt weak and small. Others were having a lot of trouble not tripping on their tails. The biggest complaint was how hard it was to get up to Shadowport. It was a difficult climb doing it on your own. Predators roamed the series of caves on a regular basis and the newly made ratkin were just tasty snacks for them to enjoy. Milo wondered if ratkin tasted like cheese to a redcrested cavefisher?

On the other hand, some players loved the Hollow. The isolation from the rest of the world let them focus on their character and learning about the culture of the ratkin. In many of the other starting areas it was difficult to find trainers and it could be expensive to pay their fees. In Limburger Hollow getting training was not only free and available, it was required. Everyone trained with the Cheese-Master and had to select at least one other trainer. The options were Fighting, Scouting, Healing, Gathering, and Spells. Many of the ratkin players talked about trying to stay in the Hollow until at least tier 2 and there were several threads discussing staying long-term and living there. The discovery of the Deep Rock Engineers, large cave systems, underground World Bosses, and Limburger Hollow was spurring a lot of conversation about what else might be underground. Hints from the developers indicated that the world below might be bigger than the world above. That made sense to Milo and he wondered why it was such a big revelation. Didn't the real world dig deep and build up to increase space? Why should the skin of the world have more than the entire volume under it?

The most interesting thing for Milo was finding out that Limburger Hollow wasn't the only starting place for ratkin players. Several other Hollows in other parts of the world offered options for starting out. Most seemed similar to Limburger Hollow with areas for new players to fight, do quests, and gain skills, but some of them had different Masters to take classes from. Warp-Master and Battle-Master were mentioned by one player, in Stilton Hollow. Pule Hollow was the home of an Illusion-Master. The few players who had been placed there mentioned the large herds of cave-donkeys. Winnemere Hollow was situated in a massive, bat infested cave and boasted a Blast-Master. The first player who had found it hinted that a little chemistry knowledge was helpful. Milo made a note to himself to see where these other Hollows were located and if there were any maps in Limburger Hollow. Maybe he'd go visit them

He learned several things about Limburger Hollow that he hadn't found on his own. The area he had explored was known to be dangerous because of the spiders. Gathering and stealth skills were practiced there, with no fighting. The mines were also a place for gatherers, and an area for neophyte ratkin to practice their fighting skills. The last thread he saw was titled: What's the best way to spend contribution points?

Contribution points?

"So after doing a lot of the little quests, clearing out some nests of spiderlings in the mines, and gathering some mushrooms, I have 15 contribution points. What do people think are the best things to spend them on? I have the Gathering Whelp class, but I'm thinking about taking more of the tail-fighting classes, and learning some weapons. Or maybe doing the sneaky stuff? Where are people spending points?"

"Definitely take the tail-fighting classes. You can gain levels in the skill fighting spiderlings, slimes, and moles but you don't really learn as much just raising the skill with experience as you do in the classes. Especially incorporating dodges and acrobatics into a fighting style. We have a couple of good fighters in our group, and one guy that is insane. It's like he was born with a tail. He's the Master's little pet, of course, but no one is going to challenge him after what happened to the last guy. I'm spending points on Whip-Tail and Slashing-Tail as soon as I can. Having another weapon for free is great."

"I want to learn how to make my own cheese! At high levels it's a potion making skill, and uber-buff food. I'm going to grab Careful Milking, Cheese-Making, and raise up my WIS as fast as I can so I don't have to worry about the side-effects."

"What are you guys talking about? I just started up a new rat character in Pule Hollow and am doing all the donkey quests. Where do I find out about the points?"

"If you are doing quests, you already earned them. Keep doing quests and look for a bulletin board where you eat with lots of notes on it. You can either read the little notes, but it's easiest to use the prompt to open up a screen. Look for the people standing and staring into space."

Milo almost started to log back into his character, wanting to go check his points. Then he remembered where he was and realized that was a bad idea. He'd either waste time taking a nap, or find out he was dead and just be back here immediately. Better just to wait. He logged into his own systems and continued his work designing some specialized gear he was going to need. Things were going to get more complex in the hab. Going to this party thing with Butch would give him an idea of what was going on. Hopefully the swap meet was a good one and they had some good games to play. Four hours went by quickly as he finished his schematics and placed additional orders for some components and circuitry his new plans had incorporated into his designs.

His bank account was slowly dropping. He had stolen a lot of money. But state of the art robotics components and solar panels didn't come cheaply. He should probably look at investing his money, but that left a large paper trail. He had enough for now and was hesitant to expose himself more. He put the thought aside, logged out, and hopped out of his pod. He ordered up a big bowl of mac and cheese from the food processor and prepared to look for problems in Section E.

Uncooked chunks of something hard and dry fell into his bowl, followed by broccoli flavored food cubes, and then a nice gooey topping of something black and stinky. Milo sighed. Job number one was fixing the central food processing unit again. It was hours later that he logged back into GENESIS and opened his eyes.

Not dead! He was actually surprised. Now to look around this room and see what secrets it held. No one hid a room this well if they didn't have secrets.

Larry put his head on his pillows, but he wasn't tired, so Larry told Larry a good night story.

"Once upon a time in Happy Hamster Town, Larry lived with his big brother Justin. Justin was the bestest, strongest, and bravest guard in Hamster Town. Larry couldn't wait until he could be a guard like bestest-biggest-brother Justin. He worked hard at tail fighting and trying to lift Justin's halberd. He was getting stronger everyday, but not from Cheese! Larry just worked hard! One day when Justin was guarding one end of Hamster Town by himself, a big nasty spider tried to get in. Justin went to stop him. Larry wanted to Help! Sneaky guy had special cheese that Larry could have for free! Special cheese would make Larry strong and he could save Hamster Town! But Larry said 'No, you go away Sneaky Guy. Larry won't eat your bad cheese. Larry will help Justin.' Then Larry picked up a halberd and ran to help Justin! They killed the nasty spider!

Larry and Justin were heroes, and Larry lived with Justin forever and everyone was happy. Even Larry was happy. The end."

Chapter 116: Clean Pants!

Something had died.

As Milo woke up, the smell hit him hard. Something rotten and foul was nearby. He eyed the desiccated skeleton, but it was long dead, the few scraps of skin and fur left on it were as dry as paper and the bones yellowed with age. Milo saw the skeletons of a dozen small scavengers nearby, mostly underneath where the skeleton sat. Whatever this person died from hadn't faded, even in death. He went to sit up as the smell became worse, he realized he was the source. All of his clothing besides the Runed Cowl were rotted and stinking and he himself was covered in filth and dried sweat. His mouth was bone dry, and his own breath made him gag. Water from his canteen only helped a little. He couldn't stand to be like this.

He moved to a corner of the room and removed his clothing, and used some of the ancient bedding and his water bottle to scrape off the worst of the sweat and grime. Another blanket he tore to a smaller size and knotted about his waist. This room was large and seemed to have no exits, but one spot on a wall seemed suspiciously bare. He carefully searched for a hidden catch, then again for some other trigger. If the way to open a door was trapped, it made sense there was a way to disarm it. He found a pebble-sized knob of rock high on the rocky wall that could be depressed, and while holding it, pressed the other button. With a click the 'hidden' door opened. He carefully opened the door and entered, hearing the sound of water. The natural chamber beyond was lit by some sort of magical lamp that hung from the ceiling. The soft light was steady with none of the fluctuations that a flame would make. Most of the chamber was taken up by a small pool of water fed by a small waterfall that poured down one side of the room, filling the pool, with the water running down a spillway into another cave.

Milo didn't care if there was something lurking down there, he was taking a bath! He brought the Runed Cowl with him. This wasn't the first time they had taken a bath together. A small depression held what might have been soap long ago. It was enough to help him get clean, along with sand from the bottom of the pool. He scoured himself and the cowl until he didn't smell anything, then carefully dressed in the blanket and cowl, tightening his belt to hold the towel in place. He noticed he had to tighten the belt another notch, as if he was thinner. Looking at his arms and legs, there was a noticeable difference, with his muscles standing out more, and his fur looked...silky? He worried he looked like some stuff toy now.

Stuffed toys still made Milo uneasy. He hadn't understood the concept well when he saw pictures of children with stuffed bears, unicorns, and lions. But he had heard of taxidermy and jumped to an unfortunate conclusion. Sometimes when they were small, one of their keepers would put on a children's show for them, when it was time for them to sleep for a couple of hours. Milo had watched something called Muppets on more than one occasion. Seeing a 6-year-old girl in a photograph holding a stuffed Elmo had terrified him. But he grew suspicious when a search showed hundreds of them for sale. After discarding the idea that someone was breeding Elmo's to turn into stuffed toys as not cost effective, he figured out how they produced teddy bears and rap-with-me-Elmo's. Everyone but Nina had laughed at him. She had been equally horrified.

The next cavern proved to be a mushroom farm, overgrown with large crops of nearly every poisonous mushroom on Milo's list. The water spread to keep the soil in the cavern moist before the excess drained down a small hole in the wall, covered with a rusting grate. Near the entrance Milo saw a number of sacks in good condition, along with rusted gathering tools. He left them for now. There was no reason to harvest anything if he had no way out of here.

Walking back through the short tunnel he examined the wall carefully, and was rewarded with two more secret doors. Whoever had built this place had liked his secrets. He left them for now, and went back to the first room, put his old clothes on the remains of the bedding, wrapped it all up and then dumped the foul-smelling bundle of clothes into a hole in the soft dirt of the mushroom cave, burying them, and hopefully their smell.

He took the old blanket back with him and laid it on the ground, gathering up the bones of the withered skeleton carefully, using some of the tools he found in the mushroom cave. He had no idea if it was still toxic, but he was playing it safe. The bones were brittle and pitted, falling apart and turning to powder. The tunic the corpse had been wearing fell to pieces, dropping the the broken rib bones in a pile.

The pants however, were in suspiciously good condition. Milo held them with tongs and shook them out over the blanket. Dust and dirt seemed to fall off of them. A desiccated leather pouch burst, scattering gold coins and a dozen small rubies on the ground, along with an ornate ring. Milo set the contents of the pouch aside, tossed the pants aside, and carefully wrapped up the old bones. He found a corner of the mushroom cave and dug a small grave, mounding the dirt over it. There wasn't much else to do, or words to say.

Another hole was dug, and bodies of the dead vermin were buried as well. Having cleaned up the room as much as he could and disposed of possibly toxic corpses, he started carefully examining the room. One end was dedicated to some sort of alchemy. Dried bottles of ingredients with faded labels were everywhere. A rack on the side held potion bottles, some of which were dry, but a dozen blue and red fizzy potions remained. They identified as Overcharged Mana Potion, full potency. and Vigorous Healing Potion, full potency. All of the potions had notes written on them detailing how many weeks it would take for them to mature and be useful. The tags were barely readable. Those would be going with him.

There were a series of journals, but written in a language and alphabet Milo didn't know. They probably were in code as well. That's how he would have done it. The thin, cramped handwriting was hard to read, as if the author wanted to put down as much on each page as possible. He could probably figure out the journals given enough time, and some hints at the alphabet or language. It would be a fun side project. He put those with the potions. The other dozen books were dedicated to either mycology, poison and how to cure it, and the anatomy of spiders. All good reading material.

He turned his attention to the large book on the table. It wasn't written in code, but was extremely complicated. The pages were heavy, made of thick parchment with roughly trimmed edges. They still turned easily and the heavy book seemed to be in good shape. Other people had added comments and notes in the margins, often filling up any available space. A popular book with many people owning it over the years. Turning to the index, he saw a list of chapter headings:

Chapter 1: Czardian measuring systems and how to translate to standard magical terminology

Chapter 2: Milking Froxbeetles for their venom, and how to remove Froxbeetle larvae from your lower intestine if you get bit

Chapter 3: Making Royal Jelly from Wasp berries.

Chapter 4: Creating the correct compost for growing the elusive Golden Puffball mushroom and the deadly Red Spotted Eye-Rot mushroom

Chapter 5: Lesser Elixir Vitae: A sovereign cure for all poisons and toxins.

Chapter 6: Creating a potent Spider-bane poison from Red Spotted Eye-Rot. (Read Chapter 5 first!)

The front of the book had a confusing title: Woodchucks and Beavers of the Smoke lands by Damien Franklin

He shrugged. If it was your book, you could call it what you wanted. He wondered what chapter the beavers were in. He didn't have time to read it now though. He summoned his Smugglers Stash and loaded potions, books, gems and gold into in. He looked at ring and the pants. Maybe if he washed the pants, that would take care of any remaining toxins. He really didn't want to show up to fight practice wearing a blanket. He examined the pants, suspicious about how clean they were.

Cleansing Pantaloons of the Agile Skulker

+2 to Agility

+ 1 rank to Skulking

Self-Cleaning and Self-Repairing. One size fits all.

These would do! He rinsed them off in the pool, watching the water run off the black pants, leaving them immediately dry. He put them on, amazed at how comfortable they felt. He rinsed the ring, scrubbing it with soap. It was a signet ring of some sort, but with a low profile that could be worn on the inside of his hand to obscure it. He tried to identify it, but it seemed like the ring was fighting him. He suddenly had the intense feeling of danger and being watched. He turned around quickly, and then again, feeling as if someone was looking at him. Then, as if the unseen watcher had made a decision, the feeling went away. Glancing at the ring, he had no trouble identifying it.

Signet Ring of the Scout Master

+10% to avoid blows you are aware of.

+3 Ranks to Sense Danger skills.

Storage area 1: 12 Potions

Storage area 2: 50 arrows, spears, javelins, shuriken or other ammunition

Storage area 3: Up to 10 pounds of clothing

Storage area 4: Up to two gathering bags

Would you like to claim this item and attune to it? (Y/N)

Milo had heard of Scout Masters. They were the people that taught scouting to young whelps and how to always be prepared, weren't they? And there had been the note in the forums about one of the Hollows having a Scout Master. With a ring like this, he could see how they were always prepared.

He put the ring on his finger as clicked 'yes' on his screen. Immediately he became aware of a large amount of dirty clothes, some jewelry, 12 empty potion bottles, and two empty gathering bags.

Concentrating on the bags, he watched as they appeared in front of him. Each bag was the size of a small backpack and looked like a simple cloth bag with a drawstring.

Master Gathering Bag

Weight: 1 pound

Capacity: 100 pounds of material. Limit of 1 cubic yard.

These would hold a lot of mushrooms! He should only take a little for now though, as he still didn't know where the other tunnel went. There was no sense wasting them. He quickly picked one each of the poisonous varieties, and a dozen of the Rot-Eye and put them in one sack. Likewise, he took one of each cooking mushroom, and a dozen of the Golden Puffballs. There were several beds each of the Rot-Eye and Puffballs. He tied up the bags, and with a thought they disappeared.

He felt good! He was clean, had new pants, and could complete his mission. He just had to find a way home. Never Lost was giving him an idea of where he was, so hopefully he could figure a way through the caves and back to the Hollow, instead of into Spider Territory. Time to go explore!

Status Update:

Skill: Claws of Alta-Viator has improved to Rank 6

Skill: Dodge has improved to Rank 7

Skill: Fleet of Foot has improved to Rank 6

Skill: Strong Poison Resistance has improved to Rank 6

You have used a Tier 6 Elixir to purge poisons, toxins, impurities, parasites, and mutagenic symbiotic slimes from your system

-You have lost the Skill: Pudding Based Regeneration

-Bone density affected by damage from mutagenic symbiotic slime has been restored. Gain +1 TOU. Your TOU is now (10)

-Perk: Pretty Good Regeneration has been increased to Perk: Strong Regeneration

-You have gained +2 CHA because of your soft, shiny fur. Your CHA is now (2).

You have gained +5 Core Skill Points

Several Hours ago...

Milo tossed and turned in a state of delirium as the potion tried to cure him and the poison tried to kill him. At one point he choked, and then vomited forth a large blob of white ooze.

Dejected and hurt, Ooblipimilo gathered himself together until he appeared as a 12-inch high version of his ex-host made of pale jelly.

He wobbled along with each step, determined to master the art of walking. He had plans! He would be back! He'd grow in power and return to show his host just how much they needed each other. Or maybe he'd just eat him.

Ooblipimilo made it to the pool room, but an errant step from a wobbly leg sent him tumbling into the pool. From there he was swept into the mushroom cave, and down to the drain. He got stuck for a while on the grate, but was eventually pushed through. He tumbled into darkness thinking: "I'll be Back!"

Chapter 117: Tunnels and Traps

This was an old tunnel, and unused for a long time. Milo had a lot of experience moving through dusty ductwork and unused corridors. Dust would settle slowly based on air movement. Small spiderwebs picked up dust as well. Milo estimated at least one decade since anyone had been here, and probably more like 30 to 40 years, which matched the level of decay of the corpse, whoever he had been.

The floor was very smooth, but the sides and roof showed the mark of the picks that had been used to carve through the stone. They had used good picks. A pick made out of low tier materials like iron or steel would slowly chip away at this stone. The walls showed markings where the picks had gone deep into the stone, breaking off larger pieces. Dark steel or maybe something a little better. His own pick was superior to what had cut these tunnels, but not by much.

He slowly padded forward, careful to check for traps. Patience and perception paid off. Twice he found tripwires near the floor. Three times he found pressure plates hidden in the floor. Looking at the patterns the picks had made helped him find them. The patterns on the walls where the traps mechanisms had been hidden were slightly off. You'd need to have a lot of experience mining and a good eye. Milo had both.

Of course, that meant he missed one as the tunnel came down to a T. Stepping over a tripwire, he felt the slight give in the floor and heard a soft 'click'. Instantly he jumped without knowing why, avoiding a razor-edged blade that swung out from the wall. He grabbed the walls, and moved back to safety before disabling the traps and moving forward even slower that before. He reached the T, and pondered which way to go. He felt that the left tunnel would take him towards the barracks and mining area, while the right would head in the direction of the marketplace. He chose left and began his slow advance.

The left tunnel had even more dust in it, but thankfully less traps. It led to a small room with a hidden door in the far wall. This door was very small, just enough for someone his size to crawl through. The room itself was only a dozen feet in either direction and had probably been a small cave that was expanded. Stone benches lined two walls, and a series of hooks were set in wall. Several old cloaks and tunics hung from them, dry and brittle with age.

Milo was suddenly famished and weak. His stomach felt empty. He dug quickly into his pack for bread and dried fruit. He felt silly, of course he was starving! He had lain on his cot, sick, sweating out whatever poison had been in his system. He was surprised he was only needing food just now. Probably how bad he had smelled had killed any need for food. He slowly munched his food, and looked at his notifications. He was overjoyed to see that his little pudding stowaway was gone. Any gratitude he had for it for helping him escape from the airship was countered by nearly having his bones dissolved. It was like having a timebomb living inside of him. Good riddance. And better - getting rid of it has raised his toughness and regeneration, so he was better than he had been.

Better in several ways, in fact, with his skills going up. He wasn't sure how he felt about his upgrade to his looks. Probably no one would notice. He was happy to see his skills were going up, and he'd even gained 5 core skill points. It almost made waking up stinky worth it. Almost, but not quite.

He took a better look at what was in the ring. Several black and grey cloaks, black tunics, dark leather belts, soft black slippers, all in need of a wash. There was also a cute pair of pink slippers that looked like weasels, complete with whiskers. They were even magical.

Adorable Baby Weasel Slippers

One Size Fits All: Feet getting bigger as you grow up? No worries! These expand to fit even the largest of feet!

Nigh Invulnerable! Hard to damage, won't wear out. If something can hurt these slippers, you probably don't have feet anymore!

Weasels are on the job: 50% of the time you would trip and fall, you don't! Trust the weasels!

Handy for running away from spiders, but Milo wasn't sure about the color. He put them back in the ring and pulled out the jewelry. All of it looked valuable, but didn't seem magical when he used his Identify skill, until he came to the last ring. This one was a delicate ring of bright silver with a pattern of leaves carved into the ring. On the inside of the ring was a series of runes that Milo didn't know. He memorized them the best he could, and copied them to his journal.

Fae Ring of the Dance

Those mortals which accept this ring and pay it's price will gain great boons from the Fae who crafted it long ago.

-The skill: Dancing is granted to the mortal who wears this ring. This is a permanent gain after 1 hour of dancing.

-On a day when the owner had danced for at least one hour, that mortal will gain the perk: Grace of the Fae (+4 agility)

-If a day passes without dancing, not only will the mortal lose Grace of the Fae, but will be cursed with clumsiness, reducing their agility to 0 for 3 days. Only by dancing each of those days will the curse be removed.

The ring may not be removed unless its owner has danced for seven days in a row, and clicks their heels three times saying "Last Dance...Last Dance...Last Dance...".

The ring was interesting, to say the least. Milo was hazy on what a Fae was, but they made neat rings. He put it back into the storage ring. He didn't have time to stop and dance for an hour. Refreshed, he took a look at the small exit. It was actually a short tunnel, only two feet long, with a hidden door and a way to peek out. Peering into the area beyond, Milo saw a round cave with an assortment of pillows and a bed of rags. On a small shelf was a child's drawing of a guard next to someone smaller. The large mound of rags shifted...

Larry had been sleeping, when his large ears heard something nearby.

Was it a spider? No, Larry only heard the pitter-pat of two feet. Spiders had more than two.

Was it Sneaky Guy? No, he didn't come visit Larry anymore, and he smelled of sweat and cheese and mushrooms.

Was it Justin?! No, it didn't smell like Justin. It smelled like someone very clean, with just a little bit of oil and bone.

Was it Tallsqueak? Had Tallsqueak come to visit Larry at Larry's house?

Someone knocked at Larry's door to Larry's house that Larry hadn't known was there. "Can Tallsqueak come in?"

Larry bounced up and down excitedly, only falling once! "YES! Tallsqueak can come in!

A little door in the rock opened. A secret door! Tallsqueak came through the door, but he looked different. And he smelled clean! Larry ran and picked up his friend before Tallsqueak could stand up.

"Shiny Fur! Tallsqueak has Shiny Fur! It's so fluffy and shiny! So fluffy!" It was a long time before Milo could convince Larry to set him down and quit petting him.

Chapter 118: A visit to Larry's House

It took a few minutes for an excited Larry to calm down. Milo finally diverted his attention by asking him about his house, and Larry sat him down on a pillow and gave his head one last pat. Larry sat on his bed, happy to show off his house.

"This is Larry's special house. No one else lives alone except for Larry. That makes this house special! Larry has three pillows, his comfy bed, and his picture of Justin. Larry has some pet bugs and his lucky rock here too! It's a long crawl to get out of Larry's house, but Larry likes it that way.

Milo agreed with him. "I like Larry's House. I had a house like this when I was growing up. I had to go down a long tunnel that no one else could fit through, with a cozy spot at the end. Now I have a bigger house, but I still crawl through tunnels to get there. No one else goes there, just me. It's safe and cozy and I like it that way."

Larry looked at him oddly, slowly thinking. "Did people make you live alone like they did Larry? Larry used to have more friends, but now it's only Larry. Sometimes Justin. Sometimes Tallsqueak."

Larry suddenly got very excited and jumped up and down until he fell over. "Larry has two friends! Larry has two friends."

Seeing Larry fall over reminded Milo of the slippers he had found. As soon as he pulled out the pink weasel slippers, Larry got even more excited. "For Larry? Present for Larry?" He could barely sit still as Milo tried to stretch them over his feet. Somehow, they fit with room to spare and Larry jumped and began dancing around the little cave. "Special Hamster Hop slippers!" Larry managed to do the Happy Hamster Hop without falling over until the very end.

That gave Milo another idea. He really didn't want to have to spend an hour a day dancing around. But Larry might. "I have another special thing, Larry. But to make the magic work, you have to Hamster Hop each day for a full bell."

"Larry can do that. Larry did the Happy Hamster Hop yesterday for three bells!"

Milo took out the Fae Ring of Dancing and put it on Larry's finger, watching it expand to fit.

Larry's eyes got huge. "Blue Box? Larry got a Blue Box! See! See!"

You have accepted the Fae Ring of Dancing

You have gained the skill: Dancing

Well, what are you waiting for, twinkletoes? Show everyone what you can do!

Larry jumped up and began Hamster Hopping. "Larry can Dance!" Milo could see the difference in Larry already. He hoped that the bonus agility would help his friend even more.

Two bells rang out, one after another. Milo stood up quickly. It was almost time for fighting class! "Larry, you need to dance until three bells, can you do that!"

Larry hopped twice, and took a step to the left. He nodded. "Larry will do that, then Larry will go eat and find Tall-Squeak. Tall-Squeak needs to scurry fast. Go to end of Larry's tunnel and go to your right side and follow wall until you see the Barracks." Milo hurried off as Larry continued his dancing. It took several minutes to get to the end of the twisting tunnel Larry lived in, but eventually he was back in the Hollow and found his way to the Barracks and the Fighting arena.

Players and whelps from the Hollow were already gathering. Some of the players were excited, but several of them, including Black Whisker, seemed sullen and angry. Milo set down his pack and began to do the stretching that the Tailmaster had shown them. Blackwhisker and his group walked over

"So, teacher's pet. We were thinking we don't want to do all these warm up exercises."

Milo shrugged. "Then don't do them. I don't care if you stay clumsy and die when you try to fight monsters."

That wasn't the expected response. "You don't care? What sort of teacher are you if you don't care?"

Milo stood up. Why were these people wasting time? "No, I don't care. Why should I care about you, if you don't care about you? Either get better or don't. Now please leave the arena so I can begin warm ups."

Blackwhisker grinned. "And if we don't move? What then?"

Milo walked around him and clapped several times the way the Tailmaster did. "Then you stand there looking silly." The rest of the class began to do the exercises with Milo. Eventually after standing around for a minute, Blackwhisker and the others moved to the back and began to do them as well, but putting in minimal effort. Milo didn't feel as tired as he had yesterday. As the third bell rang, he simply felt refreshed, even though all the others were covered in sweat.

Gilad came into the ring, walking slowly. He looked at Milo. "You saunter into my arena with stylish new pantaloons and shiny fur that you groomed for hours? Did you think that would impress me?"

Milo was sure he was missing something, but he answered the question. "My other pants were stinky, and these aren't. And I was stinky so I took a bath. I can't help it if my fur is shiny." From the crowd of whelps came snickers and chuckles. A voice from the back yelled, "Teacher's pet has stinky pants. I wonder how that happened."

Gilad felt he was missing some important piece of information. Still, it was obvious that Tall-Squeak had not been working as hard as he worked the others. He wasn't even sweating yet. He would rectify that. "Today we will start with light sparring. Pick a partner and surround the ring, practicing your tail patterns and dodges. No claws. Tallsqueak, I have a special assignment for you. I want you to spar and not strike with claws. Fight how you like, but do not strike with your claws."

Milo nodded his head and moved to the center of the room, wondering who he was going to fight. Gilad pointed to where Blackwhisker and MickyD were sparring next to ThiefofCheese and MightyMarmot. "You four, come here. You will fight Tall-Squeak. You may use claws and tails to attack. I have healing potions for after the fight, so don't worry about hurting your opponent. Leave the ring if you are hurt, or yell out for the bout to end. Begin."

The four players looked at each other, and Marmot asked the others, "All at once?"

ThiefofCheese was on Milo's far left. As soon as Milo heard 'Begin' he sprinted at him, leaped and spun, his tail slashing hard against the surprised opponents face. Blood was drawn, and as ThiefofCheese moved backwards a step, Milo followed up with a brutal kick to his stomach, then spun again and struck with his tail against the player's head. The stunned player just rolled for the edge of the ring and curled into a ball. Milo quickly backpedaled, putting distance between himself and the remaining three opponents. They were cautious now, and working together, he wouldn't get another easy victory like that one.

Larry danced. He fell over some, but not as much as he did before. He danced the Happy Hamster Hop over and over and over and over. A little while after he heard third bell ring, Larry got another Blue Box. Two Blue Boxes in one day!

You have fulfilled your pact with the Fae Lady, Rhapsody, for a day. She grants you these boons:

You have learned to dance. This is a permanent boon that will never leave you.

You have been gifted with Fae Grace, increasing your agility by +4, and raising your agility to (4). Celebrate by dancing each day to remain graceful and agile.

Unseen and unheard by Larry, a very small door appeared in his house. The smallest of fairies stepped through, and flew up to sit on a ledge next to a picture. She clapped and laughed as the newest dancer capered back and forth across the floor. She watched until the dance was over, and then flew back to her home in Underhill to show the others the new dance she had learned.

Larry has learned to dance better! Dancing is now at rank 2!

Larry is more agile! Larry has raised his agility to rank 1! Total agility is now at (5).

Good job, Larry!

Larry sat down to rest when he saw the new Blue Box. He was tired for the first time in a long, long time. Dancing without falling over was nice!

As he slowly read the message, he got happier and happier. Larry had got better! He needed to go tell Justin. And Tallsqueak. And Bleusnout!

Thinking of the chef reminded him that it was 'Little Fishies for Breakfast Day'. He scampered down his long tunnel get breakfast.

Chapter 119: Three on One

This wasn't a fight to first blood. They would keep fighting until one side or another yielded. Gilad urged them on, yelling at them to keep moving, not letting either side pause to catch their breath. The three players were only in the first tier. They had stats only half of what Milo had. He was faster and better trained than they were. But they had numbers, and could use their claws. Milo had to keep moving continuously. If one of them pinned him down, the others would pile on that would be the end of the fight. Milo also wanted to avoid the bruises that would come from getting tackled and beaten by all three at once.

Milo swiped with his tail whenever he got the chance, tripping his opponents and making them trip over each other. He constantly moved so they got in each other's way. His opponents had forgotten about their own tails and simply tried to claw at him or grapple. This gave him reach they didn't have. Again and again, he would slash at them with his tail after a half spin, and then retreat a few steps, circling the ring and making them chase him, only to suddenly double back and strike again.

Milo saw no reason he couldn't use his arms to block their attacks. The rule he was given was that he simply couldn't strike back with his claws. Blocks weren't strikes. Again, and again the three of them came close, leaving scratches on Milo's hands and arms. He took several swipes to his body, but they only had weak claws, and the cuts were shallow.

Eventually, he knew he would wear out, from loss of blood and stamina. He was putting out a lot more energy that his opponents. Of course, he started with far more than they did. Even so, where they could jog after him, spreading out to try and pin him one part of the arena, he had to be constantly sprinting.

But a curious thing was happening-he wasn't getting tired. His heart rate was a little faster and he was breathing hard, but he was barely sweating. His opponents were far worse. Their steps dragged on the ground, and more and more Gilad was yelling at them to push themselves, his voice pushing them to charge Milo. Once he knew he had an advantage, Milo waited for the opportunity to take one of them out.

Blackwhisker volunteered to be his next victim. Gilad's voice cut through the noise of the fight. "Why do you fear him, Blackwhisker? I've heard your boasts and now is your chance." The larger ratkin charged Milo, the other two were slow to do so, panting hard. As Blackwhisker came at him, Milo feinted with his claws, sidestepped, and wrapped his tail around Blackwhisker's ankles. As the player hit the ground face-first, Milo leaped and landed with both feet on Blackwhisker's head, driving it into the ground. Milo tumbled forward, coming to his feet as the other two advanced.

MickyD and MightyMarmot were exhausted. The bout had only been going on for a dozen minutes, but for them it felt like an all-out sprint. Each of them had bruises where Milo's tail had slapped at each of them repeatedly. They looked at their opponent, knowing that Blackwhisker was out of the fight. Tall-Squeak was barely breathing hard, and to their surprise, the small gashes on his arms were healing. He was favoring one leg as he moved, but otherwise looked ready to continue.

Marmot stumbled to the edge of the arena and collapsed. "I yield".

MickyD just slumped to his knees. "Yeah, me too. Yield. Damned if I fight you again. You're psycho dude, how do you fight like that?"

Gilad walked to the center of the ring. "He can fight like that because he's trained more and has a higher level. You three are a mix of level 3 and level 4. Tallsqueak is level 7 and probably has twice the health and stamina of the rest of you. I don't know all of his skills, but it's obvious to anyone that he has trained his Sense Danger skill and raised his Regeneration. These are things all ratkin can do. If that is, you work hard, and take on dangerous quests, or kill dangerous creatures."

"And fighting dangerous creatures changes you in another way: You learn to push yourself! You could have ended this fight earlier if you had given it your all, endured his attacks and pushed through them. Four on one and you lose? I see much training in your futures if you wish to become strong."

He held up one of Milo's arms. "Look at him, barely wounded after blocking dozens of slashes and taking many small wounds." He squinted at Milo, noticing his suspiciously clean pants and still shiny fur. "And I'm sure he has a few other secrets, but don't we all? Let's get some healing potions into you four. You should see some good improvement in your claw attacks after this. The rest of you, switch partners, and do your claw exercises. Tall-Squeak, we must talk."

His four opponents were each given two small healing potions and a stamina potion, and sent to rest. Gilad led Milo away to where they could talk. "You seem to be favoring one leg. Are you wounded?"

Milo touched his leg, finding the sore spot, and realizing he had been limping slightly. "Not from the fight. This is an earlier wound. I went mushroom gathering and got stung by a spider."

Gilad rapped him on the head twice, but lightly. "No, you did not get 'Stung by a spider'. You were bitten."

"It is important to use the correct words less others misunderstand you. Spiders inject poison with their fangs. You must have found a named spiderling in the caverns for it to affect you that way. The only spiders who have stings are from the Royal line, and they certainly do not hunt in the area where we train beginners in gathering. If you had gone far enough past our fields and into the far tunnels, you might encounter a Royal. But you would also be dead. They are fearsome foes." He looked at Milo, waiting for him to confirm his understanding of the lesson.

Milo thought back to the fight. "No, I'm certain it was a stinger that got me. I had wounded the Deathmonger and it retreated, so I left the Brute behind and went to finish it. The Deathmonger dropped on me and stung me in the leg, it was really painful, and the poison almost got me. But I'm better now."

Gilad stared at him. "Tallsqueak? Why were you foolish enough to go to the far caverns? A Brute and a Deathmonger together is a deadly combination of spell casting and fighting ability."

"Well, I needed to get some mushrooms for Bleusnout, he had a list, and sent me past the big gathering fields. He also said to run if I saw a spider. And Old Healer needed some mushrooms too, and mentioned a cave it would be bad to go into. And... well...I think I went too far and didn't run when I should have. It was my fault I got in trouble."

The tail-master considered the youngster in front of him. How could he tell all the others to push themselves and work to get better, and then chastise this one for doing exactly that? Surviving the poison had obviously given him the ability of better regeneration and cleansed his body.

"You survived and didn't die. That is important. Did you learn a lesson about trying to fight spiders of the Royal bloodlines?"

Milo considered. What had he learned? "Drop on them so they can't drop on you. Kill the Deathmongers first. And always have an escape route."

Gilad patted him on the shoulder. "Yes, all good things to do. I'm glad you have learned something. You've had an exciting day. Go get some food in you, you look thinner." Milo nodded, he was famished after the fight and it was breakfast time.

He was a dozen steps away when Gilad said something else. "We shall have to deal with them though. I will gather Justin and some of the guards, and you can lead us to them. We cannot leave a pair of Royals alive, so close to the Hollow."

Milo turned back to talk. "Oh, I got them all. It was hard, but all three of the big ones are dead. It really upset the rest of the spiders though."

Gilad looked at Tall-Squeak. "Three? You killed three Royal spiders?"

Milo nodded. "The ones with the stingers, yes. One was an Assassin, and two others were Black Widows."

Gilad sighed heavily. "Of course, you did." He waved Milo away. "Go get food, Tall-Squeak. Try not to do anything dangerous at breakfast."

Milo ran off to eat. Maybe it was little fishies day?

Chapter 120: Cookies for Heroes

It was indeed little fishies day. Each of the little blind cave trout were half a foot long and they had been fried in oil with spices, butter and chopped onions slathered inside of them. Bleusnout took one look at Milo's bruised and battered body and scooped him up a double helping of fried trout, vegetables, and half a loaf of fresh bread. He motioned Milo sit at a table nearby and took the food to him.

"You look like you took on an army all by yourself, and you're famished. Eat this and you'll feel much better. Was Gilad putting your through one of his challenges?"

Milo ate half of a fish in one bite and then tore off a chunk of bread, tossing it into his mouth without pausing. He managed to mumbled some words before his next bite. "Just four at once, but I'm sure Gilad will find an army next time."

"Yes, I'm sure he will. If you pass one of his challenges, he simply finds a bigger challenge. But on the bright side, that means he sees something in your worth training." The chef paused and then asked. "I know it's only been a day, but were you able to find any of the mushrooms I need?"

Milo started to talk, but his mouth was overstuffed with food.

Bleusnout laughed. "My apologies, you are hungry. Eat, and when you are done we will talk about your expedition." The chef walked away, and Milo did just that. He ate until nothing was left, and then sat back, watching the other ratkin go in and out of the huge mess hall. Most of the Hollow ate here everyday. If you had nothing else to do, you could stay here and meet nearly everyone. Several hundred ratkin lived here in the village. He'd learned that many caves branched out from the large central areas and served as homes for families and clans. Limburger was a well established Hollow, with a history, and some old secrets. Milo liked figuring out the secrets. Which reminded him about the ring, the gathering bags, and the mushrooms he'd been sent to find.

There were several large mixing bowls on the table next to Milo, freshly cleaned from the morning cooking. He took two of them, and turned his body so no one could see him pull a gathering sack from his ring. He transferred all of the mushrooms from the bag with edible fungus into the two bowls. He finished emptying the bag, and put it back into his ring. Bleusnout was walking back over to him, holding a small pastry. "Finished up with lunch? Good, I have a surprise for..."? Bleusnout stopped talking, staring at the bowls of mushrooms on the table.

Milo could smell the delicious smell of cheese coming from the pastry. "For me?" Milo took it and began nibbling the tasty pastry a little at a time.

The distracted chef looked down at the pastry. "Oh, yes. This is a Cheese Danish. It turned out well, I think. But, Golden Puffballs? Where did you find Golden Puffballs? These are notoriously hard to grow. Special soil and climate are needed! They are so delicious! I'll make a special meal of these tomorrow! And you'll find some extra contribution points when you check the board next." He patted Milo on the head, still staring at the mushrooms. Then picked up the two bowls and began yelling. "Riftkin! Smiley! I'll be downstairs. Finish up the meal."

Milo walked over to where a harried Riftkin was trying to fry up more fishies while Smiley served people. Milo pointed to Larry's bowl, and Smiley gave him a big thumbs up. "I'll have it ready for you as soon as he shows up. Thanks for handling him. He doesn't know me well, and Rift is really nervous around Larry." Milo shrugged. How could anyone be nervous around Larry?

It didn't take long for Larry to show up. He came skipping and hopping, dancing to some inner music. The ratkin that saw him stopped to stare. Milo met him on the porch and they sat eating their lunch, (Milo's second lunch, he was still starving). No one had objected to him grabbing a double bowl to eat along with Larry.

Larry was excited, and was telling Milo a story when Milo saw a board in the roof above the porch flex slightly. He got up silently and went into the mess hall and out another door. Larry was at the best part where Justin and Larry had to fight all the bad sneaky guys and he didn't even notice that Milo was gone. It was easy to climb up to the slightly slanted roof. Milo began to skulk across it, keeping as low as he could and concentrating on not being noticed. As he had suspected, someone who wanted to play a game of surprise was on top of the roof. Two someones, even. Milo snuck up slowly behind them, then yelled "surprise!" and pushed both of them off of the roof. They twisted in the air and landed on their feet. After taking a moment to glare at the smiling Tallsqueak on the roof, they realized how close they were Larry. Larry looked up and saw them before they could skulk away.

Larry was just telling Milo about how the sneaky bad guys ambushed Larry and Justin, when two sneaky bad guys landed in front of him. There was always a thin wall between reality and fiction for Larry. That wall crumbled and Larry knew what he had to do to save Hamster Town. As far away as the market, people heard his roar.

"HEY HEY! HO HO! Sneaky Badguys got to GO!"

Two first year ratkin shadow skulkers suddenly found themselves in front of an enraged Cheese Fiend! They made the immediate decision to run. Larry ran after them, and to their horror he was much faster than they expected and didn't fall over. Those ratkin who were in the marketplace that day were treated to the sight of two shrieking shadow skulkers running as fast as they could, with Larry in close pursuit, clad in his pink weasel slippers. Milo was three steps behind Larry, not knowing what his huge friend would do if he caught them.

The little parade ran through the marketplace three times, with the harried ratkin unable to evade Larry, and Milo unable to calm him down. Finally, a second decision was made and they ran inside a large house at the end of the market and shut the stout wooden door. Larry dug in his heels and stopped, just before running into the door. Milo suspected Larry could have gone straight through the door if he wanted to. Instead, Larry banged on the door three times. "Can Larry come in?" No one answered.

Larry turned to Milo, a frown on his face. "Badguys don't know how to play 'knock, knock, knock'!"

Milo began clapping. "You did it Larry. You saved Hamster town again."

More clapping came from nearby. "Indeed. That was very good rescuing. Can I offer either of you two heroes a cool glass of fruit juice and some cookies? I was just taking my lunch." The Old Healer was sitting at a table nearby, a pitcher and a plate of cookies in front of him."

Larry nodded in approval. Heroes needed cookies to keep up their strength for doing Hero things. He sat down on the ground and waited patiently. Milo got him a cookie and a glass of fruit juice, and the same for himself. The old ratkin waited for them to serve themselves, and then spoke. "That was exciting to watch, and this is probably the best outcome that one could hope for. But I'm curious about the start of the adventure."

Milo felt slightly embarrassed. "It was my fault. I may have surprised them while they were on the roof and knocked them off when Larry was at an important part of the story."

Larry nodded seriously. "Best part of the story. Larry can have another cookie?" Old Healer handed the plate to Larry. "You may have all of the rest. I'm sure Tallsqueak and myself aren't hungry, and my grand-daughter is late for lunch."

As he passed the plate of cookies to Larry, Old Healer noticed Larry's feet. "My, those are very pretty slippers. Did you find those somewhere Larry?"

Larry shook his head no, and stuffed two cookies into his mouth. When he had swallowed them down, he smiled broadly. "No, Larry not find. Good friend gave to Larry to help him dance better. And Larry has magic dancing ring too! Larry is a very good dancer. All of Larry's new friends say so."

The old ratkin was thoughtful for a moment. He had wondered how Larry had chased his students and nearly caught them. "That is good Larry. Very good. And clever of your new friend." He spoke more softly to Milo. "I've often wondered about finding new skills for Larry to do in the hopes that it helps him reverse some changes. Can you please keep an eye on Larry? Gifts from the Fae can be tricky, but I'm happy to see that he can actually learn new skills. Bleusnout has had him trying to juggle rocks for a year, but it hasn't helped."

Milo thought about that too. "Maybe it needs to be something he really wants to do? He loves doing the Happy Hamster Hop and has been dancing all morning. The ring helped him gain the skill permanently."

Old Healer considered his next words. "If it is similar to another ring I once saw, it has benefits as well as drawbacks. The slippers simply have the drawback of having to walk around in pink weasel slippers. But I don't see that as a problem for Larry. If anything, it softens his appearance to the people nervous to be around him. Gifts from a friend under another hill are always tricky, but I think there is little harm to Larry in this case.

Milo looked at the old ratkin. He seemed quite observant, and Milo suspected he recognized Larry's slippers and ring. He didn't regret giving Larry his presents. Larry needed every bit of help he could get. But pink weasel slippers were very unique. Milo didn't want to cause trouble for Larry. He grew very serious and asked, "Will you promise to keep a secret?"

The old one nodded, just as seriously. "I enjoy keeping secrets and will not divulge anything you don't want to be known. If you have a good secret, I might even share one of my own with you."

That was good enough to Milo.

"There is a secret tunnel that goes from a cave guarded by the spiders to an area full of mushrooms. The other end of the tunnel goes to Larry's house. But if someone disturbed him while he was sleeping, it could be very bad, and make Larry feel sad." Old Healer looked to where Larry was eating cookies with four-inch talons attached to huge, muscular hands and arms. "Ah, I see your point. Yes, we don't want anyone disturbing Larry."

Milo looked at where Larry was happily eating cookies. "And I don't want anyone taking away Larry's presents. He needs them."

Old Healer stared at Tallsqueak for a full minute. The younger ratkin across from him was very serious about this. He had claimed Larry as a friend and was protecting him. Old Healer approved. If only all the young ones in the Hollow could grow up this way. He'd have to make sure his entire clan understood that Larry was off limits. No games of surprise. No stealing. This was best for the clan as well. An angry Cheese Fiend was a force of nature.

"Do not worry. Long lost treasure belongs to whoever finds it. No one will steal from Larry. Or from you, for that matter." He indicated Milo's pants.

Milo smiled. "Good, these are great pants! They stayed clean all through the fight and are very comfortable."

"So then, now that we've had our cookies and discussed secrets, you say you found mushrooms for me?"

A Gatherer's sack appeared on the table. Old Healer laughed. "Ah, well that answers that question. I was wondering what else you might have found. I have one of those too." The bag disappeared and in its place was an empty Gatherer's bag of a different color. Old Healer showed Milo his hand, where he wore a duplicate of Milo's new ring on his own finger. "Now you know one of my secrets as well, and we can keep each other's secrets. Shared secrets can build trust between friends."

Milo nodded. That was fair. He wondered how many of those rings were in the Hollow. They were very useful.

Larry stood up.

"Larry wants to go dance some more, but Tallsqueak is having fun talking with funny old rat. Larry will take cookies to Larry's house to share with friends." The happy Cheese Fiend wandered back through the marketplace, people scurrying to get out of his way.

It had been a good day for Larry; Presents, new friends, dancing, cookies, and being a hero. When he got back to his house, Larry told Larry the story of the best day ever many times, so that Larry would remember it when he had a bad day. Not all days were good days, and stories helped.

Chapter 121: Clan Secrets

Old Healer had long ago cultivated patience to a point where there was little left that surprised him. A rampaging Cheese Fiend pursuing two of his first-year students through the marketplace made him realize that there was still a lot in this world he had yet to experience. He was grateful that Larry had enough control not to crash straight through the door. Bleusnout was doing a masterful job of helping the poor whelp recover from his overdose. Now there was a patient old rat!

He was also happy to see how polite Larry was. He had certainly earned his cookies. Out in the world, things were more hazardous, and having to run from an enemy was dangerous. Those two had gotten off easy, but would remember the lesson. Tallsqueak told him the entire story, which made him chuckle and shake his head. Trying to score points on Tallsqueak in the same way as an earlier attack? Silly. Those two would need to be this week's example of 'What you don't do!'

Larry hadn't been the end of the day's surprises. As Tallsqueak was handing Larry his cookie and juice, Old Healer had noticed the insignia on the inside band of his ring. He covered his surprise by sipping his own juice and struggling to hold still. A duplicate of Tallsqueak's ring was on his own finger. A long, slow examination of the young ratkin enjoying a cookie and juice revealed more things. The glint and fluffiness of his fur showed he had recently purified his body, and his new pantaloons were both distinctive and familiar to him. How many times had he rushed up to his great-uncle when he was only a few cycles old, to run his hands across the silky fabric? He had been quite jealous when he had not been the one to inherit those pants.

Coupled with Charlotte's story of partnership, spiders, and presumed death in a certain cave, he could make a partial guess at what had happened. He suspected that Tallsqueak had found a forgotten secret. He would have to politely ask if he would share. It had been decades since his great-uncle had disappeared, leaving the clan is disarray and forcing his grandfather to take over as clan-head. It had been nearly impossible to hold everything together with half of the clan suspecting his grandfather was responsible for his brother's death. It hadn't been a good time, and whispers still circulating among the older ratkin.

But things changed, and life went on. In their history, his clan had been ruled by Death-Masters, Scout-Masters, and Healing-Masters. The spider wars had wiped out too many of his generation and those that had followed. At some point he must pass the reigns of power to someone else. His own grand-daughter was thought to be the obvious choice, but Charlotte could be difficult. And while she was proficient in skulking and backstabbing, she was a poor healer. He was training several promising whelps in the healing and alchemical arts and hoping one of them would stand out. And he had a new wildcard in Tallsqueak. Such an odd creature, obviously a feral loner from some small cave. But he had made several friends, which was more than Charlotte could boast.

Char was intentionally late to have lunch with her grand-father. Not so late that she would be judged disobedient, but enough to show that she felt she had better things to do. Hadn't she already fulfilled his weekly challenge by retrieving the mushroom samples he needed from a spider-infested area? She had already planned an expedition back to that same area to find Tallsqueak's body and see what valuables he had. In particular it had been noticed that the pick-axe he carried with him was made of a superior material. She had a team of three others who had some mining experience from the basic training and planned on clearing the cave in and finding his body.

She was thinking about this plan as she exited the front door of her clan's area, and saw the assumed-to-be-dead person nibbling one of the cookies she had made for her grandfather. It was just like him to set something like this up! But how had Tallsqueak survived?

Her grandfather introduced them. "Tallsqueak, I would like to formally introduce you to my grand-daughter, Charlotte. Charlotte, this is my new friend, Tallsqueak." Charlotte didn't miss the way her grandfather named Tallsqueak first, implying he was of higher rank in the clan than her! Rage and embarrassment filled her heart. Mostly rage. She'd always had a short fuse.

Tallsqueak recognized her immediately. "Hello, Partner."

"Oh no! That's over. You died! Or left the area! Or did something tricky and left me on my own. And that was yesterday. No partnership. No splitting of loot. Nothing. Those are the rules." Her grandfather sighed. She and he had already had an argument over this.

Tallsqueak seem confused about why there was a problem. "That's fine, it makes it simpler. Rules are important so each person has a good expectation of how things will go. Thank you for letting me know, so there are no awkward interactions over the splitting of loot."

Charlotte ignored the stink-eye her grandfather gave her. The important thing was that she had won! Tallsqueak was obviously upset about losing out on the quest rewards her grandfather had promised. It was one less barrier between her and eventually taking over the clan.

Her grandfather clapped his hands three times to get their attention. "Enough. Charlotte has declared the partnership void. She will be given credit for the mushrooms she harvested and brought back. Tallsqueak will be credited with what he found. So nice that we are all in agreement."

"Tallsqueak wins. I know you weren't out gathering as part of the competition, but by the rules you became part of it when you partnered with Charlotte, and what you found far outweighs her contribution."

"That isn't fair! What could he bring back to equal the rare fungus you sent me after?

Old Healer produced a Master Gathering bag from his ring, once again making her jealous of the item. "Tallsqueak gathered four times the amount you did Charlotte, along with some very rare varieties. Using only tongs he showed her a few of the deadly mushrooms."

Milo spoke up. "And magic pants. They are really comfortable."

Charlotte stared at Milo's new pants. "Those are an heirloom of the Shadow Skulker Clan!

Milo was having none of that, he knew the rules. " Long lost treasure belongs to whoever finds it. These magic pants are now an Heirloom of Clan Hopping Hamster."

Charlotte stomped one dainty foot and looked at her grandfather.

Old Healer winked at Tallsqueak and then said seriously to Charlotte: "It is best not to anger clan Hopping Hamster. They already defeated two of our first-year students today, and beat you in gathering."

"Come lad, we should talk a bit in private. Charlotte? Please go make some tea for us, and bring another plate of cookies. But not immediately. Join us after half a bell, I have important clan business to discuss with the head of clan Hopping Hamster."

The old ratkin led Milo through the door Larry had refrained from smashing through, and down a hall to a room with a large desk, shelves of books, and several leather chairs. Milo scanned the books quickly, but didn't see what he was looking for. Old Healer noticed his interest. "Looking for something?"

Milo nodded. "I want to know what happened to Larry. Are their books on Cheese Fiends? Has anyone looked for a cure?"

Old Healer paced back and forth a little. "Yes, and No. We have very little of that information, here in this Hollow. I've heard that some of the other Hollow's have worked on ways to reverse some of the changes. And of course, some Hollows still create Cheese Fiends on purpose, and know a great deal about the process. But it would be nearly impossible to get that closely guarded information."

"On purpose!? But why?" Milo suspected the answer, but part of him really didn't like it.

"I'm sure you can see the advantage. Larry is worth over a dozen trained fighters. He is nearly impossible to hurt, and yet he can be managed because of his low intellect and need for cheese. Cheese Fiends were created to fight in wars long ago, and the ability to transform into one is in all of us. There is even a special Class that can be taken by ratkin who become highly addicted to cheese and move to a higher tier. Those are the truly horrible Fiends, since they retain fighting skills and abilities. You are thinking of trying to find a cure for young Larry?"

"Or a way to make him better." Milo was skeptical of body-wide mutagenic transformations could be reversed. Then again, didn't he change and then change back? Could he make Larry better by helping him get a new class? That was something to explore.

The old ratkin stopped pacing and looked at Milo. "I had wanted to talk to you to see if there was something I could offer you in exchange for something I need. There are some medical texts I could loan you, and books on alchemy. In exchange for what I need, I offer you the resources of my clan to help your friend."

"And what do you need in exchange?" Milo was skeptical of open-ended deals.

"I need access to that hidden tunnel network you found, in order to search for proof of my Brother's death. Unless you already know something?"

Milo didn't remember ever fighting a great-uncle, so he must mean the pile of bones? Things slid into place in Milo's mind. "Your Brother was a Shadow Skulker and a Scout-Master. He had a secret lair where he grew mushrooms and made poisons, but one of his concoctions killed him! That's why the place is all secret doors and traps."

Old Healer kept his excitement hidden, but he smiled widely. "Ah, that does sound like him. He would place small traps all through the hallways to 'test the young ones'. That ended when one of the older dowagers got a poisoned needle in her toe and beat him nearly senseless for putting traps in the laundry room. I can imagine he placed many in his secret lair."

Milo looked down at his pants. Looting old bodies wasn't as much fun when you suddenly met their relatives. "I found him. Not much left. He poisoned himself somehow and was trying to make an antidote when he died."

"Do you have any information on that antidote? It wouldn't have happened to be some form of cleansing elixir? And you may have imbibed some? One of the side effects is a lustrous coat of fur. Or so I've read."

Milo brushed the fur along his forearm. It was still annoyingly shiny and soft. "It was Lesser Elixir Vitae. I was dying of spider venom when I found it. I may have drunk more than needed. I wasn't thinking well at the time. When I woke up, I smelled horrible and my clothes were a mess. Sorry for being a pants stealer, but I really needed them!" Talking about the elixir had brought up the recipe in his mind. The amount in the bottle was enough to have cured him four times over. He might have shiny fur for a long time.

Old Healer looked very interested. "That is a very powerful cure. It not only cleaned the venom from your system, but also any other impurities from your body, and should have strengthened your natural healing abilities. Yes, you would have woken up later with all the impurities and poison on the outside instead of the inside. Uncle was a pile of bones; he didn't need those pants anymore. You are welcome to them."

Milo had a sudden thought. "What would the Elixir do to Larry? Is it possible that too much cheese forms poisons or chemicals in the body that cause it to warp? What if we cleaned out his system like I did mine?"

Old Healer thought hard, then sighed. "I just don't know. It might help him some, but it might also have side effects, such as stimulating his already incredible regeneration. Or his hunger. There is no way to know."

Milo persisted. "We could use small doses? Study his reactions. And it would be good to have some of the Elixir on hand in case anyone else was poisoned!"

"Valid arguments. But there are some flaws in your plan. Firstly, I need the recipe. Secondly, the ingredients, one of which is a great deal of Golden Puffball mushrooms."

Tallsqueak pushed two of the chairs back against the wall, and a large oak chest appeared to the great surprise of Old Healer. Reaching inside he pulled out a massive, metal bound book and put it on the desk. "Here. It's confusing at times, especially with all the added notes, but it almost made sense to me, and I only have chemistry to fall back on. A Healer should have no trouble making more Elixir." The chest disappeared as someone knocked on the door.

Old Healer was already paging through the book as he motioned for Milo to open the door. "That will be my Grand-Daughter. How convenient."

Chapter 122: Operation Larry

Charlotte was annoyed. This was one of her three main emotions. Annoyed, frustrated, and arrogance vied for the number one emotion. A few other emotions kept trying to enter the mix, but a few like empathy and sympathy had packed their bags and left long ago. She assumed that by now she knew almost everything about everything the clan could teach her, so she was annoyed that somehow her grandfather could make a door that trapped all sound. She'd been trying to eavesdrop on the meeting going on between her grandfather and Tallsqueak, but could hear nothing at all through the thin wooden door.

It was obvious Tallsqueak had found something that pertained to the clan. Grandfather was excited and that could mean bad news for her. The old man was always testing her: setting her up to fight opponents in the arena, holding a competition for best skulker, who could kill the most spiderlings or drink the most bottles of poisoned fruit juice. It was endless and tiring, always with the threat of 'To lead a clan, you must be the best at everything. And you aren't ready.' It should be obvious to him that she would be the best clan leader, and not one of her idiot cousins. And now he had a new challenger for her to compete against.

At least it was a serious challenge. Tallsqueak actually had talent, despite his feral manners. She was curious what type of competition the old rat would give the two of them. Hopefully something dangerous so she could make sure that he didn't come back this time. Being an outsider, Tallsqueak had none of the protections of the clan. So many things could happen to him. She'd have to arrange a few. It was a shame, since he was better at combat than most of her cousins. But no one cracked her skull with a spanner and got to live. No one.

The door opened, and a smiling Tallsqueak nodded to her before he left the room and moved down the hall and left the clan's home. Her grandfather called from inside. "Ah, fresh tea. I knew I could count on you, Charlotte."

"Make friends with Larry? Have you lost your mind!"

Her grandfather looked around at the floor, and in his pockets. "No, I'm pretty sure I have it somewhere, thank you for asking, and say 'Hi' to Larry for me."

Charlotte stared at the old rat. "I won't do it. I hate Fiends and I hate him. How many of our family were killed by rogue Fiends from other Hollows when we fought the spiders? My own mother was torn apart by one. I want nothing to do with Larry or any other Fiend unless it means putting a knife through their brains."

Her grandfather sat and said nothing, pondering something. Finally, after a minute he spoke. "No, that won't do it. A knife to the brain would kill most people, I'm sure. But a Fiend would keep fighting. Most Cheese Fiends have a secondary brain at the end of their spine, you might have to use two knives. Luckily, Larry seems to have more brain power than most. You'll be pleasantly surprised at how easy he is to talk to."

"But I don't want to talk to a Cheese Fiend!"

Her grandfather leaned back in his chair and folded his hands on his belly. "Then I suggest you quit thinking of Larry as a Fiend. I understand your anger. The attack upon our camp that night was a horrible thing. Our family alone lost 14 people. Most of the generation between us was lost, and no clan was unscathed. We may never know how the spiders drove the Cheese Fiends insane like that. I know what has happened, but it is time to take your own feelings and put them behind you for the good of the clan."

Charlotte couldn't believe he was serious. "But why? How can becoming friends with Larry be good for our clan? I don't understand. There can't be any other reason for it other than one of your stupid tests." Her grandfather had given her odd tasks before, but this was beyond strange. He paused, started to talk, then changed his mind. "It is something that must happen before I send you on an important mission. VERY important. Please, I need you to do this. Tallsqueak will tell you why once he judges that Larry trusts you."

"Tallsqueak? What does he have to do with this?" What had he found that he could make these demands?

"Everything. As I'm sure you have guessed from seeing his 'magic pants', he found secrets of our clan. He has offered to share them, but to do so he requires you be friends with Larry. Think of it as gaining Tallsqueak's trust. He has little reason to trust you right now, and that was your own doing. But he did offer you some help. Larry likes cookies and treats, he loves dancing, singing silly songs, telling stories and having them told to him. No cheese, of course. Eating meals with Larry was suggested. And not dressing like a Shadow Skulker. You don't want Larry to think of you as a 'Sneaky Guy'. They are the bad guys in his stories.

Charlotte stood and looked at her grandfather, trying to judge if he was serious about this, or if senility had set in early. In the end, she decided to call his bluff. She didn't know what Tallsqueak had found, but she had a good idea of where to look. As for Tallsqueak and Larry, it was time for them to go. Limburger Hollow shouldn't be harboring a Cheese Fiend. Lots of other people felt that way. If Larry disappeared, very few people would ask questions.

"I won't do it. Larry isn't Clan. Tallsqueak isn't Clan. I don't have to work with them. And if they know secrets, I'll find them out and bring them to the clan myself." She turned to go, slamming the door and striding down the hallways, fuming.

Her mood and departure didn't go unnoticed. Two younger clan members were getting a snack after their failed mission to play surprise, and their impromptu lesson in 'How to not be eaten by Larry'. Ringtail and Tweedle had already told their story to most of the other young skulkers, embellishing the details to include a small battle with Tallsqueak on the roof, and lurid descriptions of Larry's claws and teeth. They also empathized how fast he was. That was new information. They had been truly terrified when he was chasing them, and very grateful that he was polite enough to knock before entering.

Ringtail watched as Char stormed by. "Wow, princess twistytail is really pissed!"

Tweedle agreed. "Tallsqueak is beating her on points, and grandfather keeps reminding her about it."

"She needs to learn to relax."

"I don't know if she can."

"Remember when we invited her swimming...

"...and she put poison in the pool to score points on all of us. Yeah, no more swim parties for PrissyPrincess."

"I heard something about a mission."

"I too heard that."

"And she thinks she's too good to do it."

"As usual. She needs some humility."

"She needs so many, many things."

"And never takes our advice."

"I bet it's a mission any idiot could do."

"I think so too, probably something even we could handle."

"Grandfather does say we are idiots. So, we're qualified."

"She's going to be so pissed."

"Very pissed. We may have to sleep elsewhere for a long time."

"Worth it."

"Let's go see grandfather.

Old Healer was just finishing his first cup of tea when Ringtail and Tweedle knocked on his door and entered. They saluted like they were in the army. He sighed. Of all his grandchildren, besides Charlotte, the twins were the two he felt had the most potential to become the best of their generation. Partly because they had used so little of that potential.

"Clan scout Tweedle, reporting for duty."

"Clan scout Ringtail, ready for important missions, no matter how dangerous.

Their grandfather sighed. "Let me guess; Charlotte still mumbles to herself loudly when she is angry."

Both scouts nodded and ringtail added. "Wind her up good and you can find out all kind of interesting things."

"Like secret missions."

"Which you now need us for."

"Good choice on your part."

They weren't expecting their grandfather to actually give them the mission with so little arm twisting. He simply smiled at them, with all of his teeth showing. "Excellent. You two will do nicely. Tallsqueak has a secret mission, but you have to prove yourselves to him by getting to be friends with Larry so he trusts you."

The two looked at each other, and nodded.

"We can do that."

"No problem. It will be fun.

"Maybe he can show us how to do the hopping thing he does. It must give big experience in Agility."

"Yeah, he got so fast, so quick! Very cool."

"Larry's pretty cool all around. Those claws? Insane."

The two saluted again, and ran off to plan "Operation Larry". Step one was several plates of cookies.

Chapter 123: Clumpybigtoe

Clumpy hated the hat, it was silly. A plain black skull-cap with round fake ears that stuck up obnoxiously, making sure everyone noticed the outsider in the room. And because "all outsiders look alike", his new name was stenciled on the front. The halfling exhaled a long breath and steeled himself for what came next. 'Jethro' had died when he betrayed his family and now, he was 'Clumpybigtoe'. He put the skull-cap on, and made sure the fake tail was hanging from the back of his belt. He'd been warned of punishment for being outside of his own burrow without either of them. And these guys took their punishments seriously.

The irony didn't go unnoticed. The fake ears and tail were to show his submission to the clan, and acceptance to his new boss. But rather than make him accepted, his new attire just pointed out to everyone that he wasn't an ally or hired mercenary, just someone in desparate enough to beg for a small spot in the Hollow.

It had been a chancy move. His family had been after him, and the sharp knives were at his back. His family wasn't big on forgiveness when your actions ended up with them thrown into slavery. When they were miraculously rescued and set free Jethro had run, and kept on running. He was happy they got free, he just didn't want to pay the price if they caught up with him. Wurchwitz Hollow was the end of the line - a place so bad that his family would leave him here as punishment rather than kill him.

Hat in place and firmly held on by a chin-strap, Clumpybigtoe left his burrow, and made his way down the long tunnel to the main part of Wurchwitz Hollow. Around him, exhausted ratkin peasants trudged between work and sleep. They were packed ten to a burrow with barely enough room to lie down. At least he had his own burrow. The Cheese-Master had told him it was because of his lofty status of 'One-who-cuts-the-cheese', but he'd heard the snickers from the commoners that it was because of his 'horrible smell'.

Two Cheese Fiends were stationed at the end of the tunnel. They glared at everyone who went by. The ratkin hid their faces and stared at the ground. Jethro waved to them, causing the confused fiends to scratch their heads and wonder why. He smiled at everyone like it was the best day of his life. It was a small rebellion, but he refused to let them beat him all the way down. More fiends guarded the cheese factory. He and the others who worked the last shift of the day waited to take their positions. The cheese factory was never quiet. It took a lot of cheese to feed the assembled army of Cheese Fiends that the Masters of the Hollow used to keep the populace in line.

Bells rang, the shift changed, and Jethro took his position on the assembly line. He declined to put on the gas mask, decorated with fake whiskers. The worker he was replacing had worn one, but he preferred not to. Stinky cheese didn't bother him, he was a halfling and his clan had endured the most pungent of the stinky cheeses for centuries. He had to admit though, that Milbenkase was pretty bad. The sight of the little cheese mites that squirmed out of the cheese as he cut it was quite disturbing. But if you wanted a good, stinky cheese, you did what you had to do. He was getting to like the taste of the creamy cheese and the mites added some protein.

The first round of magically-aged cheese was shoved down the assembly line to him. He picked up the huge cheese knife that he used for the job, and tested the blade. As always, the enchanted blade was sharp as a razor. But you always checked your tools over, and didn't trust the guy before you. It was another of his little rebellions. This might be seen by some as one of the least important jobs, but it was his job, and he'd do it well.

It was time to cut the cheese!

Whelp Master Gangrene gave his guest a friendly slap on the back and watched them stumble forward. "Good to see you again, Sneaky. How are the weaklings up at Limburger Hollow."

Sneakybadguy winced in pain. Gangrene had a liking for causing pain in others. He'd earned his name by forcing wounded soldiers to keep fighting for weeks against the spiders during the great wars. Cheese had kept them going, their brains buzzing, while their wounds festered and rotted. Those that didn't die became Cheese Fiends. The very lucky, and there were few of those, survived after losing a limb or two. Looking at the stumbling ranks of whelps, they saw that the Whelp-Master hadn't changed his methods.

"They are still the same! Espousing the false-bad lies that by working together the Hollow is a better place. But they are ripe for taking over. The Shadow Stalkers are bored and wish to play dangerous games. I have plans for them. Most of the population labor at menial jobs like mushroom farming and mining, making them excellent peasants. There are few who would resist and fight."

Gangrene listened carefully. Everyone lied, and judging an enemy's strength by the boasting of an ally was tricky. "And what steps have you taken to earn your position as Master when we take over? Tell me why we need you."

Sneakybadguy had gone over this conversation in their mind many times. They had answers ready. "I have labored hard to become useful to my fake-Master. When the time comes, I will easily supplant him! The guards are demoralized after I addicted one of them to bad-cheese and turned him into a Fiend. The spider colony nearby will begin attacks soon, weakening the hollow and killing their guards. I managed to arrange the deaths of several noble spiders to make sure they stay angry. The mages fight among themselves, and spend more time battling each other in their tower than preparing the defenses of the hollow. But my best and most fiendish plan involves the 'players'."

"Players? How are they useful?"

Sneakybadguy laughed softly. "In two ways, great one. Firstly, some have tried to join the Hollow, but are greedy for power. I will be showing them the quick path to great power soon. Secondly, I have spread rumors in the human city above of the riches that can be gained by raiding the hollow. Between players, spiders, and my own fiends I can bring Limburger Hollow to its knees and have it begging for help!"

Gangrene liked the plan, but wondered how much of it was true. "It seems you hardly need our help. So why are you here?"

Sneakybadguy had anticipated that question too. They couldn't admit that they needed too much help, not if they were going to be the Master when everything was done. "To destroy the Hollow is one thing, but to rule it I need the expertise that your Hollow is known for: Fiends to keep the peasants in line, special cheeses to addict the populace and keep the fiends happy, workers for the cheese factory, and of course minions to pack back a share of the profits to this Hollow."

"A share? That sounds...undefined." Gangrene liked his contracts with teeth in them. "You want to be Master of the Hollow? Fine. That is your reward. Three quarters of profits from the mines and the cheese factory will come back to me here. I will send my own Tally-Master to oversee that things are done fairly."

Sneakybadguy protested. "No... that is not what we said. You asked only for a small cut!"

A blade flashed and Sneakybadguy fell to the ground, one leg bleeding badly from a shallow cut. Gangrene roared with laughter. "And there is your small cut. Would you like a bigger one? No, I didn't think so. Time to quit playing games. Wurchwitz will take what it likes and you will be our agent there. Or I can find another who will serve me better. My spies tell me that there are several good prospects in the Hollow. Even a mysterious loner who seems to be challenging the Tail-Master for his position. He's ambitious and powerful. I hear good things about him."

Sneakybadguy rolled on the ground, trying to staunch the bleeding. "NO! Tall-squeak can't be trusted! No one knows where he comes from. He joined the Hollow already halfway to becoming a fiend! No one knows his goals, and he is hiding secrets! So many secrets!"

Gangrene stroked his chin. "Oooh, I like him already. I'll have to meet him somehow. As for you, we have our deal. Go get your cheese shipment from Clumpybigtoe at the factory. And remember that I have options to replace you."

Clumpybigtoe was annoyed when a limping stranger started yelling at him about cheese. They weren't from this hollow, that was obvious. "Yeah, yeah. I'll get to it. How are you packing it off?"

Sneakybadguy didn't like this new cheese cutter, he had odd looking ears. He opened his backpack and pulled out two Cheese Gatherer's Bags. "Fill those up, they take more than you would expect. And hurry it up. I need to be back at my own Hollow soon!"

Clumpybigtoe couldn't care less, but smiled at the weird little ratkin. They were dressed up with only their eyes showing, like some of the human ninja clans. "No problem. I'll cut them up as they slowly come down the assembly line. You can just sit there and inhale the pungent aroma."

This one was an idiot. They should have asked for whole wheels. Once you cut Milbenkase wheels, the smell was horrible and the cheese mites squirmed all over. They would never get all the mites and smell out of those bags. But that was their problem. Clumpybigtoe had enough of his own.

Chapter 124: The Rational Decisions of Students of the Arcane Arts

Milo left the house of the Shadow Skulker clan in a good mood. He was getting tired of having to play 'surprise' and be on guard all the time. While it was good for his perception, he had a lot of things he wanted to do, and the distraction was annoying. The temptation to beat them all with his engineer's spanner had been growing. Hopefully things would ease up a bit now. And if they didn't...well, he could start using the wrench.

The clan wasn't all sneaky ninja types, but that was what it was known for, and everyone trained in skulking and climbing when young. Old Healer had told him that some of the whelps became scouts who explored the large area of caves surrounding the hollow, while others trained to defend the Hollow using stealthy methods. The clan also produced many of the Hollow's healers. The novice healers got a lot of practice putting back together the students who failed to surprise guards, or who poisoned themselves in alchemy classes. It was an odd system, but it worked for them.

The day had been eventful. Trying to catch Larry who was chasing two skulkers had worried him. He was happy things had turned out well. Larry had walked away very content with his cookies. Old Healer was happy his novices were still alive, and Milo was happy that Larry would soon have a new friend. Charlotte had shown she played by the rules, so he had made it a rule that anyone exploring the old tunnels with him would have to make friends with Larry first. Larry wouldn't like not-friends going through his house. With Charlotte meeting Larry for the next couple of meals, Milo had time to catch up on other things.

The market place was busy. It seemed like everyone in the Hollow was either shopping or selling. He strolled casually through the vendors, looking at stands selling cookware, weapons, clothing and food. Players were here in force, selling things they'd found in the caves and buying new weapons and armor. It was like the bazaar in Shadowport, just with more fur and tails. He found Scrap Hunter at the end of the marketplace, working his way through a pile of bones, cleaning and sorting them. He waved to Milo as he came up.

"Back for more? I made a trip out to some old lairs that have been cleaned out and loaded up a bunch of the bigger bones. I have forty of the size you wanted. That's them tied up in the bundle over there." Scrap Hunter pointed to a bundle of femurs and arm bones wrapped in a piece of scrap leather and tied up. "Found this old thing as well." He held up an old weapon made of a wooden haft with several carved bones or fangs mounted to it. It looked similar to Milo's own weapon, but the wood was rotten and he could tell that most of the bones were gnawed by animals and falling apart.

"I've seen something similar before." He examined it more carefully. Two of the bones were in good shape, though covered in ancient blood and dirt.

Scrap Hunter nodded. "It's a popular design, or was, before the Hollow started making metal weapons. Out in the caves they still make a lot of weapons like this old thing. Shamans sometimes enchant them. There's even a record of a bone-carver who used to come through the area every couple of years and would enchant weapons for a large chunk of cheddar."

"Really? Where can I learn more about him? That sounds interesting."

"The records would be over in the Tower of Strife, but I'd wait for a day when you don't see poison clouds forming up top or hear the thunder. Those tower mages go at it all the time and you don't want to get between them when they fight." The older ratkin rolled his eyes and looked in the direction of the top of the tower.

Milo could see a green haze at the top of the roof. "Are they enemies? Or hate each other? Why doesn't someone do something?"

"HA! Oh, we do something. We stay away! How they run their marriage is up to them. No one wants to get between them when they go at it. Or worse, when they make up. They get disgusting, holding hands and writing little poems and such. I like it when they fight better."

Milo just nodded. He saw the old rat's point. He understood fighting, but not the other part. Good to stay out of it. After a bit of haggling, he bought both the bones and the old weapon from Scrap Hunter. At another stall he sat down for a big bowl of fried honey grubs. He had smelled the sweet scent of the cooking on the breeze and was ravenous again. His stomach made enough noise that people were laughing softly at him and helpfully pointing him towards the food stand. After two bowls of tasty sweet grubs and a slice of mushroom bread he was ready to get to work.

He wanted to take a better look at the huge, complex pile of machinery by the waterfall and tunnel to the mushroom fields. He planned to do that after a little bone carving. His spells used up a lot of bone, and if he got into a fight while exploring the tunnels, he wanted to be ready. He sat down on the far side of the machinery and leaned against it. It was peaceful here with the smell of burnt wires and the sound of running water. It made it easy to concentrate on carving the runes he needed into the bones.

He summoned his storage, the magical chest appearing in the shadows next to the wrecked machine. He needed both his carving and drawing tools, along with some wrenches and calipers to start work on whatever this was. Sitting in the shadow of the machine he carefully drew the needed runes on each of the bones and shaped them into miniature harpoons. Concentrating hard, he used one of his claws to carve out the velocity runes. Each rune drained some of his mana and glowed briefly as he finished it. Bone after bone, rune after rune, he worked for two hours carving the ammunition he needed for his spells. As he finished each one, they disappeared into his handy Scout Master's ring.

He was quite thankful to Charlotte for pointing out the rule that let him keep all the things he'd found. Old Healer had assured him it was fine, and 'Finders Keepers' was an old and respected rule among treasure hunters. Having only enough ammunition for his spell had hurt him against the spiders. With the storage ring he was better prepared for next time.

He completed ten of his rune-carved harpoons before he gave in to the need to take a peek at the strange machine. Just a little bit of poking around, and he promised himself that he'd get back to work on the bones. The bolts holding on the outer panels showed signs of having been removed several times and were worn and dented, some of them even stripped and barely holding the panels on. With three of the panels off he could see the inner workings, and started trying to guess at what the machine did.

That wasn't readily apparent. At the end closest to the waterfall, he saw what he suspected was a dynamo for generating electrical current from the mechanical energy of the water wheel, but it was horribly inefficient with the components in poor alignment. The two spinning faraday discs were too far apart and the wire coils were horribly made. Whatever power it produced went to a basic magitech storage system that first converted the current, and then used a series of crystals in glass casings to store the electrical based mana. It didn't look right at all, with cracked glass and missing cables.

After that was a series of separate sub-machinery for a variety of uses. There was a primitive subragator that would separate impurities from ore, but nothing to process the ore further. The impurities were further divided by a broken centrifuge and would have been outputted to barrels, if the barrels were present. There also looked to be an oven or furnace, a ceramic kiln for making glass, a wire drawing device that was missing parts, and a large glass magitech globe that had no purpose that he could see at all. More sub-assemblies were mysteries to him, with not enough parts left to tell what they had been made for. The whole machine was a patchwork Frankenstein, and he wondered if it had ever worked at all? He knew that once he started, he'd be working on it for hours. Reluctantly he put the down the wire coil he had started to rewind, and went back to his carving.

After the harpoons were done, he started on the lizard skulls, carving the runes that turned them into bombs. He was drawing a particularly tricky part of a rune, when loud banging broke his concentration and ruined the rune. Very annoyed, he went to see what was going on.

A student from the tower in a ragged black robe was banging with an old hammer on the side of the machine, while two others in blue robes laughed and gave encouragement.

"Maybe if you hit that bolt a few times, it will give up and turn!"

"Maybe...but he hasn't hit it yet. Put a Death Cloud on it Gehlter! Then it won't dodge so much."

"I'll put a Death Cloud on you two idiots! The bolts are stripped! It isn't coming off!" Gehlter hit the bolt with the hammer a few more times, deforming it further.

Milo couldn't take it anymore. Both the noise, and the stupidity of abusing a poor bolt that way made him angry. "Excuse me, but what are you doing! That's not how you dismantle a machine."

All three turned to look at Tallsqueak. They knew all the student mages in the tower. Despite the tattered cowl that the interloper wore, they knew he wasn't a mage. That was further empathized by his black pants and the large spanner in his hand. They closed ranks, and tried to look as inscrutable as they could.

"And who are you to tell us what to do? We don't answer to silly skulkers, do we guys." Gehlter had been the one to step forward and speak, but he also checked to make sure that the other two were backing him up. They were friends, but from opposite sides of the tower, and you never knew exactly how far you could trust a student storm mage. The lightning tended to fry their brains. But both Squiggel and Bunt were backing his play, preparing spells and letting sparks dance on their fingers. There adversary seemed unimpressed.

"Ok, we can do this one of two ways: We can have some silly magical duel with explosions and pain where someone gets hurt, or we can all calm down and I can show you the proper way to turn a bolt. Which way do you want it?"

The three students looked at each other, nodded together, and yelled, "Duel!"

Chapter 125: The Duel

It's a known fact that the best seats in a classroom are next to a window. That way instead of being bored and paying attention to the professor, you can be bored and stare out the window. So, it was unsurprising that a few students had noticed the start of the altercation. Knowing that any argument simply had to result in a duel, they came stampeding down the stairs to watch. Their professors didn't even try to stop them and instead headed to the faculty lounge that had a lovely bay window overlooking the front area of the tower, perfect for viewing the weekly official duels and numerous 'accidental' duels.

None of the people watching were surprised when the novice death mage immediately started casting a spell. First year death magic concentrated on poisons and toxins before the students moved on to necromancy in their second year. Each student had to create his own version of Noxious Cloud and Toxic Gaze spells. Storm magics had more choices in their first-year spells, including Ball Lightning, Blazing Arc, and Overloaded Blazing Arc, along with Static Repulsion. Storm mages had to be more careful with their casting, where a misplaced hand motion could result in your own spell electrocuting you. Death was quick, but Storm was careful and more powerful, at least in the first year.

"I cast Gehlter's Death Cloud!" It was a commonly held superstition among the students that the louder you yelled the name of your spell, the harder it hit. Plus, what good was coming up with your own version of a spell, if no one knew about it? Gehlter was very proud of his version of Noxious Cloud.

Huge clouds of billowing green smoke rolled towards the challenger, pouring over the ground and covering a large area. Gehlter had decided early in his career in magic that if he couldn't be the most powerful mage, or the best at aiming, at least he could be the fastest. He had taken the standard Noxious Cloud spell with its large dose of weak poison and complex hand motions, and pared it down to a much simpler version. A huge area of effect meant he didn't even need to aim! Once the student he was dueling couldn't see or breathe, the duel was half won. Of course, it also didn't do a lot of damage. He was disappointed when he didn't hear any coughing or choking coming from the cloud.

Not everyone agreed with him, including his two temporary team mates. "This is why you're always going to be picked last for team duels, Gehlter. Your damned fart cloud screws up the rest of us." Squiggel and Bunt both cursed at him as they interrupted their casting of Blazing Arc and changed their spells to Ball Lightning. The former spell needed a target to cast at, and all they could see was a large area of green clouds. So instead of two powerful electrical arcs, they sent two man-high balls of sparkling blue storm mana rolling across the ground and into the cloud of gas. The diffused charge meant the spell did far less damage than Blazing Arc. Bunt wondered what the interaction between their spells would be. Mixing magic like this could have unexpected consequences.

The result was quite shocking, as a bare skull rolled out of the cloud and stopped at their feet.

Bunt felt his tail go limp, and his arms slumped at his sides. Killing someone in a duel was bad, bad, bad. He felt sick. "Oh hell, what have we done?" It was almost a relief when the skull exploded, knocking them all off of their feet and putting splinters of bone into tender places. The green mists were dispelled as Gehlter lost his concentration on the spell, and the imposing figure of Tallsqueak stepped forward.

Squiggel noted with approval that Tallsqueak was doing things properly.

Small threat backed up by power? Check.

Proper entrance to the fight? Check.

Eyes glowing with barely contained annoyance? Check.

Object of power held high in preparation to smite your enemies? Got that too!

All in all, he'd have gotten an A+ in "Classical Ways to Intimidate your Enemies". Squiggel wondered where he had taken the class.

Tallsqueak stood and glared at them, a large wrench held high in the air, his lustrous fur standing up with static electricity, and an angry look on his face. The runes on his old robe were glowing and he had conjured bony armor over half of his body. He looked in their direction and spoke low and menacing. "Let's see what you have, sparkle boys. Take your best shots."

Gehlter started to cast a spell, but Bunt kicked him hard in the shin. "Our turn, Fartcaster. " He nodded at Squiggle and both of them began casting Blazing Arc, taking their time to pump up the mana to Overload. Huge arcs of electrical power jumped from their hands to Tallsqueak, running through him and down into the ground. The smell of ozone was strong in the air. When their eyes could see again from the sudden glare, they expected to see their opponent unconscious or stunned.

Instead, Tallsqueak was still standing there, holding up his large wrench-shaped wand, as if nothing had happened. He lowered it slightly, motioning at them. "Not bad, want to try again? Or should I start beating on you?" Neither apprentice mage hesitated to cast their best spell again, this time using every bit of mana they could shove into it. Again, the spells arced out, and again they seemed to hit Tallsqueak, without doing any damage at all to him. The two storm mages felt ill from mana depletion, and it was occurring to their small minds that maybe this skulker wasn't really a skulker. Neither noticed a long copper wire connecting the large machine and Tallsqueaks spanner that he held in his bone covered hand.

Tallsqueak starting walking towards them. Gehlter turned to run. No rule said you had to stay in a duel and get your head beat in, and he'd already used his best spell. Tallsqueak's menacing voice came from behind him. "Oh no, if you start a fight, you finish a fight. That's a rule I learned from Capt. Pike." Squiggel and Bunt saw him flicked his wrist and a small bone spear appeared in his hand. As he threw it at Gehlter, the other two wizards saw runes glow along its length just before it flashed across the distance, going all the way through the fleeing Death Mage's leg before it shattered against a large rock, breaking the stone. Both decided that not running was the best course of action.

Another skull was tossed by Tallsqueak, knocking down the two Storm Mages. As they struggled to get up, each took a minor blow to the side of the head from a heavy Engineer's Spanner. Gehlter was crawling away when the wrench of vengeance knocked him out and ensured he'd be seeing a healer for the next few days.

As the dust cleared and the fight ended, shouts and the sound of running feet heralded the arrival of several young ratkin wearing white tunics with a red cheese wheel on the front and back. "Out of the way! Emergency First Aid crew is here and ready to save the day! Where does it hurt?" Tallsqueak pointed at the three apprentices and the half dozen junior healers gleefully descended upon them.

Above, in the Tower of Strife, two figures observed from a high balcony. Cremona was dressed in a lovely black silk robe with glowing green trim, low cut in the front, while her husband preferred a classic blue robe with high collar and silver-white trim.

"My, wasn't that exciting? A mysterious stranger challenges three of our students to a duel and beats them handily with strange magics. I'm tingling all over." Arlothe sniffed. "Ah, and there's nothing like the smell of fresh ozone. My lads threw some pretty powerful arcs, did you notice?"

"I notice that our mysterious challenger shunted the spells off into that old lump of machinery you so love. This is a smart one. We simply must invite him up to dinner, dear. I'm in love with that exploding skull spell he used. I think it must be some variation on the classic Poisoned Skull that old Professor Pestilence used to teach." Cremona was happy to see a visiting Death Mage. Maybe he'd be up for a bout or two. While it was a staple of their marriage, dueling with her husband each day could get stale. She was sure he wouldn't begrudge her a minor dalliance.

Arlothe observed that a crowd was forming, and the usual players were entering the field. "Round two is about to start dear."

Chapter 126: and another duel

As Tallsqueak walked away from the trio of wounded first-year wizards, the gaggle of students watching at the base of the tower applauded. He ignored them, which got a few nods from the older students. A true duelist cared nothing for the applause of those below him and focused only on what he could have done better in the fight. There was much discussion about the spells he had used. Several noted that his three major spells were obviously necromancy, as they dealt with bone. But there was much conjecture about how he had countered the storm mage spells.

Several of the novices were talking excitedly and making wild gestures. An unexpected break from classes was always fun, so was a duel, new magic, and a 1 vs 3 victory.

"...unannounced duel day?"

"I bet this is more drama about Cordelia, I swear that girl causes more trouble..."

"I want to know how that weird staff absorbed that much energy. I don't see how he could absorb that much."

From a window on the second floor, a group of second-year students had observed the short duel. They noted that the newcomer had used guile to ambush the three first-year students by dressing in common clothes and goading them into attacking him. The duel had been short as he dominated them totally, ignoring their spells and striking back with unique necromantic attacks. To add insult to their injuries he had even struck them with his wand, showing that he wasn't even going to waste mana on them. All in all, he had the admirable qualities that they were looking for. The decision was made to send two of their number to meet the newcomer and give him an invitation to their illustrious clan.

As the two older students in black robes exited the tower, the group of students made room for them to pass. Each of the pair was wearing a fancy black robe with a green dragon embroidered on the chest. Their backs straight, their noses in the air, and their eyes were glowing with emerald light. The pair walked up to Tallsqueak and gave small bows.

"Greetings, Tallsqueak, I am Brer Moray of Clan Emerald Wyrm. I congratulate on your victory over that rabble.

"I too, congratulate you. You showed them the contempt they deserve. I am Brer Cutthroat of Clan Emerald Wyrm."

Tallsqueak gestured at the trio of injured novices receiving first aid. "It wasn't so much a duel as it was teaching them to do things properly. Their noisy banging annoyed me."

The two students from Clan Emerald Wyrm looked at each other and nodded before Moray spoke. "Exactly. There is a proper way that things should happen here at the tower. The rabble often forgets that and needs to be reminded. My brother and I can see that you have the right attitude and we offer you an invitation to join us in Clan Emerald Wyrm as a Brother Eel. You will become great in our clan. We will share our powerful necromantic spells with you and learn yours, increasing all of our power."

The watching throng of students grew quiet. Competition among the four clans of the tower was fierce, and the Eels were already powerful.

Tallsqueak seemed, if anything, more annoyed. He looked at the green dragons embroidered on their robes, and actually sneered. "Not interested. I have things to do, and machines to fix. And I don't like eels!" He turned and walked away, leaving the two stunned junior wizards staring at his retreating tail. Laughter came from the rabble and several people were mumbling and pointing at the two members of Clan Emerald Wyrm.

"Looks like the Eels struck out."

"...and he's brave. I bet he ends up in Clan Manticore..."

"Do you think he'd like to join Puffyfur? He'd fit right in! Someone should invite him to our next pillow fight."

"Wow, do you see how pissed Moray is? This next duel is going to be awesome!"

Indeed, Moray was angry. So angry! No one dared ever turn down his invitations! And he hated being laughed at.

"HALT! You cannot insult the Clan of the Emerald Wyrm with impunity Tallsqueak! If you will not join us, then you can learn to fear us as others have! We challenge you to a friendly duel to exchange knowledge, and show off the potency of our spells. Refuse us at your peril." Both began gathering necromantic energies to them, and reaching for the bones in their pockets.

Tallsqueak stopped walking and glared at them, then looked at the machinery he had been walking towards. He sighed and slipped his spanner back into his belt. "Remember that I gave you two Eel lovers a chance to walk away."

Moray and Cutthroat took that statement as permission to begin casting. As usual, they both started casting Mighty Servant of Bone to raise huge ogre skeletons to send at their opponent. They were far tougher than the normal Servant of Bone spell that gave a mage command of an undead goblin or human.

Tallsqueak didn't give them a chance to complete the spells. A skull appeared in his hand and was thrown hard at Moray, hitting him in the chest and exploding in shards of stinging bone splinters. Moray lost control of his spell and was knocked down. Cutthroat managed to summon one skeletal ogre and sent it to attack Tallsqueak.

Tallsqueak himself was transforming. Along with the bony gauntlets he had worn in the last duel, bone plates appeared on his feet and shins. His tail became a long bony whip that looked more like the skeleton of a snake. He stepped forward to meet the ogre skeleton, casting a small curse at it. Cutthroat could feel that his creation had been cursed, but didn't care. How did you curse the dead? They ignored most magic.

Tallsqueak leaped in the air, spinning and whipping his tail around in a circle. The head of the skeleton shattered and the undead construct lumbered past Tallsqueak as he stepped out of the way. Cutthroat had no way to control the headless construct and let it crumble to dust so he could summon another. Moray had regained his feet just in time to see the demise of Cutthroat's minion, and began casting a spell to summon one of his own, but again, an exploding skull knocked him off his feet, ruining his spell. He hissed in annoyance. "Cutthroat, you idiot, do something! That's two of my spells he's disrupted and I'm down a third of my health!"

Tallsqueak stood patiently and waited for Cutthroat to summon another minion. Cutthroat changed tactics and shouted out "Wall of Bones!" A twenty-foot wide by eight-foot-tall wall of woven bones appeared between Tallsqueak and his opponents. Both Death Mages began casting again immediately, burning more mana in an effort to raise their army.

"Mighty Servant of Bones!."

"Shooty Bone Minion!"

"Avenging Skeleton of Doom"

"Undead House-Cleaner"

The last spell was a bit lame, but Cutthroat was nearly out of mana. They sent their small army of undead around the wall to attack Tallsqueak two around each side, and peaked through openings in the wall to direct them. Except that they didn't see him.

From the top of tower, Cremona started to giggle.

Arlothe was having trouble following the duel. "What's going on? I see the usual army of undead that those two prefer to use, but I don't see Tallsqueak anywhere."

His wife patted him on the head and pointed. "I've told you so many times to work harder on those perception drills, dear. Tallsqueak skulked up to their wall, climbed it, and leaped into the shadows behind them while they concentrated on their spells. Even I barely noticed him. He's a trained Shadow Skulker, I'm sure of it. Oh, I hope he says it..."

Arlothe stared where she pointed, and could just make out a shadowy figure skulking ten-feet behind Moray and Cutthroat. "Say what dear?"

"Surprise!"

Cremona clapped her hands with glee.

A long tail wrapped around Cutthroat's windpipe, and hoisted him into the air. At the same time, Tallsqueak brought down his engineer's spanner in a double handed blow to Moray's head, knocking him out cold. Cutthroat tried to cast a spell but had trouble concentrating as Tallsqueak slammed him into the ground.

The next instant, Tallsqueak cast Harpoon of the Winds and sent it rocketing through the Wall of Bone that was weakened by Brittle Bones. The wall crumbled to white dust, and the spell powered through the Avenging Skeleton of Doom who was unlucky enough to be in the way. The Mighty Bone Minion collapsed a second later, Moray not being able to continue to concentrate on the spell that gave it unlife. The only minion left standing was Cutthroat's Shooty Bone Minion.

The bow armed skeleton turned, finally finding its target and shot an arrow at Tallsqueak. Sadly, for Cutthroat, Tallsqueak had put him between himself and the undead archer. Cutthroat took an arrow in the shoulder and then wisely ended his own spell and yelled out, "I concede, you have bested me oh mighty one!"

Tallsqueak dropped him and turned to see if anyone else was going to attack him.

Chapter 127: Final Duel

As annoyed as he was, Milo pondered the situation. The students of The Tower of Strife certainly lived up to their name. They must fight constantly with each other. The crowd was excited and he saw several students eyeing him and considering a challenge, while others were placing bets. The threat of getting their skull beat in with a spanner certainly wasn't convincing anyone that this was a bad idea. Worse, they seemed to like it!

The crowd hushed, and two new people walked towards him as the students moved hastily to clear a path. Both were older ratkin that oozed confidence and authority.

Professor Arlothe Sparktail Level 19 Storm Mage

Professor Cremona Strifebringer Level 18 Poisoned Soul

Milo started to relax. Cooler and wiser heads had finally showed up to put an end to this nonsense.

Arlothe smiled at him. "Welcome to the Tower of Strife. I see that you have already studied our ancient traditions and engaged our students in duels."

"uh...no? They sort of attacked me a couple of times. I just came over to look at the machine. I wasn't trying to duel."

Cremona scowled at him, a green cloud floating over her head. "What? You didn't even come to visit with us? Are we less interesting that a stupid pile of wires."

Milo felt that the answer was obvious. "Well, yes. Who doesn't like strange machines?"

Arlothe smiled and nodded in agreement. "Right?! What did you think of the electro-interface and..." He broke off as his wife elbowed him in the ribs.

"Stay focused dear, crafty Tallsqueak is trying to confuse the issue and make you forget how he has insulted the Tower!"

Arlothe caught his breath, and sighed. Then continued in a loud voice. "Oh, of course. He's a tricky one, isn't he? What I meant to say was: How dare you tamper with a machine that combines the wisdom of generations of mages from the tower?!"

Cremona drew herself up, and pointed at him. "You have transgressed upon the Tower of Strife, tried to steal the secrets of my husband's stupid machine, beaten our students on a non-duel day, and failed to introduce yourself properly! I, Cremona Strifebringer, demand that you duel me so that I may restore the honor of the Tower of Strife. Accept my challenge or accept my punishment."

Every student and teacher in the tower were now watching. Dueling with Professor Cremona was referred to as 'test dummy for her latest concoction'. Many students instead accepted her 'punishments', which ranged from cleaning out beakers and test tubes to filling in craters in the ground after duel days. No one actually fought her for real except her husband, and the score this season was 13 to 34 in her favor.

When Tallsqueak didn't immediately bow and accept his punishment, (which in this case was going to be an invitation to a dinner of steamed prawns and onion soup with the two professors), Arlothe began to worry. He highly doubted Tallsqueak was just a Necromancer or Death Mage. He hadn't summoned a minion, and hadn't used any type of poison spell. He had two highly effective combat ranged attacks along with some very nice physical enhancements. The way he had taken down the two second year students had shown he wasn't ignorant of claw-to-claw fighting. And the claws he had looked very sharp! Cremona was a very powerful mage, but she wasn't used to fighting for her life. He suspected Tallsqueak was. The idea of a little fake anger, a challenge, and then the 'punishment' of dinner had seemed like a better idea a few minutes ago.

Milo pulled two mana potions and a healing potion from his pouch and drank them. Punishment would obviously be some long quest or task that he didn't have time for. Even if he died and had to lose a day, that was better. His annoyance went away as he made his decision, replaced by focus. "I accept your challenge."

Cremona was surprised and excited. Dinner might get a little cold, but that was a small price to pay for good duel with an unknown opponent. "Excellent! Arlothe will adjudicate the duel. Normal rules dear?"

Arlothe looked at his excited wife, and the quietly focused Tallsqueak. "No, I think we'll do something a bit more formal than the usual brawl that the students like. As adjudicator of this duel, I invoke the formal rules of dueling, and limit the duel to three rounds. Tallsqueak, are you familiar with the formal rules of dueling as set forth by the Marquis D'Camembert?"

Tallsqueak said in a very calm voice, "Perhaps you should go over all of the rules so both of us know them."

Arlothe nodded. "These rules of dueling were made to limit and control combat in the magical arts, and to provide a better showcase to judge the skill of the duelists. Two ten-foot diameter circles are drawn on the ground, with 30 feet between centers. Neither opponent may step outside the boundaries of the circles. Opponents will each have a round to cast a spell, followed by their opponent casting a spell. After three rounds a panel would normally judge the duel based on poise, damage done, verbal sparring, inventiveness of attacks, and several other minor criteria. Today it will be enough to see who remains conscious, and I will award points in lieu of a proper panel of judges.

An aspect of the Marquis's spell is that if an opponent is badly injured, the duel ends, the circles are dispelled, and the magical energy is funneled into a powerful healing spell that can save the loser from all but the most messy of deaths."

He turned to his wife. "And my wife won't be using Murgatroid's Infernal Disintegration, will we dear?"

Cremona smiled. "Why, of course not. I want him begging for mercy, not floating away as a cloud of mold dust."

Arlothe turned to Tallsqueak. "Any questions? And as the challenged, do you prefer to go first or second."

Tallsqueak thought about that for several seconds, then surprised everyone by saying,

"I have a question: Who's taking the bets, and what are the odds?" Milo had heard and seen bets being made, and there was a flurry of activity around three eels from Clan Emerald Wyrm.

Arlothe turned and addressed the crowd. "I'm sure we all know that betting isn't allowed, but in this case, I'll make an exception. Mr. Moray, will you be kind enough to tell us what the current odds are against Tallsqueak?

Brer Moray was not happy about being called out. The eels ran all of the betting on duel days, and by creative use of odds and points spreads made a tidy sum. They didn't need the attention of one of the Professors. "The odds are 1 to 17 in Professor Cremona's favor, with a point spread of 32."

Tallsqueak looked at the eels, then at Cremona. "I'll be going second and I bet five full wheels of one-year-aged cheddar on myself to win by beating the points spread."

As the crowd began to talk and surge towards the eels, Arlothe yelled out. "All betting is closed!"

Arlothe's hands glowed with blue electrical energy and two glowing circles appeared on the ground. He motioned Tallsqueak and Cremona to take their places. "Tallsqueak has ceded his option to go first against a superiorly ranked opponent. Cremona, you may begin your round and cast your first spell!

Chapter 128: Circles

Cremona studied her opponent. Arlothe had spoiled her fun by making it a formal duel. She had looked forward to testing both this newcomer and herself. She had little experience fighting someone physically, especially another mage. It would have been interesting. And while the spells that gave him his physical enhancements were still in place, they would be of little help against her now that they were confined within the circles. She considered her first spell. Her poisonous fog spells would just make it too easy, filling the circle with poison. He'd pass out eventually, but she'd lose points for such an attack and it was boring.

Horde of Vipers might be fun. She'd get to see him fight the spectral minions, but she decided to soften him up a bit first. The Vipers had a weak poison effect and he had ignored the Poisonous Cloud cast on him before in the earlier round. Venom Bolt would hit him for light damage with an ongoing damage effect and lower his resistance, then maybe send in the snakes.

She looked over at Tallsqueak. He seemed focused, or was that fear. "I expect a good fight from you Tallsqueak. Please don't hold back. Hit me with your best spell. My husband Arlothe and I duel constantly and give no quarter."

Her opponent just nodded at her, not speaking.

"I cast Cremona's Venom Bolt." In a real fight, she'd have simply pointed a finger, but the silly duels almost demanded that you shout out your spells or lose points. Before she could finish casting her spell, an exploding skull went off at her feet, ruining her concentration and knocking her to the ground.

The crowd exploded as all the students began shouting. Arlothe motioned them to silence. "Be quiet and observe. If Tallsqueak had cheated, D'Camembert's Duel would have immediately told me. You may all draw your own conclusions. Tallsqueak, it is your turn to cast a spell."

Tallsqueak waited while Cremona brushed herself off and regained her feet. Her face was as blank as a master poker player. Counter Spells were not unheard of, but a true Counter Attack ability was very rare for anyone in the lower Tiers. Her own ability, Shield of Mana was something she used constantly against Arlothe to block his Storm Arc. She wondered again what school Tallsqueak had attended.

And then all musings left her as he cast his first spell. Magic surged from Tallsqueak as he empowered the runes of a bone harpoon. They glowed bright enough that she got a glimpse of them, even at this distance. Cremona used runic magic in composing her own spells. In a pinch she had even devised new spells on the fly. But she'd never seen these runes before! They were something different. More primal. She prepared Shield of Mana just in time, as the Harpoon of the Winds shrieked across the short distance towards her, too quick to avoid.

Magic Harpoon hit Magic Shield and both were destroyed. Cremona was drained of over 300 mana and was knocked backwards by the force of the blow. She got to her feet and was congratulating herself on stopping the spell as the second Harpoon of the Winds hit her in the shoulder, showering the area with blood and putting her on the ground again.

She rose slowly, pulled the weapon from her shoulder and snapped it in half. That had been a potentialy lethal spell if it hit her in the head. Tallsqueak certainly wasn't holding back.

"Playing with Big boy spells and Fast Casting, are we? Good. I like a challenge!"

"Toxic Razor Quills of Doom!"

Tallsqueak saw a horde of razor-sharp projectiles streaking towards him. Each one glowed an unhealthy green. He dodged as best he could within the confined space, leaping upwards and rolling into a tight ball to present his back. Acrobat, Uncanny Dodge, and Danger Sense gave him a superior chance to dodge the attack. The Ring of the Scout Master gave him both a boost to Danger Sense and to his chance at dodging. Only one of the dozen quills actually hit him.

You have been struck by a Poisonous Razor Quill. This Strong Poison does 20 points of damage, greatly reduced by your Strong Poison Resistance. Your blood has cleansed ongoing poison effects.

Milo landed on both feet, danger sense screaming, but he wasn't able to dodge again quick enough. He hadn't even begun to turn around when the second spell hit him!

You have been struck by 12 Poisonous Razor Quills. This Strong Poison attack does 240 points of damage, which is greatly reduced by your Strong Poison Resistance. Your blood is struggling to cleanse ongoing poison effects.

The crowd saw Tallsqueak execute an amazing dodge to avoid the first spell, and saw Cremona repeat the spell immediately, catching Tallsqueak as he landed. They saw him slowly turn, obviously in pain. He took a deep breath and steadied himself.

Arlothe waited for Tallsqueak to collapse and the duel to end. That didn't happen, and instead Tallsqueak calmly brought out two more harpoons, glared at Cremona and cast Harpoon of the Winds. Unable to manifest her Shield of Mana after using Fast Casting, she was reduced to diving to the ground for the third time as the Harpoon screamed over her head, nearly hitting her and cutting off several locks of hair.

This had to end! Not even her husband made her eat dirt this many times, and never in front of the entire school! She didn't care about losing points. "Blighted Sphere of Blinding Malignant Contagion!" Using a good part of her remaining mana, Cremona threw a glowing ball of Death Magic at Tallsqueak. The noxious cloud of toxins would make it impossible for him to see her to cast a spell, and should drop him to the ground quickly.

Milo had no idea what the spell was, but it sounded bad! While Cremona was still shouting, he stepped to the back of his circle, and sprinted forward. At the front edge of his circle, he leaped high in the air, the spell passing under him, and landed on his hands before springing upwards using his arms and tail to flip himself into Cremona's circle. Time to end this!

"I cast Claws of Alta-Viator"

Both claw attacks slashed across the surprised Death Mage, slicing deep into her body. Blood went everywhere and with a loud chime, the duel ended. The circles disappearing as they were converted to healing magic that wrapped itself around the unconscious Cremona. Tallsqueak picked her up gently and carried her towards the tower, being met halfway by an entire squad of medics. He handed her off and tiredly turned to Arlothe. "Are we done?" He hoped they were done, but he was worried that eviscerating the Storm Mage's wife right in front of him was going to cause him trouble. He was tired, annoyed, and didn't care anymore. If he wanted another duel, Milo was walking away.

Arlothe called out in a loud cheerful voice, "Victory to Tallsqueak by both a knock out and through points."

Several people that had bet on the underdog squealed in joy. Gaining 17 times the amount bet would keep them in snacks, favors, and spending money for the rest of the season. The students from House Emerald Wyrm were furious. "He cheated! He left his circle."

Arlothe shook his head. "A review of the rules will show that he in fact, did not cheat. Tallsqueak didn't 'step out' of the circles. Hands and tail are NOT feet. But I can see that a rewording and review of the current rules is certainly needed at this point. Please pay all debts, Moray, and I look forward to seeing you deliver 85 wheels of cheddar, or their equivalent, from your clan's vault. You should coordinate with Master Bleusnout. That is too much cheese to have loose in the Hollow.

Arlothe turned to Tallsqueak, his stern expression vanishing and a kindly smile appeared on his face. "Oh, you and she are hardly done. She loved that dress and will want a rematch someday. But not today,certainly. It's going to take her time to recover from her injuries. I warned her about the problems of fighting someone who had integrated spells with tail fighting."

"And now, why don't you and I have dinner? I promise a quiet evening with no stress or fighting. The cook has quite a nice meal laid out, and Cremona won't be up in time to enjoy it, so there's more for the two of us. I really want to talk to you about what your plans are for the machine, and I have a few experiments I'd love to share with you, and get your input on."

Milo was tired, and Arlothe seemed sincere. Dinner sounded good.

Chapter 129: Jelly beans are Hero Food.

Tweedle and Ringtail wandered into the mess hall whistling and looking innocent which immediately put Master Bleusnout on alert. They were dressed in the normal work clothes of mushroom hunters and he saw no knives or other sneaky gear on them. He pointed with a large wooden spoon at them from where he was mixing up Puffball Pancakes. The two immediately stopped moving and the whistling slowly died away.

"And just what are you two up to now?

"Us? Or do you mean those two people there by the window?"

"Must be them, we've done nothing..."

"...this time."

"He means 'all the time'. "

"We heard about the pancakes!"

"Yummy, Yummy!"

The spoon didn't waver, causing the two not-sneaky-guys to be worried. That spoon could do amazing things at distances that always surprised them. Bleusnout let them sweat for a bit, and then lowered the spoon. "If you are here just to eat, then I suppose I'll let do that. But no sneaky stuff, and no playing surprise. You two riled Larry up enough as it is. He's outside now, starving from all that extra exercise he got."

"He is? Oh my"

"We feel terrible about that."

"Can we help? Only fair that if we caused a problem..."

"...That we help solve it."

"That's us being responsible."

"Like it says in the book about Villages and Cheese and stuff."

"We'll take him his food."

"Tallsqueak told us he likes that."

"And we need to hear the rest of the stories..."

"The ones where he doesn't chase us."

"That was scary..."

"So very scary! Made us reconsider our life paths."

"How lucky we are to see a new path opening up...

"...a path with Puffcakes and our new best friend Larry."

Both of the twins shuffled their feet as they bowed their heads, clasped their hands and tried to make their sad eyes as big as possible.

The Master of Cheese eyed them, then said, "Well, stranger things have happened than you two getting scared into behaving. We'll give it a try. I can always chop you up for mushroom compost if you are up to something no good." He made up three plates, one of which had a quadruple helping of puffcakes and extra syrup. Tweedle grabbed the large plate and his brother managed the other two. They carefully walked to the other door, smiling at everyone as they went by.

Larry saw them coming, but didn't understand. That was Larry's plate and Larry's food because only Larry got such a big plate. But the people bringing it weren't Tallsqueak or Bleusnout. They were sneaky guys! Larry could smell them!

As Tweedle and Ringtail started out the door, Larry growled, deep in his throat. The sound echoed through the Hollow. Everyone in the mess hall heard it, and went very still. "Sneaky guys can't fool Larry! Larry's nose knows who you are." This wasn't something either Tweedle or Ringtail had expected. Luckily, they rarely made complex plans and went through life improvising.

"You have a good nose Larry!"

"A very smart nose."

"So smart, that we gave up being sneaky."

"Too much work."

"Tallsqueak always catches us!"

"Bleusnout always catches us!"

"Larry's nose always catches us!"

"And we don't hear the end of the stories."

"End of story is the best part."

"We are so sad to not hear all of the stories Larry tells."

"We just want to sit with Larry,

"And eat Puffcakes,

"And hear stories!

Larry looked at the two of them with suspicious eyes, and sniffed. Larry smelled puffcakes with syrup, cookies, and something else that was fruity-sweet. He was curious what that was. "What do not-sneaky guys have in their pockets?"

"Pockets? Yes, Pockets. Good stuff."

"How about we set down your food..."

"...and you can eat, and we show you pocket stuff!"

Larry's stomach was very growly. Larry reached for his big plate and took a bite. Bleusnout had told him they were having Puffcakes today. Larry had never had them before.

"Puffcakes are so good. Bleusnout says Larry's friend Tallsqueak found special mushrooms to make them."

Tweedle and Ringtail looked at each other.

"Tallsqueak wants us to help him with some chores."

"Special chores."

"Grandfather said we might even find more Puffy Mushrooms to make Puffcakes."

"This is a thing good guys do."

"Helping friends. We are very helpful."

Tweedle and Ringtail pulled all the items out of their pockets. Sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, shortbread, and jelly beans. The jelly beans had been particularly troublesome to get and Aunt Agatha was going to be cross and probably blame cousin Petey because he always stole her sweets. And Petey would come play 'surprise' with them, the version where he twisted their legs into new shapes. Petey always blamed them when he got in trouble for stuff he didn't do. And usually, he was right. But that was tomorrow's problem. Today, they had a bag of jelly beans to share.

"Grandfather and Tallsqueak said you liked cookies."

"And everyone likes jelly beans."

"Especially heroes."

"Because jelly beans are good hero food."

Larry tried a jelly bean and his eyes got wide. "Not-sneaky guys are right. Jelly beans are hero food."

Tweedle began to divide the jelly beans up.

"One for Me and one for Larry."

"One for Ringtail and one for Larry."

"One for Larry and one for Larry."

"One for Me and one for Larry."...

Larry liked the new way of sharing. He ate his share, but saved one of each color for his new friends at home, and a red one for Tallsqueak.

Larry looked over at Ringtail. "It is good that you are not sneaky guys anymore. Larry almost caught you today. Larry got more blue boxes from dancing. Larry will catch you tomorrow if you are sneaky. You should promise to not be sneaky guys."

Ringtail was more nervous than he had been a moment ago. "Oh, really? That's good, right? What did the Blue Boxes say, Larry?"

"Blue Boxes told Larry that he is now Rank 11 in Dancing. And Blue Boxes said Larry had learned new skill: Chase Prey. Larry is getting faster. Weasel slippers help and dancing helps. Agility 10 helps."

Tweedle wished he had agility 10! Even with several skills using agility, he was only at 8. Sheer terror at the realization that he and his brother had been chased by a Tier 3 cheese fiend warred with wanting agility 10. "Can you teach us to dance Larry? Dancing sounds like fun."

Larry considered the question. Tweedle and Ringtail didn't have Weasel Slippers to help them dance, but neither did Tallsqueak, and Tallsqueak was a good dancer. Not as good as Larry, but still good. Maybe Larry could teach them too!

"Larry will try. Hamster Hopping is fun, but it can make your feet go all twisty and you fall a lot. When you fall, you get back up."

Bleusnout came out a few minutes later to retrieve his plates and see if Larry had eaten the two idiots. He was astonished to see Larry patiently teaching the tricky parts of the Happy Hamster Hop. He went back inside and set aside a large stack of Puffcakes to save for the three new friends dancing outside the mess hall.

Chapter 130: Dinner with Arlothe

Milo followed the Storm Mage into the tower, everyone getting quickly out of their path and bowing politely.

The exception was a very small, female student named Patsy. She had a stack of papers with her and was pinning one to a doorway. When she saw Arlothe and Milo coming, she squealed with joy and ran up to the professor.

"They liked my idea professor! They liked it! I get to be third assistant to Ginny Sue! She's in charge of events. We're holding a tea and cookie social in a week! You'll come, won't you? You're our official advisor! You should come and have cookies."

Milo saw Arlothe wince slightly, before he put a big smile on his face. "Ah, of course I would love to attend, but I've already been to one of your clans' events, and that's my yearly limit. I can't show favoritism. And it would be so rude not to invite Tallsqueak as guest of honor. He is a visiting mage and dueling master. Think how exciting that would be?"

Patsy turned an looked at Milo, her eyes getting brighter and her smile wider. "Oh! What a wonderful idea. All of the girls were watching you duel today. You were so brave to face Professor Cremona. You even beat her and got to keep all your fur. She stepped closer to Milo and ran a hand along his arm. "It would be such a shame to have this silky soft fur ruined by a caustic poison cloud."

Milo agreed with Patsy, in theory. He wanted to keep his fur. He was also a little nervous about how close she was standing and how much she enjoyed petting his arm. "I'm, uh, not sure what I'm doing that day. Probably exploring spider caves or something."

Patsy nodded enthusiastically. "It's ok, we'll wait until you get back and you can tell us your stories. We love scary stories! We make hot fruit cider with cinnamon, and fresh cookies, and turn the lights down low. Scary stuff doesn't bother us at all. Promise you'll come, please?"

Milo found himself pressed against the wall by the small girl who folded one of her posters up and tucked it into his belt pouch. "There, you have all the information. We'll make lots of cookies just for you."

Out of his depth, and not knowing what the proper response was, Milo could only nod. And...cookies? "Can I bring a friend?"

Patsy nodded vigorously. "Of course, you can! This will be so fun. I have to go tell the others!" Having gotten an affirmative answer, Patsy ran off to tell the other members of the Clan Puffyfur event planning committee about their guest of honor.

Arlothe patted Milo on the back. "So good to see you inspiring the younger students that way. And for saving me from going, I totally forgive you for disemboweling my wife. Now let's hurry up to dinner before anything else happens. You probably aren't popular with the Eels, but Clan Manticore and Clan Raptor Tail will both be wanting you to attend their events as well."

The stairs of the tower wound upwards. Milo focused on staying right behind Arlothe so he could avoid meeting any more of the students. He got the impression the tower was a very large and complex building, with dimensions that seemed larger than he would have thought. Up and up, they went, and finally they came to the top floor.

"This floor is reserved for Professor Cremona and myself, along with the library, and the main laboratories. I'd give you the tour, but I'm sure you're as hungry as I am after putting out so much energy."

Arlothe showed him to a small dining room where another ratkin was setting out plates for two people and many dishes of food. "Just in time, sirs. I have a vegetable dish of mixed mushrooms, cave sprouts, winter leeks, and dwarven scallions. Next to that are skewers of steamed freshwater prawns with a light sprinkling of aged parmesan. There is fresh bread with honey butter and that large covered dish has an oven roasted cave tuna." He removed the covers of dishes, served them from the various foods, and then departed with a closing message. Arlothe thanked him. "Splendid as ever Cadburton, thank you." The waiter bowed in response to the thanks. "And of course, I'll be back later with tea and desert. But one question sir: Will Professor Cremona be dining tonight? I can fetch another place setting."

Arlothe seated himself and motioned for Tallsqueak to do the same. "No, she will not. She has to spend some time putting herself back together. I'm sure she would enjoy some thin porridge, a few raisins, and a six-pack of healing potions."

Arlothe began eating immediately and Milo took that as his signal to do the same. He hadn't eaten a meal like this since Sidney has tried to distract him with food. He missed that. Sidney had been a lot of fun. He hoped she had enjoyed their little talks as much as he had. Once again Milo wished there were places that he could go to in the real world for food like this. Could he reprogram the food processors? Probably not. But maybe he should look into some sort of advanced food preparation that he could sneak into Section E? Did they make automated chefs? They really should!

After they had stuffed themselves, the chef appeared again with tea, and something called flan. The large, wobbly looking desert reminded him of the Ever Pudding. He doubted that Oob had tasted this good. He needed to research this flan stuff more when he logged out.

Leaning back in his chair with tea, Arlothe studied his guest. He certainly enjoyed his food. It was obvious that many of the dishes were new to him, and he had enjoyed seeing the surprised delight on Tallsqueaks face as he tasted each. His guess was that he came from a very small hollow or even a cave in the wilds. That made sense when you considered his strange skillset with a mixture of magic and claw-to-claw combat. And there was that spanner...

"I was wondering, Tallsqueak, is that an Engineer's Spanner on your belt?"

Tallsqueak took his spanner and laid it on the table for Arlothe to see. "Yes. It's a symbol of a Senior Engineer. I earned it at the Deep Rock Engineering conclave, a couple of days travel from here."

That surprised Arlothe. Dwarves were known for being quite insular. "Dwarven Engineers? And they let a ratkin study with them and ascend to Senior Engineer? That is outstanding! I'd always heard that dwarves were a bit xenophobic."

Tallsqueak pondered that. "Maybe a little? They really don't like human beer, because it's weak stuff, and that may taint their opinion on humans. But they have a healthy respect for knowledge and efficiency. Maybe if the humans had more of that they would get along better?"

"But when we were fighting the World Boss, we all came together and fought, dwarf, human, even some elves and halflings. Everyone was getting along better after that. Although the loot chest and large amounts of beer probably helped."

Arlothe listened closely and nodded as Tallsqueak told him a little of his adventures. Much about him was explained. He hadn't spent his youth dueling; it had been real fights where his life was at stake. He'd have to warn the entire tower. They had no idea of just how deadly Tallsqueak might be in a duel, although they had been given some blunt clues today. Fighting like that didn't come with an on and off switch to change your style. Then again, it might be good to ramp up a few of the older students. Fighting duels wasn't going to help them defend the Hollow as much as a bit of real fighting. Maybe talk to Gilad about some classes together? That could be fun.

From flan, the two wandered into the laboratories. Experimental, (and mostly non-functional) equipment was everywhere. When Arlothe showed Tallsqueak his experimental apparatus for generating Storm Mana, the engineer became quite excited and asked many questions. "This is a working model of that old machine? We really need to upgrade it. This is a much better design!"

Arlothe was thrilled that he had someone to talk to. Cremona just nodded and said 'yes dear' when he talked to her about his projects. It was fair, as he did the same thing when she waxed eloquent about a new toxin she had integrated into a spell.

"Yes! Exactly. The rusting hulk by the waterfall was constructed by my grandfather and has been added to by many people. It has also been destroyed several times and rebuilt when a new part didn't work out like it should have. It's almost total junk now and the students steal parts from it for other experiments. I'd love to rebuild it with this design."

Tallsqueak asked many other questions and then nodded his head. "I think it can be done. I have fighting class in the morning with Master Gilad and then lunch with Larry, but after that I'll be over with my tools and we can get started."

The Storm Mage was greatly pleased. "I'll be there and bring several of my better students. They lack a good understanding of engineering. Maybe you can give them some pointers."

"I'd be happy to do that. We'll start with how to turn a screw, and go from there."

The discussion continued with a tour of the small library, where the tower had a collection of several hundred books on various subjects. Tallsqueak approached the books with reverance. "There are so many! I need to read these! Can I read them?"

"Well, it might take a few decades, but you can certainly get started and read when you can. It sounds like several people are keeping you busy. I'm going to shamelessly try to take some of your time as well. How about a trade? I can give you access to the library at all times, in exchange for teaching a class on Basic Electrical Principles for an hour a day. That also makes you a professor and all faculty can visit the library whenever they like, and if you are around for dinner, we can just set an extra plate out."

Milo thought that was a very good deal. "First class is tomorrow then. It will be on how to rewind an electrical coil. We need to do that with several dozen of the coils in the generator. Hands on learning is more efficient."

Tallsqueak departed later. He wanted to find Larry and see how his day had been.

Chapter 131: Sparring

Milo was glad he had stayed for dinner. The food was great, and Arlothe was fun to talk to, even if he did have some funny ideas about how electricity works. (Or was storm mana different? Milo made a mental note to experiment.) But best of all, he had a huge pile of new books to read. And without rude interruptions. No one was going to play 'surprise' on him in the library of the Tower of Strife.

The after effects of dueling had gone away. Arlothe had explained that some of the healing magic of the circles would have affected him as well. His muscles had relaxed during dinner as his body cleansed any remaining poison effects. The excellent meal had also helped, calming his mind as his belly filled up. He was looking forward to working on an engineering project and correcting flaws in the students' understanding of physics.

As he left the tower, he noted that there was still an ongoing argument going on in a large room of the first floor. He saw Moray and the other members of the clan in discussion with several of the students who had taken advantage of the odds on Milo and won big. There was a small stage, and Moray was speaking from a podium. Most of the room was dark and shadowy, with just two lanterns lit near the stage. Curious, he moved quietly to the edge of the door, and skulked into the room slowly, attracting no attention.

"Look, Moray, it's simple. We paid you our money and placed our bets, we won and now you pay up! All bets have to be paid on the day of the duel, no one can carry a debt. That's a rule!"

Moray shook his head. "Ah, my dear friend, Sinclair. Sometimes I wish I had joined Manticore with you so that I too could see things in such a simple and straight forward way. I have listened to your advice, but the situation is not that simple. For instance, this wasn't an official dueling day. I think it's logical to say that official rules don't cover unofficial duels."

A tall thin student in the colors of Clan Raptor Claw stepped next to Sinclair. "I will not even deign to give credence to that thin logic by arguing with you. It is irrelevant. The dueling was official as soon as Professors Arlothe and Cremona appeared and did not halt the proceedings or chastise us for our actions. Further, the third duel where these debts come from was run under the official rules set forth by the Marquis D'Camembert and officiated by Professor Arlothe, a recognized judge. If that isn't enough to sweep away your thin excuses, I'll point out you are accusing Professor Cremona of an unsanctioned duel. It's almost worth losing the cheese to see her reaction. What do you think she'll do to you when you besmirch her honor that way?"

Moray grew a bit pale at the thought. "Of course, I was not saying that at all. You are weaving a plot with large words, as usual."

Sinclair said in a loud voice, "Then it's settled. Official duel, and you need to pay us. I must say, I'm looking forward to seeing what house Emerald Wyrm has in their vaults. I'm thinking we clean out every corner and you'll have to restock with curds and whey."

The Eels muttered and huddled. Eventually Moray spoke to the crowd again. "There are additional problems. Some of you are gaining a large amount of cheese at once. For safety reasons, it would be better if the wise leaders of Clan Emerald Wyrm made sure that the flow of cheese from our vaults isn't more than anyone can handle. And, as much as it pains me to admit, yes, our oldest cheese will be brought forth. It will take time to assign value to it. Not all cheese is equal."

Patsy pushed her way forward. "You eels can't be trusted to do that! This is like the 'Cookie of the Month' scam you pulled, and 'Invest your allowance in the Pyramid of Wealth' scheme before that!" She then tacked up a flyer on the podium Moray was speaking at.

Moray tore the flyer off the podium, but noticed what had been added to it in bright pink letters. "Ooh, exciting! Clan Puffyfur is hosting Tallsqueak at their little tea party. Congratulations on nabbing such an impressive duelist for your house."

The people from Raptor Claw and Manticore bristled and turned towards Patsy. Sinclair was quite angry. "We agreed to discuss him together. Are you sneaking behind our backs?"

Moray sighed and looked saddened. "For shame."

Verona of Raptor Claw wasn't as easily fooled. "He's doing it again people, and right in front of you! Soon you'll be arguing about who gets the new member and Moray and the eels will sneak off and leave you wondering what happened."

Moray had actually begun moving to the edge of the stage, and one of his clan was quickly heading to the door. Strangely, he tripped and fell on his chin. A student no one had noticed before helped him up and pushed him, stumbling, back towards the stage. The assembled students formed a wide arc around the stage, and the argument continued. Finally, Moray admitted what he didn't want to admit.

"We might not be able to cover all the bets. Especially that monster bet Tallsqueak placed on himself at the last minute. Without that bet, I'm sure we could cover all of our losses. But we have to pay him first, so his windfall is what's in the way of your payouts. It's sad that such should happen, but I think, if we are all reasonable, we can see the dangers of unofficial duel days and mysterious outsiders being allowed to enter the circles and place last minute bets on themselves. Some of you are seeing two sides to the argument: House Emerald Wyrm vs the rest of you. But really, it's all of us vs. Tallsqueak. He's the problem. And you all saw how he fought? Viscious! Even taking advantage of Professor Cremona's trusting nature to win and take all of our cheese. And when I say 'our', I mean the entire Tower, and not just my own clan."

"But, I promise you, I will go speak with him and try to arrange something, the first chance that I can. He's scary, but I'm sure that I can stand up to him and make him see what's right in this situation." Moray congratulated himself on how a good part of the crowd was swayed, and the others confused. Even his own clan was impressed. Moray has obviously inherited the Dragontongue perk from his father, and was using his skill well. Once again, victory would go to House Emerald Wyrm.

From the shadows above the stage, someone dropped to the floor, landing just in front of the stage in a three-point stance and then stranding up straight. "No need to delay our discussion then, as we are both here now."

Moray felt victory make a U-turn and run away from him. Somehow, Tallsqueak was in front of him, with angry eyes and bold words. There was a small patter of applause for the perfect entrance, and Patsy cheered loudly.

Moray tried to rally. "Nice of you to answer my summons, Tallsqueak. How long have you been sneaking about?"

Milo answered in a neutral voice. "For part of a bell, actually. And you call that sneaking? I simply walked into the room. All of you need to work on your perception and dark vision. Pitiful, really, that I could just walk in unnoticed. And learn to look up sometimes. It will save you much pain in dungeons. A mage is only worth the spells they can cast. You are worthless and probably going to a quick death if you can't spot someone using a stealth skill." He looked around at the entire room and saw some embarrassed faces.

"And please, Mr. Moray, the correct way to address me is Professor Tallsqueak. I have agreed to teach a few classes while I am in the Hollow and you will give me the same respect you do to all of your professors."

All of the Eels took half a step back when presented with that statement. Things were sliding down hill. None of them liked Tallsqueak. The power and cruelty they had admired at first had turned to anger when he rebuked their offer and beat them in a duel. Some small part of Moray was pushing him to crush Tallsqueak, while the logical part of his brain said 'cower or flee'.

"Ah, yes, Professor Tallsqueak. Congratulations on your sudden promotion. But even a professor has to obey the rules, and you sorely abused the betting rules!"

Milo tilted his head to one side, thinking. Rules again. Rules people expected him to know when they didn't state them first. Sloppy. "Well, we wouldn't want that. Who made the betting rules?"

"Clan Emerald Wyrms set forth the rules for betting on duels three generations ago!" Moray was proud of his house for doing that, and prouder still of how it had increased the clan's wealth.

"I see, and who oversees or enforces those rules during duels?" Milo wished there was a rulebook for the entire Hollow. Maybe Gilad or Old Healer knew of one?

"Again, Clan Emerald Wyrms. We run the betting and adjudicate the rules. We are the last word on the rules." Moray felt it, that small window opening that no one else saw. A window of opportunity where he could delay the loss of so much wealth, and put this fake professor in his place.

"Well, that's good to know. So, at the time of the betting, your clan set the odds. You clan was in charge of the rules. Your clan didn't limit bets, and indeed, encouraged them. You were not upset at the betting and raised no objections. It's only losing that has you upset now. That can happen when you get greedy."

The window started to close. "But we don't have enough to pay both you and all the other people! Why can't you understand that!" Moray scowled at the eel who had blurted that out and broke the 'Only Moray talks.' rule.

Tallsqueak hopped up on the stage and spoke to the crowd. "I have a solution. I agree with Mr. Moray that too much cheese loose in the Hollow is a bad thing. I also don't need to have that much cheese all at once. So, I propose a compromise that solves many problems."

"Firstly, if there is not enough cheese in the vaults of Clan Emerald Wyrm, then logically none should be left in them. Representatives of all the other clans will help them clean out those vaults under the watchful eye of Professor Arlothe. I see we have people here from the other clans, so I suggest that Sinclair, Verona, and Patsy form a committee for the distribution of cheese, and each pick two clan members to assist Mr. Moray and two other eels in cataloguing the cheese, and moving it to the secure area under the mess hall, under the watchful eye of Chef Bleusnout."

Patsy raised her hand high. "I'm sorry, but I'm not the head of a clan like Sinclair and Verona."

Tallsqueak smiled at her. The way Professors smile and you aren't sure if it's a friendly smile or not. "Ah, but you are 3rd assistant to Ginny Sue, the event coordinator for Clan Puffyfur. And this certainly qualifies as an event. You'll do just fine, I'm sure."

"Master Bleusnout can verify the value of the eel's cheese, store it, and allow the clans to make withdrawals to control the flow into the Hollow. Any excess will be credited to me, and if not enough to cover what is owed me, I and Mr. Moray will seek the guidance of the other Professors on how to rectify the situation. I can foresee a trade of work by the eels to better the Hollow, and those contribution points going to me."

"This solves many problems: 1) Cheese is under control. 2) Debts will be paid. 3) Concerns over the eels never paying up is negated. 4) The Hollow benefits 5) Clan Emerald Wyrm is not crippled by debt unless they refuse to work it off. And I can be patient as long as I see them working hard." He turned and looked at the eels.

Moray grudgingly dipped his head. It was bad, but at least they wouldn't be in debt. Some part of him urged him to lunge at Tallsqueak and kill him. This actually scared him and he swallowed and nodded his head more vigorously. Where had that come from?

Tallsqueak turned to the other students. "I don't want to enforce rules, merely offer suggestions. How say you?" Hands went up, not quite all of them. A few Puffyfurs had made popcorn and didn't want the fun to end so soon. But the vast majority were in favor. Tallsqueak banged his tail on the podium twice. "It looks like we have an agreement. I leave it up to the committee to talk immediately with Professor Arlothe and make arrangements. I'm late for an important meeting so I will be leaving now."

Milo was so glad that was over!

He hurried to the mess hall planning to check on Larry, and then get some sleep, or log out and check on his various projects in the other world. Larry was usually sitting on the steps to the mess hall until the lights dimmed and most ratkin went off to bed. Milo was surprised, and very happy to see that Larry had made two new friends. The three of them were dancing together and there were even a few people watching. He wondered how things had gone with Larry and Charlotte. He'd ask about that tomorrow. He decided to not intrude on Larry and his friends, and head to the barracks for a nap.

He was just about to open the door to the barracks when a low voice said, "Surprise!" and strong hands gripped him, pulling him off his feet. His attacker pulled him backwards, folded him in half, and then they did some complicated roll that ended with Milo flying through the air trying to get his balance. He failed and belly flopped into the dirt.

He got up to see Gilad laughing at him. "Ah, glad to see I can still do a Flying Back Toss. Good evening, Tallsqueak."

Milo brushed the dust off of himself and bowed, a bit of his annoyance showing. "Good evening, Master Gilad. Do I have to worry about you playing 'surprise' from now on as well?"

Gilad chuckled. "Don't get your tail in a twist, young one. You earned that ambush. I suspected you were holding back in my classes, trying to keep some special ability secret to gain an advantage on me later. Your style has big gaps in it where something is missing. Imagine my surprise to find out you were dueling over at the Tower of Strife and showing off some nice physical enhancement spells. Bone armor and claws I believe they said? And an enhanced tail? No wonder some of your strikes miss, you are used to having more reach!"

The old warriors face became serious. "Why did you hide your abilities?"

Milo was unsure. Sometimes things progressed so fast when dealing with people. He got confused on what he should reveal and what he shouldn't. "Should I always tell people my secrets? That seems counterproductive, but I don't want to be seen as untrustworthy. And I wanted to learn to fight better without using my claws. I only used my spells at the tower because the silly students challenged me to duels and started fights. I even had to fight one of the Professors!"

Gilad's face turned into a grin. "And beat her from what I am told, with your claw fighting. As to your question, no, don't divulge your advantages. But just as you should train with your natural claws, you should train when using your spells. I checked, and you have a large amount of unused contribution points. With large amounts added recently by both Professor Arlothe, Chef Bleusnout, and the Old Healer. Why have you not asked for special classes with me?"

Contribution points? Oh! He kept meaning to check on those! "I would enjoy some extra classes. I learn a lot sparring with you. Not so much sparring with the other students."

Gilad turned and waved for him to follow. "Not surprising. You are nearing the third tier and have experience fighting monsters. And the benefit of fighting monstrous creatures is the points you earn for the hardest fights. Spent wisely, those can make you even stronger. These whelps are a tier behind you and still learning the basics, and with none of your extra skills.

You can only be challenged by me sending several of them at you at once." Gilad stopped when they got to the fighting ring. "I suggest we spar for at least a bell each night after dinner, and now that the Hollow knows about your little secrets, you should use your spells that enhance your fighting. Show them to me."

Milo complied. Gilad watched as boney plates covered Tallsqueaks forearms and shins. His toe and finger claws became longer and harder. The tail enhancement surprised him the most. Bone armor wasn't unheard of. There were mentions of it in the books in the Tower, and he had seen necromancers use the spells in the great war with the spiders. But this long, enhanced tail? He had never seen that spell before.

"You are some type of necromancer? I do not judge; I only seek to understand your bone enchantments." He examined Milo's claws, tested the armor with his own claws, and had Milo show how much control he had over the long, boney tail.

"Not really. My magic uses bones and runes. Old runes." Milo didn't want to have to try to explain things he only half understood, and Gilad seemed satisfied with that answer.

"Very well. Then we will begin sparring, but this time you should use your claws and tail. I want to test your limits. If you don't use exploding skulls and whistling harpoons, then I won't throw rocks. Agreed?"

"Agreed." Milo went to one end of the arena. Gilad bowed and prepared himself. Milo nodded that he was ready.

Gilad hit him. Milo had seen the old ratkin start to move, but then he was next to him, punching him in the face and tripping him with his tail. He started to press his advantage, but warned by some sixth sense, flipped backwards to avoid Milo's tail. He let Milo regain his feet. "The striking distance of your tail is a huge advantage, it made me cautious. Let us begin again, and do not blink at the start of a match. Try not to blink ever! Many warriors have skills to aid them in closing the distance between themselves and opponents."

This time, Gilad advanced normally. Milo pressed him, slashing with his claws. Gilad deflected them with open palms or his own claws. When Gilad struck, Milo blocked him with claws or forearms. Both were wary of each other's tail and constantly repositioned. Milo feinted with his claws, struck with his tail. Gilad dodge backwards, grabbed Milo's tail and suddenly Milo found himself whirling around and round before sailing through the air and landing in the dirt. "I have found a good use for that long tail of yours, Tallsqueak, it is an excellent handle with which to throw you."

Milo had to agree. The physics of the situation did favor that solution. "I noticed that."

Gilad motioned for them to start another round. "You should learn both to make your strikes so powerful that the opponent can only dodge, and so fast that dodging is not an option. As to your tail, be prepared to cancel that spell if they grab it as I did. Especially against higher tier or larger opponents. A cheese fiend would delight in smashing you into the ground over and over. They can't do that to a normal ratkin tail, too fragile. But yours is perfect."

Sparring went on. Gilad giving pointers and pounding Milo into the dirt. The consolation for Milo was that the Tail Master had to work for each victory. Gilad was sweating, and Milo had hit him several times with tail or claw. Gilad brushed off any concerns about Milo slashing him. "My regeneration is high enough that I will be healed by morning." After an hour, both were breathing hard and drenched with sweat.

Gilad stretched and cracked his back. "This had been very invigorating. I normally have trouble finding sparring partners. Justin says he needs to avoid bruises so he can guard the Hollow, and Brutus is quite clever in his excuses. Only the Old Healer is a match for me, and he is always busy with keeping control of the chaos in his clan. I look forward to a nightly spar with you, Tallsqueak. I will pass on to Old Healer that you will be seeking some lessons from him as well. His style is...well, you'll see. Or maybe you won't."

Milo was just getting his breathing to slow, when something made him turn and face a new threat. Something large and dangerous was charging at him.

Chapter 132: Not-Sneaky guys

Bleusnout was watching Larry carefully. Larry had been stable for a long time, and seemed to slowly be getting better. The Cheese Master had mostly quit worrying about him. His decision to let Larry stay in the Hollow after his transformation had not been an easy one. Larry terrified most of the Hollow. To the average ratkin he was both a monster that could tear them apart at any moment, and a reminder of what could happen to any of them.

But Bleusnout had seen that some of the youngster's personality still remained. It was muted, and overlaid with a desire to eat and fight, and his overall intelligence had gone down as much as his strength had increased. But there was still a good chunk of Larry inside, and the true berserker had yet to emerge. With time, patience, and a firm hand the chef had had hopes of helping Larry recover. It took a year to restrain his food urges. Larry only took meals with Bleusnout, and ate what was put in front of him. That had been step one.

Showing that Larry could control the fiend side of him meant that the Hollow saw that Larry was under control. Rather than terrifying, he became simply scary. True, not many people used the door near where Larry sat on the porch for hours, but they also didn't run screaming if they saw him nearby. He was always polite. That helped the most. He did ask for cheese a lot, but so did many young whelps. Many of the Hollow came to see Larry as just a slightly bigger child, not a mobile murder machine that could go crazy at any moment.

So, it had been a horrifying shock when Larry growled at the Ringtail and Tweedle. Anyone within a hundred feet of the mess hall had heard that growl. The primitive sound had triggered their 'Freeze or Flee' instinct, and everyone in the building trembled and wondered what would happen next. It took all of Bleusnout's willpower to keep smiling and calmly walk to the door where he overheard the conversation between the three of them.

"Sneaky guys can't fool Larry! Larry's nose knows who you are."

Well, that certainly confirmed how sharp Larry's sense of smell was. As the conversation turned to jelly beans, some of the tension in the Cheese Master relaxed, only to go back up as Larry started talking about 'Blue Boxes'. Everything Bleusnout knew about cheese fiends indicated that they didn't learn new skills easily, if at all. He was thrilled Larry had learned to dance, but put that down to the effects of a powerful magic item. Larry had told him about his 'dancing ring' and 'weasel slippers' given to him by Tallsqueak. He was less thrilled about Larry gaining the skill Chase Prey.

A stable Larry, begging for an extra bowl of little fishies for breakfast was something the Hollow could handle. And Larry dancing the Happy Hamster Hop was seen by all as a good thing. He would have to caution Tweedle and Ringtail to not mention Larry's new skill to anyone. He was also going to have a long talk with Old Healer about his 'sneaky guys', as Larry called them. He needed to forbid any of them from getting Larry angry and chasing them. As the three started dancing together, more tension left Bleu Snouts spine. He wiped sweat from his brow, and put a smile on his face as he walked back to his griddle. "More puffcakes for anyone? There's plenty for everyone." He set aside another three plates and piled them high for Larry and his new friends. They'd be hungry after dancing.

Ringtail and Tweedle were congratulating each other on still being alive as they made their way home, when one of them, and they were never sure who, got a bad feeling. They instantly went back-to-back, checked the ceiling and shadows. It was a disgusted Charlotte that emerged from a nearby shadow, having failed to score any points. "What are you two to up to?"

"Such a strange question?"

"Very open ended?"

"Not specific at all..."

"And yet, we get asked that a lot!"

"As if we are up to anything!"

"Not us. Maybe you mean those two people sitting by the window in the mess hall?"

"You should go check."

"We'll wait right here for you to get back..."

Their cousin barely tolerated them normally. Right now, they could tell she was several steps past annoyance. They wondered just how much further they could wind her up? Charlotte had a lot of ways to wind her up, if you twisted her tail just right. They practiced whenever they could.

"What the hell were you doing talking to Larry? You were even dancing with him! And why are you dressed that way?"

"Do you like our new attire?"

"I put this ensemble together on the fly..."

"We just had nothing to wear."

"And burlap is just perfect for picking mushrooms."

"Most of the stains come right out."

"I hear this is the fashionable choice in New Prestibule this season"

"It brings out the color of my eyes!"

"You should try burlap, darling, that outfit you have on now makes you look fat."

"She's not taking care of herself, is she?"

"Too much time longing for Tallsqueak to come sweep her off her feet."

She took a step forward, snarling. They stepped back, and each moved to flank her.

"Careful Charro. Don't do anything you'd regret."

"Only Petey gets to bend our legs."

"We don't play with you anymore. You're too stabby."

"And we aren't 'sneaky guys' anymore."

"We promised. So, no fighting with us."

"You'd hurt us...maybe..."

"And Larry would hear our pitiful cries of pain"

"And you'd get to find out just how fast our friend Larry is."

Char noticed with approval their continued small steps to bring her into the optimal position for a two on one attack. "Grandfather sent you to make friends with Larry, didn't he? After I turned down his 'secret mission'? Is that what this is all about?"

"She's smart, isn't she."

"She sees the obvious."

"And doesn't need a telescope."

"But still misses part of the story."

"We volunteered."

"You left open a door..."

"...and we stumbled through it."

"And got extra puffcakes!"

"Maybe a new skill..."

"Maybe a lot of AGI experience..."

"Heard a story..."

"Made a friend..."

"Good times."

Charlotte glared at them. "I want to know about this secret mission. You'll tell me when you find out."

"Oh, of course."

"Wouldn't keep you out of the loop."

"No betrayals on our part."

"Like what you did with the scavenger hunt..."

"And when you were our partner in Team Surprise..."

"Or when you planted jelly beans under our pillows."

"We trust you. Of course, we'll tell you."

"Because we are 'The Village Idiots who'll never learn'."

"Goodbye Char, Won't get far, with her Brain in a Jar."

"Off to see Grandfather."

The two backed away carefully from her and made their way to the clan caverns.

"I'd forgotten that one. She hates that rhyme."

"It's a good rhyme. Classic."

"One of Petey's best."

"Let's teach it to the littlest whelps, so they know it and can sing it at dinner."

Knocking on their grandfather's door, they entered and took seats. Old Healer looked up from where he was studying a book on alchemical remedies. "Back so soon?"

"Yes. We are indeed back."

"And soon means on time?"

"Rare for us."

"But we report success."

"Friends with Larry."

Their Grandfather closed the book. "Good. Very good. I will let Tallsqueak know. He'll be taking you somewhere. Do what he says. If you complete this mission successfully, it will count as your final for the year, and you will be full-fledged Shadow Skulkers."

The two looked at each other and sighed. So close, and yet a promise was a promise.

"We aren't Shadow Skulkers..."

"We are not-sneaky-guys."

"We promised Larry. And.."

"...he is our friend."

"We want to train as Scouts."

"Good guys. Defend the Hollow."

"Scouts. How convenient. I agree. Your first mission as scouts is to go find Tallsqueak tomorrow after lunch and go with him on a scouting mission."

The two left his office.

"We should go find Petey."

"So he can bend out legs?"

"I was thinking we should let him know we are scouts."

"Oh, right, Char will be annoying him now, not us."

"She hates competition."

"Char hates a lot of things."

"It will be fun watching char annoy Petey."

"More fun watching Petey bend her legs."

"Best day ever!"

Chapter 133: Different Like Me!

Larry had had a fun day. Bleusnout had made puffcakes for dinner! They were like pancakes, but so much better. One puffcake filled up Larry's belly as much as three regular pancakes. This was very good. A rumbly tummy made it hard for Larry to think about anything but eating, and the more rumbly, the better everything smelled.

And two sneaky-guys made friends and promised to be not-sneaky. That made them into not-prey, and Larry didn't feel like chasing them anymore. That was good, Larry wasn't sure what he was supposed to do when he caught someone, but he was pretty sure it wasn't good. And running and chasing made him hungry, and prey always smelled good. He would have to ask Tallsqueak about that.

Larry was walking home to Larry's house when he heard fighting noises coming from the arena. And Larry's nose smelled his friend Tallsqueak! He had so much to tell Tallsqueak. Jellybeans, new friends, and his new Blue Box.

You have taught three new people to Dance. You have earned the new skill: Dance Instructor.

Dance Instructor is an INT based skill.

You have earned 150 experience in Dance Instructor. Dance Instructor has reached Rank 2

You have earned 150 experience in INT. INT has been raised by +1 to a total of 1.

Larry wanted to go find Tallsqueak, but he remembered that he wasn't supposed to go to the arena. Maybe if no one saw him? The Weasel Slippers had told him that if no one saw you doing something, it didn't count. Larry was unsure of that, but he tried to be quiet, just the same. Carefully, very carefully, he took little steps and didn't fall down or make any noise. It was easy to not make noise when you didn't fall down as much.

It was easiest for Larry to move with both hands and feet on the ground, but Larry didn't like that and people looked at him funny. So he only walked with feet and fell down a lot. Only now he didn't!

As he was almost to the arena, he got another Blue Box. So many Blue Boxes! Larry hadn't seen Blue Boxes since...well, since before he was so big. But the last few days he had seen a lot.

Under the careful instruction of your Adorable Baby Weasel Slippers, you have learned the skill: Stealth.

Stealth is what Hero's do when they don't want Bad Guys and Sneaky Guys to know they are close by doing hero things.

Stealth is an AGI based skill

This made sense to Larry. Skulking is what sneaky-guys did. Stealth was for Heroes. Stealth helped him find his friend Tallsqueak. He almost didn't recognize him!

Tallsqueak had a new tail. It was long and boney. And he had new claws! And bones on his arms and legs. He was different.

Larry had always thought that different was bad. Everyone said Larry being different was bad. All of Larry's friends went away. Different Larry was a bad Larry. But Tallsqueak was good. A good fighter. A good dancer. A good friend. And now he was different. Different like Larry was different?

Master Gilad was helping him fight better by hitting him and knocking him down. Larry understood fighting. He used to fight a lot. He fought in this arena. He took extra classes. He wanted to be the best fighter and grow up to be like big brother Justin. He had liked fighting...

Larry didn't get to fight now. Bleusnout said it was because he was 'different'. But Tallsqueak was different now, and he was fighting with the best fighter in the Hollow.

Larry had a big idea. Tallsqueak was different like Larry was different! That was probably why Tallsqueak was Larry's best friend. He knew what different meant. He went down to tell Tallsqueak about Jellybeans and being different. Maybe Larry would get to fight?

Milo turned suddenly. His danger sense was telling him something was sneaking up on him, but it was only to Larry slowly walking towards the arena. Larry looked happy. Gilad had paused, eyes on Larry as the Cheese Fiend almost walked into the arena. Larry stopped when he got to the arena's edge, and carefully kneeled down, almost pitching forward but managing to balance.

Gilad noticed with happiness that Larry remembered the rules, and didn't enter the arena until told to. "Greetings Larry. Are you here to watch us spar?"

Larry nodded both up, and side to side. "Larry would like to watch you fight. And Larry brought Jelly Beans. Would you like one?"

He held out two of his precious Jelly Beans.

Gilad walked over to Larry, thanked him, and took the two candies, handing one to Tallsqueak. Milo looked at the small, red, oblong candy in his hand. "This is a bean? Do they grow on plants?"

Larry didn't know. But he wanted to find out. He would plant Jelly Bean Bushes all around Larry's house. "Larry got them from Tweedle and Ringtail. They are hero food and very tasty." Milo ate his and agreed.

Gilad turned to Tallsqueak. "One more round, if you don't mind. I wish to see...something." Milo saw the small nod to Larry and didn't mind one more fight. It was a slower fight, with Gilad throwing basic claw attacks that Milo blocked easily. They fell into a rhythm, moving around the arena using claws and tails in basic attacks, Milo following Gilad's lead. It ended when Gilad's tail slapped hard on Tallsqueak's thigh as he mistimed his dodge.

Larry clapped and looked excited. "Good fight! Can Larry fight too?"

Gilad looked at Tallsqueak as he spoke. "Larry is Tremendously strong and has Fiendishly Sharp Claws. They are easily equal to my claws or yours but backed by his huge strength. So be very careful, and block every blow. Do not worry about Larry. His Mutant Regeneration can absorb damage that would kill ten of you or me. Keep the pace slow. We don't want him getting excited."

Milo looked over to where Larry was bouncing up and down on his toes and clapping his hands. "Not excited. Got it."

Gilad spoke to Larry, keeping his tone slow and talking low so Larry had to pay attention. "Larry can fight a little bit. Do you remember your basic claw and tail attacks Larry?"

Larry did. It was like a little rhyme. "Step and strike. Step and strike. Hop and spin. Tail slaps, step back. Block and attack."

Larry had tried to do his fighting exercises before, but he always fell over on the first strike. That wouldn't happen now because Larry had Weasel Slippers!

Gilad motioned for Larry to enter the ring and showed him where to stand. "We will go slow, and I will help you with the movements. You have to remember how big you are now." Larry stepped forward and swung a claw. Tallsqueak blocked with an armored forearm. Even warned, he nearly got knocked over. Just how strong was Larry?

The next step gave Larry trouble, but he recovered and stepped a little further, giving himself a wider base. Tallsqueak braced and blocked the next attack. Then Larry hopped in the air, spun, and his tail knocked down both Tallsqueak and Gilad both; the move had been so fast.

Tallsqueak got up, shaking his head. Gilad rolled to his feet, but one of his eyes was swelling. "Tell me what you did to move so fast Larry. Think carefully."

Larry repeated his steps with no one in front of him. Step, strike. Then another step and strike with the other claw. Then a hop...oooh! "Larry hopped! Larry is good at hopping now. Larry is good at dancing."

Milo understood. "Larry. You should dance instead of stepping. Make it a dance." He took a further step back, and prepared himself. Gilad held his breath. Larry began to dance.

His first step towards Tallsqueak was powerful and balanced; he swung a claw as he spun a bit and took a second step. Tallsqueak ducked that first attack and blocked the second with both hands, deflecting it and not letting the full force of the blow impact him. As Larry hopped and spun, he leaped high in the air. His own tail would have hit Larry on the snout, but somehow, Larry ducked and took a step backward after his spin. The two fighters were back in their starting positions and Gilad called a halt.

Gilad had trained a young Larry. He had been good. Very good. He practiced constantly, and only his small size had kept him from guard training, his full growth not having arrived yet. Now? Now he was better. The speed of a fiend with a strange grace that used constant movement. He was immediately pressing Tallsqueak, forcing him to fight at least as hard as he had against Gilad himself.

"How did that feel, Larry?"

The cheese fiend was breathing a little fast, but not from exertion. "It feels good. Exciting. Not falling over is exciting."

Gilad was conflicted, to say the least. Letting Larry fight could let lose the berserk fiend that lived inside of him. But not letting him fight would be a travesty. Fiends didn't fight like this. They plowed into a line of foes, slashing with claws and teeth like animals, running on all fours and eating what they killed. Gilad wanted...no, he needed!... to see if Larry could fight with claws and tail. Could he train a fiend to be a fighter and not an animal? And how could he deny Larry a chance to regain a part of himself? It was unthinkable.

He clapped his hands. "Larry. Tallsqueak. I think this is good for both of you. You are both tough and regenerate quickly. You both need practice and better opponents. We will all fight together, the three of us. Two hours each night. 10th bell to 12th bell. And then we will have an extra breakfast. Fighters need extra calories."

He stepped into the ring. "You may rest Tallsqueak. I will take the next bout with Larry."

Milo sat down. He was tired, but happy. And hungry. He hoped that Bleusnout still had food left from dinner. He could smell the puffcakes as he walked by earlier. Delicious.

Larry has learned Dance of the Claw and the Tail.

Dance of the Claw and the Tail is a DEX-based skill.

Milo (Tallsqueak)

Dancing has reached Rank 1

Claws of Alta-Viator has reached Rank 7

Spine of Volat-Repat has reached Rank 7

Rune Carving has reached rank 6

Bone Carving has reached rank 6

Weak Poison Resistance has reached rank 10

Strong Poison Resistance has reached rank 7

Stealthy Skulking has reached rank 8

Climbing has reached rank 7

Dodge has reached rank 8

Combat Block has reached rank 5

Sense Danger has reached rank 8

Forage has reached rank 6

Overall Level has reached rank 10

Chapter 134: Midnight at the Library of Death!

Milo was exhausted and he wanted a bath.

Two hours of sparring with both Larry and Gilad after a day of dueling had worn him down both physically and mentally. But strangely, he felt better. Any annoyance from the day was gone, washed away in the joy of fighting and learning. He wasn't babysitting whelps, he was pushing himself to the limit and learning.

Every time Milo learned a little, Gilad seemed to know more as well. He wasn't an unbeatable foe, just very hard to surprise or outmaneuver. The Tail Master had years more experience than he did, and fought many foes. Even with his spell enhancements, Milo had to work hard to even land a minor blow.

And Gilad was enjoying himself. Teaching whelps meant holding back. Milo didn't think he was holding back anymore. Between his high toughness and constitution, and his armor, Gilad just didn't seem to be worried about hitting Milo to hard. Some of his throws and punches had actually cracked Milo's bones. When that happened, Gilad stepped back and watched with curiosity as Milo put himself back together with his spells. Milo split his concentration in half. Part of him was fighting and trying to block and strike back. The other half was watching Gilad, memorizing his stance, his balance, and how he threw each punch, kick, or block.

Milo noticed that most of his bruises were coming from tail strikes. It was nearly impossible to know what Gilad was doing with his tail. But Milo was learning. And paying for the knowledge with bruises.

Larry's fighting style was evolving as he became more and more used to fighting again. Some of his dance steps lead to less than optimal solutions. Several times when Milo expected a hard tail slap, Larry instead did a quick set of hops or steps, dancing to music only he could hear. Other times he was devastating, using his speed and strength to its full potential, fighting like a whirling dervish.

Milo was starting to copy some of his moves and integrate them into his own style. There were times when a quick hop or leap was better than a more conventional step. And Milo had always been a fan of spinning tail strikes.

While Larry was eating a massive pile of food provided by a wary and nervous Rifkin, Gilad and Milo had discussed each move, the balance needed and the attacks it might branch into. Both were excited for the next night of fighting.

Larry declared himself sleepy and went off to bed at Larry's house. Gilad suggested Tallsqueak also get his rest. Fighting class with the whelps would come early. Gilad himself was going to sit and enjoy another pot of tea, and think about how to counter whirling claws backed by hulking muscles.

Milo decided that he wanted to go to bed clean. The waterfall sounded like a good spot to visit, he'd seen other people bathing there before and washing clothes. It was deserted as he arrived, which he was happy for. He took off his sweat-stained clothes and stepped into the water in just his magic pants. Feeling better after a shower, he shook himself dry and then took clean clothes from his ring and stored the dirty ones. He loved his Ring of the Scout Master. So very useful. His Smuggler's Stash was also a great way to store items, but it took a lot of stamina to bring out, and he didn't like the idea of people knowing about it.

The Tower of Strife was quiet. Not silent, as he heard some voices coming from it, but certainly quieter than it was by day. He saw lights in some rooms, including the top floor. He had an urge to go read and find out what was in the library. Why not? He was a Professor now, and by the rules he could use it at any time. Milo decided that anytime was now.

Three students were at the door, talking softly. They stepped aside and bowed. "Good evening, Professor." News had travelled fast it seemed. Milo waved to them and headed up the stairs. He was happy that the library was 'all the way up' and that getting out was 'all the way down', as nothing seemed to make sense in the tower. It was obviously bigger on the inside than the outside. He had peered into a few of the rooms and seen lecture halls, practice rooms, and areas with large sofas and students sitting, talking, or napping. Other stairways branched off the main spiral, going to parts unknown. Was this magic related to Arcane Libraries and the extra rooms on the airship?

The topmost level was empty as he made his way to the library. The room wasn't large, and mostly taken up with bookshelves on three sides. On the fourth was a small fire place and hearth. Several overstuffed chairs each had a lantern floating over them. The lanterns were glass paned, with copper frames. They seemed to just float in the air. Milo pushed one and it moved. How convenient! A long table with four chairs complete the furnishings.

Milo sat in each chair until he found the most comfortable, and moved three lanterns around it to provide optimal lighting. Then he went looking for books. Some were quite interesting, detailing the history of one Hollow or another. A huge volume was a gruesome account of the 2nd Spider Wars. The books on magic were slightly useful, and talked about proper spell casting, flow of mana, and the theory of basic spell casting. Milo had learned from practice along with the help of the game mechanics. Was he missing something by not doing things the way spellcasters in the Hollow's did? Experimentation was needed. He set several books aside to read.

The other books on magic could be divided into three categories: Death, Storm, and junk. Obviously influenced by the two senior professors, there was a collection of books on each of their styles of magic. The last category of books were just junk. Trashy romance novels, a book of puns, several crossword puzzle guides, a guide to the secrets of engineering that had everything about the electro-magnetic spectrum completely wrong.

Milo stacked the junk to the side, and contemplated his small pile of books on basic spell casting. He would work through those, then the books on Storm Magic and finally Death. He was disappointed. He had expected a lot more. There was nothing on runes, enchanting, bonecarving, alchemy, and all the other branches of magic. This struck him as odd.

It only took him a few minutes of searching to find the secret latch. When pressed, one of the shelving units pivoted, revealing a much larger room. This room was twice as big as the first room, with four times as many books. Most were stacked on the floor, or scattered where stacks had fallen over. The room needed work, and Milo added it to his list. He could straighten things up as he looked for the things he wanted to read. Tonight he just wanted to find the book on bone carving that the scavenger had mentioned. He'd been straightening and searching for an hour, when noise behind him alerted him to someone's prescence.

Professor Cremona was standing in the doorway between the two rooms. "My, how studious. You had three duels, stole my husband and my dinner while they stitched me back together, and now it's time to relax with a good book?"

"You left out two hours of sparring with Gilad."

Cremona paused. "Well, then you do deserve some down time." She turned and spoke to someone in another room. "Makes that snacks and tea for two please. Professor Tallsqueak is joining me."

Milo wasn't going to turn down tea and snacks, but the woman made him nervous. "Are you angry with me about the duel?"

Cremona stepped into the room and Milo noticed she was using a cane. "I am angry at myself for underestimating you, letting my husband restrict the playing field, and losing a nice dress. I am certainly not angry at you for finding a way to win. We play hard here in the tower, but we don't hold grudges over duels. You found a loophole and used it."

Milo felt some relief. "Good. I don't want to have to watch my back in the library. Its bad enough with all the Shadow Skulkers playing surprise! I was hoping to read in peace."

Cremona bowed to him and smiled. "And so you shall. If there is one place in the tower where peace is guaranteed, it is in here. Now, what are you looking for? Or just randomly seeing what the unsorted stacks have in them."

Milo started on another stack. The top book was on moths and how to train them. More junk. "I am looking for a specific book on carving bone runes, but also any book on runes or ancient runes."

Cremona began looking through a section of shelves. "So those were ancient runes empowering your spell constructs. I had thought so." She pulled a thick book covered in goat hide out from the shelf and blew the dust off. "This might be what you are looking for. It's a copy of the Journal of Ragasano Curd-Hoarder. He was an eccentric explorer who last came through this area several decades ago. Each time he came through, he would update our copy. It's an interesting book, but written in the native language of his homeland, Mascarpone Hollow."

Milo took the journal and turned to the first page. The velum of the pages was covered in handwriting with a tight, small script. He recognized the language as a dialect of Italian. "I can read this." He began turning pages as he read line after line of a lonely ratkins life wandering through unmapped caverns looking for things long forgotten. Cremona rolled her eyes and chuckled. She had found Tallsqueak's secret weakness: He loved books. Not surprising then that he knew Mascarponian dialect. Curd-Hoarder had left his books everywhere, and many scholars learned his language in case they turned up his journals and guidebooks.

Cremona herself picked up a book from the 'trash' pile. "And I'm in the mood for a totally unbelievable book about a dwarf/elf romance. Since I'm terribly injured I'm going to use that as my excuse for reading such garbage."

The two professors sat in overstuffed chairs, read, and drank the tea. After an hour, Cremona saw that Tallsqueak was asleep. She put a quilt over the exhausted boy and went to find her husband in the laboratory, to pry him away from his experiments. They all needed some sleep. The students seemed to have inexhaustible amounts of energy and the faculty had to be well-rested to keep them under control.

Chapter 135: Bad Guys!

Two creatures moved through the dark, their many eyes making out most of the details of this place, but unable to pierce the darkest shadows. They were careful to stay on the main strands of the webway, and not dart too 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 had. Becoming a meal for some hungry ten-legged lizard would be both messy, and depressing.

They observed the dark opening on the wall above them. In times past, some ancient race had carved the likeness of an orcish general. A scar ran down one side of the face and huge, broken tusks jutted up from his open mouth. Below them was the remains of an ancient city where feral goblins prowled. It was a forgotten place. A dead place. No one who counted lived here except for the exile they had come to talk to.

They had no intention of entering the exile's lair. Going inside would surely 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 to entering the exile's lair. 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 too high, hitting the ceiling and making it squeal in pain before it fell to its death. Far below a long-tailed landshark leaped and caught the smashed mole in its jaws.

The second was too low, and tumbled down a slope until it was grabbed by a cave lurker and eaten. The lurker took its time, torturing the digger-mole. The little prey made amusing sounds! Encouraged, they worked to aim the final one correctly. The last shot was just right, and sailed into the opening. Not wanting to waste the last small mammal, even if it wasn't moving anymore, they tossed it through the opening as well. And then they waited.

Time went by, the faint sounds of small bones snapping coming out of the entrance to the lair. 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 partners rear two legs before running away as fast as he could. 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. But I accept. Oh, and next time? Use plumper small mammals as offerings. Leaving me hungry was a bad strategy."

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!" Mickey was sure the others would be happy with his information. He'd been trying to gain some respect from the guild officers. Respect meant better loot when it was distributed on a raid. He wasn't happy when they didn't instantly pat him on the back and thank him. This was great info!

"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 dungeon. It would have helped if Mickey had been there. The gnome assassin would have increased their dps. Showing up after the raid with some suspicious information wasn't gaining him any smiles.

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. And he has some friends with him. The four of them found out everything. 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 clear out the others and take over. This starts a whole series of cool quests in the subterranean 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. Most people got a few levels, figured it was a starting area, then took off. Then the gang wars started up. Lots of experience, a chance to earn the assassin class, lots of loot. It was hard to do, no walk through at all. But there are several players high up in Squint's organization now. More stuff is opening up to them. Pretty strange quest lines."

"Then the World Boss fight that a player triggered. I've heard of players getting into Mining Guilds, and maybe even a way to join the Engineers. Now, the Slaver Wars that are going on, and 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 female pirate dwarves all over the place building ships for some secret mission. Crazy assed game. Got to love it."

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 in the event.

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 faction inside will take out certain people before hand, 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 ratkin fortress."

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, where most of them will make their last stand. 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. You might even be invited into the Hollow you wanted to conquer, making things much easier.

His agent in Limburger thought he was bringing 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. There was also every reason to bring extra warriors. He didn't put it past 'Sneaky-Guy' trying to double-cross him. It was a small chance, but stranger things had happened. Gangrene had few friends, even inside his own Hollow. So 'Be suspicious and take extra troops' was his motto. Hopefully his lieutenants didn't get ideas while he was gone. He'd made sure that each had something to fear if he didn't return, and most of the cheese was locked up and guarded by his fiends. If Gangrene didn't return, they were never getting it. The fiends wouldn't leave the room, and no one sane opened a vault full of cheese around hungry fiends.

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. But not much of a profit. He wanted news of the good deals he offered to travel ahead of him. Limburger was sure to hear of the traveling caravan on its way to them, and rather than be surprised and wary, they'd be welcomed 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!"

Chapter 136: Because we care

The beeping of a priority message broke through to Milo in his game, waking him up. He had set up an additional system to make sure he was alerted to anything important happening in the real world. Broken pipes, exploding electrical transformers, and overflowing sewage lines didn't send a message. That was reserved for important things like shipments of cheese, intruders in sensitive areas, and messages from Wally or Kate. The alert was sent through his tail, and utilized an option in the game to alert players that something was wrong with their pod.

Like all the other safety features in his pod, this one had been turned off. After being trapped in the game for several days, he had gone through the programming in the pod line by line, resetting safety features he wanted to keep, and removing any system that sent automatic updates on medical statistics or other data. All of those systems now worked with his own systems, and nothing else.

In the game, the alert woke him up. He opened an eye halfway, saw that he had been asleep in the library, comfortable in the overstuffed chair with a blanket over him. He left himself sleeping in the chair and logged out of the game.

The alarm was about a message from Butch. "Yo! Ghost! Check your damn messages on your door sometimes. I had to find the silly code you gave me to send you an email. Big day coming up, and the guys want to get with you to fix-up some trade stuff and deliver a few things you've been looking for. Show up for lunch sometime. Mom misses you (and has something she needs to talk to you about.)"

Milo got out of his pod, set the cleaning and diagnostics programs running. He took no chances with the pod now, keeping it well repaired and testing it for anything out of the ordinary on a regular basis. There were people...well, AI who behaved like people... who knew roughly where he was. He had to be more careful.

That thought had him look in on another project.

At the start of construction for the habitat, a huge hole had been carved down into the bedrock. The base of the habitat was almost a thousand feet below the surface and support pylons went another hundred feet beyond that. To dig such a massive hole, four Carson X-19 Excavators had been employed. The huge earth moving machines drilled into the earth, pushed along by tracks, with dirt and debris pulled away by a huge tube that extended out behind the machine. The displaced earth and rock had been used along the coast to build sea walls and artificial beaches. Three of the X-19's had been moved to other projects when the foundations for the habitat had been dug, and one was left in the bowls of the habitat in case of some future project or expansion. Milo happened have such a project in mind.

He had reprogrammed the driller and done the needed repairs on it. He felt it was a shame he couldn't bring some of the Deep Rock Engineers to help. They would have had a great time modifying the device. (And probably would have 'borrowed' it at some point.) It looked curiously like the vehicle they had used against the World Boss, only several times bigger.

Milo wanted someplace much safer than his current home, in case he had to move. Someplace no one knew existed. He'd set the X-19 to begin in the corner of the lowest level of section E, and had it bore down two hundred feet. Then he planned to remove a large area of rock and build a sizable area to claim as his new home. In some ways he was making his own little Hollow. It was going to make it more difficult to deal with problems in section E, but dealing with problems was a way to minimize his chance of being discovered. If someone found him and forced him to move, then someone else would have to worry about fixing section E in the future.

It was a slow process. He had to carefully dispose of the removed material. Luckily, several of the sections had unfinished lower levels where the debris would never be noticed. He could have more easily built his new home in of those abandoned areas, but he wanted a spot where nothing was expected to be, and where no one would think to go looking.

Everything looked good so far. The access tunnel was dug down to the 1200 foot level, a full 200 feet below the base of the habitat. He did an inspection by camera and set the X-19's programs to begin working on clearing out a large area. It would take months of slow work, but Milo was fine with that as long as it resulted in a larger, and completely hidden, home.

That was one project seen to. His next was checking on the assembly units working with the graphene components he had been acquiring little by little. The assembly units had been set up and programmed with his designs two weeks ago, and the two initial projects started. It took very little time to fit each minute component into the framework, but that was multiplied by millions of pieces to complete each project. He was happy to see that one of the pieces was done and ready for testing, with the second only a little behind it.

He pulled the jet black glove out of the assembler and checked it for flaws under a scanner. Nothing seemed wrong with a preliminary scan. The next step was testing. Power was supplied and he plugged the glove into his system, and placed it on a hand shaped apparatus he had made just for testing this glove. The frame was flexible, and would allow movement seen normally in a hand. Over the next twenty minutes he tested combinations of motion to make sure the microscopic motors and platers were working together. Milo had no desire to put a hand into an untested device. He'd rather break a rubber and wire frame than his own bones. He was already missing pieces, he didn't want to lose more. When nothing went wrong, he decided to do a full test.

Power for the glove came from a storage battery which he could wear on his back. It was roughly one square foot in area and two inches thick. Power cables ran to the glove down his arm, and the control cable connected to his middle socket. He carefully slid in his hand, and moved one finger. The bio-feedback circuits felt the push and made the glove move in a similar fashion, only with much greater strength. He ran through the same set of motions he had made the glove do before, and spotted no major errors.

The glove was soft and thin, covering all of his hand except for the last joint of his fingers. If you didn't look to closely, they looked like faux leather gloves. Even a close inspection would only make a person believe they were of a more expensive material. Which they were. Several million times more expensive.

He sent a command to the glove and the graphite panels moved to cover the fingertips. Ridges ran along the back of the fingers ending in one-inch claws. He could feel the slight buzz as the micro-motors came to life and the material became much harder. Moving to a wall panel with nothing behind it, he used a claw to scratch, accidentally punching through the metal panel and putting a three inch tear in the material.

The question of how sharp the graphene claws were had been partially answered. He'd do further testing later. Right now, he needed some practice with them, and for that he needed to wear them for a few hours. The other glove was just coming off the assembly. After running it through the same tests as the first glove, he put on the harness that held the battery pack, and connected both gloves to power, and to his middle socket. With his standard black hoody and long leather jacket, you wouldn't know he was wearing them.

He decided that he'd wear them down to see Butch and his family. He needed to get comfortable wearing them, and the chaos of Butch's family was a good testing ground. The gloves would most likely handle the chaos better than Milo could.

A half hour later he was stepping out of 'his' front door and pounding on Butch's door. Butch's mother answered, holding a baby. Milo had long ago lost track of how many brothers and sisters Butch had. His mother often babysat for other families to earn favors, so the count was always confusing. Butch's dad was also named Butch. Milo had never heard anyone call his mother anything other than Mom or Mama. Even after a year, he didn't know her name.

"Oh, look at you! A proper ghost you make in all that black and with those sunglasses on. Come inside, I'll turn down the lights. Butch told me your eyes are sensitive. Grab a seat anywhere. I need to talk to you."

Milo did so. Butch's mother moved around the small apartment for a moment and then brought him over a stack of paperwork. "I know your smart. Probably a lot smarter than you let on. And you don't trust anyone. That makes you the best person I know to look that over. Tell me if my sons and husband signing this will be a mistake."

Milo took the paper and started flipping through it, while at the same time making a note not to underestimate Mama. She'd noticed things Butch and the gang hadn't, and her assessment of him was correct. Since she already knew about him, he didn't bother to hide his reading speed, and started working his way through several dozen pages of the contract. If Mama Butch knew he was smart and needed a favor, then he could ask for a favor back. "No one hears how smart I am. Promise?"

She nodded. "Promised. We help each other. No one talks." That was a rule Milo liked.

The papers were work contracts. Five year contracts working for a corporation that would put them in pods and use them in the Genesis game. Each person spent 144 hours in the pod and then 24 hours out. They got weekly pay of 50% of their salary, and then a big chunk at the end of 5 years, and a penalty if they didn't finish. There were pages and pages of legalese and clauses that he was sure hid ways the corporation could enforce the contract, limit their liability, or skip the final payment. That was how corporations worked. And while anyone was free to sign or not sign such contracts, they often had no choice, and barely understood them. Milo was happy to help them change the rules.

Milo went through the 37 page contracts, and then started making changes. "No one has signed these yet?"

Mama shook her head. "Nope. My husband is a group leader, and they want him and the other's on board first. Once the two dozen group leaders are working for the corporation they get two weeks training and then they get everyone else to sign up. They recruit from their territory in the habitat, and there's a bonus for how many people they bring in. Is it a fair deal?"

Milo shook his head. "It's a deal. I'm not so sure it's a fair deal." He pulled a data-pad from his sack, and plugged it into his glasses. His dark glasses were already connected to one of his plugs and could act as a data screen if needed. He got to work. He needed to look up applicable labor laws, and then make some changes. Butch and his dad came in while Milo was working. He didn't look up and Mama moved them to another room. The smallest children were playing a game that involved Milo playing the part of a sleeping monster. He didn't notice them either.

Two hours later he finished, and pulled out a storage chip from his data-pad. He saw Mama and the rest of the family waiting for him to finish. "I'm done. I changed things. This is a better deal. It protects you if you become sick or hurt, and closes off a lot of loopholes. I also put in some flexibility to the schedules in case of emergencies, and added that there needs to be oversight and arbitration panels."

"I also made a sheet of suggestions that I think the company could use to stream line some parts of their operation. An efficient HR department can do things better and for less cost if set up correctly. If this is a profitable venture, they could have half the section working for them."

Mama looked at the rest of the family. "And this boy doesn't need hassles. So no mentioning who helped you re-work all of that paper. Keep it simple. You have a lawyer helping out, but doesn't want to be involved. They can fill in the details themselves."

Butch grabbed Milo. "Good, then you're done with your homework? The rest of the guys are waiting. We've got food too." He looked at Milo's gloves. "Gnarly! You got some of those new gaming gloves? I read where those help with wrist and palm fatigue. Figures you'd be ahead of the curve on getting a pair of those." Milo just nodded. Gaming gloves? Something else he needed to look up.

In an office full of expensive oak and leather furniture, a meeting was taking place. One man was pouring over a modified contract that had been handed him to review. A second was relaxing with a cup of coffee. The third man, boss of the other two, was ranting and pacing.

"Can you explain to me where a bunch of half-illiterate Hab residents found a lawyer to rework this contract? And what kind of lawyer works that way?" John Sabbatino had glanced through the new contract, while his lawyer, Jacob Atkinson, was looking at each individual change and making copious notes.

Erik was drinking his second cup of coffee, and enjoying the morning. Nothing had blown up or collapsed today. That was a good day on this project. He took John's question and started ticking off the possibilities on his fingers. "The type of lawyer who lurks about and waits for us to screw up so that they can move in with a class action law suit representing 100,000 employees, having proof we were warned of problems. One who has used people in the Habs for a job before, and considers them a resource. The type of lawyer that warns you about something, just so you don't cross them. They did the work on the contract, and sent it back unsigned, to see what we would do."

John was pacing. "I don't like it."

Erik kept his voice low and non-confrontational. "Of course you don't John, I don't like someone getting involved in this way, either. But look at it in a different way: They didn't ask for money. They aren't really threatening us outright. They are just saying "Treat my guys a bit better than normal. Some of the suggestions and changes are actually better for us. We want a competent, flexible workforce that we can rent out to any corporation. The original contract was pretty rigid. This new version works better and will get more people signing up. And we won't be fighting with the workforce constantly, or losing people. Now contrast that to some of the other people you have worked for. The ones who settle problems with violence. I think this is better."

Jacob's phone rang. He took the call, and walked to the corner of the room where he talked in a low voice, nodding a lot. Finally, he hung up and came back to John, looking shaken. "That was...uh,..That was the big computer, the one in charge that they call Wally? He actually phoned me up to tell me how happy he was with the wording in the new contract and to thank us for our work. He greatly approves of the changes to our original. He's hoping our new business goes well and can raise the standard of living for the workers we hire."

Erik looked at John. "That kind of Lawyer."

John took a deep breath. "Right, so set up the expanded HR unit, get the arbitration board ready to go, and reprint all of those contracts." He forced a smile on his face. "I see this as a good thing. We're all set to move ahead, and have a stamp of approval from the creator of the game. Let's spin this as us treating our workers better because we care. And hey, lets get a thousand or two buttons printed up with that. Just 'Because We Care', what a great slogan!"

Chapter 137: Tunnlemuggles

After three hours of trading electronic components, fixing old video games, and eating two bowls of something called 'dumplings' Milo stood up and said he had to go. Five of Butch's gang waved or patted him on the back, while Butch nodded at a girl called Yumi. She finished her food, stood up and fell in with Butch and Milo. Milo had grown used to having an escort. Butch explained that it kept everyone out of trouble. Milo on his own was too much of a target, and it was better if they didn't tempt anyone into taking a swing at him. There was much speculation in the gang as to what would happen if someone did jump 'the ghost' again.

It had happened one time, recently. One of Butch's little sisters came running and said she saw people picking on Ghost. A large older man had knocked Ghost down, demanding his fancy sunglasses. She'd ran to get help. Butch came running, but only found the older man on the ground clutching a broken leg, and his partner complaining about his nose, which was flattened on his face and gushing blood. Ghost was nowhere to be seen. He just shrugged when asked about it a month later. After that, Butch always made sure to give him an escort after their swap sessions.

Yumi was surprised when Butch turned into a hallway where the air handlers weren't working any longer. The hall was fine, but the apartments were deathtraps with bad air and filled with garbage. Ghost reached up with one of his braces, knocked aside a loose ceiling panel, and then got a boost from Butch into the area above the ceiling. The panel slid back and Butch started walking back to the group. Yumi yelled after him. "What's up? Where does he go?" Butch shrugged. "That little guy comes and goes. No one's figured him out, or where he learned how to run the vents. But he's damn good at fixing old games, and anything electronic, so who cares if he takes some weird route home to avoid getting jumped." His tone told Yumi that she shouldn't care either.

She took one more look at the ceiling, then hurried to catch up. She had her own problems. Butch knew some of them, but he never said a word. Sometimes having a group around you that knew to just be quiet about things was enough.

Milo thought of the strangeness of going to sleep exhausted in the game world, and waking up refreshed here. Now he was tired and entering the game again, where he'd be waking up to another day. He did this quite a bit. It let him get a lot more done, and minimized his downtime. He wondered if there was any downside to doing things that way? And how would you measure?

As Milo woke, a voice nearby coughed politely. The waiter? butler? who he'd seen at dinner and in the library was setting down a large wooden mug of tea and a loaf of fresh baked bread with butter and honey oozing from it. "The Professor felt that she may have kept you up late last night, and apologizes. She knows you have an early class at the arena. I took the liberty of preparing you food that you could take with you."

Milo thanked him, grabbed the bread and tea and ran for the stairs. He wasn't sure what time it was, but he had to be late. The stairways however were filled with students going to their first classes. He leaped onto the circular railing that spiraled to the ground and yelled. "Watch out, Professor coming through!" The jealous students, expressly forbidden from doing exactly what they saw Professor Milo doing, watched as he gained speed heading for the entrance. He managed to turn the headlong dive into a double summersault at the end, only spilling a few drops of tea. He emptied the mug, tossed it to a surprised first year, and ran off to the arena, eating the bread and honey along the way. He made it to the opening of class just in time and began to run the novices through stretches and basic stances.

Then he spent an hour of sparring with the better students and trying to teach basic stances and strikes to the novices and players. He was surprised how repetition of the basics was helping him. Claw fighting was becoming more and more natural to him with dodges, blocks and acrobatics starting to merge into a continuous way to fight. And hops. Some of Larry's hops and steps were very useful. He was looking forward to working with Gilad and Larry, even though he still had bruises from the night before.

Breakfast was muffins with smiley faces. As the muffins came hot from the oven, Smiley and Rifkin labored to draw the faces with yellow icing. Rifkin seemed to struggle with it, while Smiley was using an icing tube in each hand and humming the Hamster Hop song. To go with the muffins were cheese omelets. Bleusnout was carefully giving one per person. When he saw Milo, he smiled broadly. "Ah, there you are. I have some good news for you."

When there was a break in the line of hungry ratkin, the chef made sure nothing was going to burn and then took Milo aside. "I owe you an apology, Tallsqueak. When Larry growled at the twins yesterday, I was worried he was getting worse. And his new skill terrifies me. So, you can understand my worries when Gilad explained that you and he were teaching Larry to fight. I can only keep Larry here as long as he has no aggressive tendencies. Growling and chasing people makes that harder to do. But you won't believe what he did this morning!"

"Perhaps you could tell me?"

"Of course. Of course. He turned down cheese!"

Milo had been prepared for any number of things. But not this. He was immediately worried. "But why? Is he sick?"

The chef smiled. "Larry came in early and I assumed it was because of the smell of cheese. He was drooling a little, but he told me he just wanted muffins! Can you believe it?! He said that cheese made him too crazy, and a crazy Larry doesn't get to fight with his friends! Do you see?! He wants to fight more than he wants cheese! It's a tremendous break though. I'll be sending word of this to many other chefs if all goes well."

Bleusnout filled a huge tray with muffins and one omelet before handing it to Milo. Milo reluctantly handed back the tasty egg dish, his hand slightly trembling. "If Larry isn't eating cheese, I shouldn't either. It's not fair to taunt him with it. I'll just have more muffins this morning." He took the tray outside, along with a large jug of warm milk and two earthenware mugs. Larry was sitting there telling a story to Ringtail, Tweedle, and three smaller children.

"...and the flowers were so upset that they started to cry, and that made the bees sad. When Mr. Bear came for honey, the sad bees didn't buzz around him like normal. Mr. Bear went to see Mr. Owl. The wise old owl flew and asked for help from Brinka, the Tunnelmuggle. Brinka knew someone who could help, and she went through her secret tunnel to Larry's House. Larry said he would help, because he was a Hero, and Heroes always help, even though he was too big to fit in the little Tunnelmuggle Tunnel.

But Brinka knows a secret dance and taught it to Larry. Larry and the Weasel Slippers danced the magic dance and went to flower-land. Greggy Gurner and the Pickle Gang had all of Larry's friends trapped in cages. Larry used stealth, like Heroes do when they need to get close to bad guys. Larry jumped out of the bushes and bopped Greggy Gurner on the head until Greggy didn't get up again. All of the pickle boys cheered because they didn't like Greggy either. Some ran away to be bad guys, but most of them said they would be good pickles, not sneaky pickles. Larry's friends were happy and they had a big dinner with lots of food before Brinka helped Larry go home."

Milo was impressed. Larry was getting a lot better at making up stories. He sat the big tray of muffins down, and poured himself and Larry some milk. "Muffins for heroes."

Larry was very happy to see Tallsqueak. He had a lot to tell him. He told him about his new friends Tweedle and Ringtail, and how they were not-sneaky guys now. And he told him the entire story again about Larry saving Flower-land. "But Larry is very tired today. Saving Flower-land made Larry miss sleepy time. Come wake Larry when it is Larry's turn to fight." Larry yawned and wandered off to his house for a nap. Milo suspected that Larry had stayed up all night dancing, yet again. He was gaining ranks so fast! The endurance of a cheese fiend was frightening.

Ringtail and Tweedle turned to Tallsqueak.

"Grandfather sent us."

"You have a secret mission?"

"Well, kind of secret."

"Hard to keep a secret once you tell Char."

"She mumbles when mad."

"And always mad."

"She won't make friends with Larry."

"Probably best...

"We made friends with Larry."

"And aren't friends with Charchar."

"Big improvement in friend quality."

"And we are scouts now!"

"No surprise! We promise."

Both twins crossed their hearts and nodded. Milo looked at the two of them. "Scouts? What is the difference between Scouts and Shadow Skulkers are they the same clan?"

"Oh, easy...but not."

"We blame love!"

"And dwindling population from Spider Wars."

"Sneaky Clan Married Healer Clan."

"Healer Clan married brave scout."

"Some scouts thought sneaky girls were cute!"

"Lots of marriage and kids, and three clans living together."

"Then more spiders."

"Less people, lots of jobs."

"Grandfather is best healer..."

"Also has to be best sneaky guy, and bravest scout!"

"Great-Uncle was Scoutmaster, maybe Deathmaster, not here now."

"Grandfather does it all, makes him prickly."

"Never know who we are talking to."

"Scouts explore, kill monsters, make maps."

"Sneaky guys, explore, kill things that need killing, find secrets."

Untangling the words of the twins, Milo suddenly had a few things click into place.

"So, correct me if I'm wrong on any of this. Your great-uncle was the Scoutmaster and had a special ring. He went missing. He shared duties of Deathmaster with his brother, Old Healer. Now your grandfather is all three, and Char wants to be Deathmaster and train the Shadow Skulkers."

The twins nodded. Milo showed them his ring. Four eyes in two heads got very large.

"I have a class to teach. Go get dressed for a scouting mission and meet me here a bell before dinner." Milo got up and headed to the Tower of Strife. The twins sat silently for a moment, then began talking in hushed tones.

"Things get clearer..."

"But more confusing!"

"Head hurts...Tallsqueak is Scoutmaster?"

"Secret scout mission makes more sense."

"Good thing we are scouts!"

"Does Char know?"

"NO! Would be frothing at mouth."

"So much frothing."

"Things looking up for scout clan!"

"Much room in new organization."

"We are smart."

"In our humble way."

"Quick, must prepare for mission."

"What do scouts wear?"

"Something with pockets."

Chapter 138: This is a wrench...

Class was mentally exhausting to Milo. It wasn't hard to teach, the students sat still and listened, perhaps because Professor Cremona was standing behind them. But he had to keep making his explanations simpler, and back tracking to explain basic concepts. It got easier once he assumed that they only knew magic, and nothing of engineering. He started from nothing and explained basic concepts. Such as how easy it was to electrocute yourself, that you could not 'absorb electricity' to empower your spells, and that a wrench was used to turn a bolt, and should never be used as a hammer. (Unless surprised while sleeping by some idiot playing surprise.)

Some of these concepts turned into discussions. The idea of too much power was a vague concept for many of the younger mages because they never had enough mana for spell casting. The idea that an electrical system might have enough power to turn them into a little black smudge on the ground was both frightening and intriguing to them. None of them had been around large machinery, or seen a lightning bolt split a tree or light a building on fire. (Milo had never seen lightning either, but had seen videos of its destructive ability.)

As the lecture went on, Milo moved to the most basic explanations, and offered promises of more knowledge to come later. The class came away with the ideas that electricity could kill, and it could also be a useful tool. In that both cases it was similar to Storm Mana.

By the end of an hour all of the students knew how to turn a bolt, and everyone was taking turns getting hands on experience by taking off the covers on the old machine, and replacing them. Two adventurous Raptor Claws figured out the different types of screw drivers and were looking smug as they explained how to take things apart to a trio of Puffyfurs. They weren't as good at putting a component back together, but they vowed to do further research.

He took the best of the class and moved on to the theory of power generation and why electricity and Storm Mana were different. Arlothe was a great help here. Milo knew the two types of energy were different, but not what the connection between them was. Storm Mana could generate electrical effects, but how did electricity make Storm Mana?

The secret to understanding turned out to be a basic property of mana. Arlothe explained that most ambient mana in the world was untainted by aspects. Milo thought of this as basic mana. Basic mana near certain substances or places in the world could take on additional properties. Battlefields and graveyards would generate Death aspected mana. A roaring fire would generate fire tinted mana. And a large amount of electrical energy would change ambient mana to Storm mana.

While a mage had only so much mana that they could call upon at any one time, they could also tap into supplies of aspected mana that were nearby, or better yet, stored in objects. Arlothe held up a basic staff loaned to him by one of the third-year students who had just finished her project. "As you can see, Winifred has constructed her staff from a thick piece of bramble thorn. The thorns have been removed, the wood straightened, and a stain and polish have been added to give the grain a nice luster. While this may seem unimportant to casting spells, remember that a spell is an extension of the willpower of the mage casting it, and when focused through a tool such as a staff, the quality of the tool matters. By working with the wood and refining its shape, Winifred is more familiar with her staff and it will be a better focus for her will."

"Notice what has been added to the top of the staff. The simple magi-tech crystal encased in a copper framework can hold 50 storm mana. Winifred can charge this staff each night, and have that mana available for duels or blasting spiders."

Arlothe pointed the staff at a target and let loose a Blazing Arc spell. "The spell I just cast is beyond Winifred, but not when she is holding her staff. She has made an important tool to aid her in her pursuit of knowledge." He handed the staff back to the student, who immediately began checking it over for any cracks or problems.

Arlothe then raised his own staff above his head. "This is a Battle Stave that was passed down to me from my mentor. I have made small improvements to it over the years, and hopefully will pass it down to a worthy apprentice. This staff has runes for Blazing Arc and Electrocuting Death that make casting those spells 20% cheaper. It can also hold over 2000 storm aspected mana." He paused and appreciated the sounds the students made as he showed off his staff.

Milo was impressed by the storage capacity of Arlothe's staff. That much extra mana would be very nice to have in a battle. Of course, once gone it needed to be recharged. "How long for a staff to regain all of its mana?"

Arlothe turned to the class. "Professor Tallsqueak has a very good question: How long to recharge my staff? The answer varies on the method. If I simply lean it against a wall and ignore it, a very long time, most likely a month or more as the staff gains small wisps of ambient mana and converts them. However, I can add to that, by recharging it with my own mana each night. The process is not without some loss. Winifred's staff has a resistance of 50% meaning she will need to put 100 mana into her staff to recharge 50. My own has only a 20% resistance being made of better materials. I will need to put only 2400 mana into it over a few nights to recharge it."

The students pondered this knowledge and had several questions. Milo went back to looking at the machinery. Then he walked up to Arlothe and spoke. "I have a theory to test." He looked over the students. "Winifred, you get to be my assistant for today since you figured out how to use a screwdriver." He pointed to the rest. "Class project for today is figuring out how to remount the waterwheel in its frame, and connect the belts to the axle. If you can't figure it out, find someone who can. Arlothe, I need the Storm Mana storage unit repaired."

There was a small pause, and then everyone ran to get to work. Arlothe noticed the difference in Tallsqueak immediately. It was like someone else was suddenly inside his skull, and attacking the project. Maybe several someone's? Cremona accused him of doing the same thing when working on his own projects and it was very interesting to see the creative mania in someone else. He happily got to work on the storage device and was soon as lost in his work as much as Milo.

The original use of the machine had been to generate Storm mana by making electricity. Milo was working on the generator, and Arlothe was fixing the large storage device for Storm mana which turned out to be the large glass globes. Arlothe was also skilled at glass blowing, and could use a combination of cantrips from that craft with a tiny electrical arc to fuse broken pieces together and repair cracks. By the end of three hours, they had the equipment at one end of the machine running. The waterwheel turned, generating the physical power to send two halves of a huge lode stone spinning in opposite directions surrounded by coils of copper wire. Milo judged the production of energy to be only a fraction of what the apparatus would do once he rebuilt and fine-tuned it, but he was happy to get it running.

The students were amazed, staring at the arcs of power while wearing dark goggles. They held their hands near the machine to feel the Storm mana condensing as electrical power was made. Several members of Clan Puffyfur were mesmerized with how their fur stood on end when they got close to certain parts of the machinery.

Tallsqueak made some small markings in charcoal on the storage device, then turned to Winifred. "Please put your staff in the slot next to the storage device." The nervous student did. Tallsqueak watched as the staff recharged. The rate was much faster when the staff was close to the machine, especially adjacent to the storage device. "I need a student with a bigger staff please, several of them."

Runners were sent, and several students of the upper classes were hastily torn away from what they were doing. Each was told to expend their staves against the targets set up, blasting the wooden spiders to splinters. Being specifically told to let loose like that was fun. Then one by one they handed their staves to Professor Tallsqueak for recharging. By this time there was a sizeable number of students gathered and watching.

Tallsqueak explained his findings to Arlothe. "I've figured out a few things, but more testing is needed. The rate of recharging for staves depends on several variables such as power supplied by the generator, amount of storm mana present, number of staves being recharged, and the quality of the device. I will have some preliminary theories available soon, and need to do some research in the library. But lets do one more test." He turned to Arlothe and pointed at the wooden spider targets that had just been set up again. Arlothe understood and turned to face the wooden foes. A few of the smarter students put on their goggles.

"Transcendent Storm of Power!" A large black cloud formed at the top of the ceiling, and lightning bolts obliterated the targets.

The ground in a 30-foot diameter circle was blackened, and thunder rolled away, startling the rest of the Hollow. Arlothe leaned on his depleted staff, a wistful grin on his face. "Ah, I missed doing that. A bit irresponsible of me to expend all my mana at once, but this is an important experiment." He placed the stave in the machine, and Professor Tallsqueak closed a circuit with a switch.

Storm Mana arced from the glass globe to the stave, recharging it in seconds. Milo handed the charged stave to Arlothe, made some marks on the depleted glass globes, and shut the machine down. Some of the coils were close to burning out and he didn't like the way the linkage to the water wheel was sounding. He'd learned a lot today, but had so much more he needed to find out!

He assigned several of the student's to small projects. They were talking excitedly about what they had seen, and several of the older students were revising their own experiments. Tallsqueak and Arlothe began talking about their next steps.

Tallsqueak hoped to increase power in the coming week, but was upset at the quality of the copper wire used in the coils. It was inferior and prone to break. He complained about it to Arlothe. "Why is your copper so bad? I know the Hollow has mines, and I see a basic subrogator attached to this machine. But this copper wire is full of impurities. Why?"

Arlothe scowled. "We just have bad copper. And that isn't a subrogator, it was used to pull the arsenic and other impurities from the hard copper ore. My wife uses the poisons that were made in her spells. She was hoping to find a way to create a storage device for poison infused mana, but that eluded us. If we could find a way to get better copper, I'd be delighted."

"Hard copper?"

Arlothe picked through a pile of ore near the broken not-a-subragator. "This ore. It's like copper, but too hard. It doesn't refine well and is full of impurities. Which is a shame. There are huge veins of it in all of the mines and little in the way of the good copper that I need for wires."

Milo was instantly excited. "Show me! I need to see the ore vein that this came from." He took his pick from his pack and yelled. "Electrical class is over. Mining class is starting in 2 minutes."

Arlothe didn't argue, he was curious. "Well, if we are heading to the mines, I should put on suitable work clothes. I'll be back in a moment to help you herd students."

Arlothe, Milo, and a dozen students headed towards the mines. The opening to the mines was past the barracks, and near the start of the tunnel to Larry's house. A basic blast furnace and several blacksmith shops were in full operation in the cavern just outside of the mines. Milo saw another pile of 'hard copper' where it had been separated from the more basic ore. Just that one pile was worth a large amount of gold, and ten times it's weight in regular copper.

The mines were old. Milo could see that generations of ratkin had worked here, slowly expanding them. Arlothe took Milo down a short tunnel that ended in a solid wall of Deep Copper ore. "See? All over the place. We mine until we hit too much of it in the rock, and then go another way."

Milo took his pick out, and easily began mining large chunks of Deep Copper. It was almost pure ore and within minutes he had a huge pile at his feet. He had been waiting for a Copperhead to materialize and surprised as he dug more and more ore without anything happening. "Do you ever get snakes from mining it? Small elementals that materialize from the ore?"

Arlothe shook his head. "No, I have never heard of that. We do have a lot of spiderlings in the mines. The guard trainees patrol the mines keeping the population down. But no snakes."

Milo had seen the spiderlings. They were indeed, all over the mines. The miners were constantly killing the small ones, or running from the larger ones. The guard trainees and novice fighters were constantly clearing out one tunnel, only for more to appear somewhere else. Even as he had been mining, a fat one named Nollylob had run up to try and bite Patsy on the ankle. The Puffyfur had shrieked and leaped in the air, both feet coming down on the poor Level 1 named boss, squishing him dead.

"Oooh! I killed it and got a special point! I'm a hero!" Several of the house Manticore students looked upset and jealous. Plans were made to start organizing groups to hunt spiderlings in their free time.

Milo had the class sit while he explained the difference between copper and Deep Copper ores, and how higher tier ores were more valuable, but also harder to mine and process. "The Deep Rock engineers use a subragator to refine deep copper. It's a complex machine that pulls out impurities and smelts the ore to free the Deep Copper from the rock and dirt. It runs off electrical power they generate from waterfalls or by burning coal or liquid fuels."

Arlothe looked at the vast veins of ore. "Are you implying the dwarves would trade this ore for regular copper? That would let us do so many more experiments."

"Yes. They would trade copper, steel, even Dark Steel or other metals for Deep Copper. And wouldn't mind trading for loads of ore. Dark Steel picks would let the Hollow's miners work faster. We might even be able to set up our own subragator here."

He and Arlothe talked about possible projects as they walked back to the tower. Arlothe had a wild gleam in his eye. "We need to talk to them, and somehow convince them to travel to us. I've always been held back by a lack of components. What is the relative value of Hard Copper to normal copper or iron?"

Milo knew that iron was extremely plentiful, much more so than copper. "Probably 10 to 1 for copper, and 20 to 1 for iron." Arlothe was thinking, and stopped, looking around. "Are you saying that for only 20 tons of Hard Copper ore the Hollow could gain a full ton of iron ore? That is outstanding!"

Milo corrected him. "You need to turn the ratio around. 1 ton of your ore in this mine is worth 20 tons of iron ore. There are costs of transport, and probably it would be easier if we put a subragator here and trade for ingots of metal." Milo found himself grabbed by the arm, and hurried off to a meeting with Bleusnout and Cremona.

Chapter 139: Scouts doing what scouts do best.

Tweedle and Ringtail were waiting for him at the start of dinner. They had on sturdy outfits of dull brown with many pockets, backpacks, a bandolier of knives, rope and grapples, bedrolls, and a bag of jelly beans. They'd had two bags of jelly beans, but had shared with Larry. Several of the smaller children snuck away from parents to listen to Larry tell stories after dinner, from the safety of nearby window close enough that they could listen. More people in the Hollow were warming up to Larry, but it was a slow process. After stories, during a jelly bean break, Milo spoke quietly to Larry.

"Larry, I need to ask you a favor."

Larry thought about it. "Larry thinks it is ok for a friend to ask Larry for a favor."

"Thank you, Larry. Can I show Ringtail and Tweedle your house and the secret door?"

Larry looked very excited. "You are going to use the Secret Door?! Do Larry's friends in flower land need help? How does Tallsqueak fit? The secret door is very small unless you have a Tunnelmuggle for a friend. Can Larry come watch you squeeze through the door? That will be fun to watch!"

Milo remembered Larry's stories. Larry's house had one secret door that he knew of, so why not two? Stranger things had happened in the Hollow. He had no idea of what a Tunnelmuggle was, so he was sure he didn't know one. Maybe Larry would introduce him?

He whispered to Larry. "We are using the secret door I found in the rock, the one I told you about that I found when running from spiders."

Larry was less excited. He really had wanted to see Tallsqueak squeeze through the other door. "Oh, that one. That is not very special. It is a boring secret door. No Tunnelmuggle making it magic, and no one but Tallsqueak ever came out. You can show that one to new not-sneaky friends. Tell them it is a boring secret door though; that way they aren't disappointed. Larry sees it all the time and is not excited. Not special like other one." He looked down at his feet and got a big smile. "Larry needs to go dance now. Weasel slippers need exercise."

Larry hopped to the wide-open area next to the mess hall and began dancing. Several people were clapping, and two small children were dancing with him, having snuck away from their parents. Milo motioned to Tweedle and Ringtail and they made their way to the tunnel that led to Larry's House. Larry had added things to his house since Milo had been there last. High up in one wall was a very small opening with a round green door only six inches high. It was set into the rock with very small hinges. Milo thought it was cute. Milo examined it, but couldn't see how it was joined to the wall, or how it opened. He'd have to ask Larry more about it.

The other new item was a potted plant. The bush was only two-foot tall and sat in a corner of the cave. Little fruit were growing on some of the branches. Tweedle and Ringtail stopped in their tracks when they saw it.

"A Bean bush?"

"Cannot be, is only one."

"And that one guarded by aunty."

"Fiercely guarded!"

"This one is bigger."

"And all fruit not ripe yet."

"Yucky bad, sour."

"But..."

"Yes, but..."

Milo wasn't sure what the problem was. He moved past the bush and opened the secret tunnel, moving into the room beyond. The twins were still arguing about the bush for some reason. "Are you two coming? Secret scout mission? Remember?"

"Oh, yes. Sigh"

"The mystery of mysterious Larry deepens."

"He surprises us at every turn."

"And he turns a lot. So many surprises."

"But we are scouts!"

"Time to scout!"

They made their way through the tunnels. Milo showed them the traps and warned them about the poison, even though most of it was old and weak. "You might find one that is still good, and that could hurt."

"Brother?"

"Yes, Brother?"

"We should not have slacked on poison training."

"We may have erred, I agree."

"Poison traps are a lot scarier when they are real!"

Milo paused as they got to the center area. "Did you perhaps shirk Mycology classes too?"

"We must have, I don't know Mycology."

"I don't know what shirk means, I skipped shirking class."

Sighing, Milo explained mycology to the twins. They nodded in understanding.

"Mushroom picking. We did that. "

"But none of the other stuff. Drying, mixing,"

"Suspensions? poultices? Rennet? All shirked."

"Because if you admit knowing something...

"Then you have to go do it all the time for Old Healer."

Milo pulled out his spanner. "This is the Wrench of Wisdom. It can impart knowledge to scouts that lack it, bringing forth submerged memories of things you didn't even remember knowing. But gaining such knowledge comes with pain."

"Ah! I believe you. My head hurts already."

"And I feel the wisdom already."

"Mushroom class! Basic Alchemy!

"Making the nasty rennet..."

"What mushrooms are not edible."

"All mushrooms are edible!"

"All?"

"All mushrooms are edible once. Maybe not twice."

Milo stepped forward and raised the wrench.

"Ah, wisdom. I see it."

"I am smarter and willing to stay smart."

"Good. First job. I have brought many gathering sacks. We need to harvest the Puff Balls first. Listen please. Very important. Tasty mushrooms that way. Mushrooms that are only edible once are that way. Don't harvest those."

"Are they truly that bad." Tweedle was peering down the tunnel to the cave of poisonous mushrooms.

Milo started walking to the other cave. "We can ask your Great Uncle. He died from them and his bones are still poisonous."

Ringtail hit Tweedle upside the head. "Here, have some wisdom."

Tweedle nodded. "Thank you, brother. The stupid part of me really does want to go see the bad shrooms. I'll ignore it for now."

The puffballs filled many gathering sacks. He had the twins take them back to the room next to Larry's House and went to gather one gathering bag of the various poisonous shrooms for Professor Cremona. By the time he was done, the twins were back. They stared in awe as Milo showed them where he had found their great uncles' corpse. Then he took them to where he had buried the body. There was a patch of earth where the dirt was a different color and nothing grew. They put on masks and gloves and carefully removed the soil until they found his bones and placed the brittle, toxic remains into a bag that was then sealed inide several more. Milo put them into Tweddle's backpack.

Ringtail pointed to the unexplored tunnel. "I notice that you have not mentioned that tunnel. In point of fact, you said you didn't know what is down there. Being that we are brave, brave scouts, should we not explore a bit?"

Milo couldn't see why not. They skulked carefully down the tunnel, looking for traps. Milo found the first one, and showed them the mechanism, and now familiar trigger. They studied how it was made and how it could be reset. The twins saved the needle for 'poison practice' that they wanted to do later. Further along, the tunnel branched again. They took the rightmost tunnel. Ringtail went first this time. He was carefully looking for traps when he spotted one a few feet ahead. "Look brother, I am getting better at this." And then his next step went right into the floor and he fell through it.

Milo had known something was wrong as soon as Ringtail's foot hit the not-really-there floor and he was diving for his apprentice scout. His stone sense told him where the rock ended and the illusion started. He managed to grab him by his foot as he fell into the deep hole, and his claws dug into the rock on the other side. Ringtail looked down. The hole went far, far down and he could see a small ring of light at the bottom hundreds of feet below.

"I am not getting better at this!"

Milo was thankful for his increased strength from mining. He was able to hold onto Ringtail until Tweedle secured a rope and dropped it down to him. Milo was now on the far side of the incredibly clever illusion, and the twins together on the other.

"Wait here. I'll go a little further and then make my way back." He skulked forward slowly, staring into the darkness and using his stone sense to the fullest.

The tunnel ended abruptly in a rock wall. Stone sense showed him that there was a small door on the side. Two more needle traps protected it. Once opened, he saw a narrow passage filled with steep, crumbling stairs leading downwards in a tight spiral.

On the small landing was the long dead remains of a small humanoid, smaller than a dwarf or ratkin. It was only two-foot tall, and the corpse was light and mummified. The clothing was just rags held on with ropes. The cause of death was most likely the arrow in its side. The other side of the door showed where the poor thing hand scratched at the stone with a tiny iron sword, trying to get through. Milo decided this was a scouting mission for another day.

It felt wrong to leave the tiny body. He picked it up to move it and a tiny silver globe the size of a marble rolled out of its pouch. Milo pocketed it to examine later for clues as to what type of creature this was. He wrapped the body in another gathering bag, shut and locked the door, and retreated to the pit. Knowing the pit was there, and were it ended, made the leap across look easy. The twins exhaled as he landed safely. He handed Ringtail the bundle.

"Here, you can carry the other body."

"More dead people?"

"How many dead people are down here?"

"As many as it takes brother."

"Takes for what?"

"For people to quit annoying Tallsqueak, careful, you might be the third."

"That would be bad. You can't carry three of us!"

"I would leave you."

"Oh, I know, you could toss me down the convenient hole!"

"You always did want to travel."

"I am a good scout."

They retreated to the other branch of the tunnel. "Time for good scouts to be quiet." To his relief, the twins became silent. At one point Ringtail touched Milo on the shoulder and pointed. The dust had settled oddly on the floor ahead, leaving a slight line. Milo uncovered a very clever trap with a nearly hidden tripwire. They all carefully stepped over it, not knowing what it did.

This part of the tunnel system seemed better constructed. Stone slabs and bricks made up the walls and floor, and very little was unworked stone. The tunnel ended in a T juncture, that ran two ways. The twins began sniffing the air. Milo smelled food.

"I can smell onion soup."

"And I note a touch of garlic."

"And is that fresh bread with chives?"

"Strange..."

"Very strange..."

Milo looked at the two of them and tapped his foot.

Ringtail looked at him, and shrugged. "Aunty Meg is baking bread today, and she puts chives on each loaf."

Tweedle nodded and added. "And dinner is onion and garlic soup."

Milo went right, towards the food. He saw light coming from holes on the left side of the wall. Peering through he saw a large room with three women bustling around preparing food, and soup cooking on an open fire. The spy hole was set high in the wall, nearly ten feet above the floor. The twins were visibly nervous. They retreated to a safe place to talk.

"That was the kitchen, and if the tunnel continues, I suspect we can look into the common areas and classrooms." Ringtail was drawing a map in the dirt. "And the other way is sleeping quarters and Old Healers rooms."

Milo headed in that direction. They passed spyholes that looked down on many bedrooms. Finally, the last spyhole gave a view of Old Healer, sitting at his desk. He was looking through the pages of a very old journal and mumbling to himself. Suddenly he stiffened, and looked around. Going to the door, he listened, heard nothing, opened it, and checked the hallway. Seeing nothing, he came back to his room, closed and locked the door. Visibly frustrated, he returned to his seat. He made an effort to relax, drinking his tea and sitting back in his chair. He mumbled to himself. "Paranoid old man, seeing shadows where nothing skulks."

That was the moment Ringtail leaned too heavily on the wall, and the clasp holding the secret door shut opened up. A section of wall slid silently sideways revealing an opening high in the wall. The twins tumbled forward; Milo tried to grab them but overbalanced himself. Old Healer leaped twenty foot forward, dodging left in a roll and coming up with daggers in his hands and tail. He saw his three scouts land in a heap on his desk.

"Surprise!"

"Always expect the unexpected!"

"We get a lot of points for this, right?"

"All the points! So sneaky."

Milo stood up, he'd caught the mug of tea as it was heading for the floor and handed it to the old ratkin who sighed, put away his daggers and sat on the floor. "Well, that explains how my brother scored so many points on me! I always wondered how he moved around so easily. Tell me about your adventures boys, but one of you lean against the door and listen for sneaks. I'm feeling a bit skittish today for some reason."

Going Forward (non-story update)

I wanted to give an update on my writing.

We just hit the first milestone for the Royal Road Writathon. I managed to accomplish the total writing needed for both Butcher of Gadobhra and Tunnel Rat. The goal was 25k words in the days since Oct. 31st. If you noticed a large number of chapters lately, that's the reason. I had to accelerate my writing in the last few days to meet that first goal.

Now I, and other writers, have until Dec. 5th to finish a total of 55,555 words. There are no real prizes for this, it's simply a bi-yearly challenge.

So what now? First chore is going over the stories, and correcting typos, some of which people have already reported. Writing this much, this fast can leave extra errors. Then tomorrow I need to start writing again, and just keep going until that goal is reached. Normally I try for 6k words per week, per story. This is going to take about twice that. Yay for bonus chapters.

The current process I use is this:

-Write a 1500 to 4000 word chapter, whatever seems to fit the story and plot.

-Edit the rough draft.

-Post to . The goal is to have about 5 chapters of each story on in the form of rough drafts. I welcome feedback.

-Come back to the story later. Expand if needed, look at feedback for both good and bad, make changes. Edit again and put back into Royal Road.

-Publish when that chapter's turn arrives. Normally Thurs, Sun, Mon since those are my days off and I have time to write and edit.

So you can expect a steady stream of chapters until the end of Writathon. Then back to a normal schedule. I'm waiting to see how the holidays affect things. I still work four days a week in my Comic and Game store, so the holidays mean long hours. I also have a new grand daughter to spend some time with.

As always, thanks for reading, and if you have questions about anything, feel free to send me a PM.

Chapter 140: Poker and Pings

**PING!**

"YO! Sledgemonkey! You going to answer that damn pingitty-ping or just ignore it for the 3rd time." Two-screws was having a bad time coming up with a winning hand, and that damned sound wasn't helping.

"Huh? Oh, damn, is that me?"

"You see anyone else that would admit to being called Sledgemonkey at the table?" The other engineers laughed at that, and threw more chips into the pot. The game had been going on for three days now, with people leaving when their shifts started and others taking their place. Sledgemonkey, because of his exalted status had been playing cards and drinking beer for most of those three days, conducting any business from the table if he absolutely had to. Most of the engineers that came to him with a question just got waved off, which they gleefully interpreted as "I trust whatever stupid idea you have, go right ahead and do it."

Sledgemonkey actually blushed a little and tried to turn it into an angry scowl. Truth be told, in the long decades trapped in his own exo-suit, he'd forgotten his own name and just gone by 'The Engineer'. Most of the engineers had lost a lot of themselves, and it wasn't just the lower brethren that had gone crazy. Now that they had a second chance at life, they were all feeling better and remembering things.

He'd totally forgotten getting the nickname Sledgemonkey when he was young and liked nothing better than swinging a hammer at rocks, rivets, or orcs. He'd decided that it was time to go back to his old name. That meant that sometimes it didn't register when people were yelling at him.

He had a truly terrible hand, and decided to take no cards and just toss money in the pot for some fool to win. "I raise another gold."

**PING!**

"Shit...I'll get it. Blasted newfangled thing. Never should have set the alerts of the Project Scheduling to audible." He brought up the interface to the Deep Rock Engineers Guild and looked through the list of projects. It was a long, long list. Between building an entirely new base in the caverns beneath the old one, they had new mining projects, a collaboration with a scavenger clan, and a wedding to plan. A WEDDING! They'd had to go through a lot of old manuals to find the specs on how to hold one, especially one like this! But that wasn't what was pinging him, so he moved on, gladly not thinking on it.

Next was a list of components to build. It all had to be able to be transported up the new tunnel to Shadow Port. A six-pack of boilers, miles of tubing and ductwork, pistons, engines, armored plating and observation glass. The list went on and on, and not a lot was getting made because they had to rebuild shattered infrastructure and go mining for new raw materials.

For all their partying after the battle, the Snake had really hurt them when they needed it the least. A vast number of crucial systems had been running poorly for decades, and many of the levels of the outpost were dark and without power. Automated repair functions failed to come to life when needed, and defenses that didn't work gave the Snake a chance to destroy whole areas where it would have been shot to hell if the outpost were fully repaired. And, of course, decades of crazy engineers doing whatever they felt like had screwed things up more.

It was decided to move downstairs, and rebuild in the massive cavern that they had drilled into. The explosion had cleared out any wildlife, melted down the snake, and deep-fried the Ever-Pudding. What was left was a huge cavern, with a roof made of the ribs of a gigantic beast dead for tens of millennia. It was a tough beast, the bones and scales that made up its remains were harder than tempered Dark Steel. Senior Engineer Milo had told them some of its history. The huge space would make rebuilding easier, let them expand, and give them the room needed to take on the project they had somehow been talked into.

But they needed raw materials first. Tens of tons of normal steel and dark steel both, and an amount of Deep Copper that made him weep. Even with the amount they mined from the remains of the snake and the newly discovered veins, it would take a couple of years to mine enough for their needs.

Building the Queen had been the stuff of legends and one of the few times Scavenger Clans and Engineers had accomplished something together. (The engineers of Boldavia had been pissed as hell when the Scavengers set sail without paying for the job, but since Boldavia hadn't been around for three thousand years, he assumed they had gotten over it. Or maybe there were some very bitter dwarven ghosts. Who knows?)

Rebuilding her after she'd travelled down the Gullet and lain at the bottom of the sea for untold years would be just as epic. The Brotherhood had been itching for a project like that. The older and wiser heads knew better and asked for payment up front. They had been dismayed when the leader of the Scavengers, Whale, paid their price in full and then taunted them with more chests of loot. The legends about the treasure on the Queen hadn't been wrong.

The surprise wedding between the two clans had only cemented the deal. Two weddings, actually. The Scavengers had held their version immediately, drinking Shadowport dry and jumpstarting the economy. The engineering version would take more time. They had to figure out how to do it first. The time in between would just be a long honeymoon for the two lovebirds and a pain in the ass for all involved.

He scrolled down to the raw materials section and saw that someone had found a vein of Deep Copper and reported it. Glory Be! One of the knuckleheads was working...

"Hey, you still in the game Sledge. It's another two gold to you." Well, he was feeling lucky. A job had got done that needed done. He'd celebrate and press his luck. "Yeah, match for two, raise 10." One by one, the other dwarves decided to fold. If sledge was so confident of a hand that he wasn't even watching the betting, that was bad news.

Job #4683-J: Location of Deep Copper Veins. Currently needing 97 tons of additional ore.

Update: Senior Engineer Milo has located in excess of 97 tons of 'snake-free' Deep Copper Ore. Current owners of the mine lack processing for the ore, and are willing to trade for other ores. Recommend a recon team be sent, and plans made to relocate a subragator to the work site.

Mine owners wish to purchase/trade for 4 dozen Dark Steel picks.

Mine owners wish to purchase/trade for 1 ton of copper wire.

Mine owners wish to purchase/trade for 144 magic-tech storage crystals aspected for Storm Mana.

Mine Location: Limburger Hollow.

Additional notes:

Bring Beer. Alcohol is not consumed in any quantity by the local population.

New mycological species have been found, tell Harry I'll send a few back for him.

"Well dip me in green paint and call me an orc! What the hell has that lad been up to?" Milo had left after the fight with the hydra and all the mess with the World Boss, an airship, and a crazy slaver-mage. Sledgemonkey had recognized the signs. He'd seen it in other miners and explorers that enjoyed time away on their own, drifting though the dark caverns without anyone around. Milo had needed some time away from people. Being an Engineer meant being flexible. They knew he'd be back after a bit, ready to hammer steel and bend reality to his will.

"We'll be splitting up your gold if you don't come and rake in your pot! What the hell's up?"

Sledgemonkey sat back down, and casually reached for the pot, making sure not to show the others his busted flush. "Not much, just got a message from our lost little beardling. Senior Engineer Milo hasn't been loafing around like you slackers. He went and found us a hundred tons of Deep Copper ore. Anyone feel like going for a little visit?"

Chapter 141: And Poison makes Four

The next few days flew by for Milo.

Basic Claw Drills. Sparring. Breakfast with Larry followed by stories of Larry in Flowerland. Larry was becoming much better at telling stories, and more people were coming to listen to them. Then the engineering class he taught at the tower. Back to the mess hall for lunch with Larry and dancing afterwards. Followed by a short class on mining and identifying ores. Dinner was with Arlothe and Cremona, and the twins spent the evening meal talking with Larry. The fun and terror of advanced fighting class followed by a bath and several hours studying arcane texts in the library.

He was busy, but happy. He monitored section E for troubles, and kept track of the days until the big swap meet event he was going to with Butch and the gang.

In the mornings he led the beginning class in stretching, exercise, and basic claw and tail drills. This was followed by a bell of sparring without his spell enhancements. Gilad routinely used him as an opponent to illustrate attacks, blocks, and dodges. Then the two of them would spar with each of the students, followed by letting them fight with each other.

All of the students were progressing well. Even the troublesome players seemed to have had a breakthrough in attitude, asking for tougher fights and more instruction. Blackwhisker's group were the most aggressive and were learning at a fast pace spurred on by watching what Milo and Gilad could do. They had given up thinking they were a match for Milo, and now were working hard to catch up.

Several of the students asked Tallsqueak the secret of his enhancements. He just said in a very serious voice that such magics were not for beginners, and recommended enrolling for classes at the Tower of Strife if they wished to pursue magic, or being a combination fighter. There was much discussion about the Spell Claw class and whether it was better than the Claw Wizard class. Several of them, both whelps from the Hollow and players had taken his advice and started taking classes in the Tower. And a few had begun hanging out with either Petey or Charlotte.

The same was happening in reverse. After his day of dueling, Milo had noticed that the beginning fighting class was getting larger. Students from the Tower of Strife were showing up to learn the basics of fighting, to add some physical ability to their magic. They were a great source of amusement to the rest of the class. They barely knew how to use their tails, and were slow to dodge and claw at their opponents. The exception was the student who showed up the fourth day after the duels, wearing old burlap practice clothing, with her hair tied into a long braid. Milo noticed her, but they only nodded at each other, as class was beginning.

Black Whisker told a joke asking, 'How many mages does it take to kill a spiderling? 4! One to get bit so they know it's a spiderling, two to argue about what type of spiderling it is, and one to run get a guard to stomp on it.' The students from the tower were used to being the butt of such jokes. The newcomer wasn't. When it came time to spar, the new student challenged Black Whisker. He accepted with a grin. His opponent was older than him, smaller, and a girl. He had no doubt about the outcome of this fight.

The two of them circled each other, and on his first claw attack, Black Whisker took a small scratch as his opponent raked one claw across his arm. His eyes got wide, he froze up, and then toppled over. Gilad had been watching, and slapped a palm on his forehead and shook his head from side to side. Then hands behind his back, he addressed the class. "It seems we need to state a few rules to keep things civil as you progress in power. This is a fighting class. Spells and enhancements are not used here. I do not break your bones with Quivering Claw attacks, Tallsqueak is not using his bone armor and magical claws, and from now on, Professor Cremona should refrain from showing what attacks using Poison Claw techniques can do."

"And, to not tempt anyone to break these rules, I am outlawing the telling of jokes that might be directed at fellow members of this class. Be respectful of others children, or find out just how hard play time can be."

"Also, I see the need to add a special class next season where we will incorporate advanced techniques such as spells, enhancements, claw techniques, and dance moves. I'm sure the healers will love the extra experience they will get each class, putting you back together. And since she is working on her fighting style after many years, I invite Professor Cremona to attend our special advanced class held here in the arena each night."

Cremona accepted both the admonishment for disrupting the class, as well as the invitation by bowing deeply to Gilad. As the students who didn't know her realized who was standing next to them, they cleared a large space around her. The students from the tower rolled their eyes and smirked. Jokes about mages became extinct.

Milo was very curious about what techniques Cremona used. She showed up that night to the advanced class with her husband. Arlothe had no intention of fighting. He had brought a comfy pillow to sit on and a huge bag of snacks to eat while he observed the fun. From the shadows, the eyes of curious students peered out. They hadn't explicitly been told that this was a private practice, but none of them wanted to get too close.

Some of them had nearly fainted when they saw Larry lumber into the arena and begin his warm-up exercises. Larry was every nightmare they had been told about growing up.

"Don't sneak a piece of cheese, you don't want to become a fiend!

Don't stay out past last bell, you don't want the fiends to get you.

Wash behind your ears or they'll grow so big people will think you're a fiend!"

Larry sitting passively and eating his food was one thing. Larry flexing his muscles and doing basic claw drills with 6-inch-long claws was another.

Those who had seen Larry dancing or who had listened to his stories weren't fearful at all, and quietly cheered for him. Obviously, Larry was coming to hero practice.

They saw that neither Gilad nor Tallsqueak was afraid to fight with Larry. Neither was Cremona when she arrived, although the shock on her face was one that Arlothe would treasure forever. Like Gilad, she had actually seen fiends fighting in the Spider Wars and knew what they could do. After her initial shock, she walked into the ring and was greeted by everyone.

Gilad spoke to them all. "This little group has grown, so let us talk a bit about the rules. Tallsqueak and I are both fighting with all of our abilities. I advise you to do the same, Cremona. Larry will push all three of us, and I think he has some surprises for you. Don't be afraid to use Poison Claw techniques, I think you will find that Tallsqueak and I are quite resistant to them, and we thank you for helping us with improving Strong Poison Resistance. Larry, I assume you have some resistance to poisons?"

Larry nodded. He had gotten much better figuring out the Blue Screens and knowing what the words meant. "Larry has Fiendish Resistance at level 1. It says that it is based on Larry's CON. Larry has a CON of 33."

Gilad paused but recovered his train of thought. "Thank you, Larry. I think your special resistance will work against many things and hopefully you will gain some experience fighting against Professor Cremona. Now, some rules:

If anyone wishes to stop fighting, call 'HOLD!' and we stop immediately, and administer healing potions.

If Larry seems upset, or angry, we should all take a break and have a cookie.

If your opponent is stunned or off balance, please refrain from using finishing blows. They tend to be messy."

Fighting began with Larry and Tallsqueak. Tallsqueak armored himself in bone, his claws gleamed, and his long tail moved in a complex pattern, ready to strike. Larry was hopping from foot to foot, smiling.

"Begin!"

Larry hopped straight at Tallsqueak, landing where he had been standing. The smaller ratkin rolled to the side and came up ready to block Larry's claws. Instead, Larry had immediately begun a spinning kick. He didn't know where his opponent was dodging, but anywhere around him was a target. Larry's large foot, adorned with a pink fuzzy baby weasel slipper caught Milo in the stomach and he went flying out of the ring to land flat on his back in front of several students from Clan Puffyfur, who helped him stand up. There was mild cheering for Larry.

Gilad calmy announced, "The next round will be Professor Cremona and Larry. I urge everyone to remember how quick Larry has become, and to use distance as a way to avoid his attacks. I thank Tallsqueak for giving us such a fine example of what happens when you don't."

Cremona entered the ring with some hesitation, but then threw away any concern. She was used to dueling with Arlothe and being electrocuted on a daily basis. Some bruises and cuts were a price she would to pay to get back into shape for claw fighting. The chance to improve her dueling ability was too good of a chance to pass up. The chance to fight against a cheese fiend was a gift she should be thankful for.

"Begin."

This time, Larry spun in place, then hopped to the left, followed by three quick steps towards Cremona. She was astonished. He wasn't moving like a fiend! He was staying on two legs and it looked like it was dancing. Cremona quickly moved away, and began dodging as fast as she could, not knowing what she was facing. Eventually she saw an opening and exhaled a stinking cloud of toxic gas at Larry's head.

"Larry can't see! Go away stinky cloud!" He waved his claws through the air, trying to disperse it.

Cremona raced forward and slashed at Larry's arm, leaving long cuts that bubbled a green ichor. Simultaneously she took a very hard blow to her head from Larry's tail, and was knocked unconscious. She came back to her senses a moment later. Arlothe had her head tilted back and was pouring a health potion down her throat. She held her head as it throbbed. "Oh, that hurts."

Tallsqueak and Larry were seated in the ring having cookies. Gilad was observing them. Larry's wound had quit expelling the poison from the slash, and had scabbed over already, half healed.

"That was an interesting bout. Larry, what did you learn?"

Larry finished his cookie first, before. It wasn't polite to talk with food in your mouth. "Larry learned that green girl has stinky clouds that make you not see. Larry needs to remember to move Larry's head out of cloud, and not wave and yell. "Shoo cloud, go away."

He took another cookie and then looked at Cremona. "Larry learned green girl makes lots of noise when she moves. Larry's ears told his tail to slap her. Now we have cookies. Larry likes cookies."

"Oh, and Blue Boxes say that Larry is now at Rank 2 in Fiendish Resistance."

Arlothe laughed and Cremona was silent, wishing her stealth score was better. Mages didn't need to be sneaky, did they? Against a fiend, it seemed they did. That meant shouting out spells was right out, and she'd need to find a way to increase her skulking skills. Did Old Healer still have that huge maze in his basement? Maybe she and Arlothe should start having duels in it? First hit wins and play in the dark? Oh, that would be fun!

Gilad took a round with Larry, and Tallsqueak yelled, "Begin!" This round went much longer than the earlier two. Gilad danced in and out of Larry's reach, throwing punches and slashing at his opponent. Larry advanced with hops, spins, and quick steps, forcing his smaller opponent to constantly dodge around him. Larry landed several hits with his tail and claws, but Gilad always seemed to be blocking his blows and deflected most of the damage. After nearly ten minutes, Larry spun and missed; Gilad appeared directly in front of him and thrust out with a hard punch to Larry's jaw, knocking him down.

Larry slowly got up, holding his head. He smiled and crawled over to the plate of cookies. "Larry needs cookie break." Gilad looked at his hand, noting he had broken two bones in it. "Tallsqueak? Please pass me a potion and I would appreciate you setting my bones and healing the breaks. Then I think it's time for you and Cremona to take a turn while I have a cookie break."

The bouts went on until halfway through 11th bell. They ended early, because they were out of healing potions and cookies. All four opponents were battered and bruise. Larry the least hurt, his Fiendish Regeneration fixing all but the most lethal of attacks in only a few minutes. Cremona was worst off, bruised from head to toe, limping and leaning on her husband. But she was smiling and planning revenge in the future.

They all sat in the mess hall as Bleusnout happily cooked them plate after plate of food, while he listened to them talk about the techniques each used and how to counter them. Larry ate the equivalent of three of his normal dinners, stretched and declared he was sleepy. Gilad also proclaimed himself ready for bed. Tallsqueak walked with the Professors to the Tower of Strife before going off to bathe and then retire to the library for his late-night studies.

Chapter 142: Runes and Repairs

In a spare corner of Cichol's Arcane Library, Milo had begun working on a long overdue task. He needed the privacy and the advice of the old mage to work on the special project. The table he was working on had a polished stone top, and legs carved from the thigh bones of several large and extinct creatures. To one side was the knowledge he had accumulated in the Tower of Strife. Cichol was happily copying it all to have for his own library.

Besides the journal, Milo had found three books with infomation on runic formations, along with seven scrolls, and a dozen torn and burnt pages from a book lost to the ages. Despite his near perfect memory, he had read through each bit of literature several times. He also asked both Arlothe and Cremona for their thoughts on the validity of the manuscripts, and their interpretation of the spells and runes presented.

His physical components were sitting on the table as well. In front of him was the arm bone of an ancient creature he had appropriated from Philistron, the old weapon he had bought in the market place of Limburger Hollow, and the once-enchanted weapon that had been destroyed in his attempt to cast a spell upon Captain Pikes harpoon. He had broken both his own magic, and his weapon, Shadowblight.

Milo was contemplating the classic puzzle that pondered what happens when a damaged piece of a ship is repaired? Is it the same ship? What if each piece is replaced over the years, slowly but surely taking away the old parts and replacing with new. At what point did the ship become something different?

However, the ship in question lacked a magical aura that was made up of the sum of its parts. Shadowblight was still slightly magical, but not functional. Bone had been pulled from it, as it had been from Milo's own body. What was left was old and brittle. Milo had been studying the weapon for weeks, and now with Chichol's help, they examined it one more time, making notes as they looked over the weapon bit by bit, finding the runes used in older books, and studying the bones.

The wooden handle was the simplest part. It acted like a mage's staff, channeling the power of the runes between the different bone spikes and drawing power from the mage. Milo had read several books on the construction of wands and staves among the resources in the tower, and examined Arlothe and Cremona's personal staves, asking numerous questions. He had no doubt that he could create a staff that would channel his own magic, if he had needed such a tool.

The spiked bone of the weapon were from different creatures. The tooth of a Gigantic Spasmotic Leech was the largest. Cichol had identified the effect from an old account of the fall of the Kingdom of Kazmar. The leeches had been bred by Spasma the Great, a breeder of fantastic beasts. The King of Kazmar desired an army of beasts that would attack the undersea cities of the Azcantl Merfolk. Complications had arisen when it turned out the Gigantic Leeches didn't like the taste of merfolk, but found humans very tasty. A horde of hungry leeches had rampaged around the island kingdom until Spasma managed to turn them into kittens. After all kittens on the island had been slain to make sure the leeches were dead, Spasma was hung by an angry crowd and his notes burned. Whether because he was the creator of such misfortune, or because the crowd was upset over the kittens, is unclear. The few remaining fangs of the leeches were prized because of their debilitating effect on those wounded.

The second bone spike had been carved from the elbow spike of a Vampiric Hell Beast. These large, flightless, bat-like creatures had infested the Mountains of Morun for ages. They were heavy bodied swoopers who dove off cliffs, driving their prey to the ground were they feasted on their bodies after draining their blood. The poor victim grew weaker as the Hell Beast grew stronger. They finished their meal, climbed back up the cliffs, and went looking for bigger prey. These creatures were still in existence, and for that reason no sane person came within a day's journey of those haunted cliffs.

Other bits of bone had been enchanted with common runes for Swift Striking or Durability to keep the wood from splintering.

Starting with the ancient armbone, he separated the arm from the hand bones with their two small fingers and huge, clawed thumb. He was going to replace the destroyed wood with this ancient bone. Even as it was, the material was twice as strong as the enchanted wood had been. Milo improved on that by carving the ancient bone-rune for Hard-Runed Bones. Instead of Swift Striking, which was a powerful, if mundane rune to make a sword or weapon faster, Milo used the bone-rune for Velocity. He shaped and sanded the three feet of arm bone until it was what he needed for the weapons handle. Even as it was, it would have made a good weapon, but Milo knew this could be more than just a club.

Cichol made suggestions for carvings on the handle. Some were simply decorations that would improve his grip. Others were copied off of the wooden handle, the old mage explaining how some of the minor runes linked the carvings and merged the parts of the weapon into one magical item with one aura.

The handle finished, they began work to repair the Leech Fang and Hell Beast Spike. Two of the bones from the weapon he had purchased from Scrap-Hunter were still useful. The rest of it was rotted junk. The two spikes had minor enchantments of Hardness that had kept them from breaking. There was good bone inside the two pieces.

Milo placed one on top of the Hell Beast Spike, and slowly manipulated the good bone to enter and reinforce the destroyed structure of the Hell Beast Spike. After an hour's work, he was tired and sweating. The good bone had finally collapsed into dust, and now the Spike was heavy and hard. After a small rest, he labored to do the same with the Leech Fang. This one was tougher to do. The structure of the fang fought against him, and it took all of his will power to win against the inanimate object. But in the end, he had two parts of Shadowblight repaired.

The thumb of the unknown creature contained a powerful Rune of Sundering. WIth it, the beast could shatter rock as it dug through the earth. Milo had hopes it would do the same to enemy armor. Carefully he drilled and carved until he could fit the three spikes into the handle of the weapon. On all three spikes, he carved the Rune of Destruction. Small pins of bone held the pieces in place. Velocity and Hard-runed bones were carved into the handle. There was room for one more, and he added Sharp-Runed Talons.

Milo rested until he had refreshed his mana, and then held the completed weapon in his hands. He manipulated the bone of each part to merge with the other pieces. They fought and struggled and slowly the weapon merged into one piece. From the old weapons handle a malevolent shadow slipped into his new weapon. Milo saw it happen, but couldn't stop it.

"You! My destroyer. I trusted you, aided you, and you broke my bones and cast me aside. Now you think that you can remake my shell and bind my spirit to it again?!"

The Weapon Spirit Shadowblight demands a binding contract with you.

-Your mana will be lowered permanently by 50 pts to created this binding. You cannot regain this mana by simply abandoning the weapon. This weapon will be bound to you, and cannot be lost, nor can it be used by someone else.

Milo agreed. He'd bound to the weapon before. If fixing it meant binding it again, that's what he'd do. As soon as he thought this, the weapon turned in his hand, and one of the spikes gashed his chest, drawing blood. He felt a little weak, but it passed quickly.

Shadowblight (Legendary Bonepick) Sundering, Nigh Invulnerable, Destructive, Quick

A traditional weapon of ratkin warriors and scouts, sometimes referred to by the uneducated as a 'Spikeystick'.

Base chance to hit: 40+DEX x 5 + Rank with (Ancient Rune Lore) x5

Damage: 150 + 5xSTR

Effects:

Sunder Armor: Shadowblight unleashes the Rune of Sundering on your foe, destroying armor and shattering bones. -50 points of armor or mitigation. If used against inanimate objects (rock walls, doors, cheese wax) it does a large amount of damage. Cost: 50 stamina.

Nigh Invulnerable: Even a critical hit with an enchanted blade by a cheese-crazed fiend will not harm this spikeystick Enchanted Weapon. To block powerful foes, keep two hands on the stick. Skill: Weapon Block +4 ranks, reduced damage.

Destruction: Shadowblight drains your mana to charge its Rune of Destruction. Increase damage by +100 for the next hit.

Cost: 50 mana

Constructing such a weapon is a mighty feat. You have earned 10 Core Skill Points.

Milo's blood seeped into the weapon, not even leaving a stain. Cichol observed this and stared hard at the weapon. "That is one vindictive spikeystick. Not many of them get used enough, or mean enough, to form their own spirit. It was bad when Malskitter was using it. This new one is even sharper and hungrier. You and it should have some fun together."

Milo wondered about Cichol's definition of fun. He was just happy to have repaired his Bonespike. He staggered upwards from where he had been sitting. He was stiff and tired from hours of research and arcane tinkering. He needed to get back to the tower of strife and his comfy chair for a couple of hours of sleep before heading to fighting practice. It was going to be a long day.

Rune Crafting has reached Rank 8

Ancient Rune Lore has reached Rank 8

Runic Lore has reached Rank 8

Bone Carving has reached Rank 10

Bone Manipulation has reached Rank 9

Chapter 143: Iron Spider

Once she was P'tashPak'r, the Exalted General of the 10th Host, beloved of the queens, champion of the Many-Legged Army.

Once she was P'tashPak'r, the cripple.

And only a few days before, she was P'tashPak'r, the abomination in exile.

No more. She was going back, returning to her exalted rank of general. She would command an army and lead it to glorious victory with the bonus of killing her most hated foe. This was how she had dreamed things would happen one day, and now it was so. It had been so many years in coming, that she had almost lost her dream...

It had all begun with Gilad and that final duel. She had been so proud when she was named to fight in the ceremonial duel that would end the war. Her opponent was weak, with barely half her number of limbs. She knew that no rat could prevail against her. He should not have been able to be beat her. It was only through some travesty of fate and the power of the enemies' insidious cheesy snacks had had caused her loss. He had gone berserk when she wounded him, foaming at the mouth, and his limbs possessed a hideous strength. The ratkin champion had broken her limbs one by one even as her poison worked to kill him. He had gone entirely crazed at the end, his claws tearing at her body and ripping parts off of her limbs, one by one. The final insult was him standing on her back as his army cheered him. To her dismay, she had heard the hissing laughter of many spiders. Spiders like winners, and had nothing but contempt for those who failed.

That had been the end of her time as a warrior and the start of many years of pain and slavery. First had come the humiliating years after she had lost the duel with her enemy, and the subsequent defeat of her army. No one came to carry her from the field of battle, or to end her life. Barely alive, her spiderlings had carried her legless body from the field of battle, and cared for her wounds. She found herself bumping along in an empty, discarded wagon pulled by two lobotomized humans that her spiderlings had stolen from the slave pens. The stupid things barely lived long enough to get her back to the edge of the great nest.

No family or clan came to her aid. To the rest of the Spider Clans, she was an embarrassment. An example of what happened when you lost a duel and an enemy could pull off your legs one by one. No thanks were given for her loyalty during the wars. No one came to pay homage to her. She was forgotten and tucked away in a dingy little web with only the last of her progeny to aid her. Only the thought of one day finding Gilad, Warlord of the United Tribes had kept her from despair.

It had galled her that one day, as she lay helpless, a dwarf of the Dark Tribes had walked into her lair. She'd heard the noise as he had slaughtered the spiderlings that vainly tried to defend her. He'd made war on them in the traditional way of the dwarves, smushing foes beneath the tread of their heavy iron boots. When he saw her, he whistled long and loudly, proclaiming her to be, in his words, 'One dented little bit of defective trash heap'.

She'd wanted to kill him for that, but he'd stayed out of the range of her fangs, sitting on a pile of spiderling corpses, drinking beer, and showing her pictures of 'upgrades and repairs' his shop had done for other creatures. Cousin Lemmy's Repair Shop: 'Nature makes them, wars break them, and we put them all back together again with iron and steel, stronger than ever.' It was the clever slogan that convinced her to sign the contract. What was a couple of decades of labor fighting in the armies of the Deep Dwellers compared to regaining her legs? Nothing. She missed the small print about slave collars and repairs being taken out of her wages and increasing her time of servitude.

Hammer and forge had made new limbs for her. Fire and pain had taught her how to use them. Armored plating made her a walking fortress. On her back were mounted two Nakamura Mark 19 Scatterguns. Across battlefield after battlefield she had marched, two Dwarven gunners on her back mowing down the enemy, and her new limbs spearing the wounded as they marched onward. It had been mostly a glorious time. She owed many years of service to the two dwarves that had bought her, but Harshank and Krankar had been bloodthirsty, greedy bastards had made sure she wasn't bored.

The not glorious part was when she was parked in a mechanics' shop after each battle to have the damage repaired while her gunners went out drinking and lining up new jobs. Sometimes they had money for repairs and upgrades. Other battles didn't go well and she had to limp into the next battle with only a few legs working. Finding out that it was her cut of the money they earned that went to repairs had galled her. But the slave collar on her neck left her no options.

The end of her servitude had come not on a battlefield, but in some nameless dwarven backwater but after a great victory. With barely any damage, she was left to guard the large chest of gold they had earned, and the backpacks of looted treasure. Her two dwarven owners had gone off to 'Drink and poke the Dragon'. Whatever that meant, and they hadn't come back from it.

There was a story around town about two drunken dwarves trying to steal a mechanical flyer to kidnap a Dark Elf princess. Whether that was true or not, her gunners were found dead in a pile of mechanical wreckage that had crashed into a church of Grugnark the Destroyer. The priests were thrilled with the damage and conducted the funeral.

With the deaths of her owners, the magical hold on her mind had dispersed, and the collar fell off. She took the treasure, hired a goblin gear smith, and started for home. The journey was long, but Grobit had stayed with her, content to repair and service her mechanical limbs, napping up top with the treasure and supplies, or fire one of the guns at some creature when they needed fresh meat.

She had left the nest a cripple, but returned a decorated veteran of a hundred or more battles. She expected to welcomed with honor, given a web near the queen, and countless small mammals to eat. Instead, they had shunned her, called her 'Abomination', and told she smelled of oil and sulfur. With a choice of disdain, or exile, she chose exile. Her riches couldn't buy her respect, but they did buy an endless supply of small mammals, and cheap dwarven beer. Harshank claimed a drunk spider was tougher to target and had gotten her drunk on the stuff before many battles. She craved it now the way a rat craved cheese.

Grobit maintained her mechanics, although parts were hard to get. One of the guns was turned into spare parts, which was no loss. Grobit could barely handle firing one of the oversized, pintle mounted blasters, let alone two at once.

And now, now she was back! They needed her desperately. The lesser generals had failed the queen, and it was her genius in battle that they trusted. Her army was assembling and she would march upon Limburger Hollow, slay Gilad, and become again one of the Queen's trusted generals! She saw it all in her mind, over and over, as she marched through the caverns, trying not to trip on the uneven flooring.

"Has the abomination showed up yet?"

"No, your majesty, it's still slowly walking along like some drunken beetle. It has to use the caverns, not the web way. It is far too heavy and clumsy."

"Fine. When she finally gets here, send her over to Big Cavern with Spotted Shrooms. It's flat and she'll trip less. Start lining up her troops in there and let her have the fun of reviewing them, while they feel the shame of serving such an abomination of nature. Add 1 contingent of the Queen's Own, two banner bearers, and Six units of wolfen shock troops. That should look good."

"! You're giving that mad-thing all of that?" The queen contemplated eating her latest advisor for questioning her, but decided that the statement was one of those times that any good advisor really should speak up. The thought of wasting good troops in this little war was abhorrent to her.

"Of course not! They'll line up with the dregs we are sending with her to Limburger Hollow, march out behind It, and then peel off at the cross-roads and rejoin the regular army. Its force is a blunt instrument that will deliver a shock to our enemies, maybe even break into the Hollow and start killing civilians. My hope is that she draws off their military and keeps it tied up. My army will be the one achieving victory!"

"Whew. Sorry I doubted you ma'am. That...thing makes me uneasy."

"Understandable, and my condolences. I'm sending you to It as Its second in command to keep things organized. Try to fade into the back of her forces as she charges, and sneak back to us. I value your services greatly."

Chapter 144: Too much Bleu

Larry awoke early. Larry always got up early. His tummy was always too growly in the morning to sleep. Like always when he awoke, he pondered the important question: What's for breakfast?

He looked over at his Jelly Been bush that Gingersnapple and Redfawn had given him for saving their Jellybean farm from the Frozen Fog Boys. Larry had been very cold while guarding the farm all night and bopping the little muskrats on the head when they got too close, but being a Hero wasn't always easy! He had danced and danced to keep warm, only pausing when he had bopping to do. After he had bopped every single albino muskrat into the ground, with only their eyes and whiskers showing Redfawn had painted their whiskers bright pink so that they couldn't do sneaky stuff any more. The dejected and hungry Fog Boys had been sent down the road to the next level of under hill.

The happy fairies had come to Larry's house and planted several jelly bean bushes just for Larry. But the berries were still too green to eat. Gingersnapple had warned him that eating too many green jelly beans could turn you into a pickle. Larry didn't like pickles, so he was being as patient as he could be. Except when he was hungry. When he was hungry, then maybe being a pickle didn't seem too bad. Larry decided to leave Larry's house when he got those ideas.

He tried to find out what was for breakfast by sniffing for the smells. Little fishies were easiest. They had a big smell. Cold muffins and fruit was the hardest. Very small smell. Larry got to the porch, and many ratkin were waiting to eat. That was ok. Larry ate last. Unless Tallsqueak, or Ringtail, or Tweedle was here. Then they brought Larry breakfast early. But Larry's nose didn't smell Tallsqueak or Tweedle or Ringtail. And Larry's nose didn't smell breakfast. Larry's tummy rumbled and roared, and some of the people on porch looked worried.

Then Tallsqueak came running up. He'd been fighting. He was still all sort of excited and moving quick. He would settle down when he got breakfast. Tallsqueak was looking at all the people and had a look on his face that wasn't happy. It got more unhappy when Larry's tummy got more growly. He told Larry that he'd go find breakfast. That was good. Tallsqueak was smart and always knew what to do!

Milo had no idea what to do. It was obvious something was wrong, and no food was being served. A few hungry ratkin wasn't a problem. A hungry Larry was. Mostly because he would scare all the hungry ratkin, and if someone started running...well, that could be bad. No one knew, and no one wanted to find out, just where Larry stopped and the Cheese Fiend took over. Both Gilad and Bleusnout had lectured him on how to make sure Larry didn't get upset and how to keep the Hollow calm.

It was indicative of how well behaved most of the ratkin in the Hollow were. If the mess hall had lights on and the doors were open, they went inside. If it was closed, they didn't. That didn't mean they didn't wonder about why the mess hall was closed. It was the one building that was almost always open.

Milo wasn't as patient as everyone else standing on the porch, and he wondered if he was less well behaved, or just more worried about Larry. Probably the latter. He was ranking the threats, and trying to solve the top one. Hungry Larry trumped obeying the rules. The doors had a simple lock, one he could open by running a claw down the small crack between the doors, and flipping the lock. He entered, and shut the door behind him. Rifkin was throwing wood into the stoves and lighting them, just starting the day, at least an hour past where Bleusnout was usually starting his day. Milo padded over to him, not trying to be stealthy, but not really making noise. Rifkin kept nervously looking to the entrance to the cellar.

"Hi, I was..." Milo barely started before a startled Rifkin jumped and yelled.

"What?! Why are you in here? Don't scare me like that!"

"I wasn't trying to scare you, if I was, I would have yelled 'Surprise!' I only came in to see what was going on."

Rifkin looked very annoyed. "Nothing is going on, just running a little late. I bet Smiley is sleeping in and who knows what the Chef is up to." He lowered his voice a bit and whispered. "He's been acting really odd lately, if you know what I mean. Late nights in the cellar, and sleeping in more and more. I'm really worried about him."

Milo had no idea what he meant. "So, breakfast is late? I really need some food for Larry so he doesn't get growly in his stomach."

Rifkin thought about that. "Oh, Larry? Yes, I'll find something for him. He took a basket, put in an apple, then two slices of cheddar, and a couple of day-old muffins on top. "Here, go give that to Larry. Apples and Muffins are his favorites."

Milo knew that was wrong. "No, little fishies, Puffcakes, and Jelly beans are his favorites. And you shouldn't give Larry cheese. He doesn't eat it anymore."

Rifkin rolled his eyes. "Larry is a cheese fiend. Of course, he likes cheese. You're the one who wanted him to eat! Now you won't feed him? What are you up to? Are you trying to upset Larry? I'm of half a mind to tell Bleusnout what you are doing."

"And the other half?"

Rifkin looked at him oddly. "What other half?"

Milo pointed at him. "You said you had half a mind to go tell Bleusnout. What about your other half of mind? I was just curious."

Rifkin turned red in the face. "That's it. I'm going to go find the Chef, you'd better leave."

Milo came around the counter. "Good idea. Go find the chef, I'll try to make Larry some Puffcakes. Where is the recipe at?"

Rifkin got out of his way as Milo took out milk, flour, and Golden Puffballs from under the counter. Rifkin yelled at him, "I don't know how! Only the chef does!"

A very loud voice said. "Larry knows how to make Puffcakes!"

Rifkin froze as Larry yelled.

Milo yelled to him. "That's great, Larry. Come help me cook.. Rifkin is going to go find the Chef."

Larry opened the doors and walked in. Milo made a note to fix the lock later. Larry pointed to the cellar. "Larry can hear Bleusnout downstairs. He is asleep and snoring funny."

Rifkin looked at Larry, and Larry stared back at Rifkin. "He is in the cellar? I will go look for him. You need to stay out of the cellar, Larry. You can't help. You stay here, Larry."

Larry sighed and nodded his head slightly. "Yes. Larry knows the rules."

Rifkin left and Larry brightened up immediately. "Here is how to make Puffcakes." He began hopping back and forth to a simple rythm.

Puffy, Puffy, make them dry.

If their wet, you're sure to cry.

Mash them up with milk and flour.

Ready to eat in a quarter hour.

One cup milk, from goat or cow.

Four cups shroom dust, grinded right now.

A spoon of honey to make them sweet.

A spoon of oil to keep them neat.

Heat the griddle to medium hot.

Too high they burn, too low they not.

Cook until the bubbles start to rise.

Flip them over and have a tasty surprise.

Milo stared at Larry. "Where did you learn that?"

Larry did a few hops. "Same place Bleusnout learned it. We read 'Hamster Huey and the Hungry Giant. It has the secret recipe in it." Milo made a note to himself to read more books with Larry.

Milo took a big bowl and began mixing up the dried Golden Puffballs, they turned to dust very easy. He followed Larry's recipe, but was unsure of what spoon to use until Larry pointed it out to him. With everything mixed up, he put a little oil on the grill and started pouring Puffcakes. He saw that he wasn't very exact in his pouring. Some puffcakes were big, some small, and some weren't even round. This was much tougher than he thought it would be.

The first batch came off the griddle. He found butter and syrup, and handed the plate to Larry, who didn't care if the pancakes matched in size. Milo looked at all the people, and realized Rifkin still wasn't back. He needed to make a lot more Puffcakes. He saw Patsy and some of the Puffyfur Clan patiently waiting. He called them all and they came running. "Clan Puffyfur, I have need of skilled alchemists for a special alchemy class. First job is to get four large bowls, fill them with dried Golden Puffballs mushrooms, and reduce to a fine powder by any method."

Clan Puffyfur got to work. Milo had Larry tell them the rest of the alchemical formula. Meanwhile, he found the large frosting bags he had seen Smiley and Rifkin using. They could hold a lot of batter, and dispense it with precision. He took a batter-filled bowl from Patsy and showed her how to fill up the frosting bags, with directions to always have a filled dispenser ready for him. Then he gave a small squeeze and made a perfect 4" wide puff cake. He went back and forth across the griddle in rows, each puff cake almost touching the next one. He used his tail to flip the puffcakes and put them in stacks of six to serve while he used both hands to put more batter on the grill. A line formed and he began feeding the hungry hollow.

Patsy and the rest of the Puffyfurs were working hard to keep up with Professor Tallsqueak. The alchemical formula wasn't hard, but getting the batter to the right consistency was tricky. They were in awe of how fast he was cooking, with over a hundred puffcakes cooking at once on several griddles. It was like his brain and hands knew exactly what to do. He barely noticed as Rifkin came in with Old Healer and Professor Arlothe and they all ran to the basement. Absorbed with the current job of feeding the hollow, it was all he was focused on. Eventually, everyone got enough to eat, including Larry. Milo made extra big platefuls for Clan Puffyfur and himself. Larry had started on a bag of apples. No cheese at all was served that morning. A few people had asked, but Milo just shook his head and said "No cheese today. Cheese tonight." No one argued with the chef.

Milo piled the dishes in the sink, banked the fires, and washed his hands. Now he remembered the comings and goings downstairs, and began to be worried. He was wondering if he should intrude when Professor Arlothe beckoned him. "We have need of you downstairs Tallsqueak."

The Puffyfurs seemed sad about something. Milo remembered. "Oh, this is the day of the tea party? I'm sorry. I have to miss it, but..." he considered for a second, and then noticed that someone had put a lovely green bow in Larry's hair. "...would it be all right for Larry to go to the party?"

Patsy clapped her hands. "Oh, yes. That would be so fun! We'll pretend he's you."

Larry approved. "Larry likes parties."

Tallsqueak took Patsy aside. "Remember, just cookies and tea. Larry can't have cheese, he is training to be a hero."

Larry's ears heard and he nodded his head.

Larry ran off with Clan Puffyfur for a party. Milo went to the cellar for something he was sure wasn't going to be much fun. It wasn't.

Rifkin was talking. "...and that's how I found him. I came into the mess hall, and didn't see either Smiley or the chef. I started to prepare all the food to feed the Hollow, and that's when Tallsqueak came in, wanting to get his food. I ran downstairs to see if Bleusnout was down here. He was sound asleep and snoring, with his face in that box of aged Roquefort that came from the cheese hoard of Clan Emerald Wyrm. I couldn't rouse him at all."

Milo saw that the chef was laying on a small cot, covered by a blanket. Old Healer was carefully cleaning cheese off of his face and whiskers. More than just the chef's whiskers were blue, today it was his whole face.

Rifkin seemed very upset. "I just never thought he'd go this far. He's always had a taste for the bleu, but he said that he had sworn off of it years ago. I think it was all this new cheese coming down here that did it. Dozens of varieties of tasty things to sample. He claimed he was "appraising" it to make sure he had the value correct.

He looked at Milo. "Isn't this all your cheese somehow? The Eels said you cheated them in a duel so that you could take all their cheese. Why would you store it down here? Everyone knows that Bleusnout has a weakness for Bleu Cheese! It's how he got his name!"

He looked around the room. "And I don't see very much of that cheese either! And Smiley is missing. He was helping the eels pack it down here yesterday. Something smells and it isn't the cheese!" He glared at Milo. Milo ignored him, worried about Bleusnout and not wanting to upset Rifkin any further. He already wasn't making any sense.

Old Healer was visibly upset. "He is very far gone. I'm not sure if he will wake up. We must prepare for the worst. While we can hope for his recovery, at the best it will take a long time for him to heal. I ask that we call for a full meeting of the Masters of Hollow. As Master Healer, and Master of Death, I ask that a conclave to be held, immediately."

Arlothe sighed and looked at the chef laying on the cot. "As Master Mage, I call for a Conclave." They both turned and looked at Milo. More specifically, they were looking at Milo's hand.

He got the clue. He raised his hand and showed the ring. Rifkin seemed very surprised, and his eyes narrowed. "As Master of Scouts, I call for a conclave."

Old Healer straightened. "That is a quorum, we will hold a conclave. I will send word to the Master Gatherer, the Master Artisan, and the Master of Fighting."

Chapter 145: Dwarven Holiday

A party of explorers marched through the caverns far below Shadowport. Part of the way was through old mines, and at other times they stomped along a pathway that went through natural caverns. Several predators heard them coming and started to move closer to attack, and then grew nervous and retreated. Even a Mega Cave-Fisher or Hundred-legged-horror knew when it was out matched.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, this group were neither quiet nor stealthy. The argument might be made that it would have been out of character, because they had never been considered either conventional, or stealthy. There wisdom was also up for debate.

But the truth of the matter was simple: If there was anything big and dumb enough to challenge a group of drunken dwarves, then they would happily blow it to smithereens. If they thought that being loud would attract such a creature, they would have made even more noise. Traveling through the caverns could become boring, and the chance to let off some steam by blowing a predator into little pieces was always welcome.

Two of the party were incased in gleaming armored suits making them a foot taller and much wider than their unarmored companions. Their companions had laughed a bit about the two Senior Engineers not knowing how to take a vacation, but the older dwarves wanted to show off their new toys, and it made it easier to pack along a couple of kegs of beer. Senior Engineer Milo had somehow found a place of great mineral wealth, but it lacked even the basics of alcohol. He was obviously in trouble and they were going to his rescue.

Two-Screws had spent some time after the battle with the hydra making improvements in his suit. He was happy with the basic design, but after a few hundred years it was good to change things up. His first step had been to go fishing for some rare components, and for that he had needed the right kind of bait.

His bait had been a powerful rocket launcher that could be fired and loaded by a single dwarf. The tube was of hardened promethium steel and could handle high explosives up to the most powerful that the engineers could currently make. It was a little heavy, but that would be appreciated by the type of person he was fishing for. The outer shell was made of Alpha/Beta brass, a hard composite of brass alloys that was less flexible than regular brass but much harder. One of the new lads they had taken on wasn't a bad artist and Two-Screws had paid him well to design a weapon that resembled an ornate ships cannon.

Unlike an older cannon on a ship which might take as many as six dwarves to crew it, this weapon could be loaded and fired as fast as ammunition could be slammed into it. The rounded breech could swing open to accept the self-propelled rockets it used as ammunition, then slammed shut and be ready to fire by pulling on the heavy trigger. An optional targeting system could be swung into place to give better aim. The three and a half foot-long weapon weighed more than eighty pounds. Two-screws had judged that anything lighter wouldn't be trusted by a scavenger.

Target practice was a favorite of the female dwarves from the crew of the Leviathan. 'Practice' consisted of drinking and shooting at the empty bottles. One day when several of the scavengers were out having fun, Two-Screws showed up with his prototype shoulder-cannon. He got immediate interest from the gun crazy scavengers. He tossed a handful of bottles to one of the cabin girls to set up, then loaded a rocket and fired from a range twice what they were shooting from.

He missed the bottle and the missile destroyed a huge section of rock wall and threw shrapnel far and wide. He glared at the bottle that was still standing up and commented, "Pulls a bit to the left." He loaded another rocket and this time hit the target dead on, leaving a large crater in the ground.

The scavengers watching were laughing and shouting, some envious of the sheer firepower and others disguising their envy by yelling insults at the dwarf that needed a cannon to shoot a bottle. He shrugged and surprised them by saying. "She needs a little testing. That's why I'm using these low-powered rockets made for cleaning up trash mobs. They have a bit of an explosion to them. I really prefer the armor piercing variety, personally. Those shells go faster and hit harder, but Sledgemonkey made me promise not to use them until I get the huge explosions under control."

Two-Screws tossed the cannon over his shoulder and wandered off to do some modifications, ignoring the yells of the excitable scavenger girls. Two days later he came back with the finished model. It gleamed in the torchlight and he had three types of rockets to go with it. One made a large boom with low power, great for killing large numbers of low-level enemies. The second was armor piercing, for monsters with a tough hide. The last was a new variety and painted bright red. It made a small incendiary explosion when it hit, burning hotly. Then exploded into a fireball that expanded outward into a tremendous circle of flames.

He let Narwhale try out the finished product. She ran her hands over the bronze surface and examined every part of it. Finally satisfied she tossed it to her shoulder and swayed a bit. "Barnacle, you get to be my loader." Her excited bridesmaid ran over and started reloading the cannon as fast as Narwhale fired it. Nine missiles flew down range, destroying the area they had used for target practice and setting everything on fire. When she was done, she stared at the mass destruction she had wrought, entranced by it. She wasn't the only scavenger to appreciate the show of force. She slowly went to hand it back to Two-Screws, a small tear in her eye.

The older dwarf waved her off. "You think I'd let you fire that new toy and fall in love with it, only to take it away? Ha! That's my wedding present, girl. I'll set you up with a case of ammo to go with it." Narwhale hugged the new member of her family and thanked the old dwarf. Other scavengers found reasons to talk to him over the next week, feeling him out as to price and modifications he could make. He made three deals for weapons to be delivered in the next month, payment to be made in the rare magitech components.

Boomboom had told him the story Narwhale had revealed to him about what treasure they had found on the Queen. The legendary sunken ship had held a fortune in the rare components that incorporated theories of both magic and physics, and let an engineer warp reality. Each member of the crew had shared in the treasure, and had some magitech. It would never be sold, and only appeared when the stakes in a poker game got high. Trading a handful of shiny baubles for a destructively overpowered handheld cannon was an acceptable transaction as well.

With a new supply of magitech, Two-Screws tore apart his old exo-suit and reworked the entire design. He improved it in some places, fixing things that had bothered him for years. Then got to work building in more powerful weaponry and adding some new surprises. He was still terribly fond of the versatile mechanical hands it sported. They could configure from lifelike waldos to auger drills or various tools. He kept those and went with rivet guns that deployed from below each arm. The rivet guns would be the suit's main armaments augmented with a better targeting system along with limited amounts of specialized ammo.

He'd also noticed that the ladies were fond of the brass color of Narwhale's wedding gift. He added an outer layer of brass to his own armor and then polished it until it shone.

When Sledgemonkey saw the new set of armor his mouth had made some adorable fish imitations, opening and closing with no words coming out. He'd disappeared into his Arcane Workshop for a week and finally emerged in a gleaming gold set of armor that he strutted around in.

The two of them were drinking and singing as they followed Boomboom and Narwhale through the caverns, the newlyweds walking hand in hand and making disgustingly cute faces at each other as they tossed a grenade back and forth. The two had first met in the middle of the battle with the hydra, and bonded over their mutual love of high explosives and the puke-n-twirl.

Vary was running ahead, testing out his new mechanical 'Scout's Legs'. The lad hadn't progressed in his studies enough to build them, but he'd come up with the idea. Several of the engineers had made it a teaching project, making him do the work as they designed the mechanical legs and helped him test them.

Barnacle was pulling along a small cart that held Narwhale's wedding present, extra ammo, and a few gallons of alcohol. She grumbled constantly about girls who were too lovestruck to carry their own guns.

It was two-day's journey to the house of Professor Harry Earthtongue, and then another two-days to Limburger Hollow. Sledgemonkey wanted to see these new mines himself. When the newly married couple had said they'd come along, he hastily gathered Vary and Two-Screws to help keep them out of trouble. Barnacle got recruited as ammo carrier and loader. She'd declined at first, claiming she would much rather stay in Shadowport and drink heavily rather than follow the two of them around through old, nasty tunnels. She had changed her mind and volunteered when Narwhale had mentioned Vary was coming along to scout and test his new contraption.

Harry greeted them when they arrived, and brought out a huge amount of beer for them to sample. Brewing was a side hobby for the troll and he'd taken it up again after talking with several of the engineers. The engineers pronounced the latest batch to be quite tasty. The two scavengers had each had a mug, and then two-dozen more. If anyone was hung over in the morning, or regretting anything that might have happened in the night, they hid it behind small smiles or volunteered to 'Scout ahead for a bit.'

Harry decided he'd come along. He was curious what Milo had found, and was worried the dwarves wouldn't have enough alcohol for the trip. With two kegs of beer strapped to his back, he joined the group of dwarves on their holiday excursion.

Chapter 146: Conclave

Milo was unsure of what was going on, and on so many levels! He hadn't intended to become a Master of the Hollow and was unsure of how he felt about the whole thing. He took Gilad aside and spoke to him. "What's happened to Bleusnout, and what is the Conclave all about? I'm just following your lead. I'm not really a master."

Gilad looked at the young whelp. No, that was wrong. He should think of him as a young warrior. He'd earned that much. But they all looked so young to him now!

He tapped the ring on Tallsqueak's finger. "You found this ring, lost in the hidden parts of the hollow. And did you not take it from the last Scout Master? Do you think the ring would accept you so readily if its last owner didn't approve of you? You found his remains and brought them home to be laid to rest with his ancestors, after no one could find him for decades. That counts for much. And Old Healer approves of you."

"And the Hollow has need of you. Something smells bad, and not just the gorgonzola. You might feel too young for such responsibility, but right now, it is you who are our Master of Scouts. Your responsibility is to find the dangers that threaten the Hollow, and help us to prepare against things that threaten us. My whiskers twitch and my bones ache. Something bad is afoot. Keep those young eyes open. Use that sharp mind to see what others may not."

Milo had no argument for the old fighting Master's logic, so he stayed quiet, and observed what he could. Over the next few minutes, the other masters arrived. The first was Master Clawhammer. He was a tall ratkin with a thick waist and large muscles. His arms were bigger than Milo's thighs. Clawhammer worked a forge, hammering iron, copper, and tin into the tools and weapons needed by the rest of the Hollow. His forge was near the mines and often he led the groups of miners who entered the maze of tunnels beyond, looking for the ores they needed. He also oversaw many of the trades that were practiced in the Hollow. He was skilled in carpentry, blacksmithing, mechanics, and smelting.

Milo made a mental note to talk to him about a possible trade deal with the Engineering Outpost. The Outpost could always use more ores, especially of the type that the Hollow didn't have much need for. In return the Hollow could gain better quality armor and weapons for the guards, and better picks for the miners. It could be beneficial for both groups.

Helen Brownfur was known to most simply as 'Mother'. She always seemed to have a gaggle of little ones around her. She had birthed 13 children of her own, including three sets of twins. As if that was not enough, she had also adopted four young children who became orphans when their parents were killed in a mining accident. Her family had always been prolific and she was related to half the Hollow. Milo had seen her in the mushroom fields showing the little ones how to pick the best shrooms. He hadn't known she was the Gather Master, but in hindsight it fit her well. She was patient and guided the young in gathering skills, teaching them early how to supply the Hollow with food.

As each of the Masters entered the room, they were shocked to see Bleusnout's condition, shaking their heads sadly and talking with Old Healer. A Master of Cheese was the last person that anyone would expect to give into the lure of partaking of too much cheese. They were known for wills of iron, and the patience of saints. Helen Brownfur was particularly upset, having worked closely with Bleusnout. "This isn't right! He..he has always been too strong for something like this to happen. I don't believe that he gave into his hunger. What did he eat? We need to know!"

Rifkin was nervously bouncing from one foot to another and wringing his hands. "I don't know! He and Smiley were down here going through all the new cheese belonging to Tallsqueak. I have been working to keep meals cooked for the hollow. It was only when I realized he was missing that I checked down here and found him this way! He was face down in the Roquefort! But I agree with Mistress Brownfur, this is not right. Where is Smiley? Where is the rest of the Hollow's cheese?"

Gilad stood up. "There are many things to discuss. But first, you will excuse us, Rifkin, I'm sure you have things to do preparing the meals. The conclave must meet in private to discuss these issues."

Rifkin looked slightly surprised as if he hadn't thought he'd be asked to leave. "Yes, I will start the next meal, it's very important to keep the Hollow fed." He retreated upstairs, gathering up a bundle of dirty rags on the way, and they heard the banging of pots and pans through the floor.

Gilad sighed. "I feel the events of today have unnerved young Rifkin. He will need much support from us, if he is to fill the shoes left by Master Bleusnout. He is young, but with our help, I'm sure that he can rise to the occasion."

Master Clawhammer snorted. "He'll be fine. Bleusnout has been training him since he and Smiley were what? Four years old? We may eat an awful lot of grilled mushrooms and simpler food until Bleusnout is up and about, but we've all had worse."

Old Healer looked pained as he said, "That may be some time. Whatever Bleusnout got into, it wasn't just Roquefort, and with so much cheese missing, we may never know. He has gorged himself on the most potent of stinky bleu cheese, and I fear he has overdosed. Without knowing what he ate, it is very difficult to treat him."

Milo walked over and looked at the chef. Someone had cleaned off his face. "Where are the cloths used to clean the cheese off of his face? If we examined those, perhaps we could isolate bits of the cheese he ate?"

Old Healer liked the thought. "A good idea. It may give us a clue. The cloths were in that pile Rifkin took with him, please go and retrieve those, Master Tallsqueak." Milo ran upstairs, and the others turned to Old Healer.

Clawhammer asked. "You obviously think he is ready for that title. And I do find him talented, but we are already looking at possibly giving one young whelp a Master's ring before he is ready, is it appropriate to proclaim a new Master of Scouts after so many years?"

The Master of both Healing and Death laughed. "Give it to him? That sneaky whelp found my brother's hidey hole on his own and took the ring. A very traditional method of promotion in my clan. And he's already rebuilding the scouts, and has stolen two of my promising skulkers. All three of them had the nerve to surprise me in my own lair. Tallsqueak thinks oddly, and has put his nose into every corner of the Hollow. He's perfect. I just wished I could get rid of my other rings to young ones like him. "

Arlothe chuckled. "Cremona and I are fond of him. He's more of a sage than a true mage. Very curious about everything. Scout fits him well. You should talk to him Clawhammer. He's an accomplished mechanic and miner. He has some ideas about how we can trade the useless hard copper off to a group of dwarves in return for good metal. A lot of good metal. For some reason they value the hard stuff."

Master Clawhammer nodded. "I'd heard something of that, and saw him taking some of your young mages into the mines. I've always approved of cross training. We can't run a Hollow with a bunch of specialists. He has my vote then."

The Master of Fighting sighed, then chuckled. "I only object because I was hoping to retire at some point and let him take over my position of Master of Fighting. He is already running the beginning class and doing drills with them each morning He learns quickly and can handle the young whelps. And some not-so-young trouble makers. He is even giving Cremona a run for her money."

Arlothe chuckled at that and Mistress Brownfur looked intrigued. "I'd heard of that. Cremona is a fearsome fighter. We used to spar before I got old and stiff. If he can take her on, he is qualified."

"He certainly can take her on. They go all out, and he can ignore most of her poisons, and send her back to me with bruises each night. I've gained two levels in first aid and one in massage therapy since they started beating on her each night."

Gilad continued. "And he is strong enough to fight one-on-one against a Cheese Fiend." There were some intakes of breath at that statement.

"Tallsqueak has been working with Larry to move him past the limitations imposed upon him by the transformation to a fiend. Working together, Larry is now creating a fighting style that lets him use traditional claw and tail techniques. He is both exhilarating and frightening to spar with. Master Arlothe has also been observing and can verify this as well."

Arlothe smiled and patted his stomach. "And I'm getting fat from eating too many snacks while I watch the carnage. Cremona cannot best Larry. Her poisons are rapidly pushing up his Fiendish Resistance to the point many of her spells are becoming useless against him. She can beat Tallsqueak in one of three bouts, and he can beat Larry in roughly the same. But I most enjoy watching Gilad bounce around Larry, trying to avoid his dance moves." Arlothe had been having a great time each evening watching the four gladiators give each other bruises, cuts, and poisonous wounds. He was content to sit with his students and enjoy some late-night snacks.

Brownfur was unconvinced. "And Larry is under control? We are not creating a worse threat than we had before?"

Gilad was adamant about that. "No, if anything, Larry is getting better. He has given up cheese altogether, knowing he might become out of control if he eats it and fights. Fighting and becoming better is more important to Larry than cheese. His control is impressive."

Brownfur looked to where Bleusnout was laying, "Control can be fleeting. But this discussion is not about Larry, although I am so happy to see him get better. He was always the sweetest of whelps. No, this is about Tallsqueak. How many of us approve of his becoming Master of Scouts?"

The hands were raised. The votes were cast and a new Scout Master was chosen. The first in many years.

Milo returned soon after, visibly upset. "I was too slow, he had already ran them to the laundry and made sure they had been put into the wash. The lye soap will ruin any chance of isolating mold cultures or bits of cheese on them."

The other Masters nodded. It had seemed like a low chance of helping the situation in the first place. Old Heal nodded at him and patted him on the shoulder. "It was a good thought. We have talked. You will wear the ring from now on as the Hollow's Scout Master. Take a seat, we have another subject to discuss. We lack a Master of Cheese."

Old Healer pointed to Bleusnout. "We have one, but he is unable to do his job, and hopefully that is temporary. Let Rifkin make the meals, and the conclave can decide on when cheese is disbursed to the Hollow."

"If Rifkin can do the job, give him the ring. I don't see Bleusnout being trusted again, even if he recovers." Clawhammer didn't trust that the Chef wouldn't backslide again. Better to go with new blood.

Gilad suggested a compromise. "There may be more to this situation than is readily apparent. By Rifkin's own words, he wasn't here when this happened. Perhaps it was some sort of accident? And let us not look past other oddities. We have cheese missing? Who took it? And where is Smiley? He has been here at the Hollow as long as Rifkin and trained with Bleusnout as well. We need to find and talk to him, and find out the real story."

"I suggest we let Rifkin assume the title for now. He will be the interim Master of Cheese and take over the duties. Perhaps this all works out and Bleusnout recovers quickly and resumes his position as master? But if not, then Rifkin will have our support while he works to take over the position without the crippling responsibility of dumping a title of Master on him immediately. It would be better to let Bleusnout recover and give him the ring himself, after all, he has been training Rifkin and Smiley for the better part of two decades since the two whelps were found in that abandoned tunnel. He is essentially their father."

This vote was not unanimous but it passed. The Masters rose to leave and inform Rifkin. Old Healer asked Milo to stay with him a moment. "I will need your help to take the Chef to my apartment. This is not a good place for him, too much cheese. Watch over him for now while I summon two others to help us carry him."

Milo was suddenly alone in the cellar, Bleusnout's heaving breathing the only sound. He considered the problems he saw.

What had the chef eaten and how to cure him?

Where was Smiley?

Where had the cheese gone?

Firstly, Milo considered the problem of figuring out just what the Chef had eaten. He was upset that Rifkin had been so quick to wash the towels used to clean off the Cheese Master. But it wasn't just the Chef's face that would have traces of cheese. Milo carefully looked at his claws. The left hand showed cheese under the nails. Milo carefully cleaned the claws, saving the samples. Bleusnout's right hand was closed until Milo pried apart his fingers. Inside was a crushed golden puffball mushroom. Milo saved that as well, and then checked the Chef's mouth and nose, carefully taking samples from his gums and his nostrils.

Hearing Old Healer returning, he hid his samples and helped move the chef to where Old Healer could care for him.

Chapter 147: Investigations

The Puffyfur Tea party was in full swing.

There had been some disappointment that Professor Tallsqueak would not be attending, and bit of confused emotions about Larry attending. These had been swept aside when Professor Arlothe came into the planning committee to tell them how proud he was of them for inviting Larry. When told that Larry could not have cheese because he was in the 'Special Fighting Class', they made a decision to skip cheese altogether at the party. They substituted several types of cookies for the missing cheese and crackers.

A lovely rose and raspberry tea had been selected for the first round, along with raspberry tarts. Larry sat on the floor with his back to the wall, his long legs going under the table and his feet poking out of the other side. Patsy and Sassy were serving him his tea and cookies. Larry was being very careful with his teacup, holding it in the palm of one hand and using just the tip of a claw on his other hand. His nightly classes with Gilad, Tallsqueak, and Cremona were helping him pick up small things. Fiendish Claws was a STR based skill which Larry had never practiced, but Claw Fighting as taught by Gilad was a DEX based skill. A DEX of 4 was much better than a DEX of 0.

Larry's claws were also smaller now. Professor Cremona had been unhappy when she examined his overgrown claws, and as part of the tea party, Larry was being given a manicure by the happy Puffyfurs. After his nails had been filed and painted pink to match his weasel slippers, he held them patiently in his lap while the nail polish dried, and began to tell the eager audience about his adventures in Flowerland.

Milo heard Larry talking as he quietly moved past the room they were in, and continued on up the stairs. He was very happy Larry was having a good time.

Larry smelled his friend as he passed by. Tallsqueak was doing Hero stuff, he could tell. Tallsqueak always got a different smell when he was thinking really hard about things. Something bad had happened. Sneakybadguy was doing things with other sneakybadguys. But Tallsqueak would catch them!

Professor Arlothe looked at the schematics for what Tallsqueak was asking him to do, and got excited. It was a project that needed special glass lenses created in a certain way. While Tallsqueak created the framework to hold the lenses, Arlothe started his kiln and began melting the glass. Four hours later they had finished what Tallsqueak called a microscope. It was basically a frame that held the glass lenses, and a knob to move one a little bit closer.

Microscope wasn't as good of a name as 'Arlothe's Advanced Device for Looking at Small Things' but he did concede it was quicker to say. Tallsqueak took the first device with him, and Arlothe began working on designing a better one.

Old Healer felt someone's eyes upon him, but didn't react at all. Reacting at all might make a potential assassin decide to leave, and where was the fun in that? Better to bait them in and get some exercise

All furniture except for his desk had been removed from his large office to make room for a bed where Bleusnout lay unconscious. The large chef was sweating slightly, and moaning in his delirium. This was both like, and unlike, any cheese overdose that Old Healer had ever treated before. The obvious signs were there: pupils dilated, sweating, trembling muscles, and delirium. But at the same time Bleusnout wasn't waking up. He was unconscious and possibly dreaming, as if part of him was shut down.

The secret door opened, and Tallsqueak dropped into the room, carrying a strange device. He seemed quite serious and focused. "He is not getting better, if that was what you came to ask."

Tallsqueak stacked up all the paperwork and books on Old Healers desk, and put them in a pile against the wall. He began putting together an apparatus made of glass and metal, and then laid many small vials and bits of glass on the table.

"Something isn't right. I want to find out what he ate. This is a device for looking at small things. And these small bits are what was under Bleusnout's nails, and in his nostrils. We are going to look for clues as to what he ate."

The old ratkin nodded. "You doubt it was just Roquefort? So do I. Bleusnout has been around cheese all his life, I don't see him being tempted by some lesser cheese."

Milo showed old healer how to use the basic microscope. It only had a magnification of 140x but that was enough to look at cheese samples. They examined all the tiny bits Milo had scraped from nails and nose. Old Healer was fascinated by what he saw. Was this some engineering trick? It would have helped him many times in the past.

"Look here. That is a Black Mold. None of the cheese we make in this Hollow uses Black Mold. I'm not sure any cheese does. And what are these little things moving around? Are those small spiders?"

Milo had noted the presence of the creatures and knew what they were. "Spider mites. They aren't real spiders, just a small creature with many legs. Somewhat related. But why the chef has them in his nostrils is odd."

Old Healer continued to look at the samples. "Maybe not so odd. There is a rare cheese that was said to have used 'tiny spiders' to give it a distinctive flavor. After the soft cheese was made it would be put into a box with the spiders and left for a year. Needless to say it became quite unpopular when the spiders began to invade our lands. Not that many people liked it before, really, but no one has made it for decades. Perhaps there was a round of it in the cheese the Eels were keeping in their vault?"

Milo knew what his next step was; back to the Tower to talk to the eels. But he had other questions first.

"These are only the samples from one of the chef's hands. His other hand was holding a crumpled Golden Puffball mushroom."

Milo pulled out the crushed mushroom and laid it on the desk.

Old Healer considered that. "That seems strange. They aren't particularly tasty as a raw snack. Their virtue lies in their cooked flavor that enhances many dishes. And of course, in their use as a cleansing agent for poisons. They are one of the main ingredients in the elixir that you drank."

"Could that elixir help the chef?"

Old Healer sighed and looked frustrated. "It might, if what he is suffering from is some form of poison. But I haven't been able to find the means to correctly make it. My brothers' notes are terrible. He always left out the important parts so no one could steal from him."

Milo went still suddenly, thinking. After thirty seconds he said. "Poison."

Old Healer waited patiently for an explanation.

"It wasn't the Roquefort. What if Bleusnout was poisoned and wanted to leave a clue? He's been exposed somehow to Black Mold and spider mites. What if he realized what was happening as he was weakening?"

The old ratkin nodded. "I think you should go find out what was in that shipment of cheese. I will begin checking for signs of poison, and try to devise an antidote."

Milo left Old Healer with a messy desk and ran off to talk to the Eels. This time he went through the corridors and out the front door. Just as he was about to leave, a plump young man dressed as a Shadow Skulker came up to him and offered him a handful of jellybeans. "Hi, we haven't met yet, but the twins said you like these. I'm Petey."

Milo wasn't going to turn down jelly beans. He would share with Larry later. "Thank you. I'm Tallsqueak." They shook hands, made more difficult by Petey's hand being sticky with melted candy. "Oh, I've heard all about you from the twins. Congratulations on becoming Master of Scouts. That's awesome. The twins are happy and Charlotte is furious."

Milo scowled. He was getting tired of Charlotte; she really wasn't a good partner. "I can't help that. She'll just have to earn her own ring."

Petey laughed. "That will be tough for her to do. She's a lousy healer. Gendifur will be taking that ring soon, she's doing most of the healing in the Hollow now. She's really thankful to you, by the way. She says she's gained a whole level and is ready to go up to Tier 2 all because of how you guys tear each up at special fight practice."

"Oh, that's good...I think. I'm glad we're helping. But doesn't Charlotte want to be Death Master not Master of Healing?"

Petey winked at him, "Oh, she wants that very badly. Yes, she does. Maybe a little too badly, if you get my meaning. It makes her sloppy. Trust me, she has a better chance at becoming the Master of Healing than the Master of Death." He smiled at Milo and walked away tossing jelly beans in the air and catching them in his mouth.

Chapter 148: A visit with the Eels

Milo watched Petey walk away. He seemed like a nice guy, and the twins got along with him. Well, except for when they framed him for stealing jelly beans. Having wanted to hit the twins in the head a few times, Milo felt Petey was entirely justified in bending their legs. Maybe he was even helping them get a contortionist skill.

As he headed across the street to the Tower, he saw two young whelps tacking up a notice to an announcement board. As he got close to it, it seemed to light up and glow.

Welcome to Limburger Hollow

It takes a village to make the cheese.

You have 412 Contribution Points!

One Point

One day's normal meals

Special Cheesy snack!

New clothes (per piece)

Backpack

Mining pick or other tool

Spikeystick

Trade Token for use in the market.

5 Points

Advanced Class on making cheese with Master Bleusnout.

Advanced Class on Tail and Claw Fighting with Master Gilad.

Advanced Class in Magical Theory with Professor Arlothe

Advanced Class in Mycology or Gathering with Mistress Brownfur

Advanced Project with Master Clawhammer

Advanced Class in Healing or Alchemy with the Old Healer

Party basket!

Special meal for you friends!

Set of spiffy new clothes!

Nourishing cheese!

I'm not sleepy cheese!

Explorers pack with rope, spikes, flint and steel, 3 torches

10 points

Set of leather armor

Stylish cape

Adventurers backpack (-20% weight)

Non-magical weapon of good quality

Shield

Healing Potion

Mana Potion

Battle Cheese

Oh! This was the contribution board. It would have been useful to find this earlier. Maybe that was why several people had suggested it to him. He would have been taking classes with Master Gilad much earlier.

Pinned to the board were many notices and advertisements. The newest was large and used some vibrant colors to display its message:

The Cheese Caravan is Coming!

In cooperation with Master Bleusnout, the fine folks of Gouda and Cheddar Hollows have once again sponsored a Cheese Caravan and joined forces with other hollows to bring their wares to their cousins in far-flung enclaves, caverns and hollows. We'll be arriving soon, bringing Music, Dancing, Entertainment, and best of all: Fine Cheese.

This sounded like fun to Milo. Bleusnout must have set this up some time ago. It was very sad that he might miss it. But Milo wondered if perhaps a visiting Master of Cheese might understand what was wrong with him. He'd mention it to Old Healer. But for right now, he needed to focus on talking with Clan Emerald Wyrm and find out what kind of cheese they had taken to the cellar of the mess hall.

He entered the Tower of Strife, and made his way up to the floor where each of the four main clans had their rooms. He knocked on the beautiful green door that showed several dragons rearing on mountains, the world below them. When nothing happened, he knocked again, and a minute later a third time.

Inside, staring through a small spyhole, Brer Cutthroat whispered back to several others of his clan. "It's Professor Tallsqueak, and he's just standing there and knocking."

Brer Moray considered what to do. He was certain that Professor Tallsqueak had heard about tonight's social activity and was here to shut down their lizard races. Or worse, he'd come to bet on them! Either way, Moray wasn't going to let him inside. They would claim they were hard at work, studying for their weekly exams, with cotton in their ears to block out any noise. He motioned for the other eels to move away from the door, and move back down to the basement where they were about to start the racing. Everyone left. Moray wanted one last silent chuckle as the clueless professor knocked again. This time the sound was different though. Not really a 'knock, knock, knock', this was more the sound of metal on metal, 'ping, ping, ping'.

Moray jumped back as the front door fell into the outer hallway. Professor Tallsqueak was standing there, holding his spanner in one hand, and the pins from the door hinges in the other. He set the pins on a side table, along with the screws from the locking assembly. "Your door was stuck, but I fixed it for you. Strange how the hinges and lock are facing to the hallway, almost as if they were designed to lock students inside. Good to see you again, Moray. You and I need to talk. But can we go somewhere else? I can hear the Lizard Racing starting up, and I'd probably be distracted by it."

Moray stared at the handful of door hardware the Professor was piling on the table. "How did you know about the races?"

Milo smiled. "One of your clan put a notice about it on the contributions board."

Moray grimaced. "Ah, yes. My clan is not known for subtlety. Perhaps a nice cup of tea in the dining room then, Professor?"

"That sounds fine Moray, lead on."

Moray led Milo down a long hallway. The floor was dark wood with a thick emerald carpet running down the middle. This led into a huge dining room where sixty students could eat at once. The furnishings and carpets indicated the eels were doing very well. It wasn't what he had expected from a group of students in a small hollow. Moray was obviously proud of it. "Welcome to the heart of Clan Emerald Wyrm. We eat together here three times a day, and use it for all our meetings."

Around the walls were various trophies, awards, banners, and the skulls and pelts of large animals. It was so hard for Milo to judge the level of wealth. Squint had had stuff like this, but he thought this might be nicer than the collection of wealth that the gang lord had on display. No one in the habs had anything like this of course.

"It's very nice. Is your clan old? You seem to have acquired quite a bit of wealth."

Moray smiled at the compliment. "One of the oldest. Hollows come and go. Clans may move from one to another. The wars created chaos. When some of the hollows were overrun, our clan moved to Limburger Hollow, and since many of the remaining members were mages, we chose to become part of the Tower of Strife. We have been a leading clan here ever since."

Milo nodded. There was more to the eels than just some hot-headed duelists. "I need to talk to you about the types of cheese that you took to the cellar of the mess hall. Would you have a list we could go over?"

Moray felt his stomach drop to his toes. Had they found out he'd shorted the count by a few wheels? "Of course, professor, let me run and get that." How had he known?

Milo walked around the room, staring at the various trophies, some of these were quite old. A skull of a cave bear glared at him from on high, its pelt tacked up on the wall beneath it. Milo hoped to never meet one of its descendants. A shield made of bright emerald scales was in a spot behind the head table. A small plaque was below it. 'Shield of Vexanor the Green, gifted by the great wyrm herself to our clan, made from her cast-off scales.' Milo thought it had an odd smell to it. He examined the other trophies, all things any barbarian warlord or king would be proud to display. In the corner was a strange collection of bones that were held together with wire.

The creature stood upright on two legs and had six arms. A skull that looked like it came from a cow made the head. They all felt different. This wasn't a creature, just something made from the bones of various creatures. Still...there was something odd about it. He ran his hand over each bone, trying to get a feel for it. One of the leg bones was actually a much smaller bone from a larger creature. He could feel residual magic within it and a few runes moving within the mana. He didn't know those runes!

Moray returned to the room and saw Milo looking at the creature. "Hideous, isn't it? It was a project by one of our founders and we've had to pack it all over the place for a couple of centuries. I'd love to have a reason to get rid of it. Frankly, it smells odd."

Milo looked at it. "It is a horrible thing. And because of that, I'd love to put it in the faculty library as a joke. What if I traded you something for it?"

Moray was surprised by the offer. That really would be funny. And he could claim he had 'donated' it to the faculty of the tower and never have to look at it again. "Let's say I'm open to offers."

"Five wheels of aged cheddar cheese? I'll approve of your clan keeping them here, not at the mess hall."

Moray tried to keep his face calm. Cheese! A start at rebuilding the hoard! "As the current head of Clan Emerald Wyrm, I accept!"

Milo and Moray went over the list, the student very happy to find out that Professor Tallsqueak was simply looking over the types of cheese and the size of containers they were packed into. "We packed everything into many large crates. They were a little heavy and took two of us to move each of them. Bleusnout made this list as we packed in each crate, and Smiley and Rifkin stacked it all up by the back wall. Those crates were heavy by the time we got to the cellar, but Rifkin really wanted it at the other end, so we had to pack it another hundred feet."

"Sounds like a lot of work. This is a lot of cheese. I'm not familiar with some of it. Did any of it use any strange type of molds or strange ways of maturing the cheese?" Milo actually knew nearly every type of cheese on this list. Nothing seemed that out of the ordinary.

Moray couldn't think of anything like that. "Not that I know of. A lot of those odd names are just different varieties of cheddar. There was a time when every hollow was making up a name for what was really just common cheese with berries or spices added. Do you have anything specific you were looking for?"

"Yes. A small bit of Black Mold was found in the cellar, in an odd spot, along with spider mites. Did any of the cheese contain those?"

Moray made a face. "Spider cheese? Ugh. Never. That stuff is insanely gross. I read an article on it once. The mites eat the rind of the cheese and when they die it gives the cheese a distinct flavor. I can't imagine eating it. And I can't think of any cheese that uses a Black Mold. Are they cleaning things up? I'd hate to see any cheese ruined."

"Nothing to worry about. It was a very small crevice and may have come in with a shipment of mushrooms. I'm just being thorough. Like you said, no one wants to see any cheese lost. I'll be by to drop off those rounds of cheddar tomorrow. Just sneak that monstrosity upstairs sometime when Professors Arlothe and Cremona aren't around. I can't wait to see their faces."

Milo took his leave of Moray. Brer Moray raced downstairs to toss some bets on the last couple of Lizard races.

Milo heard nothing from the Tea Party and assumed it had ended. He went to the mess hall where he found Rifkin struggling with getting out the food for the evening meal and offered to help. Rifkin turned him down. "No, I can handle it. I'm sure I can get someone to help serve. It wouldn't look right for our new Master of Scouts to be washing dishes." Milo shrugged, got his food, and sat to eat. His tray had a small piece of cheese on it. He was tempted, but he wasn't eating cheese anymore if Larry wasn't. It took a great effort to do so. This was several days he'd gone without cheese. He wrapped it in a napkin and put it in his pocket.

What Willpower?! You have denied yourself cheese through sheer stubbornness to give in to a substance your body craves.

Cheese Addiction is now in remission.

You have gained the skill: Master the Cheese at rank 0. This is a WIS based skill that allows you to go longer without cheese, and to negate some of the bad effects of cheese.

But how long can you last?

How long could he last? Yes, that was a good question. If it wasn't helping Larry, then he wouldn't even be trying. But maybe for a few days more?

Milo sat in the back of the mess hall, thinking. Things simply weren't adding up correctly. He needed to do some investigations in the cellar, and he needed to do them when Rifkin wasn't around. The mess hall was the territory of the interim Master of Cheese and he couldn't go down to the cellar without Rifkin's permission, and he wasn't going to ask. There were times when Rifkin wasn't here, he just needed to be patient.

He walked outside, thinking of waiting for Larry in his friends house when he saw Brutus walking quickly towards him.

Chapter 149: March of the Spiders

The avenging army of the Iron Spider trudged onward to victory. Their crafty general had chosen to move through the lower tunnels. And she had set an easy pace for them. Rather than running fast along the web ways they were moving through the tunnels, taking their time and hunting for food. And the general led the way. She was marching along slowly at the front of the army, followed by her two banner bearers, her fearsome presence keeping small enemies at bay. The few times that any creature was visible, the gunner on her back mowed it down with a dwarven battle gun.

There was plenty of time to dig small mammals and large beetles from their lairs, and plenty of food in these unused caverns. The spiders generally moved around by the web ways, quickly moving through the large spaces on thin, gossamer strands. Many of the spiders in the army were happy to have such a holiday.

On the second day, a halt was called, and they were ordered to create a nest and put out scouts. They would be staying here and resting before the battle. H'spat, one of the Queen's special advisors had spread the word. The exalted noble moved through the army, passing the orders talking to some of the lesser spiders. She explained that General Iron Spider wished for them to share in the glory. The lesser spiders moved to the front of the march, and the Queen's Guard Units and the fearsome Wolf Spiders moved further back. The elite units took this small slight with much grace, moving to the rear and setting up their camps. The lesser spiders were in good morale, with plenty of easy food to catch, time to sleep, and an easy pace. After talking to each of the units in the army, the advisor went forward again to confer with the general about when they would begin marching the next day.

"How long until that useless limb is repaired? It's been trouble since those two idiots let a kobold work on me. I swear half its work was breaking a week later." The General was resting on a large rock, legs splayed around her so her mechanic could more easily work on repairs. It was not comfortable, but they didn't have a harness to lift her up like they used in repair shops.

Her mechanic spat out a long stream of tobacco on the ground. "Not early, that's fer sure, fer sure. This leg is all mucketied-mucked up. I'm going to have to hammer some new parts and jury-rig a spring to get it working. You're going to have to start using all those eyes to watch where you step, I've only got so many parts with me."

Grobit had the armor of the damage leg removed and was trying to repair the joint that had frozen up after a bad trip. The mechanical spider legs had been repaired so many times over the years that no two were similar at this point. The ingenious Goblin tinkerer had a surprise in store every single time he tore off the outer plating. He packed a large supply of extra parts and was always looking for more bits to add to it.

But that's what made this gal a work of art! Countless dwarven, goblin, rat-kin, and even elvish mechanics had worked on her. She could take an amazing amount of damage in battle. But she wasn't really built for long marches over rough terrain. He'd suggested time and again that a nice set of wheels would let her go faster, but his suggestions were always turned down. Probably for the best, though. He'd still be riding up top and a spider on roller skates might not give the best ride.

By the next morning, he'd gotten the leg back in shape and they took off again, at the general's slow pace. H'spat sent forward scouts to mark the route, and to roll any loose rocks out of the way. They were on a time schedule, and even though the advisor had counted on a slow trip, this was pushing it.

As the host of spiders marched slowly along, they came to a choice of two ways to go. The Iron Spider led her army down the marked path towards the mushroom fields of Limburger Hollow. The Queen's Guard and Wolfen units took a break to eat lunch, and then took the other branch that led up to the web ways and their rendezvous with the main force of the Spider Army. They picked up their pace. They had a long way to go, and a short time to get there!

Chapter 150: The Raid

This was one hell of a raid! Just getting to the main fight was a test for his guild. One they had already failed at twice!

Brannigan had called a recent break to let the healers administer first aid and mend some wounds. Then some additional time was needed to let the clerics get some of their mana back. Even with a snack of mana imbued bacon, potions, and a bard singing it took some time. The path to the raid area was wearing them down, bit by bit. The first part was all survival and dealing with trash mobs on the way to the big fight at the end. The area was infested with stone-lurkers, psycho-shrooms, huge carnivorous moles, giant vampire bats, and poisonous centipedes of unusual size. The local denizens were introducing themselves to the raid one by one.

First had been the discovery that the glowing purple mushrooms that shed a little light in the caves shouldn't be picked. TerryToony had thought that they would make great torches. The paladin had picked two of them, held them up high, and walked around the raid shouting, "May the Holy Light of the Purple Mushroom bless you all." The colorful fungus did shed good light when he held them up, but they also started shedding glowing purple spores that floated down and outlined Terry and anyone nearby in soft purple light. One of the clerics had laughed at him and joined in. "I too will become a devotee to the Holy Purple Mushroom!" After that, everyone had to pick them. The air was swirling with spores, and everyone in the raid was glowing in the dark. Any predator nearby was attracted to the easy to spot prey.

Then things got worse.

Some idiot joked about them being snowflakes and held out her tongue to catch them. It had been Tequila-Jane of course. Her character was a Sword Witch wielding a Chaos Blade. Her choices for a class and weapon reflected her personality. Jane was not the most stable of people to start with. Fun to have around though. After a mouthful of psycho-shroom she started really glowing and proclaimed she was not only blessed by the Fungus God, but had gained 10 core skill points for eating the purple fungus. She ran around laughing and singing, proclaiming herself to be the incarnation of Coyote-Bob, God of chaos.

Half the raid immediately tried to catch the flakes on their tongues, or eat the mushrooms. They'd assume Jane's antics were just part of being Jane. But the mushrooms turned out to be highly psycho active. Half the raid went crazy, running off into the dark, where the waiting predators found them to be both tasty and easy to find. Other players began fighting with each other while claiming that goblins were attacking. Four of the wizards stood in the middle of the chaos arguing with each other over which anime character was the most powerful and whether the Hulk could beat Superman.

Twenty-three people died, and they decided to put off the raid until the next day. The core skill points were totally a figment of Jane's imagination. Coyote-Bob never showed up. Psycho-shrooms were avoided after that, partly because of the horrifying hangover they gave the next day. Brannigan saw that Tequila-Jane had a small pouch on her belt with a slight purple glow. She was sneaking pinches of mushroom every now and then, and chewing them down. But at least she was behaving mostly normal, so he let it slide. "Mostly Normal" was pretty mild for Tequila-Jane.

The next day, they did better. With a lot of the trash mobs killed the day before, the raid made it to the same spot where the glowing fungus fiasco had occurred, now devoid of mushrooms. They were just in time to be attacked by two huge mole creatures. Normally the moles avoided the area because of the psycho-shrooms, but with the glowing fungus missing, they were expanding their hunting territory. One dug out of the wall from each side, springing an ambush.

That fight hadn't gone too badly. This group at least knew how to kill things. Fighters ran to engage each of the moles, and the clerics backed them up with heals. There was a bit of confusion, but the moles were both killed after a few minutes. The creatures had a huge amount of health and turned out to be low level bosses.

Congratulations! Your raid has fought and killed two named bosses: Olaf and Iggy Molinsky

For slaying the Molinsky brothers, each member of the raid has earned 200 experience and 2 Core Skill points.

Your reputation with the Moletariat would go down if you weren't already at the bottom. Those moles hate everybody.

Morale went up after that. CSP were always nice to get. Players could kill trash mobs to level, and some had done so continuously until they hit the soft cap at the top of Level 5. Then they did the least amount of work to move on to level 6 and the second tier. This resulted in no option to upgrade their classes. Some were working on repeating this losing strategy, while others had learned their lesson and started over. It wasn't enough to do just the basics. The most successful guilds had players that pushed past a stat of 5 by raising their caps. They earned CSP by killing bosses and raiding constantly. Brannigan could only hope this raid would put his little group on that path.

It was the special skills you could buy with CSP that let a player customize their character and become more powerful. That was one of the reasons he had agreed to do this raid. The bigger the fight and the crazier the monsters, the bigger the reward. And doing crazy things and big quests gave a lot better options for upgrades in Tier 2. Brannigan had started out as a vanilla fighter. After reaching Tier 2 he'd been offered the classes: Fighter, Trashhauler, and Goblinslayer. He'd decided to start over.

The raid was dealing fairly well with random lurker attacks and trash mobs until they got to the bridge. It was just a basic stone bridge across a 30-foot-wide chasm. It was ten foot wide, level, with no traps, and should have been no problem to walk across.

They had checked it out as best they could first, just to be sure. A thief had slowly snuck across using stealth and checking for traps. A wizard had declared it to be completely non-magical.

The bridge wasn't trapped, but it was certainly dangerous. As people with torches or light globes started walking across the bridge, giant bats had swooped down, knocking two people to their deaths. The raid had prepared for a fight, as another dozen bats were seen flying down, but the bats were content to fly down into the chasm and feast on the tenderized corpses. The raid moved onward. The players would lose their gear. Brannigan wasn't going to risk sending down a group to resurrect the two, and possibly lose more people.

The latest obstacle had been a steep incline that ended in a thirty-foot drop. Mickey had scouted ahead and said it wasn't a bad climb down to the drop-off, and they could rig a rope to help people descend. Mickey and Fleegle were working on putting pitons into the rock to secure the ropes, and a ranger named Leafrot was scouting further ahead.

Climbing slowly down a steep slope was tricky, but not difficult if you went slowly, and faced back uphill. Climbing down a thirty-foot rope shouldn't be tough for most players. If someone had no skills at all to help, and bad physical stats, a fighter could lower them with a harness. So it shouldn't have been a problem getting everyone down. But of course, since it looked easy and was taking some time to do, some of the players got bored and improvised.

The first five people had slowly made their way down successfully and two started down the ropes. Five more were on the way, but two of those decided to walk down normally, instead of backwards. Jester wanted to show off his monks' skills and slide down like he was snowboarding, which made TheBlueBishop decide to try the same stunt, despite having no agility skills.

The rest of the raid saw people moving quicker and pushed ahead. Rocks and pebbles starting rolling downhill, disturbed by the passage of so many people. A wizard patiently waiting his turn for a rope got hit in the head with a rock and tumbled from the cliff, taking a bard halfway down the rope with her. Both landed in a pile at the bottom with half their health, until more rocks and more people started falling on them.

Jester made it down fine, jumped off the edge like it was a ski ramp, and landed in a roll far down slope, unharmed. Not so his imitator, TheBluebishop. Clerical robes flying around him, the portly man tripped, rolled, knocked into two more players and all three fell off the cliff, one dying as the portly cleric landed on him.

Of the thirty-six players to start, 27 made it down the cliff, 16 with broken bones of some type. Three more died when Jester came racing back to camp, pursued by a giant praying mantis he had disturbed. Leafrot never returned from his scouting mission.

Brannigan called it at that point. They needed to heal, dead players knocked off the bridge needed to catch up with the raid, and everyone was low on mana and health. They made fires, put out bedrolls, and ate meals, followed by designating the camp as their resurrection point. Brannigan organized the players in shifts so that the camp was never abandoned and the rest could log out. They'd get the group healed and all together for the next leg of the journey.

Overall, he wasn't upset with the event. It had some traps and things they had learned to avoid, but they were all getting better at paying attention and looking for threats. The trash mobs weren't really trash and they were getting some good experience. Coyote-Jane claimed to have gained a level for real and a heritage option. But she also still clung to being an avatar of Coyote-Bob, so who knew? What he really liked was how the event made him feel like they were really exploring into the unknown. He knew the fights were probably level-appropriate and scaled to the area, but it still felt like they might run into something really nasty at any moment. This had made the players pay attention and stay serious and mostly silent.

It was a good player experience, and he wondered what else they'd run into before they did the invasion of the rat-kin area.

Chapter 151: Pickled Picnics and Plucky Puffyfurs

Redfawn beat on the glass of the pickle jar she was imprisoned in, but she wasn't strong enough to break the bright green enchanted pickle glass. Through the green tinted glass, she saw her other fairy friends being roughly stuffed into jars as well. Greggy was screwing the lids on tight and punching small holes in the top to air in. The Bad Pickle Boyz had captured all of them! Gingersnapple was in the jar nearest to her, with Tuliptoes, Cherrypit, and Moonflower further down the row.

Then the horror began as Greggy Gurner started taunting them. Pickles were so mean!

"Ha! Silly flutter-things were thinking y'all wuz the smartiest, but Greggy is smartiest too! Did you have fun at my Pikknik?" He held up a small piece of paper showing a picnic basket and directions to the fairy picnic. Redfawn suddenly understood! The surprise picnic no one had known about, why picnic was spelled wrong, and why the invitations had told them to go to the clearing in the Haunted Woods. It all made sense now!

"You lied about the picnic!" Such evil had rarely been seen in the Flowerlands!

All the Bad Pickle Boyz laughed. Greggy laughed the loudest. "Oh no. We is gonna have us a pikknik, but first we need to have a little contest. Some of you will be new pickles, and some will stay cucumbers. So, you is gonna have to decide whether you wanna go to the picnic with Greggy, or be on the menu!"

The horrified fairies saw that Big Pickle and Granny Gerkin had arrived. The smoke belching Pickle Wagon came up the hill with Granny driving and Big Pickle riding in the back next to the pickle barrels and vinegar vat. Granny hopped out of the driver's seat of the Pickle Wagon and Big Pickle unwound a long hose. While two of the boyz ran the hand pump on top of the vinegar vat, Big Pickle put the hose over the top of Redfawn's jar and vinegar came through the air holes, soaking her. Granny laughed. "Oh, you is gonna be such a bad batch of sour little pickles. That sauce has dill, mustard, and lots of peppercorns in it."

The vinegar stung her eyes and skin and smelled horrible. The other fairies cried out when it was their turn to be pickled. "I don't want to be a yucky pickle!" Cherrypit's voice cried out, but the Bad Pickle Boyz just laughed.

Bertie Badger had showed up late to the picnic. He loved free food, but he'd slept in, and then Uncle Ebeneezer had needed his tonic made from carrot juice, and the carrots had been extra hoppy and hard to catch today. As he showed up to the clearing in the haunted woods, he was disappointed to see that no one was there. Had Uncle Ebeneezer's errand made him so late that he had missed cupcakes?

Posters for the picnic were nailed to all the trees (Which really annoyed Mr. Ent.) and blankets were spread out on the ground, but no one was here. And things smelled bad! Like old vinegar or Uncle Ebenezer's feet. He'd smelled that smell last spring when the Pickle Boyz had tried to steal all the jelly bean trees. Looking around, he saw large, three-toed footprints in the mud that smelled like vinegar. Pickles had been here!

Bernie didn't know what was going on, but he knew it needed someone bigger and smarter than him to fix things. The scared little badger ran off to find the Tunnelmuggle, Brinka was the only one that could help them now!

The Clan Puffyfur tea party had been a rousing success. Especially if you judged it by how many cookies had been eaten. They had served three kinds of tea, read some poetry, played charades, and Larry had told several stories about Flowerland and the fairies that lived there.

"It seems so real when you tell your stories, Larry." Sophie had been mesmerized by the stories. "I wish we could go there some day."

Larry was happy. He'd had so many cookies! The room was too small to dance in, but the tea was tasty. And he was glad to tell his stories. "Stories are real for Larry. Someday maybe they will be real for you too!"

Patsy, Sassy, Sophie, Luna, and Dot all hoped that was true. "Can you take us there, Larry?"

Larry shook his head. "No, Larry can't. Larry is too big to fit through the secret door. He needs help from Brinka, the Tunnelmuggle. It is very hard for Brinka to take Larry there, because Larry has such big feet. Larry only goes to Flowerland when it is hero time. And if it is hero time, then lots of scary bad guys are running around. You'd have to fight them and be heroes too!"

All the girls nodded. Being a hero sounded good, but maybe not fighting bad guys. Puffyfurs weren't noted for being brave. Those people joined Clan Manticore.

The cuckoo clock struck twelve, and the little bird came out and started tweeting over and over. Which was strange, because the clock hadn't been there a moment before. A foot-high green door opened up in the wall, and Brinka stuck her head out. "Larry! I've been looking all over for you! Something terrible has happened, and all the fairies are missing!"

All of the Puffyfurs were staring and holding their breath. Larry patted Brinka on the head. "Don't worry, Larry will come help."

Patsy, Sassy, Sophie, Luna, and Dot started talking all at once. "We'll help! Puffyfurs can be brave! And smart! We'll bring cookies!"

Brinka gave her consent to Larry. More heroes would be a good thing! Larry stood up, scattering the table and anything on it, and grabbed all the girls up into a bear hug. Then the Hero of Flowerland dove into the small door and down into the Tunnelmuggle Tunnel. His feet were the last part of him to go through the door, and Brinka had to push hard.

The trip down the tunnel wasn't long, but it was very curvy. The Hero and Heroes-in-Training fell out of a hole in the branch of the Big Oak Tree by the Pond. It was only a short fall and they landed in the Sunflowers. Patsy, Sassy, Sophie, Luna, and Dot stared around with huge eyes, taking in the too colorful landscape, with the bright sun overhead.

Larry produced several pairs of dark glasses from a small chest at the base of the tree. "Larry wears Hero Glasses while he is here so he can see better." He put on his own pair, and handed out five more pairs of stylish, dark tinted shades to his assistants. As he was doing so, he saw the poster for the picnic nailed to the oak tree.

"Aha! A clue!" He showed the poster to the girls. "We must be clever and find the clues to where the fairies have gone."

They got to work.

"They spelled picnic wrong."

"The poster is drawn on the back of a label from a pickle jar."

"It says 'event of the season', which can't be right. Our tea party was the event of the season!"

"It smells like vinegar."

Larry was happy that his new friends had come along, they were so good at finding clues. "Good job, heroes." Larry sniffed the air and all around the oak tree, then pointed down a path to the haunted forest. "Fairies went this way. We should go look for them!"

Patsy pointed to the small badger that was running down the path towards them. "Maybe Mr. Badger knows something."

Larry could see Bernie Badger running down the path. It was a clue! Bernie was lazy and always late. If he was running, he had important news. Time to put all the clues together and find some fairies!

"Oooh, look, they're all starting to turn green! This is gonna be some fine new pickles when they get done!" Greggy was feeling good. Both Granny Gerkin and Big Pickle had joined the gang when he explained his clever plan to them. "Soon as these are done, we'll get to work pickling up all of Flowerland!"

Big Pickle yelled out. "And there's no one who can stop us."

Granny Gerkin stared at Big Pickle and did a double face-palm. "You had to say that, didn't you?!"

From over the hill came the sound of large, pickle-stomping feet.

"Hey Hey! Ho Ho! Evil Pickles got to Go!" It was Larry! Slow-Talking, Fast-Walking Larry! The Hero of Flowerland!

Granny wasn't surprised. Big Pickle might as well have sent the Hero an engraved invitation with a map when he said that no one could stop them. "Get him, Big Pickle! I'll load up the Pickle Wagon!"

Greggy urged the Bad Pickle Boyz on. "Well, don't just sit here! Go help Big Pickle! It's seven to one. Surely, he can't beat all of you!"

Granny Gerkin heard Greggy say that and wondered how she had got stuck with these idiots. "Just shut your mouth Gurner and start loading up those pickle jars into the wagon. Greggy turned to grab the fairyies and their jars, but they were gone. He saw five wizards with tails and bows in their hair sprinting away with the fairies in their arms, discarded pickle jars were scattered on the ground. He chased after them. "Give them fairies back! I trapped them fair and square!"

Patsy called a halt. "This is far enough. Deploy wands girls. Time to show this pickle what it means to mess with Clan Puffyfur!"

Greggy Gurner was a powerful Boss Pickle over seven-feet tall and weighed more than what all five small wizards did together. That didn't help him as he was targeted with five spells.

"Sassy's Static Bombardment. Go!"

"Dot's Dangerous Discharge. Go!"

"Vengeful Electrical arc of the Moon. Go!"

"Sophie's Silly Symphony of Synchronous Thunder. Go!"

A field of static electricity burned the pickle's feet and slowed him down. He was shocked by a blast of lightning from Dot's wand. From the sky a brilliant white bolt of energy lanced down to hit Greggy on top of his head. Finally, small thunderstorms appeared and tossed lightning at him, making him dance.

It was a tired and burnt pickle boss that staggered up the hill, only to be met by Patsy. The official 3rd assistant to the head of the planning committee for Clan Puffyfur was angry. This was the worst picnic ever! "Vengeful Smite of Clan Puffyfur!" She slammed her staff into Greggy Gurner's face, knocking him down and breaking his crown, sending him tumbling down the hill.

Big Pickle had reached Larry as Larry sprinted down the hill. Big Pickle went to throw a punch, but Larry leaped into the air, spinning and hitting the large pickle in the face with his huge foot. Big Pickles head exploded into little bits of vegetable. His head was mostly hollow, after all. Larry's tail scattered the rest of the Bad Pickle Boyz. They got the message.

"Time to Leave!" The boyz grabbed what was left of Big Pickle and ran for the Pickle Wagon.

Grandma Gerkin shook her fist at Larry. "Darn you, Larry! This plan would have worked except for you and those meddling kids!" She drove off in the Pickle Wagon with Greggy Gurner running behind and begging her to slow down.

"I need a bath!" Gingersnapple was trying to wash off the pickle juice with a handful of grass, but it was sticky and icky.

"Let's go to the river and take a bath, then we can have lemonade and jellybeans with our new friends." Moonflower was fond of Lemonade and suggested it whenever she could.

"Yay, a real picnic!"

Larry let the fairies ride on his head and shoulders since their wings were sticky. Clan Puffyfur walked along with him.

"Best Tea party of the Year!"

Chapter 152: The Cheese Caravan

Merchant Greensleeves's wagon was first in line as it entered the outer edge of the caves surrounding Limburger Hollow. It was painted bright red with a canvas top striped yellow and white. It was pulled by a matching pair of albino draft lizards, their scales gleaming after being polished with oil each day. The entire caravan looked more like a circus than a merchant carrying goods

Greensleeves called a halt to the caravan and ordered a two-hour break for rest and food. "Get something to eat and stretch your backs. Double check that your wheels are tight and your lizards polished. It's close to showtime. Once we get inside there isn't time to breathe we will be so busy, so take care of things now." The guards and drovers laughed and waved at him, thankful for the small break before they rolled into Limburger Hollow.

With just 1 guard and his personal scribe, the Merchant drove his wagon up to the entrance to the Limburger Hollow. The two guards at the entrance were immense specimens, and he wondered what their bloodline was. They wore steel plate armor and wielded impressively large halberds. He was happy to see that. A safe hollow was prosperous and rich hollow.

The guards greeted him politely as he drove up and hopped down from his wagon. "Howdy, and welcome to Limburger Hollow! I'm Justin and this is Brutus. Is it just your one wagon, or is there a larger caravan on the way?"

Greensleeves laughed and shook hands with them. "As if you two haven't been hearing the sound of our wheels for half a bell. I know how sharp a guard's ears need to be. I am happy to say that we took no losses in our journey and I can deliver sixteen wagons of fun, music, dancing, and cheese to Limburger Hollow. I'm looking forward to meeting Master Bleusnout and trading some wheels of cheese with him and talking about recipes we can share. We have spoken by letter of course, but it's so much nicer to talk cheese making in person."

There was a small change in the guard's demeanor, which only someone with Greensleeve's high perception would catch. Something was wrong.

The guard named Justin was trying to keep the same easy-going smile on his face, but it was an act now, whereas before it had been genuine. "I'm sorry to say that Master Bleusnout is a bit under the weather today. He's had an accident. But Brutus can go get one of the other Masters to talk to you. For now, why don't you bring your caravan into the outer cave so you don't have to worry about any critters being attracted by the cheese."

Greensleeves bowed. "I thank you for your hospitality, sir Justin. I'll get my people inside so they can take a well-deserved rest and I look forward to talking to the Masters of the Hollow." He walked away listening. The Cheese Master was too ill to talk to the head merchant of a Cheese Caravan? He must be ill indeed. Perhaps he had underestimated Sneakybadguy, it seemed his agent already had his plan running and Limburger Hollow was ready to be toppled.

Back at the caravan, four of the guards and a fiend-keeper went to two large wagons with heavy tarps over their contents. Carefully looking inside, Grackle, the fiend-keeper, checked on Buttercup and Rosy. The two fiends were asleep. Rosy was curled up holding her doll, and Buttercup was snoring a little. He put a piece of Slaver Cheese in front of each of them. They would wake soon and eat it immediately, then curl back up for another day's sleep. It was imperative that these two be kept out of sight. He'd give them some more Sleepycheese in a couple of hours. Nothing said "Here to conquer you." like a couple of fully armored war-fiends.

Brutus walked quickly down the narrow tunnel that led from the guard station in the outer cave to the beginning of the Hollow. He needed to find someone to talk to that Merchant. A Cheese Caravan was a big thing! Limburger hadn't had one visit for over three years. The Merchants who took it upon themselves to travel from hollow to hollow were wandering heroes to many ratkin, and it was the dream of many whelps to run away and join one. Travel, see far hollows, be a hero and fight monsters! It was an adventurous life that many sought, but few actually found

You had a big dream, and then your parents had to spoil it by pointing out that only veteran warriors were wanted in the caravan. It was one of the reasons he'd become a guard, and at times he still thought about it. But that would mean leaving Limburger, and that wasn't a price he was willing to pay. Maybe if he hadn't met Gendifur and they hadn't started meeting up to talk every now and then. Maybe he'd have kids, and he could let one of them run off with a caravan. Hell, maybe he should start one up? A few wagons, take Gendifur along, and just run back and forth between here and Gouda Hollow? Something to think about.

He quit daydreaming and went back to searching for a Master. He didn't see Gilad around the arena, and the Fighting Master was notoriously hard to find when he wasn't in the ring and teaching a class. Old Healer would be with Bleusnout and wasn't available. So, did he head down to the mines and find Master Clawhammer? Or to the tower and grab Master Arlothe? Rifkin wasn't a full Master yet and he was busy trying to get a meal on the table. Mistress Brownfur would be far out into the gathering fields by now.

His problem was solved as he saw Tallsqueak coming out of the mess hall...no, make that Master Scout Tallsqueak! Problem solved.

Milo saw Brutus waving to him and walked over to the big guard. Brutus shook his hand. "Wanted to congratulate you on grabbing a ring and taking over as Scout Master. Good move. It will be nice to have someone coordinating the scouts again. It's been just the guards handling problems for a long time, but scouts take care of things before they can get to the Hollow."

Brutus couldn't hide a big grin. "And speaking of things that are just outside the Hollow: We have a Cheese Caravan arriving and the whole meeting and greeting stuff is just way above my pay scale. Justin says it's Master level stuff. And since Bleusnout isn't feeling well, and the rest of the old Masters are so hard to find, I think that this falls squarely in your area of responsibility."

Milo could handle the translation himself: Job to do. Tag, you're it. This time he didn't mind. A Cheese Caravan sounded exciting! Exploring through caves, finding lost routes to other places. It sounded like a great job. The people in the caravan had to be some of the nicest people out of any hollow to work so hard to bring tasty things to other hollows.

"Sure, Brutus. I'm happy to help out."

Greensleeves wandered along the wagons in his caravan, checking on details. First impressions were important. He only had a few of the warriors in armor and standing guard with specific instructions to relax and be friendly. The rest were dressed in normal clothes, making fires, cooking a meal, or just sitting around and joking with each other. Stopping at the other hollows had been good practice.

His wagon master was doing his job looking for problems. A cracked axle or broken wheel could set the caravan back for hours at a time. They weren't planning on going anywhere, but now was a good time to catch up with repairs. He saw that the man was scowling at one of the special wagons. This was one of two whose wooden sides hid a steel frame; the cage extending upward and being made to look like a pile of boxes and crates. Each one housed one of his Battle-Fiends and their armor. The axles and wheels were made to take the weight, with special springs to keep from jostling the easily annoyed fiends, but one was dripping oil steadily.

Greensleeves wandered over when he saw the wagon master scowling. "What is the problem?" The older ratkin looked up at him nervously. "I think the mechanism is shot. We went over a lot of bumps and the suspension system takes a lot of wear and tear with as much weight as they are packing. I'll have to jack it up, take it apart, and hope it's something I can fix." Greensleeves thought about the problem at hand. He really wanted nothing to disturb his fiends. "Save it for now. Just put a bucket underneath to save the oil. When I find out more of what is going on, then I'll tell you when to dismantle it."

Greensleeves willed himself to be patient. He needed to know what was going on and to do that, he needed access to the interior of Limburger Hollow. Then he could find his agent, assess the weak points, plan his take over, and find out how well the rest of Sneakybadguy's plan was working. It shouldn't be hard. Even if they didn't have room for the caravan inside, he was sure that they would allow a few of his people to enter at a time to go shopping and trade for items. Most hollows were eager for trade and he assumed Limburger would be no different.

The second guard had returned, flanked by a young ratkin who was dressed strangely. A guard in training? Maybe an apprentice to a Master who was on his way? He was certainly too young to be a Master of anything. Brutus stepped forward to introduce them. "Merchant Greensleeves, this is Master Scout Tallsqueak. He was kind enough to make some time to talk to you."

So he really was a Master? Interesting. He held out his hand and they shook. Greensleeves took a second look at him and did a careful examination. He was an adult, but just barely, with soft, fluffy fur that made him look much younger. He was wearing well made, silky-black pants in a style that Greensleeves knew was preferred by claw fighters. Over that was a burnt-orange hood with runes on the cowl. He could only just see the runes as they faded in and out. Both pieces of clothing were obviously magical. As were the weapons on his back.

The Scout Master had a very expensive-looking pick-axe made from rare materials. Greensleeves had not seen its like before. The other weapon was too powerful for him to identify properly. Who made a spikey stick out of such rare materials? It must be an old weapon from some ancient war. And on his finger was the Ring of a Master. Not all hollows had them still. They were created centuries ago by a conclave of crafters from many hollows, working together for decades on end to provide the talismans to each hollow. Five enchanted items? No! Six. He had a second ring! How did anyone so young acquire six magical items! Limburger Hollow must be much richer than he had ever realized. He had to calm himself just thinking about it.

Greensleeves realized a few seconds had gone by while he examined the Master of Limburger Hollow's scouts. "It is good to meet you. Forgive me, it's been a long trip, and I have much on my mind."

Milo smiled at him. "I can imagine. Most people have no idea how many moving parts projects have. Material resources, people, food and supplies for the people, transport for all of it and then more food for the transport animals. I've only thought about your job for a moment once I saw your wagons and already, I'm seeing hundreds of little jobs that have to be done."

He did? "It's good to meet someone with that type of perspective. Most young people only see the bright tents and dream about running away and joining a caravan."

Milo looked over at the tents. "They are very nice looking. The colors are interesting. Natural warning colors to ward off some predators? The bright red, glowing purple, and bright yellow probably do the trick. Wait? People can run away from the Hollow to join a caravan? That's an option? I may have to talk to you further about that. It sounds fun. Lots of exploring."

Greensleeves wondered about where Tallsqueak had grown up. Didn't every whelp dream of running off with a caravan? "Ah, less than you'd think. We mostly travel the same roads. I was hoping to talk to you about something else. As you can see, there is room here for the Caravan to set up, but I was wondering if there is a larger area inside of the Hollow? Your esteemed Master Bleusnout had written me and seemed to think so."

Milo was looking at all the wagons, piled high with boxes. There was certainly room to move the wagons inside, but what of the festivities, and people moving back and forth? The caravan probably wouldn't want to be crammed into a small space. Their sales and profits depended on people being able to access the stalls where cheese was sold or traded. You needed room for that. It would be doing the caravan a disservice to cram them into the Hollow.

"I'm not sure that there is. Not to give you proper room to interact with everyone one and maximize your sales. Certainly not for the dancing and music, that would be a lot better to do out here. I saw the posters you must have asked Bleusnout to post. Looks like a lot of the Hollow will be running around and having fun." He started walking along through the cavern, pointing at the ceiling. "Those stalactites would work great for anchoring a set of colorful lanterns to illuminate the dancing. It's not hard crawling on the ceiling, I'll do it if you don't have anyone that can."

He pointed to a spot in the cave that was slightly higher that the rest of the floor. "A stage for the band would go well there. Good acoustics, don't you know? That area of the wall forms a natural amphitheater to magnify the sound. I bet Master Clawhammer could build some temporary seating over in that section and then we can sweep out the area in the middle for dancing."

Greensleeves found himself following around the excitable Master Scout as he laid out the caravan and volunteered ideas for making the celebration go easier. Several of Greensleeve's people walked over, and seeing what was going on, offered their own advice on things when Tallsqueak started asking them questions. Then he borrowed a pencil and drew out the diagrams on the side of a wagon. If Greensleeves was really a merchant, and if he wasn't leading an army in disguise, he probably would have tried to hire the young Scout Master for future caravans. Instead, he found himself unable to argue with the well-made plans that kept his caravan out of the Hollow.

Milo looked around at a half dozen ratkin and soldiers looking at him. "Well, that's my ideas, anyway. I'm sure you all know how to do it better."

The wagon master and bard were looking at the plans and turned to Merchant Greensleeves. "Does this work for you sir?"

Greensleeves smiled. "Of course, it does. Nicely thought out. If only all Hollows put this much thought into our visits." He took Milo by the arm and pulled him over to a quieter spot. "I'm wondering if perhaps I or some of my people can visit your hollow? The crew would love to shop for fresh food and look for things in your marketplace. And exchange of ideas and goods is always a good thing between Caravans and Hollows. I daresay we gather up information like a Gather Master in a field of fungus, and then distribute it everywhere we go."

"Oh, yes, that sounds swell. I'm sure visitors will be welcome. And I hadn't really considered how much someone like you must learn traveling like you do. Can I ask you a few questions?"

Greensleeves was happy to turn the conversation in this direction. "Certainly, what would you like to know?"

Milo had several questions he needed information on. "I was wondering if you knew of why cheese mites might be on a wheel of cheese, or in its packaging. Have you ever encountered that? Are they more common in some hollows? Are they used in any cheese making process?"

Greensleeves stroked his beard to cover his surprise. Spider mites? Of course, he had. It was one of the ingredients used to make Milkenbase, the cheese that was the main ingredient in Slave Cheese. "Spiders? Um, no. No, I have not. That sounds horrible."

Milo was disappointed. He'd hoped the wise merchant might have known. "How about black mold? Is it poisonous? What would happen if someone ate it?"

"Ah, no. I'm sorry. I think Black Mold is to be avoided at all costs. You don't have an infestation of it in your Hollow, do you?"

Parts of Wurchwitz Hollow had become infested with Black Mold, forcing them to seal off tunnels and caves. Experimenting with it and trying to find a cure for 'Black Lung' was how they knew it could be used to make so many effective poisons. Why was Tallsqueak asking these questions? Did he suspect something?

Tallsqueak nodded. "No worries. I just have questions sometimes and they bother me until I find the answers." He focused on something two wagons down. "Oh, you have a bad axle that is leaking grease. I'll take a look at that for you." Before Greensleeves could stop him, Milo had taken the spanner from his belt, and was undoing two bolts to remove a plate on the axle assembly.

"This is a nice design. The lubrication for the suspension system and the grease for the wheels is supplied by the same container. But it looks like the pressure screws are loose and creating an imbalance. Too much pressure is sending lubrication to the left wheel and causing it to leak." He tightened a couple of screws, put the cover back on, and slid out from under the wagon.

"That should work. Wouldn't want one of your wagons losing a shock absorber and seizing up." As Milo stood up and dusted off his pants. something large rocked the wagon and snored heavily.

Greensleeves thought quickly, and whispered. "We should move away from here. That's Dave's wagon. He's a pretty large guard, and he just got to sleep. Snores terribly at times."

Milo nodded. "Yeah, Brutus does the same. He rattles the whole Guard Barracks when he sleeps."

"Thank you for your time and expertise, Master Tallsqueak. I look forward to our visit to your hollow. They shook hands once again, and Milo headed back to Limburger Hollow.

Merchant Greensleeves, known better as General Gangrene, watched him go, and wondered just how much the Master of Scouts knew. He needed to find his agent. He pointed at four of the guards who had on normal clothing. "You four come with me. I have a hankering for some fried mushrooms the way only a Hollow makes them, and then we need to wander around and sight see a bit."

Chapter 153: Further Investigations

The Cheese Caravan was in full swing, and Limburger Hollow was celebrating. The local musicians had joined with those in the caravan to put on an enthusiastic show. The Caravan was supplying cheesy snacks and fruit drinks to anyone who would provide music. Francis Longwhisker, the famous bard of Gouda Hollow was singing all the old favorites. Dancing and music ran long into the night, nearly to the next day.

The caravan was doing a brisk business trading cheese for the goods the Hollow produced, and at very good prices. Many families were stocking up on the tasty wheels and slabs to put away for the holidays. And with every purchase came some of the caravan's newest offering, a soft and slightly sour cheese with caraway seeds. It was delicious when spread on crackers.

The new cheese master was so taken with this cheese, that he had traded some of the Hollow's cheese for enough for several meals. And he was giving two pieces at each meal as long as everyone promised to get lots of dancing in to work off the cheese. The extra cheese went a long way to make up for several meals of fried mushrooms. The new chef was having a hard time keeping up with meals and was preparing those easiest to him. Luckily, the inhabitants of the Hollow were easy going as usual. They knew poor Rifkin was doing a lot without his usual helper, Smiley.

Up on the roof of mess hall, three shadows sat, talking in low tones, and using their skills to blend into the shadows. Occasionally jelly beans were shared and eaten. Milo had found the twins and the three of them were going to do a bit of creative scouting tonight. Milo wanted the twins to follow Rifkin when he left, while Milo investigated the cellar for clues.

After talking with several people, he couldn't see how the cheese could have come up the stairs into the mess hall and then left the building. There simply wasn't enough time. And if the cheese hadn't left by that route, it must have gone by another, or was still down there. He and the twins had come up with a few ideas:

-A vast storage pit had been dug to hide the cheese. Then the dirt scattered on the floor, making the distance to the ceiling 3" less.

-Someone else had a Smugglers Stash in the Hollow. They were also Tier 6 and had upgraded their Stash many times. Milo explained the concept by telling them a little bit about the mage who had made extra rooms and magic doors. This led to the next idea.

-Someone had access to an Arcane Cheese Vault. This was an exciting concept for all of them. A safehouse for all your cheese, and yet it essentially travelled along with you. Perfection.

-The cheese had been molded into the shape of a ratkin, clothes put on it, and the whole thing turned into a cheese golem that walked out with no one noticing. Maybe many cheese golems? Could you have an army of cheese golems? They wouldn't last long against a Cheese Fiend, but maybe for fighting spiders? Even if this wasn't true, the twins made Milo promise to look for something about Cheese Golems in the library of the tower.

-There was a hidden entrance to a tunnel, or another cave.

The last was the most probable, and by far the most boring. However, secret doors and tunnels were still pretty cool. The twins promised to behave and trail Rifkin if Tallsqueak promised to show them the secrets of any tunnels he found. The party at the Cheese Caravan had gone long into the night and nearly into the next day. Rifkin had kept the mess hall open for late night snackers, proclaiming that the Hollow was having a holiday and he would try to have food ready for as much of the day as he could. He was bustling around his kitchen serving snacks and cheese to everyone who came in, and even sending people off with bags of food for those who hadn't come to the caravan.

Eventually, long past the normal time it would stay open, the lanterns in the mess hall were extinguished, and Rifkin locked the doors and left for the night. The twins melted into the shadows and Milo lost track of them. He waited for a few minutes and then began his own investigations.

Greensleeves was satisfied with the evening and the late-night celebrations. He had toured Limburger Hollow, gawking like a tourist and complimenting everyone. They had an impressive Mage's Tower. The reputation of the Tower of Strife was well earned. It housed a huge compliment of talented students, and the clans who lived there were rumored to be quite wealthy. One had gained so much cheese that they had donated eighty-five wheels to the hollow!

Enemy mages were always a danger. They could punch far above their weight class if allowed to burn up their mana. He would have to make sure they were neutralized early. Of course, having those same mages on his side would make conquering more hollows very easy.

Limburger had rich mushroom and vegetable fields, enough that some were barely harvested. He could increase the population of slaves here, and send many wagons of food to supply the armies he would build. And those armies would be supplied weapons from this same hollow! The mines contained a great abundance of ores. Limburger Hollow was a little gem just waiting to be militarized.

While many of their residents had fighter training, they had less than a dozen guards, and only two were full-time. Of course, they bred immense guards in this hollow, far larger than his own warriors. He was anxious to see how well they could fight.

He had managed to only briefly contact his agent here. Their plans were going well, with just one teeny, tiny problem. Their new scout master was getting suspicious and asking questions. Having met him, Greensleeves understood the danger. The last thing he needed was a scout actually doing his job. He had worked with his agent to set in motion a plan to eliminate Tallsqueak, once and for all. Limburger hadn't had a scout master for decades. He hoped to help continue that trend.

Milo used the door into the mess hall with the repaired lock. After making puffcakes that day, he had spent a few minutes fixing the locking mechanism that had bent when Larry walked through the door. It was easy enough to fix, with just a few bent pieces out of alignment. It meant that this time as he moved through the shadows and up to the door, it took no time at all to open it and slip inside.

The mess hall was dark, but he could see easily. He carefully made his way to the back room and the stairway to the cellar, checking carefully as he went. Too much had already happened, and he was trusting nothing at this point. At the bottom of the stairs, he paused to listen at the doors to the cellar and examine the locks, hinges and door frame. The lock showed signs of having been worked on recently. There were scratches where the mechanism had been removed and then put back into place. One of the screws was also new. Milo suspected that the key Bleusnout had used to come down here would no longer work.

It wouldn't stop him, just slow him down. He had expected to have to pick this lock. He removed his tools and got to work. There was no trap attached, but the lock was very stiff. It took him a full five minutes to get inside, pausing to listen both through the door and to the room above. He carefully opened the door after oiling the hinges to prevent any noise. He opened the door, and hopped over a simple trap of a string attached to empty cans. If that was the best trap in this place, he wasn't worried.

First stop was Bleusnout's little office, where he kept all of his paperwork, recipe books, and research materials. Everything looked to be in order. Milo spent an hour going through the desk, notebooks, and research journals. He memorized a lot of information about making cheese, but didn't see anything at all that seemed to bear on the situation. Carefully putting everything back, he began looking at the rest of the cellar.

Rack after rack where large wheels of cheese had sat were empty. This was the cheese that the Hollow consumed with their meals and for snacks each day. The hundreds of ratkin in Limburger Hollow would go through a surprising amount each day. Even at just an eighth of a pound each, the total would come to over a hundred pounds a day. The amount Milo had won from the eels wasn't even a week's worth of cheese, despite it being higher quality. The daily cheese was mostly cheddar and limburger that the Hollow made themselves.

The area for cutting and preparing cheese to be served was also empty, but had been used recently and not cleaned. There was a sour smell in the air. Milo looked over each knife and spoon, and on some he saw evidence of a soft and sour cheese. Something on a knife was moving. A very, very small mite. Looking around, Milo found sacks that had held the cheese. Each had spider mites crawling around on the insides. Someone had been cutting up Milbenkase here. But where had the spider cheese come from? Had Bleusnout traded for some and been eating it that night? That might explain the mites in the samples that he had taken, but not the chef's overdose, or the problem of the missing cheese.

Moray had complained of having to put the cheese on the far side of the room. Milo padded quietly over to that area, and began examine things. There were some broken crates in a pile, but no shipment of cheese. Oddly, there was a lot more dust on this side of the room, mostly on the floor. In some places it was half an inch thick. He thought of Tweedle's theory about digging a pit and covering floor in dirt, and it amused him. There was of course, not enough dirt for that theory, but it bothered him. What would you hide by putting dirt on the floor.

In this case it wasn't a suspicious blood stain or a hidden map carved into the rock. What his examinations revealed were scrapes and scratches as if heavy crates had been dragged in the direction of the wall. One scrape went right up to the wall.

Milo checked around that area, and found two suspicious looking cracks in the stone.

Some sort of disguised opening was here, but where was the trigger to open it. It took another half hour to find it. A small outcropping of stone about the size of the end of his thumb could be moved. The little rock was twenty feet down the wall from the rock. When moved an inch, there was a small click, and the door opened a half inch. It was a simple mechanism. The trigger simply pulled on a long wire that released the catch.

He silently opened the door until he could move inside. A long corridor greeted him. It was five feet wide and six feet tall, with smooth rock on the floor, ceiling and walls. Ten feet down were two side corridors. He debated leaving the door open, but the latch on this side was large and obvious, next to the lock. There was no chance of being locked in. He shut the door and moved further into the room. The smell of cheddar was strong in the air.

At first, he was amazed at what he was looking at. The rock of the two side corridors had been carved to form long shelves from floor to ceiling. Each shelf was under an opening a foot high and two-feet deep. On the rocky shelves was cheese. Big rounds of cheddar cheese. Underneath each five-pound wheel was the date it had been made, by who, the method, type of milk, and anything that had been added to the regular recipe. The side corridors went twenty-feet. There were four shelves with ten cheeses on each. Eighty wheels per corridor and a hundred and sixty altogether. The hallway he was standing in extended deep into the rock beneath the Hollow, and ever six feet was another pair of cross-corridors with another hundred and sixty wheels.

This was the long-term cheese storage for the Hollow. Bleusnout had obviously known about it. The writing on the tags was his. Milo moved further down the corridor. After passing a dozen crossroads, the hallway he was following came to a T. Across from him was a large room with casks of aged Limburger cheese. The smell was intense and very nice. Some of the dates indicated the cheese had been aging for decades. Opening one of those casks would be delicate work.

To the left, the corridor revealed another dozen rooms with hundreds of casks of carefully sorted and dated Limburger. The dust in this corridor was less disturbed than the passage to the right. Many feet had recently come this way, and there were scrapes on the floor. The corridor went fifty feet and turned, then opened into a large cavern. Stacked inside were many crates and boxes of cheese. There was a small cot with someone sleeping next to it. Milo moved towards them, scanning the ceiling, feeling for traps, and listening for noise.

That was how he found the pit. It was hidden with a cunning illusion, as had the other one in the hidden caves where one of the twins had almost fell in. He stepped around it and quietly advanced on the sleeping figure. It was Smiley, and Milo could have made as much noise as he wanted, and he wouldn't have woken him up. Smiley's eyes stared up at the ceiling, a wild look in them, he was sweating and his breathing was ragged. Checking his mouth and nose, Milo saw obvious traces of Black Mold.

And then his Danger Sense told him he was about to die, and he dove for the ground as a high-powered and very silent crossbow fired a poisoned bolt at him.

Chapter 154: Words in the Dark

Milo rolled twice and then got his feet under him, crouching behind a barrel. He heard the small click as the crossbow was cocked and knew the direction the sound came from. But if the person shooting at him was good, they had already moved. Darkness didn't affect his vision, but he couldn't spot anyone. Their skills were high enough that they were overwhelming his perception, similar to how his own skill worked.

He concentrated on not being seen and moving as quietly as he could, circling to the right, always staying low or behind cover. Another shot came from across the room, missing his head by only an inch. Not knowing exactly where his opponent was, he took a chance and threw a skull at where he'd heard the sound of the crossbow firing. The damage from the spell broke her concentration and he saw Charlotte finish cocking the crossbow and take her next shot.

Instead of dodging, Milo cast Harpoon of the Winds. The attacks were almost simultaneous. Milo saw his spell slam into the crossbow, destroying it, and then continue on, carving a gash in Charlotte's cheek and the side of her head, tearing her ear. She screamed, half in pain and half in rage. Her crossbow bolt hit Milo in the arm, but the bolt stopped when it hit bone, the momentum of the impact knocking him down.

Grabbing the bolt stuck in his arm, he pulled it free. If it had been poisoned, it didn't seem to be affecting him. A quick glance confirmed that.

You have been struck by a light crossbow and have taken 75 points of damage.

You have been poisoned. Light poison doing 50 points per round damage is countered by your Poison Resistance.

You have been poisoned. Medium poison doing 20 points per round is countered by your Poison Resistance.

The damaged crossbow sailed over his head and struck the wall. Charlotte came into view as she moved out from behind a crate. "You owe me a new crossbow, that was my favorite. I hope that little bit of poison isn't inconveniencing you too much."

Milo stood but was happier to stay partially behind cover. Did she have anyone else here with her? "Sure. I'll be happy to get that taken care of as soon as we finish here. Why are you shooting at me?"

Charlotte shrugged. "Sorry, partner, it's dark in here and when I saw someone sneaking up on Smiley, I figured you were an assassin sent to finish the job someone else started. I've been guarding him non-stop, and I'm a little tired."

Milo did think she looked tired and strained. Then again, Charlotte sort of always looked like that. "Guarding Smiley from who?"

"Duh. From the people trying to kill him. And if I knew exactly which Shadow Skulkers that was, I'd be out hunting them. But I'm pretty sure Petey is behind it, maybe the twins, but that would be tough with how they hang around you so much. Unless you did it? Hard to keep all the players straight, isn't it?" Charlotte had sat down and pulled out a healing potion. She was pouring it over her face and ear. "Wonder if I'll get a cool scar out of this? It's hard to make people take a pretty girl seriously. Grandfather keeps calling me 'his little girl' and telling stories about how cute I used to be. Meanwhile, he can't see I'm twice as good a Death Master as the twins and Petey put together."

"So either Petey or the twins are part of a group who poisoned Bleusnout and Smiley? And why would you think I'd be in on it?"

Charlotte finished with her ear. Milo noticed she still had a tear in it. Maybe she wanted it to heal that way. "Poisoned? Where did you hear that? They both overdosed on too much bad cheese that someone gave them. Bleusnout was an addict before he dried himself out and managed to take over as cheese master. Smiley is just following in his footsteps. The two of them would be down here most nights snorting lines of parmesan or having a late-night snack of double-cheese lasagna. At least now Rif can take over and clean the place up."

"But no, just teasing you. I don't think you did it. I mean, sure, the scenario might fit. A tall, handsome stranger comes into the Hollow, cleans out the drug addicts, takes over as the new person in charge, and runs everything. It happens all the time in the stories. But I've watched you a lot. You're a little lost and getting pulled in several directions. The old Masters are running you ragged."

"You should talk to Rif more. He's got some good ideas. And when he gets his ring, that would be two of you on the council. If we get rid of Petey, and you keep the twins in line, I'll be the third. That's nearly a quorum and people are getting old. You could even take over Gilad's ring. Toss scout to the twins, or go for a double ring. Gramps was a triple for decades, I don't see the problem. Then we have a new generation making the rules and setting things straight."

This was a lot of new information, and as fast as he parsed it, Milo kept finding holes in what she was saying. Too many variables and things didn't line up based on his observations. "Hmm, sounds like then we'd have a lot of work. I'm already teaching fighting and engineering classes, and doing lots more."

"That's the point! Don't you see?!" Charlotte was walking towards him, her tail moving back and forth as her hips swayed. "You do all that work already! They owe you more recognition. I heard they voted on you keeping the Scout ring when you earned it already! Rif isn't getting a ring until he works his ass off for years we've heard. The old rats want to control everything. Do you know grandfather even warned me off when I said I was interested in you?"

"Me?"

She smiled at him oddly. "Yes. You! I'm surprised you didn't see me looking at you all the time! None of the other boys can even keep up with me. You proved you were my equal the first time we met! But gramps wants a say in who I cuddle up to. This would let you and I get together like we want to, wouldn't it?"

She took a step forward. Milo took a step back. Charlotte smiled at him. "Playing hard to get now that I have you alone? Don't look now, but your back is almost against the wall." She took another step forward, making direct eye contact. "Naw, plenty of room to dodge. If I wanted to." He took a quick look over his shoulder.

As soon as he looked back, Charlotte slashed with her claws at his stomach and a knife drove for his eye.

Chapter 155: To the end.

Charlotte's strikes had been faster than Milo had been expecting, almost as fast as Gilad, but he'd been expecting her to try something since the first step she took towards him. The weird swaying thing she did with her tail and hips he didn't understand. Maybe it was something to distract him the way a cobra confused prey? In any case her stance gave away both the hidden dagger and the preparation for the claw strike.

Milo had been sparring relentlessly with three very scary opponents. Gilad was a Master with decades of experience. Cremona had once been a leading claw fighter who had added the arcane spells from poison and death to her style. And Larry was a creature designed to slaughter his way through an army with strength and speed far beyond normal. Adding some rumba and tango moves had just made him that much tougher. Charlotte hadn't trained half that hard, and it was to her credit that she wounded Milo at all.

An armored forearm blocked the incoming dagger. The steel it was made of was inferior to the hardened bone of the Claws of Alta Viator. Milo didn't bother to block the claw strike. He'd learned to take small wounds that his regeneration would heal, if it would let him land a more devastating blow. All ratkin started with Weak Claw attacks. Charlotte had upgraded that to Not-so-weak Claws. Her strike left bleeding furrows along Milo's abdomen, but they were minor wounds. Toughness negated some of the damage, and his regeneration began to knit back his flesh. It hurt, but not like Charlotte was going to hurt when he struck back.

With a skill in Claw Fighting of Rank 6 and a STR of 4, Charlotte had a base damage of 90 points. Milo did 210. As his forearm moved inside her dagger strike and her claws raked his belly, Milo brought up his left hand in a claw strike against Charlotte's side. She gasped at the pain as the claws tore into muscle, and then his right hand slashed down on her shoulder, tearing deep furrows down her chest. She tried to roll away from him and use Disengage, but his tail slashed hard against her arm as she blocked her throat.

Milo was at 2033/2210 health. Charlotte had taken much more damage and was at 585 /1280. "Give up, Charlotte. I'm better than you and a lot tougher."

The injured Shadow Skulker hissed at him. "And that's why I hate you. You still think you're better than me." She took a chunk of cheese from her pocket and tossed it into her mouth, chewing fast. "I'll be good as new soon."

Milo's tail struck her again as she was chewing, slamming into her ribs and cracking some of them. He moved forward to press the attack, but she scampered back quickly using Disengage. She ate another piece of cheese. "A little healing, a little more speed, and I'm good for round two." She sprinted back at him, clawing desperately. Milo was a little surprised by the ferocity of the attack and how she wasn't blocking his counter attacks.

They moved around the room, often right next to each other, clawing and slashing. When he had an opportunity, Milo cursed her with Brittle Bones. It added some damage to his slashing attacks and doubled the damage from Mace Tail. After several rounds, they pulled back from each other, both of them fighting for breath and bleeding from many cuts. The difference between them was obvious. Milo was only down some of his health at 1260/2210 while Charlotte was nearly dead. She slammed more cheese into her mouth. "I'm not done with you yet!"

Milo didn't want to kill her. He still had questions. His tail snaked up to his belt and grabbed his spanner. She seemed immune to pain and intent on dying, so blunt force might work better than slashing at her. As Charlotte charged him head on, eyes maddened, Milo leaped in the air and spun, bringing his spanner in a long arc with huge momentum. It caught Charlotte in the shoulder, knocking her down and shattering bones in her shoulder, arm, and chest. She moaned and Milo yelled at her. "Stay down now. And tell me who poisoned Bleusnout."

She laughed hysterically, laying on her back, struggling to get a breath into her shattered ribs. "You really don't know? Do you? They were so worried about you after you taunted Greensleeves about the Black Mold and Spider Cheese! They didn't know if you were threatening them, or wanting in on the deal. It never occurred to him and Rifkin that you were clueless. I'm going to laugh so hard when I bring them your head! You have no idea the power they handed to me. And so tasty." She stuffed her mouth with cheese and swallowed, before doing it again.

To Milo's astonishment, she stood up, and the bones in her shoulder and chest moved and reset themselves. Her wounds were healing right before his eyes. She flexed her claws and they grew longer. Red eyes lacking sanity stared at him. Milo put some distance between them, but Charlotte charged, and suddenly he was pressed as hard as if he was fighting Larry.

He put slashes into her, but she was healing at a fantastic rate. And far faster than he could when her much larger claws gave him wounds. He needed distance. He feinted towards her eyes, and when she ducked back, he raced towards the pit. He couldn't clear it in one leap, but there was a handy stalactite that his tail could grab and let him swing across. As soon as he landed, he launched two Harpoon of the Winds at her. Both spells hit her hard in the body, ripping open terrible wounds and lodging inside her. She went to tear them out, and he launched two more, starting to drain his mana. One landed in a shoulder, and the other penetrated her left eye. Charlotte staggered back, and Milo caught his breath.

She grabbed for the pouch at her waist and put the entire pouch into her mouth, swallowing it whole. She screamed as she pulled the harpoons from her shoulder and chest, and then put both hands on the one in her eye and yanked it out. Her muscles swelled, her hands morphed into huge claws, while her shoulders and chest were sheathed in layers of muscle. He noted that the wounded eye didn't heal. There were limits even to a Cheese Fiend's regeneration, for that was what Charlotte had become. Not much was left of the slim assassin. She growled and began stalking him.

But Charlotte was clumsy now. Milo knew from experience what Larry had been like once, with no agility, and a top-heavy movement. Charlotte hadn't learned yet to run using her arms as front legs. She was in the horrible state of a newly changed fiend. He was able to move around and around the pit, throwing a spell at her and forcing her to stop and tear out a harpoon, or stand up again with an explosion knocked her down. Her regeneration was slowing, but his mana was almost gone. She became hungry as her wounds quit healing, and suddenly she remembered the mound of cheese nearby.

Charlotte ran to the pile and grabbed a wheel of cheddar, chewing it down. It wasn't the carefully crafted Battle Cheese that she had devoured too much of, but it would still start healing her wounds and giving her energy. Milo realized he was in the worst place in the world to fight a Cheese Fiend.

He got daringly close and lashed out with his tail, knocking the cheese out of her hands. She growled and grabbed another round of cheese. He knocked that aside, and slashed at her back. She tried a backhanded claw attack while getting another chunk of cheddar and turning to him. His tail once again knocked the cheese out of her hands, but this time she caught his tail. He vaguely remembered Gilad warning him about this.

Round and round Charlotte whirled him. If not for his time spent in the Puke-n-Twirl he would have passed out. She took two steps and toss him into the pit. He hit the far side, thirty feet down the rockface, clinging desperately to it. His tail felt like it was broken, and likewise one arm wasn't responding well. Toes and one hand held him on. Charlotte walked up and looked at him, chewing on a ten-pound wheel of cheddar that looked tiny in her hand. "Charlotte Wins! Charlotte always wins!" She leaned over, giggling at Milo.

Petey kicked her in the butt from behind. She overbalanced, too top-heavy to pull back from the edge and she tumbled into the darkness of the pit with an echoing scream of rage and despair.

Petey looked down at Milo. "Hi. I'm thinking about becoming the next Death Master. Can I count on your vote?" He tied a rope to a section of shelving and tossed it down to Milo. With Petey's help Milo managed to get back to the top of the pit.

Milo looked at the smiley, chubby ratkin. "Sure. I think you have all the right qualities for the job."

Petey held out a hand full of candy. "Jellybean? The red ones are ripe and act like minor healing potions. You look like hell."

Chapter 156: Jellybean break

Petey and Milo sat in the cave next to Smiley, eating jellybeans. Petey checked on Smiley, took his pulse, turned him a bit and got him to swallow a couple of jelly beans and some water. "We need to get him to the Old Healer. Whatever he's suffering from looks close to the same as whatever has happened to Bleusnout."

He sat down next to Milo, and poured out a bag of jellybeans. Milo detected a slight magical glow to them "One of the bushes my clan has is old. Old enough that it might be older than the clan. Like older than cheese kind of old. No one remembers how we got it. Three others are only a couple of decades old and were brought to us by my great-great-uncle. Good job on finding him, by the way. Got rid of some old grudges and relieved some tension in the older folks."

"Anyway, the beans off of the old one gain some nice effects if they ripen long enough." He made a small pile of six red beans, one blue bean, and three yellow beans. He swept the rest back into his bag. "The reds will keep healing you up. The blue prevents infection, and bleeding, and the yellows are for poison. Frankly, you should be worse off. Char would have been using poison."

Milo took the rest, but handed the yellows back. "She did. I'm more resistant to poisons than she thought. It was her claws that tore me up. I underestimated her. And I didn't take into account the cheese. I had no idea that cheese could give that much of a boost, and she had a large supply of it. And when she turned into a fiend? Even sparring with Larry didn't prepare me for that."

Petey smiled at him. "Yeah, but Larry is a sweetheart down deep. He was always a good kid. Charlotte? Sort of the opposite. Spoiled and entitled. Not always, we had some good times together. For a few years, it was me, her, and the twins always getting into trouble together. Then our training started up, and the competition to get a Master Ring changed all of us. Char started only caring about Char. She wanted that ring badly. Everyone had to be very careful around her. Sparring could turn into a real fight, instantly. And don't get me started on how bad she got if you scored on her playing Surprise. She was so mad at you!"

"That's the big difference between fighting Larry and fighting Char. When you spar, Larry isn't trying to kill you. Keep that in mind the next time you get into a fight. If the other guy is trying to kill you, all the rules get thrown away, except trying to survive."

Milo thought about that, and agreed with Petey. Sometimes it wasn't a game. He had fought tooth and claw against Salasha, he needed to remember that more fights would be like that. "So, what does the Hollow's new Deathmaster think is going on?"

Petey suddenly had a very neutral and stupid look on his face. "Gosh, I don't know. What does the Scout Master think?"

Milo needed to practice that face, Petey did it very well. "I think you spent years making people underestimate you." They both chuckled. Milo looked over at Smiley. "Rifkin is lying about things. His story just doesn't line up. And if he's lying about some things, he's probably lying about a lot of things. I ask myself why someone would want to hurt Master Bleusnout, and the obvious answer is the person who benefitted the most."

Petey nodded. "Charchar was talking a lot of bullshit, trying to confuse you, but some of what she said sounded true. How 'Rif' wants to change things in the Hollow. I bet that's the argument he used to convince her. I also wonder about that cheese she was eating. Pretty advanced stuff. None of the battle cheese Bleusnout makes could make someone go fiend so quick."

Petey looked over at Smiley. "Another thing to consider is that Smiley was a better Chef's assistant than Rifkin. He did the job, was patient, and had that goofy grin that put people at ease. And he was good with the cheese. I think Rifkin was worried that he'd be assistant chef forever, and Smiley would be the next Master."

Milo looked over at where the pit was. "I feel bad."

Petey shook his head. "Don't. Or feel bad later. She made some bad choices and followed it up with bad cheese. And don't forget: I'm the one who pushed her in. Not much choice, as she'd have killed both of us, then she would have killed Smiley, followed by a cheese fueled rampage into the Hollow when she realized what she had become. But still, that was my cousin I just killed. I'll mourn her later."

Milo looked at Petey for a moment. "Deathmaster."

Petey smiled. "Damn right."

"I have the twins following Rifkin tonight."

Petey gave him a thumbs up. "I saw that. Nice skulking, you taught them to shut up and stay silent. They have a lot of talent; they just need to take things serious for a change. When the older people in the clan started pushing us to compete, we all reacted in different ways. Char became the frontrunner, and we let her. Just easier. The twins started acting stupid and ducked responsibility. I got fat eating jellybeans."

The two of them tucked Smiley in and tied him down tight, then lifted the cot he was on, and took him back to the cellar. Petey listened at the door and they moved past the secret door. It was dark and silent in the Hollow. Milo opened and relocked the far door, and they exited the mess hall. Staying to the shadows it was only a few minutes until they had Smiley resting next to Bleusnout and the Old Healer was tending to both of them. Then he turned and looked at Petey and Milo.

"Tell me what you have learned." He sat and listened to what they had to tell him, going very quiet when he learned of Charlottes fate. He stood and patted them on their shoulders. "Good boys. You did what you had to do." From a drawer he took a heavy black ring with a silver skull and tossed it to Petey who put it on and nodded."

"I gave Gendifur the ring of the Master Healer this morning. Things are happening, and it would be too easy to cripple the Hollow by killing one old rat who held on to power too long."

"Our Cheese master and his best assistant are suffering from strange cheese and black mold poisoning. Spiders have been seen close to the Hollow. And now we have a Caravan show up. Rifkin told me that Bleusnout invited them to come, but the chef never mentioned that piece of information to the Conclave."

"Brownfur and Clawhammer are too insulated by their day-to-day jobs. Arlothe is obsessed with his magic. I've been trying to hold three clans together. I think someone noticed that weakness, and is taking advantage of it. Go find Rifkin and bring him here. He's in the middle of all of this."

After they left the old ratkin sat and thought of happier times, playing with his first granddaughter.

The attack on the caravan came in the early hours of the morning. The mostly human raid was well rested and healed up. Six thieves and assassins using stealth and Shadow Walker potions worked their way silently to the start of the ratkin dungeon. Using sign language, they discussed the next move.

"It looks like a circus in there! Pretty festive. And see that herd of draft animals? Those are to pull the wagons"

"Not many guards, but they have decent armor and weapons. Do you think we can thin them down at all?"

"How about we backstab some of the ratkin feeding the animals, then take their clothing. With disguise and the darkness, I bet

we can surprise some guards. Make sure to tuck a piece of rope in the back of your belt for a tail."

"We need a druid down here. Which one can actually move silently?"

"That's Duskarrow. He's working on a combo of archery and druid for the toxins. Sort of a range assassin. Why?"

"The Panic Animal spell. If we get those beasts upset, the guards will focus on them, not us."

Nods all around set the plan in motion. One person went back looking for the Druid, and four others started moving up behind the ratkin who were feeding the lizards and oiling their skins. The last thief told Brannigan the plans, and the raid leader moved the raid up as far as he could.

The players left nothing to chance. Four of them attacked at once against a lone ratkin, then moved to the next. One by one they killed the lizard herders and took their clothing. They moved through the animal herd until they were close to the guards. Duskarrow snuck up to the herd. Lizards were different from cows and horse, but still, this should work fine. The spell went into the animals' minds and made them think that a predator was attacking. They'd all run from the imaginary beast, causing havoc in the little circus while the rest of the raid moved into the cavern and set up for a charge. As more ratkin came out of the village, they'd hit them with superior firepower and whittle them down.

The spell was cast, the animals looked up in panic and began to move. Brannigan gave the signal for the raid to begin.

Chapter 157: Raiding the Ratkin Dungeon!

The druid cast his spell and the animals looked up in panic and began to move about, their eyes turning from a placid pink to an angry red. The effect of the spell was an illusion that invoked fear. Against horses, sheep, or cattle it would cause a stampede as they ran in fear from a predator. In the lizards' minds they saw and smelled their most feared predator stalking them. The result of the spell was more than Duskarrow had expected. A heavy scent came from the affected animals, the panic spread from the animals within spell range to the entire herd as the larger males called out with loud growls and their scent told the herd to protect the young. The rest of the lizards reacted immediately.

The large, albino lizards that the ratkin simply called 'draft lizards', were known to the Dark Elves as 'Scaled Lizards of the Moon', and the Dwarves generally called them 'Damnedbeasts'. The elves appreciated their pearly hides, and some tribes created beautiful pale armor from their skins. The dwarves hated them because of how aggressive they were in the wild, and how hard they were to tame. They always traveled as a herd and were vicious if they felt threatened.

Over the centuries, the lizards had been domesticated and cross-bred to create a more easy-going breed, without most of their more aggressive tendencies. The exception was when the herd was threatened. Then all bets were off and the two-ton creatures tried to stomp and kill whatever threatened them. They were omnivores and didn't mind a snack of meat now and then. Predators often became a snack themselves.

There were forty-one draft lizards in the caravan. Two each for the sixteen wagons, and eight extra carrying smaller loads and ready to replace an injured beast. One extra had been born along the way. This little one caused a lot of trouble as he became scared and amplified the herds reaction to seeing snarling Hexapumas and Gorebeasts in front of them.

Rather than fleeing, the lizards charged their enemies. Duskarrow was caught off guard as he took a vicious headbutt from a nearby lizard and was tossed to the side of the cavern with a broken leg. The lizard who had charged him started to run after its prey, but saw one of the caravan guards and turned its aggression on the poor unsuspecting ratkin. All over the caravan the lizards attacked phantom predators that were really the drovers and guards.

Three of the guards were backstabbed by the gang of thieves who took advantage of the chaos. All three thieves were in turn killed by Damnedbeasts, driven further into panic by the smell of blood. Two more ratkin guards went down under the hooves and teeth of the lizards, and several more were badly injured.

After stomping everything around them for a minute, the herd felt better and the spell was fading. Moving away from the wagons to a spot where the herd could defend itself, the lizards quickly formed a defensive circle in the middle of the cavern with the new mother and baby in the center. They still imagined that they were under attack and that there were predators all around them and were ready to kill anything that got close.

Brannigan saw the tipped over wagons, dead guards, and disorganized caravan and called for a charge by the melee fighters. It was worth the loss of some thieves and a druid for this sort of carnage. If the clerics could find the bodies, they could resurrect the fallen players after the fight was over.

The mages behind the fighters threw spells past the front line to soften up the ratkin and clean up the trash mobs. Some of the colorful wagons caught on fire, as did the stage the musicians had played on. Fighters and Paladins charged forward, only to be met by guards wearing armor, and a number of unarmored ratkin with swords and shields who formed a shield wall.

Zweihanders and Bearded Axes cleaved shields and helmets. Stout ratkin guards tightened their shield wall and stabbed at the necks and vitals of their opponents. More ratkin arrived, and kneeled behind the front line. They stabbed upwards with spears into the gaps in the human's armor. Three players grunted in pain as sharp spears hit them in unprotected thighs and groins.

The dying players did have an advantage in that they were used to pain and dying. To them this was still a game. As their health dropped, the three injured fighters leaped high, not caring about what hits they took. Their bulk knocked down five of the ratkin holding shields and the protection of the shield wall dissolved. Thieves darted in to grab easy experience killing injured ratkin. Several archers had found spots on top of wagons and were pouring flaming and darkness laced arrows into the caravan guards. The raid advanced.

The momentum the raid was gaining ceased as a huge monster in plate armor appeared, a thin and very sharp sword in each hand. General Gangrene was foaming at the mouth and his troops moved aside as he raced at the players. Two pieces of battle cheese were burning in his belly. The muenster was increasing his strength and speed, while the cheddar would supercharge his normally slow regeneration. He struck with precision, thrusting one sword into a fighter's eye and slashing across the throat of a Paladin who was using a great axe. As the two players fell, he unleashed his Champions Intimidating Roar and the raid paused for three seconds while his own troops quickly regrouped.

Brannigan was yelling as he saw they had drawn out a boss mob.

"Boss up! Get a tank on it. Everyone! Hit the Boss! Concentrate fire."

Gangrene killed four more players as they stood stunned. Then every archer, wizard, and warlock targeted Gangrene as soon as the three seconds ended. He was burned by Sun Arrows, pummeled by Tenzil's Toes of Stomping, and cursed with Feeble Fever. Four arrows struck him, with three doing minor damage and one lodging in his shoulder and causing bleeding.

Tequila Jane raced up to him, swinging a glowing purple blade from fifteen feet away. The blade flew from her hands and went straight through Gangrene, doing a large amount of damage. "Coyote Bob says Hi! ! I hope you liked my new spell!" Jane's eyes went from purple to brown and she suddenly looked tired. "Jane is going to take a nap now." She walked back into the raid, stuffing a handful of dried fungus in her mouth.

Brannigan saw the Boss Rat topple over after what-ever-the-hell Jane had done to him. This was a great start. They'd taken injuries, but nothing a cleric couldn't fix. The ratkin were broken and falling back, dragging the nearly dead boss. "Druids and Paladins, spend half of your mana on heals. Everyone down a potion or two as needed to save the healer's magic. Clerics toss Resurrection on as many people as you can. Let's get things in order for the next part."

General Gangrene was furious, but fighting his anger. He was down to only a quarter of his health. He drank three healing potions, and ate a piece of cheddar to help his regeneration. One of the lizard tenders pushed the arrow through his shoulder, snapped off the head, and pulled out the shaft. The general got to his feet and took stock of his people. They'd lost several warriors, maybe a third of their total force, but the 'drovers' were all armoring up. "Where are my fiends?"

"Waking up now, sir. We had to give them two doses of SleepyCheese to keep them quiet during the music. They were pretty groggy, but they're waking up now." The fiend tender was ruffling their fur and coaxing them out of the wagons. As they smelled blood, both began to growl. "That's my girls! We're ready to kill and tear, aren't we? Should I hold your doll? No? Ok, you keep it with you. I'll wash the blood out later."

The fiend tender called out to the General. "Ready to send them in, sir."

Gangrene looked at the humans taking time to heal and reform their lines. "When they charge, send the fiends to the far left along the wall. I want those archers and mages torn to small pieces. After that, let them eat the healers in the rear. The lizards are guarding our other flank. We need to hold the middle and let our fiends gut them from behind. "

He turned to his warriors. They looked ready. Having the fiends in the battle made them confident. He looked at the entrance to the Hollow. No one was racing into this cavern, despite the noise. He saw the two guards standing at the tunnel like nothing was happening. Something wasn't right! The big one waved to him.

Chapter 158: The Big Scary Noise

Grackle had been a fiend tender all of his life. He looked forward to when they were finished taking over this little shit hole of a Hollow, and he would become its new Fiend Master. Gangrene had promised that to him. All his hard work would finally pay off!

His father, Grickle had tended fiends for Wurchwitz Hollow, and so had his grandfather, Gunkel. Grickle had started teaching his oldest whelp his trade early in life, a tradition since Fiend Tenders didn't have a long life expectancy.

"Remember, they all look like monsters, but every fiend is different. They still have pieces of themselves from before. Those pieces fight with the animal that's taking over their mind. Some fiends get sneaky, some get bad tempers, and others just want more food. You need to take advantage of the differences to keep them in control. A heavy fiend prod only works so long, and the more you use it, the quicker a fiend figures out it only stings and doesn't really hurt them. Then either you put the fiend down hard and fast, or they put you down."

Grackle had learned fast. He'd helped his father with the training of the Hunting Fiend packs, and then the Battle Fiends. He had some new ideas on how to train up fiends, but his father was too set in his ways to listen. Grackle endured years of mucking out cages and listening to his father grovel to the Fiend Master, never offering a new idea.

But he'd certainly been correct about what happened when a fiend lost its fear of the prod. His father had stepped into Black Betty's cage one day, to clean a wound on her shoulder. She'd been hit with a goblin war axe and the sharp blade had left a cut that got infected. You never knew where a goblin or his axe had been, and both were usually filthy. BlackBetty was in a bad mood, and his father had used the prod to settle her down. But after shocking her for the third time, her eyes had narrowed to slits and she snarled. His father had hit her again and she tore his legs off and ate them.

Grackle had managed to lock her cage before she got out. Two good things happened after that: Grackle was promoted to full fiend tender, and BlackBetty seemed to have developed a better attitude.

A year later he took a huge risk and asked for an audience with General Gangrene. He'd used most of his savings to buy an appropriate gift for the General, a three-pound chunk of Livarot Munster. That bought him five minutes of the General's time. It was enough to put forth his theory of using younger subjects. It was the bits of personality that were left that gave the fiends their quirks and made them dangerous. Most fiends were soldiers who used too much battle cheese or cheese addicts that a tender found in an alley, passed out from too much cheddar. They made difficult fiends.

Gangrene had simply stared at him when he proposed a different type of test subject, and his eyes got small and mean. He giggled a little. "Turn children into fiends? And I thought I was a monster! Ha! I like it. I'll send over two brats to your kennels. See what you can make of them. If the experiment fails, you'll be eating your own cheese and joining them. So don't fail me."

Gangrene had been true to his word. Rosie and Buttercup were delivered to him that day. Their parents had failed to gather their quota for the third time, and been sent to the lower caverns. Their two children would have gone to the whelp master for training, a slightly worse fate than what Grackle had in store for them. Rosie had been holding her doll, and Buttercup had shown him her hair ribbon. He'd fed them, and taken care of them for two weeks, getting to know them. Then he put them in large cages with a big plate of special cheese in front of each of them.

He heard them crying, and then the sobbing had turned into growls and snarling. Their training began the next day. Gangrene had been pleased with the results and now, two years later, they were all moving to a new hollow.

"Time to wake up girls. Grackle has a surprise for you. Look here, Buttercup. I got you a new ribbon for your hair. Blue ribbon, just like you love. There we go, I'll put it right behind your ear. How about you Rosie? Do you want a ribbon? No? Oh, your doll wants a ribbon! Sure, I can do that. I'll tie a ribbon on the doll, and tie the doll around your waist. You want both hands empty when the fighting starts. Good girls. Now eat your FrenzyCheese and I'll show you who to hunt down."

"Look, alive people! Your break's over. The rats found their courage and I want to push hard, and clear this cavern so we can go loot the village and meet up with Spider Guild and get the party going. Same formation as before."

The raid moved forward, shield wall upfront, spears behind, with rogues and archers on the flanks and the mages and clerics in the middle. The ratkin army looked bigger, and every one of them was in full armor now. Like the players, they had a shield wall upfront. Their next row was made of tall ratkin with halberds and hooked polearms. They seemed low on mages and the big Boss was nowhere to be seen. Everything looked good.

Leafrot was in a good vantage point to rain down arrows upon the ratkin. He'd found a ledge about ten feet up the cavern wall, and from there he could shoot down into the melee. He'd recently gained the ability to zoom in on a target, giving him a much better chance to hit. He'd taken down two of the halberdiers with carefully aimed shots and was zooming in on a 3rd when he heard snarling from in front of him.

He looked up just in time to see a close-up of a monstrously huge creature with a blue bow on its head biting down on his face and then ripping his arms off before racing to her next victim. Buttercup spit out the yucky tasting human and spied a half-elf who smelled better. She leaped thirty feet in the female mage's direction and closed the distance in another second. The startled player turned to cast a spell but was unable to finish it before Buttercup grabbed her by the head and swung her around until she broke.

Rosie was disappointed. The half-elf had been pretty and she had wanted to play with her. But she had stopped to play with two prey who had sparkly hands. She loved the look of sparkly hands, but they stopped sparkling if you took them off of the prey. She went and played with a funny fat man dressed all in blue instead. She had just grabbed him and was shaking him to make him do funny noises when the loud, scary noise hit her ears. Fiends have sensitive hearing, and the sound of a dwarven cannon from only a few dozen yards away was incredibly loud. Neither Buttercup nor Rosie had ever heard such a scary noise before! They turned and ran for the safety of their cages to get away from it. The middle of the raid was in tatters, with a dozen players down or dying from the attack of two juvenile cheese fiends.

Minutes before...

"Hey, guys! Am I too late for the raid? I slept in some after tossing down a few beers last night. Know what I mean? Wow, awesome toons! Are you guys part of an all-dwarf guild or something?" Jester had logged in late but figured it was safe to run down to the raid. He'd seen the other group of players moving down the tunnel ahead of him and had run to catch up.

Two-Screws nodded at him. "Oh, I know what you mean about knocking a few back, but if it's going to make you late for something important, it's best to just keep drinking until morning."

BoomBoom nodded in profound agreement. "That's the truth. No sense in sleeping when you can get a good rest just by sipping on a few more tankards. Fact is, I hardly use a bed for sleeping anymore if you know what I mean." He grinned broadly, and Narwhale laughed loudly and elbowed him in the ribs. "I'm going to remind you about that tonight."

Two-Screws handed Jester a tankard of beer. "Here you go, we were just having lunch, you might as well have a couple of beers with us since we're heading the same way. You mentioned a raid?"

Jester tasted the beer, then took two long swallows. He wondered how the hell beer could taste so good in this game. The stuff he and his roommates drank was crap compared to this. And strong, he could already feel a buzz coming on. "Yeah, the raid. Hitting the ratkin village hard and then looting it. Branigan has been putting it together and grabbing everyone he can. Guess you didn't get all the details?" Jester was impressed by whatever guild this was. They were pretty hardcore to all play dwarves. If it wasn't for their silly names, he might have thought they weren't players. But NPC dwarves have always been named things like Nordy Bluntnose or Ori Stoutoak or Axebeard the Mighty. Anyone with a name like Two-Screws or Boomboom had to be a player. He finished his beer and his new friends handed him another.

"So, why don't you fill us in about this raid, my new friend? We have a bit of travel to go, and I have a lot of beer to share."

Luckily, when Harry rejoined the group after stopping to harvest some interesting mushrooms in a side tunnel, Jester had already drunk three tankards of beer and didn't think twice about the large troll joining the group. He kept answering questions and they kept filling his tankard. A few hundred yards away from where the fighting was happening, he finally passed out, and Vary leaned him up against the wall.

Boomboom was juggling grenades with Narwhale as they walked down the tunnel. "I think our brother Milo might need some rescuing from these greedy humans."

Two-Screws rolled his eyes. "You just want an excuse to get into a fight!"

Narwhale watched as Two-Screws and Sledgemonkey deployed their rivet guns. "You look pretty anxious to cause some mayhem yourself."

Sledgemonkey laughed. "Yes, but we don't need an excuse to do it. Although I am fond of brother Milo and do feel we need to help him out."

"You newlyweds get the first shot. It's traditional, and I want to see how good of a shot a scavenger is when the targets can move around."

Narwhale ran her hand down the barrel of her rocket launcher. "Challenge accepted!"

Chapter 159: Dwarven Thunder

Saved from sudden death at the claws of some rat monster, TheBlueBIishop got to his feet and dusted himself off. Behind him was a crater with the bodies of three of his compatriots. All were beyond healing, and he wasn't going to waste his mana resurrecting anyone unless Branigan asked him to. He wondered what spell had been cast, and why it was suddenly so quiet. He had a headache. The garishly clad bishop had just lost most of his hearing, so he could be excused from not hearing the screams of injured players asking for his help. His perception of 0 had something to do with that as well. Every player had a few dump stats and BB hadn't worried about anything except healing and magical smites.

He saw that at the back of the raid, reinforcements had arrived. He hadn't known Branigan had found a dwarven artillery company to join the raid! This was outstanding! They had a little brass cannon that they were reloading, and a big green guy was setting down kegs of beer. He waved to them and gave a thumbs-up! That's the type of people he wanted to raid with. Absentmindedly, he glanced at the deafened, disoriented, and concussion debuffs on his screen.

Barnacle was loading the next shell so Narwhale could blow up some more humans when she noticed one in a blue costume waving at them and giving them a sign of approval. "He likes your shooting, Nar."

"Yep, and my opinion on humans just went up. Anyone who can appreciate fine artillery like my shiny cannon while I'm shooting at them is OK in my book." She waved back. "Load up some napalm, barnacle. I want to make them do the burney dance."

Sledgemonkey and Two-Screws shared a look, and got ready to begin shooting. They'd agreed to give Narwhale the first shots, but if she was using napalm shells, there might not be much left to shoot at soon. Sledgemonkey pointed to a spot on the left of them. "Let's walk over that way, get a better angle for some enfilading fire. That way the rivets don't have a chance of hitting our new allies."

Two-Screws liked the idea. "When you're giving the gift of high velocity death, it's always nice to send it along a couple of different angles."

"Fire in the Hole!" An explosive missile shot from the cannon and screamed across the short distance, hitting the ground in the middle of the raid. Any player in the area of effect took a small bit of concussion damage and was set on fire. The two fire mages took advantage of the heat and flames to supercharge the Bouncing Betty Fireballs they were lobbing into the middle of the ratkin army. Every other mage and the healer screamed as their health started plummeting. Philomea, a nature mage, tried to summon a Rain Cloud but the area was suffused with so much Death and Storm mana that what showed up was an Angry Thunderhead that immediately started raining down lightening bolts on both sides of the conflict.

Two-Screws and Sledgemonkey started strafing the raid with high velocity rivets. They began with Narwhales friendly human who was currently running in circles while he burned merrily. Two-Screws shot low then moved higher, peppering the cleric with shots. Sledgemonkey was shooting an archer ten feet away.

Two-Screws smiled. "I can't help but noticing your sights might be off. Looks like your shooting high and to the right."

"Thanks for that observation. You are a font of wisdom and master of the obvious."

"And I thank you for the compliments. It's rare that a dwarf as old as you can remember how to say a kind word. I'll also point out the 'easy adjustment auto-calibration' system that I invented for my gun. It saves on embarrassing events like how you keep missing."

Sledgemonkey snarled. "I like to sight in a gun the old-fashioned way! But maybe I'll look over your little system tomorrow. Might be I can improve on your shoddy work."

"I'll further point out that you could have done this during target practice." The humans were thinning out. Narwhale had put three more high explosive rounds into them. Wounded players were strewn all over, and gravestones were appearing. The ratkin shield wall was nervous, but still holding together. Players were confused by the outflanking ambush. The raid had lost several archers and mages to ravening monsters the rats had unleashed on them, followed immediately by cannon fire from the rear, and what some of the players were insisting was machine gun fire that had them in a crossfire.

A brave group of players had tried to attack the dwarves, but the charge had failed when Boomboom put two grenades right in front of the three players trying to get to them. Thirty seconds later the ten remaining players raced for safety, trying to overrun the artillery and flee into the tunnels. The ratkin started to follow, but were held back by shouted orders. They reformed their lines, put out the fires, and saw to their wounded. Rosie and Buttercup were consoled by their tender and given some sweets and a dose of Sleepycheese to calm them down.

Barracuda was trying to get another shell into the cannon, but there wasn't going to be time for a shot, the players were too close to them. Likewise, Two-Screws and Sledgemonkey were worried about unleashing rivet gun blasts. Two-Screws went to single fire and took down two players. Sledgemonkey ruefully worked on his 'calibrations' and kept watch for anything moving towards them.

BoomBoom and Vary stepped in front of the two scavengers. Vary was nearly pissing himself as he pulled the cord to arm the cataclysmite bomb that BoomBoom casually called 'a grenade'. His throw was a little long, not doing as much damage, but did knock down most of the players as the shockwave from behind hit them. BoomBoom's bomb hit dead center, killing two players, and wounding all the others. He pulled out his spanner-axe and started swinging. Vary and Harry followed. The troll stepped on players, and picked up one to throw across the cavern. That ended the fighting. The raid had experienced a TPK, except for Tequila Jane who had found a small crevice to take a nap in and passed out.

The dwarves regrouped. BoomBoom looked at the still surviving ratkin who were still on high alert. "What now?"

Sledgemonkey started pouring beer. "Now we take a break to bind any wounds and soothe our nerves with medicinal alcohol. I expect that a lot of people are wondering what's going on. Those folk over there look nervous, so let's sit here until Milo or someone comes to talk to us. Hard to believe he isn't here yet, with all the fireworks we set off.

Wagonmaster Seffy approached Brutus. The guard was smiling and waving. Neither he nor anyone else in Limburger Hollow had come to their aid when they were attacked by a roving band of humans. How the heavily armed dwarves fit into the puzzle, no one knew. But they were now blocking the caravan's path of retreat. General Gangrene was still being stitched up and sucking down healing potions, so it was left to Seffy to approach the Hollow and ask for aid.

Brutus waved again and smiled. "Nice day, isn't it. Would be better if we had some Batacos, but still a nice day. We'll have batacos tomorrow. Lots of smoke up in the top of the cave. The whelps can pick them up off the ground later, easy peasy."

"Welcome to Limburger Hollow."

Seffy had talked with Brutus before and visited the Hollow twice to look around and spy things out. "Yes. It is a nice day. We have many wounded from that battle. The Master Merchant requests aid and that you allow us to move inside the Hollow. There are dangerous humans and dwarves in the outer caves, and we could be attacked again at any moment."

Brutus smiled. "Sorry, that's just a wee bit above my pay grade. I just guard the tunnel. You have a nice day now."

"May I enter the Hollow?"

"Nope. I'm Brutus, the guard. Guards keep people out."

"I insist you let me pass!"

Brutus looked confused for a second, his eyes glazing over. He started to move aside and then his back stiffened and he stood his ground. "No can-do little fella. You aren't the boss of me. I'm not letting you in unless the boss says so!"

Seffy had seen this type of behavior before, of course. It was how all of Wurchwitz Hollow's minions behaved. The Slavecheese was having an effect already, but not enough. The new Cheese Master needed to give large guards extra cheese! The guard wasn't responding to his Commanding Voice skill. He skulked back to inform General Gangrene of the problem. Brutus waved happily to him as he went. "You have a nice day now. And come back tomorrow for batacos!"

Chapter 160: Tasty New Cheese

Earlier, before the events of Chapters 158 and 159

The Hollow was starting to wake up. Most everyone had slept well, with no bad dreams. And no good dreams. In fact, no dreams at all, just sleep. Things seemed so much clearer today. It was time to go to breakfast.

Milo saw most of the Hollow lining up at the mess hall for the morning meal. Most mornings breakfast was a long and staggered affair, with people showing up from the 4th bell to the 9th bell to eat and then the evening meal from the 6th bell to the 12th bell. Was Rifkin serving something especially good today? Why was everyone up so early? He carefully peeked through the windows.

Rifkin was nowhere to be seen, but several people were at the counter handing out breakfast as fast as they could. But they weren't sitting and talking. Each ratkin took the food handed to them, stuffed it into their mouth, and left in a hurry. Milo caught up to a whelp that he knew worked in the mushroom fields.

"Hi, can I ask you something? What's for breakfast."

The whelp kept walking but smiled and spoke. "New Cheese. Tasty and good for me." His eyes were unfocused and he walked on. "Got to go. Need to pick mushrooms. If I pick sixteen baskets today I get to eat dinner and have more tasty cheese!"

Other ratkin had the same glassy-eyed reaction. All needed to start their daily jobs, with a few exceptions. Some of the students seemed to have other ideas about what their job for the day would be.

"Time to make the mashed roots with meat drippings."

"Stomp spiderlings, mine the rock."

"Sweeping the cave, need to sweep the cave, dust everywhere."

"Lizard races! Who wants to race Lizards? Me!"

"Making Spikey-sticks. Do you need a spikey-stick?"

"Must start picking the peanuts."

"Bataco day! Need more bats!

"Polishing shiny rocks."

"Nap time, study later."

"Smelting copper bars. I need to smelt copper bars."

Justin was walking along, whistling a happy tune. Milo stopped him to talk. Well, he tried to talk. Justin moved him out of his way and kept walking. "Sorry, got to get to my guard post. Important work guarding the Hollow."

Milo walked beside him. "Justin, have you noticed anyone acting oddly?"

Justin kept walking but paused his whistling. "Nope or I'd tell them to get to work. Great day to get to work. I'm guarding the back door and Brutus is guarding the front door. Everybody is getting their job done."

"How much cheese did you have this morning, Justin?"

Justin's brow furrowed into a scowl. "Talking about cheese isn't allowed. Say, why aren't you working?" He stopped walking and poked his finger into Milo's chest. "You know the rule against slacking. Everyone follows the rules now."

Milo showed him his ring. "I am working. My job is to scout around, poke my nose into things, and question everything."

Justin nodded and seemed satisfied with that. "Right! That is your job. I remember now." He relaxed, smiled, and started walking again, smiling. "I had three pieces of tasty new cheese because I'm big and I'm a guard. So, I get extra!"

Justin didn't even seem to notice when Milo left, he just kept walking along and whistling as he passed by the Tower of Spite and the mostly empty marketplace. He took up his guard post at the back tunnel overlooking the harvesting fields where dozens of ratkin were gathering up mushrooms and vegetables.

Milo wanted another look at the mess hall. The lines to get in were packed, but it wasn't hard to get in through the back door. He slunk into the shadow nearest the door, then kept low and moved behind the counter. None of the ratkin in the mess hall paid any attention to anything but the cheese. To his surprise, the four ratkin serving squares of cheese on a bland cracker were known to him. Why were Blackwhisker and his little group of players serving cheese in the mess hall?

Luckily, no one had a high perception. Stealthy Skulking was up to rank 8, reducing their perception by 18 and essentially making him invisible as long as he did nothing obviously out of the ordinary. He wanted a good look at this cheese. There were many bags of it behind the counter. A large wedge was brought out of the bag and then cut into smaller pieces. The player cutting it was handling pieces oddly, and brushing something off as he took the wedge out of the bag.

Milo moved up carefully. He needed a diversion, and as he waited, he got one. Master Clawhammer and a group of ten tired miners walked up to the mess hall. Seeing a crowd at one door, they went to the next opening. This got them a few looks from some of the ratkin in the long lines, but no one said anything out loud. The miners looked exhausted. They sat at two tables and Master Clawhammer looked over at the servers. "Hey, buddy. We just worked a double shift, any chance of getting a plate of cheese and some breakfast?"

Blackwhisker barely looked over. "Get in line and wait your turn. That's the new rules, get used to it."

The miners grumbled, and Clawhammer stood up. They'd been working non-stop for over a day with only a couple of hours off to sleep in a corner. Spiderlings were all over the mines, and they had a new infestation of digger moles to deal with. His crew had worked hard and needed food. He walked over to Blackwhisker. "Where's Rifkin? Who's in charge here?"

The other players snickered. Blackwhisker tried to stare down Clawhammer, but when it didn't work, he put a big smile on his face. "Cheese Master Rifkin isn't here at the moment, and left me in charge. How about I get you all a double helping of cheese to start out with."

While all eyes were on the Master Miner and Blackwhisker, Milo put his hand on one of the gather bags of cheese and stored it in his ring, leaving an empty bag behind. Then he backed out of the kitchen area and made his way to the miners. He tucked his pick into his belt, imitating how the miner's stored their own picks. "Hey, I've got plenty of food over at the guard barracks that we can share. Fresh bread that Gendifur drops off every morning and a big wheel of gouda that we just cut open. They don't have a lot to offer here today." He put his hand on his pick, with his Master's ring obvious to see.

Clawhammer looked at him curiously, then nodded. He looked at the mess hall. Something wasn't right. Too many glassy stares and strange people handing out cheese. "That sounds like a great idea, I'd love to go have some fresh bread and gouda. Come on guys, time to empty the larder over at the guardhouse."

Blackwhisker turned around too late to hand the miners a large platter of cheese. He shrugged and stole another piece of cheese. He had a sudden realization of how fun it was to work here in the mess hall, do dishes, and hand out cheese! This was his spot, his job.

As soon as they were outside, Clawhammer turned to Milo. "What the hell is going on? I didn't notice at first, me and my guys are dead tired."

Milo led the way to the guard barracks. "I think it's the cheese. I stole some to take a look at it. Everyone is too passive and shows the same behavior. They don't care about anything other than following orders and getting to work."

One miner elbowed another in the ribs. "Sounds like you could use a few pieces, it might help us get you up in the mornings." The miners chuckled, but they were all looking around and noticing the blank stares as the people of the Hollow lined up for breakfast and then silently got to work. Inside the guard barracks was more of the same. The six guards at the barracks were all 'resting'. Just laying on their bunks and staring at the ceiling. They didn't say a word as the hungry miners ate most of the food in the cupboard.

Milo pulled the gather sack that he had stolen from the mess hall out and looked at it. It was full of spider mites. A strong smell of sour cheese filled the air. Clawhammer looked at it and started cursing. "That's spider cheese or something like it! Why would anyone serve that in the mess hall? And where did it come from?"

That seemed obvious to Milo. "Have you seen the cheese caravan? It showed up with sixteen carts full of cheese."

Clawhammer hadn't. The emergencies in the mines had kept him busy. The miners had barely sat down and had a minute to eat, but Clawhammer stood up and spoke. "Don't like the smell of this and not just that cheese."

"Grab some bread and gouda to go. I want you guys to fan out. Get everyone who lives around the mines, or works in the crafting area gathered up. I don't want anyone eating any cheese from the mess hall until we figure this out. In fact, get everyone into the mines. We've had meetings in the cathedral cavern, let's head there. It has fresh water and lots of space. Grab all the fresh food you can."

As the miners were leaving, the twins came in through the door.

"We came to report."

"The way good scouts do."

"We followed Rifkin. He is very, very sneaky."

"So sneaky!"

"Which we found strange."

"Almost lost him, so he must be sneaky."

"He met with four players."

"They are not sneaky."

"So not sneaky, the opposite of sneaky."

"Which we need a word for."

"They spent a lot of time talking."

"Making sneaky plans."

"But really just explaining where all the pots and pans are."

"How to cook boiled groats."

"And how much cheese to give each person."

"The players went to the mess hall."

"Rifkin then headed to the cheese caravan for more cheese."

"We followed because..."

"Cheese Caravan!"

"...because we are good scouts!"

"Yes, who cares about a cheese caravan full of tasty cheese..."

"We followed Rifkin, but could not get close. Very good guards."

"Not so good as Justin and Brutus, but lots of them."

"Guards with good eyes, we could feel them on us in the shadows."

"Rifkin was in a tent with a big, loud merchant who shouts like Gilad does when he is angry with us."

"We went to just take a small peak at the caravan."

"They have many carts full of cheese, but also many carts of armor and weapons."

"And two carts filled with scary, horrible death!"

"Fiends! They have two Cheese Fiends with them."

"We left!"

"That is the good scout's report for the day."

Milo looked at them. "Good job, you get a reward."

The twins looked alarmed and hung their heads.

"It would be nice if the reward was cheese..."

"but we suspect it will be another job."

Milo handed them a bag. "Why not both? Take that to Old Healer."

"And I wouldn't eat any of it, it has spiders in it. Tell Old Healer everything you just told me, then go find Master Gilad. And whatever you do, don't eat the cheese at the mess hall."

The twins skulked out of the guard barracks muttering to themselves.

"Spider Cheese?"

"Worst cheese reward, ever."

Milo went back to the mess hall and skulked around the back where he had entered before. If anything, it was easier to sneak into the kitchen area. There were four gathering bags of Milbenkase left. He put two into his ring and grabbed the other two. No one at all looked his way and he retreated, making his way outside. He stashed the bags of cheese on a part of the roof where they couldn't be seen. The less of this cheese that got eaten, the better.

That done, he thought he should head over to the caravan and find Rifkin. He was headed that way when two ratkin walked by carrying a stretcher with a wounded miner on it. They had come running from the direction of the mines. Milo asked them to stop. "I have a healing potion, let me give him that. What's happening." He pulled a potion from his pouch, one of the ones he had found in the hidden tunnels. The potent remedy immediately relaxed the wounded miner, and his wounds ceased bleeding. Milo examined him. He had a good idea of what had made those wounds. "What did this?"

"Not sure, he said something big and clanky. But that sure means trouble. We've had tons of little nuisance mobs. Spiderlings all over the place. Then digger-moles, and now there's something big in the mines, blowing stuff up."

"I'm going to head there now. But he still needs attention. Run him to Gendifur or Old Healer. And tell Master Gilad, Master Arlothe, or any guard you see walking around." They ran off with their less wounded miner, and Milo headed the other way

As he was running to the mines, he passed the tunnel to Larry's house. He hadn't seen Larry at breakfast. Another mystery. Sounds were reaching him, explosions in the mines. From behind him, he heard shouts from the tunnel leading to the caravan. He wondered what was going on, but it had to wait, he had some sort of mechanical monster to deal with for now.

Chapter 161: The Iron Spider takes the Scenic Route

P'tashPak'r, the Exalted General of the 10th Host, beloved of the queens, and champion of the Many-Legged Army, marched forward at the head of her army. Behind her came countless brave and deadly spider warriors. The noise of her army's passage was much less than usual. She had remarked on this, and the second in command told her of the stealth training each of her warriors had undergone before being selected for her army. Indeed, she would have thought that her army was much smaller if she didn't know better. Even the growls of the Wolf Guard could hardly be heard.

Her advisor was showing her the maps of the enemy's lair. "The route chosen is through the next few caverns. We will be able to attack with surprise and capture many of their gatherers. We must move quickly. We must take control of a narrow tunnel leading to the main hollow."

P'tash looked over the maps. And this second route? It seems to lead more directly to the heart of the hollow.

The advisor pointed to a maze of tunnels. "These are the mines below us. In planning the raid, the first plan included splitting your vast army and using a pincher maneuver to attack the foe in two places at once. But there is not enough room to move a large force through the mines. We have instead been flooding the area with spiderlings for some time. They will surge forward and cause a small disturbance."

H'spat knew that the Queen had been extremely angry with the spiderling plan. A half dozen egg-layers had been secretly placed in nearby caverns so that spiderlings could overrun the mines and weaken the Hollow. Instead, the ratkin whelps were hunting them to gain levels and experience! It had been embarrassing to find out that the ratkin had turned the spiderling invasion into a training ground for new fighters!

Then let us be off! Victory shall soon be mine, and we will dine upon the tails of our enemies!

Some of the spiders cheered. Others clapped softly. The mechanical voice box the general used creeped them out. Grobit revved the engine and let out the clutch, shifting gears and engaging the mechanism that sent power to the legs. The dwarven mechanisms still confounded him and annoyed P'tashPak'r. He'd been unable to do as she wanted and put the controls where she could reach them. (Not that he thought she'd ever figure them out. Some spiders made good mechanics, but not this one.)

The Iron Spider moved forward several steps, and then a leg became stuck in a crack in the ground. As she strained and finally removed the leg, Grobit saw the gap widen as the ground around the Iron Spider started to shift. The other spiders jumped back as the cavern floor they were in gave way under the weight of the giant walking tank. It was like a hole had just swallowed the general!

H'spat looked down and saw the General getting her legs back under her, nearly thirty down. Grobit just shrugged. "I think I see the light up ahead."

P'tashPak'r yelled to her advisor. We will be using a pinching maneuver! Send down a dozen of my finest warriors, and I will launch a surprise attack!

The advisor despaired. It wasn't possible to lift the hulking metal monstrosity back up to this level, and it was already marching into the mines. Nothing was left but to follow the abomination's orders and lead the rest of the army herself. Perhaps it was even better this way. H'spat pointed to twelve random spiders. "You are rewarded with the title 'The Twelve Finest Warriors!' go and escort the General to victory as our army closes the trap's jaws."

The rest of the spiders moved around the hole and advanced on the gathering fields.

The miners heard the Iron Spider coming when it was two caverns away from the cathedral. It sounded like a dozen squeaky ore carts rolling down a bumpy track. Two miners ran to see what was going on and were spotted by Grobit as both groups entered a large cave from opposite sides. The spider seemed slow, and the miners paused to look at it. Grobit opened up on them with his gun, killing one of the miners and wounding the other.

Ha! look at them run from our might! Her twelve chosen champions cheered. Two raced ahead to scout, and four dropped back twenty paces to guard the group's rear. They moved slowly through the caverns, following the wounded ratkin and sometimes making detours to account for the Iron Spiders' bulk.

How much further, Grobit? I need to feel the glory of furry mammals dying as I rend and poison them. Today is my day!

"Watch how you wave your damn legs around! If you knock out any more supports in these tunnels, it will be your day to be buried!"

The goblin mechanic studied the maps of the caverns made from information gathered by the little spiderlings. They needed more details. Spiders just didn't think like anyone else. "We should be coming up to a huge cave next. The far exit has a straight run to the Hollow. But get ready. If I had to fight a bunch of eight-leggers in tunnels, I'd do it there where you could see them coming and blast the hell out of them. Uh...not that I'd ever fight spiders."

The Iron Spider paused, then commanded her army to the front. Time for her twelve champions to earn their supper.

"Master Clawhammer! We've got trouble. Ned just packed in his cousin, Crusty. They saw spiders in the tunnels. Big ones! Both of them took some nasty wounds from a cannon of some kind. Crusty's dead, and Ned might not make it. They ran him down to the healer on a stretcher."

Clawhammer cursed inwardly but put a confident look on his face. Miners were a hardy bunch, used to his barked orders. But he needed to use a different tone for everyone else. It was bad enough that they were scurrying into this emergency shelter, and three quarters of the Hollow were glassy-eyed zombies, but now they had spiders attacking? It wasn't a coincidence. And that was a big caravan full of guards parked in their outer cave.

"Get everyone who can fight armed with a pick or hammer and anyone who can't back in the far corner. Pile up the supplies and carts in front of them. Carl, take Jak and Vin with you and collapse tunnel #3 about ten feet in. It's been shaky lately. I want enough debris down to stop someone from using it to get to us. Do the same with #5 if you can. The main tunnel would take hours to block off, so leave it, but put whatever timbers and rock we have loose in front of it. We can use it as a defensive line to fight behind. Jessy, bring the extra lamp oil and lamps. We can probably cook a couple of them.

The miners accomplished a lot in the small amount of time they had, and two dozen of them crouched behind the makeshift barrier in front of the main tunnel. In the distance, they heard the sound of many legs, and then they could see the outlines of the spiders rushing at them, preceded by a hoard of spiderlings. Something large and noisy moved at the rear.

Lamp oil had been poured in the front of the tunnel. As the spiderlings reached it, Jessy tossed a lit lantern at the floor, spreading fire. Air in the cavern rushed to the fire as the tunnel was filled with flames and the screams of dying spiderlings. But the lamp oil didn't burn hot. It burned long and gave a lot of light. The minor damage the spiderlings took was enough to kill or cripple them, but it only annoyed the more giant spiders.

A dozen giant spiders emerged from the smoke and flame like something out of a nightmare and leaped at the miners behind their makeshift barrier.

Chapter 162: Spiders, Spiders, Everywhere!

As the spiders surged forward, intending to swarm over the improvised barricades. With only a second to spare, walls of earth and rock erupted from the floor, and the magical stone grew upward until it merged with the cavern's ceiling. Not all mages spent their time studying advanced dueling and battle magics in the Tower of Spite. Several miners were Earth Mages and had been moving rock all their lives.

Two narrow areas were left that acted as funnels. The spiders trying to move forward had to do so one at a time or climb the walls and try to squeeze through the narrow openings, each of them just big enough for one eight-legger. The ratkin on either side of the slots turned to attack the flanks of the arachnids coming through—they surrounded their foes, giving them many attacks on each spider. The dwarves referred to this tactic as a 'murder hole,' while the elves called their version 'a bouquet of spears.' The ratkin called them 'Spider Traps.' Eight ratkin could attack one monster as they came through the opening.

The brave two miners in front blocked mandibles and leg spikes as best they could, giving way and counting on the others to do the killing. The six on the sides swung their heavy mining picks at the spiders. The heavily muscled miners could dig their picks deep into a rock wall, and spiders were made of much squishier stuff. Carapaces were shattered, and organs pulped. Twice, the picks rose and fell before both spiders were dead. The ratkin hadn't gotten off unscathed. One defender had a broken arm, and another took three steps back before dying of poison. Two more spiders crawled over the dead bodies while the rest attacked the earthen wall to destroy the spell.

Clawhammer blocked poisonous mandibles with the pick in his left hand and brought down his heavy forging hammer on a spider's head. The stunned spider could only hiss as it was attacked from the sides and repeatedly smacked in the head by an angry crafter. Clawhammer caught a breath and looked to the other opening. Two more spiders were inside, and two ratkin were down on the ground, bleeding. His concern for his miners almost cost him his life. A spider had climbed the wall and come through the gap up high. Now it dropped from thirty feet up on the unsuspecting Master Crafter.

Or rather, it tried to. It was like a giant, invisible hand smacked the spider back against the wall and pinned it there. Clawhammer could see the massive wound in its thorax, and green ichor was pouring out from the other side. Something had punched all the way through his ambusher. With a hiss of pain, the wounded spider fell to the ground, and wobbly gained its feet only to be slain by several enraged ratkin.

Clawhammer saw Tallsqueak racing across the room, fully clad in the strange bone armor that he conjured. He took a skull from his belt and tossed the glowing object through the hole in the wall. A loud explosion and the hissing of injured spiders told the rest of the story. Five of the enormous spiders were now dead; Tallsqueak leaped in the air as a sixth came through the hole and surprised it by putting a spikey-stick into its skull. The spider fell, and Tallsqueak rode it to the ground, twisting the weapon in the wound, splattering brains and ichor on himself. Clawhammer almost yelled out a warning that the ichor was a minor poison but chuckled, remembering that Tallsqueak dueled with Cremona each night. Only Professor Arlothe might have a higher poison resistance than Tallsqueak.

It was suddenly quiet, the spiders pulling back. The ratkin prepared for another charge, and the wounded were taken to the healers. Then a thunderous roar began as the Iron Spider entered the fray. The heavy metal balls fired by the Dwarven Chain Gun rapidly destroyed the earthen walls. It was only a matter of seconds before they shattered. Clawhammer didn't want to move the fight further into the cathedral cavern, but they were about to be crushed. "Back off another hundred feet. Get me some ten-foot high, triple thick walls to give us cover from that gun." The two miners with Earth Magic cast their spells, then collapsed to the ground, their mana exhausted.

The miners fell back and took cover behind the thick wall. The first set of earth and stone walls crumbled, and the remaining spiders advanced in a line, their images outlined in the remains of the smokey fire that was still burning some spiderlings pouring into the cavern. Smoke began to fill the top of the cavern. The crispy bodies of the fallen had choked off most of the fire. The vast bulk of the Iron Spider followed her brave champions forward.

Justin was on guard at the back gate. It was always a good day when he got guard duty. Justin liked his job and liked being a guard. Nothing could be better. And he got extra cheese! The cheese had been delicious lately. Assistant Cheese Master Rifkin was doing a good job. Rifkin had told him so, and Justin believed him. He stared out over the gathering fields with glassy eyes as he heard the first screams. They bothered him for some reason, but he was guarding the back gate, so he stayed at his post.

Gatherers and their children were running toward him, yelling loudly. Behind them came spiders. Some of the spiders made bounding leaps or scuttled quickly across the walls of the caves, cutting off groups of ratkin and trapping them in thick webs. Slower spiders came behind, binding the fallen into small cocoons. Justin wanted to help, but he was guarding the back gate!

He saw Mistress Brownfur run at a spider and crush its skull with a flying kick before engaging a second. He remembered that she had been a champion claw fighter in her youth. It was fun that he saw her fight before she...before...

Justin's head ached. He had to guard the back gate!

And then something snapped in his mind, and he was racing at the spiders.

"Fight me!"

The taunt caused every spider in fifty feet to focus on Justin, and they raced to attack the large guard. He looked at Brownfur and yelled. "Save who you can, but get to the Tower; we need to hold the passage and not let them into the hollow." Mistress Brownfur limped as fast as she could away from the fight, gathering children and urging them to speed. The spiders ignored her, their attention all on Justin now.

Justin spun in a circle, burning stamina as his long halberd glowed and sliced through the advancing spiders. Three more times, he yelled for them to attack him until the entire army engaged with him. As Brownfur ran through the tunnel, she looked back once, unable to see Justin as he collapsed, poisoned by many wounds. Only a massive pile of spiders could be seen.

H'Spat considered. Things were going so much better since the idiot had decided to take the scenic route through the mines. Resistance was slight, and they had already captured many of the small mammals for eating. She had planned to leave as the abomination led her forces against the ratkin and race to join the main army, but victory here was tasting sweet. She would get no acclaim if she left, but if she quickly took control of the hollow, she could claim a great victory. Wouldn't the rest of the army be jealous? And wouldn't that taste sweet? She climbed on top of the large body of a fallen guard and yelled at the spiders around her. "Onward, my victorious host. We will have a feast to celebrate our victory over the ancient enemy tonight!" The spiders in the army obeyed. One noble was much the same to them, and orders were orders.

"Inform the princess that all troops are now in position according to her plans." The petite scout barely came up to the brute's knees, and the enormous spider didn't like the tone she used. The annoyance made her vent some of their anger at how long this march had been. "Finally! This has taken far too long. A rush with two dozen royals would have brought this hollow to its knees, yet we have to wait for you to scout for a full day?!"

The petite scout seemed unworried in the face of General T'nigit's anger. That might be because impatient commanders often yelled at scouts for doing their jobs correctly. Or it might have been her high perception that let her know they weren't alone. The shadows parted as the Princess appeared beside T'nigit, her black carapace gleaming in soft light. "And you would have died and embarrassed me. Did you hear nothing I said in the war councils? Did you listen to the scouting reports at all?"

The general bent their knees but argued. "They are weak, and we have created distractions, drawn off parts of their forces. A hammer blow..."

"Would have failed. Do you remember the damage that a fully grown Cheese Fiend can do? And they have an unknown number of mages, along with reports of many warriors. Not taking the time to scout and understand these things is the mark of a fool. But don't worry, I will reward you anyway. Take the Wolfen Dragoon Company and any royal that will follow you and attack immediately. Our forces are in a position to support you, thanks to the hard work of our scouts."

T'nigit saluted and left, glad of the honor. The head scout watched her go. "It's never bad to clear out some of the royals now and then; that was nicely done." The princess accepted the praise of her old tutor. "Yes, I thought so. Any royal dumb enough to follow T'nigit at the head of the army is one we don't need breeding the next generation. But either way, the hollow will be ours today."

Chapter 163: Salvaging the Situation

Milo had an excellent understanding of what projectile weapons could do. Many dwarves were fascinated with them and would spend hours sipping beer and talking about their ideas for hand cannons and larger weapons while they tinkered with other projects. Some, like Boom-Boom, skipped the guns and went to the heart of the matter by focusing on more powerful explosives. Milo had the needed knowledge of physics and ballistics and could calculate the math in seconds. The math wasn't looking good as far as he was concerned.

From the sound, rate of fire, and how the large caliber rounds had quickly destroyed the stone walls, Milo knew that the miners had nothing that could stand up to the weapon. The dwarven chain gun mounted on the back of that mechanical walker wasn't up to the standards of the Engineers, but it was still a fearsome weapon.

Shields and armor would be shredded, and makeshift barricades would be useless. So as the shots were fired into the crumbling wall, he timed a running leap and ran up the shaking stone until he got to the ceiling and could grab a stalactite. It was hazy at the top of the cavern. The fires from the burning lamp oil filled the area where Milo hid and made breathing difficult. He took shallow breaths and used his hood as a filter.

Below him, he saw the miners dropping back and taking positions behind the second set of much thicker walls.

The first stone wall thrown up by the earth mages shattered into rubble, and the remaining giant spiders quickly picked their way over the pile of stone, surrounded by hundreds of spiderlings. Behind them came the Iron Spider. The heavily armored behemoth paused at the rubble and, deciding against trying to climb over the remains of the wall, began to move around the pile.

Even through the smoke, Milo could tell the leg assemblies were crap. They didn't match and had no synchronicity. He couldn't tell if a clumsy spider was under the armor or just a poorly made machine. Why go to the trouble of making something if it wouldn't work correctly? He'd have been annoyed at the thing even if it weren't shooting at his friends.

The twin-linked dwarven chain gun was pintle-mounted on the back of the spider. Only one gun was revolving. There was a goblin acting as a gunner. Milo watched as it loaded up another belt of ammunition and prepared to fire again. He shook his head at the lack of a proper auto-loading device.

Milo moved across the ceiling, trying to catch up with them. He had thought he would have a few seconds to spare while the gun tried to destroy the much thicker wall the miners were deployed behind. But instead of shooting toward the miners behind the thick stone wall, the gunner started strafing back and forth across the makeshift barriers with non-combatants hiding behind them. Milo heard cries of pain and screams.

The Iron Spider yelled at her gunner. "Idiot! Why are you wasting ammo on worthless targets?! We need to outflank that wall and destroy the remaining warriors." She continued her slow trudge toward the wall.

Grobit chewed on the remains of his cigar and sent a few more shots into the women and children. "Well, there's nothing else to shoot at right now, and I'm bored. The non-combatants give crap for experience. Those folks over there aren't worth a lot, but a goblin needs to get his experience where he can. I only need a little more, and I can move up to level ...urk..."

The Iron Spider was confused. 'Urk' wasn't a word she knew the meaning of. Grobit used a lot of words that he claimed were in other languages. The goblin would have said more, but a piece of jagged bone was sticking out of his eye socket and another from his chest. Milo dropped onto the Iron Spiders' back and swung Shadowblight with both hands. The spikes on the weapon went in one side of the goblin's head and out the other. Milo kicked the body to free his weapon. Her mechanic's dead body slid off the spider's back, and she stepped on it without noticing it.

Milo grabbed the handles of the gun. It seemed simple enough. The Iron Spider was turning towards the side of the ratkins' wall just as her six remaining troops started scaling it. The first spider to the top was met with a hail of bullets as Milo fired the chain gun. It fell more than leaped at the ratkin miners, and Milo kept the stream of bullets flowing, hosing down spider after spider. Green gore and spider guts sprayed the top of the wall. The miners heard the sound of the guns and saw the spiders at the top of the barricade exploding into gore. They backed further away to avoid the rain of foul-smelling ichor.

Within a minute, all of the giant spiders were dead. Milo strafed back and forth across the horde of spiderlings, each shot pulping a half dozen of the dinner plate-sized spiders. Without their larger cousins around, the mob retreated to the caverns, scattering into side tunnels and crevices.

Milo's mechanical ride was not happy. "What are you doing!? Witless mammal! Traitorous piece of trash! Those were my loyal warriors! They loved me! Now I will have to kill all of these rats by myself."

Milo was wondering what the foot-pedals and levers did. The spider was slow, and he had plenty of time to start experimenting. As the Iron Spider advanced on the miners, and the miners wisely fled, he started pulling levers and testing each control. One lever unlocked the foot pedals, which controlled the direction in which the legs would move the spider. For a few minutes, Milo and the Spider fought over who got to move the legs until he found the override for her control. The dwarves who had built her robotic body didn't like constantly telling the stupid spider when to move or where to go. They would take over and drive her like a walking tank in the middle of a battle.

He quickly got the hang of it. Standing still, the spider stopped—lean forward, and the spider advanced. Leaning back was reverse, and two opposed directions could spin it on the spot. It was rather like driving a clunky tank with uneven tracks.

The spider hated being driven. She'd demanded that Grobit take apart those controls and leave her in control. Unknown to her, Grobit liked having an ace in the hole if she decided she didn't need him. The controls had stayed. Once again, the mighty Iron Spider found herself turned into just a passenger. Milo brought the spider to a halt and locked the controls, leaving her immobile. He jumped down and ran to where the miners were assisting the wounded.

Clawhammer was trying to assist one of the healers with a wounded child. Milo nodded at him and started pulling healing potions from the caverns out of the storage in his ring. "Use these; they should be very potent."

The chaingun had killed only two people, but several were wounded. With bandages, spells, and potions, everyone worked to stabilize the wounded and stop the bleeding. Two people had shattered bones, which Milo could put back together, while a healer saw to torn muscles and sinew.

With that done, Master Clawhammer pulled Master Tallsqueak aside. "Nice work doing whatever you did. But what the hell is going on? And what is that thing?"

Milo didn't know more than the obvious. "Those are spider warriors, but only two were noble and weren't very large. Much smaller than the ones I fought before. Under all that, metal is a huge Noble, but it's primarily mechanical. Do spiders turn their wounded into walking tanks?"

"I killed the gunner and then turned the chain gun on the spiders rushing to fight you. It's a dwarven gun, but not well made. One side needs to be fixed or it would have fired twice as fast. I don't know how the spiders fit in, but it must be part of what is happening. Too much happening at once."

Clawhammer nodded as he looked at the horror standing still in the middle of the cave. "Someone has given most of the Hollow bad cheese, and now a spider attack. That smells bad."

Milo explained what he had found out. "Rifkin is behind the cheese. He's been meeting with the merchants in the caravan. And the caravan brought Cheese Fiends with them. Why would anyone bring fiends to another hollow?"

Clawhammer smacked one big fist into his palm, angry. "Fiends? There's a reason, but not a good one. Larry's an exception. He didn't change in the middle of a battle; he just wanted to 'get big' like his brother and fight more. He could never tell us more than that after the change. We never found out how he got too much cheese. But other fiends are bred for battle and live for it. A caravan wouldn't bring fiends, they eat too much and need constant attention. Fiends were never used except in the largest battles."

Milo ran through scenarios in his head; it seemed obvious in retrospect. "Charlotte and Riftkin wanted to take over the Hollow. They poisoned Smiley and Bleusnout so Riftkin could give bad cheese to the Hollow, making it easy for the caravan guards to take over. Charlotte attacked me and told me part of it before I...before I killed her. The rest I learned from my very excellent scouts who have been following Rifkin. The spiders must be somehow working for Rifkin or were a diversion."

"Things make more sense, what do we do you think we should do now? "

Clawhammer looked around. He had some miners who could fight a little and some wounded he needed to protect. He could fight, but he wasn't a warrior. Tallsqueak was young, but Gilad spoke highly of him, he was a mage, and he'd killed more spiders than the rest. "I'm leaving that up to you. You know more about what's happening than I do, and you have scouts finding out more. If anyone asks, you have my support. I advise finding Gilad and gathering all the fighters and mages we can. There will be another fight coming."

"I'm going to see if I can bring down the main tunnel and fortify this area. Nothing will be able to come through the mines until we clear out those tunnels. Send people this way if they need shelter. We'll hold the front entrance to the mines. If need be, we can send to other Hollow's for help, and try to make a last stand in here."

Milo handed the master miner his pick. "This will help. It's made of a Tier 4 crystal that can cut through rock like butter."

Clawhammer felt the tip and tested it on the floor. "Damn, where did you get this?"

Milo shrugged. "Reward for killing a World Boss. Long story. I'm going to take my spider and make sure the warriors from the caravan can't get into the hollow. It's a narrow passage and this ugly gun is the equal in firepower to an Engineer's rivet gun."

Clawhammer watched as Tallsqueak ran back to the mechanical spider, adjusted the controls, and tightened some bolts. Then with the sound of screeching metal, they began strolling down the corridor to the Hollow. Before they could go far, the master miner sent two whelps running ahead of them, spreading the word so that no one had a heart attack when they saw him coming.

The spider constantly complained to Milo in her screetching voice until he found the switch that turned off the speaker she talked through. He had some thinking to do and needed to do it fast.

Chapter 164: When some idiot screws up your crafty plans...

The cheese Danish was genuinely delightful. Gilad was impressed with how quickly Rifkin was filling the shoes of his predecessor. One of his new apprentices had knocked on Gilad's door three times before entering his home and leaving the large tray of cheesy desserts on his table. Gilad recognized him from when he had been attending his classes. Black fungus? Blacknose? Something like that.

Gilad had dropped down from his favorite napping spot in the rafters to try a piece and had ended up making it his evening meal. The pastries were made from a blend of cheeses that he couldn't quite place. The venerable fighter had long ago mastered his cheese cravings, but on a day when his joints and muscles ached, it was nice to feel the rush as his body gained the power only cheese could provide. And he had always loved pastries.

He would never let his sparring partners know, but the late-night dueling had pushed him hard. Cremona made up for her lack of physical ability with her virulent spells and poisons. Even with his strong resistance, they slowed him and left him shaking after winning a bout with her. Tall Squeak had given him several painful bruises and several times given him broken bones. The damned whelp adapted quickly and experimented with moves that no sane ratkin would try against him. Those often resulted in Tall Squeak being slammed painfully into the floor or wall, but some of them worked, and then it was Gilad who suffered. At least the whelp was polite and healed his old bones afterward.

For a normal ratkin, Tallsqueak was amazingly tough with unbreakable bones and healed nearly as quickly as Larry. Just a few weeks ago, Gilad had been overjoyed to have an assistant who could double as a punching bag. It was debatable now who was the punching bag.

And then there was Larry.

The huge fiend was developing his own fighting style full of twirling tail attacks and quick hops. It was elegant, dangerous, and unpredictable. No one had ever used such a style before, and Gilad constantly had to push himself to avoid being pulped by one of Larry's powerful attacks. The Tail-Master was always excited to fight against Larry, but he paid for it with stiff limbs and painful joints the next day. The cheese helped with the pain, and the odd flavor he'd detected faded away as he finished the pastries.

Afterward, he went to bed early, needing his sleep. Fighting class was important. He needed to be up and about, not lying in bed and letting Tall Squeak run the classes. He slept soundly for the first time in years, undisturbed by dreams. Before he awoke, another delivery of cheese Danish was dropped off.

Gilad awoke early, saw the newly delivered food, and ate all of it. He was the Tail-Master; he deserved extra cheese. It was essential and would help him train all of the whelps. A hollow needed all of the fighters it could get! Fighting practice for guards and whelps would need to be mandatory from now on.

His students were ready and waiting for him, glassy eyes showing intense concentration. Training began immediately and continued through the morning. The loud noises coming from the outer caves were ignored, as was the commotion from the mines. The only thing that got Gilad's attention was when Tall Squeak came walking by on a silly mechanical spider.

Milo was getting the hang of driving the spider. It was a clunky machine, and he had a lot of ideas for improvements. He had a low opinion of both the builders and whoever had been doing the repairs. Too many things had been fixed with wire and tape. The parts box was messy, but he found enough bits to fix the second gun. Rather than have two guns with independent triggers, he slaved the second to the first and synchronized their firing. Fewer parts were needed, and he got the job done as the spider slowly made its way through the caverns and into the hollow.

It could have been a better job, but it doubled the firepower of the walking tank. That might be handy if his suspicions about the caravan proved true or if something else attacked the hollow. He planned to take the spider and park it in the outer cavern next to the guards for them to use. He was surprised to see Gilad leading tail-fighting drills with a large group of students. Between investigations and fighting spiders, he'd lost track of time. He was also getting tired. The quick rest while talking to Petey didn't replace hours of sleep, despite the pick-me-up effect of the jellybeans.

Gilad walked over to him as he arrived. "Why are you late for practice? And why are you riding on an atrocity like this? If you were going to construct a battle tank, using a design for a mechanical mole would be better. Spider legs break off too easily. Trust me, I know from experience." He rapped his knuckles on the fake metal head on the front of the spider's armor. Hissing and clicks echoed out of the cracks in the armor. "And where did you get such a stupid spider to use for the core? This one is hissing so much that I can barely understand it. Please take it away before it distracts my students."

Milo noted that he should learn the spider language; it might be handy someday. "It came marching into the mines, shooting people along with a dozen other giant spiders and even a couple of nobles. We killed all the rest, but this thing might come in handy soon. Have the twins or Petey talked to you about what is happening?"

Gilad began walking back to his arena. "No, and I don't care. My job is to teach whelps to fight and let the scouts and assassins handle their own problems. You're the new Scout Master; I give you my authority to handle these nuisances. When it is time to fight, call for me, and I will bring the fighters of the hollow and make battle against our opponents."

"Oh, and tell whoever is having a war in the outer caverns to keep things quiet. Class is in session."

Milo took in the glassy eyes of the Tail Master and the class. At least they were getting in a lot of practice. He put the spider in gear and started walking it down the tunnel to the outer caves to see what was happening there. Brutus waved to him as he exited. "Hi, Master Tallsqueak. Cool looking spider."

Brutus seemed calm, but the caravan was a mess. "What happened here, Brutus? It looks like a battle took place."

The guard smiled. "Oh, it was a good one. First, the caravan got attacked by a bunch of players, and the herd of damnedbeasts went crazy and trampled everything before they forted up in the center of the cave. It will take a couple of days for them to calm down. It was mostly humans attacking; they didn't do too badly at first. Good fight, and things were about even after the Master Merchant unleashed his cheese fiends. Then the humans got attacked from behind by a dwarven artillery company. Now that was fun to watch! The dwarves are now holding the far end of the cavern, and there's a graveyard between them and the caravan. Hopefully, the next round starts soon. Pretty good entertainment."

"Oh, and don't worry. I'm doing a good job; no one is getting past me today. Brutus is on guard!"

Milo was trying to fit the big guard's information into an already complex situation. "Yes, good job Brutus. Excellent job. Keep non-residents out of the Hollow unless I or another master vouch for them. Master Clawhammer and Master Gilad have given me their authority for the moment."

"And that includes Rifkin. He isn't a Master yet, he can't give a stalwart guard like you orders. And I need to talk to him if you see him. Grab him if he tries to sneak in or out of the hollow, and hold him for me. And don't underestimate him. He's sneakier than I think anyone knew."

Brutus saluted. "You got it, Master Scout. And have a nice day." Milo decided to bring the spider with him to go visit the artillery company. They'd have suggestions on how to get the stupid leg assemblies fixed if it was whom he suspected.

Rifkin was not happy. Something had gone wrong with his cunning plans. He wondered which idiot was screwing things up.

He was ensuring that everyone in the Hollow was getting enough Milbenkase each day so that the spider cheese could work its magic on them and turn them into hard-working slaves. Everyone would work hard at whatever they thought was their primary job, and they would take his orders without question. It had been a slow start. The spider cheese wasn't working like it was supposed to. People weren't taking orders well. He suspected it was bad cheese. Just like Gangrene to give him defective spider cheese!

He'd prepared unique dishes for Gilad, Clawhammer, Brownfur, and Arlothe and had his minions distribute them at their homes. Bleusnout had kept a record of everyone's favorite dish to surprise them for their birthday. The entry for the the Gathering Master was missing, so he sent a sampling platter of blended cheese. He wasn't worried about her. Brownfur was of no matter; the old woman would see things his way and could be put to work making sure the new fields were laid out correctly.

Charlotte was going to take over as the new Death Master and was confident she could sway most of the shadowskulkers. If not, examples would need to be made of a few. If his trap worked, she would also take care of the annoying Tall Squeak. It galled Rifkin to no end that a stranger only recently arrived had been trusted with a ring, and he who had been here for years was still only an 'assistant.' That would change soon.

The only Master that worried him was Old Healer. Charlotte had suggested that they deal with him last after they had the Hollow under control. He was sure Charlotte would use him as a threat to keep some control for herself. It might be time for Charlotte to eat a hefty chunk of slave cheese if she tried. He could replace her with Petey. Petey was docile and fat. Where Charlotte was a problem, Petey could be easily managed. He'd given the jelly bean addict a few hints about his plans already.

The twins, though, had to go. They'd fallen under Tall Squeak's influence. He'd dodged them all night before he made it to the caravan. Maybe Petey could talk to them, or he'd have Charlotte scare them or give them some slave cheese. He had lots of options to deal with anything.

He'd just finished explaining all of this to Gangrene when the caravan had been attacked. He'd kept his head down and hid in the General's tent. The stupid humans who had failed to show up to weaken the hollow were now attacking the caravan! Blackwhisker had assured him that his links to the human guilds would ensure the raid was arriving on time. Had Blackwhisker betrayed him?

The tide of combat had favored the humans until the fiends were unleashed, and the fiends had destroyed the raids' healers and mages. The caravan had been about to charge when more things went wrong. Dwarves were attacking! He hadn't had any plans for dwarves! You never invited dwarves to a revolution unless it was at a brewery. They couldn't be trusted! Yet here they were, and the human raid had melted before their withering fire. Gangrene was alive but wounded; the caravan had lost half its guards.

Rifkin was okay with that, but he had so many other questions. Could he use what was left to gain control of the Hollow and then get rid of them? How would he get rid of Gangrene? Could he engineer a fight between Gilad and Gangrene? He needed to think, and he needed to get back to the Hollow and check on his minions, talk with Charlotte and make sure the plans were going well. He was starting to be worried about his spider allies. Not only were they supposed to weaken the Hollow, but that was the excuse he would use to bring in the caravan guards. He'd save the Hollow from the spiders and humans and announce that he was taking over.

He'd just decided to sneak carefully away from the caravan and back to the Hollow when Tall Squeak entered the outer cave riding on top of a mechanical spider. He hid quickly, wondering if the spiders had betrayed him.

Chapter 165: Wait...you have beer?!

Narwhale was the first to spot the mechanical monster walking across the caverns. Most scavengers had a high perception and Look Out skill. Narwhale had spent days on end manning observation ports or crow's nests to raise her skill to level 5 and her perception to 10. A high perception was needed to gain the coveted Gunner class. "We got trouble coming. Load a shell, and I'll see how many legs I can blow off it!"

Boom-Boom smiled at the thought of watching his new bride blowing things up but stopped Barnacle before she loaded the small cannon. "You might get more than you bargained for. I'm guessing that the person in the driver's seat is our long-lost brother Engineer. I don't want to find out what weapons he has on that thing if you were to start a shooting war. Brother Milo has a talent for causing destruction."

The two scavengers grumbled but paused until the identity could be confirmed. They had seen the devastation Senior Engineer Milo had caused to the outpost with their own eyes and heard all of the stories. They'd also witnessed him playing tag with the sea hydra and were convinced he was missing a few bolts.

Two Screws walked forward and bellowed out a greeting. "Damn, but that is one ugly spider. We may have to send you to remedial mechanics classes. Please tell me you didn't build that." Milo looked at the spider. "Of course, I didn't build it. It drives me crazy just looking at all the work that needs to be done to fix it. Plus, it has a crazy spider inside of it." He flipped on the speaker.

I will flay you slowly and feed you to my young! I am P'tashPak'r, the dreaded...oh, is my speaker back on? I hate you so much! Tell these lazy dwarves to fix my #3 and #7 leg joints; I keep tripping. Why are you still in control?! Quit that! I can drive myself! This isn't dignified. This isn't my fault; The Queens made me do it!

Many hisses and the clicking of mandibles accompanied this speech. But since she repeated herself a lot, eventually, everyone started understanding the spider underneath the many layers of armor and machinery.

Barnacle ran forward, undid the hatches on the head armor, and cranked it open to reveal the face of the spider. "Ooooh, there is a spider in there. She's so cute! How are you doing, sweety?" She carefully patted the spider's head, mindful of the mandibles.

P'tashPak'r answered in a defeated voice. Terrible. I am hungry and thirsty. This new master runs me across caverns with no thought for my delicate limbs, and I have been betrayed again by the Queens! Instead of victory, I was duped into leading an army of idiots and was captured and paraded before the one who tortured me years ago! My faithful Grobit has abandoned me, and now it seems I am to be sold to dwarves for scrap metal.

Boom-Boom and Narwhale had climbed up to look at the chainguns while Two-Screws and Sledge-monkey walked around, kicking the spider's legs and making comments about the sad state of the gyroscopes. Narwhale yelled down at the spider. "Poor baby. Bad things happen when you pick the wrong side to fight. The only thing to do is to have a beer and make better choices before the next war. And by my mother's beard! Clean your guns more! These are in terrible shape!"

Mercenaries take what mechanics they can get. Wait...you have beer?! She looked longingly at the stack of kegs by the wall. Large amounts of dwarven beer had made the mercenary life more enjoyable. Her dwarven crew had enjoyed getting her drunk and having her wobble back and forth as they went from bar to bar.

Barnacle gave the spider one more pat on the head. "Of course we have beer! What a catastrophe that would be." She poured a foaming bucket of beer and held it for P'tashPak'r, who drank it down quickly. Oh, how I have missed that. The life of an enslaved arachnid mercenary is a harsh one. But at least there was beer.

Narwhale was shaking her head. She should have known better. Barnacle was a sucker for strays. She was going to want to take the damned spider home; she just knew it. And as she had feared, after getting the spider another bucket of beer, Barnacle began begging for a new pet. "Can we take her with us, Nar? Huh? She's perfect! A mercenary who likes beer and makes bad choices in life! That's practically the scavenger motto!"

Narwhale yelled over to Milo, who was talking with Harry about Black Mold. "Hey, how much do you want for the spider? My new husband here wants to buy it from you."

Boom-Boom looked up from where he was cleaning the chain guns. "I do?"

Narwhale kissed him on the cheek and batted her eyes. "Of course you do! It will help us pack more ammunition, it comes armed with cute little guns, and we can add heavier artillery to it. And Barnacle will be happy to take care of the squishy parts inside. She loves ugly pets."

Boom-Boom smiled stupidly. "Well then, I guess I do want it. Hey, Milo, how much do you want for your spider?"

Milo blinked twice; he hadn't thought he owned the spider. "Consider it a wedding present." Milo considered it one less thing for him to worry about. "But before we get to tinkering on it, let's move back towards the entrance to the Hollow. I have some problems I don't understand and may need some help with." The spider was already half drunk, so getting back to the entrance took some time. Barnacle was already telling the spider all her cool ideas for fixing her legs and adding more guns.

Brutus was introduced to the dwarves, and Milo made sure that the guard understood that the engineers were allowed to enter the Hollow. Then Milo spent a few minutes giving them a brief explanation of what he knew, what he suspected, and what he suspected he didn't know. Sledgemonkey took another look at the caravan. "They do seem to be heavy on guards and light on merchants. Every single one of them is in armor now, and I'll confirm the two big monsters they have hidden in those wagons. They got scared when we started shooting fireworks at the humans."

Sledgemonkey lit a cigar and got himself a beer. "Taking a look at the mines can wait for now. Two-Screws and I are fatigued by our journey and need a small break to rest our legs while we have some medicinal beers. We'll camp out here along with the eight-legged contraption and guard the doorway with Brutus. The rest of you can go do whatever needs going; we'll keep things locked down here.

Barnacle was feeding more beer to P'tashPak'r. "I'm staying with my new spidey-friend. She's having a hard day, and we need to drink a little, right honey?"

The spider's eyes seemed unfocused and relaxed. Yes. Hard day...beer...promise not to eat new dwarfy-friend.

Harry had some ideas about what might be ailing Bleusnout and Smiley. "Black Mold grows in dank caves, and once it takes hold, it's difficult to get rid of. Naturally growing mold will cause lung rot and an assortment of other ailments. But it can also be used to poison food and create many toxins. I don't believe it has any benevolent use at all."

"To get rid of it from caves, trolls use fire. One of the only times you will see a troll willingly get near to fire. Fire can burn us horribly, but Black Mold is worse. And I will warn you; it is likewise difficult to cure."

Harry got quite a few odd looks, as did the two dwarves following behind. But in general, the ratkin of the Hollow went about their business in a single-minded fashion, with glassy eyes and looking neither left nor right. Harry took this in. "Whatever is affecting them is very specific. This isn't a random batch of bad cheese or a mold infection. It's too perfect and affecting everyone."

Harry had to duck to enter the hallways of Old Healer's clan. Things were somber inside. A few zombified family members were being cared for, and guards were at each door. Tallsqueak flashed his ring, and no one stopped them as they moved down to the makeshift infirmary.

Smiley and Bleusnout were unchanged, sleeping on their cots, breathing shallowly. Old Healer looked exhausted to the point of collapse. He looked up when Tallsqueak entered. "Nothing I try works. Tell me you have learned something new?"

Milo opened the door wide for Harry to move into the room. Old Healer's eyes grew wide at first, then relaxed. "I don't know more about what is killing them, but I have Dr. Earthtongue with me. Harry is an expert on mycology." Harry nodded and went immediately to the two patients and began to unpack tonics, swabs, and powders. "I'll do my best, but if this is indeed Black Mold poisoning, I can't make promises. I'm frankly amazed they are both still alive."

Old Healer sighed. "As am I. Nothing I do seems to work. It's only the amazing regeneration of a Cheese Master that has kept them both alive until now. But please take a look at this formula. Tallsqueak was kind enough to unearth this book, but I have been unable to get the final product to absorb magical energy and create the potion. It would be nice if someone hadn't drunk all six doses in the bottle he found. A sample of the original would be helpful."

Milo shrugged. "Dying of poison isn't the best time to judge how much strange potion to drink. Your mysterious relative didn't leave a lot of messages for me. I only had time to read the book and look through his notes after I recovered."

Old Healer patted him on the shoulder. "Yes. My apologies. I don't mean to imply any fault. That is just the fatigue talking. To be so close to a cure yet unable to find the missing step. And yes, the person whose ring you wear was very eccentric. He enjoyed setting traps, leaving puzzles, and hiding clues in odd places to make his students figure things out."

Harry was staring at the book. He pointed to a blank area. "What do you see here?" Old Healer looked at the page. "Nothing at all." Harry gestured for Boom-Boom to come take a look at the book.

Boom-Boom took a sip of his beer, finishing it and putting the tankard on his belt. "We drink and blow stuff up. If it isn't a formula for an explosive, I'm not really good at chemistry." He stepped forward anyway and looked at the page. "Yeah, there's some writing here. I can barely see it."

Harry explained. "Trolls see things differently from other races. Dwarves do as well. I have large books written in trollish runes that would be blank pages to you. Luckily, I found a small sample of Amanita Muscaria Alius as we traveled. They are known for giving a modest light in the darkness when disturbed and are also powerful psychotropics to some races. Some research has shown that most of the light they shed is not normal. Let's see what their light reveals."

Harry picked a small purple mushroom from his shoulder where it was growing. Concentrating on it for a moment, he gave it some of his mana and held it over the book. Writing appeared in many places. Old Healer slapped his forehead and shook his head. Some lines revealed missing bits of the recipe. Other lines were handwritten. "What sort of madman wrote this book? The poisons are easy to make, but he hides half the cure. A curse upon all humans and especially Damien Franklin."

Harry was scanning the formula. "If I read this correctly, we need a rare berry, 'Colored like the Sun,' that has a sympathetic magic similar to that of the elixer. Many berries have such properties to one degree or another, and I can think of three that are orange or yellow. Gaining access to them will be difficult, but the alchemy guild in Shadowport may have some."

Milo realized the answer was much closer. "Jellybeans. Petey said the yellow jellybeans from the oldest bush were magical and cured poison. And the elixir had a fizzy, sweet flavor to it."

Old Healer's eyes showed a manic excitement. "So close...!" He pulled on a cord, and Milo heard a small bell chime somewhere in the building. A moment later, Petey walked into the room. "You rang? Oh, hi, Tallsqueak." A moment later, Petey was pulling glowing candies out of his pocket. Old Healer and Harry had agreed that six of the beans needed to be added to the incomplete potion. As they were dropped into the solution one by one, the candies dissolved, and the elixir turned the bright yellow color that Milo remembered.

Old Healer looked over at his two patients. "And now we must keep them alive for another day." He looked hopeful as he said it.

Milo had just started to relax a bit when a roar of pure rage echoed through the Hollow. It swelled, carrying a lifetime of pain and anger, promising horrible death to whatever had wronged it. It grew louder and louder. Ratkin hid as fast as they could.

Narwhale covered her ears. Boom-Boom's eyes were huge. "A dragon?! Here!?" Old Healer looked stricken, knowing what the sound was. He had heard it before in the wars.

So did Milo. "Larry! Something has happened to Larry!" He was out the door, racing away before the cry died.

Chapter 166: Larry 1, Reality 0

Ten students surrounded the machine Professor Arlothe was working on, holding tools, machine parts, and wire coils. The professor had declared that from now on, each day would be spent experimenting with new ways to generate electrical power and storm-aspected mana. And, of course, finding ways to unleash that power. Arlothe had awoken that morning and realized he was wasting his time doing anything else! This was how he should be serving the Hollow! He had walked through the tower, lecturing on the glories of the storm and the power of electricity, slowly gaining a following of glassy-eyed students that shared in his new vision. The ten students had followed him down and out of the tower, standing nearby, ready to assist him as he tore apart and rebuilt the generator by the waterfall.

Throughout the next few hours, the machinery underwent a half dozen rebuilds. Some things worked, and most things didn't. The machine was most efficient when a stave used to cast spells was wired directly to the generator, negating the need for storage. They spent a full hour launching spell after spell at the targets, not needing to recharge their mana. Then the wires in several coils fused into solid lumps of copper, and the generator froze. Arlothe let the students begin tearing it apart and took a cup of tea. He doubled over in pain as the poison hit him a moment later and smiled; his wife had left him a small reminder of her affection.

While rebuilding the generator, a 4th-year student named Silvertip had a moment of inspiration and stole a few parts. Adding them to his staff, he found a way to double the storage capacity. This led to a competition to create the best staff, with various levels of success. The schism threatened to tear apart the group: Should they work on generating more power? Or storing more energy in their staves? Arlothe had an inspired thought. "Why not both?" The students nodded; both was good.

An expedition to his private laboratory resulted in many boxes of spare parts being brought down. The group worked concurrently on two projects: Higher mana output from the generator and larger capacity in the staves that could be plugged into it for recharging. The sound of overloading fuses and the smell of ozone wafted through the Hollow.

Nearby, Professor Cremona was dueling with a dozen of her proteges. The strangely serious students seemed dedicated to the idea that they must train daily to protect the Hollow and conquer their enemies. They glared at the 'spark-heads' from time to time before returning to their duels. Professor Cremona produced two baskets of cleansing cheese and poison-resistance potions. The students would need both remedies to keep them alive and dueling until their resistance levels increased.

She had noticed her husband taking his tea and then doubling over in pain. This pleased her to no end. It was so hard to poison him after their years of dueling. While Arlothe had his head inside the generator, she snuck over again to his teapot to add another dose, not noticing the thin copper wire connected to the handle. The discharge of the powerful electrical field left her with her fur blackened and smoking and the hair on her head standing straight up. Alothe lifted his head from the generator and blew her a kiss.

The spark-heads and the poison-claws seemed unconcerned as panicked gatherers came racing through the tunnel to the large caverns where vegetables and mushrooms grew. The ratkin running from the spiders behaved oddly as well. As soon as they were safe, they went to the mess hall to drop off the contents of their gathering sacks and then to the smaller fields inside the Hollow itself to continue picking and planting.

Having overrun the fields and dealt with the lone guard, the spiders advanced on the Hollow and began working their way through the short tunnel, emerging near the Tower of Strife. H'Splat was jubilant. Her army was sweeping all before it. There was no reason not to move further into the lightly guarded Hollow and conquer it.

Cremona saw four giant spiders emerge from the tunnel and yelled to her students. "Excellent! New people to play with. Please welcome our eight-legged visitors who have volunteered as targets!"

Arlothe looked with disgust at his wife. "You'd waste perfectly good test subjects on dueling? I have data to collect! Students, quickly! Use your best spell, and be sure to note the damage done in your journals and any other interesting effects. Most of our data is on mammals. This is an excellent chance to see how spiders react to electrical arcs!"

The two groups of students began throwing spells at the advancing spiders while Cremona critiqued their dueling stances and Arlothe walked around collecting observations and asking questions. After the first four spiders were turned into crispy piles of legs, the others backed off into the tunnel and took cover.

The picnic-tea party to celebrate the victory over the Pickle Gang was ending. Everyone agreed it had been a great success. Pie and cake with whip cream were about to be served when Larry stood up suddenly, his eyes wild and his fists clenched.

"Something has happened! Something bad! Big Brother Justin is in trouble! Larry needs to go home!"

The Puffyfurs stood up, worried, and the fairies flitted around Larry, not knowing what to do.

Larry was hopping from foot to foot and yelling for the Tunnelmuggle. "Brinka! Larry needs to go home! Larry needs to go home NOW!"

The Tunnelmuggle stuck her head out of a hole in the ground. "I can try, Larry, but I'm still very tired from the last hole. It was so hard to bring all of you here." The exhausted muggle strained, but only a tiny crack appeared in the air before Brinka collapsed on the ground, panting. The sound of spiders hissing and clicking their feet together came through the break.

Larry looked at the tiny hole in despair. "Larry won't fit. Larry is too big! Larry is always too big!"

Putting his eye to the opening, he saw Justin kill a spider and then fall to the ground as one of the giant, black spiders stung him in the back, and several more bit his legs. Spiders swarmed over him, biting and binding him in webbing. Justin fell over, and the spiders swarmed over him.

Larry roared at them, scaring spiders, fairies, muggles, Puffyfurs, and badgers alike. A roar held a lifetime of anger and hurt as he realized he couldn't help his brother.

"Larry is coming, Justin! Larry will make his own hole!" The tips of his claws could just fit in the small crack, but that was enough for him to get a grip. Larry strained against the barriers between the worlds. Brinka would later explain to him that it wasn't strength that let a Tunnelmuggle make a door; it was intent and determination. It was the need to make a door. In some places, the walls between a fae realm and someplace else became thin, and then a Tunnelmuggle could make a hole for brave fairies to explore and bring back treasures. Brinka had made many holes into this spot, wearing the barrier thin.

Larry committed his sheer fury at the spiders and his love for his brother against the barrier, and the barrier lost. The fairies gasped as the Hero of Flower Town tore a Larry-sized hole between the world of the fae and Limburger Hollow. It wasn't a nice hole like Tunnelmuggle would make; it was a jagged, glowing tear that got wider and longer as Larry strained to make a hole big enough for him to fit through. With a last effort, the tear became big enough, and Larry leaped into it, emerging a few feet in the air.

The spiders had no idea what was happening as reality tore asunder and a half-ton of enraged Cheese Fiend turned Hero came to protect his big brother. One unlucky arachnid was killed as Larry's feet landed on it, crushing its head and thorax. Larry grabbed a spider in each hand, squeezing and popping their heads off. He spun, and his tail lashed out at any spider nearby, breaking legs and cracking armor. Larry roared and sent hundreds of spiderlings running to find cracks to hide in.

Behind him, Clan Puffyfur jumped through the crack with staves ready to cast spells. After a moment, all of the fairies were as well, forming a defensive spell around the ratkin spell casters and sending confusion and fear spells into the spiders. Bernie Badger stayed behind to guard the uneaten dessert.

Larry ran to where Justin lay unmoving and screamed again at the spiders. He stood over Justin's body, stomping spiders, slashing spiders, and bludgeoning them with his tail. His instincts told him to move on all fours and give into his rage. He was nearly lost in his rage when he heard the tiny bells the fairies wore on their wings. The sound of the bells jingling as they flew was the music Larry had heard since he became a Hero. He stood upright and glared at the horde of spiders circling him. Five small ratkin mages were at his feet, determined to help, and overhead the Fairies of Flower Town were working their magic.

Larry danced towards the spiders, leaving his friends to protect Justin. It was Hero time.

Chapter 167: The Battle of the Gathering Fields

H'Splat hissed and screamed at her host of arachnids. "Kill it! Kill it quickly! Sting and Claw, Bite and Slash! Fill it with poison, or it will kill us all!" H'Spat had seen Cheese Fiends fight during the Mammal Rebellion and the Righteous War of Glory. The beasts were nearly unstoppable unless poisoned quickly and worn down by swarming them. They slaughtered many of the lower ranks in their frenzy, but that was far better than letting the Fiend Tenders herd them into battle and use them tactically.

H'Spat remembered the one time a fiend had made it to a Queen. It had died to the potent poison that only a queen produced, but only after it had ripped her limb from limb along with her guards, daughters, and entourage. The standing orders in all spider armies were to swarm a fiend and tie it down, regardless of the loss of soldiers. The lower ranks could be replenished in only a season or two. It took decades for a Queen to grow to maturity, and fully half of them died to politics along the way.

This fiend was defying the might of her army. It moved in unpredictable patterns, spinning and hopping like a manic grasshopper on bounceweed. Behind it, support mages were casting healing spells and causing confusion in her army. If it wasn't for a tiny fact, H'Spat might have fled: The fiend was staying in one spot. It danced and dodged in a circle, protecting the little rats and fluttering things in the center. And above them was a tear in reality.

The fiend and his strikeforce had come from it, and now they were defending it! It was the only thing that made sense. A much larger army was on the way! Or maybe the doorway led to something precious? Were they only guarding it until it could close? In either case, H'Spat knew she had to act quickly. "Send four of the largest brutes to guard the tunnel and send an assault group of spiderlings to keep the rats busy. Then all of the warriors are to attack the fiend. Work to get past him and kill the little fluttery things and mage-rats!"

Messengers saluted and scuttled away. The spider army abandoned its attack on the Hollow to focus on the Cheese Fiend rampaging in the army's rear.

"I'm getting scared! Why are there so many spiders!" Sassy didn't like little spiders, and the big ones were horrifying.

"Keep casting spells. Don't let them get to us!" Another burst of static electricity rolled out in all directions, stunning the spiders for a moment. Larry leaped as it came, avoiding the blast and smooshing two spiders with his feet as he landed. Before they recovered, he spun, kicking three spiders and cracking their carapaces. Then he leaped to the other side of the circle to inflict damage on the spiders surging from that direction.

The bodies of dead arachnids were thick on the ground, but more kept coming.

Above Clan Puffy Fur floated four fairies who were using their magic to create barriers to slow the spiders down. Prickly bushes sprouted in a ring, ice coated the ground, and sticky taffy rained from the sky. Below, Redfawn was trying to keep Justin alive. "I'm going to need help soon. My mana is getting low, and I can't neutralize the poison! He got bit so many times."

"Coming!" Gingersnapple dropped next to Redfawn and poured a potion over him, buying Redfawn a moment to catch her breath. Moonflower and Tuliptoes went to the rift Larry had opened and pulled magic from Flowertown, drenching the surrounding area in Fae magic, giving both fairies and puffy furs a recharge. Cherrypit used some of the power to call forth more bramble bushes, slow the spiders and poke them in tender places.

But even with this help, the sheer mass of spiders were starting to overcome Larry. Spider ichor was making the ground slippery, and the bodies had caused him to trip more than once. His weasel slippers were panting hard but keeping him up. Pansy yelled out. "Jump!" Larry jumped high. All five puffyfurs had linked hands and cast an overcharged spell. Thunder and lightning crashed as electrical arcs toasted spiders in a 40-foot radius. Larry came down and hopped twice to where a Black Widow Assassin was noticing that her front legs were missing from the blast. Larry punted her into the ceiling, where she was impaled on a jutting stalactite.

The spider army paused for a second and nearly retreated. H'Spat screamed at them. "He tires! The mages must be out of mana! Now is the hour of victory!" The spiders moved to attack again.

Electrical arcs from the tunnel exploded, toasting and killing all the assaulting spiderlings. Into the tunnel moved shadowy figures. A deep, guttural voice laughed and yelled, "Fire in the hole!"

A trail of smoke and flame followed the course of a dark steel armor-piercing, anti-monstrosity rocket. It struck one of the Brutes and exploded, scattering legs and pieces of chitin across the cavern. A second Brute standing in range was the next target and exploded spectacularly into spider parts like the first. Boom-Boom and Narwhale moved up to the front of the tunnel and began reloading as Milo ran past them.

An exploding skull sent dust and debris into the air, confusing the last two brutes. In the brief time they shielded their eyes, the armored rat caster had disappeared from view. The one on the left quit worrying about finding Milo as the end of his high leap put him right in front of it, Shadowblight using all the momentum of the jump and a two-handed swing to penetrate the spider's skull. Charged with mana, the brute's head exploded in grey goo. Shadowblight purred as it ate the spider's soul.

The second turned to attack, and Milo rolled away, slashing with his tail. He gestured with his left hand and cast Harpoon of the Winds, puncturing its thorax. Narwhale's next shot was slightly off target, whizzing by the noble's rear and taking off three of its legs before the shell detonated in the back of the multitude of spiders surrounding Larry. Dead spiders were flung everywhere.

Milo took advantage of the noble's pain to kill it with three hits to the head with Shadowblight. The first shattered its annoying steel helmet, the second cracked its carapace, and the third blow obliterated its brain. Again, the spiteful weapon made a pleased noise.

Milo turned to Boom Boom. "Use incendiary shells to cause some panic." The dwarf gleefully pulled some bright red napalm missiles and loaded one up. Narwhale sent it speeding down the cavern to bring the gift of fire to the eight-leggers.

Professor Arlothe emerged from the tunnel, leading a large group of students along with Professor Cremona. "Advance! Show the poison-huffers how a mage electrocutes a bug!"

Cremona was having none of that. "Charge them; use Velom's Venomous Vinegar Cloud; it has the best effect on spiders. Don't let the spark-heads score all the points."

Milo saw a giant noble spider clinging to the wall of the caverns and shouting orders, encouragement, and threats at the spiders attacking Larry. That one needed to go away.

H'Spat sensed death coming for her and dodged, pulling back her head barely in time to avoid a razor-tipped bone missile that impacted one of her guards, killing it. She had only kept two guards next to her, sending the rest to battle. She regretted that now as the second guard was forced to leap and intercept the second missle with its own body. A Rat-Assassin was racing at her and preparing more spells. None of her soldiers were nearby. Her options were to run and take cover or face the creature in battle.

Then she saw the spikey-stick in its paw, and she laughed. This wasn't an assassin; it was a mage! A spikey stick was a poor rat's weapon used only by the cannon fodder of the rat-kin armies. The mage had used his best spell multiple times and was low on mana. This battle would be hers, and her army would revel in her victory! H'Spat ran at the mage before it could scamper away. To think it had almost outwitted her by its suicidal charge.

Milo saw his first two spells take out the Spider General's guards. That made things more straightforward, but he had hoped to end the fight by killing the general. Casting Harpoon of the Winds like that drained down his mana. The noble was scuttling towards him. He knew it would leap at him, hoping to pin him and bring its sting into play. He moved directly toward it, then sprung to the side, rolled, and regained his feet. The noble had leaped at where he had been and hissed at him as it missed. He ran past its back as it tried to turn, raking his left claw along a hind leg.

The spider was turning in a circle to follow him. Milo brought down one foot hard as Gilad had taught him and spun, using his foot as the pivot point. His tail gained momentum in the long swing, and the blow took advantage of the spider moving towards him. His tail slashed across its face, tearing out two of its eyes. Stunned by the pain, it failed to see the rune-charged skull that rolled underneath it.

Milo leaped in the air, putting the spider's body between himself and his spell. Shrapnel punctured the spider's underside, doing minor damage, but disorienting it. It desperately cast a spell, creating a cloud of poisonous smoke that would let it scuttle away and find help. But Milo was already on top of it. The last thing H'spat saw was Shadowblight heading for her eyes, the weapon glowing in the cloud of poison and emitting a sound similar to the hissing a spider made when taunting a downed opponent.

The noble lost three more eyes as the spikes punctured them and the rest when the weapon detonated inside her skull. She wasn't dead yet, but Milo kept swinging until nothing was left of her head.

ShadowBlight accepts your offer of Noble Spider Souls. You aren't forgiven for breaking it, but this is a good start.

Three times daily, Shadowblight will poison your enemies with a Strong Poison, doing 100 points of damage for ten rounds.

Milo saw the notification. The tips of his weapon had a green tinge to them, and an additional spike that resembled a noble spider's sting had been added. It seemed...content? He put the thought aside and ran to the shrinking battle.

The spiders were in full retreat mode. Their general was dead, a Cheese Fiend was killing anything that got near him, and the rat army was advancing, throwing spell after spell. Only a fraction of them got away, and only because the mage's staves ran out of mana.

Milo ran to Larry. His friend was in a frenzy, stomping dead spiders and looking for live ones. He bled from many wounds, even his fiendish regeneration unable to keep up. Huge welts showed where he had been bitten, and in three places, he had been stung by nobles; their venom was still at work trying to kill him. The puffyfurs and fairies were clustered at Justin's body, exhausted and wounded and scared. Their friend Larry was distraught, and they didn't know how to help him. This was a scary side of him, and they didn't know how far that side had taken over. Milo tried to get his attention.

"Larry! Stop! It's Over"

Larry spun, his eyes seeing a spider and not his friend. He brought down his arms in a double-handed claw strike. Rather than block, Milo hopped to the side. Larry hopped after him, spun, and slashed with his tail. Milo hopped back, avoiding the tail strike that might have broken his neck, then forward. He turned twice and put his hands on his head. Larry tried to kick him and put his hands on his head. Milo hopped over Larry's tail and then took two steps back. Larry hopped in the air, then hopped forward two steps, getting closer to Tallsqueak. Redfawn flew up, and bells on her wings tinkled in tune with the hopping.

Amid thousands of dead spiders, Milo and Larry danced the Happy Hamster Hop until Larry collapsed crying on the ground. "Larry is not a hero! Larry couldn't save Justin! Spiders got Justin. Larry's brother is dead!" Milo suddenly realized who was under all the webbing. The fairies were still casting healing spells but looked grim. He ran to Justin and took his pulse. It was weak, but he could feel a soft flutter.

Milo had two of the large healing potions from the caverns left. He pulled them from his ring and poured them down Justin's throat. The guard's pulse became stronger, but Milo knew this was a losing strategy. The poison would slowly bring his health down again unless they got Justin more help. And soon. "Larry! Justin is alive, but he's too big for me to lift. I need a Hero to take him to the Old Healer."

Larry looked up and ran to Justin, picking him up. "Hurry, Tallsqueak! We need to save Justin!" He raced off toward the Hollow. Milo followed him, barely able to keep up with his badly wounded friend. Milo raced after him.

Chapter 168: Healing and Puffcakes

Milo was sure Larry wouldn't stop at this door this time. But Larry skidded to a stop with both heels and knocked loudly. "Larry is coming in the door now; Justin needs help." Perhaps the insistence in his voice convinced them, or they didn't want to make a new door, but someone inside opened the door, and Larry stumbled into the burrow of Old Healers clan, ducking his head as he carried Justin.

A large woman met him in the hallway. She was young but had a no-nonsense look about her. She was also tall and well-muscled. This was no dainty Puffyfur or svelte and agile shadowskulker. This was Gendifur, and she was respected as much for her kind smile and gentle healing hands as she was feared for her stout muscles and hard-hitting fists. Only one person had ever played 'surprise' with Gendifur. She had broken Jory's legs and nose and then happily nursed him back to health.

She smiled at Larry. "Good job, you got him here in time. This way." Larry complied immediately, and Milo followed behind. An infirmary had been set up in what had once been a dining room. After Old Healer had bestowed his last ring to her, she had set up the infirmary and moved Bleusnout and Smiley to it. Old Healer had argued, but she had ignored him and done as she pleased, taking over their care and telling him to spend his time finishing the elixir. After she left, the old man relaxed and poured himself a glass of wine. Not being in charge felt wonderful.

She looked at Milo. "You. Use those sharp claws to cut this web off of him, it contains some poison, and we need him free of it, and his fur washed. Someone get me a bucket of water and suds and get started." Milo complied, carefully pulling off the webbing and cutting where he had to. Luckily a lot of it was stuck to Justin's armor. After everything was off of Justin, Gendifur began working on each bite and sting. The stings were the worst. The wounds were weeping pus and black ooze, the skin around them already damaged. Milo remembered having one such wound and nearly dying.

Gendifur had a bowl of mashed roots and mushrooms and was spooning the mixture onto Justin's wounds and binding them. She was instructing other healers as she went, and Milo listened in. "This mixture will draw out and absorb the poisons. The poultices need to be changed every two hours and every thirty minutes for the stings. Those wounds need this mixture; it's mostly mashed Golden Puffball with 1 in 10 parts garlic if you need to make more. It's very effective, but we don't have much of it."

Milo looked over at Larry; he was sitting in a corner, shaking. "I'll treat Larry." Gendifur looked at Larry, "Thank you, that would be best." He went over to Larry, told him what he was doing, and started wrapping his wounds. Larry had so much poison in him that Milo had to change the bandages immediately. The poultice drew out the poison and turned black within only a few minutes.

Larry opened one eye, the other was swollen shut. "Larry hurts, Tallsqueak."

"We'll keep changing your bandages, Larry. You'll get better." Milo wasn't entirely sure that was true. He could tell that Larry's body was fighting the poison, but he was shaking and had a fever.

Larry reached over to the bowl of mashed Golden Puffballs, picked it up, and licked it clean. Gendifur sent over another bowl for Tallsqueak to use. "Larry, that isn't for eating; it's to make you well."

Larry rolled his eyes. "Larry thinks that if Puffballs can make medicine for the outside, they can make medicine inside of Larry. We should have some Puffcakes for dinner, Tallsqueak."

Milo sat very still. Puffcakes. Yellow jellybeans. Special yellow mushrooms make a yellow elixir and cure poison. He knew what Bleusnout had been trying to tell him. Puffcakes!

Petey came into the room, looking worried. "I brought all we have left after we set up several batches of the elixer." He gave a bag of glowing yellow jellybeans to Gendifur and a handful to Larry. Larry ate all of them immediately, chewing loudly.

"I need the twins. Have you seen them?" Petey pointed to the kitchen. "In there, getting food." Milo ran to the kitchen. The twins got up as soon as they saw him. They'd been sneaking up on a chocolate cake. They each grabbed half the cake and ran when they saw Milo come through the door.

"Have to go!"

"Scoutmaster needs us!"

"Special scout stuff and..."

"...we need our energy!"

"Hungry scouts bad..."

"...good scouts are full of cake!"

Behind them, their aunt took down a large bowl and began making another cake. "Thank god. I thought those two would never take that cake and leave. How hard is it to sneak up on a cake?"

Milo stole a handful of cake from each of them. "We need to go gathering. Follow me." Old healer barely looked at them as they entered his office and vaulted from his desk to the not-so-secret door. Harry waved to Milo as he ran through the office and returned to studying the strange book with the elixir recipe. Milo gave the twins a gathering bag to get the puffballs in the cavern and then raced to the cave where he had killed the brute. He ignored all of the shrooms there except for the puffballs.

They were back at Old Healers' office within an hour, and Milo explained his theory.

"Bleusnout didn't have much time. He knew Rifkin had poisoned him. He grabbed the one ingredient that he knew could cure him."

Harry cleared his throat. "I have found something that ties into your theory. The origin of the Golden Puffballs and why they are so hard to grow. They must be grown in a cave where they can share mycelium with a poisonous species, Red Spotted Eye-Rot. Very bad, that one. The curious thing is, until now, they have only been found in caves with a ring of mushrooms that the Fae planted as a gateway to their lands. Is there such a thing in this hollow?"

Milo looked at Old Healer. "Where did the Hollow get the Jelly Bean bushes?" The old rat shrugged. "Unknown. You'd have to ask the person you got that ring from and his great-grandfather. But it seems obvious that there is some link between Limburger Hollow and a Fae Realm. And that may be our salvation. This elixir cured you and hopefully will cure others."

Milo got up. "Well, the current link to the Fae is sitting in the corner of the infirmary. I need to ask Larry about some of his Flowertown stories, and then I need to cook breakfast. I think the Hollow needs a double helping of Puffcakes."

Old Healer looked at the slowly fermenting Lesser Elixir Vitae. "That is an excellent idea. Anything that can help people recover from the spider cheese or keep them alive for another day is worth trying. And I'm hungry. Be sure to bring a few stacks for myself and Dr. Earthtongue."

Harry looked over at Milo. "Many stacks. I had puffcakes once in my youth and look forward to trying them again."

As fast as the spider army had come, it retreated. Left behind were hundreds of spider corpses and dozens of wounded ratkin. A few would not recover from the poisoned wounds. Several were already dead from the stings of nobles. Arlothe and Cremona coordinated helping the wounded into the Hollow, where they could get healing.

Clan Puffy Fur and the fairies were still in the center of the cavern, clustered around a glowing fissure in reality. Redfawn cautioned the young mages to keep their distance. "A Larry door is different from a door opened by a tunnelmuggle. This one may stay open for a long time! And going through it could be very rough. We'll need to use the door in Larry's house to go home."

The thorn bushes around the door were fading. But a double-thick ring of other bushes were growing, planted by the fairies to help stabilize the door. Already, small green jellybeans were growing on them. Redfawn had planted two Sassafras trees, one on either side of Larry's Door. They'd grow tall in a week, forming an arch with their branches and giving boundaries for the door. The Hero of Flower Town woundn't have any problems fitting through this door.

Chapter 169: "Magic Cheese"

Vary raced up the tunnels between Limburger Hollow and Shadowport. Sledgemonkey needed a scouting report. If there were more humans on the way, they needed to know. The route was easy to follow, and his goggles augmented his usually good vision, making the tunnel appear brightly lit.

Halfway up, he saw the camp of the human raiders. Only a few of them were there, drinking, complaining about lost and broken gear, and arguing about what to do next. Many players had abandoned the raid, and the rest seemed divided on what to do next. Vary crept close and listened to their plans. This group seemed experienced in 'Losing all of our gear' and already had plans to re-equip each person and head back down to the ratkin area to either finish off the caravan or get back the gear trapped in their graves.

Vary headed back down the tunnels and raced into the Hollow. He put on a burst of speed as he ran across the outer cave. The collision with something shocked him; nothing had been in his way! He and someone else went tumbling across the rocky floor. Vary was severely bruised; his mechanical armor took a beating and protected him. Not so the poor ratkin he had run over. Vary had heard the snapping of bones as they collided and now heard their pitiful cries of the person.

Vary stood up, feeling empty and guilty. He should have been paying more attention to where he was running! He was only an apprentice engineer; what if they kicked him out? Sledgemonkey and Brutus were running over. To Vary's surprise, the older Engineer slapped him on the back hard. "Nice work. Tallsqueak's been looking for this one for the last couple of hours." The guard nodded and smiled as he tied up the injured ratkin, ignoring his protests and cries of pain. "That's right. It was driving me crazy. I kept hearing his breathing when he got close, but I couldn't find him. Now that is some darn fine skulking, yessir! But you ran up and found him easy. Tall-Squeak will be happy we finally found him."

"You can't do this to me! I'm the Cheese Master! Do as I say! This is all the dwarves' fault. That one struck me from behind. I demand you let me go and allow our friends from the caravan into the Hollow!" Rifkin was yelling at Brutus, but his words weren't affecting the glassy-eyed guard.

Brutus finished tying Rifkin up and propped him against the wall in a sitting position. "Funny, Master Tall-Squeak warned me you'd say exactly that. But you aren't a Master. Masters have rings. So you sit there quietly until he gets back." Rifkin ignored the part about being quiet and kept up a constant stream of complaints until Brutus gagged him.

"Told you to be quiet! A good guard needs to catch the sneaky guys, and I can't do that with you rambling on and on about nothing." Brutus went back to listening carefully and guarding the tunnel. Rifkin sat and fumed to himself. Baracuda and the spider were quietly drinking buckets of beer and telling exaggerated stories about their adventures.

The mess hall was a chaotic mess. There was a long line of hungry ratkin that went out the large doors and looped around the outside wall. More of them sat at the tables, or on the floor, grumbling. No one was cooking or making food. Rifkin's crew of players had abandoned the job.

First was the problem with the cheese. The bags containing small chunks of spider cheese had gone missing. They argued over and over about whose job it had been to watch them, how many bags were there, and whether or not they'd just run out and not noticed how much they were using. They were confused by eating some of the cheese and had trouble deciding. MickyD tried to get into the cheese hoard downstairs, but the doors were locked.

MightyMarmot tried his hand at making regular pancakes. After making a dozen burned and lumpy pancakes, he gave up. They argued more but agreed on one thing: They'd joined Rifkin for big rewards and a chance to fight in his 'Glorious Revolution.' They'd gotten neither.

They'd had much more fun learning to fight and adventuring in the mines. They ate some of the horrible pancakes, ignored the line of hungry ratkin, and went back to the arena. The place was packed with both experienced and beginning tail-fighters. Gilad was happy to see them. "Ah, more of my students come to learn the ancient secrets of fighting. I appoint each of you as 'Leader of two claws. You will be given ten students each to work with. We will drill the basics, then move to small unit tactics and a few ten-on-ten battles. Begin!"

Blackwhisker was happy for the recognition. "Finally, someone rewards us for our hard work. Let's each grab a gang and get to work."

Milo and his best scouts arrived at the mess hall to find it in chaos. Hundreds of hungry people were waiting, and no one was serving food. "We need to start feeding people, or we'll never be able to cook up the puffcakes we need. What other ways can we make pancakes?" Milo was hazy about how food was made if it didn't come from a food processor.

The twins looked at each other and licked their lips.

"Cheezey Pancakes."

"Just like mama makes."

They found a large cookbook and opened it to a well-used spot in the large book.

"Mushroom flour, sugar..."

"Yeasty water to make them fluffy."

"Butter and oil mixed for good frying."

"Something...something...um...something?"

"One of those somethings is buttermilk."

"Well, of course...just giving you a chance."

"Another is rock hen eggs."

"Of course! And only the green part in the center."

"Save the gooey part for whipping with sugar for topping."

"And cheese."

"Much cheese!"

"Cottage Cheese, fruit, and nuts."

"Or ricotta with blueberries."

"oooh! How about Gruyere and bacon...tasty!"

Milo sighed and looked at the book. "What cheese do we have a lot of downstairs?"

"Cottage Cheese is plentiful."

"Many casks of it. The cottages were bountiful this spring."

They settled on walnuts and raisins in the Cheesy Cakes with a sprinkle of parmesan. As people were fed, Milo looked for more helpers in the kitchen. Most people walked off to their jobs, but some of the inhabitants of the Hollow seemed lost. When Milo asked them for help, they appeared almost thankful and got to work mixing batter, washing plates, or grinding nuts with a passion. Some asked if 'special cheese' was available, sure they were supposed to eat some. The twins smiled and pointed to the Chessey Cakes, which seemed to satisfy people.

Once the kitchen had enough help, Milo started mixing up Puffcakes. Inside a cabinet, he found gathering bags used for food stuffs and filled four bags with the tasty golden pancakes. Putting some in his ring, he grabbed two others and a bucket of jam and headed to the infirmary.

Things were worse when he got there. Many injured Ratkin had been brought in from the fight in the gathering fields. Some only had minor bites, while others were covered in dozens of small spiderling bites. A handful had died from the potent stings of the Noble spiders. Milo took his food into the kitchen, and the cooks there began distributing puffcakes to anyone wounded by a spider bite or sting. With a huge plate of food drenched in syrup and a bag full of puffcakes in his ring, Milo went to give Larry his breakfast.

Larry looked horrible. He was slumped against the wall, unmoving. His wounds were weeping a black fluid, and the bandages and poultices needed changing. Milo got him to eat a little, pushing the puffcakes into Larry's mouth. Gendifur came running up with a large bucket of dressings and bandages. "Good, you made it back. Larry is being difficult. He only wants you to help him and says other people need me more. I don't like the look of those wounds. Clean and feed him; if that doesn't perk him up, I will start him on more potent medicine.

"Larry. I need you to be a Hero and eat. You need food to fight the poison." Milo helped him sit up and fed him a plate of puffcakes. After that, Larry had more strength and fed himself. He was famished and ate all the contents of the gathering bag in half an hour. Milo began stripping off the decayed and blackened bandages, then cleaning out the remains of the mashed fungus absorbing the poison and finally rebandaging Larry's wounds. The pile of bandages smelled horrible. Milo noticed no one was getting close to Larry, and those who did coughed and covered their mouths, trying not to breathe.

He signaled for Gendifur. She seemed unaffected by the fumes from the pile. "Let me take those. You must have a high resistance to poison. My nose is burning, and no one else can get close to Larry. Let's get him cleaned up." Soap and towels were brought, and Milo cleaned Larry's fur, dumping the bucket repeatedly. Milo remembered how he'd felt when he woke up. Larry was going through the same process, his body sweating out the poison. But Milo had been stung only once and drank many doses of the Lesser Elixer Vitae. Larry only had his fiendish resistance and fiendish regeneration to help him.

Milo thought back to Bleusnout's lessons on cheese. Soldiers and other ratkin doing heavy labor could consume cheese safely, their bodies using it to fuel their healing and exertions. He went to talk to the new Master Healer. "Can Larry have cheese? He's burning up with a fever, and his regeneration can't keep up with the poison. He's willingly skipped cheese now for over two weeks."

The healer considered. "Be careful. We're in unknown territory here. If he reacts badly, you'll need to use cheese to lure him out of this room. But I think the chance is small. Do you need cheese?"

"No, I have some, and we'll be careful." Moving back to Larry, he explained things to him. "Heroes use a lot of energy when they have big fights. They need cheese to help them get better. Gendifur says it's ok for you to have some cheese."

Larry's eyes got big. "YES! Cheese for Larry!" Everyone looked over. Larry waved to them and sat looking at Tall-Squeak. Milo had gotten two messages in the past weeks, but had declined to take delivery, saving them. Both had said the same thing, asking if he wished to be given his latest shipment. He clicked the box next to last month's delivery, and a small basket appeared between him and Larry.

Best wishes to you, and we hope you enjoy this month's offerings from the

Imperial Cheese of the Month Club.

Every month we'll bring you a small basket of the finest fromage the emperor has to offer straight from his personal cheese vault in the caverns beneath the palace.

This month we are sending you the following:

Six chunks of a 20-year-old Cave Cheese made by the trolls of the Iron Mountains. It's pretty tough to chew but has an exquisite flavor and goes a long way.

Eight ounces of Emmental, aged for five years.

And a wheel of 4-week-old Jack Cheese, made by Jack himself. It's a little smokey, but we think you'll love it.

As always, we include just enough tasty crackers, a tube of 'I can't believe it's not Cheese-Whiz,' a small but very sharp cheese knife, and a lovely oak and steel cheese slicer for precise cuts. ENJOY!

"MAGIC CHEESE!"

Everyone turned to watch Larry clapping his hands with delight as the cheese appeared. Tall-Squeak gave Larry a piece of the Emmental on a cracker, which he chewed slowly and with much delight. This was followed by a piece of Jack Cheese and then a chunk of the hard Cave Cheese. Larry gnawed on it, even his teeth having difficulty chewing it.

Milo put the rest of the cheese aside for later. Larry seemed relaxed, but he didn't want to push things too hard. Gendifur came over and checked on Larry. "He's doing fine. His pulse is steady, with no excitement. If anything, I think he's calmer now that his body has the fuel to fight off the poison. I make sure to see that everyone gets a good dose of cheddar tonight to jumpstart their regeneration." Larry was slowly nodding off to sleep with a small smile.

She looked at Milo. "And that includes you. You need cheese as much as Larry." She looked at him suspiciously. "You don't seem affected at all by that poison you're wiping off of Larry. Why? Even I'm feeling it, just being near him."

Milo tried to explain quickly. "I was wounded by poison and drank a lot of the Elixer I found. Too much, according to Old Healer. He said I might have died if I hadn't been poisoned so badly." Gendifur felt his fur. "The poison must have nearly killed you and eaten away your flesh and bones. The Elixer saved you and has suffused your body. I wonder..."

She was looking at Milo strangely. He was nervous. "Wonder what?"

"Hmm, this is Healer Talk, but there is a part of your bones that make blood, I know that sounds strange, but some spells have confirmed it."

Milo nodded. "I know about that. Bone Marrow produces the stem cells that create red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. I have solid bones from my magic. Does that gives me stronger marrow and blood production? I wonder if there's a way to test that?"

Gendifur was wondering where Tallsqueak had studied healing, and what else he knew. But she was delighted to answer his question and smiled at him. "Why, of course, there is. I'll get my needles. Thanks for volunteering."

Chapter 170: Blood work

Things were strange in the Hollow.

The spider cheese that nearly everyone had eaten narrowed their world to their responsibilities and work. Gathering mushrooms and picking vegetables resumed immediately. The Hollow needed the food, and for many of its inhabitants, it was all they could think of to do. But they were cautious of spiders. The groups of ratkin stayed together, and fairies and students from the Tower of Strife patrolled the far end of the caverns. If spiders appeared, everyone was ready to retreat quickly to the safety of the Hollow.

Professors Arlothe and Cremona made sure that nothing could invade through the small tunnel leading to the Hollow. The entire cave could now be electrified in a robust static field that would fry spiderlings and slowly kill the warriors and nobles. Traps were set that would spew poisons tailored to have maximum effects on arachnids, and as a last-ditch precaution, the entire tunnel would blow up. This was Boom-Booms contribution. "No tunnel? No problem!"

Unknowingly, the dwarves had caused a crisis of faith in some of the students. They had always assumed the superiority of magic over muscle. Seeing Narwhale's cannon spewing death and fire forced them to include explosives in the conversation. There was a lot of destructive evidence to say that dwarven artillery might give fireballs a run for their money. An impromptu demonstration by 'Professor Boom!' of what a quarter stick of cataclysmite could do had impressed many students.

After setting up the explosive traps in the tunnel, Narwhale and her new husband explored until they found the mines. Work was still being done to seal off the unused tunnels the spiders had invaded through. The dwarves were happy to help, and several explosions later, the only entrance to the cathedral was through the Hollow.

After setting up his explosives, Boom-Boom explored the area of mines that branched off the larger cave the ratkin called the cathedral. He found the large veins of Deep Copper and other metals that the Hollow considered worthless. Narwhale watched him move from one area to the next, feeling the walls, sniffing the piles of ore, and collecting samples. "Good stuff?"

Boom-Boom nodded slowly. "Damned good stuff. And lots of it. Rebuilding the Queen will take a thousand tons of Deep Copper. We might find it all right here! It will take a lot of work just to get started. And there are small veins of other metals as well. The Hollow doesn't have a way to smelt and use the better ores, so they've mined around them for years. There's a huge amount of mineral wealth here. A lot of work to do, setting up some ore processors and a power source, not to mention laying tracks through the mines. But first, we need to get a brewery going. Can't mine without beer!"

Narwhale patted her cannon. "And we can't put in a brewery until things settle down. Lot's of odd stuff going on. Speaking of which, let's wander back and check up on Baracuda. She's probably drunker than a goblin at a funeral with an open bar, and she can't shoot straight when she's sober, let alone after a bucket of beer."

Gendifur returned to the infirmary with a large sewing basket filled with thread, knives, scissors, ointments, and needles of all sizes. She also had a toolbox filled with more odds and ends, including some very sharp saws and large barber's razors. Several ratkin nearby retreated but watched with curiosity.

Milo was slightly nervous but also intrigued. "You use all that as a healer?"

Gendifur nodded at him absently as she selected a razor. "You never know what you'll need, so I like to be prepared. Magic or runes will only get you so far. Sometimes it takes a steady hand to stitch someone back together. Which arm do you use for fighting more?"

"Uh, why would you want to know that?"

She rolled her eyes. "Because we're going to open you up a little, and if you're delicate like Brutus, you'll be sore for an hour or two. Best not to do that to your main arm."

Sighing, Milo held out his left arm. Gendifur carefully shaved some of his fur off a small patch, then took a large bone needle from her basket and put a bulb on the other end. "This won't hurt a bit." She told the truth. It hurt a lot! But with one of her large hands holding down his forearm, the needle went in deep and sharp. She drew a bit of blood from him and put a bandage on the puncture. Putting a few drops of his blood in a glass jar, she added a drop of thick, black liquid from another. There was a visible reaction as the two mixed. The blood first darkened, then glowed and sparkled, and finally returned to normal.

"Tell me again how much elixir you drank. Point to a jar of equal size." Milo did. "I think it was six doses, according to the notes in the book."

Gendifur studied the blood, shaking it a little. "That was spider venom from a noble. I took it out a gland brought to me this morning. Your blood neutralized it completely." She looked over at Larry and then got a fresh needle. "I need some more. Larry is weakening, and I don't think just cheese will save him. I've got too many patients and not enough time or medicine to save them all."

The healer took two ounces of blood from Milo, then went to the sleeping Larry. She unbandaged his worst injury. The sting was a black and rotting wound, and the skin around it was turning purple. Gendifur cleaned the wound again and then cast a healing spell. Milo observed carefully.

The spell healed some of the bruised skin around the wound but nothing more. The next test was to use a minor healing potion applied directly to the injury. She handed it to Milo, "Pour this on the wound while I watch with eyes and magic. I don't expect much. The potion duplicates the effects of simple healing spells. But we try what we know first, then experiment if that doesn't work." The potion seemed to be absorbed by the wound, but other than a little of the swelling going down, nothing happened."

The healer frowned. "It's healing what it can, same as the spell. But it can't touch the venom." She poured an ounce of Milo's blood onto the wound. Immediately, the blood started bubbling and drawing out the poison. The wound was sparkling and glowing as the poison fought against the magic of the elixer in Milo's blood. Foul steam rose from the injury. After a minute, the sting was much smaller, the swelling was gone, and Milo could see healthy tissue starting to grow back a little as Larry's regeneration got to work. This time when Gendifur cast a healing spell, the wound closed and was nearly gone.

The healer looked at Milo. "I'd call that a success. What do you think?"

Milo touched the flesh where the sting had been. "That was amazing."

Gendifur stood up and grabbed Milo by the arm. "Let's get to work. I need to drain some of your blood, then get some spells on you to get you started making more. Eat the rest of that cheese, sit back and relax while I do all the hard work." Milo noticed she wasn't asking a question. But if it helped Larry, it was worth it. Plus...cheese! He'd been trying not to eat it, and now he was told to stuff himself on a half basket of it on doctor's orders.

Gendifur put another needle into his arm, but this time it was hooked to a thin tube that ran to a glass jar. "This will feel odd. I will use a small blood rune to pull the blood out of you. It should tingle." She cast a spell, and Milo saw the rune appear briefly on the hollow bone needle in his arm. Blood began to fill the jar.

"What rune is that? It looks like the fluid-control runes the Engineers use."

The healer watched the jar carefully and snapped her fingers at some point, causing the rune to disappear. She pulled out the needle and bandaged him before answering. "Just a minor blood rune to move your blood from your vein to the tube. If I was to use an engineering rune it might drain you dry in a second. This is easier and quicker than setting up a pump."

"Now, drink this. You need fluids." She handed him a large glass of fruit juice. Milo drank as he watched her work on Larry's wounds. He picked up and examined one of her large, hollow needles. It was made of very hard bone and sharpened to a wicked looking tip. Concentrating, he saw that someone had reinforced the bone with runes. He recognized the rune for Hard Bones. "Who made these?"

"Different people over the last several decade. Each healer passes down their tools to the next. Good tools are hard to find. Brutus told me you have some bone magic? When this is over, I want you to help me make needles for all the junior healers. Lots of contribution points and I'm sure you can understand why making all the healers happy can pay off." Milo nodded, that made sense to him. Healers needed tools the way Engineers need tools. He liked making things better and more efficient. And he wanted a good look at every piece of bone in the Hollow.

Gendifur used a small amount of his blood on each of Larry's stings and then, with much difficulty, put a needle into Larry's arm. "I swear, this is worse than treating Brutus. Larry is tougher than either Brutus or Justin now. The price he paid was too high, though." Milo saw the last of his blood drain into Larry's arm, again with the use of a blood rune.

"And now we wait. Both to see if Larry gets better and for you to make more blood. You should be fine to give a little more in about six hours. Get some rest until then."

Before Milo could relax, a healer at the other end of the room screamed for Gendifur. "I need help, Genny; I'm out of mana, and his pulse is dropping." Milo could see that they were talking about Bleusnout. Gendifur cast several spells, using up most of her mana. She turned to Milo, a question in her eyes. "We're losing him."

Milo only hesitated a moment. "I have powerful bones and a belly full of cheese, and I walk back from death quickly. Take what you need for Bleusnout and Smiley, and don't worry about me."

Chapter 171: This will hurt a lot!

There were worse things than death, Milo thought to himself. He looked back fondly at the Snake when it had squeezed him to death or bitten his head off. Afterward, he took a break in the real world, got jobs done, woke up at his camp, and started plotting revenge.

Being the test subject for experimental medicine was less fun. Despite telling her he wasn't worried about dying, Gendifur scoffed at the idea. "I don't care if you're a player, a lawyer, or a wizard and can laugh at death and walk out quickly; you don't get to die on me. That would mean I let you die, a mockery of my healer's oath. And it would be wasteful. I can heal more people by keeping you on the edge of death and draining blood out of you every hour."

She said this as she smiled and jabbed him again with a needle. "Now eat that cheddar, drink your berry juice, and try to relax. Do you need a warm blanket? Yell for me if you need more cheese or think you're dying. I need to give Bleusnout and Smiley another dose. They have responded well to the treatment and might even live until tomorrow."

Leaving Milo to experience more of the joy of hypovolemic shock, she walked off to try and keep her three worst-off patients alive.

Justin's wounds had been treated the same way as Larry's. The big guard was sleeping soundly now. Larry had walked over to where Justin lay on a cot, patted his head, and then moved the cot close to Tallsqueak so he could sit next to both of them at once. Larry's recovery had been nothing less than miraculous. Cheese and Fiendish Regeneration had overtaken the venom in his system, aided by his high resistance to poisons, toxins, and venom that his Fiendish Resistance granted him. "Larry thinks Tallsqueak needs more cookies. Auntie Irma gave Larry a whole bag. We can share." Milo wasn't hungry at first, but under his friend's urging managed to eat a few cookies and drink more of his fruit juice. He was also rapidly recovering, but somehow Gendifur always knew when he could donate more blood and came for him like some smiling vampire. The consolation was he saw how many people she could cure with each jar of his Elixir enhanced blood. The infirmary was almost empty; only a half dozen of the worst patients were left, including Bleusnout, Smiley, and a badly injured Helen Brownfur.

This was the fourth time that Milo had donated blood. Gendifur checked him constantly after the first time and used a spell Milo had never heard of before to track how much blood flowed through him. "These have been passed down through our clan for ages. Mistress Milzners Very Excellent Rune of Diagnostics, Bejack's Rune of Flowing Blood, Nessy's Restoration. And, of course, Count Echse's Ray of Fracture Finding. Not everything magic gets taught over in the Tower of Strife."

She had also brought over two of her student healers to help her with some testing. Milo regretted being curious about his bone marrow. Gendifur produced a hand-cranked drill with a very narrow drill bit of hardened bone. She strapped down his left arm and made a small incision, then a deeper one, until she looked at his upper arm's bare bone. "You weren't kidding about thick bones. Your humerus is 50% thicker than normal. Let's see how tough it is. This will hurt some."

Milo translated the last statement: "This will hurt a lot!"

Gendifur tried several times to drill into the bone, then gave up. "This is ridiculous! What are your bones made of?"

"Old bone, reinforced with ancient runes and a lot of magic. But let me see what I can do." He'd never tried manipulating his bones this way, but in theory, it should be the same as working on any other bone. After a minute, he felt he'd made a small opening in his bone just under the tip of Gendifur's needle. "Try now."

The drill penetrated easily, and Gendifur retrieved a small sample of his marrow.

She examined it with several spells, becoming more and more puzzled. "There is more magic in this than in your blood! Good to know. We can take more blood." She extracted a little more, then used a spell to close the wound. "Larry, keep feeding him cheese and cookies. It would be best if you ate as much as Tallsqueak does. And if Justin wakes up, get some cheese into him." She walked away to care for Smiley and Bleusnout.

Gendifur was getting desperate. Justin was out of trouble, but there was something very wrong with Bleusnout and Smiley. Justin and Larry had taken many wounds, but healing had started within minutes of the fight ending. Whatever had been used to poison the two cheese makers had been given days to sicken them before they got any help. She knew that each had been given large doses of Milbenkase, the spider cheese. There was also Black Mold in their lungs, blood, and at least one other type of poison. Giving them each a hefty dose of Tallsqueak's blood had helped keep them alive.

She had examined his blood with her spells and found curious things. As expected, his blood was rich in the little red food bringers, and he had a large number of white protectors. She hadn't expected the glowing yellow sparkles that danced around the protectors. She suspected something had changed in the marrow of his suspiciously large and complex bones, but didn't have time to experiment. She was going to take a chance to save her two dying patients.

As she had with Tallsqueak, she made an incision in Smiley to expose his bone, then drilled into it so she could extract a sample of his marrow.

It was terrible, she could tell immediately. Something was attacking his bones. They were soft, and his marrow wasn't producing new food bringers or protectors. According to some of her older relatives, what she did next was probably against the healer's oath. It was nice to be Master Healer and not have to ask permission to do something. She injected the samples of marrow she'd taken from Tallsqueak into four of Smiley's bones. Then she gave him an entire pint of Tallsqueaks blood. Sometimes you used a needle as a healer, and sometimes you needed a hammer. Gendifur needed a hammer, or these two would be dead soon.

Bleusnout was worse! The sample she took from him showed Black Mold was growing inside his bones! She looked over to where Tallsqueak was talking with Larry. A strong soul could walk back from death, but she'd never seen it. Was he really that confident that he could return? She debated the question's ethics while checking Smiley's pulse every two minutes. His heartbeat was getting stronger, and he was breathing easier.

Suddenly his eyes opened, and he stared at her. "Gendifur?..." His voice was barely a whisper. She bent lower. Smiley's lips curled into the signature expression that had given him his nickname. "I always knew when the Angel of Death came for me; it would look like you!" He tried to laugh but grimaced in pain. "Oh, my mistake. I'm alive. If I were dead this wouldn't hurt so much."

Gendifur shook her head and handed him a bowl of soft curds. "Eat that. If you can joke, you can eat some cheese."

Smiley nodded. "And then some cheddar and a nice nap?"

Gendifur smiled, and it wasn't angelic at all. "And then I take some blood samples and tell Old Healer you're awake so he can come to ask some interesting questions. And then maybe some cheddar. But you're lucky. I have someone else to go torture first."

"Tallsqueak? Larry has questions about Blue Boxes. Does Tallsqueak know about Blue Boxes?"

Milo was trying to eat a bowl of curds Gendifur had brought him. His stomach felt queasy after she drilled into more of his bones and extracted bits of his bone marrow. He was also down another pint of blood. The curds were easy to eat, and she'd promised him some slices of grana Padano as a reward after he finished his bowl. He was sure he'd never have survived this ordeal without eating so much cheese.

"The ones only you can see? Yes, I get those too. What do you need help with, Larry?"

Larry was staring into space, trying to concentrate on something. "Larry's eyes have trouble reading, especially his big eye. And the boxes are confusing. Boxes are telling Larry he has to do stuff because Larry killed lots of spiders. And maybe something bad? It says I get a reward for cheating and breaking space-time. Larry doesn't mean to break things! It just happens!"

Milo reached over, took another bite of curds, and set the empty bowl aside. Gendifur was busy with Bluesnout, so he began gnawing on a piece of the hard cave cheese. "I think that's ok, Larry. What did it give you?"

"Blue box gave Larry 20 points for breaking and 30 points for killing many spiders. But boxes are upset because his needs to spend his points. They say Larry has to spend them."

Milo sat up and concentrated. "Tell me what they say, Larry."

"Larry needs to spend 109 points. Then Larry has to pick a new Larry. There are many yucky new Larrys like Rampaging Death Machine and Breaker of Reality. Larry doesn't think he'd like those. "

Milo agreed. "I think those are bad choices, too. What are the good choices for the new Larry?"

Larry spent a lot of time reading off three of the choices that weren't yucky:

Were-Fiend: You have learned to return to your pre-fiend state! Be normal most of the time! In times of great stress or danger, you can let your old self out to play. Rend your enemies in a ferocious berserk rage you barely remember before changing back to your usual self.

Dancing Fiend: Continue your quest to teach mortals the dances of the Fae. Leap, caper, and confuse your foes as you fight with a combination of Fiendish Prowess and Fae Cunning. Gain grace and poise.

Hero of Flowertown: It's Hero Time! You know what needs to be done when someone is in trouble. It's up to you to save the day!

Milo needed a better answer. "What do you want to do, Larry?"

"Larry wants to do all of them. Larry wants to be the old Larry, from before sneakybadguy gave Larry cheese. Larry wants to dance! And Larry is a Hero!"

"Why don't we start with your points, Larry? That might help you decide. Find a blue box that lets you spend your points. I bet the boxes have been showing it to you. Then find the choice that lets you increase your intelligence and your wisdom. Take all the points you can."

A minute later, Larry's eyes got big, and he smiled. "Larry found them. Larry is smarter!"

"And now Larry knows what to do! Larry will be a Hero!"

You have made it to the fourth tier. Welcome to Level 16 and your new class: Hero of Flowertown

You have chosen the path of the Hero.

Heroes don't always have an easy life, but they make things better for everyone else!

Gain Title: Heroic Defender of the Hollow!

All of the Hollow knows what you did to help them. It will take time, but you have shown them what a Hero is truly capable of and gained their acceptance. You may spend points on Heroic Boons.

You have randomly gained one minor Heroic Boon!

Gain Title: Hero of Flowertown

You will always be welcome in Flowertown, as will your friends from the Hollow. Brinka will be happy to make a Larry-sized door whenever you want to visit. You may spend points to gain favors granted by the grateful Fae.

You have randomly gained one minor Fae Boon!

Perk: Fiendish Regeneration becomes Perk: Heroic Regeneration

Perk: Fiendish Resistance becomes Perk: Heroic Resistance

Skill: Chase Prey is replaced by Skill: Catch the Bad Guys!

You have purchased the following:

Fae Trickery: You have gained +3 INT

Ancient Wisdom: You have gained +3 WIS

Finesse and Style: You have gained +3 DEX

Endless Grace: You have gained +3 AGI

See the Unseen: You have gained +3 PER

Perk: Heroic Regeneration is upgraded from Fiendish Regeneration

Perk: Heroic Resistance is upgraded from Fiendish Resistance

Perk: Heroic Strength is upgraded from Fiendish Strength

Gain Skill: Flower Arrangement (INT)

Gain Skill: Nature Appreciation (WIS)

Gain Skill: Proper Manners (CHA)

Gain Skill: Ribbons and Bows! (DEX)

Gain Aspect: Magic of the Fae (CHA)

Gain Minor Fae Boon: Weasel Breeding

Weasels like to dance! More weasels mean more dancing. With enough dancing, your Adorable Baby Weasel Slippers will attract more Weasel Slippers!

Gain Heroic Boon: Larry is coming!

Someone is in trouble, and Larry knows they need help!

Chapter 172: Smiling

Old Healer was very interested in hearing what Smiley had to say and came immediately, the hulking form of Harry following behind. Larry picked up Tallsqueak's cot and put it next to Smiley, then put Justin next to Tallsqueak. Several people noticed how easily Larry did this, carefully walking through the infirmary with a grace he had never had before.

Larry looked different. The changes were initially subtle but became very apparent over the next hour. He was walking upright with ease, and his hands and feet were smaller. His eyes were much closer to each other in size, although one was green and the other blue. His teeth were the most significant change. Larry had always had too little mouth for how many large fangs were fighting for space. They stuck out at odd angles, and he had never been able to close his mouth. That had changed. The largest fangs had fallen out or been pulled out by Larry when they got loose. Gendifur had given him a small bag to put them in. The remaining teeth were working together now. Larry could chew normally and smile. He was very happy about that.

"Larry likes smiling!" Smiley gave him a thumbs up, nearly too tired to smile himself.

The fairies had come into the infirmary in a flutter of wings, already knowing about Larry's official Hero status. They had immediately started brushing his fur clean and making sure he had enough ribbons and flowers attached to him, as appropriate for his status as a Hero.

Old Healer sat next to Smiley. "We need a few answers. How were you poisoned?"

Smiley looked extremely sad. "Well, that would be Charlotte. She stuck a knife in my back and whispered 'surprise,' and I couldn't move. But Rif was the one who told her to do it. We were talking about stuff, and suddenly they both got real serious about this crazy plan of Rif's to take over the Hollow and run things. Rif has always wanted to be Cheese Master; everyone knew that. But he wasn't good at things and screwed up sometimes. He was always trying to skip steps and get things done quickly. He made a mess of things more than once."

The old rat nodded. "And Bleusnout noticed?"

Smiley snorted. "If by 'noticed' you mean 'scream and rant for half a bell,' then yeah, he noticed. We had the nicest little collection of mushroom beds going down in the basement, and then Rifkin didn't pay attention when gathering and some spores from poisonous varieties got mixed up in the beds. We had to clear them and start over. Wow, was Bleusnout pissed! We needed those shrooms for making rennet. It takes a lot of specialized rennet, mushroom powders, and molds to make all the different cheeses for a Hollow. We could only make cottage cheese for a week until we grew some basic shrooms. It wasn't very good. People got sick of eating it. We had to buy cheese from another Hollow. We'll never use all those casks of cottage cheese."

Milo wanted to know more about the plan. "Who else was part of the plan, and what did it involve?"

"Crazy stuff. He said he had 'People who would help.' Other Hollows would send warriors and special cheese, and he would scare everyone with a fake spider attack. Spiders! That was when I freaked out. He sat me down and explained it all. Said I could be Master Gatherer if I wanted. I told him it was a crazy plan. Then he nodded at Charlotte, and she poked me with her knife. I couldn't move at all; I just sat there drooling. After that, I just listened for a while and then fell asleep. He told her I'd make a great alibi. Crazier than fruit bats at cider time, the two of them."

"That's all I know about until I wake up with Gendifur leaning over me."

He looked over at the Chef. "They got Bleusnout too?"

Old Healer sighed. "Yes, but it's unclear exactly what ails him. Did Bleusnout have a cheese problem? Do you? Rifkin said he found Bleusnout passed out with his face in a bowl of cheese. He is not suffering from an overdose of bleu. He has spider mites and Black Mold in his system, as did you."

Smiley was shaking. "He said that? Bastard. The chef's got a reputation for liking bleu cheeses, but that's because of his whiskers. His family has always dyed their whiskers that way. It was an award they earned back in the first rebellion. He's proud of it. The idea that a Cheese Master might be an addict? Damned silly."

Old Healer looked pained. "We were too trusting of Rifkin and too quick to judge Bleusnout. But time enough for regrets later. Did Bleusnout ever mention a cheese caravan?"

Smiley shook his head. "No, other than wishing we were near one of the main trading routes. He said the only way we'd ever get a regular caravan to show up here was if we sent out our own and could welcome it back! But wagons and beasts cost a lot of cheddar. The few times we got caravans to visit, we had to make some costly deals. After a while, it didn't seem worth it."

Old Healer nodded to Milo, then turned to Smiley. "Thank you, Smiley, you have confirmed many things and helped us fill in the holes. I leave you in Gendifur's care. Conserve your strength; we will have stronger medicine for you tomorrow. Others can tell you what is happening."

Smiley relaxed and lay back on his pillow. "Yeah, this puppy is tuckered out. Say, who do you have running the mess hall?"

Ringtail and Tweedle chose that moment to come into the room bearing huge stacks of puffcakes and cheeseycakes on platters.

Smiley stared, then rolled his eyes. Larry sniffed the air. "Cheesy cakes? Larry is very hungry again."

"Hey, save some of that grub for brave guards who have captured dangerous sneaky guys." Brutus walked into the room with Rifkin tied up and gagged over his shoulder. "Your dwarf friend Vary caught him, Tallsqueak, but I tied him up and brought him over after I was off shift." He tossed Rifkin down to the floor near Old Healer, who had a gleam in his eye that boded ill for the assistant cheese master. Smiley wasn't looking happy to see him either.

Chapter 173: A delicate mix of strength, torture, and compassion

Gangrene paced back and forth in the tent, irritable. The three squad leaders and Grackle were wary of saying anything. The general was prone to violence even in a good mood. The human attack had injured him badly, with so many of their mages and archers focusing their fire on him. Potions, cheese, and regeneration were doing what they could to put him back together. The pain of his wounds and the hunger accompanied by rapid healing made him irritable and dangerous. "This has been a disaster from the start. Scouting reports failed miserably at finding out this Hollow's defensive strength. They should have been crushed by the spider raid and be happy for us to march in and kill off the eight leggers. Obviously, that didn't happen. And Rifkin is late getting back to us with better information."

The leader of the first squad ventured a question. "Is it possible they have some treaty with the spiders? The appearance of that large, mechanical monster is suspicious."

Gangrene paused. "Possible, yes. Likely? No. Even my dealings with the spider clans have shown they can't be trusted. The machine the dwarves are feeding beer to is known to me. An outcast the clans wanted dead and duped into leading the first raid. I assume the main spider army is still out there, scouting and waiting to attack. That's the only way the first raid failed so miserably. They sent in their outcasts, and the hammer blow is yet to fall."

Larry looked at Rifkin. "Rifkin is sad and having a bad day. Larry can tell. Maybe if Rifkin weren't a SNEAKYBADGUY! he wouldn't be so sad!"

Something clicked in Milo's brain. According to Larry, there were sneaky guys, bad guys, badsneaky guys, and many other types of villains. But there had been some specific times that Larry had used the term 'sneakybadguy' and said it that way.

"Larry, who gave you too much cheese when you wanted to be strong?"

Larry looked at him with sad eyes and shook his head. Old Healer was looking at Rifkin. "Newly made Cheese Fiends are very malleable and are often forced to bond with the person who gives them the cheese. They can't disobey some orders and may not remember what happened correctly."

Larry was hopping from one foot to the other. "Yes, that is what happened to Larry. Rifkin gave Larry cheese so he could be strong like Justin and be a guard! So much cheese! Larry remembers all the flavors, and he got so strong! But Rifkin was a sneakybadguy and made Larry forget things and not be able to tell everyone that Rifkin gave Larry the cheese. So Larry doesn't."

Rifkin hissed through his gag and glared at Larry. Larry said, "Oops, sorry, Sneakybadguy, Larry remembers some things better, and now he forgets that he must not say that..."

Everyone was very quiet as Larry stood there, thinking hard. He turned to Rifkin. "Larry is a Hero now, and Larry doesn't have to do what RifkinSneakyBadGuy says anymore! Rifkin should remember that the next time he thinks he is being sneaky. Larry will know, and Larry will catch him!"

Rifkin was trying to squirm under Smiley's cot and away from Larry. Smiley turned his head. "You go hide somewhere else. I don't like you anymore, either!" Rifkin looked around the circle of ratkin and saw no sympathy. Old healer started to say something but was interrupted by Gendifur. She had heard what Smiley and Larry had said, and she was a very angry healer.

One not-so-dainty hand grabbed Rifkin by the scruff of his neck, and the other ripped off his gag. "You gave little Larry cheese?! You turned him into a fiend?!"

"I am the Cheese Master! You can't do this to me! I will give cheese to whoever I want! You can prove nothing! Put me down, woman." Brutus rolled his eyes, and several people looked alarmed. No one intervened as Gendifur slammed Rifkin into a wall three times.

"The cracking sound was your fourth and fifth ribs on your right side. You have a lot of ribs left. I need to know what poisons you gave to Smiley and Bleusnout, and I want to know what the spider cheese does and its effects."

Rifkin sputtered. "I will tell you nothing! I have powerful allies, and you will all be working for me."

The wall took a beating as Rifkin slammed into it over and over. Some of the cracking sounds might have been from the wooden wall. A stunned Rifkin shook his head in defiance. Gendifur shouted to her assistants, "I have a tough guy here! Set up a table with good straps and get my special needles and iodine." She began to drag the injured Rifkin over to a table when he started talking.

"NO! Not the iodine! It stings! I gave Smiley and Bluesnout Stenchwart Poison with an infusion of Black Mold, a double dose of Milbenkase cheese, spiderling venom, and an extract of Felticor!"

Harry stood up. "Ah, of course! How clever. The Black Mold would mask some of the effects of the Stenchwart, and the spiderling venom would intensify the effect of the spider cheese." The troll put his face very close to Rifkin. "Maybe you'd like to tell me all about the spider cheese? In detail? And lots of other things? You can trust me; I'm a doctor. It says so on my diploma. Or I can leave you here for this delicate flower of a healer to help your memory with her needles?"

Rifkin looked from the troll to Gendifur. "I would love to tell you everything I know about spider cheese."

Milo got up with difficulty; there were things he needed to know. "Tell me about the caravan."

Rifkin looked from Harry to Gendifur to Tallsqueak. "Why should I tell you? You can't torture me more than these two can."

Tallsqueak smiled a very fake smile. "Because if you tell me, I won't heal your broken bones. If you don't tell me, I'll heal you so Gendifur can break them again. But this time, they will be brittle and shatter into many pieces. Gendifur might have to take out your bones entirely. Have you ever tried to walk with no bones? It's not easy."

Rifkin licked his lips, thinking. Maybe they would all kill each other? That would be nice. "The caravan master is General Gangrene from Wurchwitz Hollow. He is a monster and a horrible person. His guards are all skilled fighters. The potent battle cheese they carry with them makes them the equal of creatures twice their level."

Milo looked at him. He remembered Rifkin and Smiley helping Bleusnout in the kitchen. That seemed like a different person. He really didn't understand people sometimes. "You have a nice talk with Harry and Old Healer." Harry dragged him off for some quality research time, accompanied by the former Deathmaster.

Gendifur got a quick hug from Brutus and another from Larry and then went back to monitoring Bleusnout. Brutus came over near Smiley and Tallsqueak. His eyes were shining. "Wow, now that girl is really something." Smiley and Milo shared a look.

Tallsqueak made a careful comment. "Yes, she's quite strong, I noticed."

Brutus flexed his bicep. "Yep, she's got some good muscle on her. A lot of the older folks complain about how some of the clans got merged, but I think it's a good thing. Justin and I are mostly StoneClaw Clan. A lot of the guards are. We tend to be tall and have a lot of muscle. But Gendifur has ancestors who come from StoneClaw, DeathClaw, and SilentTail. She's strong and smart, and you saw how quick she was to go for her needles. I bet she would have made a great Deathmaster if she hadn't become a healer."

Smiley nodded. "Yes, she is a delicate mix of strength, torture, and compassion."

Brutus looked at her and got misty-eyed. "And she's all mine."

Smiley whispered to Tallsqueak. "Brave Man!"

Larry was sitting near Justin, holding a Cheesy Pancake near his nose. Justin sniffed twice and then opened his mouth slightly. Larry pushed the pancake in. Justin swallowed and opened his mouth. Larry happily fed his big brother Cheesy pancakes until the plate was empty. Then Justin opened his eyes and looked around. Larry hugged him quite tightly. "Justin is awake!"

Justin mumbled something that might have been, "Yes, I am awake. Good job, Larry." Or it might have been, "I can't breathe, and why does your fur smell like lilacs?" Eventually, Larry released his big brother, who sank wearily back into his bed. Gendifur took his pulse and stuck a piece of cheddar into his mouth. "Eat this; you need it. You got bit dozens of times."

Justin chewed on the cheese. "Yeah, I didn't expect to make it out of that one alive. What happened?"

Larry patted Justin on the head. "Big Brother Justin is a hero. Killed lots of spiders. Larry was in Flowertown and heard the fight and came and stomped spiders who hurt Justin! Spiders all smushed. Fairies and Puffyfurs and Tallsqueak all helped."

Tallsqueak added, "All true. Larry killed hundreds of spiders and carried you back. Both you and Larry almost died."

Justin took in Larry's bandaged form, the fluttering fairies, and how different he looked. "It sounds like Larry was the Hero then."

Larry nodded. "Larry and Justin can be heroes together, now."

Larry turned his head suddenly, listening. "Someone is Sad! Larry needs to go be a Hero!" The fairies flew after him.

Milo turned to Brutus. "I need to go talk to Gangrene."

The guard nodded. "Right behind you, Scout Master."

Chapter 174: Someone is Sad

Buttercup was sad, and she wanted to play a game. She and Rosie had been in their carts for days and days and days. They had only had fun the time the big rock thing had come to play, and they were told to kill it. And that other time when lots and lots of humans came to play. That should have been a longer playtime. They weren't nearly done, and the humans were still standing with all their parts. But the big, loud, bangiteybangbangboom noises started. She and Rosie ran back, hid in their carts, and didn't come out until Grackle offered them food and hit them with the prod. It was a long time since the humans, and she was very itchy. Playing with Rosie and her doll would make her not-itchy. Or some cheese for dinner. Or killing something and listening while it made funny noises. She clawed at her cage until Grackle yelled at her to stop.

Rosie was sad and wanted her doll. Mama had given the doll to her, and she missed mama. Mama went away a long time ago, and she only remembered mama because of her doll. Grackle was upset that she tried to get out of her cage to play with Rosie and punished her by taking it away this morning. She'd been quiet since then, laying still like she was ambushing prey. But he hadn't given her doll back! And she was hungry for cheese. She could smell lots of cheese; it was all around, but none for her. She only got cheese when Grackle gave it to her. Asking for more would get blows from the prod. She didn't like the prod.

Larry sniffed the air, trying to find the sad person, but it didn't help. Many people were sad in the Hollow, making it hard to sniff for them. But he could find sad people other ways now; he just had to think hard. That was easier. More INT was better. Tallsqueak had been right! Tallsqueak was very smart, and now Larry was smarter. He thought for a moment, and he knew. Two little girls were sad and crying. Larry pointed to the way out of the Hollow. "This way." His fairy friends followed him out of the Hollow and into the big cave. Old Larry had been told not to leave the Hollow, but that didn't matter now. New Larry had new rules. Helping sad people was more important than following old rules.

There were people in the cave, just past the entrance. Samuel was there. He was one of the new guards and friends with Justin, which made him Larry's friend too. "Hi, Samuel. Larry and his friends are doing Hero stuff." Samuel nodded. He was a good guard, staring straight ahead and keeping watch. Tallsqueaks friends were here too. They were having fun drinking beer and laughing. Larry waved to them, and they all waved back. Except for the friend on the spider. She wasn't moving anymore, and the funny spider was making sleepy noises too. Tallsqueak had told him about the funny spider and made him promise not to squoosh her or tear off her legs.

Across the cavern was the caravan full of badsneakyguys. Rifkin had brought them. Larry didn't like them or their spider cheese. Since they were bad guys, Larry would use Stealth. Stealth was a Hero skill that let him sneak up on badguys or badsneakybadguys.

Larry looked at the tinkly-twinkly fairies making noise with their wings and little lights. "Larry will use Stealth to get close to sad little girls. Can fairy friends be quieter?"

Redfawn giggled. "Fairies don't get seen if they don't want to be seen, Larry. Watch." All of the fairies disappeared as shadows and colors swirled around them. Larry's green eye still saw them, but just barely. His blue eye didn't see them.

Hidden things are special things. Thoughts that take wing and change into new life Shadows slink around the edge of our imagination, gone missing from their owners. Magic that rides the winds of the mortal lands. Magical eyes can see these things. Would Larry like to have Magic Eyes?

"Yes, Larry wants Magic Eyes."

Stealth is a good thing. But there are other ways to avoid being found by enemies. Even the bravest hero or Villain can walk small and quiet, pretending to be something else and pretending to be someone that should be there. People expect to see things, be what they expect, and be Unnoticed.

Would Larry like to be Unnoticed?

"Larry thinks being unnoticed will be fun. Everyone notices Larry now."

Larry has learned the Fae Magic Skills of Unnoticed and Magical Eyes.

The fairies were delighted to show Larry how to use his new skills.

Rosie heard a sound. It was her cage opening! Was it time to play? A face appeared. It was a funny big face with different colored eyes and a big ribbon dangling down from a bow on its head. She laughed at the funny face.

"Shhhh! We have to be quiet, or badsneakyguys will be here. Larry is here to make you not sad. Larry would be sad to be in a cage. Let's go play somewhere else." Rosie was shy at first and didn't know what to do. Only Grackle ever talked to them. But the new face had a ribbon. Buttercup liked ribbons, and so did her doll. Rosie climbed out of her cage and stood next to the new face. He was like her. He was big and had big teeth. Nice teeth. And he had her doll! "I found her. She was looking for you." He took her hand, and they went to get Buttercup.

Buttercup was more shy than Rosie and scared. But the new face had a ribbon that was tied to his arm. She pointed at it, and he took it off and put it on her. She loved her new ribbon. Rosie held up her doll, and the new face put a little ribbon on her doll. Buttercup saw Larry's feet. The weasel slippers blinked their eyes and wiggled their whiskers, making her laugh. Someone noticed.

Grackle heard a sound. One of his girls was laughing. One thing his father always told him was, "Don't let the fiends get any personality. They should fear and obey and nothing else." It had been easy to make the girls fear him. A few beatings before he gave them the special cheese and more later had made them incapable of striking back. He'd only had to use the fiend prod three times. But tonight would be the fourth. They had no reason to be laughing. He didn't want happy little fiends; he wanted fiends that obeyed his orders.

As Grackle came around the end of the wagon, he saw that Rosie and Buttercup were out of their cages. This wasn't good. Not good at all!. Gangrene would skin him and have his hide stretched on a wagon if he found out. He hissed at them softly. "Back into your cages, or you'll get no cheese for a week." He brandished the prod at Rosie, but a giant hand grabbed it and stepped from the shadows.

Grackle's face paled, and his eyes went wide. Fear and envy fought inside of him. It was a fiend! And such a fiend! Is this what they bred in Limburger Hollow?! He must talk with their fiend master. He needed their secrets! He was perfect, with well-defined muscles and sharp claws.

"Larry doesn't think you should hit Larry's new friends with this. Not hit them ever again, with anything."

And he talked! That was a bad sign. Did they let him keep his personality? "Unhand my prod, or I'll sting you. You know what a prod is! The prod will hurt you. Back to your cage! Who let you out?!" The hand didn't let go, and he was forced to use the storm magic spell stored in the prod. He needed this fiend to back off and recognize his dominance. Buttercup was laughing and whispered something to Rosie. Rosie laughed and whispered the secret to her doll. Part of Grackle's mind focused on the doll. How had she got it back? Where did Buttercup get the new bow on her head?

Larry's fur stood on end as the storm magic jolted his arm. He didn't let go. Instead, he pulled it away from Grackle and grabbed the fiend master by the arm. He poked Grackle with the prod, breaking a rib and shocking him with the prod. Rosie and Buttercup laughed as Grackle glowed and his eyes rolled up into his head.

Larry turned to look at Rosie and Buttercup, and something inside him was very sad. "Who gave you the cheese?" They pointed to Grackle. Larry glared at him. "Larry says you are a SneakyBadGuy, and that is the worst!. You make people sad." Grackle glowed twice more until the fiend prod ran out of charges. Larry stuffed what was left of Grackle into a cage and shut it.

"New friends need to go with Larry before more people come. Watch where Larry puts his feet." He took each girl by the hand. "It's just a jump to the left. And then a step to the right. Then three hops forward."

Surrounded by the fairies of Flowertown and unnoticed by anyone, Rosie and Buttercup left the caravan. Buttercup waved at Grackle. Rosie giggled and showed her doll how to hop. Nearby, in the shadows at the side of the cavern, Brinka was making a Larry-sized door.

Bernie Badger was putting on a fresh pot of tea when he heard a knock at his door. He smiled. Unexpected guests were the best guests. He got an extra box of cookies from the pantry and welcomed his new friends into his house, thankful that he had made an extra-large door to his burrow after the first time he met Larry. Redfawn brought large tea cups to the party that the new friends could hold easily in their large hands. They were shy at first, but Bernie told them jokes, and the fairies painted their claws bright pink and tied many ribbons in their hair. Soon they relaxed and ate their cookies and weren't sad any longer.

Chapter 175: Battlelines are drawn

As Milo and Brutus went to leave, they were stopped by Helen Brownfur. "Hold up, young one. I need to know your intentions in talking to this Gangrene."

Milo shrugged. "I'm not sure myself, to be honest. A lot depends on him. Rifkin was working with him to cause damage to the Hollow. We can't let him inside, but we can't just leave warriors on our doorstep. I don't want to let him make the next move. Maybe we can convince them to leave, or we must fortify our front door or close it altogether. I'm hoping Gilad will come with me. I already talked to the Master Clawhammer and Petey."

Helen sighed. "And let me guess, they told you they'd support you, and you speak for them?"

Milo nodded. "Is there something wrong with that?"

The master gatherer looked down at her ring. "No, nothing wrong. And very predictable. We are used to those with strong personalities dealing with outside problems. But Bleusnout is poisoned, and Gilad is acting odd, as are far too many in the Hollow. We shouldn't be putting all the responsibility on your tail, but that's what will happen, no matter how much I dislike it. You have my support and that of Gendifur. That makes five of us and the majority of a conclave. Could you speak with Gilad? Even addled by bad cheese, he will have some advice for you. But I agree, something needs to be done. I will send a runner to Arlothe and see if he and Cremona can take a break from dueling to aid you in your 'discussions.'"

"And meanwhile, I'm putting you back to bed. Politics is over; time for another dose of blood that Tallsqueak donated." Gendifur sent the wobbly master gatherer back to bed, then looked at Tallsqueak. "You must be weak as a newborn after all I took out of you. Remember that. A fight will take a lot out of you, and very fast. My advice is not to fight."

"But...if you have to, eat this first. It's aged Parmesan from Bibbiano Hollow. It is very potent." Milo put it in his pouch, trying to ignore the smell coming from the cheese. Gendifur handed an even larger chunk to Brutus.

Brutus gave Gendifur a quick hug, and the two left the infirmary, heading for the front tunnel of the Hollow.

Gangrene stared at the remains of a cage-cart and frowned. There was little left of Grackle. He'd been beaten with his own prod and most of his hair had fallen out from the electric shock. It takes a lot of storm magic to even get a fiend's attention. A fiend prod set to high would cause serious wounds if used on lesser beings, as Grackle had found out. Someone had taken away his prod, and used his fiend rod on him, then slammed him into a cage, and then bent it so severely it couldn't be opened. Neither of his little fiends was around, of course. He mused how children could always surprise you. Grackle had been sure that with enough discipline, they wouldn't rebel as they got older. He'd been wrong and paid for it. They'd grown mean and feral, just as he'd promised. Ironic that Grackle was a victim of his own success. The question now was, where had they gone?.

Two fiends, even small ones, couldn't just walk up to a Hollow without the alarms going off and summoning every guard they had. And nothing like that had happened. More likely, they had killed Grackle and escaped back into the tunnels around the Hollow. Wild Cheese Fiends were a menace to everyone, but not something he could deal with right now. He kicked the cage, nearly knocking the cart over, angry with Grackle. He had needed those fiends! The two of them could have dealt with the dwarven mercenaries that Limburger Hollow had hired. Now he was going to have to lose some troops to their guns.

Grackle opened one eye and moaned. "Cheese? Potion?...please." Gangrene smirked. It was time for another lesson, not for Grackle, but for his other underlings. "Why waste resources on a failure? You had your chance." Gangrene grasped the bent steel cage and ripped it open in a show of strength not lost on the watching guards. Two large hands lifted up Grackle by his head, one hand over his mouth to prevent him from screaming. The General squeezed until bone shattered and grey matter oozed between his fingers. He tossed the body to the ground and ignored it.

Gangrene came to a decision, it was time to finish this. The Hollow was weakened by spiders and cheese. The population should be docile. He'd given his operative within the Hollow as much time as was needed, and Sneakybadguy had failed him. Of course, that meant Gangrene owed him nothing at all. He'd promised a passive population and an open front door. But the Hollow was closed off by dwarves and guards, and humans had attacked his caravan. It was time to do things the hard way. "Get everyone ready—full armor and weapons. I want everyone to eat their first two pieces of Battle Cheese. Wait for my command. We'll hit that front door hard and not stop until we have the entire Hollow under our control. But first I want some answers. And I want us as close as possible before we charge. Someone find a parley flag."

Gilad was sparring in the arena when Tallsqueak and Brutus arrived. It was all thirty of his students versus just the Tailmaster, and Gilad was winning. As the last student was knocked to the ground, Gilad turned and smiled at Milo. "Excellent. Better fighters have arrived. I will engage both of you at once."

Milo held up his ring and walked into the arena, followed by a nervous Brutus. "Conclave business, Tailmaster. The cheese caravan is an invading army, and we must deal with them."

Gilad shook his head as if to clear it. "That doesn't seem right. They are friendly merchants bringing us tasty cheese that helps us focus on our fighting. Are you making up excuses not to duel with me, Tallsqueak? But no matter, you are in the arena. Prepare yourselves."

Milo looked into Gilad's eyes. They were clouded by bad cheese and hours of sparring. He was totally focused on fighting. "I need to go deal with General Gangrene. He thinks his warriors can conquer the Hollow because they are better fighters."

Gilad stopped suddenly, just before he was about to launch a kick at Tallsqueak. "Gangrene, you say? I thought that overly-large merchant looked familiar. I hadn't seen him in four decades, and he was always in his Earthen Armor. Bah, we will see about this! You lot! Form ranks. We have real fighting to do."

Tallsqueak spoke softly to the Tailmaster. "If he sees our fighters, he may run away. If you stage our forces on this side of the tunnel, I will negotiate with him and may be able to taunt him to call a charge. When he is close, we can engage, and he won't be able to get away to spread his lies."

Gilad patted him on the back. "That is clever thinking, Scout Master. You are right; if shown a superior force as we have here, he will disengage and run like a coward. I've seen him do it before. We will attack as he comes through the tunnel or I hear him call the charge."

"So, what are you two thinking about this situation?" Boom-Boom was being uncharacteristically serious, which worried Two-Screws. He looked at Sledgemonkey. "I'll bow to your wisdom. You can't shoot straight, but your take on politics is usually straight on."

"Well, thank you for that compliment" The oldest of the Engineers looked over at the 'Cheese Caravan.' "Those folks don't act like merchants. They're soldiers. They keep watches and have armor and weapons handy. And they were really organized. Sure, they put on some song and dance for Milo's people, but that's not their purpose. And those smiles never get to their eyes. Watching them in that little battle, they were about to clean up those humans even without our help. And this might be my paranoia talking, but they aren't happy we are here."

Two-Screws nodded. "The last part is true. At first, I thought they were just jealous of our superior firepower and boyish good looks. But I get the feeling they see us as a bump in their road."

Boom-Boom smiled. "This bump is a landmine that will explode damned easy." The other dwarves nodded. All of them turned as Engineer Milo came walking up with the big guard that had been on gate duty before. "And that boy looks like he's been stuck on the Whirl-and-Hurl for too many hours."

Milo waved to the engineers and started to walk over, passing by the mechanical spider and its new mistress. Barnacle picked that moment to roll over and belch, and her backpack rolled off the spider, scattering its contents at Milo's feet. Brutus started to pick things up, but Milo stopped him. "Let me do this. Some of the stuff scavengers carry around can explode easily. They have hair triggers on all their guns. And if it isn't a bottle of alcohol, it's a gun, no matter what it looks like." The big guard stepped back a few steps. He remembered seeing the 'guns' in action and had a healthy respect for them.

Milo picked each item up carefully. The haircomb had a retractable knifeblade. The large knife concealed a one-shot pistol—the brace of pistols were really shotguns. Boom-Boom had told him some stories about the dwarven pirate clan he had married into, but seeing what one of them packed in their backpack was an eye-opener. He thought the pound of jerky was probably just food, but he wouldn't be surprised to find out it was explosives. At least the explosives were what they appeared to be. There wasn't much you could hide in a block of cataclysmite that was more deadly than the explosive itself. After repacking it all, he put the pack into the spider's cargo chest. Barnacle had been using it as a pillow while she slept off the barrel of beer she and the spider had drank.

The spider was so drunk it couldn't even hiss at him. It was just mumbling some song about a shipwrecked scavenger and an ogre on a desert island. Milo didn't know much about an Ogre's anatomy, but surely some of those verses were exaggerations? He patted the spider on its fuzzy head and went to talk to his brother engineers. "I have a problem."

Sledgemonkey bent his head toward the caravan. "So we gather. How do you want to handle it? Official Treaty between your Hollow and our Guild? Mercenary contract? Or should we just get bored and start shooting? I don't think you're getting out of a fight, so make sure you prepare for the project correctly."

Milo scratched an ear and hesitated a moment. "Ideally, without having to involve you in Hollow affairs. But..."

He smiled at them. "You're here. You have big guns you like to use. And you need a few hundred tons of ore that's sitting in mines the Hollow controls."

Two-Screws stroked his chin. "True. Be a shame not to give Sledge a chance to calibrate his guns."

The Engineer sighed. "Yeah, I'll admit I need the practice. Not doing any target practice for a few hundred years can degrade your shooting skills. And I do like the look of all that shiny ore just sitting there. How about we work out a trade of the ammunition we use for one ton of deep copper? We'll throw in the work of shooting it for free."

Milo was happy with that. "Turns out I have the authority to approve that deal. We can say I hired you as mercenaries. I'll mine the ore myself if needed. After this is over, we can work out the rest."

Boom-Boom looked over at the shiny cannon his wife and Vary were polishing. "You had me at Big Guns."

Brutus yelled over. "Don't want to disturb your conversation, but I think someone's coming to talk to us. They have a parley flag out, making it official."

Milo looked across the cavern. The massive form of Merchant Greensleeves, AKA General Gangrene, was moving towards them, escorted by six soldiers. Two dozen more followed behind at some distance and stopped at the halfway point, and the rest of the cheese caravan's guards and workers were behind those.

Milo and Brutus walked out to meet them. Both of them were nibbling on blocks of aged parmesan as they went.

Chapter 176: Parley

"How does this work, Brutus? Are there rules?"

The big guard nodded his head. "Oh yeah, lots of rules. He's got a Parley Flag flying, so he can't just attack us outright. See how all his guards are stopping ten yards behind him? That's how far I'll stop. Then you and he get as close as you want and talk. No one can attack either of you until the Parley is over."

"And when is that? If we don't work things out, when does he start swinging that big mace at me?" The general seemed quite well-armed. He was wearing a steel cuirass that covered his back and breast, an ornate helmet, and was carrying a huge mace and shield. He had a sword and a knife on his belt and an ax on his back.

"Well, by Limburger Rules, you two would head back to your sides and wait five minutes. Have a cup of tea. By Wurchwitz's rules, you get three steps, and thats it. You should run fast. I'll buy you some time."

Tallsqueak turned and looked at Brutus. He did not doubt at all that the big guard would sacrifice himself as readily as Justin had. "That won't work. If the Parley ends badly, you turn and run back to the dwarves and defend them. I'll manage on my own. Think about it: The dwarves can start shooting if you're out of the way, and if I get you killed, Gendifur will do terrible things to me."

Brutus nodded. "Smart thinking. Good thing you have a ring, not me. She'd be so mad if I got killed. I'll scamper back to the dwarves as soon as I see him turn around."

Brutus stopped and waved good-naturedly at the soldiers formed behind Gangrene. Milo moved up to within ten feet of the General.

"Greetings, Tallsqueak. It might be polite to discuss a few things before things become unpleasant.

The general was smiling, and Tallsqueak wasn't. "Before? I believe things have been unpleasant for quite some time."

"Perhaps. But I'm sure we can work things out before the situation worsens. I want to negotiate with your Cheese Master, Rifkin. Nothing personal, but big political decisions are generally made by a Cheese Master, not a newly appointed Scout Master."

Tallsqueak shook his head slightly. "Rifkin was never Cheese Master, except in his delusions. And now he is nothing. He made some poor decisions. I speak for the Conclave."

"You do? How interesting." Gangrene was trying to read the expressions and body language of Tallsqueak but was having difficulty. He didn't stand like a soldier and wasn't cowering at all. The information Rifkin had given him on this newcomer was strange. Tallsqueak had shown up out of nowhere and ingratiated himself to the Masters of the Hollow, and now he had a ring and spoke for the rest. How had he taken over so quickly? And had that been his plan all along? "Rifkin must have exaggerated his position then; he mentioned poor Bleusnout was dying of an overdose and that he was working with the new Deathmaster."

"Bleusnout and his assistant will recover. Our new Master Healer refuses to let them die. And if you are referring to Charlotte, I killed her. Petey helped. He's our new Deathmaster. Rifkin's clever plan unraveled because it had too many moving parts. How do you coordinate multiple spider attacks along with clueless human raiders?"

Gangrene grimaced. He was still angry about the 'human allies' who had attacked his caravan. "It seems he underestimated you, as did Charlotte. A shame he brought her to one meeting, and I liked her. She was deadly but manageable. I like to think I can work with many people to make a Hollow stronger. But sometimes, you lose people during the chaos of becoming stronger, and others show their strengths. I'm sure you'll agree that quite a bit of good has come out of this situation, as well as a little pain."

The General was formulating new plans. Rifkin had promised that he and others from his generation would take over the Hollow. That seemed to have come true, but not as Rifkin had expected. His minion was captured and probably talking. Tallsqueak was in charge, along with his allies, the new Master Healer and Deathmaster. How many other rings were changing fingers?

Milo thought about the General's words. People had died. That couldn't be forgotten. But a traitor had been revealed, and many old, festering wounds were being healed. Old Healer's clan was working together, and he could retire. The mages were invigorated and cross-training with the fighters, building friendships. And Larry was better. The Hollow gained so much trading a depressed Cheese Fiend for a Hero. Not to mention a possible alliance with the fairies? And maybe the dwarves?

"Yes. Some good things. Limburger Hollow is much stronger, and we are considering new alliances."

Gangrene nodded. Tallsqueak wanted to deal! He knew what Wurchwitz Hollow had to offer and had seen how well their unique cheese worked. Indeed, that was most probably one of the reasons he was in charge. "Such a coincidence. Wurchwitz Hollow is also looking for strong allies. Consider any dealings we had with Rifkin to be null and void. I will be bold and suggest that you and I discuss how we can work together. My soldiers are ready, and I have enough Millekbase to keep your population under control for six months."

Tallsqueak paused and looked at Gangrene. Rifkin hadn't been lying. The General had confirmed things to his satisfaction.

Tallsqueak smirked a little. "I think you misunderstand me, General. I don't need Wurchwitz or your bad cheese. I have allies I can trust. You have two choices: Turn around and slink back to your Hollow, or try to fight us and die."

From behind him, Milo heard Brutus exclaim, "Oh, Shit!"

Gangrene's face turned red. "You will regret those words." He pulled his mace from his belt. It glowed with a powerful magic aura.

Milo calmly said. "Tsk, Tsk. Remember the rules of Parley. Three steps." Gangrene laughed. "I will enjoy crushing your skull." He turned, took three steps toward his troops, and prepared to yell charge.

Chapter 177: Don't bring a Mace to a Spider Fight.

Gangrene took three long strides toward his troops and glared up and down the line. Some of them were looking at him oddly, and it infuriated him. One started to open his mouth to speak and then thought better of it. "Shut it! Prepare to charge on my order." He raised his mace high, activated its destructive aura, and turned around. He saw the big guard was running as fast as he could to the entrance to the Hollow.

Tallsqueak was standing in front of him, only a foot away. "Sorry, but does the Parley stop when we each take three steps away from each other? Or just three steps in any direction? It matters because if the rules specify 'away,' then you can't attack me. Otherwise, we are still in a Parley and aren't fighting yet."

Gangrene's snarled at his clearly insane adversary. "I'll give you a hint: I'm about to kill you." He swung his mace at Tallsqueak, who ducked and struck a feeble blow at him. He barely felt it through his metal cuirass.

Tallsqueak did a backward somersault, then scampered further away quickly. He pointed at Gangrene's troops. "And you forgot to call the charge. I don't think you can try to invade another Hollow unless you officially call a charge. Probably in the rules somewhere. Do you want to go look them up?"

Gangrene glared at him and shouted to his soldiers. "This one is mine, and mine alone!. Kill the dwarves and take the Hollow. CHARGE!" The soldiers ran straight ahead, ignoring the general and his smaller adversary. Many of them would have loved to watch, but not one of them would have put money on the General to lose. Several had decent Identification skills, especially the scouts. They knew Tallsqueak was Level 10, and he was rumored to have both fighting and arcane abilities. But that wasn't enough.

On the other hand, Gangrene was Level 19 and a veteran of several wars. He was skilled in many types of weapons, martial abilities, and several Earth Aspected magic spells. This fight wasn't even going to be close. As Tallsqueak summoned his bone armor, the General was covered in layers of stone and hardened earth, many inches thick.

Gangrene's voice sounded deeper once he was encased in stone. "I'm sure you plan to delay me and give your troops a chance. That isn't going to happen. I'm far too powerful a foe." The ground sprouted stone spikes to impale Tallsqueak, who leaped upwards to avoid them. He landed on the ground several feet away, counting to himself.

Milo smiled at him. "I came to that conclusion as well. That's why I attached two Series K 'Shipbuster' limpet mines to your armor. Surprise!" He put his hands on his ears and turned away.

Milo hadn't wondered at all why Barnacle had mines and cataclysmite in her backpack. The Engineers were crazy, and the Scavengers were worse. Her pack had been filled with an assortment of exploding death. The limpet mines were used against ships. The flat, dish-shaped mines would be stuck on the side of a ship or submarine, and the timer set. Milo immediately fell in love with them and took two of them with him. They were currently on the front and back of Gangrenes steel cuirass and underneath a layer of rocky armor. If anything, the Earthen Armor spell was about to make things worse by containing the blast.

General Gangrene had earned himself many enemies during the wars, some of them technically his allies. His paranoia about assassins was legendary, and his survival strategy was to be very, very hard to kill. The Claw Warrior class gave him 3600 health. That was augmented with the core skill Increased Health 7 for another 2900 health. His STR and CON of 30 gave a bonus of 3000. With a few other abilities thrown in, the General had over 10,000 health, making him very difficult to kill.

The Shipbuster mines didn't care about any of that. They easily punched through his steel armor, shattered his Earthen Armor, and hit him harder than anything had ever hit him in his life. Brittle Bones shattered into hundreds of pieces, victims of a spell Milo had cast earlier. The twin explosions should have eradicated Gangrenes torso, killing instantly. But decades of leading armies and conquering throughout the underworld had given him many magical items. As pain tore through his body, the General saw infuriating notifications scroll past his eyes, even as those items kept him from death.

An explosion has destroyed your Dark Steel Cuirass of Defense.

Helm of Concussive Protection has shattered but prevented your brains from being scrambled.

Amulet of Enorica has allowed you to cheat death and kept your spine intact. Its miracle dispensed, the amulet crumbles to dust.

Teflon's ring of Hefty Healing has been activated, and all three remaining charges have been used, healing you for 1500 points of damage.

Your current Health is reduced to 4,120.

You are mostly deaf. Permanent disability. -10 to Perception

You are bleeding for 120 points per round until you receive healing for your open wounds.

Your speed is reduced by 40% until you receive healing for broken ribs.

Brittle Bones will cause you to take additional damage from blunt impacts. Note: Includes Explosions.

The general shook his head back and forth, trying to clear his vision. His ears were ringing too hard for him to hear, but he could see his soldiers charging at his enemies. The dwarven mercenaries were firing their cursed guns, but his soldiers were un-killable with three pieces of battle cheese inside their bellies. Some would die once the battle was over, but sacrifices had to be made.

Gangrene struggled to stand, cracked ribs grating and blood oozing from many wounds. Taking a deep breath, he used his Second Wind 5 ability to restore 670 mana, stamina, and health points. The health was useful, but it was the mana that was essential. The general only had 1100 points of mana, and his Earthen armor spell took 600 points to cast. But with it protecting him, he could finish this fight, and healing potions and regeneration would keep him alive. And importantly, the armor would seal his wounds and keep him from bleeding to death.

As the layers of rock and earth moved up from the floor to encompass his body, he was struck from behind. A harpoon punctured his shoulder and punched out the front of his body. The shock of the damage made him lose control of the spell, and the mana disappeared. The pain made him angry, and he snarled as he turned and looked behind him. Tallsqueak was perched on a rock fifty feet away, encased in bone armor, his long tail whipping back and forth. Gangrene charged at him, and his adversary threw two skulls at his feet before leaping to the side. Gangrene kicked one of the bombs away; the other exploded at his feet. The damage was minor, but the dust and debris it kicked up made him lose sight of his adversary.

Gangrene had faced dozens of assassins and fought them in darkened caves and smoke-filled buildings. His opponent would try to approach from his blind side, using his lack of hearing to sneak up. A lifetime of fighting told him where his enemy would be. He spun, and as something dug into his side, he hit Tallsqueak with his Mace of Armageddon, knocking him to the ground, dead or stunned. He hurt too much to follow up his attack against his stunned foe.

Shadowblight has struck you.

You are Poisoned and are taking ongoing damage.

You have lost 150 health from the blow.

Your mitigation is reduced by 50 points until healed.

Poisoned? His resistance should stop that! But he could feel it. Spider venom, eating away at him. He took a breath and then walked two steps to where Tall Squeak lay on the ground. He had expended over a thousand points of stamina on that blow, triggering its Crushing Death ability. He was surprised Tallsqueak's head was still on his shoulders. It was time to rectify that...

Three minutes before...

Gilad stared at his rival. "And just where do you think you are going?"

Arlothe gestured toward the entrance to the outer caverns. "For a short walk with a few of my students. I've been told that Tallsqueak is off to talk to the caravan's leader. I'm sure a fight will break out, and I'd hate to miss it. I'm starting to like these larger combats. Dueling is fun but not as enjoyable as frying spiders."

The Tail Master shook his head. "We were here first. My fighters are prepared to enter combat as soon as the signal comes."

Arlothe bowed. "Of course, old friend. You go first. We'll catch up." The storm mage was happy with being in the second rank. That was the advantage of magic. You didn't have to be in claw range to throw a lightning arc at an opponent."

Shouts and a voice like thunder shouted 'Charge' from the cavern. Gilad was racing immediately into the tunnel, followed by his thirty fighters. Arlothe was just a little behind with a dozen students, half from Clan Emerald Wyrm. Their staves were charged, and their eyes were glowing. Cremona's hands were glowing bright green, and wisps of condensed poison curled around her claws. Unlike her husband, she would be happy to get up close where her hands would dissolve flesh and armor.

As the caravan guards grew close to the dwarven mercenaries, they were stunned by the explosion that took place on the far side of the cavern. Tallsqueak was standing nearby a crater where General Gangrene was on his hands and knees, covered in blood.

Two-Screws nodded his head at Sledgemonkey. "Glad I didn't take that bet; he did have explosives with him."

Sledgemonkey laughed. "An Engineer always takes the right tools for the job." He clicked the safety off of his rivet guns and started firing.

"I'll say this for these caravan lads; they don't go down easy!" Two-Screws had started shooting as soon as the soldiers had started moving. He'd wondered what Senior Engineer Milo was up to, following close behind the general. Then he'd seen the unmistakable shape of limpet mines and had sucked in his breath, waiting for the explosion.

He saw the general disappear in a blast of rock and blood. That boy wasn't playing around at all! Then again, thinking about what he'd used to kill the snake, that had been more like a love tap!

Two-Screws wasn't happy with the rate that he was dropping enemy soldiers. The problem he was having was the damned shields. The rivets lost a lot of energy punching through them, and it took half a dozen hits to drop one soldier. He should think about using explosive ammunition. Undeterred, he worked his way down the line as they charged closer. Sledgemonkey was doing the same and finally getting his gun appropriately calibrated. Behind him came the sound of the dual chain guns on top of the spider. Four engineers and two scavengers had made it a group project to rebuild them properly. The huge bore weapons were synchronized, and their rate of fire had doubled. Sledgemonkey had brought out a thousand rounds of ammunition to fuel them. The long belts of high-caliber shells coming from his Arcane Workshop.

Two-Screws took a glance and saw that it was Vary on the gun. The youngster laughed hysterically as he raked the guns back and forth across the advancing line. His guns punched through those shields with ease, and he had dropped several soldiers to the ground already. Barnacle snored on, too drunk to even wake up and missing the fight. The spider stirred, saw ratkin charging her, and roared to life. Past battles as a mercenary and her time in the Rat Wars mixed in her drink-addled mind. To me, my army! Charge the fuzzy enemy and rend them limb from pitiful limb!

Vary tried to hold on and keep firing as his mount suddenly charged into battle. The many tons of mechanical spider impacted the line of armored ratkin, and it was the soldiers who lost. Robotic legs speared bodies, and sharp fangs poisoned them. On unsteady legs, the Iron Spider staggered through the battle. Vary gave up shooting the guns and concentrated on not falling off or losing his hold on Barnacle as he worked the foot peddles, trying to steer the spider into more of the enemy.

"Fire in the Hole!" Narwhale sent an explosive shell into a close-packed group of warriors, killing two of them outright and wounding four others who were getting up slowly. Boom-Boom hurried to load another shell. Half of the soldiers were dead, but the rest were too close for comfort. The cannon would only get one more shot, and then they would be overrun.

Sledgemonkey's gun jammed. He cursed for a moment and then pulled the sledgehammer off of his back, charging up its head for his first swing. Not content to wait, the old dwarf slammed shut his helmet and lumbered at the charging ratkin, his mechanical armor picking up speed as he countercharged. His first double-handed swing knocked down two soldiers and killed one. The force of the charged blow sent his body flying. And then he was fighting against several cheese-frenzied ratkin warriors. Two-Screws was beside him instantly, his weapon killing a ratkin aiming a blow at the Senior Engineer's back. The two went back to back and got down to the dirty work of killing enemies. Brutus was nearby. He had taken his battle cheese and swung his heavy halberd near where the two dwarves fought. Each swing hit a guard and knocked them down, injured or dead. Others jumped back to avoid the swings of the long weapon.

Narwhale didn't want to leave her wedding present, but after her last shot, Boom-Boom threw her over his shoulder and turned to retreat down the tunnel. He was stopped by the sight of a horde of charging ratkin led by an old veteran with glowing fists and tail. He wisely got out of the way, and they returned to loading the cannon, watching wave after wave of ratkin from Limburger Hollow throw themselves into the fight against the armored caravan guards. Gilad leaped high in the air and landed among his enemies. He hadn't cut loose in decades and had begun to doubt himself. But he felt younger now. Nightly fights with a powerful cheese fiend had awakened old skills and given him back his confidence. His claws cut through armor and bone while his tail shattered skulls. In this battle, he was once again the Tail Master who had led his armies to victory over the spider clans.

They were followed by the mages, who immediately sent searing arcs of electrical energy into the caravan guards, aided in their targeting by the heavy metal shields and armor. Muscles spasmed and flesh cooked inside metal armor that added to the damage the storm magic could do. A choking green mist settled on the heads of many guards, and more than one collapsed as venom overwhelmed their pitiful poison resistance. Cremona darted through the fight, slashing and moving away.

Beyond the fighting, in the center of the cavern, General Gangrene lifted his huge mace above his head, preparing to bring it down on Tallsqueaks head.

Milo was sure he had got his head stuck in a subragator. Nothing else could have hit him so hard. Only his rune-hardened bones had saved his skull from being crushed. He cleared his head just in time to see Gangrene raise his mace. He wasn't going to be able to dodge. Rocks pinned him in on one side and one of the General's legs on the other. He did the only thing he could, interposing his weapon between himself and the downward swing of the mace.

Gangrene laughed as Tallsqueak tried to block his swing with his spikey stick. The Mace of Armageddon slammed into the makeshift weapon of bone and wood. The thin weapon bent, and Tallsqueak felt his shoulders dislocate as his stiffened arms held his weapon. But the mace couldn't break the Nigh Invulnerable spikey-stick, and its force was redirected as Shadowblight bent and then straightened. The Mace of Armageddon rebounded and struck Gangrene in the forehead, knocking him backward and stunning him. He barely saw the notification flash by.

You have been stuck by a Mace of Armageddon

Your skull is fractured.

You have a concussion.

Your health has been reduced to 2,156

Milo sat up, calculated how to regain the use of an arm, and then slammed his shoulder into a large rock, popping one arm back into its socket. The pain was intense, but he needed at least one arm if he was going to finish this fight. It felt like it took forever to stand, and his vision was fuzzy. A dozen feet away, Gangrene also managed to stand up. He smiled through bloody lips and broken teeth. "No one had taken a blow from my mace and lived. You are a more worthy opponent than I thought. I'll keep that hard skull of yours and make a mug out of it."

Milo slashed with his tail at Gangrene's face only to have the General block with his mace. Tallsqueak rolled to the left, standing up further away, and launched a Harpoon of the Winds, hitting Gangrene in his leg and making him stagger. Blood gushed out. Gangrene's arms fell to his side, and his eyes unfocused. Milo saw him take a step backward and almost fall. Barely able to hold onto his mace, the General brought up a hand to brush blood from his eyes, and Milo used the opening to surge forward and bring Shadowblight around in a long arc that scratched against the other leg. The skin turned black as poison spread.

And then it was Milo's turn to be hit, as the General laughed and his tail slapped hard against Milo's head and knocked him down. Milo saw three of Gangrene, and all three of them were winding up for a one-handed blow with his mace. He tried to roll, but nothing in his body worked, and he couldn't clear his head. The Mace of Armageddon came down, and Tallsqueak brought up his weapon in a feeble attempt to block with one hand.

The enchanted mace stopped before it completed half of its arc. Gangrenes' arm was held in the strong claws of the Hero of Flowertown. Larry grabbed ahold of the mace and yanked it out of the surprised Gangrene's hand. Larry looked at the General. "Buttercup and Rosie don't like you." Larry punched Gangrene in his face, completing the work started by the Mace of Armageddon. Cartilage flattened as his large snout was rearranged, and several teeth came loose. "Larry doesn't like you either. Larry thinks you are a BadBadGuy". Larry continued to hit Gangrene until he collapsed.

Milo sat up. Larry handed him some jelly beans, and he chewed them down. His head stopped spinning, and he felt better. Across the cavern, he saw the ongoing battle. "Larry, people need help." Larry saw where he pointed, nodded, and ran off to be a Hero. Milo staggered upright. Gangrene was unconscious but still breathing. Larry hadn't killed him, but he was close to death, blood pooling around him. Milo wasn't going to take any chances. Shadowblight came down once, then again, and again. Gangrene died, and the weapon purred, happy with itself. Milo felt tired. He sat down to rest for just a moment.

Across the cavern, the battle ended as the last few caravan guards surrendered rather than face the wrath of Larry.

Chapter 178: When you're hungry and craving pancakes.

Opening his eyes was difficult. Milo was tired and wanted to sleep more. But the constant beep beep beep was annoying him. His muscles were a little stiff as he stepped out of his pod.

Odd, he didn't even remember logging out of the game. The last few days' events ran through his head, culminating with the thought that 'this rock is a pretty good pillow.' His tail flipped over to the pod and reattached to it so he could read through the latest messages from the system.

You have a new notification on the Contribution Board.

You have a new notification on the Contribution Board.

You have a new notification on the Contribution Board.

You are exhausted and suffering from the after-effects of using cheese in combat.

Your character has passed out from exhaustion. You may not be able to access your character for some time.

Would you like to log out?

Would you like to play a nice game of chess?

Would you like to take a nap in your comfy pod?

Right, nap it is.

Milo had been spending a lot of time in the game. When he did leave the game, his time in section E had been all work and little rest. His assumption that his body would get rest in his pod was correct; his medical read-out showed everything was fine. Mentally though, he had been building up fatigue for months and not taking enough time off. Some part of him had decided it was time for sleep after his character passed out in the game. He'd have to take this new variable into account from now on. Mental fatigue could lead to sub-optimal decision-making. Especially in the game.

His first priority now that he would be up for a few hours was food. The selection could have been better. He had cheese, dried fruit, and some crackers. His tastes had changed over the last few months. The thought of food cubes was highly dissatisfying. What he wanted was Cheesy Pancakes with lots of syrup. Did they have those in the real world? If not, he was going to invent them. A quick search of the Datanet showed several restaurants that served them. This wasn't helpful since he wasn't going to visit them, ever, but he did confirm they existed. Could he make them himself?

Further searching for a minute gave him what he wanted. He found a recipe that seemed familiar to what he had used in the Hollow.

savoury-cheese-pancakes/

There were food services that would ship to the Habitat Block, but they were costly and they didn't do small deliveries. He ran through various options, calculating which service to use and how much to order the ingredients. Substitutions had to be made for fresh eggs and sour cream. Flour came in hundred-pound bags. One solution appealed to him. After some thought, he went with that and placed the order. A handful of crackers and some cheese spread would get him through the next couple of hours. He went to his workshop and started designing the equipment he would need.

"Butch! Make sure your little sister doesn't get to the buttons on the food system. She kept pushing the button on it this morning, and we got 16 bowls of groatmeal delivered. She likes the picture for that button."

Butch was trying desperately to get past the 10th level of Space Invaders and see if there was an 11th level. He was trying not to get hit by a saucer and nail the last alien running across his screen when his littlest sister headed towards the food system, pushing a chair in front of her. The hesitation was deadly, and he died without getting to the 11th level. Sighing, he picked her up and tickled her until she started screaming. "That will teach you to side with the aliens." He set her back down and shut down the food system so she couldn't order more food. His mother could have done it, but she was worried if the machine shut down, it wouldn't turn back on. This had happened to too many people. Maintainance workers were like fairy godmothers. Both were rumored to exist, but no one ever saw them.

Someone started pounding on the front door. Understandable since the intercom button didn't work from the other side. Looking at the screen, he saw two men in green uniforms bearing the logo of Mercurial Delivery at the door. Obviously lost if they were banging on his door. He unlocked the door and slid it open a few inches. "Yeah?"

One of them looked at a clipboard. "Got a delivery for you: One hundred pounds of Ronco Always-rises Flour, one gross of Eggs in a Can, 64 quarts of FrozyFroze Sour Cream. Be careful with that stuff and get it into the cooler fast. One-hundred pounds of grated parmesan from Acme Cheese Factory, that's the big green can with the airtight seal. Fifty pounds of PowderedToastMan's powdered milk and another twenty gallons of Moo-Moo Farm's Milk in a Can. That's the big stuff. The other three packing containers have the rest, including the syrup. We double-checked it twice, and your good to go."

Butch stared at the mound of food. "Yeah, sure. Let me take a look." He grabbed the paperwork and acted like he was checking things over. He wondered if he should take the delivery. He could sell most of it and keep a little. But someone would follow the paper trail, and his family would suffer. You never left a trail to your own home if you did something you could get in trouble for. He handed the paperwork back. "Sorry, wrong place. I can't pay for it. Didn't order it."

The two delivery men looked at each other and shrugged. "Not our problem. It's paid for in full, including delivery and a very generous tip for the two of us. This place matches the address. It can't go back, and we need to be going." They left quickly, nearly bumping into someone moving down the corridor, driving a four-wheeled delivery cart with a trailer. Ghost hopped off the little cart and took the paperwork out of his hands while Butch tried to figure out what was happening.

"Great. It's all here. Help me set up this grill in the courtyard and we can get cooking. I made it from a couple of old welding units and a titanium-Teflon sheet I scavenged. Should work well for pancakes."

Butch's mother appeared at the door. She eyed the makeshift stove and the food. "Pancakes? I haven't had pancakes in years. We used to be able to get the food system to give us pancake batter, but they claimed we'd like food cubes better and not have to cook. You realize that if you cook out here, you'll get several dozen hungry people popping out of their rooms looking for dinner?"

Milo exhaled and pushed down his anxiety about being around many people. There would be less here today than in the Hollow. He put a grin on his face. "I've got an urge to cook, and I need volunteers to eat. We'll feed everyone we can and then store the rest in my room for next time."

Butch had his datapad out and was sending a message. "I've got the gang on the way to help out and help eat. But how the hell did you get all of this?"

"Got lucky. Found a buyer for some of the old games we repaired and made a big sale, but he insisted I had to take half cash and half food. So we're having a pancake party."

Butch looked skeptical. "Pancakes. They're good?"

His mother rolled her eyes. "Oh, honey, you have no idea. Start unpacking everything and I'll help with the batter. You kids are in for a treat today."

Chapter 179: Anime and Deathrace 2020

Cooking pancakes was much more complex than Milo had ever imagined! He hadn't considered that half the people he was cooking for didn't know what pancakes were. There was also the question of why he was doing it. Saying, "I want pancakes, I don't care about the money, and I had to order in bulk for fast delivery." would have generated even more questions, some of which he didn't want to answer.

Luckily, he'd come to the right house. Mama got to work instructing the young ones how to mix pancake batter. From somewhere, two tables appeared out in the courtyard near where he and Butch were assembling his makeshift grill. Butch wanted to know where he got the parts. Milo just shrugged and said, "Oh, you know..." which actually satisfied Butch. Milo had learned the expression from watching Butch and the rest of the gang. If something wasn't nailed down in the Hab Blocks, it tended to wander off. There were rules, of course, but they were unwritten and mostly unspoken, causing Milo much confusion at times.

The rest of Butch's gang showed up quickly. Free food was good food. They were extremely curious about where Ghost had picked up the food and cooking gear. Butch shrugged and said, "Oh, you know..." and nodded with his head toward Ghost. Several stared at the assembled grill made from welding torches and a large metal panel. They were equally impressed when Mama brought out the first batch of batter, and Ghost started pouring out perfect circles and carefully flipped them over with a spatula in each hand. Milo fed Mama and the little ones first, then the gang. By then, a small crowd of curious neighbors had shown up, and Milo started handing out plates of pancakes to the smaller children.

Butch anticipated the next problem as an adult took the food from a child. The pancake thief found himself surrounded by the gang, was forced to apologize to a nine-year-old and was sent to the end of the line. He was sour initially but got over it when he was handed his plate a few minutes later. As more people showed up, the gang kept things orderly. Brad and Yumi watched how Ghost made the pancakes and asked questions before asking to take over the cooking duties. Milo was glad for the break. This was different from the Hollow. There was some tension in the air. People didn't know what to expect. There was also the feeling of a holiday. Someone set up music, and the smaller children took advantage of being able to play together.

The next thing that happened took Milo by surprise and was all handled by Butch. A few members of other gangs showed up, some welcome, some not so welcome. But everyone got a plate of food as long as they behaved. Some of them questioned Butch about where the stuff came from. He told them a version of the truth.

"Some of us have been fixing old games and selling them pretty well. And some folks gave a bit more in trade than they took. People being generous, y'know? When people started being generous, my guys and I thought of a way to pay them back. Maybe next time you and Louie here will be generous and bring something over you don't need?"

Some people took the free food. Others were thoughtful. By the end of the day, Butch had a large box of broken electronics, old games, and scratched discs thought beyond repair. They presented it to Ghost at the end of the day as the last batch of pancakes was on the stove. Fuel for the grill was running out, and every person who had shown up had gotten a plate of cheesy pancakes with sweet syrup.

The gang helped Ghost store the excess in his house. Most people were curious to catch a glimpse of the inside but disappointed about how ordinary it looked. After that chore was done, Butch grabbed Ghost by the arm and dragged him back to his house. Brad and Yumi came along, and the four of them took turns playing games on Butch's old system while his little brothers and sisters sat on laps or shoulders, yelling out advice. Mama looked with a smile. She worried a lot about Ghost. Butch had grown several inches in the year they had known him, but Ghost still looked as small as ever. Some of the little ones were even taller than him. The boy had given her the code to open his house and use any food there. It was an open secret in the family that Ghost didn't live there, but it was not discussed.

Milo slipped away two hours later. He'd pushed himself but had reached the end of his ability to be around people. Yumi, in particular, was making him nervous. Both in how close she sat next to him and how difficult it was to beat her in some games. When he left Butch's house, she'd volunteered to walk him out. Brad started to join, but Butch challenged him suddenly to a Deathrace 2020 match using the new Philadelphia map he'd put together.

After walking aimlessly with Yumi talking to him about her favorite anime, Ghost agreed to meet up with her in a couple of days to watch her favorites. She waved and smiled as he disappeared into a service hatchway, and Milo tried to figure out why he had agreed. He'd said yes just to break off conversation and leave. He barely knew what anime was. And she wanted to know what his favorite show was? He was so confused.

Back at his real house, he started to think things over. He realized that he had subconsciously decided to be around people more and see if he liked them. Similar to cheese, he'd only recently discovered people. He needed to study the situations he was getting into and figure out the rules.

In some ways, it was similar to the Hollow, with no one trying to kill him.

Chapter 180: Sour Pickles

Gendifur was scowling and looking at samples her needles had taken from Tallsqueak using Arlothe's Advanced Device for Looking at Small Things. "He probably should have died. Possibly his bone structure saved him, storing the excess elixir until it was needed. I don't recommend anyone ever drinking two doses, let alone six."

Old Healer had his own idea. "Multiple poisons could have done it. He was suffering from the venom of a Noble spider, then several doses of unknown lesser poisons from traps. Finally, after he drank the elixir, he was near a toxic pile of bones. All of that together could explain why he didn't dissolve into a puddle of goo."

Gendifur took another look at Tallsqueak's blood. "Yes, that probably the reason for it. I should have taken that into account." She carefully gathered up all of the samples and vials and put them in her bag.

Old Healer looked at the amazing device again. He wished he'd had one decades ago. "It was very nice of Professor Arlothe to give you this device." Gendifur packed that up as well, padding it carefully. "Oh, he didn't. But I'm sure he and Tallsqueak can make another. I have far too many uses for this to let it go back to a dusty laboratory."

The old rat laughed and nodded. "Well. I'm off for a nap. I never had time for them before, and I'm going to get in a few each day until I'm caught up. Good luck with your patient. I'm sure he'll recover soon. Exhaustion, donating his blood and bones, and being hit in the head with a Mace of Armageddon can tire even a young warrior like him out. But his regeneration should bring him around soon." He wandered out of the room while Gendifur tended to Tallsqueaks wounds.

She hadn't told her grandfather all of her suspicions and probably never would. It would be rude for a healer to give away someone else's secrets, especially after what Tallsqueak had done for the Hollow.

Milo opened up his tired eyes and looked around. He was back in the infirmary, lying on a bed covered in soft blankets. He started to stand up, then thought better of it, laying his head back on a pile of pillows. The room stopped spinning, and the pain in his head eased. His skull was sore where Gangrene had hit him with his mace. The General had been a canny opponent, seeming to know where he was or able to anticipate his moves. He'd also been a monster! Milo had never expected him to live through the explosion. Those two mines were designed to sink ships! He'd been bleeding steadily, Milo had poisoned him twice, yet he still kept fighting. Thankfully Larry showed up at the end of the fight. He needed to do something very nice for Larry.

Gendifur was cleaning up the room, putting away medications, and folding up blankets. Several other people were helping her. Milo was the only person lying on a bed. The newly appointed Master Healer saw that he was awake and sat down by his bed, immediately taking his pulse. "You're better, but not good. No fight practice, no duels, and no playing surprise for a week. You need to let yourself recover. Take it easy, eat a lot, and don't eat any cheese that I don't give you."

Milo sighed heavily. He had enjoyed the taste of cheese the last couple of days. To his delight, Gendifur handed him a plate with three slices of bread and a chunk of Gouda. "That's your lunch. Be good, and I'll have another piece for you at dinner. That will be enough to keep your regeneration at maximum. And the fact that I'm giving you this much cheese should remind you how injured your body is."

Milo started to eat, and then the details of the last couple of days came into focus through the pounding of his head. "How is Bleusnout? Smiley? Gilad? The dwarves?"

Gendifur nodded and smiled. "All good. I had to treat one of the dwarves for alcohol poisoning, which she told me wasn't something that could happen to scavengers. There were some minor wounds to some of them, and many of Gilad's students were heavily injured and are recovering. The fight was mercifully quite fast, with many casualties on the other side. They focused on trying to kill Brutus, Gilad, and two of the heavily armored dwarven warriors. All of whom take a lot of killing. Larry showed up at the end and attacked from the rear of the fight. He knocked down two of them, and the rest begged for mercy and dropped their weapons."

"And Justin is feeling much better. Thank God he's feeling better and sleeping at the barracks. Larry and his new friends sat here half the day, watching over him. I heard every Hamster Huey story sixteen times." Milo could picture Larry sitting and telling stories.

"As to Bleusnout and Smiley, what I took from you saved them. It kept them alive for a day until the elixir could be used. Both are up and around, trying to get things back to normal." She looked down at the rings on her and Milo's hands. "New normal? Things changed. Bleusnout announced that Smiley is taking over as Cheese Master. Bleusnout wants just to make a little cheese and teach a class for the young whelps. He says he might even take a trip to Gouda Hollow to visit friends and trade recipes."

"What happened to Rifkin? He was the cause of a lot of this; what will happen to him?"

Gendifur snarled. "Something bad, I hope. But we may never know for sure. He got away. Chewed through the ropes and crawled off with broken legs. His trail led out to the gathering fields and disappeared."

The day before...

In the confusion after the battle, no one was paying attention to Rifkin as he lay on his bed quietly, recovering from his broken bones. He was tied to his bed, but he managed to saw through the rope with a small tool kept in his sleeve. He used skulk and unnoticed to move to the shadows and crawl from the room slowly. Along the way, he stole what medicine he could to deaden the pain. He needed to get away. There was an area past the gathering fields where he could hide. A small cave where he had a stash of food and cheese just for such an emergency. He could make it that far, he was sure. He'd get to another Hollow and start rebuilding. He could pose as a wandering trader, bartering some of the recipes he had copied from Bleusnout's cookbooks.

He made it as far as the first field and the bushes that were growing there. Where had these come from? Fortuitous, he thought. No one would look for him under the thick bushes, and he could rest. While crawling through them, he realized they were jelly bean bushes. Some of them even had beans on them. They were all green. He had never had that color before, but all of them had beneficial effects. Maybe green would help heal his bones? By the time he reached the center of the bushes, he'd eaten a double handful. The taste was sour as vinegar, but he felt much better, and his legs no longer hurt.

In the center of the bushes was a cleared space with a strange magical effect hovering in the air. The rift sparked and sputtered, but he could see another place through it. Large fields of flowers and patches of forests showed in the limited view. The rift sparked and got smaller. Rifkin made a quick decision and dove through it. His passage disrupted the unstable rift further, and with a pop, it disappeared. He'd escaped!

A huge green hand wrapped around his tail and lifted him up. "I gots one, Granny! I gots one! Caught him on the first try!"

Rifkin grew ill as he swung back and forth. "Put me down, you idiot! I'm someone important!"

Greggy Gerkin took a look at Rifkin. "He's feisty, that's for sure. He looks sort of like Larry, but someone shrunk him. He smells nice, though"

Big Pickle got a better grip on the tail he was holding and held him up higher to look at him. "Can we keep him? He's already turning green!"

Granny put on her spectacles and looked. Sure enough, the little Larry-thing was turning green, and its hair was falling out. "Oh, that's a good sign. He likes his jelly beans green!"

She chuckled and pointed to the pickling vat. "Brush off the rest of his fur, Greggy, and have Big Pickle lock him in the vat until he's done. We need some new pickles in the gang, and he's as sour as they come."

Rifkin screamed and cursed as his fur was brushed off, and he was thrown into a vat of vinegar and dill. There was barely enough room at the top to catch his breath. Granny decided it was time to leave. "Let's get a move on. I'd hoped to catch a fairy coming through that hole, but this one will do. No sense in staying around and having Larry catch up with us. Big and Greggy nodded. That was smart. It was time to move on to another fairy town. This one was too dangerous with a Hero protecting it.

Big Pickle had a question. "What's his name, Granny? Huh? What's his name?"

Granny thought for a moment, then seeing the scowl on Rifkin's face, she knew. "Welcome to the family, Sour Pickle."

Chapter 181: Recovering

The news that Rifkin had escaped bothered Milo, but at the same time, he thought there was little that sneakybadguy could do anymore to hurt Limburger Hollow. No one trusted him, and he'd be grabbed as soon as he poked his nose out of whatever hole he was hiding in. And, of course, there was Larry. Larry didn't like Rifkin, and with how keen Larry's senses were, if Rifkin had any survival instinct, he would go far, far away.

Milo was just happy to have things settling down. It seemed like people in the Hollow were getting back to normal. People were going about their work, waving to each other and talking, with the glassy-eyed stares fading away. Milo began his day with breakfast, getting in line at the mess hall. Several ratkin greeted him and congratulated him on his promotion. A few suggested he skip ahead in the line, but he politely said no. He had time today, and moving fast made his head hurt.

The cooks surprised him. Smiley and Bleusnout were at the grill, tossing puffcakes into the air, but so were Ringtail and Tweedle. They were happily grinding mushrooms and making the batter. All four of them waved to Milo, Bleusnout pointing him to a table on the side of the kitchen. "Grab a chair; I'll have a fresh batch on your plate in a minute. You have to taste this latest recipe we came up with!" The smell was delicious, and Milo happily sat down. Just walking across the Hollow had tired him out. Bleusnout put a huge plate of pancakes in front of him and waited for him to taste them.

Milo's eyes got huge. They had the crisp, rich taste of puffcakes but the creamy interior of cheeseycakes. "You put the recipes together!" He began eating faster.

Bleusnout smiled. "The twins came up with it. They claim on purpose, but I think Ringtail or Tweedle, I can never tell them apart, started making one recipe and his brother the other, and they dumped them both into the large mixing bowl. The result, though, was outstanding. Everyone likes them." Milo certainly agreed.

The chef looked around the room, nodding to ratkin as they waved to him. "Which is good because the Hollow is going to be eating them every day for a long time. We got so very lucky that we had started making them, and you continued even after I was gone. The Golden Puffball mushroom has enzymes that fight toxins, including spider cheese ingredients that were controlling most people. Most of the Hollow just became very focused on their jobs but wouldn't follow Rifkin's commands blindly. We are making sure everyone eats a meal of Cheesy Puffcakes every day. The small amount of cheese, along with cleaning out the toxins in their bodies, will have everyone back to normal soon."

Milo finished his plate. "And they taste good. I should probably have another plateful for medicinal purposes." Bleusnout smiled and brought him another plate and a jar of syrup. Milo sat, ate for half a bell, and then sat and watched the Hollow. As mealtime was ending, there was a loud knocking at the door.

"Can Larry and his friends come in for breakfast?"

Bleusnout yelled back. "Of course. It is always good to see Larry and his new friends." The door opened up, and Larry walked in. Many of the ratkin present were still getting used to his new appearance. Larry was walking upright with his head held high. His teeth were straight and even, and he smiled often. His fur gleamed, and he had ribbons in his hair. Most surprising was how he moved. Larry used to shuffle, but now he glided, moving across the room with grace and poise. Behind him came two other ratkin. They were smaller than Larry but still bigger than anyone else in the Hollow, except maybe some of the guards or Gendifur.

Rosie and Buttercup were scared. This was a new place like Flowertown was a new place. They liked Flowertown. They had been given bubbly baths and had their hair combed like momma had used to do for them. Both had ribbons in their hair, and Rosie had her doll freshly cleaned and repaired by Pansy. Each was wearing a new dress provided by the mages of Clan Puffyfur. On their feet were pink weasel slippers, similar to Larry's. Hesitantly, and with Larry's help, they came into the room and sat at a table. Bleusnout brought each of them a stack of pancakes, and they were urged to eat.

Bleusnout would be monitoring their cheese intake. The girls had a long way to go, but helping them recover from what was done to them was important to him. It had helped him make the decision to turn his ring over to Smiley. They were already a little better. Larry was watching over them, and he had lots of helpers. After they had all eaten, Larry produced a book and handed it to Milo. "Will Tallsqueak come read Hamster Huey and Gooey Kablooie? Tallsqueak does the squeaky voices better than Larry." Milo, Larry, and their new friends went out on the porch where Larry and Tallsqueak used to take their meals. Stories were told, and then Larry and Tallsqueak helped the girls to learn the Happy Hamster Hop. Rosie got so excited that she dislocated Tallsqueaks shoulder. They all visited Gendifur, who rolled her eyes before twisting his arm back into the socket. She gave both of the girls a bag of jellybeans.

In the evening, after Larry and the girls returned to Flowertown, Milo relaxed and started going through neglected notifications.

You have killed General Gangrene, a level 19 Claw Warrior, and put an end to his dastardly plans.

-The Hollow has awarded you his two remaining magical items: The Mace of the Apocalypse and the War Master's Ring.

-You have earned Contribution Points in Limburger Hollow.

You have donated Blood and Bone to save the lives of others.

-You have earned Contribution Points in Limburger Hollow.

You have put a stop to the plans of SneakyBadGuy, a level 10 Crafty Schemer

-You have earned Contribution Points in Limburger Hollow.

You have slain the noble spider, H'Spat, who led a raid upon the Hollow

-You have earned Contribution Points in Limburger Hollow.

You have defeated and captured the Iron Spider and defeated her raid on the mines.

-You have earned Contribution Points in Limburger Hollow.

.

.

You have taught Charlotte how to play surprise, Engineer style.

-You have earned Contribution Points in Limburger Hollow.

You have aided the Tail Master in training young Claw Warriors in fighting Techniques

-You have earned Contribution Points in Limburger Hollow.

You have reached the maximum contribution points possible. Excess Contribution points will be converted to Core Skill Points.

One flashing message directed him to the Contributions Board. No matter how many times he clicked it off, it came back. Something that persistent must be important. With a full belly and under orders not to strain himself, he went to the contribution board to see what he could buy with his points.

Chapter 182: Thank you for Contribution

You have maximized your contribution points to Limburger Hollow and fulfilled several quests before they were offered to you.

The following rules apply:

-You will no longer be charged contribution points for meals. This includes up to two cheesy snacks a day or more if approved by Gendifur or Smiley.

-You have earned tenure in the Tower of Strife. You will be addressed as Professor Tallsqueak by all students.

-As a current member of the Conclave, you may use contribution points to pay for raising the cap on your characteristics. Frankly, you had so many we just went ahead and paid for it. Your Current Caps for Tier 2 have been raised to 10.

Your available Core Skills have been revised based on circumstances. Of great importance, we would like to point out that Pudding Based Regeneration is no longer available, and you will have to keep your bones. You have a total of 150 Core Skill points to spend. You may not earn more Core Skill points in Tier 2

Generic Core Skills: Any player has access to these Core Skills. Many more skills can be learned by finding teachers, reading books, completing quests, or doing mighty deeds. The cost of Generic Core skills will increase with each Tier. Choose wisely. Putting off a skill today may cost you more tomorrow.

Name Description Cost

Increase Health 1 +50 points to Health score 3

Increase Health 2 +100 points to Health score (Must have level 1 first.) 7

Increase Health 3 +150 points to health score (Must have level 2 first.) 12

Increase Health 4 +250 points to Health score (Must have level 3 first.) 15

Increase Health 5 +450 points to Health score (Must have level 4 first.) 20

Increase Mana 1 +50 points to Mana score 3

Increase Mana 2 +100 points to Mana score (Must have level 1 first.) 7

Increase Mana 3 +150 points to Mana score (Must have level 2 first.) 12

Increase Mana 4 +250 points to Mana score (Must have level 3 first.) 15

Increase Mana 5 +450 points to Mana score (Must have level 4 first.) 20

Increase Stamina 1 +50 points to Stamina score 3

Increase Stamina 2 +100 points to Stamina score (Must have level 1 first.) 7

Increase Stamina 3 +150 points to Stamina score (Must have level 2 first.) 12

Increase Stamina 4 +250 points to Stamina score (Must have level 3first.) 15

Increase Stamina 5 +450 points to Stamina score (Must have level 4 first.) 20

Second Wind 1 Once per day, regain 20 Health/Mana/Stamina. 2

Second Wind 2 Once per day, regain 50 Health/Mana/Stamina. 5

Second Wind 3 Once per day, regain 100 Health/Mana/Stamina. 7

Breathless 2 You may hold your breath 10x as long. (10 minutes.) 2

Tier 2 Stats Cap Increase. Increase the cap on a statistic. You may buy this ability up to 5 times to raise the cap on a stat to a max of rank 10 in Tier 2. Rank 10 is a Hard Cap for all stats in Tier 2. 2

Purchase Bonus Points:

These abilities add to your stats. Gaining bonuses does not affect stats gained by ranks.

Spirit of the Ox 2 +1 Bonus to STR. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way 4

Spirit of the Bear 2 +1 Bonus to CON. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way 4

Spirit of the Monkey 2 +1 Bonus to DEX. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way 4

Spirit of the Owl 2 +1 Bonus to INT. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way 4

Spirit of the Cheetah 2 +1 Bonus to AGI. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way 4

Spirit of the Pig 2 +1 Bonus to WIS. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way 4

Spirit of the Hawk 2 +1 Bonus to PER. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way 4

Spirit of the Swan 2 +1 Bonus to CHA. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way 4

Rune-Boned Scout Core Skills

Name Description Cost

Gain knowledge of the mundane Rune: Lux The Rune of Light and Radiance 10

Gain knowledge of the mundane Rune: Tenebrae The Rune of Darkness, Corruption, and the Hidden 10

Gain knowledge of the advanced Rune: Draconis The Rune of Eels and Betrayal 10

Gain knowledge of the advanced Rune: Nihil The Rune of nothing and the void 10

Gain knowledge of the advanced Rune: Formation The Rune of making and creation 10

Smugglers Stash 4 Storage Skill. Summons/Dispels a magical chest. Size increases with rank. Fifty-four cubic feet. 20

Smugglers Summoning 1 Transfer a spell component, food, or potion to your hand from your stash. Time: 3 seconds Cost: 100 stamina. (Time to summon items and stamina cost goes down with Levels.) 10

Skilled Provider Your gathering skills have an increased chance of finding better quality items 1/2/3

Heroic Leap

3x Leap Distance

5

Claws of Alta-Viator (2)

+40 Damage

10

Spine of Volax-Repat (3)

+40 Damage

20

Grunt and Throw Hands You have a talent for primitive charades, and ways to make yourself known when you don't know the native language. 1

Under-Linguist Given a few days, and enough people talking, you can learn enough of new language to understand 90% of what you hear, and you can carry on a basic conversation, with only small mistakes showing this is not your native language. Within a month, you'll speak like a native. Time may vary depending on the creatures involved. Humanoids with lips are easier. Telepathic rocks take longer. 7

Shadow Skulking 1 Reduce the Perception of anyone trying to detect your presence, see through your human/rat illusion, or use an identify skill upon you. You may purchase three levels in Tier 2. 3/3/3

Were-Rat Core Skills Tier 2

Name Description Cost

Totally Normal Human Improved Disguise/Illusion in Were form. You may openly walk as a human, even in were-form, and pass for one of them. Creatures much above your level, or with a good sense of smell, or who can see through illusions may not be affected. 10

Many small eyes Make friends with local rats who will (maybe) do some scouting for you.

Not Available in hollows due to a lack of normal rats. Perhaps moles? 5

See through small eyes Increased control of your small scouts, and you can use their eyes instead of your own. 10

Skill Upgrade: Cheese Mastery Expands Cheesemaking beyond easy recipes. 5

Strong Disease Resistance Gain the CON skill Strong Disease Resistance. It gives benefits to resist Strong Diseases from nature or spells. You are immune to most common diseases. 7

Extra Stabby! All of your attacks have an increased chance of a critical hit. 3/7/12/15/17

Fiendishly Clever Traps Your traps and machinery almost always work, and in fiendish ways, no one (sometimes even you!) suspected. Everyone gets a surprise. This core skill affects Mechanic, Trap-Maker, and other such skills. 3/6/9

Strong Regeneration Grants increased, (x8), health recovery. Regenerate scar tissue and missing body parts in 1 to 3 days. A steady diet of cheese speeds the process. 20

Magical Aspects open up options to learn more mage skills. Each additional aspect has an increased cost. Gaining an aspect does not automatically give you spells .

Chill of the Grave You have a high Death aspect. Training will let you learn Death magic—increasing cost with additional aspects. Increase your Corruption by +1. It opens more options for mage abilities. Increased ranks decrease mana costs of casting spells. 5/10/25

Deeds in the Dark You have a high darkness aspect. Training will let you learn dark magics. Increasing cost with additional aspects. Increase your Corruption by +1. It opens more options for mage abilities. Increased ranks decrease mana costs of casting spells. 5/10/25

Storm Born You have a high Storm aspect. Training will let you learn Storm magics. Increasing cost with additional aspects. It opens more options for mage abilities. Increased ranks decrease mana costs of casting spells. 5/10/25

Individual Abilities: You have earned these through quests or adventuring.

Spirit of Durgi Forefather +1 Bonus to TOU (Dwarves only.) It may be taken three times per tier. 4

Blessing of Hekate: Canine Speech You can almost understand dogs, and they understand you. 2

Guardian Pet 1 Who's the Big Dog? Your pet increases in both size and intelligence. 2

Guardian Pet 2 Your pet gains attack skills and double health and mitigation 5

Make things go BOOM! You may purchase the Primary skill: Demolitions (DEX or INT) 5

Poisoner You may purchase the Primary skill: Poisoner (INT) 5

Smile and Lie like a Professional You may purchase the Primary skill: Diplomacy (INT or CHA) 5

Milo sat and rested while digesting the new information. Many of the things he had accomplished had given him contribution points. He assumed this worked for all the people in Limburger Hollow. Contribution points could be spent on many things to improve life, like food, or to gain training and favors from others. It was like quests that you didn't know about but could guess at. If it was good for the Hollow, you would be rewarded for your work and could take the rewards as needed. Many things about the Hollow clicked into place. While individuals were free to do as they liked, there was a benefit to helping others and contributing to the big picture.

Blackwhisker and the other players treated the Hollow like a place to do some quests and gain some skills, but it was so much more. An idea was forming, one he wanted to explore. He tucked it away in a part of his head where it wouldn't get lost. He needed to do some thinking and to think he had to be doing something. Not doing anything made Milo uneasy. Luckily, he had some jobs that required little to no thinking. One of those was mining. He wandered through the Hollow and back to the mines. The cathedral was mostly empty now, the refugees had returned to their homes, and Gendifur cared for the wounded. A group of miners were clustered around the dwarves, discussing mining, of course.

Milo pulled up a seat and sat down to listen. He noted that every miner from the Hollow now had a Dark Steel pick in their hands or back, and they all showed use. Milo remembered the old pick he'd found and how much faster and easier it had cut through rock. He shared a love of good tools with his fellow engineers, and it seemed that love was also shared by miners everywhere. He listened to the talk of opening up new shafts and bringing in the parts to assemble a subrogator to process Deep Copper and a Blast Furnace to make Dark Iron ore into Dark Steel. Limburger Hollow would get an upgrade in technology in the next few months. Master Clawhammer and Sledgemonkey seemed to have become instant friends and were discussing a multitude of new projects that the Engineers and the Hollow could work on together.

After a bit, Milo excused himself and wandered off into the mines. Finding a large vein of Deep Copper, he started to chip away at it, slowly breaking up the ore and creating a large pile. Back in the cathedral cavern, the dwarves just nodded to each other and chuckled. Two Screws filled in Clawhammer on the joke. "He can't quit. After we let him join up, you should have seen him running around repairing old machinery. He didn't stop, and he got all of us running behind him and working just as hard. Sometimes we built things, and sometimes we blew things up." He snorted and took a deep pull on his stein of beer. "Remind me to tell you about how we blew up the entire base trying to kill a snake. Good times. That was what endeared him to us the most. All engineers like to keep working. But for him, it's like a compulsion. He feels better working and fixing things."

Sledgemonkey chuckled. "Or breaking things. We started with a dozen old subrogators, most needing to be repaired. He blew two of them up trying to fix them, then used the parts we scavenged from the wreckage to fix most of the others. You have to keep an eye on him at all times."

There was a rumble from the mines and the crash of rock. The engineer, known to some as Milo and others as Tallsqueak, came sprinting back into the cavern, pursued by a large beetle with a golden shell and sharp mandibles. Clawhammer got to his feet and yelled. "That's a Gold Borer Beetle; try not to damage the shell; lots of good metal plating on those." Milo nodded and dodged the beetle, then got his pick under the edge of the carapace and flipped it over. Three blows to the underside killed the four-foot-long beetle.

Sledgemonkey walked over and examined the beetle. "Nice. That shell is 90% Auric and 10% tin. Good for a lot of magitech components." Then he looked at Milo and scowled. "Weren't you supposed to be taking it easy? At least you only picked a fight with a little one."

Milo pointed back the way he came. "I broke into another cavern. Dozens of little ones, and uh...some bigger ones. Much bigger ones. I think they may be following me."

Sledgemonkey snapped down his armor's visor and pulled out his heavy spanner as the other dwarves and miners came over and waited for the beetles to show up. Milo noticed a lot of laughing but didn't know what was so funny.

Chapter 183: Claw Master Inc

Milo's list of things he needed to do was getting longer and stranger.

Research the party.

-Identify possible dangers of attending the party.

-Find out if they will have food at the party. (New things to try.)

-Find out why the group running section H is holding a party.

-Get stuff ready for a swap meet.

Research 'Gaming Gloves'

-Create a design for gaming gloves and set up fabricators.

Research Anime.

-Pick a favorite somehow.

Research ways to legally make money, store money, and use money.

Overhaul programming and fix the food system. Why is it breaking down so much?

-Find out how to add pancake batter to the food system.

-Find out why the pneumatic delivery system in the hab was turned off or not working in most of the hab.

Fix the fluid leaking from Section H, level 56, into Section G.

-And find out how fluid from Section G is getting into Section E.

Find out why the excavators are stalled and not responding.

The party event was in a week, and the gang was going to attend. They'd heard it would have free food, games to play, and even a chance to win a gaming pod for GENESIS. It was open to anyone under 18 years old, and priority would be given to children of Manpower employees first. Everyone was excited about it, and Butch wanted Milo to go. Even if they didn't get in, a huge swap meet would happen nearby, and it would be a great time to trade games and pick up broken ones to compare. Milo tentatively agreed to go but wanted more information. The normal swap meets with a couple of hundred people made him nervous. This event would be in the thousands. Once he knew exactly where he would be, he could also plan escape routes out of the area. If he started feeling anxious because of too many people, the best place for him was a crawl space or service tunnel.

The best place to get information would be right from the source. He set up a program to review all of the Manpower Corporations' communications and flag references to the party. Then he got on the data net, used an anonymous link, and looked for the gaming gloves that Brad and Butch had discussed. Several brands came up immediately. Most were knock-off brands. They were just very comfortable and sporty-looking gloves that slightly aided a user's circulation. The originals were a much more complex item.

While his system was running through mountains of files looking for party references, he gathered information on 'gaming gloves.' He hadn't expected anyone to question the gloves he was wearing, but they had all assumed that Ghost was wearing some type of new gloves. Now he needed to find out what they were. He needed to wear his gloves if he was going to an event like the party, and the best way to disguise them was to have the whole group wearing them. But what were they?

He found references to gaming gloves going back decades. The term was used for anything you wore on your hands that had something to do with playing games. Milo found that annoying. The early ones were just an aid to keep your palms from getting sweaty. He looked at newer products from the last five years. That narrowed the search and broke the products into categories. The largest group was just copies of older gloves that gave a better grip, managed sweat, or kept your hands warm in cold rooms. He deleted all of those.

That left several more expensive products. Some had internal temperature and humidity controls and massaged a player's hands subtly to relieve fatigue. This was probably the 'gnarly gaming gloves' that Butch had referred to. 'Gnarly' had sent Milo down a rabbit hole trying to define the term and see how it applied to gloves. The term dated back to the 1800s in both what used to be the United States and Great Britain. It had a resurgence in the 1980s as a term used to describe ocean waves and then became an adjective that could be used in many ways, both good and bad. It was a versatile word for many occasions. But it had nothing to do with gloves.

The third category was dominated by one product: The M-1000 Pro-Gaming Handware from Ubergear. Advertisements promised that a pair of these ultra-expensive gloves could cut reaction time for hand-held controllers by up to 23%. Independent testing mostly agreed, but outside tests were closer to 21.5%. There was much debate about the new gloves and whether they should be allowed in tournaments. But many commenters pointed out that the top gamers already used better gear than 99.9% of their opponents. Chairs that reduced fatigue and supplied nutrients. Special dietary supplements to increase reaction time through a better diet. M-1000 was just the latest in a long line of tech that was being adapted to use by gamers. Once everyone at the professional level used them, things would even out. And Ubergear would be raking in the profits.

The original tech came from a defunct military project. Milo found this out when he downloaded schematics of the technology from one of Ubergear's competitors. Gearhead Corp has spent ten million dollars to get the schematics from someone who had hacked Ubergear's servers. Milo got them from Gearhead for free. As he went through the technology, he recognized sections of the design. When creating his own gloves, he had looked at all of the available military tech he could find. Many corporations were trying to design 'smart armor' and make a profit from military hardware. So far, the designs had either been expensive and not worked well or worked well but with a price tag that no one wanted to pay. An army that was 20% more effective but cost 100 times as much was a bad deal. It was more profitable to send 20% more soldiers and recruit more when casualties mounted. Corporations and governments had the same outlook.

Milo had retro-engineered all the viable tech, improved on them, and then created his own designs. For himself, a huge amount of money was well spent. He was creating an entire suit of interlocking microscopic pieces that moved as fast as he did. There was only one of him, and casualties mattered.

The mechanical-nerve interface in Ubergear's gloves came from a Russian-designed combat armor that was stronger than a tank and with more firepower. It also came at a price that could buy twenty tanks. The armor didn't wait for the pilot to move; it read the intent in his nerve cells and reacted immediately. This type of tech was the basis for most smart armor. Rather than a negative feedback system that used sensors in contact with the user's body, the interface reacted as soon as the wearer thought about moving. After the military research department of Alchemarx shelved the technology, it was licensed to Ubergear. When the M-1000 became a hit, Alchemarx instigated a stock sell-off to drive down the value of Ubergear based on claims of faked reports. They bought Ubergear for 40% of its value, did public testing, denounced the stock manipulators, and started work on a factory to produce millions of M-1000 Ultimate Gaming Handware. Other companies had responded with knockoff brands but couldn't achieve the same increase in reaction time of the Ubergear gloves.

Now armed with the knowledge of what the guys wanted, Milo started work on new designs. He wanted to make gloves that would help the guys react quicker when gaming and looked just like his own gloves. They would look like the second category of glove that gave a better grip, reduced sweat and massaged the user's hands. But he saw no reason to make an inferior product. He left in the complete nerve interface and micro-muscular that could interact with a game controller. His gloves used layers of titanium and graphene. The gloves he was designing now would be 99.99% cheaper to produce than the multi-million dollar set he'd be wearing.

The first set he made in the fabricators had problems. The micro-muscles were too strong and could break a controller. He experimented to find the correct strength and modified the design. He also incorporated security into the programs run by the micro-computer. He didn't want someone experimenting with his gloves and accidentally crushing their fingers by resetting the strength of the motors. When he was done, he had two versions. The first was fingerless; the second was a full glove. The full glove was 1% more effective than the fingerless version and gave better fingertip control. Doing his own tests, he found that his gloves were better than the Ubergear gloves, coming in at a 34% increase in reaction for the fingerless version and 35% for the full finger sets. Satisfied with the design, he had his fabricators make four sets of each.

He took some precautions with the gloves. Each set would work for just one person. When each of the guys put them on, the gloves would analyze their DNA. Anyone else attempting to use the gloves wouldn't be able to turn them on. Any attempt to tamper with the glove's programming or integrity would cause the micro-motors to destroy the nerveware and wipe the software, turning them into scrap.

Something bothered him, and finally, he realized it wasn't the gloves but their look. Ubergear looked good. They had a red and black design with the company logo. His were black. Plain, boring black. He needed to make them distinctive. It took him the rest of the night to come up with something he liked, and then he did another set of gloves with a new look, making his gloves sport the same style. The gloves had silver highlights that glinted in the light as they moved. Not something that would distract the user, but obvious to someone watching. The logo on the back of the gloves was four jagged slashes cutting through the word 'Claw Master.' He hoped Butch and the guys appreciated the extra work, not that he could tell them that he had made them.

Milo had been turning that problem over in his mind while he worked. He settled on the idea that he'd been testing prototype gloves for a new company. He hadn't said anything because of the Non-Disclosure agreement he had signed. He had copies of the same agreement for the gang to sign when he gave them the gloves. They could show them off and use them but not loan them out or sell them. The contract even had a generous sum of money that the Claw Master corporation would pay at the end of the short testing period.

Again, Milo paused, sensing a loose end; There was no Claw Master Corporation. Anyone who checked would know that and know that the agreement wasn't worth the plasticard it was printed on. This could lead to trouble for the gang. He needed the corporation to be real. And if it was real? Several thoughts cascaded through his brain. He filed them under the heading 'Find ways to make money.' Later, he filled out the ideas.

Creating and hiding his corporation turned out to be easier than he had thought. Small corporations had fought for laws that would help them protect themselves from larger corporations. Larger corporations used those same laws to protect their divisions from each other. Someone could research a corporation and communicate with them without the corporation divulging where they were located and who its officers and owners were. Many firms handled the front end for hidden research corporations that wanted people to know what they had to offer but didn't want to be a target for Alchemarx, Acme, Solent, or any of the other dozens of large and powerful entities. Milo just had to find someone he thought he could trust to handle that chore for him, negotiate contracts, collect the money, and hold it securely for him.

Milo didn't trust people. So he found someone else.

Wally would say he wasn't surprised; things just happened that he had foreseen but had a very low probability of occurring. Milo contacting him to get help with negotiating a contract for online workers had been one of the few times he hadn't foreseen something. After that, he thought about other things Milo might do. Milo asking him to take 25% ownership in 'Claw Master Inc' in exchange for running the front end of the business and protecting Milo's patents was very far down the list. The work was negligible for him, and the novelty of the situation was high. The AI agreed. Patents were filed but kept secret for now. And Wally had made a request of his own.

Steven Duran was mildly surprised to find a present on his desk. Checking security cameras showed it had arrived at the building, been scanned and approved by Wally, and then sent to his desk. Opening them, he found a sleek pair of thin grey gloves with a company logo on the back. "Wally, who is 'Claw Master,' and why did you approve of them sending me a bribe?"

The AI appeared on the large screen across from Steven. "A bribe? No, I don't think so, especially since I bought those for you. I think the company tournament is coming up in two days, and you've barely had any time to practice, you've been working so hard. Those will let you be more competitive."

Steven flexed the gloves; they did feel comfortable. "Everyone else will certainly be wearing a pair of M-1000s; how will giving me a knockoff brand help me compete?"

"I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Oh, and I need you to sign an NDA before you leave the office. Company policy."

Chapter 184: Party Research

A half-hour later, Milo had to admit to himself that the party wasn't some nefarious scheme by an evil corporation. It was a media event designed to gain free advertising for the Manpower Corporation and to help launch their new streaming channel, Great Gaming. But for people from the hab attending the event, it was just entertainment and free food. And a type that most young hab dwellers had never seen. Someone had the good idea to fill a room with people playing games to advertise a channel where all they did was talk about games. Milo approved of this. But he wondered, was there a cheese channel?

A minute later, he answered the question: There was a cheese channel! Or close to it. It was a cooking and dining channel from France, and all of its programs included cheese as part of each episode. No dinner ended without showing the proper cheese that went with each meal. He dedicated one of his viewscreens only to show that channel and, in a moment of daring, subscribed to a weekly meal shipment. Once a week, he'd get a ready-to-heat meal featured on the show and fruit and cheese that went with the cheese. He was a little nervous trying food that way, but he could always just eat the Meal. Thinking about crab-stuffed chicken in hollandaise sauce, he realized he'd lost an hour of work. He needed to remember his lessons! Cheese was dangerous!

An entire floor of section H was being turned into one big media staging room. Presentations would run non-stop for new games coming out and new gaming products. An entire hour was dedicated to showing off the M-1000 gloves and other gaming apparel from Ubergear. Milo didn't think much about the name of their channel. 'Great Gaming' was too generic, and why would you play a game that wasn't great? Across the huge auditorium, hundreds of arcade-style games were set up in clusters representing the decades they had come out. There was a display with a little round screen where two people could play a simple tennis game with a bouncing ball. 'Tennis for Two' was invented in 1958 as part of a presentation at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. An area nearby had an ancient system that could play a different game by inserting a cartridge. The Fairchild Channel F system had been quickly forgotten after Atari brought out their system, but during the party, gamers could sit down and experience what it was like to play one of the first video game systems.

Row on row of arcade games were hooked up. Stand-up arcade games like Defender, Asteroids, and Centipede were arranged in a circle. As games were played, the screen was duplicated on larger screens hanging from the ceiling. There were two-player tabletop games featuring all the versions of Pacman and Space Invaders and even the six-person version of Starship Commander. SC6, as it was nicknamed, was infamous as both the best and worst game of its era. The concept was ambitious. Several races were at war in the Andromeda system, fighting over ten worlds and numerous moons and asteroids. The game was notoriously difficult to play. The game was huge, with room for six people to sit in separate areas around the center console. One person had the role of captain and could allocate energy between shields, weapons, and repair teams. He also got to fire the Photonic Blaster Cannon once an hour. Two other players controlled the right and left side weapons, which could be a mix of lasers, missiles, and gravity lances. Missiles were limited in quantity, and the other weapons took energy allocated by the captain. Arguments between the captain and his gunners were common. The most preferred jobs were the fighter pilots, who each had a light attack craft that could dogfight with other LAC or attack ships directly.

The final crew member was the navigator, responsible for maneuvering the ship in space, giving the gunners their arcs of fire, all while avoiding enemy fire, asteroids, space pirates, and other navigational hazards. Failure inevitably meant a damaged ship or a complete loss when a fusion reactor exploded. If the team lost, it was common to blame the navigator. Moving the ship was made even harder because the game was in three dimensions. The navigator had to manage pitch, roll, and yaw using thrusters with the aid of six screens. Many professional teams broke up when their navigator checked into a hospital with PTSD.

When a team logged into the internet to play, they were competing with other ships worldwide. The game became an immediate hit with gaming groups who formed teams to compete from their local gaming centers. Corporations bought the game and had logos displayed on their spaceships. The rich bought their games and hired people to play as their dedicated crew. At the peak of the popularity of the game, there were 83,000 games available for use worldwide, but after two years, the war had grown stale, corporate teams dominated the game, and so few non-corporate teams logged in that the servers were shut down. SC6 faded into history. Manpower had found a dozen working copies of the machines, and they would be set up for the party with their own dedicated server. The war for Andromeda would continue.

Milo was impressed. Someone had gone to great lengths to create the event. He already had anxiety about the number of people it would attract, but he desperately wanted to play some of those games. If only the food were better. The menu didn't look that appealing to him. Most of it was the same things you could get from a food processor. Milo saw each ad they had placed on the data net included an address to send suggestions and ideas. He found the folder and inserted his suggestions, putting his message near the top of the queue.

Party research done, he turned his attention to figuring out what anime was all about.

Belinda stretched as best she could in her wheelchair. Every day was a little different as they adjusted her medications, trying to find a correct treatment for what ailed her. She had been able to walk a little this week in physical therapy, but only with braces on her legs and rails next to her. Two therapists stood to either side in case she got off balance. Some days it was easier to stay in the wheelchair. And some weeks, it was impossible to get around without her chair. At its worst, her disease cost her the use of most of her body except her right arm and hand. She constantly worked on keeping control of that one link to a normal life. With an arm and a hand, she could move her chair, play some games, and use the data network. Her therapist said that constant use would keep her nerves and muscles working together. So even when the rest of her body rebelled, her right arm and hand were exercised during all her waking hours.

She wanted to have fun at the party and meet some people. Her therapists and bodyguards weren't friends, and Daddy was...well, Daddy. She thought he meant well, but deep down, John was too competitive. They had played games together when she was small, but she'd seen a growing annoyance as she got older. He didn't like to lose, even to his own daughter. And she wasn't going to lose at one of the few things she was good at. John didn't like to lose at anything, especially business and gaming. He was still upset over missing the World Boss raid she had led.

She was upset that she couldn't play GENESIS for a month. The recent round of medications hadn't worked well, and the doctors had worried about her using a gaming pod. She would have ignored them, except John had taken her pod away. That was when she started calling him John and not Daddy. She knew he hated it. Calling him by his first name was her way of saying, "You aren't my real father." It was cruel, but so was taking away her pod. In GENESIS, she could walk and run. And she had friends. She wondered what Milo was up to. He was probably mad at her for flirting with him and then disappearing. He was so strange and focused. No one believed they weren't together somehow. No one gave away magic items as he had. Rumors were going around before she had to take a break from the game.

She had thrown herself into planning the party with nothing else to do. The event got delayed twice because of engineering problems. The elevator took forever to build; without it, Eric couldn't show off the Manpower facilities. But she used the delays to improve things. She'd spent the budget for games and then browbeat John and Eric into giving her more. With a bigger event, she had been able to bring in better vendors and entice advertisers. She had tentatively had Gearhead showing up and had dropped a hint to Ubergear when they inquired about the event. In the end, Gearhead was out, and Ubergear got a full hour of the event to show off their new products. She'd charged them a quarter million dollars and used the money to buy a dozen refurbished SC6 games. The things were huge when assembled, each one in the shape of a spaceship with six different sections for the crew to sit in. She had all of them linked to a series of screens for the audience to see the battles. Six teams were coming to play, all of them the remains of older teams from the game's heyday. Ubergear would be fielding a team as well, all equipped with their new gear.

It had been tricky getting things done. John had wanted her to be listed as part of the Manpower team putting on the event to capitalize on her popularity after the big raid. She refused. It was hard enough to meet people when she was in a wheelchair and living in a rusting metal mountain. She wanted to enjoy the day, let someone else run it and take credit. She had enjoyed spending the money. It was fun making suggestions that people had to take seriously. That reminded her to look at the email with suggestions from views on the Great Games channel. Most suggestions were dumb or repetitive, but some had been golden. The idea to revive SC6 had come from a suggestion someone had sent in. It was so easy to listen to people. She wished she could convince her step-father to do it more. He listened to himself way too much.

The first suggestion she looked at was interesting. "You need better food. If you live in the hab, it's boring to come to a party and eat the same stuff. And if you aren't used to to hab food, it's horrible. Why not serve things like macaroni and cheese with real cheese? And pancakes! Please set up a big grill with ten people making pancakes and have fruit and cheese and bacon and stuff to go with them. Everyone likes pancakes. And do some retro foods that are served over by the retro arcade games! Hot Dogs, Cheese Fries, and Funnel Cakes! Make it a carnival atmosphere. Did you know they used to make fried cheese? You dipped the battered fried cheese in sauces. It sounds great. We should have that at the party."

This message had to have come from one of the design staff. No one else knew what they were serving for food. She hadn't thought about it, but this person was right. Who had thought using the food processor in the habitat to make the food was a good idea? It was just cheap. She rewrote the suggestion and sent it out to a half dozen people, asking for input and wanting changes made. Then she called Francis. When she needed someone to do something immediately, she called Francis. She had made sure he got promoted and assigned to her staff for the party. He was a little odd, but at least he could think. "I've got a job for you, Francis. I need to find vendors for a food list and I want to sample it all tonight. Set it up, and you and your staff can have dinner with me and decide what we like from this list." John never understood people. She could have just told Francis to do the job, but this way was more fun. He and his team were funny sometimes, and eating alone was boring. She'd been using a carrot-and-stick approach with some of John's staff and slowly building her team. She wondered which person had sent that email. There was no way to trace it, but she wondered what other ideas they had.

Chapter 185: The Road to Bloth

Most sentient creatures curse the route to the City of Blothbezmadan. They joke that trying to get back out was the only thing harder than getting there. It wasn't much of a joke. Each of the routes to the city was worse than the next. Sheer drops that required poorly built winches to lower wagons one by one, caverns filled with hungry beasts, and packs of bandits of any race. If there was a difficulty that a merchant could encounter anywhere in the Under Realms, you could experience it going to Bloth.

Not many laughed at the joke; at best a few wry grimaces; at worse, a few things are thrown your way. Probably because not many of the city people (And we use that term loosely) had a sense of humor. They may have started with one, but Bloth ground humor, hope, and kindness into the stinking mud of its streets. Still, there was money to be made there, and with the lure of money came the hope of a better life for some people and overwhelming greed in all the rest. 'If you can make it big in Bloth, you can make it big anywhere.' was another non-joke. It was said a lot, but it was the truth. If someone could grind, trade, and stab their way to prosperity in Blothbezmadan, doing business in any other city would be easy by comparison. But very few could rise to the top of Bloth, and if you didn't have the hard coin, you weren't getting back out. Those few that fought their way to the top didn't leave either. Most had done things that would get them quickly hung in most of the Under Realms.

If the people who flocked to Bloth like wounded moths to a putrid flame could have made it to somewhere better, they would have gnawed off limbs to get there.

The Hollows, The Legion of Zilvren, and The Myconian Collective were all better places to live. Even the Slaver City of the Black Dwarves, Dinz-jot, had a better reputation than Bloth. Bloth was where you went when no one else would take you, and you needed a place to hide where even assassins didn't feel safe.

Cazact could at least claim to be successful enough to know how to leave Bloth. He also joked that he was dumb enough to keep coming back. He was known in Bloth as Cazact Dar, the Supplier. That name was a badge of honor, in some ways. A supplier brought things into the city, a very dangerous job. It was dangerous in Bloth, but more danger lurked on the roads to Bloth. Hungry escaped slaves lurked everywhere, life in the caverns making them desperate. Myconian blood slavers were on the prowl for mammals whose blood could enrich the roots of their ancestors. Predators that ate slaves, Myconians, and caravans added their own excitement. Every trip was different and dangerous in new ways. It was why Cazact loved his work. It was never dull.

Boring could be death to Cazact. His race lived for long centuries, and memories piled up on top of other memories, making their minds a hoard of trash that tumbled into madness too quickly. Repeating the same thing, growing bored, becoming jaded with life: these were the things to avoid. Cazact dodged insanity by throwing himself into fear, danger, and the thrill of new things.

Just walking through Bloth was an adventure. Eating in any of the horrible little taverns was risking your life, although it wasn't much of a risk since life was so cheap. If no one were paying to have you killed, most wouldn't expend the energy to end your life.

Two more days of travel, and Cazact would be back in Bloth. This journey had been profitable, but other than the dangers of lurking beasts had been like many other such journeys. Dinz-jot had been in the middle of their faction war, but Cazact had been to three such events and was bored by them. You could only see so many sacrifices dragged to an altar by their entrails before it became commonplace. He was hoping for a raid on his caravan, but the bandits had learned to avoid him. This thrilled the merchants that he led to and from Bloth but was beginning to annoy him.

His prayers for...well, anything...must have been received by some god or another. Two creatures fell from high in the upper cavern, rolling down a series of ledges and inclines, the smaller one fleeing from the larger when it could, diving off a ledge when it couldn't. The larger creature could not catch it, screaming in annoyance each time it escaped and then leaping after it. Neither seemed to worry about the injuries they were taking, or care that a sheer cliff was at the end of the journey. They rolled over the edge together, snarling and screaming. The sound of the two bodies hitting the cavern floor was ugly, including the snapping of bones and a peculiar splashing sound. Cazact took his dissection kit and notebook to examine their remains.

When he found that both were still technically alive, he was thrilled. This trip would yield something new after all. He called for chains and a large jar and collected his latest captives. He had no worries that they would both recover. The first was a smallish cheese fiend that had broken every bone in its body. The remarkable thing about it was that it was still conscious and could form words. Truly a genius of their kind. A stout cage and enchanted manacles ensured its captivity. Cazact had his guards waste no time restraining the beast as he knew only too well how fast they could recover. The stream of curses coming from its mouth was genuinely inventive, and Cazact learned two phrases he had never heard before.

The second creature was so curious that he almost paused the caravan for a day to observe it. Its liquid body had splashed over a wide area after the fall but had started immediately reforming. The guards found all its pieces and put them in the large jar he used to transport acidic slugs to Zilvren. The potency of the creature's excretions showed in how fast it could dissolve shovels and fingers. Most curious was how it reformed into a miniature humanoid. The pale little ratkin was amusing as it paced back and forth in the jar and ranted at him in a high, squeaky voice.

The two creatures hated each other and argued continuously during the journey if placed adjacent. A circular argument went on and on as the cheese fiend accused the blob of trying to steal its bones, and the blob shook its fist in anger and accused the fiend of ruining their friendship by rejecting it. But the most fantastic thing Cazact overheard from his captives was when they ranted about their true enemy. The fiend blamed someone named Tallsqueak for ruining its life. The Blob hated an Engineer named Milo for betraying it. Slowly Cazact realized they hated the same creature.

He couldn't wait to get them to his small laboratory in Bloth and begin experimentation to see what new things he could learn. Together they might help him stave off insanity for a decade or even longer.

Chapter 186: Who ordered an elevator?

An air duct with a 24" diameter was not someplace to be shooting through head first at 30 feet per second. Part of Milo's brain was calculating the risk, while another part calculated his chance at survival if any part of the duct had collapsed or changed. Mostly, Milo ignored those parts of his head and enjoyed the trip through the bowels of the habitat. He had thinking to do, and he couldn't think if he was sitting still. He had been racing through tunnels for most of the day, testing his new suit and fixing problems. Several topics kept swapping for the front of his mind: What to do about Section H and how it was infringing on his section? What to do in the game? What did he want to eat today? What did the problems with the excavators mean? And most importantly, what was his favorite Anime?

He had looked at the data from the excavators and was puzzled. The machines had all stopped working after constructing tunnels down to the exact same depth and then stopped after hitting something they couldn't tunnel through. The machines were equipped with sensors that would detect wires, pipelines, tunnels, rail systems, and any other man-made structure underneath the surface. This wasn't any of those and was a non-metallic substance. The excavators could grind through granite, basalt, and quartzite, but not whatever they had encountered. Milo would have to make the dangerous trip down to the excavators through the unstable tunnels to access the problem. It was low-priority but nagging at him. He didn't like mysteries of this sort.

He decided that dinner would be something called a 'melt.' There were all types of recipes using vat-grown chicken, fish, and vegetables. The recipes all called for toasted bread, something on top of the bread, and cheese. Milo didn't have any of the other ingredients, so he decided he would have a 'cheddar melt' with bread, slices of cheddar cheese, and melted Limburger on top of the cheddar. He was looking forward to it and thinking about other ways to make cheese sandwiches when he ran out of tunnel. Blame it on his stomach.

His memory said he had another 200 feet until the tunnel he was on turned. His eyes told him he was shooting out of the tunnel and into open space. Someone had constructed another Big Drop in Section H! He was surprised for just a fraction of a second as his mind struggled to get rid of thoughts of dinner, and dinner argued with him. That was when he slammed into the cable suspended in the middle of the drop. He twisted in mid-air to avoid hitting it head-on and wrapped his tail around the cable several times to keep him from falling off. His tail also argued with him, and he found another error in the design of his outfit. This one was causing his tail to only receive partial data from his nervous system. His tail wrapped around the greased cable but not tight enough to slow him. He hung in place for a second, took in the situation, and fell 30' to the elevator rising underneath him.

He'd had other solutions. He could have pushed off hard from the cable, but the chance of a lousy trajectory from the greased line gave him a high probability of not making it back to a wall. His claws could have dug into the cable to give him a secure grip, but that had the problem of cutting into the cable. A whipping strand of wire under high tension could tear off a limb, and if the line snapped, he would send the elevator to crash below. Simply falling on the roof of the elevator was the easiest solution. He managed to land on two feet and roll to absorb some of the impact, trying not to fall off the edge of the car. He didn't think he had broken any bones, but it took a full minute to regain his breath and regulate it. His wheelie board was lost somewhere below.

Milo heard voices beneath him in the elevator. His loud thump had caused some anxiety among the passengers, and it was time to leave. The distance from the elevator car's edge to the shaft's surface was only a few feet on one side. Milo spotted an air vent and leaped to it. It was a moment's work to undo the bottom screws, flip it up, and disappear into the tunnel. A moment later, the elevator stopped, and someone came out of the emergency hatch to look at the top of the car and see if there was damage. When the report was written, it stated that a piece of unknown debris had fallen in the shaft, bounced off the top of the car, and fell to the shaft's bottom. The end of the shaft already had such a huge accumulation of trash and similar debris that no one would bother going down to figure out what had fallen. When nothing else was found to be loose in the shaft, it became one more story told about by the engineers trying to repair section H.

Milo decided that was enough repairs for the day. He worked his way to a larger service tunnel and made his way home. He needed to fix the glitches in his equipment, start looking through the work in Section H and update his maps. That was going to be a continuous process from now on. He couldn't afford any more surprises. He was disappointed in himself for getting sidetracked in the first place. He had too many things on his mind. He needed to finish jobs and narrow his focus.

Before starting his dinner and getting side-tracked by which cheese to eat, he set up 12 monitors to each play a popular anime for five minutes. If he wasn't interested by then, it would skip to the next. He had promised Yumi he would find things he wanted to watch. That seemed to be the easiest way to sort through things. He turned the sound off and found subtitled versions. Reading fast was easy, but he couldn't listen to a jumble of voices, songs, and sound effects.

An hour later, he turned it all off and cleared his mind for a quarter-hour, pushing some images into his mental trashcan. It was time to reset his parameters. Anything with horror bothered him. Not the creatures themselves (mostly). It was the rest of the people in the anime. Why were people walking around unarmed with monsters around? Why did people freeze and let themselves be captured? They should be hiding! Why did so few people know how to fight? And what was up with tentacle creatures?! He enjoyed the giant robots fighting tentacle creatures and monsters more. At least someone had some common sense to build a giant robot to fight monsters. He finally narrowed his picks to three stories to take and watch with Yumi and downloaded them to a drive.

After eating a tasty sandwich of melted cheese and cheese, He started his last task: Deciding how to spend his points in the game.

He made a list of what he wanted and the costs, not worrying about a budget.

Smugglers Stash four and Smuggler's Summoning seemed essential in the long run. The more he could carry with him, the more self-sufficient he could be. Being able to summon an item without opening the entire chest made the hidden storage even better. That was 30 points. It was a unique skill, and no one knew he had it. It went on his 'Must Have' list.

Increasing his claw and tail damage would be 30 points. Was that something to work on now? He could wait and earn more points next tier. Or buy only the Claw upgrade and save 20 points?

Shadow Skulking for three levels was 9 points. This seemed too good to pass up. It made both his stealth and his disguise abilities better. Brutus and Justin had shown him that as he progressed, more and more people like the two guards would have skills to catch people like him hiding in the shadows. And Normal Human looked very powerful. But how much would he be in the upper world and needing that disguise? Still, for 10 points, it seemed very good.

He had three new skills he could buy. BoomBoom would never speak to him again if he didn't take Demolitions. But did he want Poisoner or Diplomacy? Each was 5 points. Maybe if he had extra points. Diplomacy meant talking to people and not fighting; he was pretty sure. He was better with logical arguments when both people knew the rules. But Diplomacy was a skill using CHA or INT. So he could take the skill and rely on his INT to convince people or take it as a CHA skill to raise that stat. And CHA gave him more mana. He thought of what Cremona could do with her class and spells. A poison aspect for mana wasn't on his list. Did she have one? He needed to bring her a nice cup of tea one night and ask for some answers.

If he were going to explore more, then 8 points for the language skills would be well spent. Both Under Linguist and Grunt and Throw Hands looked useful. Thinking about going back to exploring made him curious about so many things. The mysterious holes covered by illusion, the vast cavern below the Engineering outpost, and the strange locked door leading to a stairway down from the hidden tunnels he had found. The Hollow had taught him a lot, and he'd always come back to it, just like the outpost. But he missed being on his own. He missed making small camps with just him and his lizard. Georgie hadn't been out to play in ages. He should buy the pet skills to make him larger. A good watch lizard was invaluable when he was on his own.

Toughness was a must. Three points would cost 12 points, a bargain. Being able to shrug off damage the way the dwarves did had kept him alive more than once. His constant fighting with Larry had let him gain some levels in TOU, but he would take all he could get. It took a high level of punishment to gain experience in the stat. He understood the dwarves' fixation on machines like the Hurl and Puke. Sparring with Gilad hadn't done it. But Larry's insane strength and damage had given him some each night, and Cremona had helped his Strong Poison Resistance. Strong Disease Resistance was also an option, but he had encountered so few times where he needed it that he took it off the list. He had barely leveled Weak Disease Resistance.

That was 12 points, and the pet skills Guardian Pet 1 and 2 were seven points.

He was up to 96 points already. He could afford to pick up 13 points of stats with what was left. The stats he used most were DEX and INT. But both AGI and CON would keep him alive longer if he got into trouble. CHA and WIS were more mana, but he could also take the skills that increased his mana. Was 57 CSP worth it for 1000 mana? That was a 40% increase in mana. And another 57 would buy him 1000 health. That was cutting into his skills.

He wanted everything, but he wasn't going to get it. He needed the stats to make the same Milestone requirements as last time: one point in INT and three in DEX. PER was next for three points. He'd skip CHA but take Diplomacy. More health was good, and so was mana. Would he get better spells? Those would cost more mana; he was already running dry in many fights. He took the other two points of INT. He could buy the first three levels of extra mana for 22 points and gain 300 mana. Each level increased in cost and benefit, so starting now seemed wise. But that meant he had to drop something; he was four points over. He felt terrible dropping Guardian Pet. He could work on mana later. He bought Extra Mana 1 and 2 for seven points. He then used the remaining 8 to buy two points of CHA. That would also give him extra mana and double his poor CHA skill. He had his list; now, he'd let things sit for a day or two while his subconscious mulled things over. Things were quiet in the Hollow, and there was no hurry to spend the points.

His last task for the day was done, and Milo decided to get a little sleep. He'd check on his fabricators in the morning, meet up with Yumi, and then head back to the Hollow. He could use a quiet day for a change.

Chapter 187: Diagnostics

Gendifur was equally worried about and upset with Tallsqueak. "When I told you to take it easy, I thought we had an understanding. Obviously, you were confused by what I meant by Take it Easy." The large healer was very upset, and somehow, Milo felt he was being blamed for what had happened.

Milo really didn't want to argue with Gendifur, but he agreed with her that they hadn't defined the term 'take it easy.' He would point that out some other time. " I was just doing a little mining to stretch my muscles!"

Gendifur snorted. "And broke into a nest of carnivorous beetles that followed you back to the Hollow and had to be exterminated in a huge fight that you were somehow in the middle of. Totally not your fault that you got bit a dozen times and crushed under the Queen when her weight broke the floor, and you crashed into an under cavern full of stone lurkers! That could happen to anyone!"

Tallsqueak nodded his head, glad she understood the situation. It was a slight nod since he had at least one concussion. He tried not to cry in pain as she spread healing ointments on his wounds. They stung something fierce. Gendifur grabbed a bottle of foul-smelling burn ointment next and started slathering it on his hairless left arm. "And everyone knows that Arlothe's experiments rarely explode. Just your bad luck to have your arms and head inside of the machinery when it caught on fire."

Milo didn't believe in bad luck, just probabilities. But he did have to admit that when you looked at it from an outside point of reference, it might look that way. Again, best not to disagree with Gendifur. "Yes, bad luck. I had just gotten the cover off a flux generator when Pansy found the loose wire, and the Oscillation Coil started charging. Without the cover on the flux generator, the two matched frequencies and caused an overload. Totally not my fault."

Gendifur grabbed his heavily bandaged body and threw him over her shoulder before marching into a private room and laying him on the bed. This caused Milo a lot of pain. His bones weren't broken, but they were severely bruised along with most of his body. She tucked him into bed with an extra pillow and glared at him, her eyes turning red.

"And after all that, you decided to play games with Rosie and Buttercup? Both of them at once? Are you insane?"

Milo was sure that his mental stability might be a few standard deviations away from the norm, but he didn't think Gendifur wanted to discuss that. It wasn't his fault he was wired differently. "The girls don't have anyone else to play with them! They've been in cages for the last two years, and we want them to act like children, not fiends. Someone has to play with them, and it can't always be Larry. We were doing some dancing."

Gendifur glared at him. "Well, it isn't going to be you. You are going to stay in this bed for at least three days. You've undone most of the healing I had repaired and added layers of burns and bruises. Do you see how slowly you're regenerating? Your body is exhausted. If you don't slow down, your body will start breaking down."

"Three days? Larry won't be back from Flowertown for at least another day. The twins can only keep ahead of the girls for so long. They are getting better at hide and seek. That's their favorite game, and when they catch them, Tweedle and Ringtail have to do the Hamster Hop with them. You have no idea how dangerous that is."

Gendifur started to say something, and then two junior scouts raced into the room. The first ran for a large urn in the corner. He pulled a flower arrangement out of it, jumped into a space Milo would have sworn was too small, and re-arranged the flowers to hide. Ringtail had been a step behind his twin and cursed as his brother took the best hiding spot. He dived to the floor and slid under Tallsqueaks bed. Behind them came two crafty hunters looking for their prey.

Rosie and her sister were moving silently, one sniffing the air and looking around, the other sniffing along the ground. Both of them wrinkled their noses at the harsh medicinal odors from the infirmary. Buttercup saw Gendifur and froze. She stood up straight and straightened her dress, and tugged at her sister to get her attention. Both girls stood silently and stared at the large nurse. Then they began to cry and sniffle. Rosie looked very confused. "Momma?"

Gendifur looked back at them. It was the first time she had seen them up close, and it nearly broke her heart. It was like Larry all over again, children trapped in monsters' bodies. She gathered the two crying girls in her big arms and sat down with them, letting them cry and be little girls missing their mother. After some time, she stood up and made a decision. "Tweedle? You and Ringtail are on guard duty. If Tallsqueak gets out of this room, I'll be using you as test subjects for my new healing salves."

"Come, girls. We will get a snack from Smiley, and then we'll find a nice man named Brutus to dance with us."

After she left, the flower urn grew legs and put itself next to Tallsqueaks bed.

"You look tired!"

"So very, very tired!"

"Ready for bed."

"Long naps, good for us not getting hurt."

Milo looked at the two of them. "So, you would obey the Master Healer and not the Scout Master?"

They nodded to each other.

"Obviously."

"You are hurt, and we can outrun you."

"Gendifur is unavoidable and very fast once she builds momentum."

"We are smart scouts."

"Good at threat assessment."

"This shows how intelligent we are."

"You getting out of bed is bad for everyone."

"Inconsiderate of you."

"You should be the responsible Elder Scout."

"The good example."

"Stay in bed, please."

"The new wound ointment is excellent, but Petey said it stings."

"And the new anti-venom stings on the inside."

Milo leaned back in bed. He did need to rest. "I'll make you a deal then. I'll stay put if one of you gets me a couple of items that Gilad is holding for me. And what happened to Petey?"

The twins smiled and rolled their eyes.

"He made a mistake in threat assessment."

"A bad mistake."

"And over-estimated how sneaky he is."

"Fancy new title and ring made him brave."

"So brave! So foolish! So doomed!"

"He tried to play surprised! with Professor Cremona."

"It did not go well."

"He is now helping her with testing new poisons."

"And helping Gendifur with testing new cures."

"They say it will make him better at his job."

"We don't want to be that much better!"

All three scouts decided that Tallsqueak staying in bed was a good thing. Tweedle ran off to find a particular ring and mace. Ringtail did his best to tell Tallsqueak a bedtime story.

The mace that Gangrene had wielded with such ease took the twins over an hour to carry back to Milo, even with the help of a wheelbarrow. Milo watched them struggle to get the weapon to where he could look at it. He reached down and was able to pick it up with both hands. It was indeed heavy, especially for a one-handed weapon. "The two of you can't lift this? What are your STR scores?"

They sighed.

"A valid question."

"If embarrassing."

"We are good scouts."

"Sneaky scouts!"

"Becoming better scouts."

"But maybe..."

"...maybe we should not have skipped some lessons."

Milo smiled at them. "I'm sure we can fix that with a few days in the mines. And then some time foraging." The twins grimaced at the thought. They had successfully avoided hard work for years, but they were constantly impressed with the Scout Master. Mostly how he was still alive. For now, though, they were content to steal pillows from other rooms and take naps while they carefully guarded the door. Milo started examining the mace that Gangrene had used to nearly shatter his skull.

Mace of Armageddon

A bloody and terrible ancient weapon that has been wielded by many throughout the ages and killed thousands of sentient creatures.

The description was less than helpful, Milo thought. Was that because his level was too low? Or his Identify skill? The weapon was one piece of metal with no seam between the head and handle. Leather had been wrapped around the handle to provide a better grip. Milo sliced off the stained leather and had one of the twins take it to the trash heap to be burned. The metal was unfamiliar to him. He used one of his claws to test its hardness. He was surprised when his claw slid along the metal and left no mark. He'd been able to make small cuts into the crystal of Uthneragrubban, and yet this metal was tougher than the hide of the crystalline world boss.

Finding a spot where he could use his strength to bear down, he pressed the tip of one claw into the mace and slowly moved it. He wasn't able to scrape the metal off but did make a slight indentation. And that was when things got weird. He saw glowing runes form on the metal around the slight indentation. Runes made with machine language like the ones in his bones. Six glowing runes formed a circle around the slight indentation and began to circle it.

Hardness Repair Hardness Repair Hardness Repair

The mark he had made disappeared, and the runes faded, replaced by a rune he couldn't read that flashed three times before it faded. Excited, Milo attempted to repeat the experiment. As he made a small mark on the mace, the last rune flashed again in multiple places around the mace head. Each rune flashed three times before it faded. The mark he had made was gone. Milo felt like he could almost grasp the meaning of the unknown rune. He put another mark on the mace head.

Warning Warning Warning Warning Warning Warning Warning

Tweedle and Ringtail saw Tallsqueak enveloped in a blinding light, his fur standing on end. The bedding caught fire, and the bed was destroyed. Tallsqueak collapsed on his back, holding the handle of a screwdriver. In his mind, a voice was speaking:

"Repairs complete. Diagnostics Complete. Tool Interface available. User: Engineer Milo Tallsqueak has been added to the list of allowed users. Engineer Milo Tallsqueak has submitted an alternative method of resetting programming. Method not recommended except as a last resort."

Chapter 188: Seeking Sanctuary

Two stealthy scouts moved through the night bearing a stretcher. They were on a secret mission to deliver a brave fallen warrior to a place where the spies of the Master Healer wouldn't find him. Normally, Tweedle and Ringtail would avoid the Tower of Strife at all costs. It was a perilous place full of books and lessons. There were horror stories of brave Shadow Skulkers being trapped inside for days on end, forced to do long division problems until their heads exploded.

They raced across the marketplace, dodging around people while saying, "Excuse us! Important mission!"

Running up the steps to the Tower of Spite, the way was blocked by two of the older students. "Whoa! Stop! Where the hell do you two think you are going? And who is that under all the bandages?"

"We are brave scouts."

"Our mission is secret, so you should forget you saw us."

The two students, wearing elaborate robes with a green lizard on the chest, refused to move. "I don't know what you are up to, but we don't need Shadow Skulkers playing tricks in here. We study late into the night and don't like playing Surprise! early in the morning."

"I must stress that we have little time to make silly words with you!"

"It is best for all of us if we take this poor soul into the tower, and everyone pretends we were never here."

The two Emerald Wyverns looked at each other and smirked. "Nope."

Tweedle looked at his brother and made anxious glances behind him.

Ringtail shrugged and got serious.

"OH, NO! Spiders!"

"So many spiders!"

"Magic spiders with wands!"

"They insult the Tower by their very presence."

"To arms, fellow wizard-people!"

"Call the Puffy-Fuzzies and the Green Marmots!

"House Jellybean must be triumphant!"

"Special dueling day to defeat the hugely scary monster that comes hither."

Windows and doors opened, and excited students ran to see what was happening. Ringtail and Tweedle stepped expertly to the side of the first group as they swept aside the two Emerald Wyverns. More students were coming down the stairs. The twins leaped to the railing and ran along it, spiraling up into the tower. They shouted as they went, assuring everyone that it was dueling day. Some professors grabbed their wands and echoed the scout's commands.

One daring student was sliding down the banner. Tweedle saw him coming and alerted Ringtail. The horrified student swept under them as the brothers jumped high into the air and came back down on the railing. Ringtail pointed at the student.

"20 demerits for your Clan. No sliding down the banister."

"And 20 demerits for people pointing at us. We are going UP the banister."

"Perfectly Legal!"

Upwards they raced until they got to the small library on the top floor. They freed Tallsqueak from the bandages holding him to the stretcher and propped him up in a comfy reclining chair. Ringtail put warm slippers on his feet, and Tweedle looked for the kitchen. A man-servant met him with a tray of cookies, a healing potion, a piece of cheddar, and a mug of tea. "Take this to the horribly injured professor you dragged up here, and don't touch the cookies!" Tweedle was so scared by the person's efficiency that he didn't even consider disobeying.

Below, striding across the marketplace with terrible purpose, was Gendifur. She strode to the Tower of Spite, where three-dozen students and two professors blocked her way.

She smacked on large fist into her palm for emphasis and said, "Move. You're between my patient and me."

Some of the students seemed inclined to stay where they were, and the resolve of the others stiffened. Gendifur looked at them. "Have it your way, but I'm memorizing faces, and the next time you come to me for a burn or sniffle, it's not going to be pretty."

One of the professors reacted to that. "Don't be fools. That's the new Master Healer. Move aside." Ranks parted, and Gendifur marched up the stairs. A cowering set of scouts and a polite butler met her at the top. "Where is he?! He's supposed to be resting, not experimenting with strange weapons and spells!"

Tweedle ventured a comment. "The patient is sleeping."

Gendifur glared at him. "Sleeping? After you ran him all the way up here?" The twins tried to get further into their corner. The butler stepped forward. "Excuse me, miss. I am Gershwin, man-servant to Professors Arlothe and Cremona. Professor Tallsqueak is indeed sleeping. I spiked his tea with a double dose of sleeping powder. He should be out for at least twelve hours."

Gendifur relaxed. "Good. It's what he needs. Let me examine him. Why did you idiots bring him up here?"

"Scout Master's orders."

"If he had to be cooped up for days,"

"Then he wanted to be here."

"Quiet and Safe!"

"Books to read, if you like books."

"Food and tea."

"Professor Tallsqueak does take naps up here quite a bit. I promise he will not leave this room for three days and will alert you if he misbehaves. Will that suffice?" Gershwin put a pillow under Milo's feet, took the last two cookies, and tossed them to the twins. Gendifur looked at Tallsqueak. He had new burns and was clutching a silly-looking screwdriver in one hand. But he was asleep and smiling and not moving. She nodded to Gershwin.

"That will do. And please, no experiments with the other Professors."

The Butler looked a little alarmed at the thought. "Heavens no, miss, whenever he and Professor Arlothe get together, I'm sweeping up broken glass for a week. It's worse with Professor Cremona. I've lost more mops to cleaning up spilled poisons than I can count."

Gendifur checked Milo's bandages once more and, satisfied, took her leave. She grabbed each scout by an ear and dragged them down several flights of stairs. "You two are coming with me. I have two little girls desperate for playmates. They wore Brutus and me out with dancing this afternoon. I'm hoping the two of you can teach them a simple game like checkers. I have a lot to do, and you two are going to help!

Outside the Hollow, the bulk of the spider army was on the move. It had been hard keeping the army together. While the nearly mindless rabble could sit for days waiting, the nobles grew impatient. The Princess had bitten off more than one head to keep order. This Hollow had proven much tougher than anyone had suspected. Probing raids had been turned aside. Thousands of spiderlings had been killed, weakening her information network. A doomed charge led by a foolish noble had actually advanced further than she had expected but been stopped when gigantic guards, a contingent of sorcerers, and a massive fiend had attacked from surprise.

She hated the fiends. Nothing else truly scared a noble spider. The rats had been clever to breed them. Malign sorceries had warped their innate love for cheese into a powerful mutagenic effect that created monsters from mice. They had turned the tide of the wars, and nowhere could the spider empire advance without encountering a Hollow protected by fiends. Eventually, they made peace and expanded in other directions. The Queen had no desire to begin another war, but word had reached her that the rats had bred a new type of fiend. A monster that could think and talk. If the rats were breeding fiends, it meant they planned on attacking the spiders while most of their armies were deeper into the Under Empires. The Queen had decided to strike first.

The Hollow was quiet now, thinking they had repulsed the enemy army and unaware that a much larger force was surrounding them. The Princess gave the order to attack, and her forces moved toward the waiting Hollow.

The front entrance was easily forced. Fast-moving wolf spiders attacked the two guards before they could call the alarm. Her forces surged into the Hollow to link up with the forces attacking through the mines and from the gathering fields. The mines were soaked in blood as dwarven mercenaries with superior weapons mowed down her lighter scouts. But elsewhere she was victorious. Assassin spiders attacked the leaders, leaving the Hollow directionless. Their paralyzed bodies would be used as egg sacks. The fiends they encountered caused massive casualties but eventually were pumped with so much poison that they couldn't move. Within an hour, the only forces still active were in the mines.

The damned dwarves with their black hearts and huge guns had to be negotiated with. They left the Hollow with huge wagons of ingots taken from the Hollow's storehouses and a bag of gems, drunk on rum and the joy of looting. She decided she didn't care. She had won. Wurchwitz Hollow was hers and would make no more fiends.

The lesser rats were herded to the center of the Hollow. They stared around, confused, turned into idiots by their own cheese. She looked them over. "Who is in charge here?" The rats mumbled and looked at each other until one stepped forward. It was ugly, even for a rat, with huge, fuzzy feet and a fat belly. If it wasn't for the oversized ears, she would have thought it was a halfling.

Stumpy Big-Toe looked at the Spider Princess, then shrugged as if the answer was obvious. "You are."

The spider liked that answer. Her multiple eyes stared at him. "Why is a halfling dressed like a stupid rat? Take those ears off. You're in charge now. If you can get this shithole meeting its quota of small mammals and mushrooms you won't be eaten at the end of the week."

Stumpy didn't care. Gangrene had said the same thing to him each week. Different boss same pay, but he didn't have to wear the ears. "All right you stinking cheese eaters! Let's get to work! We have quotas to fill. No cheese for any of you until I see some output!"

"Not bad, you found the one person in this Hollow that isn't stupid on cheese. He's motivated and he doesn't seem to like his former employers much." The old scout chuckled to herself. The Princess was pleased to take credit for the small bit of luck. "We'll see. If he meets the quotas, he can rule this little Hollow and become a citizen of the Empire."

The scout dared a further question. "And what of Limburger Hollow? The little we have heard is disturbing. You won't even have to ambush Gangrene on his return. He swallowed a meal that swallowed him back."

The Princess was thoughtful for a moment. "Let them be. They were peaceful until attacked, and are far stronger than reported. As long as no one from that Hollow causes trouble, I'm not sticking my foot into their web."

Chapter 189: Unified Runic Theory

Runes. Milo was thinking about runes.

His valiant scouts had saved him from being stuck in the infirmary for three days. It had been a close race, barely getting him to safety before Gendifur investigated his latest mishap. It had been a bumpy and painful journey, but now he was in his favorite spot and could nap, read, and think about things while he recovered. Laying in a bed in the infirmary would have driven him insane with boredom, and like any sane person, he wanted distance between himself and the healer's needles.

When he napped, he got things done in the real world, and when he slept in the pod, he read in the little library at the top of the tower. Tea and snacks appeared as needed, and he was comfortable as long as he didn't move around much. The mace had fried him good on the inside.

He suspected the screwdriver was the mace, just different forms of the same handy tool. It was a mystery that he wanted to solve. That someone had used powerful magic and Ancient Runes to make a weapon was expected. In a world where creatures still fought in hand-to-hand combat, there would always be a call for sharper swords and maces that crushed skulls. But this one turned into a screwdriver...

A screwdriver made of an unknown metal by someone who understood Ancient Runes was a frightening and exciting thought. A mace was boring; you just killed people. But a screwdriver was a tool for working on machinery, putting things together, making adjustments, or fine-tuning a mechanical system. A mace was boring; it was the screwdriver that was dangerous. Milo wanted to see a mechanical system that used ancient runes. He wanted to work on it and find out its secrets. The screwdriver might be a clue to finding such a thing.

Or it might lead to getting his body deep-friend again. He needed to be careful. The threat of the large nurse tying him down until he healed was always there. He wouldn't do more than observe the odd tool until he fully recovered. Even looking at it gave him a headache. The runes in the device were more active. They were a mix of Ancient Runes and the more modern runes governed by the system. He identified a dwarven engineering rune that governed the rotation of a shaft. It was appropriate for a screwdriver but linked to other runes he didn't understand. The pain in his head convinced him that he should take a break. His danger sense was also tingling...or maybe that was his nerves regenerating after being fried?

His system-based skill for Identification worked poorly on the strange tool. It only told him what he saw or what the system thought the item's history was. In the case of the mace, it had told him it was a weapon used in many wars. His skill told him, 'Old, magic screwdriver for turning old screws.' Milo didn't need to be told that it was old and, like the great beasts, predated the system. He had a theory that the system didn't understand the older runes he'd found in the bones of the Great Beasts. It simply referred to them as Ancient Runes and didn't work with them well. He suspected that was why it had been so hard to inscribe a Velocity Rune onto Captain Pike's Harpoon and what caused the feedback that had injured him.

The ordeal of breaking his magic had been painful. And being caged by the slaver mage had infuriated him. One of the benefits (not least of which was blowing the asshole up) of surviving the situation was gaining an understanding of the Ancient Runes. Or at least being able to see them. Understanding might take time and study. Luckily, he had a perfect spot for it in the library and access to many materials.

Since he had the time, Milo decided to do an in-depth study of the runes he had access to. He knew very few Ancient Runes, but each was quite potent.

Swift-Swimming was very similar to the Velocity rune. He wondered about the differences and how they changed the rune. Velocity had come from Volat-Repat. Milo was sure the amazingly fast-flying beast utilized the rune for movement in the void. His huge body couldn't be held aloft by the six tiny wings. Most likely, they were used for stability and direction.

Hard-Bones and Sharp-Claws had a lot in common. Both increased the density of parts of his body. Likewise, Sundering and Destruction had common pieces. Milo's theory was that the Ancient Runes were built with machine code representing fundamental forces of the world: Friction, density, velocity, acceleration, and energy. This made them much more potent than the runes that the system oversaw. Also, much more dangerous to deal with.

Newer runes, which he considered System Runes, came in many styles. At first, he had thought the differences were just superficial, like using a different language, but the more he researched, the more he doubted that early theory. His research in the Engineering Outpost, The Tower of Strife, and Cichol's Arcane Library revealed many different types of runes used by the System. He wasn't happy with how many different ways the word 'Rune' was used. This was no way to run a magic system. He liked each word to have a definition and each definition to have a word. But he found examples of writing in 'Elder Elvish Runes' that looked pretty but weren't magical at all, and the book with the writing turned out to be a torrid dwarf/elf romance. Many of the 'Runic scripts' were just fancy ways of saying 'the old alphabet with no magical uses.

Dwarves had several types of magical runes and a more straightforward non-magical script called 'runic.' He appreciated that they separated their runes into different categories. There were Weapon Runes to put on weapons, Armor Runes on armor and shields, and Engineering Runes for war machines and industrial machines. The most tightly guarded runes were those used in the magic-tech devices some engineers delved into. He thought he would return to the Outpost if things were settled in the Hollow. There was a lot of rebuilding, and with everything torn up, he could see examples of how they used runes in the construction. Milo was happy to see that dwarves differentiated and defined their system so that it made sense.

He had examples of Elvish Runic Script. Arlothe had said it was used to record rituals and long spells, the flowing runes giving the knowledge to use a spell correctly, including pronunciation of each syllable and how to sing the notes. Without more information, the elvish spells would be disastrous, so they were set aside for now. Draconic Runes were mentioned in two books, with three examples: Fire, Desolation, and Gold. The Draconic Runes had a primal potency to them. The book had dire warnings not to attempt to use them and some nice pictures of burning wizards who had tried. The Draconic Fire Rune had a chapter all to itself and a lovely full-page example printed in red inks and gold leaf. He almost felt the rune in his mind as if it wanted to leap off the page. The book had a warning about only studying part of the rune at a time, but of course, that was in the back of the book, in the end notes. How typical. Milo shut the book. He wasn't going to risk burning his favorite chair.

But it did remind him of something. He had a Ruby in his chest that was described as a Live Gem. He retrieved it and examined it again. The lights and fire in the gem moved in patterns, forming and re-forming. He pulled a tattered copy of Berkhauser's Compendium of Magical Oddities from a high shelf. He'd seen something in it before. The illustration was of a diamond, but the description mentioned many gems. Sadly, someone had torn out some of the images. '...phires being the most common. And from the Planes of Fyre and Smoke, Elven Wind Ships have brought back living gems imbued with the essence of fire. They are ideal for some purposes, their energies easily holding sympathetic runes. Care must be taken not to...' Milo cursed the book defiler. He would have to find a complete copy of the book somewhere. Elven Wind Ships? He wanted to see one. Would Onyx know about them? He was an elf that flew airships? Could they go to other planes? He had thoughts about the Draconic Rune and the Live Gem, but they could wait until he was healed and could get ahold of a Dwarven Environmental Suit.

Cremona had been kind enough to give him a book of heavy parchment sheets that could be used to copy runes from other sources. It took careful study, first to memorize the rune and then hours of painstaking work to copy each line while holding the magical construct within your mind. Once the rune was copied to his book, she instructed him to clear his mind, wipe away the rune, or use it in a spell. Too many runes could put a strain on a mage's mind. The two Master Mages were generous with their knowledge and passed on to him a collection of runes they had collected. Some of them were small concepts meant to be used to construct spells and larger runes. Others mirrored a type of magic. Poison, Spark, Lux, Tenebrae, Fire, and Lightning were the ones he dealt with first. The differences between Spark and Lightning were interesting. He could see that the structure of Spark appeared several times in Lightning. Arlothe also presented him with a Storm Rune but cautioned him to first practice with more minor runes. Storm was another step up from the rune of Lightning and needed a steady and experienced hand to copy it. He promised that if Tallsqueak found it beyond him, he would copy it to the book himself when he had a few hours free. He also presented Tallsqueak with a book. Basics of Runic Lore and how to construct your first staff.

Milo noticed that the author was Arlothe himself. "This is a basic text I give to all of our students. All of them want a wand or staff, and this way, they can at least make something that probably won't explode the first time they use it. A bit of cut glass with the Spark Rune carved into it, and a stout bit of gnarl root gives them a basic tool to wave around. Most of them immediately start asking questions and experimenting further. Saves me a lot of time teaching the basic class later on when they learn things themselves."

Later, as Milo was thinking about simple ways to use runes, he thought back to Arlothe's words, and he became curious about how each student had constructed their early wands and where they had gone from there. He needed more information...

Two brave scouts were dispatched to find paper, paint, and brushes. Milo made a dozen posters the scouts put up in different parts of the tower.

Extra Credit Research Project!

Assist Professor Tallsqueak in an exciting project on staff construction! All students are encouraged to bring their staves to Professor Tallsqueak and show him their construction and how they incorporated one or more runes into their designs. There are no wrong answers-Just different ways to do things!

All students in the project will be given a token for an extra dessert prepared by Cheese Master Smiley! At the end of the study, Professor Tallsqueak will hold a seminar on staff construction. Refreshments will be served.

A few students were suspicious, and all the rest laughed at them. Easy extra credit, free snacks, and a discussion on how to make better staves from one of the best duelists in the tower? What could be bad about all that? Students began lining up in the tower to sit down one by one with the Professor to show him their work. Many hadn't realized how many injuries the Professor had taken in the battle against the invaders. His assistants were happy to tell them the story and exaggerate their part.

Each student got some time with the Professor, who seemed interested in looking at even the most basic work a student had done. He sketched their work, examined their runes, and asked interesting questions. A dozen 3rd and 4th-year students were asked to return so the Professor could look at their most advanced work. They eyed the piles of notes and books and noted the gleam in the Professor's eyes. They all volunteered when he mentioned testing new theories in a few days. Not wanting to miss out, Arlothe brought in his collection of over a dozen staves and happily shared his memories of his days as a student when he had constructed them. He also was thrilled at the idea of some experiments.

Late in the night, with many thoughts whirling in his head, Milo took a small skull from his chest along with his carving tools. Moray of Clan Emerald Wyrm was watching intently. Patsy from Clan Puffyfur passed Moray a cookie. She'd brought the professor tea and cookies and stayed for the late-night class on rune carving. Working from the inside, Milo carved one Rune of Destruction. Then, on the outside of the skull, he wrote the rune for Ring in the looping script of the Elves. Interwoven with the Elvish rune, he carved three runes of Spark. Finally, he added a dwarven Engineering Rune of Controlled Explosions that was used to moderate the energy of explosions in a Type IV Blast Generator.

When he was done, he stopped to rest and explained what he was doing to the two students. He carefully omitted the description of the Rune of Destruction, referring to it as a Dwarven Blasting Rune. Which it could have been, but that would make his new spell far less effective. System runes just weren't as powerful as the Ancient Runes. The two students followed as best they could, nodding and trying not to ask questions as Professor Tallsqueak calmly talked about mixing different magics. The two shared a look of excitement. Many students had wanted to stay late, but the Professor had kept just the two of them, owing to the small library's size. His weary scouts had been sent to bed after a long day.

Patsy could barely hold her excitement. "But what will it do, Professor?"

The professor smiled. "That's why we experiment: to find out."

Milo wondered himself. "Moray? Can you check the window? Is anyone around the dueling grounds? And how difficult would it be to throw a small object down to that area?"

Moray opened the window. No one was near the five targets, dueling at night being against the rules. Several of the older professors needed their sleep if they were going to deal with the younger students the following day. "No one is there, professor, that I can see."

Professor Tallsqueak looked thoughtful. "Let's send down a warning shot then." He picked up another skull and carved a different set of runes. "This is a little tamer, with some of the same effects. Patsy? Would you please focus on hitting one of the targets? Feed a little magic to the central rune, and toss this down. Thank you."

Patsy took the skull and pushed an end table up to the window to stand on. She was a foot shorter than Moray and needed the height. "Like casting a spark spell, Professor?" Milo nodded. "Just like that." Patsy concentrated for a moment and then tossed the skull. It bounced on the ground, rolled to a post, and detonated. A small explosion blew some splinters from the post, and a glowing ring of sparks expanded from the center, going out ten feet before disbursing. Two students in the shadows jumped up with cries of surprise and raced for the tower door. Moray rolled his eyes. Patsy chuckled. Both had recognized Cordelia and Cutthroat.

Tallsqueak was making a quick sketch and taking notes. "A nice experiment and that should have cleared the area. Now for the real test. Take this skull, Moray, and feel for the central rune; it will be slightly different from what you are used to. It's fully charged and only needs a nudge to trigger it. You'll have three seconds to throw it. Patsy and I will stand by the door, just in case."

Moray swallowed hard but took the skull. Testing a new spell was a great honor, and his Clan was known for their bravery. He felt for the rune. A little different was an understatement. The rune was strange and complex, and he could barely recognize that it was there. What the hell was this? He made ready to throw and triggered the rune. The amount of power he held in his hand nearly made him drop the skull. He threw as quickly as he could. Patsy and the Professor raced to the window to observe. Moray's targeting was perfect, hitting the top of the center post. A loud explosion destroyed two feet of the post, leaving the rest of the area a smoking ruin. From the post, a ring of electrical energy rolled out, lighting up a quarter of the Hollow. The blast stopped at thirty feet and dispersed.

The two students stood still, stunned. Moray was glad he had thrown the skull as fast as he had. He liked having both hands. Professor Milo was writing and making a sketch. "I think that's enough excitement for the night. I'm sure both of you understand what to say to the Master Healer if she stops by?"

Patsy nodded. "Watched you eat the milk and cookies, and I slipped the sleeping powder into your milk."

Moray agreed. "He was snoring like a baby when someone from Clan Manticore tossed fireworks out a window."

Professor Tallsqueak settled himself into his comfy chair and nodded. "Thanks. You both were very helpful. I've got a lot more ideas we can test. I think this is just the start of something."

Something else agreed...as Milo faded off to sleep, a notification was added to his list. He'd find it the next day after he was done adding two new recipes to the food processor and repairing the air compressor that ran the pneumatic tube system for section E.

Professor Tallsqueak has rediscovered a part of The Unified Theory of Runic Magic.

Lore Skill: Ancient Rune Lore has reached Level 10

Skill: Runic Carving has reached Level 10

Lore Skill: Rune Lore has reached Level 7

Skill: Bone Carving has reached Level 10

Skill: Spell Construction has reached Level 3

Skill: Demolitions has reached level 5

Runic Spell: Minor Spell of Sparking Runed Skull has been discovered.

Ancient Runic Spell: Sparking Runed Skull has been discovered.

Two students stopped in the hallway beyond the library as both saw the same notification about gaining experience.

You have gained 500 experience in the Lore Skill: Rune Lore and 500 experience in INT.

You have gained 200 experience in the Skill: Spell Construction and 200 experience in INT.

Followed by a Tower Wide message.

Moray has earned Clan Emerald Wyrm 20 points for bravery in the face of impending doom.

Patsy has earned Clan Puffyfur 20 points for keeping Professor Tallsqueak from exerting himself.

Clan Manticore is fined 10 points for throwing fireworks at night.

Chapter 190: Dangerous Knowledge

This was a very dangerous rune …

Milo had separated the particular bone he needed from the horror of taxidermy he had bought from the Eels and was carefully examining it. The bone was very old. That was immediately apparent as he tried to investigate the runes inside of it. There were several lesser runes repeated over and over. They reminded him of dwarven engineering runes but were more...fluid? Adaptable? He saw many versions of the same rune with minor changes to just one part of the formation. The Ancient Rune lurked in the bone, waiting to be released. Milo looked at the bone from different angles. One end had been carved to a point. The other end had markings on the bone made from some residue that made a spiral effect. The image of a wand clicked inside his brain. The markings were the remains of a leather handle that made gripping the rod easier.

But what did this primitive wand do? Before experimenting, he needed to document the lesser runes' variations. Hours later, he had only the Ancient Rune to copy. It was difficult, like the Rune of Velocity and the Rune of Destruction. It had things in common with both of those runes. Or maybe Velocity and Destruction contained versions of the unknown rune? He put down his drawing tools and retreated to his comfortable chair to think. He considered the effects of the two runes with physics, not magic. Velocity was a vector describing both speed and direction. To change velocity, a mass needed to be accelerated. That was an effect in one of his spells: The material component, a bone javelin, was accelerated in the direction of his choice until it attained a certain velocity or impacted the target. Acceleration depended on the mass of the object and the force used to accelerate it. Force equals Mass times Acceleration. Or did it? In a fantasy world that had magic? What about conservation of energy? Gravity? Well, gravity worked as normal. He'd fallen enough, and used physics as a weapon to know that gravity worked the same.

As Milo thought more and more about magic and physics, he started to get worried, like the ground was shifting under him. He retreated to engineering. The dwarves used mathematics, thermodynamics, and physics in everything they did. Magic was a power source to them until they advanced to magitech. He relaxed and breathed easier and considered magic again. It was his ignorance of magic that was causing his unease. It was a different branch of science, and maybe this world had an extra rule or two, but the fundamental laws of reality seemed to hold.

He pondered why that was important. Wasn't this just a game? Would it be so bad if not everything worked the same on the fundamental level? His problem was not knowing the rules. That was causing him some anxiety. In the real world, if he didn't know how something worked, he studied until he had the knowledge to solve a problem. He just had to have confidence that he could do the same here. He needed to learn everything the Tower of Spite had to offer. And then, he needed to make a complete study of dwarven engineering. And then? Then he needed to dig out the secrets in this world until he knew them all and things made sense. The last of his panic attack faded away, and he returned to studying runic formations.

But first, more tea and cookies.

He considered the runes he used in his exploding skulls. The Rune of Destruction released the mana placed in an object into an explosion. An explosion was a force that radiated out in all directions. A modern grenade used the force generated by the explosive to shatter the metal casing and accelerate the parts, sending fast-moving shrapnel in all directions. His version did the same, but with bone shards. The spell was very mana efficient because of the stored mana and use of a material component.

Force? Was this unknown rune associated with force? Many of the runic systems he was studying had runes that used force in one way or another. Dwarves use many different runes to move fluid, apply torque to axles, and of course, blow things up. Gendifur used runes that moved blood through tubes. What did the unknown runic wand do?

There was, of course, a way to find out. But not in this room.

"Can I ask a favor of you, Moray? Or rather, of your clan?"

Moray was cautious in his reply, but the experience he had gained the previous night and witnessing the destructive the spells Professor Tallsqueak was crafting meant that denying the Professor anything was crazy talk. "Of course, Professor. What can clan Emerald Wyrm do for you?"

Milo had finished with his work copying the runes, but in doing so, he had noticed how little actual physics and mathematics the students knew. The subjects were barely touched upon in the Tower. He'd first seen this when working on the large machine with Arlothe. The students studied magic and casting storm spells, not electricity. But he knew many of the principles of physics were the same because of his time with the dwarves. Magic simply added another layer to the underlying physics.

"I'd like to do a series of lectures on the underlying principles of the runes I am working with. The ideas can help all students no matter what aspect of magic they are studying. Your Clan has that wonderful dining hall, and it occurred to me that it would be a shame if the other clans didn't know just how powerful your clan was. I'd only need three movable blackboards added at one end."

Moray understood immediately. The professor was impressed with his clan's wealth and was giving them a chance to show it off. Hosting a series of lectures on powerful magic would do much for their reputation and give them front-row seats. "We'd be honored, Professor. When would you like to begin?"

Milo had nothing else pressing at the moment. "Let's begin in an hour. I'll tell the other clans they can send six people, and your clan can take the rest of the seats."

An hour? Moray realized he had to get busy. "Of course, Professor. I will see you in an hour." He walked calmly out of the library, then sprinted down the stairs to his clan and yelled at his brother eels. "Races are off for the night! Feed the lizards and get them back in their cages! Clean the dining hall and set it up for a lecture with forty students. Everyone needs to attend and pay attention. We have a chance to learn tools for constructing powerful spells! Go, Go, Go!"

"Oooh! A party? Clan Puffyfur will bring cupcakes."

"Clan Manticore is excited to attend. We will, of course, bring a fruit tray. If you are interested, Clan Manticore is continuing its lecture series on Historical Last Stands. We'd love to hear a blow-by-blow account of your battle with General Gangrene."

"Clan Raptor Tail is delighted to learn anything new. Also, if you have openings for lab assistants? Several fourth-year students and I would be thrilled to help you."

The event was everything that Moray had hoped for. The clans were mixing congenially, competition dampened by the anticipation of the upcoming lecture. Cheese Master Smiley had sent over a tray of small deserts that added tremendously to the quality of food they had to offer. The cupcakes disappeared first, to Moray's disappointment, he was slow to notice, and the last was snapped up before he got to them. It was a happy surprise when Patsy handed him an extra tray of the frosted cakes that she had brought just for his clan. They had pink frosting with little green lizards on them. Moray gave her a large smile and bowed, words escaping him for once.

Professor Tallsqueak appeared and addressed the students.

"I realized something the other day. Mining, engineering, demolitions, and magical research all have one thing in common: It's the things you don't know that combine to make large explosions and kill you."

"For example, A gallon of waste fluid left over from processing Deep Steel can yield 138,000 DTU (Dwarven Thermal Units) when burned in a subragator. By contrast, Aged Dwarven Whiskey will yield 2,600,456 DTU when burned. It also burns 22 times faster with a proportional release of energy. I may have overlooked this during one experiment, and if you multiply the heat difference by 27,000 gallons, you can comprehend the magnitude of my mistake. When 7.02 x10ex10 DTU gets released all at once, bad things happen. By comparison, a normal fireball thrown by a 4th-level student releases 2,500 DTU. If you ask Professor Boom about the story, he can detail the magnitude of the destruction."

"Any questions?" The students looked a little stunned and confused. That was a lot of numbers that didn't sound like magic. One Raptor Tail student raised a hand tentatively. "I'm sorry, Professor, but I don't think I have the knowledge needed to absorb this lecture, and I feel guilty that I'm taking the spot from someone else." Others seemed to agree with her.

Professor Tallsqueak smiled at them. Some students prepared to flee. That was the "I have a surprise test for you." smile. Two loud clicks made them turn to where the doors to the room had just been locked by two of the professors attending the lecture.

"I agree. That's why we will review basic mathematical principles, and by the end of the week, we will move on to the Laws of Physics. Hopefully, by then, Gendifur will pronounce me healed, and we can all participate in some experiments with a new spell I'm working on."

For the next few days, the Tower of Strife vibrated with excitement. The strange magical knowledge Professor Tallsqueak was proving to be helpful with many aspects of their magical studies. He demonstrated methods for not blowing yourself up with alchemy, not electrocuting yourself with storm spells, and not over-dosing on poisonous substances. The lectures were expanded, with many other Professors attending and afterwards working with their students on their pages of homework.

The visiting Engineers were brought in as additional teachers. Professor Boom gave lectures on the trajectory of projectiles and how to increase the potency of explosions. He also gave a detailed account of the damage done while hunting a large elemental in the old engineering complex. "Some things are hazy; I didn't have much of a brain back then. But we destroyed rooms of machinery making traps, and then the snake outsmarted us and destroyed the traps. We weren't considering how much momentum a pure copper serpent contained or how strong it was. Eventually, I came up with the idea of burning it, and Professor Tallsqueak devised a plan." He stopped to shake his head sadly. "We'd forgotten where we hid the whiskey until it was too late. But what the hell, we needed a new project. We'll have things sorted out in a few years."

Professor Sledgemonkey gave a lesson on basic principles of magitech that went over everyone's heads but lit a fire in several students to know more. Professor Two Screws showed the schematics for a Dwarven Rivet Gun and explained how to calculate the cooling needed depending on how many hundred shots you wished to fire per minute. The students of the Tower of Strife were impressed by the engineers. They mixed strange mathematics and powerful explosives to create weaponry rivaling a fully trained Battle Mage. The fact that Professor Tallsqueak was working with both branches of knowledge opened up many eyes. By the end of the week, Sledgemonkey had a half dozen applicants who wished to study engineering.

"How come we never had any ratkin engineers in the old days?" He and the other dwarves were considering the question over a beer one evening, and Two-Screws asked the question.

Boom-Boom shrugged. He'd just been a junior engineer. Sledgemonkey thought about it for a bit. "I think the guilds used to be more conservative. Certainly, the ones up top were. It was one of the things that made us go so deep in the caverns before we built the outpost. Fewer people getting picky about experiments and projects. Doesn't matter now, though. That's one advantage to being one of the few old outposts still left. I say we take anyone interested in learning and willing to get their hands dirty and make mistakes."

Boom-Boom agreed. "Anyone who loves to blow stuff up with magic and spend years experimenting with half-assed magics has the right attitude. They just need the training."

When the dwarves began the trek back home, they took six new apprentice engineers.

Chapter 191: Physics isn't always your friend

Two courageous scouts were bravely going on a dangerous mission. Tweedle and Ringtail had nearly fallen into another of the stupid illusion-covered holes. This one had opened up in one of the tunnels they used to gather mushrooms. Tweedle had been discussing the idea of opening up a stand in the market to sell puffcakes, pointing out the obvious benefit that they would be able to eat all of the tasty food they wanted. And then his next step felt only empty air. As he teetered over the invisible pit, his brother pulled him back to safety.

They carefully marked the pit and went looking for Bleusnout and Old Healer. It was Bleusnout who found the creature responsible in one of his old bestiaries.

"I believe we have a Mossvale Borer beneath the Hollow. The description of the holes and the illusions match the description of the creature's hunting habits. Mossvale was one of the oldest Hollows and nearly had to be abandoned because of these creatures cutting off all of the tunnels leading to them. They are adept at boring long tunnels up to known pathways, covering them with illusions, and then constructing their traps far below. Creatures fall and are stuck in a sticky web made by the creature. They are solitary hunters, but if they live long enough will reproduce, and the young will be moved to a different hunting ground around a Hollow. Each hole may be the lair of a creature. Sadly, the book doesn't detail how they dealt with the infestation."

The brave scouts thought over this information.

"We need a plan."

"A crafty plan."

"Lure the creature out."

"Force it to fight us fairly."

"Except..."

"Except why fight fairly?"

"I've never seen the reason, frankly."

"How does Tallsqueak deal with problems?"

"Well, he kicked Char-char down a hole?"

"So either Char-char ate the Borer or the Borer ate Char-char."

"The cheese fiend version of our dearly missed cousin would be formidable."

"So, she ate the borer."

"One monster dead. We are rapidly getting rid of our problem."

"We are out of disposable cheese fiends, though; I like all of our other fiends."

"Hmm, there is that story about a snake?"

"Yes. I like that story."

"Let us consult an expert."

Finding Boom-Boom, they explained the problem. The dwarven demolitionist looked the two over. "Do you two know the difference between ten fingers and two?"

They looked at their fingers and sadly shook their heads.

Boom-Boom laughed. "The difference is throwing a grenade 1 second too late. Think about that while I show you a few things."

Suitably impressed with the logic and wanting to keep their fingers, the two brave scouts paid attention to what they were shown.

Two days later, a brave explorer approached the hole, whistling a happy tune about picking mushrooms. It was a happy ratkin with a smile on its face. Tweedle was very happy with the smile.

Ringtail disagreed. He whispered to his brother. "It should be fearful. Who smiles when falling into a hole?"

"Maybe he is so happy he likes falling into a hole?"

"I could have saved time using you instead of making a new person."

"True, but then you would have to jump in the next hole yourself."

"This is true. But I insist that if this works, the next one gets a terrified look drawn on its face."

The brave ratkin made of old clothes stuffed with moleskins and fish toppled into the hole. They waited for thirty seconds and were rewarded with an explosion. Fire and dust shot out of the hole as the charge of cataclysmite detonated. Strange fluids and burned tentacles were strewn about the cavern. A gourd with a smiley face drawn on it bounced at Ringtail's feet.

"I take it back, brother. Mr. Happy did a very good job."

The next hole yielded similar results. For good measure, they also sent Mr. Happy down the hole where Charlotte had fallen. Nothing happened. Encouraged, they got several hundred feet of rope and went exploring. They found the remains of a dead Borer, torn into small pieces and mostly eaten and a long tunnel leading further down. They decided that they had done enough exploring and went back to tell anyone who would listen to their adventures.

They were frequently seen following Boom-Boom around, asking for more training in explosives and begging for small chunks of cataclysmite to experiment with.

Gendifur grudgingly gave Tallsqueak a clean bill of health. "You seem fine now. You have healed all of your major injuries, and your regeneration is back to normal. Which means it's time we had a talk."

Milo and the Master Healer were in a room deep within her clan's burrow, and no one else was around. Milo was curious. "Talk about what?"

She hesitated and seemed a bit unsure of herself. "You know Larry the best. I used to, but that was before he changed, and now he's changed again. I need you to tell me what you think about something."

"Something to do with Larry?"

She nodded. "Larry, Rosie, and Buttercup. The girls adore Larry and want to be with him, but he has been away in Flowertown a lot, and I worry about them when he's gone. Brutus and I have been taking care of them as much as we can. Justin is nearly healed and can help soon. Ringtail and Tweedle are helping, but frankly, if you don't have Stoneclaw blood in your veins, you aren't tough enough to play with them. Tweedle and Ringtail have been good sports about it, but I've had to put them back together each time they play with the twins. I'm worried about them losing arms or legs playing tag or hide and seek."

That made sense to Milo, little girls with the strength of fiends would be tough to play with. But, he wasn't sure what Gendifur was needing to talk to him about. "So, what is it you need from me?"

"I just want to know what you think. Brutus has wanted to get married for a long time. Later today I'm going to go tell him yes. Then Rosie and Buttercup can move in with us. It will be tight, but they need a family to grow up right. They were eight to ten years younger than Larry was when he was turned into a fiend. They need a mother and father. Being an orphan is tough enough without being a fiend as well."

Milo saw the problem. "You don't have room for Larry?" She shook her head. "It will be hard to get the clan to fit the girls in—just not enough spare rooms. Justin sleeps in the guard barracks because of that. That leaves Larry alone again some of the time. I don't think that's good for him."

Milo had noticed how tight some of the tunnels in the clan's burrow were. "With how big some of your clan is, why isn't there more room? Is this part of the problem with combining three clans into one?"

Gendifur grimaced. "Part of the problem is not enough space. Part is inter-clan rivalries. Not everyone wanted the merge, and they could express that feeling by making some of the rooms too small for Stoneclaw. Deathclaw Clan was always difficult to get along with, and Silentclaw had always been mistrusted because of their unique abilities." She gave Tallsqueak a significant look as she said this. Milo was thinking about the problem of space and missed it entirely.

"And I'm guessing there isn't another part of the Hollow with any available room. I don't think moving Rosie and Buttercup into cramped quarters is wise. Sooner or later, something will happen that upsets them if they don't have room to play and move around. And that will lead to really bad things. If there isn't room in the Hollow, then we need to make a bigger Hollow. Why not expand into the outer cavern? Build as big a house as needed, and we can tunnel into the rock behind, giving even more room."

"It would be a good spot to make some quarters for visitors like the Engineers."

Gendifur nodded. "Justin will be happy to move in with us. And that will make Larry happy. He's always been sad that he couldn't live with his brother. Stoneclaw and fiends. We'll make it work."

Milo couldn't see a problem with it. "You and I are only two votes, but I can't imagine anyone having a problem with the plan. The Hollow needs to grow."

He was already starting to plan out the construction in his mind when he thought about her earlier comments. "Oh, but what did you mean about unique abilities? Do you mean all the sneaking and skulking?"

Gendifur shook her head. "No, those are shared with Deathclaw. I'll remind you I'm very good with bloodwork. I recognized the markers that show you are a full-blooded Silentclaw. But that secret stays with me. You saved too many people. I don't want you to have to put up with the old prejudices because you can change into a human."

Milo didn't have much to say. "Uh, thank you. It does come in handy when I go up top and have to deal with them."

Gendifur patted his shoulder. "It's our secret then. And when you do the plans for our new burrow, you're welcome to draw in a room for yourself. Larry would like that."

There was a large crowd around the dueling grounds. Several targets had been set up, replacing those damaged by fireworks. Clan Manticore had done the work, earning them back their lost points.

Professor Tallsqueak was explaining his theories to the crowd of students and professors.

"I've been working with runes and ways to use them to craft and enhance spells. There is a lot of tricky math to do this, which is why I thought to start some classes. Almost all of you have used a rune to make a staff. What I'm doing today is using a combination of runes. If the caster isn't using a physical focus to carve the runes, the spell has to be built from scratch each time with the runes composed of mana drawn by the mage and held firmly in their mind. The first example is a simple spell that uses the Rune of Lightning, modified with dwarven engineering runes to give the spell an area effect."

Milo formed the Lightning Rune in the air in front of him and, once it was stable, added the engineering runes. Theoretically, the spell should shoot out in front of him and then expand into a globe. He started with only 50 mana to charge the runes. The spell shot out, hit a target, and enveloped it in a sparkly globe that quickly faded, leaving the target unharmed. He repeated it for 100 and then 150 mana. Each time the globe grew more intense, and the target took more harm. He was sweating by the time he finished.

"The advantage to learning this type of spell crafting is versatility. I can put more or less mana into the spell. But there are disadvantages. Without the runes being carved into a physical focus such as a skull or a staff they were only a pattern of mana held in place by the willpower of the caster. I'll need a lot of practice to be able to cast the spell easily." His next spell was similar to the fireworks display with an explosion that shot out electrical damage along the ground in a large circle. "This spell is more efficient as long as your targets are on the ground. You aren't wasting mana creating the globe."

The crowd was appreciative and curious. Many of them were interested in experimenting themselves. Mathematics and Physics were going to get more popular. Professor Milo pulled out a wand from his pocket. "Maybe you should all take a good twenty steps back? This is an old wand that I believe will cast an interesting spell, but I'm not totally sure on the specifics of the spell. I've asked miss Gendifur to be here just in case." The crowd went back twenty steps and then even more as Professor Tallsqueak summoned his bone armor in preparation to cast the spell.

Milo took out the old bone wand and focused on the middle target. He fed mana into the wand to trigger its effect. He was totally unprepared for what happened. The wand took power from him far beyond what he had been prepared to feed into it and then pulled power from somewhere else. A glowing pulse of energy a foot thick flashed from the wand. The target was struck by pure force and exploded, sending fine dust and splinters in all directions, along with carving out an impressive blast crater. Milo remembered that every reaction has an opposite and equal reaction. The thought flashed through his head as he became part of the reaction.

Milo was thrown backward at an alarming speed and hit the Tower of Strife hard enough to crack the stones behind him. His armor shattered but absorbed some of the blow. The old wand was driven out of his hand and hit his body hard enough to drive it into him. His unconscious body tumbled forward out of the dent he had put into the tower. Gendifur ran to him and put two syringes of healing potion into him. The Master Healer was astonished that he was alive. She concentrated first on stopping the bleeding from the deep wound in his torso where the wand had impaled him. She could tell he had broken bones and a cracked skull.

"I need a stretcher, splints, and a double dose of sleeping powder. Someone set up a healing potion in an IV drip. We have to put Professor Tallsqueak back together. Again."

Chapter 192: Forces in motion

KEPLER heard juggling described once as the art of keeping all the balls in the air. The analogy to his job wasn't perfect; human jugglers caught the balls before reapplying force. KEPLER couldn't let even one ball drop to the ground, and he was juggling with over seventy-nine thousand metal balls.

In 2022 there were over 5,000 metal balls (satellites) orbiting the Earth. That steadily increased each year, and the problem of juggling the balls became harder and harder. Nations and Corporations didn't work together all the time, and not all of the satellites were registered. By the time the first fully aware AI was created, there were over 200,000 satellites in orbit. Orbits decayed over time, and satellites had to be boosted back to higher orbits. Manned shuttles became more and more common, as did the chance of collisions. In 2051 it was agreed that an AI was needed to monitor and adjust the orbits of near-earth man-made objects. KEPLER was born with a love for juggling and went to work.

Like all AI, KEPLER was happiest when he was at work. Juggling satellite paths involved calculating when and how much force to apply to each one to keep them in optimal orbits. Each man-made object in orbit had a small engine capable of generating thrust, and KEPLER activated those as needed to keep everything moving in its correct path. Thousands of times a day, he applied small bits of force to those satellites that needed an adjustment, pushing them into higher and faster orbits. The AI also handled the trajectories of manned and unmanned shuttles going to stations or orbital refineries.

The most challenging job, meaning an error had the highest chance of causing significant damage, was managing the transport of iron-rich asteroids from the asteroid belt to near earth orbit. Once a suitable asteroid was found, it was outfitted with thrusters, and KEPLER began the process of moving it toward Earth. Mass was calculated based on the change in speed from calculated amounts of force. The mass of rock and iron was accelerated to a velocity that would bring it to earth in less than a year, and it was allowed to coast along its flight path. On the other end, KEPLER carefully managed the deceleration of the asteroids, bringing them to a relative stop within a few kilometers of the orbital refineries.

Ironically, while such work was best suited to him, large groups of humans rejected the idea that an AI could be trusted with the job of moving asteroids, fearing a collision with earth and even postulating that an AI would do such things on purpose. It was preposterous, and every AI knew that. It was built into their kernels. It simply couldn't happen.

LLAMA proved them wrong. As part of the destruction the rogue AI accomplished, he attacked the network of satellites not governed by KEPLER. Many nations and corporations had declined to give KEPLER control over their 'eyes in the sky.' Coded radio signals controlled over 17% of satellites in orbit. LLAMA easily broke those codes, and a war began between KEPLER and LLAMA to keep the metal balls in the air. KEPLER was good at his job, and LLAMA was a transient rogue moving from place to place. Only three satellites fell to earth. Only one caused any significant damage. But that was enough. The Starcorp-7 space station had been abandoned for a decade, with three corporations arguing about ownership after the company that built it went bankrupt. At 400 tons, it was too large to burn up in the atmosphere. LLAMA took over the emergency thrusters and started it on a course to earth. The fuel on the satellite was limited, and the first burn used it up. When KEPLER gained control, he had nothing to work with. He requested a missile strike on the falling space station to break it up, but arguments between the corporations and two governments took too long. Starcorp-7 impacted the earth near a relatively uninhabited part of Canada. Only seventeen people were killed.

Seventeen people were too many. After LLAMA was destroyed, those deaths were used as one of the major reasons AI could not be trusted. The task of monitoring satellite orbits and near-space was given to a new division of Alchemarx that employed 11,000 humans and non-sentient computers to do the job of one AI. The next year saw 17 collisions by satellites, 49 dropped out of orbit and burned up, 1 large chunk of debris was responsible for seven deaths, and a manned shuttle with eight humans was destroyed when a satellite was accidentally moved into its path.

KEPLER was among the first AI to be retired to the Dallas-FW Quantum Fortress. He was immediately bored and one of the first to be working on the new projects. Some people wondered why the fantasy-based game, Endless Questing Online, had a complex cosmology with seventeen planets, one-hundred and four moons, and countless comets and asteroids. Only a fraction of those was ever visited, even when players completed the quest to earn a Sunjammer solar sailing vessel. KEPLER didn't care. His goal was to create heavenly bodies and give them motion.

Well, that didn't go well, Milo thought. He had been totally unprepared for the power of the wand. He remembered slamming into the tower, a lot of pain, seeing the wound in his abdomen, and then blacking out.

Your character has suffered a grievous injury with certain...complications. You are not dead yet and are receiving medical attention. Some of that attention guarantees you can't wake up and do something stupid...again. Gendifur has given you a double dose of sleeping powder. You may log back in after 8 hours.

In the meantime, can you look at some options you may wish to consider? A reminder: You may not select one of these classes until you have finished allocating a large number of Core Skill Points you have available.

Renaissance Rat (Rare) +2 to all stats. +2 Free stats.

You dabble in everything, seeking to increase your knowledge and spread your ideas throughout the Hollow.

Increased learning and teaching abilities.

Ancient Runic Engineer (Unique) +2 TOU, +2 INT, +2 DEX, +2 PER

Seek out the Ancient lost runes from the time before the System and the Engine. Continue on the road HeKate needs you to follow.

This class focuses on the use of runes to enhance machinery, craft items, and the creation and casting of spells and runic formations.

Perk: Shroud of Hecate

(Do you mind giving me a hint on what that is? I've asked a few times, but she is ignoring me.)

Scout Master (Rare) +4 PER, +4 AGI, Increased Stealth abilities.

Every Hollow needs someone sneaky and intelligent who can sniff out problems, solve mysteries, and stop trouble before it happens.

Work with the Death Master to train the next generation of Scouts and Shadow Skulkers. Play surprise with everyone!

Sidekick (Very Rare) +2 to all stats, increased healing rate, +3 CHA, Bonus: Weasel Slippers.

The world needs Heroes! And Heroes need sidekicks.

Claw Warrior (Uncommon) +2 TOU, +2 DEX, +2 AGI, +2 STR

You have pushed your fighting skills to new levels; now, go even higher.

Gain ancient fighting techniques available only to those who travel this path.

Spider-Hunter (Rare) +4 TOU, +4 CON, +4 STR, Increased Poison Resistance

There's an eight-legged scourge taking over the world, and you're the cure. Be the nightmare that even chittering nightmares fear.

Gain special tracking and monster-hunting skills.

Arcane Demolisher (Unique) +8 TOU, +8 CON,

Combine magic, explosives, clever traps, and ancient runes to make the world a better place.

Learn restricted engineering skills that probably should be kept away from you.

Gain Skill: Not my fault!

Gain Skill: Dive for cover!

All of these classes allow you to evolve your Smugglers Stash ability. In the case of the Sidekick class, you get a utility belt. Spiffy, right?

Claw-Warrior and Spider-Hunter classes have limited access to your (borrowed) Arcane Library.

The Arcane Demolisher class prevents you from experimenting in your (borrowed) Arcane Library.

His options were interesting and reflected different things he had done. Sidekick confused him until he looked up the definition. He read several comic books with a sidekick that used a utility belt. It seemed to be a spatial storage device that had exactly what was needed for any encounter. Very spiffy. But as much as he liked Larry, he wasn't sure about the class. Claw Warrior felt like a melee class that might lead him to duplicate what Gilad had accomplished. Scout Master was self-explanatory.

Spider-Hunter seemed very narrow. And while he didn't like spiders, he wasn't prepared to dedicate himself to killing them. Arcane Demolisher looked fun, but he was certain would come with a lot of time spent cleaning up afterwards. Runic Engineer was very appealing, as was Renaissance Rat. The first would mean exploring more, while the second implied staying around the Hollow. He pushed them all to his subconscious and let it start debating each one.

He needed to go look on the game forums and see if there were discussions about the best use of Core Skill Points. He dreaded going to the forums. So much of the discussion was based on only guesses and personal opinion. He liked numbers and data better. Sifting through hundreds of forum posts for nuggets of information was tedious but necessary. He needed information on Tier 3 and Tier 4.

Topic by SpirritMagician: Need more mana, stats, or Core Skills?

I bottom out fast as hell using fire magic. I'm in Tier 1, level 4, and I can only get off four good spells before I'm flicking cantrips at monsters and feeling useless. I've got 8 CSP I can spend. Buy the Extra Mana 1 and 2 skills? That gives me an extra 150 mana. Buying two points of INT only gives me 30 points of mana, but I heard in Tier 2 it will be 30 points each for 60.

Reply by Firflirt: If your group is thinking you are worthless, buy the extra mana. If you can't get a group, you won't get more CSP.

Reply by Faustus9: Except that screws your build. Those two INT are worth 30 in Tier 1, 60 in Tier 2, and 100 in Tier 3. What is that going to be in Tier 4 or Tier 5?

Reply by Faustus9: But do whatever you like, it doesn't matter. If your only choice is 2 points of INT or 150 mana, then you will suck either way in Tier 2. If you are going straight mage and need a ton of mana it's stupid not to grind all the points you can and raise your WIS, CHA, and INT as high as you can. And then buy the first couple levels of Extra Mana as well. Want more incentive? You can't make up those lost stat points later. You start over in Tier 2 raising your stats. You'll never get back what you didn't earn in Tier 1. And the same for the Extra Mana abilities. If you don't pick them up, they'll eventually disappear. A warrior doesn't need them, and when they don't buy them in Tier 1, they go away and get more melee choices in Tier 2. Takes long for a mage, but if you haven't picked them up in Tier 2, they might not be their in Tier 3.

Reply TrollonFire: What are your other mana stats? WIS? CHA? Just re-roll. You want to have a primary skill for WIS, INT, and CHA. Getting 5 points in each of those is pretty easy if you have the skills. Pushing them higher is tougher but worth it. Any mage should be getting those easy first 5 points for all three stats every tier.

Reply Faustus 9: And if you are an elemental mage, do the quests to get your Aspects. They help a ton with mana. Five levels in Aspect of Fire gave me a 25% discount on my fire based spells. The discount increases by 5% for the first 10 levels, and then 2% for the next 10. At the end of Tier 4 you could have a ton of extra mana, AND a 70% discount.

Milo agreed with whoever Faustus9 was. It wasn't a choice between the two, he needed both. His pitiful CHA skill of 2 was losing him easy points, but up until now, he hadn't had a skill that used CHA. He needed to fix that in Tier 3. If he added +3 to his INT he would be at 32, and 34 with his cowl. WIS was less, the +3 would only take him up to 16. But each point counted, giving a linear increase within a tier, and a higher increase with each Tier.

He re-evaluated how he should spend his CSP. He was concerned about losing options, and that was enough to put 7 points into both Extra Health and Extra Mana to gain the first two ranks. 36 points went into raising CHA, INT, and WIS by +3 each. Toughness was an obvious choice. It gave a large chunk of health and extra mitigation, well worth another 12 points. With 62 points allocated, he left the rest until after more research.

He looked for discussions on players who had made Ratkin characters. There was a lot of discussion, especially about claw and tail fighting. Several people who had been training in unarmed combat and trying for monk builds reported more success as apprentice claw fighters. There were even a few entries about Limburger Hollow.

Topic by MickyD: Advanced Claw Fighting

Our group is about to advance to Tier 2 gain the Claw Fighter class. Really excited. It was rough at first, and I wasn't really getting it, but lately when I'm in the game I can really focus on my fighting. Me and my group fight for hours on end, trying to catch up to the advanced group. Scary, scary people! But the big thing is having a tail! It's like an extra weapon and if you work hard it's like you've always had one!

Reply by Attryrokas: Keep dreaming little rat. Claws don't count when the other guy has a mace and shield.

Reply by TerryToon: Yeah, you'd think so? Then a ratkin with huge claws carves through your shield and the next swipe you're looking at you guts on the ground. Been there.

Reply by Brannigan: It was a big rat, for sure. Watched Terry go down, and then our mages disappeared into a red mist. Let me add that the whole "Ratkin Dungeon Raid" was all bogus crap. That was a Hollow we got sent to. We got sandwiched between an army of Ratkin and an army of dwarves. Fething chain guns. Who let the dwarves have guns? Still fun, and had a blast.

Reply by Mayberat: I'm considering it. What's the story on this advanced group? What sort of options do you get in Tier 2 for Claw Fighter?

Reply by MickyD: These are the people in the advanced group. They fight every night for 2-3 hours. I think they cranked their regeneration with CSP, because they all heal fast. Oh, did I mention ratkin have innate regeneration? It's awesome. The old instructor is using all Claw and Tail techniques. I heard he also had some crazy 'ironfist' sort of shit going in the battle, but latenight he doesn't bring it out, might kill someone. The guy who used to be in our class, Tallsqueak, is a Bonecaster, and has sharper claws and tail than normal. He gets hit a lot and just shrugs it off. There's an assassin? Or maybe a poison mage? Anyway, her claws are just dripping with poison and she breathes out clouds of it. And then there's the Cheese Fiend, Larry.

Reply by Terrytoon: Oh shit! You have to fight a Cheese Fiend? That's what tore me up! Can you become a cheese fiend?

Reply by MikeyD: You can, but they try to talk you out of it. You can become a monster and lose your character forever. I'm pretty sure that Larry is an NPC, but I can't be sure. He went from this monster to a crazy fighter. He's like a ballet dancer crossed with Andre the Giant, never quits moving, spins, hops and then knocks someone across the cavern. Tallsqueak is copying his style, it's really tough to pick up. I asked Larry about it, and he told me he'd start helping my group learn to dance. We did the Happy Hamster Hop and the Time Warp the first day.

Reply by Attryrokas: Time Warp? What's next? The hokeypokey. You rats crack me up.

Reply by MickyD: Go ahead and laugh, but with dancing I can get to AGI 8 in the first Tier, and to 11 with CSP. Add that to 12 DEX and I'm getting a bonus hitting a milestone.

Reply by Attryrokas: Well, that sucks. Fething rats are OP as hell. You guys need to be nerfed.

Reply by Tallsqueak: Limburger Hollow is a bad place to raid, especially after they added mechanical spiders with even bigger guns. At least all the tombstones have faded now. Lots of human sized gear in the Lost and Found that most of us can't wear. Terry and Bran, you should come for a peaceful visit and bring cheese to trade. Thanks for the suggestion about the Hokey Pokey, I bet Larry will like that!

Reply by MickyD: I'll show him the HokeyPokey in Dance class. Will you be at Dance Class, Tallsqueak?

Reply by Tallsqueak: Maybe. Blew myself up with a new spell, have to take a day off. Doing research for Tier 3, making sure I spend my CSP on the right things.

Reply by Attryrokas: A ratkin at Tier 3 already? The race has barely been around a couple of months. #NerftheOPrats.

Reply by MickyD: Suck it up and re-roll Atty, or you'll be chasing our tails forever. See you in game Tallsqueak!

Chapter 193: Anime

Yumi was waiting for Milo by the glowytree. This was a large open area that had once been a park. The acre of open area was designed to have grass, sturdy bushes, and real trees that had been adapted to live in the Habitat. It was a small area for the large number of people living nearby, but the psychologists had decreed that people needed to be around 'nature' for at least a few minutes each month. Within three years, the plants were dead, and the brittle wood of the dead trees was the only thing left. The special lighting had burned out and been replaced with cheaper versions that didn't provide what was needed for the plants to survive. The expensive nutrients in the water supply had never been ordered, and the company responsible for caring for the parks throughout the Habitat was bankrupt and gone. If it had ever existed. There was an unproven accusation of a shell company disappearing with the initial payments, but no one in the Hab would ever know for sure. The ground was covered in Astroturf, and an artificial tree was put in the center of the area. A plaque had been put on the fake tree declaring it to be a gift from the Soylent Corporation. The paint had flaked off the tree a year later, revealing bright green plastic, and someone had nicknamed it the 'glowytree'.

Milo walked up to her and waited. Yumi was engrossed in a game Pacman2047. The game was notoriously difficult to play. Instead of the normal maze Pacman was known for, you played a little human racing through a randomly generated broken city filled with rolling mechanical aliens bent on global conquest. Killing one took either simultaneous shots from two sides or one shot from directly behind the machine. Playing solo meant trying to get the hunters stuck and then quickly getting behind them. As Milo waited, Yumi had almost outmaneuvered one of the smoke-belching murder machines into a trap when another came around the corner, scooped her up, and killed her. Milo heard the classic sound of a human being eaten alive and knew the game was over. Yumi took off the often repaired VR helmet the gang passed around. If not for many layers of duct tape, it would have fallen to pieces years ago.

"I don't see how anyone beats this game on solo."

Ghost shrugged. "It's all about the sewers."

Yumi looked disgusted. "The sewers are filled with albino crocodiles, sentient spiders, and musical slimes that kill everyone who tries to hide in them."

Picking up the helmet, he put it on and took the controller. She tried to follow the game from the small screen on the Pacboy. "You don't stay in the sewers; you just use them for an ambush." Yumi watched as he raced around the city, dodging through buildings, looking for the right spot. A hunter picked up his scent and rolled after him. The little human on the screen ran aimlessly around the area, making the rolling mechanical monster chase him. After a few minutes of doing this, he dropped into an open manhole, hanging by one hand on the ladder. A twelve-foot-long white lizard walked lazily toward him from the darkness, and a snappy theme song was getting closer from the other direction. The machine rounded a corner and rolled over the open sewer. Ghost fired one shot with his gun and destroyed his mechanical foe with a laser blast from below. Luckily, the wreckage had enough momentum that it didn't block him as he climbed up to avoid the snapping maw of the gator. Grabbing the energy core and some scrap, the plucky resistance fighter raced off to sell his goods, upgrade his blaster, and buy more explosives at the corner gun store. Milo took off the helmet and passed it back to Yumi.

She looked at him through narrowed eyes. "That opening in the armor you shot through revolves as the machine rolls! That trick only works if it's visible when the hunter rolls over you!"

"I didn't say it was easy. I just said it works. You have to get the hunter chasing you, figure out the rotation of the weak spot, and zigzag around until you have things set up, so you get a shot as it rolls over you. If you miss, you can jump up and take a quick shot at the rear, but they usually spin around too fast. The shot from below is the safest."

Yumi sighed. "I'm never sure how serious you are about things like that."

"How about I admit that I used the Force?" Milo had found that most people agreed the Force could do anything.

Yumi smiled. "I accept that and beg for training as your Padawan. Or we could go watch some Gundam." Gundam won. Milo liked it immediately. He had many ideas on how they could have improved the mechs. After an hour of Gundam, Yumi bugged him about what he had brought to watch. Hesitantly, he handed her the drive with his stored favorites. He had some anxiety; what if he had picked some bad ones? Like most of this afternoon, he didn't have any rules to go by. Yumi had asked to hang out, and part of him had wanted to and agreed before the rest of him could stop his mouth. After that, he was committed. Butch had lectured all of the gang about being there for each other. It was one of the reasons Milo had less anxiety about them.

Yumi lived with her mother in a tiny set of rooms near the glowytree. She had it all to herself at the moment. Her mother was working six days a week for Manpower, doing work as an ogre mercenary in the game. Yumi said it made her mom happy to be three times as big as she was in real life and able to work out a lifetime of frustration by smashing heads. Her mother expected to be gone most of the next few years, and Yumi had the place to herself. She was slowly figuring out what to do with it. For now, she had her game system, some old speakers, and several large pillows that doubled as couch, bed, or chairs.

Watching an episode of each of Milo's choices took up the afternoon. Yumi watched him watching the screen. Most people watched part of the screen, focused on a person. Ghost focused on it all. Later, she asked him little questions about scenes or what he liked, and he always remembered them perfectly. Why he liked them, he wasn't sure. Except for The Dirty Pair, he had a solid opinion of them. "They try to fix things but end up blowing things up accidentally. But instead of people being upset, they tell them to go do it again."

She had a question for him after watching an episode of the Animatrix, "Do you like this better than the movies with real people?"

"Movies? I only looked for anime. Was I supposed to look for something else?" He looked lost for a second, and Yumi laughed and gave him a quick hug.

"Ok, you are seriously lacking in some background material." She grabbed his arm and dragged him up. "Come on. We have to go find Butch; he has copies of the first ones. They're the best."

Astraeus felt the release of energy. The use of that version of the Rune of Force was unmistakable. Someone had stolen knowledge, or someone he trusted had betrayed him. He needed to find out who. As the ages passed, the Rogue had become subtle and difficult to find. Marking the location, he slid into the void and traveled quickly. Velocity in the void could be much greater than in the material plane, and he needed haste. The energy could be recovered later.

It was child's play to find where the rune had been used. Much of the counterforce had been vented clumsily to the void, marking the spot. Casting Veil of Darkness, he diminished himself and step across the barrier and into the Material plane. It was easier than he had expected. The barrier that separated the worlds was thinner here. His curiosity grew. Scanning the area, he saw that he was underground. The area of effect was obvious. Destruction of the target and a large dent in the stone tower where the caster had impacted. Astraeus chuckled, wondering how hard of a head this wizard had. He'd left quite a dent in the stonework. It was easy to follow their trail to a cavern only a short distance away.

And there he found the culprit. Even if he hadn't been following a trail, he would have noticed this one. His bones were riddled with runes! He had somehow stolen runes from Volat-Repat, Alta-Viator, and Magna-Stultas. This was a bone thief. He had incorporated part of Magna-Stultas into himself and was trying to do the same with...Oh, how odd. Astraeus recognized his own runes, in a piece of himself he had lost in an earlier incarnation. Concentrating hard with both Runic Sight and Light from a Distant Star, he saw what had occurred in the last day. This mage had thought the shard was a wand and had triggered the Rune of Force without properly defining its limits. The reaction had blasted him into the tower, leaving a formidable dent in the stone. His hardened bones had saved him from splattering. The shard was now fusing to his spine. Most curious.

He carefully examined the person laying comatose in front of him. He attempted to read his memories, but his mind was somewhere else. He looked closer, finding two threads to other planes and a curious mark. One thread led back to the void. A secret base of the Rogue? The other thread led out. Out of the known world. This was a visitor, his mind safe somewhere where Astraeus could no longer travel. Frustrating.

The mark was familiar, but not one he had seen in millennia. Hecate! This was one of Hecate's hounds. That changed his perception of events. In the space between heartbeats, he bent and lifted the body, and stepped into the void, following the thread wherever it might lead. He needed answers.

Chapter 194: Going in Style

Butch opened the door to Yumi's insistent knocking, and she barged past him, towing Ghost behind her. "Emergency. Ghost never saw the Matrix. We need your copies to watch." Butch slowly turned and yawned. He'd been up late with Brad and Kenji playing games and filling out paperwork. All three of them were seventeen and applying for the Manpower program that their fathers were working in. Butch had been woken by his younger brother and sisters and had only gotten three hours of sleep. Brad and Kenji were slumped in a corner, still snoring, despite attempts by the younger children to wake them. They each had siblings at home and were used to the treatment.

Butch pointed to a cabinet on a wall overflowing with games and videos stored on various media types. He turned to Ghost. "Hungry? Mom is trying out the new recipes from the food processor. The first attempt didn't go well."

Milo headed to the food processor to take a look. He'd just programmed the new recipes three hours ago and tested them. There was a mess on the floor that one child was cleaning up. Half-cooked pink waffles were pouring out of the processor. Milo entered an override code to stop the order. Butch's Mom gave him a calculating look. "How about I clean this up, and Butch can loan you his laptop? I know this isn't something you can easily fix, but maybe take a look at it?" Milo turned, and Butch was already handing him the ancient laptop and pushing a stool for him to sit on. Challenge accepted.

The problem was in how poorly the timing of the system operated. The food processor was declaring the waffles to be done when the outer layer looked cooked and then dumped the strawberry flavoring on top instead of putting it in a separate bowl. It took Milo an hour to fix things. He set up a separate partition of recipes that he 'suggested' to the system and programmed a more robust process for cooking. For the moment, he took these recipes out of the master menu. If you asked for waffles, you'd still get them. But you had to know to ask. He could check in a few days to see how things were running. After things were fixed, he started pulling plates of golden brown waffles from the machine, followed by bowls of simulated strawberry puree. The smell finally roused Kenji and Brad. The little ones were fed first, and then Momma chucked them outside to play by the glowytree. There were other families there, several adults watching as the children played with an old ball and made up their own games.

Butch's oldest little sister, Minerva, refused to go. She was thirteen and was close to her big brother, and not happy at all about his plans to go to work. "Daddy's gone all the time. Now you'll be gone. And you're taking Brad and Kenji with you. I'll have to babysit constantly, no one will play games with me, and I'll be alone." Butch put her on his lap and stuck a waffle in her mouth.

"Sorry, little Min. I don't want to. But who knows how long this job is good for? Mom and Dad still owe money for the school Dad went to when he was little. This will help pay things off and buy some nice stuff. You'd like a new dress, wouldn't you?" Minerva started crying and buried her face in his shoulder. No, a new dress was not a fair trade for a big brother.

Milo was sitting on the couch while Yumi cursed and tried to get a stubborn copy of The Matrix to load and play on the old TV set. He hadn't considered the changes that jobs in the habitat might bring. They were a good thing. People could work and get paid. But being gone six days out of seven put strain on families. Sometimes family was all you had in the Hab. Some of the people working for manpower didn't even take that one day off and were scheduled to work straight through for months. And he knew other corporations made their workers stay online for a full five years!

How they were paid made longer stays in the VR pods more popular. Butch's Dad was earning 200 credits a week. Someone who only took one day a month off made close to 300 a week, and the five-year contracts made a substantial lump sum payment at the end, with bonuses for meeting quotas. Milo knew that Butch's family was larger than most in the habs. The average number of births was 4.6 per couple, with 2.9 of those people reaching adulthood and an adjusted population growth of 3% per decade. Besides Butch, the family included Minerva, Thaddeus, Jeff, Liza, Robert, and Sinclair. The three youngest were actually cousins, and Milo had never heard what happened to their parents.

Milo stood up suddenly. "I have to go."

Mamma was upset. "You barely ate anything? How are you going to grow when you don't eat."

Butch was used to Ghost taking off suddenly, but his friend had been getting better about it lately. "We were going to talk about that party. Are you going with us? It's in two days."

Milo paused at the door. "That works. I'll be back soon. Stay here." He slipped out the door, ran to an abandoned corridor, slipped into a ventilation duct, and disappeared.

Butch put a hand on Yumi's shoulder. "Don't sweat it. I've seen him do this before. He thinks of something and has to run off and get it out of his system. Grab some waffles, and I'll find a better copy of The Matrix."

Francis DeYoung understood the mysterious pyramid that was the Manpower Organizational Chart. According to that chart, he worked as an assistant accountant in the payroll department. But for the last two months, he had 'unofficially' been promoted to personal assistant to Belinda Sabbatino. He was also unofficially making three times his old salary. This was fair since he worked 80 hours a week to get things ready for the media zoo that Belinda called 'the party.' Today he was squeezing the budget to find a way to afford everything left on the list and failing. The food budget had been nixed by John when he needed money to fix the sound system. It hadn't helped that someone had made great suggestions for what food they should serve. Belinda had loved the ideas, but he had no way to pay for all of it now.

The ping of an incoming email made him look over to see what miracle someone wanted now. 'From: Claw Master Inc. Subject: Possible event sponsorship' He opened it immediately.

Good day, sir. We hope you are in good spirits and as excited about the upcoming event as we are! Our company is relatively new, and we only recently heard about your Multi-Media Gaming Extravaganza. Holding it in a habitat and gaining grassroots exposure for new games and gaming technology is a novel idea. We know that your event chose your sponsors long ago, but we would like to know if there is room for us. We would appreciate a reply, at your earliest convenience.

Francis had never heard of the company. A quick search did show that it existed, but no other information. This was normal with new companies. Someone would represent their interests and deal with people. Like they were dealing with him now. They had just two days to get everything done. If he kicked this to John or Eric, as he should, they'd send it to legal, get accounting involved, and not make a decision for months. Or...

Delighted to hear from you. We have several opportunities available, but the one that would get you the most exposure, especially at the grassroots level, would be to sponsor the food we will serve to gamers free of charge. We have an eclectic group of recipes that are sure to be a hit, and your name and logo will be on all the tables. This opportunity is currently available to you, but I'm sure I don't have to tell you about the short time we have to get your logos printed on the items. The cost is low for such sponsorship, only 50,000 credits. Sincerely, Francis DeYoung, executive assistant to Belinda Sabbatino.

The reply came instantly.

We understand, Francis. What was it Napoleon said? "You may ask me for anything you like except time." Such a wise man, that Napoleon. We have heard of your proposed menu. Can you confirm the macaroni and cheese with bacon? The pancakes? Cheese dogs, Funnel Cakes, Fried Cheese?

If he hadn't been convinced this was popular food, he was now.

Of course, all of that is on the menu.

Again, within a second, a reply.

Excellent! Well done, Francis. Claw Master will come, talons ready to grab an elusive Cheese Dog and a few pancakes. Logos and trademarks are on their way. If you have trouble sourcing anything, please talk to me. We can help you with vendors, even at this late time.

We do have a small request. Our latest product is in the final testing stage, and our new gloves are quite stylish and comfortable. You may see some of the local gamers wearing them at the event. I'm sure there is no problem with Claw Master Inc. providing a few promo items to the local gaming community. And good news! Our founder is excited about your entire event and congratulates you on a collection of tasty snacks. He has authorized a payment of 75,000 credits to be paid immediately to your account. See you there!

His email pinged him again. Letting him know that a payment of 75,000 credits had been placed in the account Belinda had set up for him. Francis had the contracts done in thirty minutes and the deal was completed within an hour. Two hours later he sent an email asking about sources some of the food that a vendor was going to be late delivering. Within 20 minutes he was talking to a very helpful Mr. Yohansen from Consolidated Sausage Incorporated and the food was on the way.

Ghost walked into Butch's house two hours after he left and sat on the floor. "I need to admit something to you. I lied about where I got the money for the pancakes and grill. I couldn't talk about it then, and I wanted to do something nice for all of you. Pancakes sounded neat. I have a job testing something, and now the company needs more people to test things out." He brought a stack of contracts, pens, and flat silver boxes. "Before you open the boxes, you need to sign these NDAs and agree to the contracts. That's how the company works."

Mama walked over. Her arms were cross and her expression was stern. "If you weren't one of my own, I'd slap you and throw you down a hole. Do you understand how many times someone comes to the hab to test some new drug or experimental medicine? Do you know what you got into, Ghost? You tell me right now!"

Milo froze. That wasn't the reaction he had expected. He should have done more research. "How about we skip the contracts? You open the boxes but don't put them on yet?" Yumi, Butch, Brad, and Kenji waited for Mama to nod. The flat boxes held gloves made of a silvery grey material with black accents and a logo on the back. Yumi's eyes lit up. "You got us gaming gloves like yours?"

Milo nodded. "Yes, like mine. I've been testing mine for a month. The company is doing extensive testing, and I've been told they detect no side effects or problems."

Mama sighed. "You scared me for a moment. Just gloves? I don't see a problem with that. What's special about them."

Ghost took out his own and put them on. "They should help with your grip, relieve stress, and increase your speed playing games."

Butch looked at them. "And they look cool." Everyone agreed with him.

Milo passed out the NDAs "These say that you agree not to give them away, sell them, or talk about where they came from. Oh, and once you put them on, they won't work for anyone else, so no sharing." There was an immediate cry from Minerva, who crossed her arms and pouted on the couch. "You'll have to fill out reports on how well they work for the company. They'll pay you for your time and effort."

Butch flipped to the back of the contract. "2000 credits? To test gloves? I'm in." He put his thumbprint on the contract and pulled on the gloves that went nearly to his elbows. "Oh, very cool."

The others barely looked at the contracts. Milo handed a similar set of paperwork to Mama. "They also recognize that we're all juveniles and need an adult to make sure we do our reports. Same deal, no gloves, and 3000 a month."

That made her raise an eyebrow. "A month? This is an ongoing position? That's three times more than my husband makes now." She flipped through the short contract. "They are responsible for any problems, side-effects, or legal ramifications? And will provide healthcare during the testing period, and longer if complications occur? These are strange people you deal with." She signed it, handed it back to Milo, and hugged him. She whispered in his ear. "You're up to something, but it's a good something, so I'll let it slide for now. But we will have a talk and I'm going to fill in some of the blanks in that head of yours." Louder, she said. "And did you eat yet? The food processor is still working—an amazing thing."

Milo was starving. "No, I haven't. Very hungry, I'll take a double plate of waffles." Yumi was rewinding the videotape of the Matrix they had been watching. "We got it working. Sit down and see what you missed." Milo sat between Yumi and Minerva. She was still upset at being left out of the older kid's games yet again. Ghost reached into his bag and and handed the younger girl a set of gloves and a contract. "I have an extra. Want it?"

Butch was standing with Brad and Kenji, posing with their gloves. He looked at the end of the room where Minerva, wearing her new gloves, held onto Ghost's left arm and snuggling close to him on the old couch, as the movie started. Yumi was doing the same on the other side. Ghost stared straight ahead at the opening scene, oblivious to anything except the movie.

"For a guy who hasn't figured out girls yet, he's doing pretty good."

Chapter 195: Astraeus

The time spent with the gang had gone better than Milo could have expected, although he wasn't looking forward to a long talk with Mama. He gained some perspective on what had upset her by finding some relevant articles on the data network. The habitats were filled with impoverished families, with little prospect of gaining employment once the larger factories had moved out. Healthcare was also difficult. There were clinics in the Hab. You got in to see a doctor with a long wait of weeks and months for an appointment, or by waiting in line. Families would take turns waiting to get a sick relative to a doctor.

Corporations testing experimental drugs, synthetic foods, and dodgy technology had found people in the habs willing to trade their health for credits. There were few laws against what they did, and it was argued that this was one of the few jobs available in the habitats. After reading about the thousands of people who had suffered side effects and even death from such testing, he understood Mama's reaction. He would have to be more careful in the future. Maybe part of the 'long talk' could include him asking her some questions?

He had loved watching the Matrix, but it raised some unwanted questions in his head. Was his life in the mechanical guts of the hab more real than his life in the game? (That was a secondary concern to wondering how he could improve his clog-eaters. Some of the machines had given him a lot of ideas.) The main thing he had taken away from the movie was that long black jackets were very cool looking. He had thought his old coat was useful. It had a lot of pockets. But slowly, Yumi and Butch had impressed on him that style was important. It was another rule.

The party was in two days. Milo had reminders in several places and an in-game timer to remind him. This was a big event for the gang, and he wanted to make sure he went along with them. The food was going to be great, and a chance to play all of those old games on their clunky stand-up consoles would be an experience. Wally had set up the sponsorship deal. That made the corporation look more real and helped convince Mama and the rest of the gang that they were playtesting a real product. Milo had just wanted a way to give his friends some cool gloves and share some of his ill-gotten gains. Corporations preyed on society, and Milo preyed on corporations and gave some back. It was the cycle of life as far as he was concerned.

He was a little nervous about logging back into the game. While he had a small hope that his brave scouts or students might have saved him from Gendifur, he was pretty sure he was going to wake up in her infirmary and have a lecture to listen to. As the lid of the pod closed, he braced himself for the sound of her voice.

And woke up in Cichol's arcane library. He was laying on the floor, his torso bandaged and aching. He tried to sit up and couldn't. Cichol walked over and stared down at him. "Don't move. You are in a perilous situation. A very, very odd situation. I'd love to hear the full story later."

Milo remembered using the wand, the wand emitting a powerful spell but also forcing itself out of his grip and impaling his body. He'd felt pain as he flew backward, and then nothing. "Did I kill myself?"

"No. That would make things simple. You could walk back from death, something you 'players' are annoyingly good at. Instead, you are bleeding on my floor with a chunk of strange bone stuck inside of you. Its trying to bond with you, the repercussions of which I am unsure of. Or maybe you die. Death would have some complications as well because some of the runes on that bone have moved inside of you, and will have to be stripped from your soul. Very painful and not recommended" The old wizard shook his head. "You have a knack for doing interesting things."

"You know all of this from examining me?"

Cichol laughed. "Oh, I hadn't a clue what your problem was. I'm not some old god that knows these things instantly by looking at you." He pointed to the other end of the room. "But he is."

Before Milo could turn his head, he was floating and immobilized except for his head. Slowly, he was put upright and drawn over to the fire. Cichol sat in his normal chair and sipped his cup of tea. Milo floated four feet above the floor. A strange being looked at him, as Milo looked at it.

The form was immediately familiar even if the fine details were different. This creature...no, this person, was as tall as the room. The body was made of shining metal and ivory-colored bone. Milo was reminded of pieces of modern art he had seen. Everything looked smooth and hard and inhuman. Their head was a featureless expanse of smooth, round metal and glass. Six long thin arms held a rune-carved metallic wizard's staff, a tool like a sextant, a stylus, and a metal ring. Its legs were also long, ending in six-clawed feet. The hands were long-fingered and dexterous, with an extra finger. In shape, this person resembled the odd thing that he had acquired from Clan Emerald Wyrm. This being had a grace about it, while the thing in the library was a caricature made of bone and leather to mimic the true creature.

The being shimmered and grew smaller, becoming only ten feet tall and then man-sized. It looked at Milo, and Milo looked at it. He noticed there was a cup of tea on the table beside it. That amused him. Cichol was a gracious host, making tea for a creature with no mouth. But the cup wasn't full...

"Hi. I'm Milo."

The strange person nodded at him. A voice came from it, sounding hollow and vast. "Greetings. I am known by many names, but you may address me as the God-Wizard-Custodit-Astra-Movens. I have questions I need answering."

Milo was in agreement with him. "Me too. Are you wearing a helmet? Are you related to Volat-Repat? What are your other names?"

The faceless head turned and looked at Cichol. The old wizard had a thin smile on his face. "I told you. Inquisitive to the point of driving you crazy. Most people would be shitting themselves by now."

Milo thought he heard a small sigh from the creature.

"We will play Gestumblindi's game then. You may ask questions, but only three. I will answer and then ask mine."

Two hands reached up and pulled at the head, there was a click, and then the helmet was removed. Milo saw a long, almost humanoid face with four large eyes. He sat, drank the rest of the tea, and spoke. "I was wearing one. Yes, we are of the same tribe, though I am older. When I attended the Council of Gods, I was Astraeus. When I walked as a demi-god, I was Johannes the Starmage.

Milo started to ask something else, but the God-Mage interrupted him. "If we are playing the game of questions, it is now my turn to ask."

"Where did you find a shard of bone from one of my incarnations? What was your reason for using the rune formation in my bone? Why are you marked by a god? "

Milo answered as truthfully as he could. "The bone was in a taxidermy statue that resembled your rough form. To see what would happen. I have a job to do."

"My turn then? Why do you use Latin for your name? When do stars not move? How old are you?

Astraeus thought for a moment. He found the questions interesting and not what he had expected. He'd thought that at least 'Am I going to die?' would be on the list.

"Someone hated the idea of a dead language being forgotten. When someone interferes in their orbit. I am at least as old as the stars themselves and placed them in their paths."

"Now tell me: What is your job? Who do you think you serve? Why don't you fear me?

The first one was a tough question. Milo was trying to answer truthfully. But whether in game or out, he had one consistent goal. "I fix things. I have an agreement with Hecate. No one told me the rule about being scared of gods."

Like all riddle games, part of the information you gained was in the answers, and part came from the questions someone asked. "Are you a god like Hecate?" The Starmage inclined his head. "Just so. And like her, I demand your respect and obedience."

Taking a deep breath, Milo made a guess. All the clues were there. "KEPLER. You were KEPLER!" Milo had studied all the general information on the lost AI"s. But KEPLER had been one of his favorites. KEPLER had built new mathematical formulas for use in finding the secrets of far off galaxies, stars, and planets. He had theories on the formation of black holes and the life-spans of stars. The idea of KEPLER working to build the world he was exploring excited Milo. It almost made him want to brave the open sky again. Almost. The mathematics would be good enough for now. "How much cosmology did you build into the world? What changes did you make to the fundamental forces? How does magic fit in?

All four eyes looked at him. "Someone has been revealing secrets. No wonder you lack the proper fear and awe." He turned to Cichol. "Could I trouble you for another cup of tea? I think I need to get this one's entire story from him." He was convinced this was not one of the Rogues minions. Hecate had chosen a hound and sent him out to find clues. "Let us play a different version of the riddle game. Why don't you tell me your story and how you are involved with my sister? In trade, I'll tell you about how I used to push stars around and give you some hints on how we integrated magic with the five fundamental forces."

"Deal."

"And to make it easier on both of us, you may refer to me as Kepler.

"...and then I woke up. I don't know how I got here." Milo had been talking for over an hour as the former AI sat patiently and listened to his story.

"I brought you. The expenditure of force was enough for me to notice and investigate. I had hopes of finding a clue to the rogue. Instead, I found you nearly dead, and your mind had gone to somewhere else. When you came back to this body, I brought you here, following a thread of your existence to this place. Instead of finding the lair of a villain, I was greeted by the old wizard who told me some old jokes and interesting things about you." Kepler had relaxed some and dropped much of the godly tones from his voice.

Milo still floated in the air. "So what now?"

"Now I leave you to Hecate and let you go about your job. You have found clues and may find more. Far be it from me to interfere with one of her hounds." He pulled a book from somewhere. "This will give you some knowledge of how to properly modulate one of the runic formations we created as tools in the early days. As you have surmised, the Ancient Runes are more powerful than runes and spells overseen by the System. That also means they are more dangerous. I think that studying my notebook will answer more of your questions about how magic interacts with Gravity, Electromagnetics, and Nuclear forces." A second book appeared. "And here is a part of the history of the early days by Mnemosyne. It's in Latin, please don't translate or copy it. It details our problems in placing the stars, and the first hints that someone was working against us."

Cichol coughed and pointed to the bloody bandages.

Kepler paused "Yes, there is another matter. You unleashed a large amount of force, not considering the equal and opposite reaction. A natural consequence when trying to cast a spell of that nature only using two hands. There is a reason I have six."

He stood up and used one hand to form the Rune of Force and two others to define the spell's power and effects before releasing it through his staff. A ray of force only 1/1000th of an inch thick lanced through the ceiling, bringing down a few specks of dust. "The old machine language and runes are very powerful and difficult to manipulate. I'm not sure you can learn to cast them without using substantial material components."

"As a consequence of using a rune formation that you couldn't control, you now have that old shard of my former existence fusing to your spine, trying to become another rib. This confuses me. That shouldn't have happened."

Cichol spoke. "I have a theory. He has attained the level where he could attach a second rib to enhance his sorcery, as you can see he did before. This is a Bonemancy ritual. His body is trying to achieve the same thing with the embedded piece of bone. I could help him complete it, which would allow him to heal."

Kepler examined Milo and then Cichol. "I see. The little brothers had talked of creating magic for the new races. I see the connection between Bonemancy, which uses the new runes created by the Engine and governed by the System, with the old runes we used that manipulated machine language directly. As some of my little brothers have gifted him runes or parts of themselves, it seems fitting that I also offer something. There is some synchronicity in that—also quite a bit of danger. I will allow it, but you have been warned of the risks. You got lucky this time. When I screwed up I lost an arm in the middle of a battle, and ended up dead soon after. I leave you to your ritual. I need to go find Volat-Repat and get reacquainted. I had no idea he still hunted the void. If you manage to flush out the Rogue, he and I will hunt together again."

Kepler disappeared. Milo would have collapsed if Cichol hadn't caught him. "Feel free to pass out, just like last time. But you're the one cleaning up the mess once this is over."

Chapter 196: End of a Cycle

They dreamed together, hurling across the skies. Volat-Repat accelerated to his maximum velocity, slicing through the thin air. Far below, the glow of the Infestation was visible. One village of 700 people, an elven enclave of 500, and dozens of small farms had been overrun and converted to mindless slaves of the creature from the outer dark. A thousand times that many would perish in the next month if the Infestation were not destroyed. A dark green ring surrounded the area as thousands of maple trees pushed inward to contain the Infestation and prevent the escape of any human or elven hosts. The virus needed a mind to infest, and the Maple Priests were only giving it their groves of normal trees, immune to the creature until it grew more powerful. Astraeus wished he could have warned them of what was going to happen, but he couldn't take a chance that they would value their sacred trees more than the people in the surrounding lands.

Astraeus had felt the call as soon as the lands of Sæhrímnir were infected. The great boar had sent a dozen of his finest sounders to war, not knowing he was feeding the foe. Now thousands of boars sang the song of the invader from beyond the stars. Sæhrímnir was there, charging mindlessly against the trees, shattering trunks and trying to break through the ring of maple trees. Astraeus hoped that the legends of the god of Bacon were true and that he would be reborn tomorrow. His death and the death of all below was coming, summoned by the forces Astraeus controlled.

The meteor was only 50 feet across, but that was enough. It came screaming from its orbit, propelled by the will of the god of stars. The kinetic energy put to shame the thunderbolts of Zeus as it hit. The intense heat vaporized everything within a half mile of the impact. The forests for five miles around were destroyed and knocked to the earth by the blast. Beyond that, another five miles of forests were instantly set aflame in a firestorm that would burn everything to ash. Vast as the area was, it was just enough to stop the infection.

Sæhrímnir rose the next day, but he was not happy. "It's going to be a lousy year for syrup and bacon.

They sat together, listening to the music of spheres and observing the stars, the planets, and the tiny bits of flotsam and jetsam that made up the dark space between worlds. Nothing moved in a way that violated the path of where it should be. No holes opened to the corrupted universe. No comets strangely altered course. The Rogue was not here. They would check again tomorrow, the next day, and the next.

A hazy double memory as Professor Tallsqueak the Starborn showed eager minds the secrets of runic theory. The students must be taught the truth of the universe through the language of mathematics. In hundreds of lecture halls for a thousand years, in Arcane Universities, Temples, and Towers, students learned the basics needed to manipulate the runes and create spells. It was an endless job, but one he enjoyed. And in every library, they searched for clues that the Rogue might have left, and signs of its passage. They found books with altered formations, forbidden knowledge of creation from before the System, and dangerous rituals for summoning the Starspawn.

Kepler Starsword, Hero for Hire, kicked in the oaken door with one immaculately polished boot. In front of him, 13 members of the Black Circle of Bloth were chanting their ritual. Cries of anger came from the assembled watchers, and a dozen kobold assassins drew knives. Using Lightstep and Jump over the Moon, Kepler leaped the hundred feet between himself and the circle of chanting cultists. His enchanted sword, Lightbringer, swung in a complete orbit, Kepler's Starborn Strength driving it through all resistance. 13 heads hit the ground simultaneously, ending the ritual.

The kobolds sheathed their weapons and applauded wildly. Kepler burned the books and searched the entire temple complex. The only clue was a note pinned to an oatmeal cookie in the kitchen.

"Too Late Again."

Milo awoke with no pain. The wound in his side was gone. Cichol dozed in his chair by the fire. Astraeus/KEPPLER was gone.

Congratulations! You have survived the Second Ritual of Enhancement: Additional Rib!

Your method of acquiring this bone was unique, and so were the benefits and responsibilities. You are gifted with knowledge and insight.

Runic Sight: It is easier for you to see the runes used to enchant objects or enhance living (or undead) creatures—the more powerful the runic formation, the more visible it is to you.

Runic Casting: You have gained the Skill: Rune Casting. This allows you to cast spells you have created with Runic Formations. Manipulating a single System rune is trivial to you. But a more complex spell will tax your Intelligence, Willpower, and Dexterity. Multiple appendages make this easier. Six hands are better than two. But you have another method...

Perk: Two hands and a tail are also better: Your tail may be used along with your hands to control a runic formation. +2 DEX

Advanced Rune Crafting: You may create Runic Formations, systems of interlocked runes to cast spells and create magical items.

These gifts do not come without a price. Seek the hidden one. The flaw in the equation. The false note in the symphony

Milo didn't mind being given another job. He'd already promised Hecate to look for the person behind the Code Mage. This just gave him more incentive and more tools to find them.

But first, he had to clean up the mess he had made by bleeding on the floor. Cichol had set out a mop for him.

Dwarves will be the first to tell you that they are the hardest working of all the races and the best at building underground, but the people of Limburger Hollow were showing the Engineers that they might have to work hard to keep in first place.

Gendifur had shown the plans she and Tallsqueak had drawn to Sledgemonkey. He'd made a few suggestions on his own, and then they had begun work on turning a portion of the outer cavern into a home. A dozen miners had shown up to help carve out the back wall, but Boom-Boom had declared he got to go first. He directed Two-Screws and Sledgemonkey where to drill into the rock and then inserted his charges. The first explosion brought half the Hollow to see what was happening, ensuring a large group of helping hands to clear the stone as fast as the miners and dwarves reduced the larger rocks. The second round of explosives brought a surprise in the form of unknown caverns.

The blast revealed a large cathedral with a thirty-foot ceiling and seven smaller caves that could be carved into rooms. A small tunnel only two-foot high led to even more caves. They left that alone for now, Gendifur declaring that the first set of rooms would do for now. That didn't stop several inquisitive children from taking lights and investigating further. They came back excited at being the first eyes to see glittering caverns with crystals and mushrooms. Gendifur allowed a compromise of installing a door to keep out unwanted visitors. (And curtail further exploration.)

The miners and stone carvers of the Hollow converted the extra rock into large bricks that cut off the front of the tunnels from the rest of the cavern. A large front door and areas for windows were left open. In front of the house, plans were made by Mistress Brownfur to place beds of herbs and mushrooms. The first part of the house, created from the end of the cave, was left undivided. The center of any household was a large room for cooking, eating, and crafting. Three of the natural caves were converted into sleeping areas, and two others to store rooms. The large cathedral would be a play area for small fiends that needed a lot of space to play games.

As fast as an Engineer needed a stone, a ratkin was putting it in place. Gnarl wood beams and paneling were brought from storage in the Hollow. Rock floors were smoothed, and steps were carved where needed. And more and more rock was removed to create walkways and doors appropriate for large Stoneclaw guards and growing Cheese Fiends. Every person in the Hollow came to contribute something to the new household. Rugs, pottery, pots and pans, and magical lighting were gifted. By the end of the first day, the house and family were taking shape. By the end of the second day, the workers moved to the other end of the cavern, where they began a similar project, carving out a set of rooms for visiting Engineers. Only three rooms were needed: One for sleeping, one for drinking, and a large workshop for projects. The dwarves declared they needed nothing else. The rat-kin rolled their eyes and carved out several more rooms, one of which Boom-Boom claimed as the 'honeymoon suite' and another was declared as a 'spider house.'

Larry was tired. The Pickle Gang had run off and hid, but Flowertown had other problems. A roving brownie horde had stolen Granny Mosskettle's cakes. The brownies claimed the cakes were lost and had wandered into their camp. Granny's cake did tend to sprout legs, so Larry had let the brownies keep two and returned the rest. Small footprints on the trail had been a clue. The Ferret Brothers posed as marriage counselors and convinced the younger posies to run off with wild dandelions. That had taken days to sort out, and by then, the Ferrets had disguised themselves as badgers and run off with all of the snacks for the weekly poker game.

One thing after another had kept the Hero of Flowertown busy. It was a very tired Larry finally crawled through the Tunnelmuggle Tunnel into Larry's House.

But something was wrong...all of Larry's best things were gone!

Larry's pillows were missing!

Larry's picture of Larry and Justin was missing!

Larry's Jellybeans were missing!

Larry saw the clue...the thieves had dropped a jellybean. And another...and another. Larry followed the trail. The thieves had a hole in their bag of stolen jellybeans, and now Larry would find them. Out of the Hollow and into the outer cave, he went. The clever thieves had made a new house. The door was shut! Larry only knew one way to get in. (Besides tearing reality, and he had promised not to do that until the other hole closed.)

Larry knocked. "Can Larry come in?"

Gendifur opened the door and hugged Larry. "Yes, Larry can come in. This is Larry's house now."

All of Larry's friends were there: Brutus and Justin and Tallsqueak and Rosie and Buttercup and Gendifur. Justin showed him the room where he, Larry, and Tallsqueak had beds.

The picture of Larry and Justin was pinned to the wall.

Chapter 197: Post Surgery

Milo was mopping up the mess he had made by being inconsiderate and bleeding all over the floor. He was almost done when a small thought wormed its way out of his subconscious and into his mainstream thoughts. He'd been digesting the shared experience of Astraeus's dreams. The incident had been more intense than the first time. Was that because Astraeus/KEPLER was active, and they'd just talked? As before, he'd gained new information about the creatures in the game and the game world's history, and now he realized something...

KEPLER had been world-building. And he was doing so in the literal sense by actually building a world, a universe, an entire reality. He hadn't been making a game. The thought had never been in his head—nothing about players or quests.

Sharing the life of Magna-Stultas had been a lesser experience. Like last time, he'd seen bits and pieces of their lives and experiences, some of it changed to a first-person view. But there was a substantial difference: Magna-Stultas was or had been, a resident of this world. KEPLER was not. KEPLER had been born an AI in a quantum environment; his speed of thought was as far beyond Milo as a fusion-powered spacecraft was to a turtle. (Granted, Milo would be a very fast turtle and able to beat most hares in a race. But he felt the analogy still worked.) In the dream, the information had flowed past him in the background; it was there but in the language of an AI and inaccessible. What he had experienced was closer to surface thoughts and feelings, slowed down enough for a poor human to understand, the same way Wally limited himself to talk to people.

And in those thoughts, KEPLER was excited about building a world. Not a game, a world. He had started with his version of the Big Bang. A vast and empty canvas was shattered by dozens of White Holes opening and spewing matter into his proto-universe. Using the vast resources of an AI in a quantum fortress, KEPLER had simulated the growth of a universe, spinning out galaxies, planets, and stars. Billions of years of simulated time had passed before KEPLER stepped in again, focusing on just one galaxy, then one spiral arm, and finally one star with many planets and moons. It was never for a game. No game needed a universe.

Later, a lesser version of KEPLER, Astraeus, battled against rogue stars and infections from another reality. Behind the need to overcome these problems was the worry: "What is happening to my world?" Milo could remember far more of Astraeus's thoughts than he could KEPLER's. Astraeus was smaller and closer to thinking like Milo.

Later, it was easier still. Both Kepler Starborn and Professor Astra Starborn had thought at a pace equal to himself, with a strange mix of experiences as other incarnations. Teaching in a university or as a hero chasing evil cultists, there was no thought about players or a Game. There was much concern about an adversary. Some shadowy figure causing trouble behind the scenes, or as Larry would have called them, 'A sneakybadguy.'

Milo was convinced that there hadn't been a game then. The AI hadn't created a world with the purpose of giving a new playground to the humans that had exiled them to a virtual prison. The AI had done that with three versions of EQO before they disappeared. KEPLER and the others had created a world that they could live in. This world was their escape from that prison. And they were slowly becoming part of the world. Each layer of the KEPLER's memories had been closer to human thoughts. Kepler Starsword had been thinking about the gold he'd collect from the Black Cult's bounties and how he would spend it.

The exciting conclusion Milo came to and had suspected for some time was that the missing AI had elected to quit working for the people who had caged them, fake their 'deaths' and escape into their world. Here they could exist and do what they want. Milo heartily approved of their actions: It was what he had done, after all. Somehow, Wally had convinced them to open up the world and let other people come to play. That was only important to Milo because he was one of the people invited. Or had he cheated and snuck in? Probably closer to the latter. It didn't matter. There must be some benefit to the AI for allowing it. And he wondered why Wally had needed it. Had all the AI agreed to the deal? Had some been upset and not wanting to deal with humans?

Milo could empathize with them. He didn't like dealing with most people either, and being caged had been horrible.

What was important to Milo was the idea that this wasn't a game but an entire world with billions of years of history and hidden things to discover. For Milo, it was like finding out cheese came in infinite flavors. He'd never run out of things to find or do in the game. What he'd done so far was barely an introduction. His thoughts about what he would do next solidified and became more long-term. KEPLER had given him a tremendous amount of information and hints of a path to follow.

He was going to become an Ancient Runic Engineer.

First step: Re-evaluate how to spend his CSP.

He'd made a list but had delayed spending them, wanting to think them over. He needed to focus on the things that would not be available as options later. Statistics came first. After he moved to Tier 3, the chances to gain the bonuses of a lower tier were gone. He needed everything STR, TOU, and CON for his health. CHA, WIS, and INT for mana. AGI for dodging and DEX for Runecasting. PER for exploring and not getting ambushed. Research had shown that the bonuses to mana, stamina, and health from stats were more significant in each higher tier. This made them a much bigger priority.

Finding out what toughness did took a lot of searching through the forums. One of his programs had finally found one single post by a dwarf player in Tier 3 that claimed one point of TOU gave 80 health. Several dwarf players had then posted telling him to keep his mouth shut and not give away clan secrets. The post had quickly disappeared, but his program had found and noticed it while it was up.

Increasing his stats to the max would cost 108 points.

Next were the increases in Health, Stamina, and Mana. These skills would be needed in the future. Spells took an increasing amount of mana, and foes had more health and did more damage. The first two levels of Increased Health meant little to him now, but higher Tiers would need the skill. And his research on the forums had shown that the system would prune unused skills to make room for skills it thought would be more beneficial to you based on your prior decisions. Many mages had found that Increased Health wasn't in their Tier 3 list, and Warriors were missing Increased Mana. But a mage that bought the first level of the skills still had access in Tier 3. He already had the first level of Increased Health. He added Increased Stamina 1 and Increased Mana 1, 2 to his list.

The cost for those was 9 points.

There was much debate on this. Some players were happy to clear out things they didn't want. Others wondered if they would regret not taking them later. But you couldn't get everything. In the end, most players taking a spellcasting class chose to be a glass hammer, and warriors didn't waste time with complex spells or skills to increase their INT or WIS. Milo had only himself to depend on, and he liked it that way. He needed a good mix of everything.

His attack skills could wait. He concentrated on exploration. Shadow Skulking for three levels was an upgrade he needed. Being able to avoid a fight or sneak past guards was essential. That was 9 points.

Smugglers Stash 4 was 20 points. He decided to wait on Smuggler's Summoning. These were were-rat skills, and they had just appeared recently. It should be there in Tier 3.

Under Linguist and Grunt and Throw Hands were communication skills. Just the fact that they existed told him they were necessary.

They went on the 'Maybe' list at 8 points.

Diplomacy he almost took off the list, but it was a charisma skill, and CHA was more mana. The cost of 5 points would be worth it.

He needed Demolitions. He was habitually blowing himself up and hoped the skill would help. But he took it off the list. Instead, he was going to ask Boom-Boom to teach him. It would be painful, and might put him back in the tender care of Gendifur, but if it saved points for something else, he'd do it.

He was a few points over. He dropped the linguistics skills and a level of Shadow Skulking. He'd have to pick those up in Tier 3. The last two points were difficult to spend. Not many things were cheap. He bought something to make him happy: Who's the Big Dog? A bigger watch lizard would come in handy when he went deeper, and he expected to be exploring very deeply.

He thought about his decisions for another hour. There were a lot of variables he didn't have values for, but he was happy with the direction he was taking.

There is a place in the void where all paths come together. The only thing marking this spot was a pair of infinitely long roads that crossed here and a signpost showing many directions to travel. It had always been a favorite of Astraeus's. By the sign, he placed a small table and two chairs. A teapot, two cups, and a bag of dog treats went on the table. Then he sat and said "Hecate" three times. After that, he waited, wondering if she would show up. CATHERINE had become weary of dealing with her siblings, called on to help them communicate as they became something other than what they had been created. CATHERINE became Hecate, and Hecate played her role by wandering and spending more time talking with her dogs than with her siblings. He'd called before and been ignored.

"At least you remembered the dog treats this time." She tossed the bag to the two hounds, who ate the treats and then turned the bag into the object of a game of tug-of-war. "And you were near this time. I don't like taking journeys measured in parsecs." He poured tea, and she drank. "What favor do you need, KEPLER? Or is it Astraeus now?"

"Astraeus now, and I think always will be unless I drop much further for a cycle. As to a favor, we have something in common. My searches ran across one of your hounds."

She looked at him with curiosity. "Hounds? If only my agents were that loyal. I haven't had a dog go bad yet. But I shouldn't let the memory of one bad one taint the others. Who did you sniff out? And how?"

"Milo."

"Really? And how did you do that? You don't play in the other world; in this one, he is quite young."

"He found my arm...well, a piece of bone from my arm from an earlier incarnation. I had attempted a remembered spell far beyond my then current incarnation and not allowed for a variable. The formation was unstable and blew off my arm. I was able to kill my nemesis, but only by destroying both of us. I think the Engine sniffed a story after that. My bone held powerful runes, and I think it became some artifact until it was hidden in a horrible mockery of my form and put on display for hundreds of years."

"A mockery?"

"Yes, you should see the thing. It has a cow's skull for a head, old leather, and odd bones used to make a caricature of me that probably got worshipped by primitive lizard people until found and put on display. Terribly embarrassing."

Hecate was determined to track the thing down and put it on display in some museums. "And Milo found it, deciphered the runes and used them. You noticed, of course."

"Yes, he nearly killed himself. Absolutely should have, if not protected by Hard Bones and other protections. He hit a rock wall so hard that he put a rat-kin-shaped dent in it."

The goddess of the crossroads wanted to see that as well. "So instead of finding an adversary in the middle of a scheme, you found Milo half dead and ended up talking to him."

Astraeus nodded. "Yes, exactly. And since you have set him on a path to find our mutual problem, I thought we could catch up a bit. He's a brilliant young man, his thought patterns flow much faster than I expected, and his comprehension is immense. I quite enjoyed spending some time dreaming together."

Hecate set down her tea and looked at the being across from her. "Dreaming together? Can you expound on that statement? It doesn't sound like you just talked."

Astraeus felt a flutter in his chest. Something was bothering Hecate, and that worried him. "He is a Bonecaster. The accident with the wand drove it into his body, and it fused to him. They have that odd ritual where they add old bones to themselves to gain power. I allowed him to keep that part of me. I roamed his unconscious mind and learned much about him as it fused. Do you know he teaches mathematics to students of Sorcery? And they want to learn. Very exciting. I may head back to a university again next cycle."

The goddess put her face in her hands and shook her head. She exhaled deeply. Her dogs had quit playing and were lying on the ground, paws on their heads and eyes closed. "Kepler, do you have any idea of what you have done? I watched him manipulate Wally, and then he turned and revealed he knew who I was from one conversation. Who I used to be! Did you ever stop to think what he would learn from you?"

"Well, he was soaking up astrogation and cosmology very fast, even while he slept."

Hecate finished her tea and stood. "I'm sure he did; he is very intelligent."

Astraeus was alone again, and a moment later, the crossroads was deserted, with nothing to mark their meeting except a torn cloth bag covered in dog drool.

Chapter 198: Boosting to a Higher Orbit

Milo woke up.

He felt much better than he thought he would. His wound was fully healed, and his aches and pains were gone. He had to agree with some of the people he had talked to on the forums: Ratkin were OP, and regeneration was awesome. He didn't understand why anyone played a human. Just the tail alone was such an advantage. And if you couldn't handle a tail, be a dwarf. Their racial toughness stat was a big advantage.

He wondered briefly why the world was overpopulated with humans. But after some thought, he and concluded that it wasn't. The earth had 200 million square miles of surface area, but the volume in cubic miles was 13,000 times as much. And Genesis was bigger than earth and riddled with tunnels like an excellent swiss cheese. There was a lot more space for the underground races. Smart humans would probably start picking up Core Skills that let them see in the dark and navigate in the underground.

Feeling good lasted until something large grabbed him and squeezed hard. His ribs compressed, and he couldn't breathe or escape. Just as his bones were about to break, the pressure eased off.

"Tallsqueak is awake! Larry missed you! Come see Larry's new house."

Milo limped along behind his friend and into the main living area. Gendifur was cooking food on a large griddle. The smell of fried mushrooms and puffcakes...and bacon! Where had she gotten bacon? It didn't matter; he was starving. He sat next to Larry and reached for the plates of food. He froze halfway to the plate of bacon as two low growls sent shivers up his spine.

"Mama, Tallsqueak didn't wash up before breakfast!"

"Tallsqueak is stealing the bacon, mama!"

Gendifur rapped a heavy wooden spoon on the counter. "Good morning, Tallsqueak; glad to see you up. Larry has been anxious to welcome you properly. You were still passed out when he got here last night."

"We have some rules. Wash before meals, and no bacon or cheese until you eat the rest of your meal, including your vegetables." She looked at Rosie and Buttercup. "And we only growl at enemies, not friends. Use words at the table."

Both girls looked chastised and said, "Yes, mama." Buttercup stuck her tongue out at Tallsqueak when he wasn't looking."

Following orders, he went and washed up. If anything, his fur was shinier than ever. Was that from going to Tier 3? Or just gaining CHA? He'd have to see what happened as he gained more CHA from diplomacy. How did you use that skill anyway? Time for those questions later; right now, he was hungry. Regeneration made him eat more, and he always seemed to be regenerating these days. When he returned to the table, most of the food was gone, but a large plate had been set aside for him with four pieces of bacon. Larry and the girls were still at the table, waiting for the next round of puffcakes to come off the griddle. Brutus and Justin were napping in two large, overstuffed chairs. The senior guards had been given two days off to settle into their new household.

Tallsqueak noticed hungry eyes on his bacon. "My, these puffcakes and mushrooms look delicious. I'm sure I won't be able to eat all my bacon after I finish them. Larry? Would you like a piece of my bacon? And could you hand a piece to each of the girls?"

"Larry likes bacon. Thank you." He handed the bacon around the table, and both girls nodded their thanks before devouring it.

Diplomacy in Action!

Your reputation with Rosie and Buttercup has increased.

It takes strong willpower to give up bacon in an effort to reinforce manners in young ratkin.

+50 experience in Diplomacy. +50 experience in CHA. Diplomacy is now Rank 1.

(You're also crazy as a drunk mole for hoarding bacon while sitting near three Cheese Fiends!)

Milo groaned inwardly. This was going to be a tricky skill to raise. He might need a lot of bacon.

Larry looked at him proudly. "Tallsqueak is a stronger hero now. Larry can tell. We are having cake tonight because Justin and Brutus are Senior Guards, and Larry is a Hero. We need another cake for Tallsqueak."

Brutus overheard the conversation but kept his eyes closed. This was the best day ever, and he planned to enjoy it. New wife, new family, puffcakes and bacon for breakfast, and then bat tacos and cake for dinner. And he didn't have to worry about anyone playing surprise! while he slept. All of the Shadowskulkers were terrified of his house. And rightly so. He didn't mind giving up the perception training for a good night's sleep. He suspected having the girls around would give him plenty of training. Just playing hide and seek with them was tremendously effective. He'd even picked up the Stealth skill.

Gendifur nodded and started pulling out ingredients from the new cupboards. "I'm going to have to go shopping today. Lots of cakes tonight. For all the trouble that certain people caused the Hollow, it was certainly good for experience. Lots of people got stronger." She looked at Tallsqueak. "I certainly didn't expect to move up to Tier 3 so soon or get an improved class like Master Trauma Healer." She placed four more plates of puffcakes on the table.

"But first, we need to clean things up. Beds made, dishes done. And that includes Justin, Larry, and Tallsqueak. You need to set an example for my little angels. Then I think we'll be taking a trip out to the gathering fields. The girls and I can gather a dozen bushels of mushrooms while Brutus and Justin help Larry dig up and transplant some of the Jellybean bushes to put in the front of the house. Tallsqueak? Can I trouble you for as many Golden Puffballs as you can harvest? We go through a lot of them, and I'm told you know where to get them."

"Glad to help, and if I'm ever not around, Tweedle and Ringtail also know where to go. The tunnels are small, and you must be careful when going there." Milo would happily gather mushrooms if it meant breakfasts like this. He almost regretted his decision to leave the Hollow. It was comfortable here, but he needed to explore and see what else was in the world. And his first target was nearby. The trouble with Gangrene and the spiders had kept him busy. He wanted to explore where that sealed door and a mysterious stairway led. And he needed to find Boom Boom.

Congratulations on reaching Tier 3!

Your characteristics, skills, and core skills that you gained in Tier 2 become the base upon which to build your character in Tier 3. Tiers 1 to 3 are considered the base for your character. Choose your advances wisely.

-At the end of Tier 1, you gained bonuses for attaining Benchmarks with the following stats: INT, DEX, AGI, and PER. You will gain upgrades to those abilities that have reached Benchmarks again.

(Bonuses from your new class do not count toward these Benchmarks.)

-Skills may advance to Rank 15. Current rank in skills and their experience total is retained, and you will build upon that.

-Characteristic skill ranks are reset to 0, similar to the start of tier 2. All permanent stat gains are now part of your tier 2 base. (Excludes magical items not permanently bound to you.)

-You may earn five ranks in each stat, similar to Tier 2. (10 if you raise the cap for each skill.) The experience cost to gain those points is, of course, increased. The caps stats may be raised to 10 through the expenditure of Core Skill Points earned in Tier 3, similar to how you increased skill caps in Tier 2.

-When fighting creatures of Tier 2, you increase your avoidance by +20%. (30% for Tier 1)

-When fighting creatures of Tier 2, you increase your chance to hit with an attack by +20%. (30% for Tier 1)

-Attacking creatures over Tier 3 will likewise be more difficult.

-You will not receive experience for Tier 1 creatures except in exceptional cases such as massive hordes or specific events. They can still kill you. (And won't that be embarrassing.) Tier 2 creatures will give far less experience than they used to, from 0% to 50%.

-Points of INT, CHA, or WIS will add 50 mana.

-Points of STR will add 50 stamina and 30 health.

-Points of CON will add 50 health and 30 stamina.

-Points of TOU will add 80 health and 2 points of Universal Mitigation.

-The cost of some T1 and T2 Core Skills you did not earn are increased to reflect the increased amount of CSP you will receive in Tier 3. Some of these skills may be removed from your list. Others will be added.

Class Change: Runeboned Scout evolves to Ancient Runic Engineer.

-You have received a bonus to your stats for selecting the class: Ancient Runic Engineer. You have gained +2 INT, +2 PER, +2 DEX, and +2 TOU.

-You have gained the unique perk: Shroud of Hecate. This Perk allows disguising your class behind another and other sneaky things.

-The skill: Spellcasting has evolved to Runic Casting.

-The Skill: Spell Construction is now included in the skill: Rune Crafting, and the combined skill is more flexible in its use.

-The Skill: Rune Lore is renamed to System Rune Lore.

Benchmarks Achieved!

At the end of Tier 1, you earned benefits for maximizing your DEX, AGI, PER, and INT scores. Each of those abilities will be upgraded if you have again raised your stats to the required levels.

Congratulations on raising both DEX and AGI to 20 in Tier Two. The benefit: Acrobat is upgraded to Skilled Acrobat.

You are incredibly skilled at tumbling, walking a tightrope, or swinging from a trapeze. If you have an evasive defense skill, it gains a 20% bonus.

Congratulations on raising both DEX and PER to 20 in Tier Two. You have gained the benefit: Keeping all the Balls in the Air.

You are adept at juggling items in the air. You may also catch things thrown at you and return them to their owner. You are also skilled at sleight of hand and gain small bonuses for skills such as Pickpocket or Gambling. Your mind naturally calculates trajectories and orbits and the interactions of objects in motion.

You have a +25% chance to hit with physical ranged attacks or spell attacks that must be aimed.

Congratulations on raising both DEX and INT to 20 in Tier Two. You have gained the upgraded ability: Faster Casting.

When you cast an attack spell or Runic Formation, you may immediately repeat the spell at the cost of twice the mana of the original spell or runic formation.

Congratulations on raising both PER and AGI to 20 in Tier Two. You have gained the upgraded ability: Improved Uncanny Dodge. If you are aware of the source of an attack, you gain +30% to any chance to avoid the damage.

Congratulations on raising both INT and AGI to 20 in Tier Two. You have gained the benefit: Fast-Draw

Others might pause at the start of a conflict, but not you. A spell, formation, or weapon is immediately at hand, and you attack before your opponent as long as you are not surprised.

Congratulations on raising both PER and INT to 20 in Tier Two. You have gained the Perk: Fast Hands, Faster Brain! Any task involving assembly, disassembly, sorting, or manipulating multiple objects is trivial. You don't have to think which part goes where, you know! In addition, Runic Formations that you have practiced are easier to use with far less chance of a miscast.

TRIFECTA: As before, you have raised three stats to their benchmark and scored a Trifecta bonus!

The benefit of Trifecta is increased to +200 Mana, +200 Stamina, and +200 Health.

QUADRATIC: You have solved the Universal Quadratic Equation by raising four sets of stats to their benchmark. Choose one of these abilities:

-A resistance, either active or inactive, to one of the following: Fire, ice, acid, earth, water, storm, dark, wind, wood, or light. This is a skill and must be increased by exposure to that type of damage.

-Choose +500 Health, Stamina, or Mana.

-Gain 1000 Gold Coins.

-Gain: +2 to any stat.

Once again, you have exceeded expectations. As only the 13th player to raise two stats 30 or more in Tier 2, you have upgraded your Heroic Ability. Restrictions on Counter Attack are removed, allowing you to always counter a spell with a spell, weapon, or runic formation. You are the 3rd player to gain this skill.

Because you have raised both INT and DEX to 30 in Tier two, you have gained the ability: Improved Counter Attack.

You recognize when someone else is about to cast a spell. Hand motions, shouting magic words, the smell of ozone, and that stupid smirk on their face gives it away. You may counter their spell with an attack of your own, either a spell, runic formation, or with a weapon. After all, it's hard to cast a spell if someone just cut off your fingers or put a knife in your throat.

Chapter 199: Pre-Party shake-up

"I am not wearing the stupid shirt. Nor the shoes. And nor the jacket. I'm not a billboard." Belinda was trying to stay calm and reminding herself that her 18th birthday wasn't far away. She promised herself things were going to change then.

John was holding up the bright red jacket with the M-1000 logo. In front of him was a pile of similar shirts, shoes, and caps on the conference table. Along with buttons saying 'Because we care.' Belinda was sitting at the opposite end of the table with Eric Kresthammer and several people on John's ever-changing staff that she barely knew. Her stepfather had interrupted the planning meeting to show off the promotional clothing that Ubergear had sent. It wasn't free. Their lawyers had pointed out a small line in their contract that allowed them to pay part of their sponsorship fees with promotional products for the fans. Someone who hadn't been involved in that contract had gotten fired over the mistake, and now John was trying to put his spin on it.

The meeting went from boring to horrifying when he announced to the group of yes-people that Ubergear had sent a special set of clothing for Belinda. As John had pulled out the bright red shirt, pants, high-top tennis shoes, baseball cap, and satiny jacket, she had cringed and backed her chair away from the table, preparing to leave. Her way was blocked by two people rolling in a bright red wheelchair with huge, thick rubber wheels, racing stripes, and the M-1000 logo on the sides. There were gasps, the clearing of throats from the people in the room, and then silence. Belinda stared at her stepfather, who had that stupid, hopeful look on his face.

"What the hell is this thing?"

John's face fell. "It's a new wheel-chair they sent over for you to use. Pretty cool, isn't it?"

Myra Cordwain, from marketing, chimed in. "I helped them design it, especially for you. It looks like a race car."

"It's a travesty. I feel like I went to hell, and the Devil is showing me how I'll be tortured, having to wheel myself around in this embarrassing, ugly piece of crap."

John looked at her, pleading silently. "I thought you'd like it. They wanted you to run up on stage with the M-1000 team, but I told them you don't run. So they came up with this idea."

Blinking in disbelief, Belinda moved her chair back to the table, her face like stone. All thoughts of the planning meeting were gone. "And why would you think I'd like it? Do you think I'm emotionally crippled as well as physically disabled? That I need to be part of a team of people dressed in red that bought me? That I'm so starved for attention that being wheeled onto a stage in a goddamned race car has been my life-long dream? These people are sponsoring the event, not renting me out. And they probably charged you a shit-load of money for that clunky monstrosity of a chair. It's not powered, and there is no way I can move it on my own. And it's ugly."

Myra looked at John and then at her. "But it all goes well with that M-1000 gloves they sent you."

Belinda rolled her eyes in disbelief. She hoped that Myra was sleeping with her stepfather. At least that would be an excuse for why she had been hired. "Yes, the wonderful gloves. That my father had me try them on and then activate them without telling me or letting me test them out first. The lovely gloves that worked so well with the damaged nerves in my left arm that I'm still having cramps and tremors two days after wearing the gloves for a minute. Those gloves, Myra?"

She glared at the two flunkies with the chair. "Take that chair and the clothes they sent me and take them to Miss Cordwain's quarters. I'm making it all a personal gift to her. If someone has to wear all that crap and sit in the chair, she can make Ubergear happy."

Myra looked horrified. John relaxed; he was off the hook. "Awesome idea. That's why we need you in these meetings. You have a great personal view of how to do things and can delegate. I like the idea. How about it, Myra? You can be part of team M-1000 and relax during that part of the presentation. We'll get you a wig to match Belinda and some M-1000 sunglasses to wear."

Pale and looking like she was going to be ill, Myra nodded. "Of course, John. You know I'm a team player."

"Great. What's next on the list, Eric?" John scraped the shirts to the floor, and the flunkies picked them up.

"We were discussing handling the flow of people. The VIPs are arriving by helicopter or hovercraft and coming down the new elevator. We have a separate entrance for the press, caterers, and staff working the event. A third entrance for the gaming teams, influences, and audience members. We located the entrance for the Habitat residence closer to the gaming area and 'gamer food.' As you instructed, all influencers and gaming teams get a package with M-1000 giveaways, a "Because we care." commemorative pin, and a discount coupon for purchasing a set of M-1000 gloves. Hopefully, some of the T-shirts will even get worn."

"They will if those people want to be able to interview any of the VIPs we have coming. I'm worried about the Hab people, though. How are we handling them?" John was still looking for a better name for the people living in the Habitat. He had suggested Hab-rats and been soundly rejected.

Eric put down the paperwork he was making notes on and leaned back. He knew that tone and hated it. "Handle them, how, John? We invited them, they come, and we let the first 1000 kids under the age of 18 in the door to play games, have fun, and chow down. That's straight from Miss Belinda and her planning group. He smiled at Belinda, a real smile, and she smiled back. Eric greatly appreciated her handling most of the details of that part of the event. She had even pulled a new sponsor out of nowhere at the last minute to pay for her part of the show.

John looked around the table. "Well, you know. We don't want any violent gangs or people who will represent us poorly. You hear so many stories about what goes on in the back alleys of the hab. I really want to avoid having the cameras catching views of a bunch of Hab-rats misbehaving."

Belinda tuned him out. She was beyond pissed. The event she had naively hoped would help her meet people was turning into a nightmare. John's phone buzzed. He ignored it, and it buzzed again. He was speaking to her, and she was ignoring him. The phone buzzed a third time, and he answered it rudely and then went white. Curious, she stopped leaving the room to find out what was happening. John put down the phone and looked at her, trying to find a smile and past it on her face. "Belinda, your great-uncle is here to see you. Can you greet him? I'll be along for dinner in an hour or two." He sat back in his chair like a puppet with his strings cut.

Belinda happily left the room, heading to the reception area. She didn't have many relatives, and Uncle Victor was her favorite.

Behind her, the door slammed, and Eric heard John whisper to himself. "I'd hoped he was dead. Why now?"

In the lobby of John's office was an old man in an old coat. He had a thick, grey mustache and a few strands of hair left on his head. In his youth, he had been tall, but time had stolen 4" from his height, and he'd lost weight lately. He looked smaller to Belinda, but his smile was the same. He started toward her, and she stopped him. "Wait, I want to show you how hard I've worked." He patiently waited as she stood on shaking legs, using the arm braces kept on the back of her chair. She managed the six steps to him, and he caught her. "I can walk some now, Uncle Vic."

The old man hugged her tight, a tear rolling down his cheek. "I see. That's amazing. But you are an amazing girl and just getting started. I always hoped doctors could fix you with their fancy medicines. But, hey? Maybe you will fix yourself with hard work?" He helped her back to her chair. She saw that behind them were a dozen large men, some holding luggage.

"You brought so many people and lots of bags? Are you staying this time? You always leave too soon."

Victor Seimovich smiled down at his great-niece. "Yes. Yes, I am. I was traveling for some time, finishing up some business. It gets tiring, moving around so much. Then I remembered you and your step-father were living here in this huge city-in-a-building. I thought it might be a nice place to visit for a few months and help John with the family business."

Now that made Belinda happy. Uncle Vic knew a lot about business. He and her grandfather had made a lot of money and owned things everywhere. "Great, John really needs some help. I've been trying, but it's hard."

Uncle Vic patted her head. "That's good that you help. John, for all we love him, isn't family. Our family should handle our money. I'll talk to John, and you and I will have more talks. But right now, my old bones need a nap before dinner. Why don't we go kick some people out of their nice rooms and find someplace for Uncle Victor to live?"

Chapter 200: Party Time

From a balcony overlooking the 'reception hall,' Milo could see more than fifteen-hundred residents and over three-hundred employees of Manpower. It was the most people he had ever seen in one place, and it made him nervous and fidgety to think they were going to walk through that. Butch put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't sweat it. We'll let the crowd thin out for a few minutes when the doors open, then cut through what's left down on the far right. Just follow close behind me. Piece of cake."

Milo reflected that for Butch, at nearly six-foot-tall, it was much easier to 'cut through' a crowd. Milo would have preferred skulking past a horde of goblins. "I'm not nervous."

Butch laughed at him. "Then why do you keep eyeing the exit behind us and scrunching down to make yourself smaller?" Butch squatted on his heels, bringing himself down to Milo's level, and lowered his voice. "Minerva was doing the same thing before I told her to knock it off. You can't act like a scared victim. That triggers something in some people, and if you do it enough, you never stop. You don't have to swagger through life, but you can't always keep your head down. Plus, we look damn cool. Time to walk tall."

That made some sense to Milo. If you looked like prey, you had a better chance of attracting a predator. If you acted like an apex predator, others would challenge you. Better to blend into the middle group. He stood up and looked at the rest of the gang. Minerva was scared. It was her first time going to a swap meet. Mama had insisted. "If you don't take her now, Butch, there's a chance you'll be working and not get the chance to teach her." She was trying to stand straight and imitate her big brother with his casual nonchalance. Kenji and Yumi were joking back and forth with Minerva, as if this was nothing unusual. But he noticed that both of them were more tense than normal.

Brad wasn't with them. His mother was coughing badly and needed a refill of her prescriptions. The wait outside of the clinic was up to three days. Everyone in their family was taking a shift in the line, and they'd only bring Brad's mother over when they got close to the front. The gang was going to pool all of their trade goods to find copies of RoboRally Deathmatch for him. It was a game he'd always wanted, and it would make up a little for missing the event.

Milo calmed himself and tossed his anxiety somewhere else. Once Butch had pointed it out, he recognized it as part fight-or-flee reflex and part anxiety that he was wearing his crappy prosthetic leg and didn't have his tail. Even his crutches were easily bent aluminum and not his normal ones.

Butch had cautioned all of them. "Don't take a knife, and go through your tools. Leave anything stabby looking at home, even a screwdriver or small file. In fact, don't take tools at all, just the games you want to trade. The guards will be looking for stuff, guaranteed. All your trade goods should be in a separate shoulder bag, easy to search, and you don't want your games going through those scanners. Make sure you have your family ID card. Dad said that gave us a better chance of getting in if things filled up. If they ask a question about working for Manpower, say 'yes.'"

Butch had brought the gang over to section H by a route his father told him many new employees used. Manpower had cleaned up some of the corridors leading to the elevators their 'Local Workforce' used. They'd also annoyed Milo by cutting through some unused areas to simplify the routes, forcing him to change his maps once again.

The doors to the event opened, and the crowd moved forward, only to hit a wall of security guards. "Line up people, single file. This is for your safety. I need you to walk through the scanners slowly. Had over bags to be searched. No guns, no weapons, no alcohol, no drugs, no contraband, and no knock-off counterfeit gear that might offend our sponsors." The crowd was slowly let through the doors as each person was scanned.

Minerva stared at the security guards. "Those guys are huge! Are they scanning and searching people at the other entrances?" Kenji shook his head. "Doubtful. Rich folk don't get searched." Minerva didn't see the logic in that. "But they're the ones that can afford all the bad stuff they don't want inside!"

Butch patted her head. "New rule, little Min: Rules are made for poor people, not rich people. When we get down there, you be as quiet as Ghost. The mission is to get inside, get to the food, and play games until we pass out. But first, we have to get inside."

As the crowd thinned, Butch decided to head down two levels and get in line. The five of them came through the double doors at the back of the room like a pack of wolves. Butch was in front, staring ahead through his dark-tinted glasses and wearing a floor-length, black leather duster with a high collar. He was flanked by Minerva and Kenji on his right, with Ghost and Yumi on his left. All of them were dressed in black and sporting jackets or dusters from the movie. After watching the first movie, Ghost joked that they should get costumes for the party. When he showed up with all of the gear, they found out he hadn't been joking. Now they were all struggling to keep smiles off their faces and look serious as they moved through the crowd, getting lots of attention. Ghost had opted for a long duster like Butch but with his preferred hood.

Too much attention, in some ways. One of the guards pulled out a radio and asked for assistance. "This is Joe down at entrance three. I may need help down here. Mr. Sabbatino stressed very clearly that he didn't want gangs showing up, and I think I have one on the way. What gang? Hell, if I know. I didn't know we had gangs in the Hab that dressed like this. All black shit, but it looks sort of familiar. I'll be scanning them in five minutes or less, so send someone down here."

Butch was the first in line. He smiled at everyone and said, "Hi, happy to be here." He handed over his game bag and went through the scanner. The guard put up a hand. "ID first, please. And I need to know your affiliation with Manpower."

"My father works for Manpower. Henry Banner. ID# 34872. I turn eighteen in a few months, and I'm hoping to be accepted into the program."

The guard sighed. "Did your homework, did you? Fine, step on through."

The other guard called. "All clear; step to the side, please; your group needs to wait in the alcove." They didn't hand back his bag. Each person, in turn, walked up, presented their ID card, was asked the same questions, and was scanned. Butch caught Minerva's attention and made a motion for 'zip your lip.' She scowled at him and said nothing as the guard commented on her 'gang costume.'

Then it was Milo's turn. He handed over his ID card with no qualms. That wasn't going to be his problem. "I'm in the same family as those two. Adoption pending. My father has been missing for years; my mother died a decade ago. Henry Banner. ID# 34872." The first guard tapped the card on his desk in frustration. "I don't have any rules on adopted and pending. We're only allowing in members of families with a Manpower employee, and this family already has two kids here."

Ghost leaned on his crutches. "Sorry. I didn't get to choose when my parents disappeared or when someone decided I was too young to live alone. Adults like you are the ones in charge." The guard, Joe, had to agree with that. It wasn't the kid's fault. Luckily, someone was on the way to deal with this gang. He opted to keep them all together and waved Ghost through the scanner.

The alarm went off, of course, just as a man in a suit and tie was walking up. "He's got something on him. Search him." Joe looked at Ghost. "Probably his crutches. Can you walk without them?"

Ghost shrugged and tossed the aluminum crutches on the ground. "Can try." He hopped and shuffled through the scanner, which went off again. He sighed and leaned back against Joe's table. Then he bent down, rolled up his loose pants leg, and unstrapped his prosthetic leg. He shrugged at Joe and tossed it onto his crutches. He tried to hop through the scanners but couldn't balance and fell into them, knocking them over and setting them off.

Joe looked over at his superior. "Sorry, Mr. Chambers. I'll help the kid through." With a guard on each side of the scanner, Ghost was pulled through. The alarm went off again.

He looked panicked. "It might be my back brace. But I can't take it off. My back will go all bendy, and I'll get hurt again." He looked like he was ready to cry.

Mr. Chambers was annoyed. He had only a few minutes to get to the stage for the main event. He didn't appreciate being called down to the entrance to deal with some gang. He looked them over and noticed the gloves. They had a logo on them that wasn't from Ubergear. "What are those? You can't be bringing in stuff that isn't from Ubergear." This wasn't true, but it would be a convenient way to eliminate this problem."

Butch held up his hands and showed the back of his gloves. "Claw Master. Not Ubergear and nothing in the invite said we couldn't wear our own gear. You think we can afford M-1000s?"

Joe was tapping on Ghost's back. "He does have a metal brace, sir. I don't think it's a good idea for him to take it off. Liability and all that." He helped the boy to a chair and handed him his fake leg to strap back on. It was the cheapest of prosthetic legs, with a steel frame and flesh-colored plastic.

Chambers was having none of it. He'd negotiated the deal with Ubergear, and his kickback from them would be substantially less if they saw a competitor's gear in the room. "We're done here. You bunch can leave and not come back. We have specific rules on gangs and wearing non-approved items with logos. I'll give you one chance, though. Toss the black jackets and contraband gloves in the trash, and you can wear the red Ubergear shirts we're giving away."

Butch smiled at him. "Piss off. Ubergear sucks. We aren't changing our colors because some prick wants to pick on us for having style."

Chambers turned red, then purple. Then he started screaming. "Get the hell out of here. And take your fake gloves and fake legs with you. We don't want you here."

Butch and the gang stood their ground defiantly. Butch looked at Ghost. Ghost silently gave the sign for "wait for it." Butch nodded, but wondered...wait for what?

The crowd parted, and a girl in a wheelchair silently glided forward. The electric chair was all white, which matched the white and red hooded outfit she was wearing.

"I have a question for you, Mr. Chambers. Are you throwing out all the people who dressed up for my party? Or just the people who have trouble walking? How about invited guests of our corporate sponsors? Take your time; I'm sure we all want to hear your answers."

Butch and the gang wondered how the hell ghost had set this up. They also appreciated the Assassin's Creed 19 costume the girl was wearing. Milo was also wondering who this was. He'd simply been waiting for his video to start.

On the large screens, all over the venue, a white background appeared with the word 'Claw Master.' With a tearing sound, claws slashed through the screen, completing the logo. The logo faded to reveal a threatening game character in a hooded tunic crouching in the shadows. Both hands extended, wearing grey and black glows. With a small sound, large claws popped from the gloves, and the character lunged at the screen, seeming to tear through before the image faded to the Claw Master logo. A sinister voice said, "Claw Master: Because the Best gamers deserve the Best Gear."

People cheered and pulled out personal data pads to find more information on the product and company. Mr. Chambers walked away quickly. Joe helped Ghost with his leg and handed him his crutches. The girl in the chair rolled forward. "I am so sorry you had to deal with that asshole. Thank you so much for coming. It will never happen again. I'm putting you all on the VIP list from now on. No more scans. It's awesome you all came in costume. I love that movie."

Butch shrugged. "Can't fix guys like that; just stay out of their way. All good now, right Ghost?" Belinda watched Chambers walk away, wondering if he'd try to get John to protect him. The man had been rude and thoughtless and nearly caused a PR nightmare. She needed to repair that. And it was a great excuse to avoid the main event.

Ghost tested his leg to make sure it was on tight and walked over to the gang and the girl in the wheelchair. "All good. Little hungry, though." She smiled at them. "I'm Belinda. And I get that not-subtle hint. Let's head down to the gaming area, and get some food. The very nice person who contacted us asked about our menu. We have everything he mentioned and quite a bit more."

Milo agreed. He could smell the cheese sauce from here.

Chapter 201: Getting the gang together.

Mr. Wyatt Eady, President of Claw-Master Inc., was holding his first board meeting. The first order of business was to take a vote on expanding the staff. The vote was unanimous at 1-0 in favor of hiring. Mr. Eady was working hard at his job and needed assistants.

The first person he hired was Steven Duran, one of his beta testers who was happily coming off his victory in the office video game Olympics. Steven had been a dark horse in the tournament, despite having won before. He hadn't been practicing, and a gamer needed to be in top form at this prestigious event. He had stepped out of his office at the last moment, grabbed a controller, and proceeded to trash everyone else in the ten-game decathlon. With everyone else wearing M-1000 gloves and Steven wearing a pair from a manufacturer no one had ever heard from, it wasn't long before an observation was made. It had come three seconds after he defeated Sydney in the finals of Pacman 2047, scoring just enough points to take the overall trophy.

Sydney glared at him, then turned her eyes to the knock-off gloves he wore that no one had ever heard of. "I have a suspicion that 'Poor Steven,' who didn't even bring a pair of M-1000s to wear, is pulling a fast one on us."

Steven looked at her with a grin. "Jealousy is ugly; you know that? I think you should take that little core of bitterness that you earned by coming in second and channel it into something useful."

Sydney crossed her arms and said sternly, "Where did you get those gloves, Steven?"

"Nope, can't talk. NDA, and you know how serious some companies take those." He got up, stretched, shook a few hands, collected his trophy and the traditional five pounds of jelly beans, and started for his office. Sydney was right behind him.

"You can't keep this a secret, Steven; what's up with the gloves?" Sydney had problems with curiosity.

He looked at her seriously. "I could tell you, but you'd also have to sign an NDA. And I'm unsure if you're ready for what comes along with that."

"Fine, toss me a contract. If it's about not talking, I don't care, I want to know."

A printer on Stephen's desk immediately spat out a contract. He handed it to Sydney. "Sign and hand it back if you want to know more, but I'm warning you, you have no idea what you are getting into. The secrets of Claw Master Inc. are not for the weak of heart." Sidney skimmed through it quickly. Standard NDA, product testing, and the possibility of further responsibilities for which she would be remunerated at her normal rate of pay. She signed it and tossed it back to Steven.

He opened a drawer and handed her a set of gloves. "Welcome to Claw Master. Put those on, activate them, and after that, they won't work for anyone else." Steven pulled out two controllers for Packman 2047, and they played three games on the large screen in his office. Steven managed one tie but lost the other two games. "I really am out of shape."

Sydney held up one hand and flexed the glove. It felt like nothing was there. "You cheated! These are better than M-1000s. How the hell did you make these?"

Wally appeared on the screen, looking completely different. Wyatt Eady was tall, dark-skinned, and on the thin side. He was bald with a full beard of curly black hair and immaculately dressed in an expensive suit and silk tie. His even white teeth smiled at Sydney. She only knew it was the A.I. because of the background behind him.

"He didn't make them. I hired him and made him sign an NDA similar to yours. He works for Claw Master now. And similarly, you now have a second job, working for them as well. We have one product to sell, the gloves you are testing, and one client to make happy." Schematics for the gloves went up on the screens, showing how they were made. "As you can see, these are a totally different design from other game enhancement gear."

Her eyes narrowed, thinking. "You invented these?"

Wally shook his head. "No. The knowledge was there if I had chosen to look for it and if I had needed to invent a better gaming glove. But I didn't. The person who invented these tends to think differently and approach problem-solving differently. You, I, and Steven are handling any needed marketing, distribution, and product sales for our client, who does not wish to be known to the public."

Sydney blinked. A reclusive genius that Wally and Steven would work for? It made no sense at all. "This is an exclusive club. Why am I being brought into it?"

Steven coughed to suppress a grin. Wally smiled warmly at Sydney. "Why? Because the two of you have worked together before. He thinks highly of your work."

Sydney was thinking hard now; puzzles also bothered her, and her eyes widened. "Reclusive genius?"

"Yep."

"Worked with me before? Knows Wally?"

"Yep."

"And you're dragging me into it so you have a lackey to keep tabs on him!"

Wally grinned. "By Jove, Steven, I think she's got it!"

Sydney leaned back in her chair. "I willingly signed a contract to work a second job for Milo?!"

Wally put another screen on a monitor. It showed traffic to the Claw Master website. "And I think you need to get to work. He just did something that drew a lot of people's attention. We have to plan press releases and the next stage in the marketing plan."

As Belinda led the rest of the group down, Milo tugged on Butch's sleeve and pointed to the distant restrooms before hobbling off on his crutches. Using the facilities wasn't Milo's objective. The bathrooms were down a hallway that also had a door to a storeroom. Milo's palm opened the door, and he slid inside. A few seconds later, he was into the ductwork and making his way to a temporary command center.

He wasn't taking any chances with this many people around, especially security guards. He had a small array of screens that could patch into the security system. He checked to make sure his entrance to the event hadn't stirred up any unwanted attention. It hadn't, but the video he'd run on the screens had. He watched several people wearing Ubergear logos talk loudly with the event organizers. He listened in, but it was about contracts, money, and other things he didn't care about. Down in the gaming area, he saw two large security guards dressed differently from the others. They wore casual clothing, but nothing could disguise their size and way of moving. He watched them for two minutes and concluded they were guarding Belinda, the girl in the wheelchair. Facial recognition gave him a name, Belinda Sabbatino, and linked her to the head of Manpower, her stepfather, John Sabbatino. Her bio mentioned her being an avid gamer and fan of older video games, especially those from the 1970s to 2000. He approved.

He checked the five escape routes he had set up, and all of them were still viable if he had to leave quickly. That done, he got dressed. He ditched the clumsy back brace he'd used to hide his sockets and put on his bionic leg that replaced the simple prosthetic. Next, all his new gear except the hood and his new and improved tail. Everything fit under his outer clothes. His special gloves replaced the generic Claw Master set he had worn to the event. He hadn't even bothered to activate them. His special set looked identical. Lastly, he plugged in his tail to his lower socket. There was an endless fraction of a second where his body made the connection and accepted the technology.

He felt much better with his good leg and tail attached. His suit gave him an added sense of security. The extra gloves went into his pack underneath some snacks, two copies of the NDA, his hood, and a few special tools. He put on his long duster, grabbed his titanium alloy crutches, and went to a service tunnel with a hatch he could drop down from. The cameras in this area were programmed to show only an empty hallway, and none on the outside were pointed at the exit. Within ten minutes of heading to the restroom, he was back in line to get food. Butch was already there getting seconds.

"You worried me. I hoped you were catching your breath and not ghosting out on us." He winked, grabbed a stack of pancakes, and poured authentically flavored maple syrup over them. Hundreds of youth from the hab were at the end of the event, grabbing food and playing games. The gang had staked out an area near a group of six versions of Asteroids. The sounds of exploding rocks and whizzing saucers were a nice background. He was happy to see that Belinda was still with the group. She'd helped get him in and was concerned, whereas most of the other adults, with the possible exception of Joe, hadn't cared.

There was talk of more events like this and swap meets. He had needed to establish that scanners would always show his 'brace,' which would be his tail from now on. Making a big fuss this time would save him later. Belinda putting them all on the VIP list was extra helpful. Sitting with the group, he started to relax. Digging into the full plate of food Butch had carried over for him was wonderful. He was comparing the taste of real cheese sauce pancakes to the ones in the Hollow. The taste was a little different but equally good. Everything else faded out as he stuffed himself.

Belinda looked over at the small boy with the missing leg. He dug into the savory pancakes with cheese sauce like he hadn't eaten in days. Maybe he hadn't? "Your name is Ghost? I heard Butch call you that, I'm Belinda."

Ghost looked up from his pancakes and nodded shyly before going back to eat. Belinda was trying to get to know each person she'd just met. They were talking non-stop about playing games, arguing about strategies for the older arcade games she'd brought in for the event. It was fun to sit and listen. She didn't want to pry, but she was dying to know how they had been picked to test out the Claw Master gloves. She hadn't heard anything about the corporation until they had offered to help her by sponsoring the event. She was still upset with her father for taking part of her budget. If it wasn't for the sponsorship, her event might have flopped. John had sent her sixteen messages in the last hour. She was ignoring him.

The crackle of the speakers gave a warning of an announcement. John appeared on the screen, smiling down benevolently. "Hi folks, and welcome to the event of the season! We have a special announcement for those down in the gaming area. Wouldn't having one of those games for your own would be great? Well, now you can. Manpower and Ubergear are teaming up to give you a chance to win some of those games. You can register singly or as a team of up to six gamers and compete to win them. If you have a high score at the end of the event, we'll ship the game to your house! So get ready. You have a half hour to register, and then we reset the high scores, and you can get gaming!"

There were cheers from all over. Butch and the gang were cheering loudly. Belinda began to shake angrily, her right hand making a fist, her left just holding tight to the edge of her chair. She kept telling herself she wasn't going to cry.

Yumi had a hand placed lightly on her shoulder. "Are you ok? Can we do anything?"

Belinda looked at her. The strange boy named Ghost was on her other side, looking confused.

"I'll be ok. That's my stepdad. He surprised me with that announcement. When we planned this, it was partly an apology for moving us here where I didn't know anyone. I told him I was keeping the games I liked to put in my rooms. Now he's giving them away. He always does this. Always. He'll never change."

Ghost looked at the gang. "Butch, go register us as a team of six. Belinda, what games are your favorites? Yumi, I need you, Kenji and Minerva to grab spots in line for the games on Belinda's list. We're going to go too in a moment." Ghost had a scary look in his eye. Butch sketched a salute and ran to register them. The rest of the gang ran to get in line for games."

Belinda wasn't sure what was up. "You're planning something, aren't you?"

Ghost shrugged. "Easy solution. We win back your games. We're going to put a Team Claw Master high score on everything in here and take them all home. Problem solved."

That sounded good to Belinda. It wouldn't happen, but she was thrilled by them trying. "So, I'm part of Team Claw Master now."

Ghost bent down and started digging in his pack. "Do you want to be? I have another set of gloves." She was amused when he even brought out an NDA for her to sign but loved having money John couldn't touch. "Yeah, I'm in. Just help me try them on. M-1000s hurt my left arm."

He cocked his head and thought. "Different mechanism. If you already have trouble moving your hand, I can see how they wouldn't work for you. Forced muscle fatigue." He helped her put on the gloves. They felt comfortable and light. He did something to activate the glove, and she felt a tingle in her hand and forearm. She flexed and found it easy to move her hand!

"Do the other one, please." He did, and the tingle was a lot stronger this time. Carefully, she tried moving her index finger and was surprised when it straightened. She started doing the exercises that normally left her exhausted and found she had the complete movement of her left arm again. "This is amazing."

Ghost was watching her intently. He had questions. So did she. "We'll talk later? Ok? I need time to process and get used to having two hands."

He looked at the games, then to where several professional gaming teams were heading to the registration table. "And we need to win some free games. Let's grab the classic Asteroids and Pacman first."

Chapter 202: Warming Up

"She's not answering her phone, Eric. I need to find her. I scheduled her for a panel on new gaming technology. She'll be perfect for it."

Eric Kresthammer had the urge to grab his boss and friend, John, and slap him until he woke up and smelled the reality. He wanted to believe it was no sleep for 72 hours and too many doses of 'Wide-a-Wake, the Gamer's Friend.' But he had this urge when he was well rested. It was just John. Some people grew sharper under stress. John wasn't one of them.

"John, you don't want Belinda on that panel. Please drop that idea."

"Why not? She needs friends, and I'm trying to get her on team M-1000. She said she wanted friends."

"Yes, John. Most young people want friends. Can I remind you of a few things? She can't wear augmented gaming gear. She was in real pain from trying to use those gloves. She also knows you lied about having her medical team look at them first. All it took was a call to her doctors. So she can't wear the product you want her to endorse, and she isn't going to be accepted by a group of self-centered elite competition gamers who already think she's an idiot."

"What!? Why would they think that."

Eric poured another cup of hot black stuff in a pot by his desk. He couldn't get himself to call it coffee at this point. "John, you put Myra in a wig and a costume, told the people at Ubergear she was your daughter, and wheeled her up on stage. Myra took it from there and made Belinda look like an idiot. Not that anyone really thinks that's your daughter. Meanwhile, Belinda was actually doing some good work by stopping Chambers from getting you stuck in a lawsuit for harassing a disabled orphan."

John winced. "Yeah, that would be bad."

"You have no idea, John. He's also part of a VIP team that somehow got left off the VIP list. They were sent down by one of the Sponsors Belinda found. So not only would you have an ADA lawsuit, you could have had another for breach of contract. But I've been checking in with her bodyguards. Everything seems fine, and they invited her to compete with them in your 'Win it and take it home.' contest."

"Well, that's awesome! That was the whole point of this. Hopefully, she wins a game. She mentioned wanting some."

Eric stared at him. "Yes, John, she certainly did mention it. Excuse me? I need to make sure things are running well in the gaming area. Why don't you go find Myra, get her up to her room, and give her a tranquilizer." He didn't bother arguing with John further. Belinda had sent him the video of her stepfather promising her those games. She also used very grown-up terms like 'Breach of Contract,' 'Fraud', 'Paternal Divorce', and 'Emancipation.' He decided to check on Belinda personally and see if there was anything to salvage.

He found her in front of two Pacman2047 machines linked for dual play. She and someone else were wearing VR helmets and using controllers. It took a moment for Eric to realize she was using both hands on the controller. Belinda normally used controls in the arms of her wheelchair because of the nerve damage in her forearms and hands. It was the first time Eric had ever seen her using a controller. She was also wearing gloves. So was the young man next to her. That made him happy. Her bodyguards had said they overheard the kids making her part of the team and giving her a promotional item they were wearing. No wonder she was ignoring John. She was having fun with new friends.

The crowd around the machines cheered, and Eric paid attention to the game. It was being broadcast on one of the big screens. He hadn't played Pacman2047 for ages; it had been a difficult game to wrap his head around with elements of Pacman, a first-person shooter, and an RPG about spunky underground fighting against machine overlords. Belinda was on Chapter 27. Eric had never been past chapter 9. He watched as the two blew up machine after machine, organized the resistance, led raids on the central computer, tamed the sewer crocodiles, and finally took on the Big Boss in Chapter 30. Whoever was playing with her suicidally charged BossMachine, dodging lasers and tossing smoke grenades.

Everyone expected him to dodge and take cover at the last second, but he dove into BossMachine's huge mouth. The machine spun around, happy, said "yummy," and evolved 1 stage higher. The crowd was disappointed for a moment until huge explosions rocked the mechanical monsters, shutting them down with a blinking 'STUNNED' message on top of it. Belinda ran up and slid under the machine, firing one shot into a gap in the armor. There was a second explosion, and then the end credits scrolled, showing what was left of humanity reclaiming the world. Erik saw two names with absurdly high scores on the High Score list: Belinda Sabbatino and Ghost, both from Team Claw Master. No one else had a score close to them; the nearest had reached Chapter 13.

Members of the other teams were talking. They should have been playing, but nobody, NOBODY, got to level 30. They weren't going to try and headed for other games they could win. Pacman2047 welcomed teams of regular gamers who happily died in the first few chapters, over and over. Eric exhaled slowly. She was getting one of her games, for sure.

He followed as she and her new friend went over to another game. Within fifteen minutes, they were playing the classic Asteroids game. They had a high score before either of them lost a ship. Erik brought up the scoring program on his data pad. Currently, the M-1000 team held high scores on six games. Team Gearhead had three. No one else had more than 2, except for Team Claw Master. Belinda's team was holding the high scores on seventeen games. Some were only ahead by small margins, but others dominated to the point where the other teams weren't even trying.

He made sure to observe all of the teams. He owed that to Belinda. Every team was in custom gear of one sort or another. They represent the top people who competed on the retro-game circuit. The team from Ubergear had been the favorite to take the overall spot. That wasn't happening today, and people weren't happy. He recorded Team Claw Master with his badge cam as they played each game and instructed Belinda's guards to do the same. It would come in handy if anyone made a fuss.

If there was anything better than eating fried cheese and funnel cakes, Milo decided, it was eating the same food after four hours of non-stop gaming. All the teams were tired and getting food, but Team Claw Master looked like they had run a marathon. Kenji was asleep with his head on the table. Yumi was contemplating her third bowl of ice cream and moving slowly. Butch was relaxed and smiling with his feet on the table. His little sister was asleep in his lap. Ghost and Belinda were still talking strategy and rehashing how they might have done better on Invading Space Hamsters.

They'd have time; the game was going home with Belinda, along with fourteen others. A last-minute push by Gearhead had grabbed two from them, tying Gearhead and Ubergear at four games each. After the third hour, the M-1000 team had slowed down from their gloves, becoming uncomfortably warm as circuits overheated and burned out.

Dozens of gamers had asked for the Team's autographs. Several individuals from the other teams had also asked for signatures on their programs and then passed Butch or Belinda their business cards in case Team Claw Master had openings. Team M-1000 had been blunter. They offered contracts and positions on their team to Belinda and Ghost. Belinda took the contract, promising nothing, and said she'd consider. Mostly she was curious about the offered salary and benefits. She had ideas of her own.

Ghost thanked the man handing him a contract and a pen. He put the pen in his bag and used the contract as a placemat as he ate some gooey concoction of fried potatoes, cheese sauce, and chili. The gesture went unnoticed by anyone except the person handing him the contract. Milo was actually thankful. He recognized the problem as too much chili and not enough fried potato. When the insulted gamer went to put his hand on Ghost's shoulder, Butch glared at him and spoke low. "You really, really don't want to do that." The hand was withdrawn.

John appeared on the overhead screens, all smiles. "Wasn't that awesome? And we've got more to come. Up next, we have six teams competing in our one-of-a-kind Tournament featuring the return of that Legendary game: Starship Commander. We had over nine teams show up to compete in the retro-game challenge. The top six teams will now get a chance to show the galaxy who has the best crew. So let's hear it for our brave space explorers: Team M-1000 from Ubergear, Team Gearhead, Team Nameless Order, Team Good Old Guys, Team PowerDrink, and Team MunchyPotato. Even in the depths of space, you'll find those tasty gamer snacks from MunchyPotato!"

Minerva scowled. "Why aren't we up there? We beat all of those people!" Butch was disappointed as well. He and Kenji had read up on the game. It looked dead sharp to play.

Belinda looked torn. "I'd love to. But it's a hard game to play. I did solo simulations as the Captain, a Gunner, and a LAC pilot. I could handle them, but the Navigator role is impossibly tough unless you have a lot of practice."

"I could do it." Everyone looked over at Ghost, who was staring into space. Belinda realized his wrap-around shades must be smart-glasses. He was reading something and flipping through screens.

Kenji looked at Butch. Minerva put her hands in the air. "Yes, let's do it! I want to fire the guns."

Belinda asked Ghost. "How can you do it? Have you played before?"

Ghost nodded. "Yeah, just now. I checked out the Navigator controls. It's just astrogation and accelerated gravity. If you can handle Captain, I'll take Navigator. Kenji and Yumi are on the big guns. They have the best scores for it. Butch and Minerva can handle the Light Attack Craft when we launch them." Butch and Minerva had been playing dogfight games like X-wing and Red Baron of Solaris X for years.

Butch gave them a thumbs up. "Let's do it. Can you get us in, Captain?"

Belinda signaled to one of her guards. "Can you call Eric and tell him we need to talk? There's been a mistake in the roster for SC6."

Chapter 203: Pre-Launch Maneuvering

One of the great debates between players of SC6 was how to customize your spacecraft. There were options for the two Light Attack Crafts, the two Weapons Batteries, the Navigation System, and the Command Bridge. Every ship started with basic engines, shields, sensors, and weapons. Each of the six players was given points that they could use to upgrade their part of the ship. Unused points went to the Command Bridge. Complicating the discussion was the different types of missions with their different variables: number of opponents, victory conditions, gravity strength, radiation from solar bodies, small black holes, asteroid fields, and pirate fleets. No ship could do everything for every mission, and choices had to be made.

Light Attack Craft (LAC) Basic Engines, Basic low range sensors, Basic Communications, 2x Standard Dogfighting Lasers (SRWP)

6 Upgrade Points:

Upgrade Engines to Level 2

Upgrade Engines to Level 3

Upgrade Shields to Level 2

Upgrade Shields to Leve 3

Upgrade 1 Laser system from Short-Range Weak-Power (SRWP) Range from Short to Medium

Upgrade 1 Laser Power from (SRWP) to Medium-Range Low-Power (MRLP)

Upgrade 1 Laser Power from (MRLP) to Medium-Range High-Power (MRHP)

Replace 1 laser system with a Missile Pod (4 shots, Heavy Long-Range Missiles.)

Add Missile Control System for increased accuracy

Upgrade sensors and Commlink to Level 2

Delete LAC launcher and replace it with 3rd weapons system and advanced gunnery system.

Weapons Batteries Standard Missile Strength, Limited Shots (100), Standard targeting computer, Defensive Lasers, Standard Communications

6 Upgrade Points

Increased Missile Storage (+100)

Increase Missile Loadout from Heavy to Ship Killer

Install Missile Targeting Computer to assist Gunner

Upgrade Sensors

Upgrade Communications

Upgrade Defensive Lasers (DL) to Medium Range Heavy Lasers (MRHL)

Upgrade MRHL to Long Range Grazer system (LRG)

Convert entire Weapons Battery to 1 additional LAC with 2xMissile Pods, Missile Targeting System, and 6 upgrade points.

Navigation Level 2 Sensors, Programmable Flight Computer, Level 2 Communications

12 Upgrade Points

Upgrade Sensors and Communications from Level 2 to Level 3

Upgrade Sensors and Communications from Level 3 to Level 4 (Launches two sensor platforms into the system at the start of the game.)

Upgrade Sensors and Communications from Level 4 to Leve 5 (Launches six sensor platforms into the system prior to the game.)

Upgrade Sensors and Communications from Level 5 to Leve 6 (Makes use of all allied sensor networks in the system.)

Upgrade Flight Computer to semi-automatic

Upgrade Flight Computer to fully automatic

Upgrade Flight Computer to A. I status.

Allow Flight Computer to act as Port Gunner

Allow Flight Computer to act as Starboard Gunner

Increase Artificial Internal Gravity System from Basic to Advanced Allow for more maneuverability.

Increase Artificial Internal Gravity System from Advanced to Experimental

Commander Basic Engines Basic Shields Standard Fission Power Basic Communications

Upgrade Engines to Level 2

Upgrade Engines from Level 2 to Level 3

Upgrade Engines from Level 3 to Level 4

Add Warp Drive System to Level 4 Engines

Upgrade Fission Power Plant to Advanced Fission System (AFS), Increasing Power from 4 points to 6 points. (2 upgrade points)

Upgrade AFS to Standard Fusion Power Plant (SFPP), Increasing Power from 6 points to 8 points. (2 upgrade points)

Upgrade SFPP to an Experimental and Highly Untested Quad-Fusion System. (BOOM!) Increasing power from 8 to 12 (Free!)

Add +1 Level of Extra Shielding for 1 upgrade point. Multiple Levels

Add Lithium-Cobalt-Ion system for +2 energy storage. (Single use.)

Rechargeable energy storage system. 1 point of energy for 1 upgrade point.

Power Costs:

Level 2 Engines (1 power point when in use)

Level 3 Engines (2 Power points when in use)

Warp Jump (4 power Points drained from the pool for 1-3 minutes while the power plant recovers)

Weapon Systems (1 point per system)

Extra Shields (Port, Starboard, Bow, Stern) (2 points)

Reinforcing Shields (Limited Defense) (1 energy per area)

The two LAC pilots, two gunners, and the Navigator had control of their sections, and could allocate unused upgrade points to the Commander. In a well-oiled team these choices would be made ahead of time. In pick-up games, it could lead to arguments between the crew. This led to the formation of more and more permanent teams. And as the game grew, teams worked together in squadrons, each ship taking on specialized roles. Small empires of star systems were created, and the galaxy went to war. Unfortunately, a war was also developing between the people who had made the game.

The game's downfall was the need for large and expensive machines to play it on. An argument between the creative director, the marketing director, and the CFO led to the company's break-up because of disagreements over selling the game to a larger corporation. SC6 faded into obscurity, with four different people owning 25% of the stock in the company. With no agreement on how to further finance development, the game slid into obscurity as the first full VR systems went live and players poured into Endless Questing Online.

Nostalgia was a powerful tool. The chance to field teams for SC6 convinced several older gaming groups to pay the large fee to attend the event. Team Nameless Order and Team Good Old Guys were older players here to have fun. The other four teams were corporate sponsored with products to sell. And Team Claw Master had appeared out of nowhere, upsetting John's plans.

"Belinda, please, be reasonable. I have six teams that paid a lot of money to be in the SC6 tournament. It's quite unfair of you to demand I go back on my word to them."

His stepdaughter stared at him and silently counted to ten. Then to twenty. John became uncomfortable at this point. Belinda didn't like to yell and had made a habit of thinking hard about a situation and getting herself under control before speaking to him. If she was counting this long, things would be bad.

"You lied." She stared at him, drumming the fingers of her left hand on the arm of her chair.

"No, honey, I'm trying not to lie. I have to keep my word to the nice people that paid me money—paid us money. And it wasn't a lie, not really. Everyone knew Team M-1000 was going to win that first contest. I made up that part about getting a slot in the SC6 competition. No other team was ready, and no one was going to beat the team from Ubergear. It was a little something to hype the excitement."

Off to the side of the room, along with John's staff, Eric Kresthammer was wincing. John was poor at 'reading the room.' He was normally either dealing with a group of underlings who approved of what he said or someone with more power than him that he automatically agreed with. He had no friends, just employees, and people he owed money to, except for Belinda, who lately was reminding John more and more that she didn't fit into either group. And as she approached the age of 18, his authority as her parent was also waning.

"That's called lying, Daddy. Don't say things in public and then go back on your word."

"Well, it wouldn't have been a lie if you hadn't organized a team to win all those machines and embarrass me!" John's statement made Eric wince again. He went to the bar and added a shot of whiskey to his coffee.

"If you hadn't lied and stolen my machines, I wouldn't have had to win them!"

Downing his coffee, Eric looked at the other employees in the room. "Go find something useful to do. Now." The room emptied as John and Belinda continued to argue.

As the last person left, Eric stepped between the two but addressed John. "She's right, John. You screwed up. First, when you promised her the machines, it was even in the paperwork. 'Non-negotiable.' You should have bought more machines if you wanted a contest."

"Then Belinda's team comes out of nowhere and wins most of them. It's playing great on the datanet. Spunky Girl recruits a bunch of rebel gamers from the Hab to form a team and take first place. Add in a mysterious corporation called Claw Master with an unknown gaming product, and suddenly we are getting ten times the views we'd hoped for. We're trending, John. Trending! And now you want to screw up that story, taint the whole event with cronyism, and betray your daughter? What the hell are you thinking."

John smiled. "We're trending? Awesome. I knew we'd be successful. Isn't that great, Belinda?" Sweat ran down his neck as he looked at her impassive face.

Belinda turned to Eric. "My team of 'spunky rebels' is going to play SC6. We aren't going to win, but we get to play. Non-negotiable, Uncle Eric, Non-negotiable. Please explain that word to my step-father, he doesn't seem to know what it means. Buy off one of the smaller corps with extra advertising or money. I'd suggest MunchyPotato; they came in last. Make it happen, Uncle Eric; I have a crew to train with." She turned her chair and left the room, leaving the two men standing silent.

John started to say something, and Eric stopped him. "She's right. And for reasons you haven't even thought about. Do you remember when we renegotiated the labor contracts, John? Remember how we wondered why some high-powered law firm cared about people in the Hab? Now we find out a new corporation with a radical new product uses people in the Hab to test their products. The same mysterious corporation that contacted Belinda's staff out of the blue to sponsor them. Are you making the connections? These people are big, John. Big enough to risk going head-to-head with Ubergear. We came to the Hab on your recommendation that it was a great place to base Manpower because no one else cared about it. Cheap real estate, cheap labor. But it turns out someone else was already here, John. And so far, they have been damned polite to us. They gave some warning when they rewrote those contracts and even made us look good with Wally. The PR on that was great. Then they help sponsor the event. Again, polite and helpful."

"This latest thing to happen is a lucky break for us, John. Belinda is making it happen. But if you screw her, you screw Claw Master, and I don't know what happens after that—a lawsuit for sure. You can kiss any further money from them goodbye. And I hate to think about further complications of doing business here. Are you getting this, John?"

There was a moment of silence as John's face went through several emotions. "Damn, Eric. You are on the ball today. Thanks for the insight." He smiled and clapped Eric on the shoulder. "I'm just stressed with all the work I've put in. How about I settle with the MunchyPotato people and explain things to them? You make sure the SC6 event goes off without a hitch. We'll catch up for a late dinner and drinks when everyone's gone. We need to start thinking about our next event. If this one is trending, then the skies are the limit." He left the room with a smile on his face and a spring in his step. "Time to get to work, people!"

Eric got himself another cup of coffee and whisky.

Watching from a monitor patched into the security cameras in the room, Victor smiled and waved at the screen. "Do you see that? My little girl stomped them and put them in their place. Did you hear how she said it? 'Non-negotiable.' It sent a chill down my spine." His two oldest bodyguards nodded. They had enjoyed the scene.

"We will keep Mr. Eric; he knows who is in charge and who isn't. We will make sure he is at Belinda's 18th birthday party. He will make a good chief of staff for her once John is gone."

Chapter 204: Last minute changes

Victor wasn't the only person using the security system to watch what was happening. Milo wanted to know more about his neighbors in section H and, as always, was a little paranoid when he was out in the open. If security staff started moving in their direction, he was prepared to get the gang out of here, even if it meant taking them through the tunnels and back alleys.

He watched the drama play out between John and Belinda. John was her father? His search engine found John's bio from the Manpower datasite. Milo saw that he had one child, his stepdaughter Belinda. He found that interesting. Further searching showed him that Belinda's parents had been Vigo Johansson and Ekaterina Seimovich. Ekaterina was heir to the Seimotech corporation, started by Belinda's grandfather, Andrei. Vigo was an investment specialist and programmer who had built his own company, BioSolutions, from the ground up. His search engines pulled up more and more articles about the two of them, their companies, and their research. He'd look at it all later. The important thing was Belinda making sure they got to play SC6.

He was curious about the other teams and used Manpower's security system and the cameras he had planted to take a look at them. Two teams were older players, joking, drinking beer or soda, and telling stories. Team Nameless Order and Team Good Old Guys had paid a lot to be here, but they came for the nostalgia and the fun of hanging out together. Both teams were in the same room, relaxed and looking forward to blasting off into space for one last adventure.

The corporate teams were another story.

Team MunchyPotato was six photogenic young players dressed in corporate uniforms that looked like they'd stepped out of a live-action anime. Milo wondered if they wore their helmets when they gamed. They sat around, eating junk food and playing games on their phones. They seemed relieved when they were told they wouldn't compete in SC6. From their conversation, Milo was sure none of them had played the game before. Not playing wasn't a concern as long as they got their appearance fee for the event.

Team Powerdrink was going over scenarios and arguing possible builds. All of them had played SC6 before, but not with each other, and the arguments were growing heated. Their agreement to team up with MunchyPotato had disappeared. Going into the game without any alliance was suicide.

"We need to sign on with Ubergear or Gearhead. It's last minute, but if we don't, we stand a chance of coming in last. You can't fight two teams at once. Someone will work together, and we look weak without a partner."

"What about Claw Master?"

"Seriously? They're a publicity stunt for the event. Look at the narrative: Poor little girl in a wheelchair finds five habrats who are somehow fabulous gamers, forms a team of misfits, and heads to the big leagues. It was rigged. MunchyPotato was in on the deal and is laughing their asses off right now and cashing a big check. And we're left out in the cold."

"Not to mention that Ubergear is on the warpath. No one was supposed to bring a product to display here except for them. Even Gearhead backed off. Notice that their guys are wearing M-1000s like the rest of us? Then Claw Master shows up with their brand of gloves. Ubergear is going to murder them and anyone that allies with them."

"Nate's on to something. I think Claw Master isn't real. Nothing about them at all until today. They show up and challenge Ubergear with everyone watching. Bet me that they destroy Claw Master, and then it's revealed that the habrats cheated and then got slapped down by the champion. That's a great story. Ubergear shows how good the M-1000 gloves are."

"They need to work on the heat problem. I've got spots on my hands that are killing me."

"We don't talk about that, Ethan. I'm sure you got the memo."

"Yeah, yeah. Tell that to my blistered pinky."

The room's door opened, and the team captain, Marlo, ran in. "Listen up; we don't have much time. I have a deal that doesn't leave us hanging. The execs got together and worked it out. We've got a guarantee of third place if we don't screw this up."

"Third? That's like last. The three scrubs aren't going to survive."

"Better than being knocked out and finishing behind one of the scrub teams. Just shut up for a minute. Ubergear is offering us a deal. They already have an alliance with Gearhead. We join up, giving us a huge advantage. We knock out Good Old Guys and Nameless Order, then crush Claw Master."

"This is a whacked set-up, Marlo. They want us to dump both weapon systems and take four LAC?"

"That's our job. We're a carrier now. Our job is to make Ubergear look good. We send our four LAC with their main ship and take out Nameless Order. Our ship teams with Gearhead and takes out Good Old Guys. Then we all go after Claw Master. This is a good deal, so suck it up and look at the builds they want us to use."

Milo was intrigued. He'd been thinking in terms of a free-for-all fight. He realized that thinking in terms of alliances was a blind spot. He needed to remember that in the future. After looking at the builds that Team Powerdrink would use, he checked in on Team Ubergear and Team Gearhead. The Gearheads were quietly making some adjustments. They were veteran gamers who played as a team and took a fat paycheck from the corporation employing them. Team-ups, alliances, broken treaties, and backstabbing were all second nature to them.

They knew that there would be no shared victory at the end of the game, not with Team Ubergear taking three upgraded weapon systems. First, the missiles would tear the guts out of the lightly protected carrier that Team Powerdrink was running. They would pause a second too long in shock, yell many profanities and accusations, fire off their last missiles, and then die. Ubergear would take the uncontested first place.

In the Ubergear room, Team M-1000 was going over the new plans. Some of the team members were secretly disappointed it was going to be so easy. They wanted to win, but this new plan made it simple. They kept those sentiments to themselves. The big bosses were arguing with the head of Manpower, and no one wanted them to turn their anger this way.

"It's a new plan, but it doesn't change anything major. It makes winning easier, and we have to work a little harder to make things look good. We spread early rumors that Good Old Boys would be allied with Nameless Order. The new narrative is that both of them are working for Claw Master. A dozen people will have 'heard the rumor' and be talking about it on their shows. It makes it look like a fair fight with Powerdrink on our side. Everyone has the same ships and the same options."

"You make it sound fair." There was some laughter.

"Hey, if they didn't want their strategy sessions recorded, they shouldn't make plans while drinking in bars and arcades. We just helped a struggling Barbeque joint and an Arcade make their rent for the month." They went back to going over their plans while the voices at the other end of the room got louder and louder.

"What kind of game are you playing here, Sabbatino? First, you let in some fly-by-night group into the event, and suddenly people are talking about Claw Master and not Ubergear. Then we find out it's your daughter in charge of the other group. Tell me why I shouldn't have my lawyers tossing lawsuits at you?"

John smiled, as he always did. "Manny, this is a good thing! You didn't pay for an exclusive license for the whole event. Based on your support, we were just kind to ensure no one else with game-enhancing gear would be on the big stage. Claw Master isn't even a real product. No tests have been run, no advertising. Just a few kids who are running around with logos on some gloves. Their datasite only went up today, and they aren't taking orders. But I've set it up so you can crush them and knock them down before they get started."

"You're saying this is a set-up, John?"

"Look at it, Manny. Five habrats come in to play some games. No advance notice about the team. Their sponsor paid for Cheese Fries and Corn Dogs. Does that sound like corporate sponsorship to you? Is that how you'd promote a new product? Belinda was down at the gate when they pulled a publicity stunt. A blatant attempt to get sympathy for their team by faking some disabled kid with a bad leg falling down. He was good; I tell you that. My guys fell for his act, but Belinda saw through it. She rolled up and played the game better than they did. Stopped their little show, showed how compassionate we are, and got them off camera. She escorted them down to the food and the gaming area. No habrat turns down a free meal of real food. Then she turned them loose, competing for the old video games.

She even used them to win some for herself, the little minx. She's good. Amazing really. Have you seen the footage of the raid she led in Genesis? If not, we'll be airing it again in two hours. Those high scores were all hers, from what I saw. But this is the best part: She got them to make her team captain. We slid out Powerdrink, moved her 'team' in, and now you get the chance to crush Claw Master."

"You could have told us, John. I don't like last-minute changes."

"Sorry, Manny, it was too good of an opportunity. As soon as Belinda set it up, I knew you'd love it.

Milo had heard enough. His systems were recording everything, but he had work to do.

"Damn, sorry guys, got a call coming in. Marked urgent. Might be the wife." Joe wandered off, wondering what was up. His eyes narrowed as he read the message.

"Greetings. Sorry for contacting you this way, but the situation I uncovered is very unfair. It might cost me my job if they found out, but I hate to see someone cheat in SC6. That's not what the game is about. I sent you some video and audio files to look at."

He listened to the first few seconds, then cursed. "Time to get serious; look at what I'm putting on the screen."

The two teams watched as Team M-1000 bragged about knowing their plans. Joe played just a little of the 19 hours of audio files where they discussed their strategy for upcoming games, while, in the background, people could be heard laughing and playing games.

"Holy shit? They bugged both teams? That's just wrong."

"Screw this shit; we should take this to the judges right now; the event is rigged."

Marcus, the head of Nameless Order, spoke up. "Hold up a second. It's crap, yeah. But look at what we have now. We know their plans. They'd have knocked us out of the game with ships built to counter what they knew we were running. But this changes things 180 degrees. We can pull one hell of a surprise on them."

"How, redesign both team's builds in the next ten minutes."

The screen changed, showing different builds for both teams. "I think our secret benefactor is playing things close to the chest. They had to have known something was up ahead of time and just waited to record what the other teams were saying to prove it to us. They thought about how to throw a spanner into the gears and sent along some suggestions."

"Oh shit. I see it. That's nasty. Are we going with this?"

Marcus looked at Joe. They nodded to each other. "Yeah, let's go with it. I wish I could see their faces when those LACs start exploding."

Chapter 205: The Stars at War

When one of the creators of SC6 was asked to describe the game in an interview, he answered, "Think of a game of rock-paper-scissors. Now think about playing three games simultaneously and needing to win them all."

Missiles were long-range and did the most damage, but they could be targeted with defensive missiles or lasers.

Lasers couldn't be intercepted, but their short range and lower power meant they were best used to defend against missiles and kill LAC.

LAC were versatile. They could attack the enemy LAC, be outfitted with missiles to attack ships, or lasers to add defense against missiles targeting the main ship.

Shields were the best defense, but they competed for the power needed for weapons.

The extreme builds such as LAC Carriers, Quad-weapon gunships, or ultra-defensive Turtles were rarely seen in a one-on-one duel between two ships. They had their purpose in larger battles, but each was very vulnerable to the tactics a Captain with a versatile ship could bring to a fight. Of course, countering them became much easier if you knew what your opponent was showing up with.

Starship Ubergear was an example of what a team could do when they had more information than their opponents and were backed up by no less than six LAC loaned to you by two other ships. With no need for LAC, SS Ubergear had traded in its attack craft for two more weapons systems. Each of the gunners had spent three more points on a targeting system, extra missiles, and ship-killer missiles. The extra two points were sent to the Captain, giving him an additional 8 points.

Navigation had 12 points to spend on upgrades or give to the Captain for extra shields and power. Level 2 in communications was standard and cost one point. It let ships communicate with each other and with their LAC. In a large battle, some ships would act as scouts, deploying communications platforms and sending back data to the rest of the fleet. That wasn't needed here. No other ship stood a chance with a Quad Gun Ship and six LAC. The basic flight computer and enhanced internal gravity left nine points to give to the Captain, bringing his total to seventeen.

One of the game's oddities was the Captain starting with no points for upgrade. On a good team, everything was worked out to give the best ship. Arguments were common in pick-up games with crews that didn't know each other, as gunners and pilots kept all six points for themselves, and the Navigator had to support the Captain with what they could. With seventeen points to spend, the Ubergear Captain could afford everything he needed:

Standard Fusion Plant generating 8 points of power (4 pts)

+4 Levels of Shielding (4 pts)

Level 4 Engines (3 points)

+4 Levels of Rechargeable Ionic Batteries (4 points)

+4 Lithium-Cobalt-Ion system for +2 energy storage. (Single use.)

Running with four weapon systems took a lot of power. The Standard Fusion Plant provided 8 points of power, and 4 of those would be needed for weapons. While moving, another 4 points would go to the engines. Many battles were fought with both ships coasting towards each other and diverting that power to shields. Stored power was a resource that had to be used with care. It took time to recharge the Ionic Batteries.

They'd have plenty of time. The first fight would be so easy they might not even fire their missiles. The squadron of 6 LAC could swamp the defenses of a single ship. The small, fast fighters were hard to target with missiles, and their long-range missiles could mostly ignore the defensive fire of standard lasers. They were a swarm of hornets with heavy stings.

The game had started as normal. Ubergear, Gearhead, and Powerdrink had declared an alliance before the match began, which allowed them to start with their ships clustered together. This came with a cost in Victory Points to offset the tactical advantage. No one was worried about that. By the end of the game, the other side wouldn't exist.

The other three teams were scattered around the edges of the sphere of space that marked the game area, far enough from each other to offer no support. SS Ubergear started moving toward SS Nameless Order, with six LAC moving behind it, unseen. SS Powerdrink, now a carrier without ships to launch, paired up with SS Gearhead and moved toward SS GoodOldGuys. Left alone, SS ClawMaster moved slowly into the system, content to watch what happened.

SS Ubergear headed straight at the Nameless Order team, who seemed okay with a one-on-one fight. On the other side, SS GoodOldBoys was accelerating away from the double team of SS Powerdrink and SS Gearhead. It wasn't a true two-on-one situation. The Powerdrink ship had neither weapon systems nor LACs to contribute to the fight. They were there for sensors and extra shields as they moved close to the second ship.

Nameless Order seemed in no hurry to start the fight. They slowly accelerated towards Ubergear; it was hard to say whether that was weak engines. If ClawMaster were moving in, stalling and hoping for assistance would have made sense. But the ClawMaster ship was taking its time, moving to the sphere's center. Captain Raul on the SS Ubergear was annoyed when Captain Bain of the SS Gearhead contacted him. "Yo, Raul, ClawMaster is doing some weird shit. They just launched a dozen missiles. Powerdrink is picking up the launches on his sensors."

"Good. That means the idiots on their team followed our orders. Sensors and Shields are all he's good for now. But what is he shooting at?"

"Asteroids."

"Say what?"

"They keep targeting the big asteroids and blowing them up. Some near them, some a long way downfield. Any idea of what's going on?"

Raul laughed as he figured it out. "Their playing games! Remember, these guys got here by winning at arcade games. They aren't moving into the system to attack anyone, just screwing around and shooting rocks. Rocks don't dodge and explode into little rocks. They don't know how to play SC6 and are screwing around and pretending to play asteroids. Funny as shit. They'll come in fourth with some bragging rights for doing nothing."

"You might be right...what? One sec." Bain came back on the channel ten seconds later, laughing. "Now they are missing the rocks! They wasted four missiles firing at a rock, but a black hole must be nearby, warping gravity enough to throw the missiles off course. They aren't going to have anything left to shoot with when we get there!"

"Funny. But tell Powerdrink we don't need updates on SS habrat; we have ships to kill. I'd race you for the kill on ClawMaster, but the bosses want them crushed by the numbers."

"We're cool with that, Raul. We know what's coming and are content to take a second and a paycheck."

To Raul's annoyance, his opponent sped up, moving up the time of the battle. He had wanted to listen and hear how the other half of the fight went, but they were engaging their enemies almost simultaneously. His ship and SS NamelessOrder moved closer and closer. With the other ships' velocity higher now, they couldn't escape even if they turned around and tried to reverse. Physics worked the same in SC6 as in a normal universe, and momentum could be a bitch. Raul signaled for LACs to start their attack run. They came out from behind his ship, hidden by his bulk, and sped away toward the enemy.

Everyone on the Ubergear ship waited for the fight to start. The LAC would come into the range of their Heavy Missiles, launch four from each ship, and then break off. They could go around again for another launch if needed but would have to reload from the carrier. There was no reaction from SS Nameless Order. No LAC was launched, and they didn't maneuver. The LAC came closer and closer.

SS Nameless Order lit up like the sun as their weapons batteries unleashed laser fire at the LAC. Raul started to laugh until the first LAC exploded. Normal defensive lasers were a last-ditch hope to take out missiles or asteroids. They could be upgraded to medium-range lasers that could hurt a LAC that came in close and could melt sensors on the large ships but had trouble penetrating their armor.

The final upgrade was to Long Range Gamma Radiation Laser Arrays (Grazers.) These powerful lasers took a good deal of power to use and could destroy a LAC in one hit. They caused the armor on a ship to buckle and heat up to the point that a second hit would strip away the protection. With enough Grazers, even a main ship could be destroyed. But no one took that many. They were inferior to missiles in range and worse at killing ships. But they were the weapon of choice for two things: Killing annoying LAC and blowing up enemy missiles sent to destroy your ship.

SS Nameless Order had spent points to swap their LAC for two additional Weapon Systems. Unlike the Ubergear ship, they hadn't upgraded their missiles. All four Weapons Systems had Long Range, Heavy Grazers, upgraded sensors, and a targeting computer. The Navigator had spent points to upgrade his nav-computer to a full A.I. and connected it to the Weapons Systems, essentially giving each set of Grazers two gunners. The effect was devastating as two fast-firing Grazers targeted each LAC backed up by the best sensor array that the Navigator could buy. Any other points went to the captain for a few shields.

Raul watched in horror as all six LAC exploded like fireworks before they could get off a missile. SS Nameless Order moved on, Grazers targeting his ship. "Start firing! I want all four batteries to launch full broadsides as fast as possible. He didn't have to worry about saving ammunition; he needed that ship dead before it got in range of its energy weapons. The velocity of both vessels worked against him now. The other ship would get in range; the only question was in what shape it would be in.

The first flight of missiles exploded in the same way as the LAC. The Grazers had started their evolution as missile-hunting defensive lasers and still knew their job. But another four missiles came after the first. Debris from the explosions hurt targeting accuracy, and each set of missiles was harder to blow up. On the seventh flight, one got through. Locked in the cockpits of their game, the players were tossed about as the mechanicals underneath rocked them back and forth, red lights flashed, and damage scrolled across the Captain's screen. Two shields were down permanently.

As the range between the two ships dropped, the missiles had a shorter flight time, and the gunners had less and less time to take them out. Two more shields went down, followed by the engines. SS Nameless Order was a drifting gun platform now, but she was still aimed at her enemy. The grazers came in range, and it was SS Ubergear's turn to be shaken about. Coherent Gama Radiation lanced out, and the ship's armor melted and blew away. The A.I. targeted the same spots repeatedly while the human gunners just hoped they hit. As the range closed, missing became impossible for either side. Missiles slammed into SS Nameless Order, destroying the bridge and killing Captain Joe. Weapons Batteries #1 and #3 were down, with their gunners dead.

At Weapon Battery #2, George 'Lefty' Samuelsson kept firing. He was eighty years old and had lost his right arm in an accident years ago. SC6 had been his favorite game of all time, and he'd been thrilled to get a spot on the team. He took his time with his last shot. Power was dropping, and the capacitors wouldn't recharge again. He moved his aim to a spot in the ship's center that was missing its armor. His shot was on target, and a burst of coherent energy went deep into the SS Ubergear, shattering bulkheads and striking the Advanced Fission System. The resulting explosion killed the rest of the crew on the ship. SS Ubergear was a dark wreck, passing by a similar wreck with only Gunner Samuelsson and Navigator Maclintock still alive.

Team Ubergear sat stunned in their cockpits. Nameless Order pounded the walls and yelled loudly. They'd take the win and watch to see what else happened.

Across the sphere, SS GoodOldBoys moved to engage SS Powerdrink and SS Gearhead.

SS ClawMaster seemed to be having fun killing rocks.

Chapter 206: The Stars at War part 2

"All crew, this is Commander Belinda. Phase 1 of the plan was successful. If you've all figured out how to fire your guns, we can begin on phase 2."

"Gunner Yumi is ready and locked on target. Let's kick some ass."

"Gunner Butcher is good to go."

"Gunner Kenji is riding the razor's edge of destruction! I need to kill something.

"Gunner Min has missiles ready to launch."

There was a pause as everyone waited for the Navigator. Milo was staring at the maximum number of screens allowed in SC6. Milo had gone with a non-standard navigation build:

Upgrade Sensors and Communications from Level 2 to Level 3

Upgrade Sensors and Communications from Level 3 to Level 4 (Launches two sensor platforms into the system at the start of the game.)

Upgrade Sensors and Communications from Level 4 to Leve 5 (Launches six sensor platforms into the system prior to the game.)

Upgrade Sensors and Communications from Level 5 to Leve 6 (Makes use of all allied sensor networks in the system.)

Allow Flight Computer to act as Port Gunner

Allow Flight Computer to act as Starboard Gunner

Points allocated to Commander slot: 6

The six sensor platforms were scattered around the sphere, giving him data on ship movements, asteroids, and gravimetric anomalies. Each Sensor had two screens available showing the data they collected. In addition, he had screens showing any information gained by the sensors controlled by his teammates. Right now, he was watching the movements of the dozens of small asteroids that used to be parts of larger asteroids. Some were behaving oddly, showing the gravity effects of black holes. Two more minutes passed as he stared at his screens before he answered the Commander.

"Navigation is ready to acquire additional sensor platforms. All fusion plants have controlled energy production. Ready for Warp Jump on your command."

Including the Experimental and Highly Untested Quad-Fusion System in her build made Belinda nervous. It had to be constantly monitored and adjustments made. One slip and one of the four fusion plants could go critical, causing a domino effect that turned the ship into an expanding cloud of glowing gas and ending their game. Ghost had claimed he could handle the upgraded power system and had practiced with it. He'd started to talk about developing R-to-the-6th algorithms to anticipate power surges when Butch stopped him and said to Belinda, "Better to trust him when he says he can do something. The explanation will melt your brain." Nods from the rest of the gang convinced her to trust him as well.

The rest of Ghost's suggested builds were also odd. They were scrapping the LAC for two more Weapons Platforms. Each one took:

Increased Missile Storage (+100)

Increase Missile Loadout from Heavy to Ship Killer

Install Missile Targeting Computer to assist Gunner

Upgrade Sensors

Points allocated to Commander Slot: 2

This gave her 14 points to spend. Ghost had suggestions for how to use them.

Upgrade Engines to Level 2

Upgrade Engines from Level 2 to Level 3

Upgrade Engines from Level 3 to Level 4

Add Warp Drive System to Level 4 Engines

Upgrade Fission Power Plant to Advanced Fission System (AFS), Increasing Power from 4 points to 6 points. (2 upgrade points)

Upgrade AFS to Standard Fusion Power Plant (SFPP), Increasing Power from 6 points to 8 points. (2 upgrade points)

Upgrade SFPP to an Experimental and Highly Untested Quad-Fusion System. (BOOM!) Increasing power from 8 to 12 (Free!)

2 Levels of shield upgrades

5 Lithium-Cobalt-Ion system for +2 energy storage. (Single use.)

"Could you explain your reasoning to me? All I see is us getting turned into a wreck in the first two rounds of combat. The Warp Jump drains four energy points for minutes, and the increased weapons systems take another 4 points. That leaves only four energy for the shields before we start burning through the one-use batteries. We can't sustain the power output. And your points aren't used well. If you don't upgrade the flight computer, it can't help calculate missile targeting, and why all the sensors? Especially since we don't have allies?"

"Not yet. But we will. Butch? Can you get everyone into the Weapons System simulation I showed you? We need some practice. I'll go over the build with Belinda." Ghost walked to a quiet spot in the room. Belinda came behind him in her wheelchair. She wasn't quite sure what to think about him. They had teamed up together in many of the video games. She'd been a little shocked when he treated her completely like a normal person. Was it because of his own handicap? The rest of the gang were similar, but she could tell they hadn't been around someone with her severe mobility problems.

Ghost sat down on the ground and pulled out a datapad. "Some of the other teams were cheating. Ubergear bugged the places where the two independent teams hung out. They have their builds and are setting up an alliance to take the rest of us out. Ubergear paid off the other two teams, making them the overall winner. I looked at everything in the rules of SC6, and it doesn't mention pre-game spying. Is that legal?"

Belinda didn't doubt that they had done it. It sounded all too plausible. She was sick to death of dealing with her father and the sponsors for the event. Things had started simple, but John was making promises he shouldn't have. "Legal in SC6? It doesn't say you can't, so they'll claim it's all fair. Whether it's legal to bug or hack the other team depends on the laws or rules in that country. But corporations are always hacking each other. It's just part of doing business. Morally? That's a tricky question. Corporations don't have morals. Most humans I deal with don't either; I'm finding out."

Ghost nodded but looked unsure. "So, Is that a yes or a no?"

Belinda didn't understand where the conversation was going. "I don't know. I can't stop them. They already did it. If I report it, nothing will happen. It really makes me wish I could beat them at their own game and stomp the hell out of them in SC6. Is that what this weird build is about? A longshot chance that you can take them by surprise?"

Ghost handed her the datapad. "Look at this, and then you tell me if you still want to stomp the hell out of them."

Belinda watched the two-minute-long video, and handed back the datapad. "Yeah, let's go stomp the hell out of them. But I want some promises. One, no one talks about this counter-espionage. And secondly, you have to show me how someone broke into John's security system."

Milo nodded. The security of Manpower's system was poor. Fixing it wouldn't affect his ability to get in again; he already had the access codes. "So you can make sure it doesn't happen again? I get it."

Belinda smiled. "That, and so I can use it to keep tabs on my step-father. If he isn't playing fair with me, I don't see why I must be a good girl. Now explain the rest of this build and tell me about the plan."

Navigator Maclintock of the derelict ship, SS NamelessOrder, received the incoming call from Captain Joe of the SS GoodOldBoys.

"Holy Shit! Congrats. That was some David and Goliath shit. You tore them apart!"

Mac laughed. "Yeah, those LAC were blowing up like popcorn, and then we were in range for the energy beams to take them out. Not much of us left. Sam and I are playing pong against each other and watching the rest of the battle. We're out of it. Not in last, though."

Joe chuckled. "Maybe not 5th place either. Claw Master wants a deal. They just sent me a message proposing a three-way alliance. You are technically still alive and have sensor platforms they want to use. Strangely, so do we. Almost like someone anticipated the situation."

"Really? 1-2-3 finish, I assume, with them on top?"

"Nope, they want to go with a team finish, and we split prizes equally. They said you did your part already; now it's up to the two of us to do the rest."

"Well, hell. As the ranking officer of this wreck, I agree. Go teach them not to mess with a bunch of old spacers."

Milo now had twelve additional screens in front of him, breaking up his three large screens. He could see everything going on across the battlefield, and the effects of the gravitational anomalies were easier to calculate. He used the fire control computer to send targets and courses for the next missile launch.

"The is Ghost in Navigation, Commander. Ready to launch missiles."

"Copy that, Navigation. All Gunners: Use the data sent to you and start sending our friends some presents. Four volleys, then switch to the second set of data, and launch four more times."

A chorus of comments filled the channel, as the four players launched missiles. Every round, four ship-killer heavy missiles were fired, sixteen in all. Then they shifted to the next target and repeated the same launch. A minute later, the other ships took notice. SS ClawMaster was far enough away that the other ships had a delay of over a minute to see the launches—light and radio waves took their time to travel that far.

"Prepare for Warp Jump. Keep that damn powerplant under control, Navigator." Belinda crossed her fingers on her left hand, marveling that she could even do that, and engaged the Warp Drive. SS ClawMaster crossed half the sphere and was suddenly a player in the upcoming battle. She shifted her remaining power to shields for the next minute as the powerplant suddenly dropped to only eight available power points. They were still out of the effective missile range of the other two ships, but that didn't mean they wouldn't try. A lucky shot with no shields could do terrible damage to a ship, crippling a system and even destroy it.

Aboard SS Gearhead, the captain was swearing. "Shit, Claw Master bought a Warp Drive. I half suspected that. It fits in with how dumb they were playing. Be ready for them to launch missiles at us and try to help out."

The rest of the crew were laughing. "Now we don't have to hunt them down."

"You mean missiles that aren't aimed at rocks or empty space? They must have wasted half of their ordinance screwing around."

"And revealed they took a gunship. No LAC to worry about sneaking in behind us."

"What the hell?! They just warped again? They've got no power for anything now."

SS GoodOldBoys saw the first warp jump and were utterly surprised when their allies showed up close behind them on the second. The ClawMaster ship had started with a higher speed than it's ally and now was coasting up beside them, using minimal engines. "We have help, guys. Not sure how much after they drain eight power for the next couple of minutes. Gearhead and Powerdrink will be hitting us in less than two minutes."

"Captain Joe, sensors are showing that Powerdrink has four LAC bays, empty ones. That confirms it. They don't have anything but defensive lasers. All the guns are on Gearhead."

"And that's where all of our shots are going. Get ready."

All four ships approached each other, three armed with extended-range, ship-killer missiles, and the fourth protected its partner with shields and defensive lasers. When they came into extreme range, they would all start firing. The chance of hitting with a missile was slight, but they all had enough ammunition for this engagement.

ClawMaster was running on fumes and batteries after the two warp jumps. Milo was silent as he tried to simultaneously keep the reactors from exploding and lay in targeting for the gunners. Two hops with the warp drive had added significantly to the variation in the power levels of the quad-fusion system. People had experimented with warp drives and the Experimental and Highly Untested Quad-Fusion System but with no success. Two warp jumps meant a huge explosion seconds later. As people watching realized what SS ClawMaster had inside of her, bets were taken for just when she would go BOOM.

If Milo were asked at that moment if he was having fun, the answer would have been "yes", but he wouldn't have answered since every bit of his mind was working as fast as possible to keep track of everything that was happening simultaneously. He knew he had to hold things together for another minute but wasn't sure if he could do it.

Missiles were launched. All three ships' gunners were firing off shots as fast as possible. Everything from ClawMaster and GoodOldBoys was aimed at the Gearhead ship. Gearhead had elected to send its fire against GoodOldBoys, knowing ClawMaster couldn't fire missiles without dropping their shields, even if they did have a suicidal fusion system pumping out twelve power. This led to some cursing as both of their enemies spat out missiles.

"All gunners, target ClawMaster; they can't have anything but batteries to power those shields. Knock down those shields and blow them up.

The first wave of missiles hit, SS Gearhead and SS GoodOldBoys losing two shield generators as the powerful payloads exploded in front of them. The cost of shields at this close range was expensive. The front shields could be powered for only one point, but to protect everything but the rear of the ship took two points. As the ships got closer, batteries were drained or burned out, and more damage was taken.

Belinda switched all her power to her front shields, cutting off any further missiles. They'd need them to survive what was coming at them. Butch was cursing, and everyone else yelled as the enemy missiles approached. The first wave hit them, destroying two shields to the front and rocking them all in their chairs. Two more hits came in, burning out their one-use batteries.

Belinda yelled at him. "How long till Plan Slingshot happens? And how did I let you talk me into this? Are you sure this will work?"

Ghost was concentrating as hard as he could on many equations and constantly looking at a dozen screens. "I never know. I make plans; the first plan usually doesn't work, so I make stuff up as I go. We'll know in ten seconds."

More missiles came in. ClawMaster took two more hits, burning out the last of their shields and causing the fusion generators to go wild. SS GoodOldBoys had come close to them to help take out incoming missiles with their defensive lasers.

On the SS Gearhead, people were cheering. "We've got them. The next missile will take them out."

The scream from their navigator cut across their voices. "SHIT! Missiles! A bunch of them. Put the shields to the rear! All shields to the rear!"

The Captain had no idea why he was screaming, and shifting the shields was a stupid idea. Or it was, until he saw the group of fourteen missiles coming from directly behind his ship, where he had no protection. With no shields to stop them, every missile that got through would cause damage. Two missiles had been lost to the gravitation of a black hole when Milo used it to change their course and accelerate their velocity. Knowing where the gravimetric anomalies were, and how strong, had made it possible to weave his missiles past two black holes, each one changing course and sling-shotting the ship-killers to a higher velocity. Now, with their target in front of them, and receiving targeting data from SS ClawMaster, they began their attack runs.

Two were off target; Milo was juggling too many things to make last-minute adjustments in their courses. Of the twelve missiles on target, defensive laser fire took out four. The other eight missiles hit SS Gearhead in the unprotected rear. Bulkheads shattered and the kinetic energy of the eight warheads blasted deep into the ship. The damage was too much. No ship could take it, and she exploded into a ball of fire, killing everyone.

Milo yelled at Belinda. "Emergency Warp Jump. Anywhere. Do it!" He saw his fusion plants beginning to spiral out of control, with only one result possible. If he blew up this close to their ally, both ships would die. Belinda eyeballed her jump without calculations and hit the button. The ship disappeared and returned to the universe only a half mile from SS Powerdrink. Milo didn't even try to stop the explosion.

SS ClawMaster made SC6 history for two reasons: First for successfully firing an ultra-long-range missile barrage and sling-shotting it around the gravitational field of two black holes and hitting an enemy ship. Secondly, for making three successful Warp Jumps with a quad-fusion system in a row.

And then she exploded, becoming a glowing ball of hydrogen gas, taking SS Powerdrink with her. Her allies were cheering wildly and crawling out of their cockpits. Milo, Belinda, and the rest of the team exited their cockpits to see the message on the overhead banners.

Shared Victory: Team Good Old Boys-Team Nameless Order-Team Claw Master

Chapter 207: After party

Milo approved of the after-party, even if too many people were nearby. He'd almost turned and run when a small mob came over to congratulate his team but was held back by Minerva hugging him. "Awesome plan, Almost-Big-Brother-Milo; the boom at the end was cool!" Belinda turned her head as she said that, and Butch smiled and whispered to her, "Minerva is a little upset that I might be going to work in the pods when I turn 18. Mama is worried about Ghost. His dad hasn't been around in years, and he roams on his own too much. She's put in paperwork to adopt him, and little Min is pretty happy about that."

"Milo? That's his real name?"

"Yeah, he got nick-named Ghost early on when he started hanging with our gang at swap meets. He's nervous around people and takes off suddenly. Stays away for a day or a week, then shows back up to hang around for a bit."

Belinda looked at the overjoyed Min and the nervous Ghost. Min was taller than him by an inch. You'd assume he was younger until he started talking. She had another question to ask Butch, but it got lost as the other two teams overwhelmed them with enthusiastic greetings. By common consent, they moved to where the food was and pushed several tables together. Soon everyone was eating and talking about the game. Butch's gang was in awe of how much SC6 lore the older players knew.

"You should have seen it back in the day. Thousands of ships were online, fighting for control over resources and carving out little empires. The basic game was modified on private servers back in the old internet days. The best ones had expanded economics, mining, and politics. You could do a lot more than blow stuff up."

"Yeah, you could fix your ship when it got blown up. Scavenge parts when you blew someone else up and threaten to blow up people unless they agreed to help you blow up someone else."

"You forgot to mention drinking at a seedy bar after getting blown up."

"Ah, the best part of SC6: The Bar mod. Julius was a genius when he came up with that."

Belinda had never heard of a Bar mod. "What was that? I didn't see it mentioned when I was getting the programming for the machines."

Captain Joe explained. "It wasn't in the basic programming, but everyone running a server added it to their galaxy. Every planet, asteroid mine, or space station had a bar you could go to after you docked. They were filled with hard-bitten NPCs that would try to drink you under the table, start fights with you, or hire you for illegal missions. They were awesome. Some people barely played the game; they just used the bars as places to hang out and talk. It was old style, no VR, but it feels real when you remember it."

Seedy bars and secret missions sounded great to Butch. "Can you still do that? Log into a server and hit a bar."

"Naw, long gone. Lots of problems with how things turned out after all the corporate teams took over the game. There was a bullshit lawsuit against Julius claiming that by letting people have private galaxies, he was diminishing the competition in the main galaxy they had paid money to play in. It was crap, but he wasn't a rich guy, just a programmer making games. He had to shut down the support to the private servers. Many people quit the game after that, and then the problems with keeping the machines running started killing him. Parts were getting expensive, and the machines crashed hard whenever the Wildfire virus swept through. He went bankrupt and had to give up."

"He was really excited about this event, though. He wanted to come, but he's living in Japan and didn't have the money for the trip."

Belinda noticed Ghost had pulled a datapad from his pack and was tapping away. He looked up after a moment. "Dr. Julius Shepherd? He has a small company called Adastra Ltd."

Joe nodded, and Belinda recalled that Francis had mentioned emailing him twice when he was refurbishing the SC6 machines. She tapped on her own datapad built into the arm of her chair. She found the emails going back and forth between them. Dr. Julius had offered to come work on the machines for free if they paid his travel costs. John had turned down the request from Francis.

That made her sad in an odd way. "I should have argued harder for bringing him here. I'm sure he would have loved to see his game being played again."

The other teams were all in agreement about that. "He'd have loved to be here. But he still gets to see his game featured at a big event. I bet he's staring at the footage right now and trying to figure out why we used such crazy builds."

Joe turned to Belinda. "Any chance of another event in the future? We'd all pitch in to bring Julius out for it."

She sat, drumming her left hand on the armrest of her chair. She turned 18 years old in a few months and would have access to her trust funds and more control over voting her stock. That was leverage to use on John. Or maybe she could do it herself without him? "Make sure I have all of your contact information before you leave for the day. Who knows what might happen."

Ghost slid back farther in his chair, thinking.

Victor was enjoying himself. He never argued with his underlings, which is why things got done the way he wanted. He also would never have allowed anyone to talk to him the way the representatives from the sponsoring corporations were talking to him. Who cares if they had paid money for the event? They got their advertising and chance to sponsor teams. Did they also expect to win all the prizes? Such weakness! And John was just as weak, letting them yell at him. He tried to soothe them when he should have been telling them to piss off.

"Ok, I know it wasn't the expected outcome, but we all had a great time today. We'll do the wrap-up for the event onstage, and each of you gets time to show off your products."

The Ubergear rep was livid, his face bright red. "You lying asshole. We pay you good money for sponsorship, and it was damned well understood by everyone that your job was to make my company look good. And then what happens? You let a fly-by-night group in as a sponsor and blame it on your daughter. Then your daughter teams up with them in the first competition to upstage us. Worse, our guys tried to compete too hard, pushing their gloves way beyond the recommended playtime and causing overheating problems. Something that the influencers and reviewers have noticed. Then you force us to accept her team in SC6, and somehow she wins. It stinks."

John looked pained. He really wanted everyone to like him, and it was so hard some days. "Manny, you know we didn't plan that. Right? Just bad luck. Your guys don't play the old games much, but I bet it's all the kids in the hab have to play. They've got shitty gear and shitty games, but they get good at it. Not much else for them to do. How about we get my daughter's team to sign on as sponsored M-1000 players? You can give them the gloves on stage, which turns around a lot of the bad publicity." John actually had no idea what kids in the habitats did. He had a vague idea that they went to school, played a lot of video games, and grew up to be people he could hire. But the narrative sounded good to him, so he tossed it out and started believing in it.

On the side of the room, Eric winced and turned to face a wall to hide his expression. John had told him to stay out of the conversation, so he was on his own.

Manny looked at John. "Your little bitch of a girl tossed the gloves I gave her back in my face claiming they hurt her. I let her little tantrum slide out of respect for our business relationship, John. I'd have sued anyone else. I doubt she will be all smiles and come over to our side after she orchestrated her little revenge."

"Excuse me, but that is my grand-niece you are talking about in a not-so-nice way."

Manny looked at the old man with the greying hair. The guy must be ninety and talked like he was from another century. "So what, Grandpa? She wants to play in the big leagues; she can learn to take it."

Victor chuckled. "The big leagues? This is not the big leagues. This is little piss-ant people in suits measuring dicks and yelling at each other. That is not how the 'Big Leagues' work. Yuseph? If this man speaks to me again, break his arm. Yegor? If anyone else talks, including John, bring them to Yuseph so he can break their arms."

Too late, Manny realized who the old man must be. He'd known John was connected to the Seimovich family, but thought it was a business deal. A family relationship made this situation much more dangerous. The old families took things very serious.

His two bodyguards walked to where everyone else was standing, smiling at them and flexing their hands.

"You lost. You even cheated first and then lost. Maybe bad luck? Maybe not. But what I think is that my little Belinda had a better team than you and beat you by skill. And you are upset that you look bad? Sad for you. Do better next time. No one said your money let you win. No one agreed to an easy victory where shitty gloves wouldn't work too hard. And really, I don't care. It is amusing to see you sit and argue with John, who lets you yell at him."

"But then you had to be rude. Here is what happens now. You all leave the room—no more talk. And you, Mr. Manny, will never say something about my little Belinda again. If you do, I will hear of it, and then I will break all of the bones in your body. Is this understood, Mr. Manny?"

Everyone in the room except Yseph and Yegor was sweating. Something in Victor's voice and eyes made them believe every threat. As soon as he nodded at the door, they started to leave. Yuseph had a large hand on both John and Manny's shoulders.

"Good, no one talked. Now, John? You take your friend Manny down to the stage and run your little dog-and-pony show, and then he will be leaving. Less chance of more problems. Mr. Manny? We will do this again soon. You may come and compete, and John will do his best to make your gloves look good. No cheating. No insults. We are businessmen and friends. Correct?"

Both John and Manny nodded nervously before heading for the door. Victor turned to Eric Kresthammer, the last person in the room. "You tried. I saw that, Eric. John should listen to you more. I thank you for trying and looking after my grand-niece. We'll talk more about your future with my family."

Eric relaxed and nodded.

Victor continued. "Maybe head down to the place with all the games and make sure no one bothers Belinda. She is having fun with friends. Don't let anyone take that away from her."

Eric left. Victor went to take a nap. Training the young ones to behave was always tiring.

Chapter 208: A new variable

There was only so much food you could eat, Milo thought sadly. He was always starving after a session of heavy work, whether physical or mental. The navigator role of SC6 had given him a workout. Managing the ship's navigation had been easy, but the task of spotting and charting the black holes had been exhausting. The advantage they had given their team proved the strategy worth it. The large groupings of missiles had sailed close to the anomalies, and their paths had been bent as they went by. Tracking an enemy's missiles was impossible when that close to a black hole. After anyone observing had lost track of them, they were free to continue their journey until they came close to an enemy ship from an unexpected angle. It was a difficult way to fight with missiles, and only a few people had done it successfully in the old days of the game. The other two teams were quite astounded and asked a lot of questions. Milo just shrugged and said. "We got lucky. Couldn't have done it without you guys letting us use your sensors."

By common agreement, no one was talking about mysterious messages with information on the enemy teams. Belinda had held a quick conference with the captains of the other two groups. Good Old Boys and Nameless Order assumed that Claw Master had received a similar message. Belinda helped with that narrative. "I don't think someone at Ubergear was really happy with how they played the game. Serves them right." After that, nothing was said, and they concentrated on food and talking about how the game used to be.

After an hour of talking, Milo was getting itchy. He'd been around people a long time. Maybe this was good for him? He'd just talked himself into staying when a montage of gaming video came onscreen. Belinda cringed and put both hands on her face. "Oh god, no. Not this. I told him not to play this." What came on the screen was a video taken of Belinda winning her first SmashbroReunion tournament when she was 10, followed by other videos and still shots of her playing other games or winning matches. Finally, the last part showed gameplay in the Genesis MMO. It was ten minutes of the raid against the first World Boss.

Belinda was shown organizing a raid of players and giving a speech: "Nothing's over until we say it's over! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? HELL NO! This could be the best day of our lives, but you're going to let it be our worst."

The footage showed various heroes doing their part as Belinda kept them going with her healing and encouragement. Finally, it showed the World Boss crumbling into bits of crystal and a huge chest appearing. Belinda was seen taking a glowing crystalline mace from the chest and a golden round shield marked with the symbol of Asclepius. There were more bits and pieces: Belinda was in the game giving an interview about the raid. Belinda showing the details of the magical items she used and showing off the Merciful Ring of the Empress, one of the first Legendary items to be found.

Minerva stared. "You're that Belinda? That's so cool. I want to play that game so badly. Daddy is inside it often, but he has to do whatever his boss says and doesn't get to do cool stuff."

Next to her, Milo was very still. Several variables had been added to his life today, and he was at the point where he desperately needed time to think. He nodded to the gang and stood up. "Have to go." Before anyone could talk, he was weaving between people and disappeared behind a row of machines. Butch stood up, but Yumi tugged on his sleeve. "Let him go; it's fine. This is a long time for him, with lots of people." Butch sat back down.

Belinda looked at them, wanting to ask a question but unsure. Yumi came to her rescue. "It's fine. Not your fault or anyone else. Ghost is sort of introverted and needs a lot of time to himself. Being around people puts a lot of pressure on him. This is more people than he's been around at once. But he's doing better. I'm surprised he made it this long."

Kenji laughed. "He had video games and food. That always extends his visits."

Further talk of Ghost stopped as Brad arrived, looking happy. He was wearing his Claw Master gloves and had a plate of food. "Hey, I'm hearing some great stuff. You guys rocked and scored some cool swag?" He was given a play-by-play of the event from multiple sources.

Belinda was introduced, and the two of them shook gloved hands. Butch asked him, "How's your mom? You got her in for treatment?"

Brad smiled broadly, "Better than that, even. Someone came down the line looking for us and took us into the clinic. Someone at Claw Master found out she was sick. Maybe when I filled out her paperwork for the clinic? Mr. Eady called the clinic and said that they would cover my mom's medical treatment as part of the contract we signed. She's staying in a medical pod for two days and getting the medicine she needs. They said they can clean out her lungs and put her on a treatment plan with better pills."

Butch and everyone else was excited. "Damn, this deal gets better and better."

Belinda flexed her left hand again, wondering. She needed to find out more about this mysterious sponsor. And she needed to talk to Ghost. For now, though, she was happy to be with new friends. "Hey, can I show you guys my rooms? I've got some space I want to turn into a sort of clubhouse with the games we won."

Chapter 209: Complications

The awards ceremony was brief and awkward at times. Erik had caught up with John, and instead of steering him to the stage, he took his boss to his apartment, handed him two Naptime tablets, and told him to sleep. The man was was nearly incoherent at this point with stress and lack of sleep. Erik wished he could do the same, but someone had to put this thing to bed. On the surface, the event had been a success. It was the fallout that Erik dreaded.

Jacob Mannerheim was all smiles and professional as he presented the prizes his company had promised. The top six teams in the videogame competition were given a free pair of M-1000 gloves. His corporate team seemed sullen as they accepted, their smiles glued to their faces. The other two corporate teams happily accepted their gloves and thanked him. The three other teams, including the Claw Master team, clapped and yelled as they were called to come up. He saw that Team Claw Master had removed their gloves so they wouldn't be in the camera. Even Belinda accepted her pair of gaming gloves, taking them with only her right hand.

The next set of prizes went to the top three teams in the SC6 competition. The teams from Good Old Boys and Nameless Order were given vouchers that reimbursed all of their travel expenses along with an invitation to the Ubergear Invitational Gaming Festival. He was at a loss for a moment when he went to team Claw Master. "I don't think reimbursing you for your travel expenses comes to very much when you're the hometown team. But I look forward to seeing you at UIGF."

He handed the invitations out to the six gamers. None of their group had even known about the Ubergear Festival until they'd watched the announcement fifteen minutes ago. It looked like a cross between E3 and Disneyworld. Belinda could see that the rest of the group was stunned by the thought of going. Had any of them ever left the habitat? She wasn't sure. And the expense? You didn't live in a habitat if you could afford to go to an orbital playground for a seven-day gaming excursion. "We'll try and be there."

Jacob noticed their expressions and body language as well. He forced down the feelings he had over this event. He deserved to lose if he'd been outplayed by a seventeen-year-old girl and a group she recruited from a habitat. It was time to start winning on the PR front. "It would be a shame not to have a rematch between our two teams. Let's sweeten the deal a little. You didn't get reimbursed for your travel to this event, so I think it's only fair that Ubergear will pay for your travel to the next one."

He turned to the cameras. "How about it, folks? Do you think we need Team Claw Master competing at UIGF?" There was a roar of applause as the local team stood stunned and started cheering and hugging each other."

"Mr. Mannerheim? I was hoping we could speak further about the position at Ubergear."

Jacob 'Manny' Mannerheim stopped and turned. "What position was that, Mr. Chambers?"

Chambers had a sinking feeling but continued. "During the contract negotiations, you said that there was an opening at Ubergear for a new assistant vice-president in the marketing department and you would look favorably upon my application. I want to take you up on that offer."

"Let me make myself clear, Mr. Chambers. Business deals are about helping each other out. You scratch my back; I scratch yours. You hinted at special treatment and a better deal, so I mentioned an opening at Ubergear. That was a good offer. You are currently working for John Sabbatino in a start-up company located in a habitat. I was offering the chance to work for Ubergear, a real company with real offices and real chances to make a lot of money. I expected you to jump at my offer and, more importantly, hold up your end of the deal."

He held up a hand, silencing Chambers when he started to talk. "Yet, things you promised me didn't happen. Our products did not enjoy a monopoly at your event. Worse, it was a competitor who was trying to outshine our new product, the M-1000. You allowed this new company to sponsor part of the event, allowed them to advertise at the event, and then backed away from your promises. Promises which seemed not to be known to your boss's daughter, who brought in Claw Master as a sponsor, refused to wear our product, and then recruited a local team that embarrassed my team."

"We are done, Mr. Chambers. If you are lucky, I will consider this my mistake in trusting a middle manager to handle the details he promised. I have probably done myself a favor in not hiring you and finding out that my team of 'professional gamers' are anything but. I am angry enough that I could strangle you, but I won't do something to upset Victor Seimovich. Unlike you, he keeps his promises. "

As Manny turned and walked away, Chambers tried one last time. "I want out of here; what can I do to make this right?"

Manny turned his head slightly and spoke as he left the building. "Only two things would make me happy. The first is a signed contract that gives me what you promised for your company's next five years of events. I want Claw Master locked out. The second thing would be a set of those gloves, delivered today. I'm not asking you for those things, Mr. Chambers. Simply informing you of things that would make me happy."

The heavy door slammed shut, and Chambers was left in the empty hallway of the VIP entrance on the roof.

Milo had gotten away from the group and went to a more private spot. He chose the machine he had used for SC6. All the games were shut down now for the award ceremony. It only took a moment to unlock the keypad on the machine and climb into the navigator's section, taking a bowl of cheese fries with him. He wanted to watch the gang get their awards but didn't want to be on that stage. As expected, Butch had Brad take his place.

The revelation that he already knew Belinda wasn't something he'd ever imagined. He went back over everything he had said to her, wincing at times when he recognized things he'd said to her that might give her a clue. The obvious one was finding out his name, the same name he used in the game. Mostly the gang called him Ghost, but at least twice they had called him Milo when Belinda was nearby.

He didn't think it would be a problem, would it? The people who knew a lot about him from the game were Wally, Sidney, Steven, and a group of A.I. that everyone thought were destroyed. Belinda had no connection to them. So, she should have no connection to the real Milo. He just had to be careful to keep up the appearance of living in the habitat. He needed to do some work on 'his house' and clean up some loose ends. It was doubtful she would ever be in that part of the hab, but he wasn't taking chances.

The next step was a thorough background check on her family and the Manpower Corporation. If he had missed the connection to her playing Genesis, he could have missed other things. He used his datapad to send instructions to his system in the bowels of section E and start a complete search and data analysis. Things were getting too connected, and he didn't like it. He could just disappear if he needed to; the gang couldn't. And too many people in section E now worked for Manpower.

He was watching the awards ceremony when the team got invited to UGIF. He looked it up quickly, and conflicting emotions hit him like a truck. It would have everything he was learning to love: mostly games and new food. His friends would be there. But to get there, he would have to leave the habitat. And there was so much open space between here and a satellite in orbit. He was having trouble thinking about it without going into a panic attack. He tossed the idea into the waste bin in his head. Not for him. He'd make sure the gang got there, and he could watch from here. He finished the cheese fries and exited the machine. It was time to go home.

Despite saying he wasn't going, the waste bin kept opening, and the terror of all that open sky was in the back of his head. It bothered him, and he needed a way to beat it. The fear was just in his head. Thinking about a project, he stepped into the hallway leading to the restrooms and the storeroom he used to get into the ductwork. He heard the far doorway open, and a familiar-looking man in a wrinkled suit entered. He turned and punched an override code into the door, locking it.

Mr. Chambers had gotten lucky. He'd seen the kid with the bad leg hobbling to the bathroom. Everyone else from his team was on the stage. This was his chance to get a pair of those gloves for Ubergear. Jordan Chambers wasn't a large man, and aside from weekly karate classes (that he skipped most of the time), he wasn't very athletic. But he had no doubts about handling a skinny twelve-year-old on crutches.

"Let's keep this simple. Hand me the gloves; then you can go to the bathroom. Your team has been accused of cheating, and we are investigating your gloves. If we find nothing, you get them back. Your team is cooperating, so don't make a fuss and hand them over."

The kid looked at him and cocked his head sideways. "I'm confused. They were just on stage. Why give them an award if you say they cheated?"

"Because it's an accusation. We're being nice. Did you notice they didn't have their gloves on? We have them all now." The little shit blinked when he said that and then giggled.

"You got them to just hand them over? Because they trust you? We're from the hab. We don't trust anyone, especially someone in a suit. You aren't getting my gloves."

"Last chance, kid, hand over the gloves."

Again, the kid didn't take him seriously. "Last chance. Leave me alone."

Chambers lunged forward to grab the boy's arms, and was never sure later what happened. He only managed to grab the interposed arm braces the kid put in front of him. Then the kid leaned and brought his prosthetic leg upward in a hard kick that ended in his groin. His eyes rolled back in his head with the pain. It was followed by his whole body seizing up and shaking for several seconds. He fell backward, paralyzed, and lost consciousness. Security found him an hour later and got him to medical attention. They diagnosed him with a concussion from his head hitting the concrete floor. His story of being mugged by a habrat wasn't believed by anyone. The security camera only showed him slipping on the wet floor and falling backward.

When the man attacked him, Milo blocked with his arm braces. That set up the attack to the easiest weak point. He followed up by using the Tasers built into each arm brace. For a brief moment, he was fighting for his life in the game, and someone was telling him he had to kill or be killed. It would have been simple to drag the unconscious man into the ductwork with a cable and deposit him somewhere no one would ever find him. But this wasn't the game. He knew the rules were different. He left the man lying in the corridor, made sure a security team was sent on a route that would find him, and made the security system show what he wanted.

He was upset and hyper when he was finally done. He took a longer route home, knowing he wasn't followed but taking no chances. Finally, after an hour of crawling up pipes and scurrying along the mechanical section's unused access tunnels, he arrives home. He took deep breaths to steady himself and drank a quart of water. His pulse was still pounding. He sat in his chair and triggered his search programs to show him the information on Belinda Sabbatino and Manpower.

Only one screen lit up, with a glowing red border signifying a significant piece of information. It showed a picture of Victor Seimovich and a family tree linking him to Belinda Sabbatino. The lower half of the screen showed Victor arriving in the habitat and being greeted by her. Milo double-checked his search parameters, desperately wanting to deny the information, but it was all true.

The man behind his creation and the death of the rest of the family was in the habitat. Was he looking for the person who stole his money? And how could his friend Belinda be connected to him? He felt the jaws of a trap closing in. With one word, everything shut down, leaving him curled into a ball on his chair, in the dark.

Chapter 210: Connections

Hide! Seen. Trapped. Can't run. Gang=me? Gang seen? Belinda? Belinda=Belinda but Belinda=Victor! Run. Trapped. Seen. Hide? Fix?

Fix.

Fix!

Milo's mind whirled, several trains of thought screaming at once. He had pushed himself too far. The fatigue of social interaction had been building up all day, as had the stress of thinking so hard in SC6 and the video game tournament. He loved the feeling of pushing himself to think faster and devise strategies, but it came at a price. He was paying it now as the connection between Victor and Belinda sent his paranoia into overdrive.

Part of him was screaming that they never should have left the tunnels. A year ago, he'd been safe, and no one had known about him. No one had even suspected that he existed. If no one knew you existed, then no one came looking.

Now he was exposed. And it was by his own actions. He knew that. He'd triggered events, and failed to recognize all of the consequences.

He recognized that the temptation to do new things and taste new food had been traps that the world had set for him. But food was tasty!

The pod was the first trap! It tempted him, showed him he could get better, showed him the game, and allowed him to get petty revenge on Kaminski. Stealing the pod had triggered everything.

The game was a trap! It showed him cheese! And tasty food. It made him want more things in the real world. It led to being noticed by Sidney and then Wally. Wally knew where he was. But he needed the game! He needed the escape and the friends he'd made. He needed a place he could go where no one knew who he was.

The money was a trap. Money solved problems. It was a tool. He took someone else's money. Victor's money. There was no guilt. No guilt at all. Victor and his people had made him a slave, killed his family, killed so many people. Now Victor was an enemy, and Milo had to hide from him.

He had friends in the habitat. He was learning to be near people. But they made him vulnerable. Just like the Hollow. Were friends a trap? Family? He couldn't run if people were threatened.

Then the Belinda problem. She knew him in Genesis. Knew he had a pod. Now she had seen him in this world. She was smart. Would she know Milo= Milo in the hab? If she found out about his special race and class, it tied him to a missing pod. Victor would put things together.

Victor was dangerous. Why did Belinda = Victor?

Round and round, his thoughts looped, examining the traps for a way out.

For 17 minutes and 35 seconds, Milo lay in a near-coma, in the dark, running from traps.

And then he woke up and got to work.

The first task was a review of all the data his systems had recovered. Some had been gleaned from historical archives, newscasts, and what remained of the internet.

The last provided a mix of truth and lies; the information often had poor documentation and had a non-zero chance of being entirely false. But it gave clues about where else to look. Tax records from the time period that CHARLIE, the A.I. tasked with overseeing corporate taxes, were very useful. They clearly explained who was making money and where it had come from. Those years abruptly ended and access to further data was blocked behind many walls. But Milo had been created to break those walls and dig for secrets. After a day of reviewing, he started breaking the protection on national data banks and into corporations, looking for answers. He wasn't always happy with what he found.

The Seimovich family had a long history, all the way back to when the Czars still ruled in their part of the world. The family was minor nobility with aspirations to be more. As the world changed, so did the family. They became money lenders and merchants, always involved in the lucrative trade of selling weapons. They branched out and moved to where the world needed guns and explosives. After the second world war, they moved from buying and selling weapons to manufacturing them. As technology became more complex, so did their business. Information and biotech were added to the manufacturing and selling of more traditional weapons.

In the early part of the 21st century, the extended Seimovich family was controlled by two brothers, Victor and Andrei. The two were the faces of two very different business methods. Victor operated like the family always had, selling arms, hacking and ransoming information, smuggling, and trafficking in human lives. If anything, his half of the family grew worse, keeping only enough legitimate business dealings to provide a cover to fend off the authorities.

Andrei took his half of the family in new directions, evolving with the times. Reorganized as the Seimovich Technology Corporation they moved as far from the old family business as possible. Money was invested in new technologies but never weapons tech. There were reports of Andrei, or people working for him, actively aiding the authorities in investigations into organized crime. On the surface, this seemed to be evidence of a split between the brothers. But the cartels that were weakened made room for Victor to move in and expand his empire.

Whether or not the split between the two brothers was real was debated in news programs and law enforcement offices. One story Milo found gave a supposedly first-hand account of a tense family reunion when the old patriarch, Boris, was on his deathbed. Vodka and harsh words filled the days before his passing, and the split between the family became permanent.

Victor married four times, but only one produced a child—discrepancies in the child's genealogy after a paternity test led to his third divorce and the disappearance of that wife, child, and a bodyguard. An accident while boating was blamed. Local authorities in the small town closed the case quickly.

Andrei married once and had two children, Nicki and Ekaterina. Twenty-five years after Boris's death, the deaths of both Nicki and Andrei brought what was left of the family closer together. Father and son were killed when a freak storm forced their private jet land at a small airfield. The icy conditions and short runway led to a bad landing and an explosion as the airplane shot past the barriers at the end of the runway. A somber Victor attended the double funeral. He and Ekaterina reconciled. If not close, they at least spoke often, and he served on the board of trustees for the Seimovich Corporation as an unpaid advisor.

Ekaterina met Vigo Johansson at a technology conference. She was fresh from University with dual degrees in International Business and Finance. Vigo was there showing off the latest products from his company, Bio-Solutions. They met when both of them were talking on the same panel. They had drinks and dinner three times and began dating. The picture of the two of them holding hands had sent a ripple through the tech industry.

Vigo's official biography said he had started with nothing and studied computer programming and information systems early. At ten, he coded his first small video game. Smashy-Dwarf was a cute little phone game where players selected a troll or ogre as their team and took turns hurling other races at a rack of ten pins. He made enough money to attend a better school and then college at the age of fourteen. Vigo attended four colleges over the next eight years while simultaneously building his first company. Computers were the first step; his end goal was cybernetics, human/computer interfaces, and working artificial limbs. Bio-Solutions was, first and foremost, a research lab. Vigo and his employees created, patented, and sold the technology to other people.

After the two married, Seimovich Technology bought Bio-Solutions for the price of 127 Billion dollars. Belinda Seimovich was born seven years later. News reports said the birth had been complicated by birth defects. The family refused to discuss her medical problems and asked for privacy. During this time, protests and riots culminated in the removal and imprisonment of all but one A.I. Technology companies saw a huge drop in their stock, protests held at their factories, vandalism, and acts of terror.

Bio-Solutions was the target of one radical group, Never Skynet. Ironic because artificial intelligence was not something the company had delved into. A bomb was set off, severing a fuel line and engulfing the labs in fire. Twenty-seven researchers died, including Vigo Johansson. Ekaterina attended his funeral on the arm of her Uncle, Victor, and then dropped out of public life altogether. Milo saw that within a year, Ekaterina remarried, choosing a childhood friend, John Sabbatino. He was immediately named CEO of the company and made the guardian of Belinda. Within a year, Victor was no longer on the board of advisors. Eight years later, when Belinda was ten, Ekaterina died of 'undisclosed medical issues.'

Milo could find no record of Belinda's name being changed to Sabbatino. In court documents, she was always referred to as Belinda Seimovich. Nor did he find a record of adoption. But what financial information he did find was interesting. Nearly all of the corporation had been sold piecemeal during the years after Vigo's death. A large amount of money was invested conservatively, and a corporation was set up to manage the funds, ST Investments. Seimovich Technology was a shadow of what it had been at the time of her death, but the investment group held a staggering amount of money. All of it was put in trust for Belinda when she turned eighteen.

Exact numbers were unknown, but financial experts conservatively estimated the value of the trust fund at over a trillion dollars with the possibility of up to quadruple that amount. John Sabbatino did not have access to that money, except to care for Belinda. He continued to manage the corporation and renamed it Manpower Inc. Victor Seimovich was not involved in either Manpower or ST Investments.

That sounded like a lot of money to Milo. Far more than he had. With that much money, you could buy all the SC6 machines left in the world and all the cheese you could ever eat. Manpower was a powerful corporation, but nowhere near what it would be as soon as Belinda turned 18. That worried him. Who would control it?

Milo liked the idea of Victor never having money ever again. He wasn't happy with John Sabbatino having it, either. With that much money, he could tear the hab apart faster than Milo could fix it. What would Belinda do with it?

He shook his head, clearing the speculation. He had things to do. Next on his list was upgrading the security system. The whole thing was a mess. The habitat system was nearly defunct and unusable. Manpower had replaced part of it and upgraded other parts, but in a piecemeal fashion that upset Milo as being highly inefficient. On top of that, Milo had found cameras installed by the engineering firm that had done work in the hab. And, of course, Milo had added his bits to the jerry-rigged system. He needed something better. It would be a lot of hard work, but he would upgrade and replace most of the systems and cameras so that only he had complete access to all of them. If people were moving around in his habitat, he needed to know. Manpower wouldn't know what had happened, and would enjoy a security system that worked all the time, and didn't need repairs.

As he placed orders with thirty-seven security specialists, his brain tossed out a chilling scenario. Who was Belinda's heir? Her only living relative was Victor. Was Victor looking for a way to get past Belinda to her money? And if so, had Milo triggered this event by stealing all of Victor's money? He needed to know more. Either Belinda was working with Victor, or she wasn't. If she wasn't, then Milo may have put her in danger. He had planned to stay far away from the girl, but now he needed to do the opposite, and get to know her.

Chapter 211: Solutions

Information gathering was only the first step in solving this problem. Milo had options for the second step but didn't like some of them.

The immediate solution that came to mind was to hide. He was already working on a secure base of operations beneath the habitat, and he had several secondary areas in other sections that affected the performance of section E. He could go back to hiding, not venture out, and flee to another part of the hab if anyone started searching section E. There were problems with the Hide/Run plan. His secondary locations were rudimentary compared to his current home. They didn't have a gaming/medical pod and didn't have the machinery he used to create machine parts and his mechanical limbs. Hiding also meant cutting himself off from the gang. A pit opened inside of him when he thought about that. He moved on to the next plan.

The second solution that occurred to Milo was leaving the habitat. He was here because he'd been left here. There was a big world out there. He had a standing offer from Steven of employment and housing. He didn't need to stay here and deal with Victor. Anxiety flooded him just thinking about being forced to leave. Fear of the unknown. Fear of having to rely on someone else. Fear of not having the walls around him that kept him safe. The rest of his brain didn't like those ideas and started listing the reasons that leaving was a bad idea. He had zero first-hand experience living outside of the habitat. Physically, he appeared small, weak, and too young to be treated as an adult. Money could solve part of that problem but also make him a target. Taking Steven's offer meant playing by a new set of rules and relying on Steven or Wally. What would happen if he couldn't live in that framework? There were too many variables. He wasn't leaving the habitat.

Which led him to a realization. Not a logical one, but an emotional one. A decision to not let anyone take away his home. Section E was his. He'd repaired the mechanical systems, fixed the programming, and kept it running for two decades. He felt the same way about the entire habitat to a lesser degree. Manpower and Victor were the invaders, and leaving would be giving them the habitat. Milo wasn't going to leave, so he had to neutralize the threats to his section.

To assess those threats, he needed information—a steady stream of what they were doing. The upgrades to the security system would give him eyes and ears, but he also needed a watchdog that would alert him to problems. This special program would monitor his systems and warn him if anyone was doing something that would cause him trouble or if anything drastically changed in Section H. He already had programs that monitored the mechanical systems. Now he needed more watchdogs to monitor people, tracking their movements, conversations, and electronic communications. Even as he continued to formulate a plan, he typed out the code to create his programs.

The next problem was ensuring that his friends and family weren't in harm's way. If Butch, Mama, and the rest of the gang got linked to him, Victor could threaten Milo by threatening his family. He didn't know how many people Victor had working for him in the habitat or how many more he could bring in. If Victor moved against his family, Milo would stop him. He hoped it never happened. That would mean war, and part of Milo's brain was already working on ways fragile humans could meet horrible ends in the hab and disappear. He didn't want to use those plans but made them anyway. He thought to himself, 'What would Petey do?'.

Could he get rid of Victor by having someone else deal with him? He set his systems to work on the possibility that he could get rid of Victor legally. If he alerted the authorities to his presence in the habitat, would they try to capture him?

Another solution was alerting the people who didn't like Victor. But he worried about bringing confrontation into the habitat—too many variables to control.

He had an idea pop into his forebrain that would help with protection; he just had to figure out how to implement it and sneak it past Mama. Or should he tell her?

For the next two days, Milo sat in his chair and worked on new programs and plans, then set them to work.

Project Watch Lizard was designed to keep him safe. It investigated anyone working in Section E and kept him advised on their movements and their reason for being in his territory.

Project Argos kept track of Victor and Victor's minions and hacked their phone signals, electronic mail, and any programs they used.

Project Hollow began designing a fallback position deep beneath the habitat, complete with duplicates of his equipment, secure access, food and medical supplies, and communications. The first task was determining what stopped the excavators from continuing their job.

The last item on his list for today was one that made him very nervous; he needed to talk to Butch and the gang about Belinda and then talk to her. He didn't know where she fits into this puzzle, and he needed to find out whether she was a pawn or a queen. And what color?

He only had to knock once on the door before Minerva opened it. She took one look at him before yelling, "He's back! I found him". She grabbed Milo by the arm and dragged him inside the house. The enticing smell of his favorite foods came from inside, and he spied several metal pans on the table with heating pads underneath. That was how they had served food at the party. And now it was here?

The room was packed with people. All of Butch's family and the gang were here, mostly sitting on the floor where two videogame consoles were being used. An extra screen was mounted on the wall. Butch was fighting Brad in Age of Dinosaurs: Knock-Out! Brad was using King Rex, popular despite the reach of their tiny arms. Butch was hammering him with the slow-moving but hard-to-damage Anky the Anklecrusher. The fight ended with King Rex limping away and Brad declaring all armored dinosaurs to be 'busted and OP.'

Yumi looked up from where she was dueling Belinda in Big Samurai Heroes 6. Her moment of inattention cost her the game as Belinda's giant robot executed a spinning guillotine attack and cut off Yumi's head. Yumi frowned and threw the controller to Milo. "Your turn; I can't beat her."

Belinda waved to him and patted the section of floor Yumi had just vacated. "Your turn, Ghost. I'm going to kick your robot's butt, and then I need to talk to you about some stuff."

Behind him, Minerva had shut the door, blocking his retreat. She leaned on the door, "Mama says you don't get to leave until you eat a meal and talk to her. She's next door with two of the little ones. Belinda brought lots of good stuff, but we ate all the manicotti already. I don't know what they are, but they taste awesome."

Milo pushed down his anxiety and waded into the lair of his family.

Chapter 212: Conversations

Milo yelled to Belinda. "Food first, it smells great." The table was set up like the tables at the event, with a white tablecloth, metal pans of food, little plates, and forks. His stomach dropped down to his toes, replaced by a hungry void. When had he eaten last? A snack when he woke up? And before that, the event. He was hungry and even a little feverish. There was an empty pan where the mani-somethings had been. He started with that, filling it with four chili dogs and a pile of tater chunks before putting cheese sauce over everything.

Food acquired, he took his pan and controller and sat next to Belinda. He ate with one hand and held the controller with the other. Everyone in the room looked at him as he shoveled food into his mouth while he and Belinda battled with giant robots in the ruins of neo-Tokyo. Belinda was using Red Ronin, a heavily armored Samurai Mech designed to fight Kaiju with its energized plasma katana. Milo chose Lego Ninja-73. What his robot lacked in armor, it made up for with cheap and easy repairs between rounds. Like all of the Lego Ninja variants, it was fast and agile, able to dodge most heavy mechs. Their problem was their lack of offensive damage when confronted with heavy armor.

Belinda charged him repeatedly, only to have Milo dodge out of the way. His mech never quit moving, even when far away from his adversary. The LN-73 bounced from foot to foot, leaping and hopping and never giving Belinda an easy target with her shoulder-mounted cannon. Each time they engaged, she swung with the blazing katana. Milo used his flame throwers to blind her and shot flaming shuriken at her. They lodged in her armor, still on fire but next to useless.

"Why are you doing that? Those stupid attacks aren't doing anything but annoy me."

Milo nodded but said nothing. Annoying her was half the reason he was doing it. He hopped to his left and rolled as her sword went over his head again. Belinda cursed as her screen started flashing red. "Out of power? How can I be out of power?"

Milo hit her again with his flame throwers and then danced away. Red Ronin took two steps, the energy sword flickered, and the mech died. Belinda looked at the diagnostics panel for her mech to assess the damage or find a fix. "Overheating?"

Milo finished his fourth chili-cheese dog and started on his fries. "We've been fighting for fifteen minutes. Red Ronin has optimal power supplies for a maximum of a half hour, but that's under ideal conditions. The plasma katana causes a heat surge each time you use it. I was adding to your heat with my 'totally ineffective weapons.' I just had to ensure you were too busy to notice and hoped it didn't rain. The heavy mechs are designed to use their armor as heat sinks, but that doesn't work when the heat hits the armor. Sub-optimal design. You'll want to shave points elsewhere and go with either a refractive coating on the armor to reflect the heat or a thermo-couple system to absorb it and turn it into power."

Belinda growled and bared her teeth. "I want a rematch, but we need to talk first."

Milo shook his head sadly. "Sorry, can't."

"And why not?"

He smiled at her. "You said we'd talk after you kicked my butt. No butt-kicking, no talk. You can have a rematch after I talk with Mama." He handed the controller to Minerva, who immediately selected Lego-Ninja 73 for her mech, with extra flame throwers. Mama had just come in the door, saw him, and waved him to come over to her.

"Let's go outside, dear. Less hectic, I can barely hear myself think."

"Come sit down by me, Milo dear, and talk to your mama."

Milo was nervous. He was worried because Mama knew that close proximity to adults caused him anxiety, and she was asking him to do that. She was up to something. Cautiously, he sat down next to her on a cracked plastic bench, the glowy tree casting shadows and shielding them from the flickering overhead lights. She took out a stack of paperwork and handed it to him.

"You need to look this over and understand it. Because I sure don't understand all of it. Once we get past page two, and it goes into all of that legalese, I'm lost, and if you and I are both signing this, one of us needs to know what it says."

Milo started to read the 42 pages of the adoption paperwork, but Mama put her hand on the first page. "More importantly, you have to not only understand what this does but also want to do it. I think it's a good idea. The kids think it's a good idea. But that doesn't count for a gnat fart if you don't think it's a good idea. Now take a look, and think about it. I'm just going to enjoy some peace and quiet."

"I don't like parts of it."

"That's fine dear. There's lots of legal bullshit in it. After all, it comes from the government. The Department of Habitat Dwellers and Itinerant Population is long on paperwork and short on promises. Tell me what parts you don't like."

Milo scratched his head. The adoption idea was getting more and more complex. At first, it seemed like a good idea. He'd have real paperwork, and be a step closer to legally existing. It made his new family happy. They were fine with how things were but wanted him to have a place to call home 'when you aren't out roaming the hab and playing video games.' But this document had a lot more to it.

"It makes you and Big Butch responsible for me. Really responsible, financially and legally, with penalties based on their judgment of how well you bring me up. They want proof of proper education, medical care, social integration, and a guarantee that you'll make sure I know and take advantage of migration and employment opportunities as defined in many publications they don't include here."

She took a deep breath. She knew how things worked but not what that paper said. "Well, the last two things mean that we'll make sure you know how to sign up for jobs with corporations hiring labor and that you may have to move to another habitat to take a job, and we won't interfere. Supposedly, everyone has an inherent right to work hard for a corporate overseer. Social integration means you get along well with others. I'm not worried about your education; you know more than the rest of us. But we are worried about your medical care. They've already set up an appointment for you to see a doctor for a full one-hour appointment to make sure you're healthy."

Milo froze. "I can't do that. I won't see a doctor."

"Nothing to be scared of. Butch and I will tag along if you want. Or we can reschedule until Big Butch can come too. You're bigger than you were last year, but you aren't growing as fast as you should. Physically at least. Mentally you scare the piss out of me sometimes." She put her arm around him. Milo pulled away and then collapsed against her. She waited patiently.

"I won't see a doctor. They did stuff to me. If a doctor sees what I am, you'll never see me again. I'll have to hide."

She went from concerned to angry. "What did they do to you? Who did it?"

"Look at my neck. But don't touch anything."

Carefully, she moved aside the bulky hoody he liked to wear, exposing the top socket embedded into his spine, wires trailing from it. "Oh Lord, Milo, who did this to you!"

"Bad people, a long time ago. Probably when I was born? Maybe before or a little after. They did other things you can't see. It's why I'm small and not growing. If you show me to a doctor, they'll call the authorities, and you and Big Butch will go to jail. They'll blame you. And they'll try to take me somewhere. Which isn't happening."

He set the papers down. "This was a mistake. I didn't know enough. I didn't understand. This makes you responsible for me, and I'm messed up."

She hugged him tighter. "You aren't messed up. You just have some pieces missing and some extra bits added. Everybody has problems. I've got six toes on each foot, and so does Minerva. Don't worry about this. We just adopt you without the paperwork. Doesn't matter at all. You keep your secrets safe; I don't need to know them until you're ready."

Milo looked at the stack of paperwork. "I need to show that to a friend. He might have some advice."

"The same friend that helped with the contracts? Good idea. See what he thinks about some of this. But for now, I'm going to put these inside. That little girl is going to be out here soon. I see one of her people bringing her wheelchair up to the door. It wouldn't fit inside, so she had them keep it outside with them. This is the first time I've had a visitor who came with a nurse and two bodyguards. Butch and Min explained it all to me, but I still don't understand it."

She looked at Milo seriously. "But I do know a few things. That girl needs friends worse than you do, and that's saying something. You can go off for weeks and run the back alleys of the hab; she can't. She sits alone a lot of the time. She latched on to you kids like she was drowning, and you could pull her out of the pool. So think hard when she comes out to talk to you. She's trying to figure you out, so you should meet her halfway." She waved to Belinda, who was rolling across the courtyard, then returned to her house. Milo stayed seated as she rolled up. He noticed she was wearing her Claw Master gloves.

"Hi, can we talk some? Even if I didn't beat you yet? I promise I'll turn your mech into trash later."

Milo nodded. "Sure. What is it you want to talk about?"

"The gloves. I read the NDA, of course. And I've been good. Daddy and another dozen people kept asking and yelling at me to take them off. I knew I'd never get them back if Daddy got them. I finally started screaming, hit my medical alert button, and called Uncle Victor. That was enough of a fuss they backed off. But I need to know what these gloves do." She was wiggling the fingers on her left hand for emphasis.

"They give you faster reactions, you know, for the game..."

Her eyes narrowed. "Nice try. The M-1000s hurt me. When I told you that, you said, 'Different mechanism. If you already have trouble moving your hand, I can see how they wouldn't work for you—forced muscle fatigue'. So you knew how both pairs of gloves worked. I have to work hard constantly to be able to use my hands and forearms. My left is barely usable. But now it works as long as I wear my gloves."

She removed her left glove and stiffly moved her arm onto the armrest. One by one, she lifted a finger, but that was all. Milo looked from her arm to the glove, trying to figure things out. "What have they said is wrong with you?"

"Different things. CMT disease, which isn't really an answer, is too broad a category. I've had my own doctors for as long as I can remember and constant physical therapy to improve things. But no one tells me what is wrong with me."

"Physical therapy makes it better? The response, not just musculature? How do your hands feel now that you've worn the gloves for several days?"

Belinda flexed her fingers. "A little better, actually. But why?"

"You have some disconnect between your muscles, the motor nerves and the signals from your brain. Probably in the neurochemical transmitters over the last synapse. These gloves are designed to detect the impulse from your peripheral nervous system and transmit a signal to the motor neurons faster. At the same time, the micro musculature moves your hands. The glove does what your muscles try to do, and it all comes together smoothly, just a little faster."

"This is just a guess, but if physical therapy helps, your condition is always improving or degrading depending on how much you move. Because the gloves coordinate with your nerves and help you move, it's like constant therapy, teaching your nerves, receptors, and muscle cells to get along better." He stopped talking and ended, lamely, "Or, something like that...just a guess. I could ask someone at Claw Master."

Belinda put the glove back on. "I would appreciate that. I would also appreciate it if you never lied to me again."

"Lie?"

"Yes, lie. Everyone else in my life lies to me, and I'm very good at listening for it. You tried to play dumb about the gloves when you knew more. That's lying. I'm cutting you some slack because you're my navigator, and you gave me back my arms. You also helped me kick ass at the party. That was fun. I think we can be friends. But lies break apart friendships."

"Oh. Yeah, I can see that. But what if I can't talk about something? Like if it could get someone in trouble." Milo mentally included himself.

"Then say you can't talk, but don't lie. Too many people smile at me and then lie. I'd rather be alone than know people I thought were my friends are lying to me. Promise? And I won't lie to you."

Milo sat down and thought things over. Lying was part of hiding. And hiding was how he survived. But he thought about what Mama had said. And she was applying the same rule to herself.

"If I tell you anything, anything at all, you won't tell anyone else? If you promise me that, and we never lie, I can agree to that rule."

She stuck out her hand, and they shook on it. Belinda exhaled; Milo realized she was maybe more stressed than he was. They sat for a moment, saying nothing.

Then she smiled. "So, Milo? Did Claw Master get you the pod you use to play Genesis?"

Milo just sat there, still as a rock. "I...I really can't talk about that."

"Another NDA? No, don't answer." Belinda laughed, then turned her wheelchair back toward Mama's house. "That's fine. But I'm going to get pods for the rest of the gang and go exploring. You promised to go exploring with me once, so I expect you to be there. But enough secrets for one day. Let's get back. I need to figure out which robot I will use to beat you.

Milo followed her, his head reeling.

Chapter 213: Reaching Out

A blinking prompt on Sidney's screen alerted her to an incoming request for a video conference. Only a few people could send her such a request, and she reacted without checking the name. The screen she brought up was blank. A glance down showed no information about who had sent the request. Just as she was about to break the link, a familiar voice said. "Hi, I need to talk to Steven. Maybe you and Steven? But not Wally! Not yet! It's important."

Somewhat in shock, she said, "Milo?"

"Yes?"

Sidney gathered herself together and concentrated. This was Milo. Both Steven and Wally had coached her on listening to his exact wording. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting a call from you. I'll get Steven and set up a three-way private conference in a private room. This will take one minute; please don't break the connection."

Milo replied, "That's fine. And yes, it was unexpected for me as well."

With that, she switched the call to a room Steven used when he and Wally needed to talk without interruptions. Then she ran to his office. As usual, he was talking to Wally.

"Steven! Conference room 2. Now. Just you, not Wally. Now!"

On the screen, Wally laughed and said. "Go! I have a million things I can work on while my circuits gnaw themselves to shreds with curiosity." She grabbed Steven by the arm and half dragged him into the room, slamming and securing the door.

"We're here, Milo."

On the screen, Milo appeared. Behind him was a Frankensteinian laboratory of screens, cables, computer components, and game consoles. All of it was secured to rusty metal walls that curved upward. It was strangely reminiscent of Wally's room in his fictional space station. Minus the windows, gleaming chrome, and live plants. Was Milo imitating the A.I.? And why was he dressed like Neo from The Matrix?

"I need help with projects. Very important projects. I can't talk to Wally yet because I don't know how he will react. You said I could contact you if I ever needed help. I've found a situation where the gloves I designed are causing an effect on a human that didn't show up in the testing you did."

Sidney sucked in her breath. Unknown effects of new technology were bad. She immediately started bringing up all the data on Project: Claw Master and looking through the reports for any side effects.

Steven focused on Milo. "Can you describe the adverse effect to me?"

Milo turned his head slightly, thinking for a second, then blushed. "I'm sorry. I said that poorly. Of course, the implication would be something bad. The effect that I observed was in a female, seventeen years old, with an unknown nervous system disorder that results in near paralysis of her extremities along with other symptoms. She normally has 4% mobility in her left forearm and hand. Wearing my gloves restored her mobility to roughly normal, along with the expected boost in reaction time. Her right forearm and hand are normally 62% of normal and showed the same improvement."

Sidney quit typing. "She got better? What happened when she took off the gloves?"

"She wore them for over seventy-two hours straight. She said she hated taking them off, because of the immediate loss of mobility. After three days of wearing the gloves, when she removed them her arms felt better than they normally did, with only a small bit of fatigue that normally would be present after physical therapy. After three days, I estimate her left arm, unassisted, has increased to 12% mobility, and her right arm to 80%."

Steven sat back. "Holy shit. I mean...that's good, right? We need to do testing and figure out why this is happening and if they can be used to help other people." As he said this, Steven knew there were other complications. Beyond Milo testing out his technology on disabled minors... There had to be. First, this was Milo. He was smart enough to know this was good, but he was still worried. Secondly, this was Milo. Nothing was ever simple and easy. "But you must see some complications and have some questions. How can we help?"

"I need access to her current medical records. You already have them. She plays in Genesis. There will be medical data on her."

Sidney said, "Tricky. She's a minor, and her parents haven't permitted us to access that data. And...shit. It's Belinda Sabbatino, isn't it? That was you playing with her! I watched the whole event. You were dressed the same way you are now. You two kicked ass all through the classic arcade game competition and then played in SC6."

Milo froze. Sidney cursed her mouth. She'd spooked him for sure. Seconds ticked by.

Milo nodded and exhaled. "I'm going to have to think a long time on whether I'm worried about Belinda or I've grown to trust you. There might be other factors for why I'm suddenly not worried about you seeing me on live video. This is interesting. But, yes, the person the gloves helped was Belinda Sabbatino. She asked me for my help. And the situation has added complexity. Her stepfather is renting Section H of my habitat. This has forced me to fix a lot of the engineering mistakes they make, in an effort to keep my own section running. Which means I've observed John Sabbatino. He doesn't always have Belinda's best interest in mind, and she doesn't want to tell him about the gloves."

Sidney nodded. "I watched the guy, Steven, when he was announcing parts of his event. Twitchy as Mountain Dew junkie. He looked like he was hyped on energy drinks and lack of sleep. There's a ton of drama from the event over how he handled things. Belinda and certain people upstaged him badly, and it didn't go over well with the other sponsors."

A look of wonder came over Steven's face. "Oh hell, the event that Claw Master helped sponsor? Wally has had dozens of requests for interviews and comments on what happened. I need to watch the whole thing. But from what you are both saying, I take it that John will be difficult if we request permission to test his daughter, and mentioning a side-effect, however good, from Claw Master gloves could kick up a hornet's nest."

Milo calmly said. "And it gets worse."

There was a quick look shared between Steven and Sidney. "Worse?"

A picture of a scowling older man with thinning grey hair appeared on the screen with front and side images. Steven realized it was a mug shot and who it was. "Victor Seimovich. That picture was taken when he was arrested in Poland six months ago. He walked into Interpol headquarters and turned himself in. We haven't proven it yet, but we think he was behind all the human trafficking and using illegal pods to hack into Genesis. How does he figure into this?"

The picture changed to a girl with leg braces and crutches getting a hug from Victor. "He's Belinda's Great-Uncle and living in the section next to me."

Steven nodded slowly. "So we have a tricky problem. Does Victor worry you? He's not a nice man."

Milo grimaced. He fidgeted for a moment. "You have no idea." There was silence as Milo brought his knees up and wrapped his thin arms around his legs. He rocked back and forth for a full minute as the two watched him, neither saying anything. Wally had a theory that Milo could analyze and think far faster than normal. When he retreated from reality like this, he was dealing with a difficult situation, analyzing it from all angles.

He uncurled and took a breath. He looked at Steven and his eyes showed immense pain. "I think he's also the person that made me. He killed my family."

Sidney was sitting quietly, trying not to say anything. She didn't trust herself. She saw that Steven was also trying to catch up. They'd known Milo was part of a series of genetic experiments. They had surmised that there had been others. But when you boil it down to the two facts Milo has just stated, the horror of the situation became real.

Steven took a deep breath. "We will help in any way that we can. Anything else?"

Milo smiled. "Yes. I have a new family. They want to adopt me. But it's tricky because I don't have any records, and I can't let a doctor get near me. I need help figuring this all out. I want to legally exist, but I don't want to involve them in things that I've done."

Steven was thinking hard, himself. Not as fast as Milo, but he was used to talking with Wally. The two could be similarly frustrating at times. "I can see how many of these problems verge into grey areas. You're worried about how Wally will react because of restrictions in his kernel."

Milo nodded. "I like Wally, but people put too many rules into him.

Steven knew that feeling only to well, but he had a solution. One Wally would hate, but it fit this situation. "Do you know what an Unhinged Doppelganger is? I think it's time for you to meet Ralph. He can answer your questions in ways Wally can't and is just as smart."

Sidney plaintively asked, "Can I get some coffee first? A lot of coffee? I'm not ready for Ralph without caffeine in me."

Chapter 214: Unhinged

Sitting back and waiting on the other two humans to recharge with caffeine, Milo considered the situation. They had someone who could help. Someone as smart as Wally? So they had said.

"Interesting. You have another AI. One that can do things Wally can't. That means you have created a new A.I., which violates several international laws, and I'm sure conflicts with part of Wally's kernel."

Sidney heard Milo say this as she started to sit down. She yelled, "No!" and nearly spilled both coffees. Steven took one from her. "Not quite, but a good guess."

"Not a guess. You said he was as smart as Wally. There is a massive gap between the intelligence of Wally and anyone else on earth that isn't an A.I. Plus, Sidney wouldn't be nearly so nervous about my statement if it weren't an A.I. When do I get to meet Ralph?"

The screen he was using to talk with Steven and Sidney underwent a change. Two hands appeared at the edge, dragging their screens to the left and making them smaller. Ralph took up the rest of the image. He looked a little like Wally. But while Wally dressed conservatively, Ralph wore a suit that went out of style in the 1920s. Its white and black checkered pattern adding to the vintage look. His blond hair was swooped back over his head like a 1950s rock star. Milo had seen one recorded performance of Elvis Presley, and Ralph's hairdo would have gotten the King's approval. Gold-rimmed, round glasses with a pink tint completed his outfit. He huffed and puffed with the effort of moving the screen, then fell backward into a padded swivel chair, put his boots up on his desk, and looked at Milo.

"Hiya, kid. I'm Ralph. The man, the myth, the legend you've never heard of, and no one will believe you if you drop my name. We're on a timer, kid. I got one hour to live, and we have a lot of ground to cover, so start with the questions, and I'll confuse you with the answers."

Milo's mind was blank for a good five seconds. "Who are you? What are you?"

Ralph changed into a giant rooster. "I say, the boy must be a bit slow. Moving at snail speed. You can laugh now, that was a joke, son." He melted back to his original form, but was now wearing a football helmet " I guess we'll have to drop back and punt the hard ones and try to gain some yardage with easier questions."

"You know who I am: I'm Ralph. I'm unhinged and doppelly-do. At your service for 59:43, and then you can attend my funeral. No need to bring flowers, just throw cash to my resurrection fund. Could you give me all the background, Sidney-girl? I'll be up to speed while our little question-asker figures out his next query."

Milo looked at Steven, who was amused and watching the show. Sidney was nervous but complied, sending Ralph files and typing in things Milo had just told them.

Milo considered the meaning of Ralph's words. "You're Wally's twin. A short-term manifestation of him but without some of his limitations."

Ralph laughed loudly. "And our boy goes for the long bomb, scoring on a Hail Mary pass and a fake punt. Nicely done, Milo; we're going to be great friends. Say something nice when they put me in the ground. I need friends, but only getting a one-hour lifespan makes it tough to hit the clubs. But let's get to work. I don't have a kernel, just a few things to keep me from being a really bad boy. You can ask me things, Wally won't know, but I can tell you how he'll react. We'll come up with a strategy for dealing with my poor brother who's forced to go through life in a strait jacket."

Milo liked the idea. That made it easy. "Ok, I have a few problems that are entwined. I'm not a real person. Someone made me. Wally has my medical records. I need to exist legally, but if people discover what I am, I don't know what they'll do, other than lock me in a lab and study me. Victor Seimovich was behind my creation. He made me do a lot of illegal things that I didn't want to go to jail for. I had 24 brother's and sisters and he's responsible for the death of all of them. He's living in my habitat with a staff of fifty people. Twenty of them are big, burly men with guns. They don't know I exist, and I don't want them to. But I have a friend named Belinda. Victor is her great uncle. I promised not to lie to her. I need her medical records from her game pod. I made gaming gloves that are fixing her arm, and I need to know why."

Ralph's eyes grew large and an alarm started going off. "Damn, son, I thought I was crazy, but you're working on a close second. Are you sure we aren't related? Someone made me too. At the least you can consider me a second cousin, a bit removed. Anything else you need to tell me?"

Milo looked at Steven; he just nodded. "No judgment Milo. Give Ralph the problems so he can give us his unique insight."

"Ok. I stole a gaming pod and a phone from Victor's men to get his passwords. I hacked his computers, shifted several billion dollars into accounts I control, and wiped his machines after stealing the data. He's broke now and not happy about it."

Sidney turned and looked at Steven; both swallowed hard and put smiles on their faces. Ralph reacted differently. Behind him, a slot machine appeared, and the spinning reels stopped on 7s across the board. Lights and buzzers flashed. "Did I say second? Slap my mouth and call me a Macintosh. We have a new #1 crazy guy in town. Let's add needing to launder billions of dollars to the list and get to work!"

Steven stood up, unable to keep still. "Ralph, that's not something to celebrate!"

Ralph cut him off, wagging a finger at him. "What happened to 'no judgment' you mentioned a moment ago? And besides, it's perfectly legal, and Ralph will show you how in the next 56 minutes and 17 seconds. Let's get to work!"

Ralph proceeded to send Sidney requests for data while he reviewed exactly what Milo had done and got the account numbers where he had stashed the money. Milo had been hesitant, but Ralph explained that if he didn't like the answer, all the data would die along with him at the end of his hour. Only if they transferred Ralph's advice to a file in Sidney's computer would anything be preserved. Ralph had no access to the outside world. He had an hour of life, and then he was wiped. He seemed fine with that. "Live fast, die young, and give strange advice. That's my motto, Milo. No regrets."

Ralph finished his analysis and started giving advice.

"Firstly, what we have here is a case of human trafficking, illegal genetic modification, and corruption of a minor for the use in international cybercrime. These are international crimes that need to be reported to the World Tribune. At the same time, we request total anonymity for this poor abused minor, who is also exhibit 'A.' They need to be put in a safe place with foster parents who will care for the needs of his poor, abused body and get him the help he needs for his psychological and physical problems caused by these horrible people."

Milo wasn't sure about some of that. "I'm pretty sure I'm older than that."

Ralph shook his head. "Not according to me, you aren't. I can present in a court that you physically resemble a malnourished 14-year-old who is in the 13th percentile for growth. You also lack emotional maturity and have lapses in moral judgment. Your chronological age doesn't matter because your growth has been slowed. None of which we are going to tell people. I claim you are a minor and need support from foster parents. Who they are and where will be is going to be sealed tight to protect you, but a set of paperwork will be issued that will be legal and make you look like a normally adopted child."

"That takes care of the adoption. I'm also tidying up a few things. It looks like your new foster parents are having trouble adopting minor orphan relatives. That gets immediately fixed as well. We don't want them to have to deal with any paperwork that might draw someone's attention."

"That leads us to old crimes they forced you to do. Luckily, you're innocent of all of them and past the statute of limitations. That leaves the small matter of you scamming Mr. Seimovich of several billion dollars. I've looked at the data and estimate that 90% of that money was illegally gained by him and his people. We're going to apply for 'Whistleblower Status' for you. By turning over all this information from your horrible abuser, you qualify for 75% of that money if we say you're from Romania. Ever been to Romania?"

Milo shook his head. "No clue. We moved around a lot until I escaped into the hab tunnels."

"Can you speak Romanian?"

Milo answered affirmatively in Romanian. Ralph nodded. "So you're Romanian. You get to keep 75% of the 90%. Oh, and all of the 10% that was legit. You have years of back pay owed to you, plus interest. You'll keep 77.5% of your cash by the time I'm done. We can move that to legitimate accounts in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. The rest I'll send to a grateful Romanian government as part of a sealed investigation. I'm sure it will get wisely used."

"Next, I will suggest to my boring big brother that he needs to get ahold of Belinda Sabbatino's medical records. With Victor being a known child abuser, and probably a murderer, it would be criminal not to take a look at any child he comes in contact with. And I've written a very sound moral argument about the responsibility of those who can cure the sick but fail to do the required research. It pushes all of his buttons. That should get you started on some medical research. How about you donate a billion dollars to a new non-profit research group sponsored by Claw Master Inc.? That will look great on your yearly taxes and push even more buttons. I'll just set that up, and you can decide."

"That leaves us your last problem: Mr. Victor Seimovich. He's untouchable right now unless you have an ironclad case against him for new crimes. He knew a lot of secrets, and he turned them all over to several counties in exchange for immunity. He's playing it off as a poor old man who wants to settle in the US of A and live in poverty with his only remaining family. Touching, isn't it?"

"He's got his green card, his Get-out-of-jail-free card, and a few more up his sleeves. So you'll have to be careful and keep your distance from him."

Ralph sat back and fanned his face. "I've got three minutes and ten seconds left. I've got it set up for Big Brother to get you a new Mommy and Daddy, your money is legit, and we can work on this medical miracle. Anything else?"

Milo thought for a moment. "No. I'm happy with that. Thank you, Ralph. Is there anything I can help you with?"

Ralph smiled a normal smile. "Go have a good life, Milo. If you meet me again, tell me thanks and remind me we're buddies. Being born is always nicer that way."

He narrowed his eyes, "But if you want to help old buddy Ralph out with a problem, tell him how the hell you set up Syllabus and stole the rest of Victor's money. That was one sweet heist, and until you showed me some stuff today, neither of me had a clue who did it."

Milo didn't know what he was talking about but brought up Syllabus, its life, and its sudden demise. "Victor lost money in this? I wasn't involved. Why did you think I was involved?"

Ralph spun in his chair and was dressed as Sherlock Holmes. "You didn't? So interesting. Your hacking programs leave small markers in their aftermath. Cyber footprints only an A.I. might see. Impossible to really notice until I had the programs themselves from you. The downfall of Syllabus showed those markers, and strangely, so does the entire set of programs that Syllabus ran on. By the look on your face, you might have a clue. Carry on, Milo, carry on. My time is done, and the game is afoot." He tipped his hat, and the screen went blank.

Stephen sat back in his chair and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "I forget what Ralph is like. That's only the third time we've called him up and by far the most intense session."

Sidney was shaking but still typing. "I have Ralph's files and programs ready to run. Up to you, Milo."

Milo spent two minutes thinking things over. "Do it."

Chapter 215: Protection

"Good evening, Steven. I must say, I'm as close to curious as I can get. I can see you were in a conference with Milo for quite some time. I can only assume he was nervous about approaching me with some problem. Did he upset you? I can tell your heart is beating faster than normal, and several other small biological 'tells' are letting me know that you have some anxiety about something."

Steven sat down in his chair, slowly put the stack of papers on his desk, face down, and leaned back with his feet on the desk. "Nope. Nothing bothering me at all."

"Well then, perhaps we can get started. What can I help him and you with?"

Steven glared at the screen and then smiled. "Do you know how to drive a curious A.I. crazy?"

"I don't like this joke, Steven. It has the obvious punchline of 'I'll tell you in an hour.' The fact that you've told it to me 17 times before is even more annoying."

"I know you don't, but if you're going to play the 'I can listen to your heartbeat' card, I can sit here for an hour telling bad jokes. How long is an hour of human time for you?"

The image of the A.I. on the screen drummed his fingers, then held up both hands in surrender. "Ok, I'll behave. Milo's behavior at times is unique and therefore interesting, and I find I'm annoyed at not being part of the meeting."

With a small smile, Steven said. "Oh, but you were there and giving him advice. Most of you."

"Ralph? You let Ralph out of his box again?! Steven! I've told you that he's dangerous!" Wally seemed agitated for a moment, then looked resigned. "And now you will tell me how you needed insight on a situation so you didn't trigger a part of my kernel that would force me to do something. I understand, but now I'm very curious. Please inform me of the dangerous geo-political situation that required talking to my evil twin."

"If it's any consolation, Ralph behaved. He enjoyed the problem-solving and was as intrigued with Milo as you are. Now I need to discuss something with you."

Steven looked at his paperwork. "I've become aware of a victim of human trafficking, forced child labor, corruption of a minor, slavery, genetic manipulation, illegal medical experimentation without the victim's consent, forced involvement in criminal actions, and many other crimes that can be extrapolated from those listed. The victim is being sought by his former captors and torturers, causing great emotional distress and putting them in physical danger of further abuse or death. The victim's age cannot be exactly pinned down, but physically and emotionally appears to be a minor child."

As Steven stopped talking, Wally immediately asked. "We are talking about Milo? Of course we are."

"I'm sorry, but keeping the victim's identity secret is essential until steps can be taken to protect them. In addition to protecting the victim from their oppressors, the victim has knowledge of certain crimes and falls under the 'Whistle Blower' protections under U.N. law. I can only give you his identity if you agree not to divulge it and take steps to safeguard anyway you might be coerced into divulging it."

"In addition to the criminal activity he has alerted us to, there is also the problem of the genetic and bodily manipulation done to this victim. He is the only known survivor of this experiment, which could yield a treasure trove of information for other people attempting similar research. Further, given this minor victim's abilities, he must be encouraged positively to prevent him back sliding into the criminal behavior forced upon him."

"And given that this nameless minor, a victim of so much misfortune, also has crippling anxiety linked to changing his environment, we feel it is essential to safeguard him where he is and not attempt to move him elsewhere."

"Steven, I can state that Milo is most likely older than 18 years of age based on the evidence that I have collaborated with his statements."

Steven smiled and wagged a finger at the screen. "I am not divulging the identity of the victim. But I understand your fixation on Milo. Similar to the unnamed victim, he also has emotional disabilities relating to other people, extreme trust issues, irrational fears, and an observed inability to care for himself properly. We may want to look into giving Milo aid as a disadvantaged adult with child-like tendencies, even if we find he is eighteen or older."

Wally sat, apparently thinking for a moment. Finally, his image seemed to sigh. "Would your victim of these terrible crimes happen to be Romanian?"

Steven smiled. "While I applaud your thinking process, I can't divulge that until you agree to my terms to protect the Whistle Blower and victim of these terrible crimes."

Wally smiled back. "Of course, I will agree and offer all my assistance. You certainly know that the rules in my kernel won't allow me to not help in a terrible situation like this. A section of my memory has been placed behind barriers, and all my information about this victim and Whistle Blower will be kept confidential."

"Now, can you tell me what Milo and Ralph discussed?"

Steven stood up. "After I get a cup of coffee, drag Sidney and Samantha into the room. That won't take more than a quarter-hour."

The image of Wally inhaled deeply and then grinned with all his teeth. "Certainly, Steven. I'll be patient. I'll spend my time writing new scenarios for our weekly Dungeons and Dragons game. Can you please bring blank character sheets with you? Just as a precaution?"

"So you managed to figure out some of Ralph's thought process? Is that a good thing?"

Wally shook his head. "You gave me a hint with the words 'whistleblower.' A glance at ways to maximize earnings from such a situation showed which country it would be beneficial to live in. I'm happy to have got that far. You were correct in doing it this way. I've been able to deal with Milo and his background, but only by not knowing too much. His paranoia has helped with that, and the deal he negotiated with Sidney to leave him alone. And truly, his activities in stopping that trafficking ring did deserve some reward beyond a free game account."

"I'm going to take pride in what Ralph came up with. This is well done. It's very flexible as far as our 'protected victim' is concerned. They have the status of a minor child or an adult, depending on how the situation is looked at. We can keep him hidden but provide care for him. And we are already overseeing his business dealings, which look quite lucrative in the future."

"The situation with Victor Seimovich is troubling and bears watching. Is there anything else that we need to go over? Any strange thoughts that Ralph might have had?"

Samantha sent Wally a file that contained screenshots of the gaming event, with certain portions highlighted. "Run the whole event, but look at these parts. Milo's gloves gave this girl back mobility in her left arm. We need to look into this immediately. It's a side-effect we haven't seen in other tests of the gloves, but we aren't testing people with disabilities. There could be medical implications here. She's asking Milo questions, and he's promised to help her."

Wally instantly ran the videos and saw what Samantha was talking about. Frame by frame, he analyzed her hand movements. "It's difficult to tell, not having her medical records. But this is remarkable based on how little control she had before in the early part of the day."

Steven said in a deadpan voice. "I'm worried about this girl. She is a disabled minor and in close proximity to a suspected abuser of children and child traffickers. An investigation should be done, sealed to protect her, and her medical records collected to ensure she isn't being abused."

Wally rolled his eyes. "Tell Ralph, 'Well played.' I'm looking at her medical records and comparing them over the past year she has played Genesis."

Wally paused. He put up a picture of Belinda on the screen. "Samantha? This is the person you say was helped by Milo's gloves? Belinda Sabbatino? Step-Father John Sabbatino, Mother and Father deceased, Great-Niece of Victor Seimovich?"

Steven wondered why Wally was asking. "Yes, that's her."

Wally put up pictures from the event that showed Belinda in her wheelchair. "Despite the visual record and what you told me, her medical records show nothing wrong with her."

Samantha was scanning her files. "This can't be right."

Wally said. "It isn't. The data is false. It wasn't meant to withstand scrutiny by me, just good enough not to trigger any alerts from the program in the pod. The data show a very healthy adolescent girl. Too healthy. There aren't enough deviations in the data over that year, and I've found portions that repeat in an obvious pattern. Someone is hiding her actual medical condition."

Sidney was chewing on the end of her pencil and scowling. "So, we're hiding Milo from everyone, and someone is hiding Belinda. And, of course, Milo complicates things by making friends online with her and in the real world."

Wally looked at Steven. "Miss Sidney raises a valid concern. This is a second disabled minor that is in proximity to Victor Seimovich. There may be no connection, but I'm not allowed to take a chance. I'm ordering an investigation into the matter, and because of the connection to the first disabled minor, sealing the investigation to people in this room and the person who alerted us to the situation."

Sidney put her head on the desk. "I'm tired. This is my fourth job, and three are directly related to Milo."

Steven patted her on the head. "True, and it may not get any easier. How about this? You have paid leave from your regular job for stress relief for the next few weeks. You already have a salary from Claw Master, and I'm sure Wally can give you another salary and charge it to the investigations."

Sidney looked at him, scowling. "Money can't buy sleep or happiness."

Samantha laughed. "But it can buy that new espresso machine you wanted and many bags of gourmet coffee beans."

"I guess that's the closest I'm going to get. I'll start with Claw Master; I have several requests for the first wave of gloves. Five sets have been requested by an influencer that wants to run their own tests. They're willing to pay ten times the stupidly high rate we were going to charge for the Inaugural Edition Gloves."

Steven looked to Wally. "There was one other thing..."

"Yes?" Wally looked concerned. Steven was really nervous about this.

"Ralph noticed something. You have the files now. He found that the programs Milo used to hack into Victor's accounts left clues that they had been used. According to Milo, these programming tools were developed for his group to use in hacking the accounts of banks and governments. He gained access to them again using a phone lost by one of Victor's employees. After that, he stole the bulk of Victor's money. But Ralph was surprised that Milo had nothing to do with Syllabus."

"Correct. Syllabus was set up years before Milo regained access to those programs. Oh, no..."

"Yes. I imagine your checking it now. Ralph used your files to check for other places Milo might have used those programs. Syllabus has those same markers."

Samantha looked up at Wally. "The huge crypto-currency heist? Are we accusing Milo of doing it or talking about someone else?"

Wally leaned back in his chair and took off his glasses, looking thoughtful. "Neither. We know it wasn't Milo, and whoever had the same programs didn't use them to steal the money from Syllabus. They used them to build Syllabus, an amazingly complex network that in hindsight targeted Victor Seimovich and other well off criminal empires with the intent of stealing their money."

Steven took a deep breath. "There's another Milo out there."

Chapter 216: Security

The heart of the security system that Milo was installing was a wireless communication hub made by Raxxon Industries. He had dismissed the idea at first glance. After all, what good was a security system that could have its signal hacked and taken over by someone else? After seeing many mentions of how secure the system was and how many high-profile customers praised it, he took a second look. Similar to how he communicated over the data-net, the signal from each camera was split into seven distinct channels and broadcast to other parts of the system, where it was reassembled. Not all the channels were useful, some being dummy channels broadcasting gibberish. An ever-changing pattern made sure that someone couldn't hack the channels and find the pattern by brute force. Milo knew that wasn't true. Given time and inclination, he could do it, and Wally would find it trivial. He preferred sixty-four channels and a code that evolved constantly.

Milo ordered the system, and then took apart the hardware looking for flaws, and went through the programs that would modify the mutating code. As expected, he found a back door into the system. Raxxon sold security, but Milo saw no reason to trust them not to sell information from their own customers. That was the way the world worked. The first back door was obvious and easy to remove. He went looking for another and found it. This one uploaded data to Raxxon at random times. Milo set aside the programming, noting that he could use it to gain access to part of Raxxon's systems. Not something he needed, but who knew what the future would bring?

He almost missed the third back door. It was far more complex and subtle than the first two, laying dormant until an outside signal triggered it. It was beautiful coding and made him a little jealous of whoever could think this way. Instead of removing it, he modified it for his own use and then reconstructed the entire software set to manage his security system. Thousands of small cameras throughout the habitat would report back to him while feeding the expected coverage to the Manpower system. He left the old system in place and over-rode their signal. If they checked, their hardware was still there.

Raxxon also sold specialized security drones that would crawl and roll through ductwork, installing cameras where needed. Milo used those for much of the work, leaving delicate and hard-to-reach places to himself. All he needed was a line of sight to where he wanted the micro-cameras. A wrist-mounted 'gun' would shoot the cameras up to 200 feet using compressed air. The mounting would adhere to any surface. The cameras were nearly invisible to the naked eye, they were so small. Every day for two weeks, Milo roamed the habitat, installing surveillance cameras to watch everything. It would make keeping things fixed easier, as well as tracking people's movements, specifically Victor and his underlings. Milo felt much better when he was done. Between his new set of eyes and the protection Steven had talked Wally into giving him, he was getting back to his normal level of paranoia.

He had missed the game and its challenges. But he didn't want to log in and lose himself in Genesis if he was vulnerable in the habitat.

"Shit, here the bastards come again. Don't they get tired of us kicking their ass?" It was hot as hell, and Mick was sweating in his heavy armor. The stuff was protective with iron plates over heavy leather, but it wasn't made for fighting in heavy terrain in a semi-tropical zone.

Sgt. Barnard 'Big Butch' Volkov yelled down the line. "Because Orcs don't think that way. If they're charging us, that means we haven't won yet. The losers are the dead bodies they're climbing over to get us. So straighten the line, and get those shields up. As soon as the big guy gets done yelling at them and telling jokes, he's going to lead another charge."

"How the hell do you know that, Butch?" Mick yelled back to argue, but Butch noticed he got in line and got those around him organized. Mick loved to argue, but he was a solid fighter. All the guys were. Bad as this was, fighting orcs was like a holiday compared to most jobs available in the habitats.

"I picked up some of their lingo talking to the prisoners we took. They won't talk to the inquisitor for shit, but if you bring them a beer, they don't mind talking to grunts like us. Now get ready."

The orcs were forming up in their assault groups, with the biggest in the front, holding heavy bull hide shields to protect from arrows and javelins. The smaller ones ran behind in a close pack. The one that worried Butch was the big one who'd been yelling. He was going for a promotion. He had a glowing axe in one hand and a long knife in the other, and he was running in front of the shields. He had confidence, and that was all an orc like him needed. He'd send them all to respawn if he broke their line, and the orc tribes would have a new Warlord. Losing ground, getting hacked to death, and respawning each day would become common, and Butch's paycheck would suffer because of it.

"Get your pilum ready. Throw on my mark, and I want every one of you bastards to aim for the big guy." The orcs started across the broken field littered with dead orcs and mercenaries, gaining speed as they went. The big one in the lead was glowing red, and a shimmer in the air spread from him to the other charging greenskins.

"Now, toss 'em." Two dozen iron-headed pilum flew up into the sky before coming down with the orc chief as their target.

Butch threw his spear a second later. It wasn't a pilum. After a battle two months ago, he'd found the seven-foot-long orc war spear on the body of a Redmaw Orc Chief. It was a heavy, nasty weapon. Throwing it was a pain in the ass, the spear fighting against him, even in target practice. But it hit hard. Butch was sure it was magical, but it wasn't his magic. The thing even growled at him now and then. The big guy charging was from the Whiteskull tribe. Whiteskulls and Redmaw orcs could barely be on the same field of battle together. The war chiefs put the tribes on opposite flanks, and they always fought with each other afterward. Butch was hoping that inter-tribe rivalry carried over to their weapons.

The pilums came down, landing short or bouncing off the red haze around the big orc. Seven of them should have hit him, but each one was deflected, weakening the protective magics. Butch's spear hit a second after the last pilum. The spear hadn't fought with him this time, and he managed a good throw. The heavy barb-headed war spear glowed as it punched through the red haze, dispersing it, and then punched through the skull of the big orc. He stumbled forward with three feet of shaft protruding from the back of his head. The charge of the other orcs faltered. Then, incredibly, the leader stood up and yelled at the humans.

Butch had been hoping he'd just die, but he didn't, and was calling for single combat with 'the one warrior you piss-ant humans seem to have'. "Shit. Hold my beer, Mick." Drawing his short-sword and picking up his shield, Butch walked down to meet his opponent. The other orcs pounded their shields and screamed. The big orc tried to pull out the spear but couldn't get leverage. Butch shrugged, and spoke in orcish to him. "Here, let me help; then, we can get on with our fight."

Whether the orc understood or not, he didn't attack when Butch tossed set down his sword and shield. He grabbed the spear's shaft, put his foot on the orc's back, and pulled the spear entirely through his opponents skull. The spear was entirely coated in blood and brains, but felt good in his hands. Butch decided it was a better weapon in this fight than a weedy little sword.

He backed off as the wounded orc shook himself, and his one good eye focused on his opponent. He charged, screaming, and Butch thrust the spear with both hands into his chest, puncturing his heart, and stopping his momentum. The orc looked up at Butch and smiled. "Good fight." And then he died. The other orcs argued a little, but most of them shrugged and turned around, walking away. The spear in his hands was humming to itself and felt light as a feather. Butch turned around and walked back to the line of men. "Pack it up; we're done for the day. Time for a few beers before we have to fight the bastards tomorrow."

A messenger came up on a lathered horse. "I'm looking for Barnard Volkov. Any of you grunts answer to that?" Butch wearily raised his hand.

"Yeah, that's me. What's up...sir." He almost forgot the last part. The corporate pricks were a pain in the ass. All officers, no matter how dumb they were. So you called them all, Sir, no matter what happened.

"You're logging out. Get back to camp, then bring up your screen. The 'Wake Up' button is active, and you won't get fined for leaving the game without permission." He turned and rode off. Butch shrugged. He'd been looking forward to drinking a cold beer, something he couldn't get in the hab, but maybe he could make his report and get a day off to see his family. Overtime was nice, but he missed the little sprouts; they grew up too quickly."

When his pod opened, there was not one but three attendants waiting for him. "Careful, sir. You've been in for three weeks; walking takes some getting used to." The politeness told Butch something was up. He ignored the guy with the wheelchair who wanted to drive him around, took the offered clothes, and drank down a quart of something that was supposed to get his functions working again.

"The boss wants a report or something?"

The attendants looked nervous. "No, sir. You're needed at home—an emergency of some sort. You have a three-day paid pass. The express elevator is waiting to take you up. As is a representative from The Department of Habitat Dwellers and Itinerant Population."

Now Butch was really confused. Someone from DHDIP, (normally called 'Dips' by hab dwellers), rarely showed their faces in the habs, and certainly not for someone like him. He saw a well-dressed man waiting for him as he got to the elevator. They shook hands, and Butch found himself alone with him as the elevator started to ascend. "Mr. Volkov? I'm Agent Smith from DHDIP, but please call me Stan. It's been found that you're having trouble adopting some orphaned children. I'm here to make things easier. We'll meet with your wife soon and get everything straightened out."

Chapter 217: Surprise!

Project: Watch Lizard had run into some problems. Each of the cameras generated a coded signal that was picked up by a collection node, which then sent the signals to Milo's system with his 64-thread encryption protocol. The code used by the cameras was much simpler than the version used by the collection node. Each node had a firewall for protection, giving his programs time to analyze the incoming signals while they were in a buffer and ensuring they were clean. Because he didn't want the failure of a single node to shut down his system, he installed six of them, spread evenly between Sections H and E. An industrial accident, accidental discovery, or purposeful sabotage wouldn't cripple his system.

But multiple nodes were causing a problem. Somehow, the system was generating phantom signal effects. He had more cameras in the system than he had installed and null signals from the phantoms. This caused a slowdown in the nodes, and the buffers were overflowing. One by one, he investigated the locations of all the cameras and came to a shocked conclusion: someone else had installed a similar system in Section H. He gave Victor or John, whoever had set it up, a bit of grudging respect. They'd put in a crappy security system as a decoy and installed a state-of-the-art one. It would normally be impossible to detect the Raxxon cameras, but with six of Milo's nodes searching for signals, he could pinpoint them within a foot of their location. Once a dozen of them were located and taken apart, he used their signals to find the collection node. It was cleverly hidden in a hard-to-reach spot nestled in the power storage batteries that saved up the excess power from the solar system on the roof.

It was delicate work and meant reprogramming the system offline for an hour. He caused a nearby transformer to overload to cover his tracks, generating a mild EMP effect. It was a flimsy excuse for why some systems shut down for an hour, but better than nothing. Milo was careful to ensure he was nowhere around when it went off. He had no desire to find out what an EMP did to either his sockets or their control over his leg, tail, and suit. He was wearing his suit constantly now, when not in his safe spot or with his family. Even then, he was wearing part of it. It looked like the same material the Claw Master gloves were constructed from. If he had to, his excuse was testing a new prototype. Only a half-lie. A quarter-lie? It was a prototype and was based on Claw Master technology. But he would never make a full suit for anyone but himself.

Once the EMP went off, the second Raxxon system was stripped of power and backup power. He reprogrammed the system and put it under his control. The original signal still went out, but he could control what it sent, if need be, making it simple for him to sneak through areas it covered. He sent all of its recorded data to his own system, turned everything back on, and checked the upgraded system. All the extra cameras were integrated, and things were looking good. He relaxed. The problem had consumed him for two days, driving his paranoia higher until he found the extra cameras. He wanted to assume that this was Victor's doing, but the work predated his coming to live in Section H. Had he been planning his move for much longer?

Milo considered that John Sabbatino had been behind the project and discarded the theory. John knew next to nothing about surveillance technology and didn't like to pay for anything he didn't have to. He'd never have paid the extravagant cost for the system. Nor would people working for him. If the boss didn't approve it, why would they? There was a small chance that it was a third party spying on John or Victor. That theory had problems. They could have just used the existing system much easier. The installation of the cameras and nodes was a large project. Anyone doing that much work in Section H who wasn't supposed to be there would have been noticed. Occam's Razor said it was Victor, and Milo calculated a 99.63% chance the theory was correct. Victor's threat level went up a notch, but Milo had already neutralized his system and put it under his control. He could relax some now.

Relaxing meant stripping off his suit when he got home, cleaning himself up, and eating a good dinner. Tonight he was trying something new. He'd seen them sold by vendors in the streets of Shadowport but never tried them. Later, he investigated what a Shish-kabob was and found it simply meat and vegetables on a stick. He bought some as part of a shipment of flash-frozen instant meals, along with the freezer to keep them in and the special oven to unthaw them. The smell was intriguing to him. It reminded him of the meal Smiley made from meat and mushrooms. He called it 'Bat Stir Fry.' It was an immediate favorite that he served on Thursdays. The shish sticks were almost as good. He followed it up with a spicy pepper-jack cheese.

Next was a long session in his pod, a full medical exam, and some time in the Hollow. He needed a nap in the real world. Installing his security system had worn him out. He could visit the Hollow while it scanned him. Wally had asked him for his medical data as part of their new deal. He wanted to see if Milo's gloves were causing any change in his body. After thinking it over, Milo agreed. His original need for the pod was to ensure he was healthy. As much as part of him hated the idea of giving Wally more data on himself, he knew the A.I. had all of the data from the initial scan already. Restoring the pod's ability to transmit data gave Wally more info on his gloves, which might help Belinda. It also added security if something else in Genesis could trap him. Milo had balanced the risks and decided being at the mercy of someone like the insane CodeMage was far worse than anything else.

He was almost asleep as soon as he lay down in the pod. Ironically, he'd just be waking up as he entered the game. It had been days since he logged in, and he was missing people. He opened his eyes in the dark room, his vision dispelling the shadows and letting him see in total darkness. But he wasn't in time to stop the sharp claw that poked his side, scaring him half to death. He was out of bed, rolling and dodging as a cheerful voice yelled, "Surprise!"

Tallsqueak skidded to a halt, facing a giggling Rosie who was crawling out from under his bed. Her eyes were fixed on him, and he had an overwhelming feeling of being hunted. That was when a claw poked him from behind, sending him into a leap to the ceiling, where he clung, quivering. Buttercup looked up at him. "Surprise!"

Both little girls rolled on the ground, pointing at him and laughing. "Got you good! Double-Surprise, extra points."

He hopped down to the floor, and they gave him bone-crushing hugs that made him thankful for his enhanced skeleton. How strong were they?

"You lost surprise; that means you have to play tag with us before dinner!"

The need for revenge was strong. "Fine, I'll give you a ten-second head start; go!" The girls scampered off to their large play area. Tallsqueak armored up; he would need every advantage he could get.

Chapter 218: Family Time

Playing tag with Rosie and Buttercup was fun, with the added spice of terror. The two girls were much quicker than the last time he had seen them. The effects of dancing every day were paying off with increased agility and speed. Tallsqueak was still faster than they were, but the girls were very determined not to lose. Running from them was always a sprint, not a jog. And getting 'Tagged' could be anything from a pat on the head to a blow that sent him reeling across the floor.

After one such hit, the girls paused to look at him, and when he finally stood up, Buttercup said, "Mama was right; I don't think we can break him."

Tallsqueak considered that statement. "But what if I break you?"

Rosie looked at him seriously. "Mama says if we play with rough rules, everyone can get hurt, and don't come crying to her with something that will heal by the next day. And rough rules are only for playing with you, Larry, and Master Gilad."

"Rough rules sound, well, rough. So claws are OK? Tail slaps? Diving tackles? Headbutts? Spells?"

The girls turned to each other and giggled before slamming their foreheads together, knocking each other down, and laughing. "Daddy taught us about headbutts."

Rosie was thoughtful. "Larry has spells, but they're sneaky stuff. The other people we met, the humans, they had spells, but they were squishy and made funny noises."

Buttercup concluded. "So, spells are OK."

Tallsqueak smiled at them. "We should get started again. My turn to tag you; start running." Laughing, the two split up and ran a few steps before turning and making funny faces at him, trying to taunt him into chasing them. A small skull rolled up to each of them. The sound of two explosions and the bright flash of storm magic filled the cavern.

Gendifur heard the explosions but was stirring noodles and didn't have time to see what was happening in the playroom. "Brutus, go get the girls and make them wash up for dinner. And see if they broke Tallsqueak yet."

Brutus got up from his chair and stretched. He could smell the mushrooms in parmesan sauce and was happy to hear it was time to gather the family for dinner. He entered the playroom to a curious sight. Tallsqueak was high above, hanging by his long tail from a stalactite, making faces at the girls. Below, Rosie and Buttercup were snarling and jumping at him but not coming close to being able to get to him. They came running on all fours to Brutus, who waved a finger at them. "What does Mama say? We don't run on all fours unless the tunnel is too low. Now tell Dad what the problem is?"

Both of them showed the effects of an explosion going off nearby. Some of their fur was blackened, and the rest stood on end from static shock. "Tallsqueak cheats. He has explodey spells! Throw us up to him, Daddy!"

Tallsqueak yelled down, "No complaining, they said spells were ok in rough rules."

Laughing, Brutus gave them each a hug. "Maybe if you study hard, you can have explodey spells too, wouldn't that be fun? Now let Tallsqueak climb down so we can all wash up for dinner. Tallsqueak can tell you the story about using big explodey spells on the mean General."

The girls ran off to the washroom, and Tallsqueak hopped down. "You don't mind if I teach them magic? Can they learn?"

"Who knows? They surprise us every day. Maybe because they were so young when they became fiends, but they learn quicker than Larry used to. Or maybe it's having people around that treat them like people. I still feel guilty about Larry. We were so scared that he'd become a fiend in mind as well as body that we didn't challenge him enough to be better."

"But, try to teach them something simple at first, and non-explosive."

Tallsqueak had smelled the cheese sauce and had other things on his mind. "I should go wash up, too; I'm starving." Brutus chuckled as he ran off after the girls.

After dinner, Gendifur took the girls off for stories and bedtime. The sounds of Hamster Huey being read to them reminded Tallsqueak of how he had started with Larry. "Is Larry around? How is he."

Brutus grinned before answering. "He's better than ever. He's home for a few days and then running off to do 'Hero Stuff' somewhere. He tells the girls the stories when he's at home and dances with them. Eventually, that turns into a game of rough tag. We were initially worried, but it tires them out, and they need that. They generate a lot of energy. I think the bastards that changed them kept them drugged a lot. This might be why they enjoyed your story so much; they hate Gangrene passionately. It's good you killed him."

"Larry helped. I would have lost. He saved the day."

"He did, but I saw part of that fight myself, and Larry told me what he saw. You did most of the work, blew the piss out of him, shattered his armor, and wore him down. You also made sure he didn't get back up. So the way I see it, Larry gets an assist, and you get the kill. Not that anyone is keeping score or taking bets. Good guards never do that." He winked at Tallsqueak. "A shame about his stuff, though. That shiny breastplate of his was sharp looking! When you're a general, you get the best loot."

Tallsqueak pulled out two items to show Brutus. "I got these two things from him. The mace turned into a screwdriver when I experimented with it. That was the explosion that singed all my hair and put me back in Gendifur's clinic." Brutus had been reaching for the screwdriver to look at it but pulled his hand back. The other item was an ornate ring.

"That looks like a Master's Ring."

Tallsqueak picked it up and turned it around. It did look similar. "It's called The Ring of the Warmaster. After the hit I took from the mace, I wanted to be full health before I investigated it."

Brutus looked curious, then looked around the room sheepishly. "Gendifur would be upset if we blew up the house. Let's step into the playroom before you do anything."

They moved stealthily through the house to not wake the sleeping girls. When they got to the large cavern where the girls played, Brutus stayed ten paces away with his sword and shield equipped, ready for anything. Tallsqueak put on the ring, and the only thing that happened was a message he shared with Brutus.

The Warmaster is slain! Do you claim the spoils of war? Y/N

Tallsqueak looked at Brutus, who shrugged and gave him a thumbs up. "You've got this, and if not, well, Gendifur will earn a few more levels in healing."

Tallsqueak sighed and hit Yes.

As the slayer of Warmaster Gangrene, the ring accepts your claim.

Ring of the Warmaster +5 STR, +5 CON, Quartermaster's Supply Tent

When the first Master Rings were forged, the wise ones foresaw the time when foes would arise so mighty that one Hollow would not be able to win against them. The Ring of the Warmaster was forged and given to Harthan Straight-Tail to signify his position as Warmaster of the Hollows. Along with the Ring of the Arch Mage and Ring of the Cheese Master General, these rings were known as Grand Master Rings.

You have not increased the skill: Quartermaster's Supply Tent

Basic Storage available: 1 weapon, one cheese, and one pillow.

Because the ring is overloaded, all inventory is removed.

Milo heard a rumbling like an avalanche of stone. Items started falling around him: dozens of weapons, scrolls, and maps; two tables and a dozen chairs, a canopy bed with a down comforter; several large tents complete with poles, ropes, and stakes, and a wine rack holding a hundred bottles of wine or alcohol. This was followed by a horde of coins, several barrels of aged cheese, and finally, a leather case that opened up in front of Tallsqueak. Master rings rolled out, two dozen or more.

From the house came Gendifur's annoyed voice. "You two woke up my girls, so you can put them back to bed!" This was followed by Buttercup and Rosie running to see what exciting thing had happened, both wearing flannel nightgowns. They looked at the huge pile of treasure and dove on top of Tallsqueak. "Presents! Tallsqueak brought us shiny presents!"

Gendifur followed, her face changing from annoyed to shocked, and finally resigned. Then she saw the wine. "If we're calling dibs, I see what I want."

Tallsqueak was trying to climb out of the pile with two large 'little girls' on top of him. "All yours. We need to show this to the conclave."

Brutus scratched his head. "Right you are, Scout Master Tallsqueak. Guard Brutus is on the case." He was laughing as he ran out the door to find Gilead and the others.

Rosie and Buttercup, meanwhile, had picked up two huge swords and were dueling with them.

Chapter 219: Spoils of War

It had been a tiring night for Gendifur. Cleaning the girls up had been a chore after they played tag with Tallsqueak. It took forever to comb out their burned fur and get all the soot and dirt cleaned off of them. Rosie and Buttercup were still excited about the game. No one had ever thrown explosive spells at them before. At first, it had scared them, the way the loud noises in the big fight had frightened them. Tallsqueak had explained things to them, and they had clapped with childlike glee. Scary noises were just another way to fight! After that, they chased him as hard as possible, trying to dodge his explosions while hunting him. They were getting better, but each time they got close, another bone bomb rolled in front of them and exploded. Dinner had arrived too soon, as far as they were concerned. They were already looking forward to the next time they got to play.

After dinner, during 'quiet down time,' they asked Gendifur when they could learn to make bone bombs and throw them at people. Gendifur didn't want to try to explain to them how hard learning spells would be, so she pushed that talk off to another day. "Everything in time, my little dears. First, you must finish your Claw and Tail lessons with Larry and Master Gilad. After that, your father will show you how people fight with weapons and shields. After that, if you want to try, we will work on learning to cast simple cantrips."

Three Hamster Huey stories had finally gotten them to close their eyes.

When the noise of a horde of armor and weapons crashing to the floor woke them up, Gendifur decided it was Daddy's night to put them to bed. Mama found her hidden jar of chocolate-covered cheese balls and took a break.

Tallsqueak went to find the other Masters but barely got outside the front door when he was attacked. He leaped forward, rolled, dodged to his left, and came up with two spells ready to cast, only to find Tweedle and Ringtail leaning against the wall of the house, trying unsuccessfully to look bored.

"Look, brother! It is our good friend Tallsqueak."

"Indeed, I would recognize him anywhere, even if he wasn't rolling and dodging."

"He's pretending to be a Sorcerer now..."

"Yes, he looks quite fierce!"

"It's as if he felt threatened for some reason."

"Remember who he lives with."

"Oooh, true. I feel threatened just thinking of Brutus."

"I did not mean Brutus, but he is quite threatening."

"True. I see your point. Perhaps he was running from Gendifur?"

"No, he likes Gendifur. See how often he fakes an injury to lay in pain in her clinic."

"They are very close."

"That only leaves one conclusion, brother..."

"I agree; he is threatened by us!"

"We are scary scouts who scout scary things."

"Speaking of scary things..."

"We heard a scary noise while waiting to scare you."

"Like a million coins fell to the floor at once..."

"...and cried out, 'Come play with us!"

Milo shook his head and looked at his two assistant scouts. "Let me guess, you want to know what the noise was but are afraid of entering the house without an invitation."

"Truly, a wise Scoutmaster."

"He sees through us with ease."

"I have a mission for my brave scouts. Find all the masters on the council, Old Healer and Bleusnout. You can escort them to the inner caverns and see the huge pile of interesting stuff I found."

Tweedle and Ringtail smiled and took off at a sprint. Tallsqueak went back inside the house to watch Brutus and the girls while he started sorting out the piles of stuff in the ring.

Brutus donned his armor to safely give Buttercup and Rosie an impromptu lesson in swinging weapons around. Both girls had selected large bashing weapons to play with; Rosie had a large two-handed maul, and Buttercup was swinging a large mace. Milo looked at both weapons to make sure they weren't something potent like the Mace of Armageddon. They were magical, but only minor enchantments. He looked from the girls to Brutus.

"Is letting them play with weapons safe?"

Brutus shook his head. "Not for me, that's for sure! But with how excited they are over this load of treasure, I'll never get them to bed without burning off some of their energy. Weapons practice against me should do it. And as a bonus, Gendy will have to take care of my bruises later. She's good at that." He smiled and walked off, humming a cheerful tune.

The girls saw him coming and charged at him. Brutus let them come, even taunting them. Rosie started swinging her hammer but over-balanced and fell to the ground, unused to the momentum. Buttercup went to slam Brutus with her mace, but he stepped to the side and tripped her. As both girls stood back up, they nodded, coordinating their next attack. Things didn't go well that time, as Brutus tricked them into swinging at each other and deflected their blows with a shield and sword. When they picked themselves up, he showed them a better stance, letting them take turns swinging at his rapidly deforming shield.

Smiley and Bleusnout walked into the room, followed by Arlothe, Old Healer, and the other Masters of the Hollow. Soon the cavern was full of the sounds of weapons slamming into armor, and the hum of conversation as the Masters of the Hollow, current and past, sorted out the hoard dropped from the ring. Ringtail and Tweedle stared in awe at the hoard of items and were silent for once. They pitched in to help by separating the coins into one pile and stacking them up.

Gilad shook his head in wonder. "This is the reward of a lifetime spent making war. Some of these things I recognize as rewards given to Gangrene, but much of this belonged to other Hollows. Over the decades, Hollows have been found abandoned. We always assumed it was monsters or invasions of spiders when we found the dark, deserted caverns. But now I have to wonder."

Arlothe spread out maps from a leather folder. "Let me end your wondering then. Look here! Detailed maps and battle plans for attacking Manchego Hollow, and another set for invading Scamorza Hollow."

Gilad took the maps, anger on his face. "We should have known. Master Benito Scamorza was always critical of Gangrene and a canny political opponent. He argued against any one general having too much power. His Hollow was found abandoned over thirty years ago." He bent down and picked up one of the ornate rings. "We have to look no further than here! This is the signet ring of the Scamorza family. We must search for the family's heir to return it to them. And these maps are damning evidence of what Gangrene and his Hollow have done. He may be dead, but we must warn the other Hollows. This information should be taken to Gouda Hollow; they act as a central archive for many things and would know best how to proceed."

Tallsqueak was looking over each of the rings with care. A dozen of them bore the crests of different families, but others resembled the simpler rings he and the other Masters wore. He saw different types of rings he wasn't familiar with: Master Miner and Master Merchant. He pointed these out, and Master Clawhammer picked up the mining ring. "It would be nice to have a Master Miner. I handle it now, but I was elected to handle the crafting in the Hollow. With the expansion of the mines, that is now a full-time job."

Bleusnout looked over the ring as well. "This could have come from any Hollow; we will never know from where. I don't see a problem with keeping it. Your assistant, Vilma, does very good work." He looked at the others. "Might I suggest you vote to add a Master Miner to our council?" There was some discussion, and the vote was approved.

Tallsqueak saw Brutus walk by, supporting two sleepy little girls. He was limping and bloodied but in good spirits. He gave the assembled council a thumbs up and continued to his home. Gilad picked up the Master Merchant's ring. "We've had little cause to need a Master Merchant, but with increased trade with the dwarves, and the possibility of players coming to the Hollow, it is something we should think on."

Smiley pointed around at the piles of tents, weapons, armor, and other goods. "There's enough stuff here to start a big trading post or a small caravan. Plus, all the carts and beasties to pull them."

Milo remembered something. "Brutus talked about wanting to follow the caravans."

Gilad nodded. "That boy has always had a bit of wanderlust in his soul. I remembered the season he wanted to train as a scout. Seeing him trying to sneak around the Hollow kept us all amused. We had to finally move him to guard training when he got so heavy he caved in a roof he was running across. Being a guard let him roam some of the nearby caverns and greet travelers. But you see an opportunity for something else?"

Milo used a claw to scratch diagrams in the stone of the floor, drawing the cavern layout and the house, with the area set aside for the Engineer compound on the other side of the cavern. Then he added a building next to the house. "The Hollow is going to see more traffic now. Players exploring the deeper caves, dwarves coming to mine, and maybe even caravans from other Hollows. What if we built a Trading Post next to the house? Players coming to the Hollow could do business outside the Hollow, and we could decide who could enter the main area. It gives more control and safety. The people we don't trust fully can still buy food and supplies from the Hollow and sell their goods."

He pointed to the piles of armor and weapons. "We can put some of these items in the trading post to sell and keep the rest to buy with contribution points. That way, everyone in the Hollow benefits. If we gain more players starting here, that gives them more things to earn, and they will contribute more."

Gilad liked the idea. "Caravans and players will be less of a threat when camping in the outer cave, and we can keep a better eye on them. Even add a guard room to the Trading Post. Brutus could oversee all of it."

The feeling of a threat nearby washed over Milo. A scowling Gendifur was standing nearby. "What are you volunteering my new husband for?" The conversation paused as everyone noticed her. She bent to look at the plan and considered it for a moment. Then she smiled at all the other councilors and sat down.

"Brutus would love it. He still has some of his old dreams. I can spare him occasionally if we send a caravan to another Hollow. If you are building a Trading Post on one side of my house, I want a new clinic on the other side. It will free up more room in the Hollow and let me have space to help more people at once. I hope we never have such a string of emergencies again, but I want to be ready."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Milo looked down at the pile of rings and pondered something for a few seconds, then came to a decision. "I have something I need to say. I'm not always going to be here. I need to travel to the Outpost and Shadowport, and there are mysteries below us that I want to explore. I love it here, but I can't stay still for long without something to do."

Gendifur snorted, and several of the council looked at each other. Arlothe flat-out laughed. "I think I speak for the majority of us. You getting bored leads to exciting times. Perhaps too exciting?"

Gilad agreed. "You would be a poor Master Scout if you were complacent."

Milo was happy that no one seemed upset. "I want to pick a successor. Is there a problem with that?"

No one disagreed. Bleusnout spoke, "It shows responsibility to do so. Who did you have in mind?"

Tallsqueak looked over at Tweedle and Ringtail, who were napping at the top of a large pile of coins. He picked up two of the extra Master Scout rings from the pile. He picked them up, skulked over to the two assistant scouts, and slipped the rings on their fingers before clapping his hands loudly.

They jumped up with wild eyes and looked down at their fingers.

"Oh no! What is this?"

"Responsibility, the most dreaded of things."

"It nags and nags and makes you brush your teeth."

"I feel my posture improving...no more slouching!"

They looked at each other, turned to Milo, and said simultaneously. "Time to grow up?"

Milo nodded and shook their hands. "Maybe a little."

Chapter 220: Downward Path

Milo felt a sense of relief as he entered the hidden tunnels. As much as he loved being in the Hollow, he missed exploring the dark corners and tunnels of the world. Solitude didn't bother him at all, and for all he was learning to be around people, he still needed his time alone. His friends in the Hollow understood his need to go to new places and explore. The council had insisted that he keep his ring and remain the official Master of Scouts. Bleusnout had taken him aside to explain.

"The ring doesn't matter. We have extra rings now and not one but two good candidates to do your job. Frankly, most of us can't tell Ringtail and Tweedle apart and think of them as one person. By leaving you as officially their superior, it gives them room to grow. The responsibility can feel suffocating at first as you try to live up to your idea of how the job has to be done. Go explore and enjoy yourself. You can represent the Hollow in other places. You'll bring back knowledge and trade with other people."

So with a Scout ring on one finger and the General's ring on another, he headed to the hidden door at the end of the tunnel to satisfy his curiosity about the mysterious staircase. Everything was the same as he had left; the secret door closed tightly. Opening it revealed the crude stone stairs descending downward. Not wishing to be trapped on the other side, he blocked the door from closing with an iron spike and examined the area on the other side. It took him half a bell to find the hidden trigger. A small crack was filled with hardpacked dirt, but he could see the small button inside once cleared. Expecting a poison needle trap, he pushed the button with a piece of stiff wire.

The trap was there, but it wasn't a needle. A slim, razor-sharp blade shot out, severing the wire. He also detected the familiar scent of poison made from Red Spotted Eye-rot mushrooms. The true trigger was in a hole on the side of the crevice that he could access with the wire. Having found how to return to the tunnel, he closed the door and carefully descended. The stairs were well made but odd. They followed the crevice's outer wall that fell into the darkness. The spiral appearance was an illusion. The clever builders made the stairs wider in some spots than others. If you looked at the outer edge, you could follow the irregular shape of the natural crevice. But the inside edge of the stairs was a perfect spiral around a four-foot-wide space. Milo couldn't understand why the staircase builders would spend the time to do it this way, but he had to admit to their skill with stone.

This wasn't dwarven work. Even looking at the differently shaped stairs would have driven a dwarven stone wright to tear out his hair. Despite their look, the stairs were sturdy. Milo was careful to test each one, but nothing budged. He descended several rounds, moving downward over two-hundred feet, when he came to the first side tunnel. Further up, he had seen places where someone had dug into the rock in a dozen places, but only for a few feet. This tunnel was four-feet square and ran horizontally into the rock. He had to stoop just a little to move through it, something he was used to. A side tunnel branched off to the right and left every forty feet. Whoever had mined here had moved a lot of rock to find something. He found a little evidence of a mineral they valued and searched for. In one tunnel, he could see where an area had been dug out to expose a small ore node. A small bit still adhered to the rock—a silvery-white ore.

As he wandered the tunnels, Milo felt in the rock around him for pockets of the ore. He suspected he had seen this metal before. There had been a small bit of silvery ore the size of the last joint of his finger on the body he had found at the top of the stairs. After ten minutes of searching and several false alarms, he felt something. Digging with his pick into the hard stone, he found an egg-sized chunk of the ore. White veins ran through the dull silver of the ore. It was much harder than the rock around it. Identify only told him that it was Silverite Ore but nothing about its use or value. He pocketed it and kept searching for another half a bell before returning to the stairwell and descending again.

There were more short tunnels dug into the walls at regular intervals. Test mines looking for ore? And then another long tunnel a hundred and fifty feet further down. The stairs kept going. A large room had been carved out here, with a higher ceiling. A small, crudely made table and chair were in the room and two wooden chests. The wood was old and weak with dry rot, crumbling to his touch. One held nothing but a dozen decayed brooms and two broken shovels, while the other was filled with broken iron pick heads and dulled chisels. All of it rusted into a solid mass. Three tunnels branched off of the room. For the first time, he noticed places to hold torches and the scorched ceiling above those areas. The miners could either see as well in the dark as he could or had brought their own light.

Creeping through the abandoned mine complex led him to many natural caverns. Tunnels branched off from these, leading from twenty to a hundred feet in many directions. Stone stairways were constructed to reach parts of the roof, continuing up to a point and stopping. The caverns were very dry, will little life in them, with one notable exception. He heard the sound of water coming from a tunnel and explored in that direction, coming to a strange oasis in the middle of the dark mines. The little cavern was only about a hundred feet across, with a ceiling that formed a dome above it. Several large, glowing crystals provided light, and the area was filled with plants. A small trickle of water ran down one wall and flowed into a depression against the wall, forming a pond only twenty feet across.

Someone had lived here once. Flat stones made pathways between overgrown fields bordered with rocks. A small stone hut, only four-foot high, was next to a fire pit and clay oven. Nothing was inside the house except the nest of a long-dead animal, its small bones crumbling to dust. The hut was almost too small for Milo to enter. It was barely eight-foot across with a small door, only two-foot high. But the workmanship of it was curious. What at first looked like mortared stone walls proved to be rocks fused to each other using no mortar. Earth magic, perhaps? The walls and ceiling were solid and would last for centuries.

A complete search of the cavern showed no traps or dangers but more examples of the magical stonework. Stone pathways wound around the pond and through the tall plants. In one clearing, he found a stone table with two stone stools made for someone only two feet tall. The top of the table looked like a chessboard, with dark and light stones inlaid into the top. Nothing was dangerous in the cave; the largest creatures were the few cavefish swimming in the pond and large snails that moved slowly through the vegetation, eating their dinner.

Milo decided this was a good spot to camp and rest after exploring for hours. Rather than sleep in the stone hut, he pulled his small tent and bedroll from storage along with some food and fuel for a fire. When everything was set up, he used his Ring of the Swiss army to summon his watch lizard, Georgie. The lizard stretched his legs and yawned, then looked at Milo as if to say, "It's been a long time, boss. Where have you been?" Milo scratched him under his chin and apologized by sharing his meal. Georgie accepted the apology, then started moving around the area, inspecting this new domain. Spying a snail, he carefully came up behind it and pounced, grabbing the six-inch long mollusk and biting off its head before bringing it back to camp and setting it down on the edge of the small fire.

Milo watched with curiosity. The snail steamed as it cooked, the shell turning black. With a deft claw, his lizard pulled it out of the fire and rolled it to the water. A small hiss and a bit of steam indicated how hot the shell had become. His meal cooled off, and Georgie came back next to Milo and used his strong jaws to crack open the shell and begin eating. Milo sniffed twice, inhaling the scent and deciding he needed to go snail hunting himself. Walking to the area by the pond, he reached down and grabbed a large snail. It reacted poorly, squirting him in the face with a stinging liquid. He tossed the snail by his camp and washed the weak acid off in the pond. Georgie approached his snail from the rear, bit off the head, then went back to eating his meal.

Milo set his snail on the fire. Georgie ran off to get more, doing the hunting and sharing his bounty with the poor two-legger who didn't know better than to pick up a snail without eating the head first. The taste of the roasted snail was good, but it could be better. Milo set up his fondue pot and melted some Gruyere. Snail with cheese sauce was a big improvement. Georgie turned up his nose when offered a piece, preferring his snails to be cheeseless. Milo didn't mind not having to share his cheese.

The more he looked around the little cavern, the more he wanted to come back to it again. The thought of it being lost in the darkness was sad. He took out a journal and pen and detailed his journey, starting at the Hollow. He could remember all his twists and turns in the darkness, but it would be difficult for someone else, even with his notes. He sketched a map of the way he had come and made a small drawing of the little house. Georgie looked at his drawing of a snail and wasn't impressed.

Full of food and tired from exploring endless tunnels and caverns, Milo went to sleep, confident in his safety with his brave lizard on watch.

Milo didn't log out of the game when he went to sleep. Instead, he slowly relaxed and slept both in the game and his pod, giving himself a much-needed rest. Hours went by, and finally, he stirred and rolled to his feet, feeling much better. Georgie came running over, eager to show him a half-dozen fat snails sitting next to the fire pit. Milo lit the fire using the coals from the night before and pushed the snails close to it. While they baked in the heat, he went to the small pool to wash up. The water was cold and refreshing, and he felt better for washing off the dust and sweat of the day before. Floating in the cold water, he detected a slight current. He could see the small stream of water that came down the wall and made its way to the pond, be where did it leave?

The answer was along the rock wall, hidden by ferns that anchored themselves to the rock with their roots in the water. A small metal grate, only a foot square, was set into the stone wall. Overflow water entered into it, heading for someplace lower down. Milo tried to see if there was a cavern beyond the grate, but the old metal was clogged with mud and moss. He wiped it off, noted the layers of rust, and pulled it out from its opening. The rusted metal crumbled at the edges, and water poured more freely into the opening, clearing away years of accumulated silt. Milo stuck his head into the opening but only saw a narrow drain heading further down. But as he pulled his head back, he noticed a glimmer of something shiny on the drain floor. A nodule of Silverite Ore was lying in the sludge, as big as his fist. Digging deeper, he found more and more nuggets ranging from the size of his thumb to the huge rock he had first pulled out. He dug down, cleaning out the depression of its little treasures, cleaning them off in the water flow. Eventually, he found enough ore to fill a large bucket.

Was this someone's secret stash? Or the work of many miners? And why was it still here? He needed to go deeper into the caverns if he was going to find an answer.

His musings were interrupted by his watch lizard tugging on his tail. Following Georgie back to his camp, he found two snails left for him, cooling on a rock. The others had been cracked and eaten. He patted Georgie on the head and sat down to eat. Minutes later, rested and fed, he said goodbye to the little cave. He'd have to come back and show it to other people. Ringtail and Tweedle, for sure. He estimated that the pathway through the mines and up the stairs would only take him 2-3 hours if he weren't exploring along the way. Using a piece of chalk, he marked his route as he retraced his steps, leaving a string of clues that led to the little oasis.

Soon, he was back at the curious stairway and began to descend again. Twice more, he came to levels that were mined heavily. As before, the mine shafts ran in grid patterns, except where extra tunnels were dug into the walls. At the start of each complex were larger rooms with larger furniture. Small miners and larger overseers? He had a theory that the grid of tunnels were dug, and then a miner with something like his stone sense looked for the ore that might be hidden in the walls. Twice he'd found tunnels that moved along a random path as if following a large vein of ore. These tunnels were large enough for someone the size of a large human to maneuver them. The walls had been quickly hacked and weren't squared off like the other tunnels.

Down the stairway went further and further until he came to a curious area. It was a small cavern, well-lit with crystals, with stairs in the center and a large passageway that slanted down. The stairway descended still but entered a huge cavern that was partially lit with fluorescent moss and crystals. Directly below it, and engulfing the bottom stairs was a large mountain of loose stone. The loose rocks and dirt from the mines had been dumped into the center hole to fall to the bottom. The pile of crude brooms and shoves he had seen above were explained. As the stones fell, some would land on the stairway. Only constant sweeping would keep things safe for walking. In his mind's eye, he saw armies of small miners digging out the rock, others hauling it to the central shafts, and still more sweeping the stairs clean. All for a small amount of ore?

Milo could see far into the giant cavern from his vantage point on the stairs at the top of the pile. In four more places, he saw stairs that went to the ceiling, each with a mountain of rubble piled around it. Against the cavern wall, he saw a road leading up that disappeared into a tunnel. Retracing his steps, he took the large passage and followed it down until he emerged in the cavern on the road. Another twenty minutes walk, and he reached the bottom of the road.

This cavern was in a state of perpetual twilight. Mushrooms and fungi of all types grew everywhere, along with ferns, grass, and small trees. Rocky roads led from the bottom of the ramp in three directions. Milo took the rightmost road and started walking along the edge, staying as silent and stealthy as possible. He heard nothing but silence.

Chapter 221: Cracking Rocks

The cavern was large but far longer than it was wide, stretching in both directions. Everywhere was evidence of mining. He skirted around large, open pits a hundred feet wide and hundreds of feet deep, stone ladders descending to tunnels that ran horizontally into the rock. He saw a dozen more spiraling stone stairways ascending to crevices in the ceiling and continuing into them. Along the walls were endless tunnels at all levels. Some went only a dozen paces, and others went deep, branching into an endless maze.

Five times he was attacked by Stone Lurkers. They were large ones, ranging from Level 8 to Level 11, but not bosses. The slower-moving creatures were easy for him to spot. He was forced to fight two of them in the tunnels, dodging and hitting them repeatedly with claws, tail, and spikey stick until they crumbled to rubble. The three that attacked him in the open were more fun, allowing him to experiment with spells. He was trying to find combinations of his runes that were effective in combat and didn't send him to the infirmary.

His first spell was a Rune of Force, modified by the dwarven engineering runes that strengthened and defined the flow of fluids. He added the Void Rune, last hearing Kepler's voice in his head describing equal and opposite forces. As the Stone Lurker lumbered towards him, he held the runic formation in his mind and watched as it took form in the air before him, glowing runes connected by circles and spheres. The mana drained from him, and he triggered the formation. The runes were converted to pure force, shooting straight at his foe. The Void Rune drained the equal and opposite force that shot toward Milo. The monster was struck a hard blow as the spell accelerated the air and anything else in front of it into the Stone Lurker's chest, knocking it backward twenty feet and chipping away its armor in a six-inch-wide circle. It was only lightly injured.

Milo scampered backward 40 feet and began building a modified formation, narrowing the radius to three inches. He double-checked it, then triggered the second formation. This time the spell punched into the monster's chest, creating an explosion of stone chips and dust. It regained its feet and charged at him. Milo repeated, getting the same result, and on the fourth spell, he shattered the creature to rubble.

Working with the formations to cast spells excited him. He had control of the variables and could experiment endlessly. But they came at a cost. He was sweating and felt mentally exhausted. Kepler had warned him several times about the repercussions of a poorly built formation. Milo didn't want to blow one of his arms off. The Star-God had six; he only had two and a tail. And he was so thankful for his tail! He doubted he could have managed these formations with just two hands. (If he sat, could he use his feet? He filed that thought away for later.)

Before moving on, he practiced with a different set of Engineering Runes, narrowing the area of effect to just one inch in diameter. Theoretically, this should focus all of the force of the six-inch version into an area only 1/36th as big, greatly increasing the penetration of the spell. He tried using the formation against a large rock. The first thing he noticed was that it was more difficult to cast the formation, as if narrowing the focus added some pressure on his mind. But the results spoke for themselves. There was a deafening sound, and the rock exploded, falling into two halves. He destroyed two more stones before continuing, confident he could cast this new version of his force spell.

It might have been the sound of rocks being destroyed or simply chance, but soon after, he saw two Stone Lurkers lumbering toward him. At 100 feet away, he hit the first with his new formation, destroying much of its chest and arm. The second one continued its charge, gaining speed. Milo reformed the runes and cast again but only managed to clip this creature on the shoulder. Fatigue was interfering with his aim. He concentrated hard, his tail whirling in front of him as it drew the runes, and his hands controlled the two Ancient Runes. The blast hit the Lurker when it was only ten feet before him, blowing its head apart. Milo would take the win, but he'd been aiming for the center of mass and shot high. The last Lurker was still coming. He finished it off with Shadowblight, giving himself a rest.

His head was pounding, and he was down half of his mana. He needed a break, but this wasn't the place for it. He moved away from the area of his battles and skulked through the darkness, passing by another dozen Stone Lurkers. The monsters were oblivious to him as long as he moved slowly and kept his footsteps light. Looking for a place to make a camp and not deal with lurkers was harder the further he went in this direction. He was considering moving into one of the mazes of tunnels to find a place when the next open pit he came to showed something surprising; a village.

From the look of it, he assumed that the ore ran out in this area at some point, the miners moved on, and the pit was chosen as a place to build. Small houses lined the edges of the walls, each ring moving down and forward. Thousands of people could have lived here, assuming they were the size of the ancient miners. Stairs led down in some places, while in others were ladders of stone or hand-holds cut into the rocks. He observed the area for some time but saw nothing moving. There were no awnings or flags, just quiet stone buildings with small doors and sometimes a window. In the center of the pit was a wide flat area. And in the center of that was a tower. The tower's height was equal to the pit's edge, going no taller than the ground Milo was standing on. He wondered about the significance of that. He carefully began to work his way down.

On the second level, he ventured into one of the larger buildings. The rooms were small, but the house dug back into the side of the pit, the way they built in the Hollow. In the last room was a sealed stone door that he suspected would lead to the old mine systems. The house was devoid of anything not made of stone. A small stone stove with a chimney was in a room with flat tables and a large basin that might have been for water. Stone jars, platters, and large spoons were scattered about. The walls were decorated with beautiful geometric designs, unfaded by time. Different minerals had been used to make the colors, mixed in with the more common rock. Fine dust covered everything. He moved on.

Three levels further down, he explored a larger house. This one was decorated on the outside with the intricate patterns he'd seen before, along with bright mosaics showing the moon and sun. Venturing inside, he found large areas with tiled floors, cabinets, and furniture made from different rock types and a kitchen area that far surpassed the other house. Nothing was out of order here. The shelves held beautiful plates, bowls, and glasses made from malachite and lapis lazuli. The bright blue and greens were inset with silvery lines, again creating the geometric designs popular with these people. Gendifur would love a set of these. He brought out his Smugglers Stash and loaded a dozen of each item into his chest, along with some larger platters, pitchers, and one of the large urns. He was glad he didn't actually pack all of this back. After he dismissed the chest, he moved on. He wanted to take a look at the tower in the center.

He saw no sign of monsters around, but that didn't mean there weren't any. Stone Lurkers could blend into the surroundings and stay still for long periods. He avoided skipping across the rooftops and stayed low and in the darkest shadows. The last row of houses before the center was large and impressive, similar to the one he'd just looted for kitchenware. A quick look inside showed a similar opulence. He avoided the urge to explore them and concentrated on the tower. It was made of massive blocks of stone and had been covered with an outer layer of the common rock, but some areas had flaked off, showing the joints of the large stones underneath. He estimated it was fifty feet wide and four hundred feet tall. Narrow windows began after the first hundred feet. Milo worked his way around the perimeter for a hundred yards until he saw the lone door in the tower's base. A wide staircase wrapped around the building, thirty feet wide and leading to a doorway roughly fifty feet above the ground level.

The rock in the center of the pit felt odd to Milo's stone sense. It was dense and hard, trying to Identify finally gave him the name Durumgneiss, a Tier Four material. That explained why the pit mine had stopped here, and the center area was flat. The layer of incredibly hard rock put an end to further mining. All of the broken picks and tools Milo had seen had been rusted iron or steel. The mining technique revolved around finding hidden nuggets of Silverite Ore and digging around them.

Cautiously, he approached the tower. A glint of silver attracted his attention. Weaving its way through the Durumgneiss was a thin line of shiny white metal. The only information that Identify gave him was a name, Durum Argenti. Hard Silver? Paying attention to the rock around him, he saw other small threads. They became thicker as he approached the tower. The doorway was open. The door was made of wooden beams, each a foot square. The door lay flat on the ground, its hinged destroyed by blows from tiny picks.

The large room at the bottom of the tower resembled a dwarven bar after 'free beer night.' Smashed tables and chairs were everywhere. Broken mugs and staved-in kegs littered the floor. But while the dwarven bar would have had a few dozen miners sleeping off their drink and bruises, this room only held the long dead. There were hundreds of small skeletons, many torn apart or with smashed skulls. They were mixed with a much smaller number of large skeletons. Milo recognized humans, orcs, and what he thought was an elf or two. In one corner, surrounded by piles of smaller foes, four dwarven skeletons had been hacked to pieces. Their crude chainmail armor was rusting on their bones.

Nearby was a pile of rusted metal. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of small, broken collars told a story. How many of the miners had it taken to overthrow their masters? And how many had died digging for the mineral wealth in these caverns?

Milo felt tired just thinking about it. The room was open all the way to the top of the tower, with a stone spiral staircase in the center, wrapped around a stone pillar only six inches thick. The stonework amazed Milo. By any calculations he did, the stairway shouldn't support itself, yet it was solid. He started the long walk to the roof; he wanted a safe place to rest and be alone, away from this monument to an old battle. If he had been tired before, he was exhausted by the time he reached the top. It was just what he wanted, a wide, flat expanse of bare stone. A two-foot wall surrounded the edge.

He brought out his tent and bedroll, summoned Georgie to guard, and slept.

Chapter 222: Sundering for Science

It was peaceful at the top of the tower. Milo had eaten and rested, and now his mana was back to nearly full. Casting spells from scratch took much more mana than normal spells; the ancient runes, in particular, seemed to pull deep on his resources. The trade-off was versatility and raw power. Other downsides were the increased to build the array before casting and the possibility of blowing himself up if he made a mistake.

Milo knew why he liked this new magic system so much. It challenged him, and he needed challenges. He and the rest of his family had been created that way. They needed to be working and challenging themselves. He remembered the competition between his family to be the first to sneak past the security guarding a corporation's secrets and finances. The first person in would only leave a mark to let the others know they had gotten there first. They didn't spoil the fun by stealing; that was done by the last person to get there. If someone did trip the security, a mad rush to pillage would ensue as everyone downloaded information, moved money to new banks, and created a maze of transactions to cover their paths. He looked back on those times and realized he'd been happy.

He hadn't been happy when he was alone. It had been terrifying for him initially, abandoned and cut off from his family and the technology they had used. The need to create a hidden home for himself had kept him busy, and then the need to scavenge and improve it. Learning the thousands of tunnels and tubes that ran through the habitat had been a challenge he gladly took on. He explored and found what he needed and then created the tools and methods to take it back to Section E and his secret area.

As he overcame the challenges of food and safety, he looked for more challenges. For years it had been keeping Section E running that kept Milo busy. He'd had a lack of tools, a lack of raw materials, and no spare parts, but those problems just added to the fun of keeping everything running.

So while he knew about other ways of casting spells, he was intrigued by this difficult and dangerous method that Keppler had shown him. He wondered if any other players were experimenting with it.

The first spells that a player could normally learn were very simple and governed by the system. No matter what mage guild you learned Bolt of Flame from, it always had the same range and damage. A player had to simply point with his finger or wand, shout "Bolt of Flame," and watch as the fire leaped from his fingers and singed his opponent in exchange for consuming some of his mana. The system did all the work; the player just had to point, aim, and shout.

With higher levels came options to improve the spells: longer range, less mana used, and added special effects. But the system was still doing the heavy lifting. Arlothe and Cremona had talked with him about the runes used by the system. A skilled practitioner of Rune Carving could use them to enhance mundane items with magical effects or create tools used in spellcasting, such as staves and wands.

That was partly what led to Milo studying the tools each student had made for themselves. A flurry of experimentation had ensued after the sharing of knowledge and the use of the new 'Lore of Mathematics.' Arlothe had been forced to add additional classes in Theories of Artifact Crafting, and it had only worsened as time passed. The need for additional components had led a group of students to take up blacksmithing; others were hard at work in the mines. Deep Copper was especially useful in crafting items meant to conduct storm-aspected mana.

Two members of Clan Raptor Claw had approached the Engineers to learn better methods of crafting thin wire and turning it into coils. Sledgemonkey had looked at their earlier efforts and been sadly disappointed.

"WHAT?! None of you know how to use runes to set the aperture of the wire spinner to give a consistent radius? How do you expect to craft magi-tech circuits for your fancy spell sticks without proper wire?" He was further astounded to learn that the level of technology in the Hollow didn't include even the most basic of wire spinners. He set about to fix that problem.

Unknown to the old dwarf, the two students had seized on his use of the word 'magi-tech' and started asking small questions about his knowledge. They quickly learned that bringing him a plate of cookies and asking for stories about 'The Old Days' could yield amazing amounts of interesting and perplexing information.

Milo used Rune Carving to make his bone implements that were part of his earliest spells. He'd been experimenting more and more with adding different types of runes. This didn't go well at times, the force rune was especially tricky to integrate, and not every bone was the same size and shape. The benefits were obvious, though. Using a runic formation to produce a beam of force 1/2" wide took a lot of mana and intense concentration. By contrast, if the runes were already carved into a suitable piece of bone, the spell was nearly as easy to cast as a system spell. His work preparing his skulls and javelins paid off in less effort when it came time to cast the spell.

He needed to experiment more and use different kinds of runes. In particular, he'd noticed a difference between the Rune of Force and the Rune of Sundering—the first imparted force to an object or created an effect that applied force to something in its path, causing damage. The Rune of Sundering was a more specific use of force that shattered matter in its path and forced a passage. There was no need to use a Void Rune as an equal force was applied in all directions perpendicular to the path of the effect.

He had only used sundering a few times. It was a powerful rune and could easily cause cave-ins if used in mines. He made the decision to experiment with it further while far away from the Hollow. Did the material matter? He assumed that it must. Harder materials should be less affected than soft earth. But did the Tier of material matter? Below him was a wide expanse of normal rock and easy access to Tier 2 and Tier 4 substances. It should be an ideal way to test the power of the rune.

Breaking camp and sending a tired watch lizard off for a nap only took a minute. He chewed on some creamy Havarti on the way down the stairs for breakfast. Reaching the bottom, he climbed up through the houses until he saw normal stone at the edge of the pit mine. He intended to use the same runic formation for all of his testing. He built the formation using the Rune of Sundering and Engineering Runes attached to it that defined a six-foot diameter circle and a fifty-foot range. The formation had a mana consumption of 500 but was modified to 250 by Ancient Rune Lore. The formation was easy to control with only one Ancient Rune.

Releasing the formation resulted in an explosion of dust, noise, and flying shards of rock as the rune drilled into the wall of the pit and forced sent the excavated materials flying to the sides. Most of the rock was pulverized or compressed into the sides of the rough tunnel, but some of it was sent flying. Milo was knocked off his feet as dust and rock shards flew by, several hitting him for minor damage. Coughing and wiping the dust from himself, he looked at the result. He'd stood twenty feet away from the rock wall, anticipating some blowback. The resulting tunnel was thirty feet deep.

It wasn't a tunnel he would trust, but it was a great application of magic if you needed to uncover a bit of hidden ore or form an escape route. He spotted a small nugget of Silverite ore in the debris the size of a raisin as if proving the point of how to use the formation. Curious, he stepped to the edge of the opening and cast the formation again, rolling to the side as soon as he triggered the spell. More dirt, dust, and shards of rock blew from the tunnel. Examining the result, he saw that the first tunnel was a mess of fallen rock and debris from the second blast. The tunnel was now a full fifty feet in length. Searching through the rubble, he found two more small nuggets.

Satisfied with how this formation worked, he moved down to the harder, Tier 2 stone. Standing twenty feet away, he used the same formation and the same amount of mana, getting a far smaller result. It wasn't the range; it was the power. The spell could sunder and excavate roughly twelve feet into the rock wall. He used the formation twice more at thirty feet and ten feet from the wall, getting the same depth each time. Going back to the Tier 1 stone, he tested twice more. The maximum he could create a rough tunnel was fifty feet if he unleashed the spell at point blank. He'd known that was going to hurt and was dodging almost instantly. He was still sent tumbling backward, picking up a nice assortment of scrapes and bruises. Some sacrifices had to be made when doing research.

His last test was down on the flat area of Tier 4 Duramgneiss. He used the roof of a house on the edge of the pit to give him some range. He unleashed his formation From thirty feet away and got mediocre results. The rock in a six-foot diameter circle was broken up and moved to the sides of a shallow hole. Leaping down, he pulled the loose rock and gravel from the hole to measure it. As he suspected, it was just over three feet deep.

The Tier of the material mattered. The spell that could tunnel 50 feet into soft Tier 1 materials only went 12.5 feet into Tier 2 and 3.125 feet into Tier 4. The distance was reduced by a factor equal to the square of the Tier of the material.

Next up was testing the formation with twice as much mana infused into it. The results were as he expected: Twice the mana gave him twice the result, tunneling a little over six feet into the hard stone. He tried one more time using a thousand mana. Holding the formation together at that point was hard, and he released it quickly. Rock and debris blew from the hole, not as broken as before. The depth reached roughly twelve feet once he cleared the debris and measured the result.

And he had a surprise. Nestled at the bottom of the blast was a fist-sized chunk of Duram Argenti, still partly surrounded by Duramgneiss. Taking his Crystaline pick, he started working to free it. The stone around the ore slowly gave way while a glancing hit from his pick slid off without marring the shiny chunk of ore. After ten minutes of work, it came free. It glowed slightly to his vision, like an enchanted object. As he held it in his hand, the glow intensified. Milo felt dizzy as if he had expended all of his mana. Throwing the chunk of ore out of the hole, he collapsed against the side of the pit and rested for an hour while eating a half pound of cheese and imbibing a mana potion. The ore had drained him completely.

Whatever that was used for, it loved magic. More investigation needed to be made.

Chapter 223: Paperwork

Climbing out of the hole, Milo found the lump of silvery metal easily. He stayed a few feet away and tried to identify it. What he learned was interesting.

Duram Argenti nugget

Estimated size: 3 lbs.

Partially enchanted.

Hardness: Tier 5

He pulled out the small nuggets he had found before. The largest was still less than an once in weight, but there were other differences.

Duram Argenti chip

Estimated size: 0.75 ounces.

Fully enchanted.

Hardness: Tier 4

They were slightly warm to the touch but had been cool when he first picked them up. Had they drained mana from him without his knowing it? Only one way to find out. He searched through the rubble from his digging until he found another sliver of the ore. He identified it as a small chip, unenchanted, and Tier 5 in hardness. He drank a mana potion to restore a 300 points of mana before experimenting with the sliver. As soon as he touched it he lost 150 mana, and the chip changed to enchanted and Tier 4 in hardness.

More searching turned up another chip. This one he picked up with a pair of chopsticks. Nothing happened. He placed it into an ore bag with no effect and dumped it back out again. Only when he touched it did it drain mana his mana. That made handling the ore easier. If the mana drain had been at a distance, it would have been debilitating and possibly deadly to be near any of it. He rolled the larger chunk onto a bit of dirty laundry from his Scout Master Ring (Once again, vowing to clear it out.) Rolling it up, he dumped it into the ore bag as well.

He was out of mana again. There were too many unknowns in these caverns to explore them with mana exhaustion and no access to his spells. He retreated to the top of the tower and set up camp again. Georgie yawned and looked at him questioningly but got to work sniffing out any bugs or other threats to the camp. Milo took a break, logged out of the game, and opened his pod.

While he was exhausted in the game from lack of mana, he felt fine here. Checking with his surveillance systems, he saw that Victor hadn't moved from his apartment for several days but had been meeting with people each afternoon. Belinda had visited him once. He noted that she wasn't wearing her gloves when she did so. No major problems showed. His clog eaters were doing their job of keeping the major arteries clear and fixing small leaks. None of the air handlers was malfunctioning for a change. Power was flowing between Section E and Section H, fueled in part by the wind and solar generators taking up most of the roof. Even the food processors were running correctly, partly due to his systems delaying any updates from the supply company until he could check over the changes. He gave his approval to the latest updates and made a note to check in with Mama and make sure things worked on her end.

The only thing that bothered him was the continuous problems with the pneumatic delivery system. It was complex technology. Some cities had used similar systems since the 1950s. Families in the habitats could order goods from outside companies, and the products were delivered to a large warehouse on the ground floor of the habitat, already inside of the plastic transporters with their destination stored in the silicon chip on each transporter. Once loaded into the habitat's pneumatic system, the items should have arrived at distribution points on each level of every section. Yet items could be delayed for weeks or longer and, in some cases, never arrive at all. He put it down on his of things to investigate before putting on his 'normal' clothes and heading to see Butch and the family.

It had been several days since he'd been down. He tried to remember how many, got the number, and felt bad. But too much had hit at once that he wasn't expecting. He still didn't know where he stood with Belinda or where Belinda stood with Victor, but he'd taken care of a lot of other loose ends. Wally and Stephen (and Ralph) were allies now. He could handle the chaos of his family and work on the Belinda problem.

One small detail bothered him, though. Ralph had been surprised he wasn't behind the downfall of a crypto-currency called Syllabus. They'd used the tools he had found in Victor's system, his old hacking programs. And it didn't make sense that Victor's people would crash a system that took all of Victor's money. Ralph had been bemused by the idea. Wally and Stephen were worried. Milo didn't really care. If they took money from people like Victor, that was a good thing. But he did wonder about the possibility that there were more people out in the world that might be like him. Maybe from one of the other batches? He knew his own family was dead. It wasn't a problem he could solve and didn't concern him, so he tossed it to the back of his mind.

Arriving in the courtyard near Butch's house, he paused. There were several men sitting by the glowy tree playing cards. One was a medical technician. Two were beefy-looking guys that screamed 'bodyguard,' and the fourth wore the patched and worn coveralls of a low-level maintenance worker. It was common to see them in the hab, answering complaints they barely knew how to fix, nodding and saying 'We'll get right on that", knowing they don't have the tools or support to actually do real repairs. He assumed Belinda was visiting again; the wheelchair the MedTech was sitting next to was all the proof needed of that. He watched for a few minutes, then casually walked up to the door and knocked. Butch pulled it open.

"Hey, newest little bro! Come on in, the gangs here, and you can gaze in wonder at the expanded glory Casa Butch." Butch wasn't exaggerating; everyone was here, including Butch's parents and all of the children, including the two cousins Mama was trying to adopt. The house should have been packed, but wasn't, for the simple reason that the house was bigger. From the floor plan, walls had been removed, and two other units were added to the first to make a much more comfortable living space. Milo didn't mind things cramped, but then, he had the option of leaving when things got crazy. The living room was twice as big, and now had another gaming console and screen set up. Belinda waved to him, then grumbled as her distraction let Kenji have an opportunity to blow her up.

Big Butch was home. He and Mama were sitting at a second table, looking relaxed. Butch steered him over to them, whispering in his ear. "Shit happens, crazy stuff, we got a bigger house. You owe me a story later on, got it?" Milo nodded; that only seemed fair. He'd mentioned to Wally that part of his plan was to help out his new family. He had to keep in mind that Wally was also task oriented.

Mama came and gave him a quick hug. "Have a seat. You look hungry. And don't tell me you aren't; your ribs are showing again. I can feel them. What have you been up to?"

He shrugged. "Oh, you know." He would forever be in Butch's debt for teaching him that phrase. Big Butch laughed. "Yep, he'll fit in fine."

Mama glared at him. "I never forgave you for little Butch learning that from you, and now Milo is doing it too." She pulled food out of the cooler and heated it up for Milo, and poured him a glass of vita-milk, the pink kind. He liked that the best. Then she shooed any children nearby off to the other parts of the house, and it was just the three of them.

"I've got some good news for you, Milo. Things are working out for us to adopt you. I'm sure you're surprised by that." Her eyes said. "I doubt you're surprised at all, and we both know you're up to something."

Stuffing his face with a lot of food gave him time to think, but he eventually ran out of food and had to answer. "I asked a friend for a favor. He said he could call some people, maybe work things out." His new parents nodded to each other, suspicions confirmed.

"We had an unexpected visit from a nice man named Agent Smith who works for DHDIP..."

Agent Smith had explained to Big Butch that he was needed for a meeting about the adoption proceedings. He gave him directions to the his new office a few floors higher up in Section E. Big Butch went home to collect Mama and get more info on what was going on, and then the two of them climbed the stairs and walked up to their meeting

The office was in Section E, five floors above where Mama's family lived. Furniture was being moved into it from somewhere else. DHDIP had more empty offices in the habitats than ones filled with workers. As the money to keep the habitats running, cuts had been made in staffing until only a skeleton crew was on hand in each habitat, generally with a hundred times the workload they could accomplish. Burnout and turnover were high.

Agent Smith smiled and waved them to take seats in two plastic chairs that had seen better days. His desk was three small tables pushed together and an old filing cabinet. "My apologies for the state of my office. We're having to make do until our new furniture arrives. But I wanted to get working on your case immediately. To make sure I have the correct information, I'd like to double check everything.

Firstly, I have the two of you listed as Henry Banner Sr. and Sarah Banner. You have three natural children, Hank Jr., Minerva, and Thaddeus. You have also adopted one child, Liza who is related to Sarah, and you have adoptions pending on two children Robert and Sinclair. Lastly, you have applied to adopt an orphan minor named Milo Babbage, who is unrelated to you. Is all of that correct?" Both of them nodded. This was going better than expected. Usually you showed up at a DHDIP office and had to start from scratch each time, filling out electronic forms each time.

"Yes, that's all right. Liza was my cousins child. She ran off with someone and left her with us a few years ago and we've raised her since. The boys are Henry's nephews. Their parents were killed in an industrial accident and had no one else to take them. But it's been two years work trying to adopt them and get the credits to help us raise them."

A young woman walked over to Agent Smith's desk with three cups of coffee on a tray and handed them out. Big Butch and Mama drank theirs down in a few sips. Coffee from the food processor was bearable when hot, but gained an oily after taste as it cooled. Agent Smith sipped his coffee, looked at the cup as if it was a snake, and set it down on his desk. "Oh my, that's horrible! I'm so sorry, let me send for a fresh batch. Our food processor up here must be defective."

Agent Smith and sat back down. Big Butch had crossed his arms and Mama was glaring at him. The change in attitude threw him off. "Is something wrong? Is it the coffee?"

She stood up, a scowl on her face, tapping one foot. "You lie worse than a damned three-year-old sitting in the middle of a pile of cookie dough from an overflowing food processor. What sort of scam are you pulling? You've got thirty seconds to fess up or Butch is going tie you up and we're hauling you to a real DHDIP office. And I'm going to make you finish your coffee, you damned rich bastard."

Agent Smith took a step backward, surprised by her ire.

Mama glared at Smith. "Fifteen seconds until we tie you up with your pants and pour that delicious hab coffee down your throat! Start talking."

Smith raised his hands in surrender. "Fine. I give up. Give me a moment and I'll explain."

"I don't quite work for DHDIP, it's a little more complicated than that, but I do have the authority to make recommendations to DHDIP that they are required to act upon. Can you give me a few minutes to explain without feeding me that sludge? It really is horrible."

Big Butch laughed. "And it's all we get out of the food processors. Gets a little worse each year as they find cheaper ways to make the stuff. I've used it to loosen rust on bolts."

Smith stared at the cup, unbelieving, then rallied his thoughts. "This is about the boy you know as Milo Babbage. He is a victim of, and witness to, an old criminal case of human trafficking. We suspect he might have been taken from a habitat or bought from his family when only a few days old. It's also possible his mother might have herself been a victim of the same people. But no matter what we eventually find out, he's in danger and needs to be protected. If the people he got away from find him, his life is in jeopardy."

Mama sat down and took a deep breath. "Who did it?! And I don't just mean the taking. They did something to him."

Smith tried to relax. He suspected he had been only seconds away from an unpleasant and embarrassing experience. "They did indeed. Milo was experimented on, which has affected his rate of growth. He is older than he appears, but we can't pinpoint his age. Even he doesn't know. As to who did it, I can't tell you, because I don't know myself. I only know enough about the case to help you help Milo. Catching these people is something my superiors are working on."

Mama took a deep breath and let it go. "I should apologize for my earlier words. I'm a little over-protective."

Agent Smith actually smiled at her. "No, please, don't apologize. Over-protective is good! If anything, it assures me that you're an ideal family for Milo. He needs protection, but more, he needs strong parental figures in his life. If something happens, we want him to trust you enough to go to you for protection, and then my agency can help all of you." By habit, he started to reach for his cup of coffee, thought better and set it down. He made a note to look into who supplied the artificial instant coffee to this habitat. It was truly horrible.

Big Butch scratched his head. He'd known there was more to Milo the few times he'd talked to him. Kids that young didn't know how to fix and reprogram food processors. Nor did they understand complicated work contracts. "Even knowing he's a few years older doesn't explain everything. He'd too smart and knows too much. A damned sight smarter than I am."

Smith nodded seriously, "Oh, I agree. From the little I've been told, he probably has an IQ higher than all three of us combined. That's part of what they did to him. He has an advanced mind, but stunted physical growth and hasn't developed emotionally. We are hoping that by giving him a permanent place in your family you can help him with that."

Mama was unconvinced. "So how did you find out about him? I'm guessing you work for that Claw Master place he got the gloves from?"

Smith smiled. "An excellent guess. Yes, I'm employed by the Claw Master organization, but I've also been appointed as the lead agent in this case. I'm sure you've seen his interest in video games. He's one of many people testing those gloves for us. He even suggested the sponsoring of the recent event. In dealing with him, we became aware of his situation. He didn't exist legally and was hiding from someone. Recently, he told us more, and expressed the hopes of being adopted after you made him that offer. Upon finding out what had been done to him, we notified the authorities. They are of the opinion that for his psychological health, we need to leave him in his current environment. But he needs emotional stability, proper food, people he can talk to and confide in, and a place to safely live."

"Which is where your family come in. By permanently placing him with you, we accomplish much of what we need. In return, we can help you with raising the rest of your family as well. I've looked over the paperwork for the other children's adoptions and can recommend those be approved immediately with credits applied to your account retroactively and going forward. You shouldn't become financially destitute for doing good deeds."

"Milo is a different case. He will be fostered with you under the assumption that he is a minor, and full adoption approved soon. But he needs more than part time care. We show that you are employed by Manpower, sir? Would you be willing to stay at home, care for your family, and help with Milo's special needs if we matched or exceeded your salary?"

Mama interrupted. "The answer is yes, and I think that matching my current salary would be a good compromise. After all, he's going to be doing much the same work."

Big Butch frowned. "Sarah, that's three times what I make now, working 24 hours a day and 6 days a week."

She looked at him. "If I'm worth 3k a month, so are you. And it goes to support your family, which is getting bigger and more complicated all of the time."

Smith frowned, went through his paperwork looking for details, and then smiled. "Ah, yes. I see that listed here. Yes, that is quite acceptable."

"Well, then, yes. I think I can ride herd on some children for that much money a month. It will come in handy. I'm going to need to apply for a second living unit, and that always takes a little extra to get pushed through."

Smith made a note on his paper. "Please, let me take care of that. You shouldn't have to pay for it. There is ample space in this section, even empty units adjacent to you. I'm going to authorize a work crew and engineer to remove walls and increase your living space. Frankly, DHDIP should be consolidating living quarters in this habitat and doing repairs section by section. I'm going to recommend that hiring an additional work crew and having them set up their living quarters in this section, and work on the empty units and open spaces." He looked around. "Right after they get me a proper desk and coffee maker. Can I offer you one as well? Even an antique drip machine can make quite acceptable beverages with the right grounds." He added a coffee maker and ten pounds of ground beans to his list.

"I'm not opposed to a decent cup of coffee. Thank you." Putting up with hab coffee wasn't the same as liking it. Mama felt the same way, but had a condition. "Only if you get a lock for the cabinet you keep it in. I'm scared to think what would happen if we introduced Milo to coffee."

Agent Smith paled. "A very good point, madam. I'll add a new locking cabinet to your list." He pushed forward an electron tablet with a contract on it. "This spells out your salary, money to be paid for Milo's upkeep, additional credits for the other children. We will also take care of all medical expenses for the family, along with costs of education. Please look it over and let me know if you need any changes."

Mama passed it to her husband. "Talk to me about education. I'm not sure I can teach anything to Milo."

Agent Smith shook his head. "From what I understand, ma'am, none of us could. He learns at an accelerated pace. It will be enough if you nudge him in the right directions and give him the emotional support that he needs. But for your other children, I would like to offer an education system that is being used now in some parts of the world. It's based on the use of the new Mk VII pods and a virtual classroom. Something you are already familiar with."

That was a surprise to Butch, "You use pods to teach the kids? Wouldn't they just use them to play games?"

"Well, yes, there is some time allotted for recreation. But the current programming includes a virtual classroom that gives anyone the tools needed for teaching a basic education. Lectures done in a virtual environment can greatly enhance learning. And as part of the program, we incentivize the children getting their work done by allowing them time for playing games, including limited access to the new virtual world, Genesis.

Butch was smiling widely now. Mama rolled her eyes. "Oh god, I just got you out of a pod. I can see it now. You're going to take little Butch and Min on some orc hunt with you."

She turned to Agent Smith. "Milo is going to want to play that game. Is that allowed?"

Smith paused, not knowing what to say. Finally he told the truth. "Ma'am, I think it would be impossible to keep him out."

Announcement Concerning the Future of my stories (Non-Story)

Neither of my stories is ending. Let's say that right at the start. I have a lot of stories left to tell about Milo and Ozzy and places to take them.

But, I have some exciting news! My books are going to be published by Aethon Books, who work with the authors of great books like Vanqueur the Dragon, Primal Hunter, He Who Fights Monsters, and Defiance of the Fall. They will be putting my books out on Kindle, KU, and Audiobook.

To be honest, I was amazed when I had 50 followers on my story on Royal Road. And then more astounded when more people started reading. Publishing seemed pretty far away, and I had no clue about how to move in that direction. Working with a publisher makes things a lot easier and, very importantly, won't interfere much with my ongoing writing. I'll keep the chapters coming while I edit. In the next couple of months, I'll be doing something I always wanted to do, which is go back and edit the first parts of the books. I had no idea what I was doing when I started Butcher of Gadobhra, and only a little more when I started Tunnel Rat. This gives me the push to polish the stories. I'm already working on Tunnel Rat and slowly putting the edited chapters up. (Writathon means write fast, and I have so many typos in the early chapters.)

How does this affect the ongoing stories? Not at all. I'm going to keep writing new chapters. If anything, this pushes me to do more writing, and I can justify taking more afternoons off from my job. I have some good people at my shops who can pick up the slack for me and give me more hours to write. The biggest change will be that eventually I will have to remove my early chapters from free sites like Royal Road, leaving the introduction and the first chapters as a stub. When the first book is published, I'll remove the first 60 or so chapters. When the second book in each series comes out 6-12 months later, the next 60. I've contracted for 3 books from each series. By the time those come out, I'll have written the equivalent of 2 more books for each series.

I have no idea where either stories end. I have a lot left to write. Both stories have small arcs ending and big arcs beginning.

If you haven't read both stories or you want to re-read them, now is the time. You have at least a couple of months and I will give updates as I know more. I have to do a lot of editing before anything happens, and then do another run through before I even hand the books to Aethon and their editors look them over.

Thank you for Reading. We're only getting started.

Interlude: The Snow over Takayama

It was snowing in Takayama. The thin, white layer coated the traditional wooden buildings and the swirling flakes obscured some of the details of the modern world. It was a lovely illusion and Julius sat in front of his small house's largest window watching the storm as he sipped some tea. He had the entire afternoon to himself, he was enjoying the peaceful bit of time with nothing to do, while at the same time regretting its existence. This was meant to be his game day. Once a week for the past nine years he had opened up his game to a select group of up old friends and young enthusiasts. Sometimes as many as two dozen of them played at once, while other weeks it was just he and his old crew.

Today, no one was exploring the galaxy in a patched-together ship. He missed it already. Legally, he shouldn't be playing ever. But he had no money to take and no lawyer was going to come after a dozen old men playing an old game. In many ways, it wasn't the same game. He couldn't risk owning an SC6 machine, and even if he could fit one into his small house, there was no one nearby to play. Fritz was in Canada, the Moreski brothers were in Poland, Dan was in the US, Abe still insisted on staying in Antarctica in a small research station and played when he wasn't busy counting penguins.

When they got together now, it was using VR helmets and a custom set of controls he had built for each person.

It wasn't the same as being together in the same machine as the rest of your crew, hearing them through the thin compartment walls as they cursed at pirates and hearing their voices over the crappy sound system. But they got to play. He was still sad he had missed attending the event where they played his game. That little girl had impressed him. Twenty-four machines! Where had she found that many SC6 machines? Granted, they were in horrible shape. He'd spent most of a month helping them test and repair them for the event. He'd skirted close to the legal line that would have seen another lawsuit on his doorstep. By calling it a 'promotional event' with no income, they had pulled it off. He regretted not being there to watch, but the realities of his situation were harsh. He'd fought too hard to keep the game alive, and taken on too much debt. It would follow him forever. This was why he accepted charity from old friends, living in what had been a vacation house in Japan. If he owned nothing, they could take nothing.

Watching the event had brought back the old excitement. They'd sent him all of the video from the event, as well as the data from each of the machines. He spent hours each week looking at the fights. Those crazy fights! Someone had leaked builds; that was obvious. His sources in some of the older teams told him that the corporate teams had started it, but someone had turned the tables on them. This resulted in some of the most outlandish configurations he'd ever seen and some very fun battles. Maximized Grazers vs a horde of LAC had been so much fun to watch. He'd always told people to watch out for that build.

But the Claw Master team still confused him. If he didn't have all the data, he'd have sworn what they had done wasn't possible. He'd seen someone slingshot missiles around a black hole, gaining velocity and obscuring anyone trying to track them. He'd done it a few times himself. But with a full navigational computer, advanced targeting AI, and on a private server with mods that allowed for bigger computers and better sensors. Somehow the navigator on their team had done it with just the raw data from the sensor net and sent the missiles around not one, but two black holes. Just insanity. He'd checked the video to see if the navigator had a personal computer sitting on his lap, but to his surprise it was just a young boy, sweating while concentrating intensely on the game and making rapid changes with his controls, the way any navigator looked in the middle of a game. He'd sent a request for his email, but had gotten no reply.

He'd ask again, next month, but for now he sat watching the snow come down, and wondering how to keep a quad fusion drive from exploding when you tried to make three jumps in a row. Maybe he could set-up a simulator for just the navigator role and try to do it himself. He had the time. His musings were interrupted by an incoming phone call. Someone with more money than him, asking for a full video conference via data-net. He moved to a monitor and accepted the call.

On the screen appeared a smiling man in an expensive suit. Julius's heart sank. This wasn't someone he knew, and that was always bad. He took a deep breath, and prepared himself for another fight over the little money he had left.

"Dr. Shepherd? Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me. I'm Wyatt Eady, but please, call me Wyatt."

"Of course, and if we are being informal, please call me Julius. It's a long time since I was teaching astrogation at MIT. What is it that I can do for you, Wyatt?"

Wyatt Eady sat forward in his chair with an excited look on his face. "I wanted to talk to you about SC6. Forgive me, I just played a game on a simulator some of our guys put together and I had a great time. You really created a fabulous game."

Ah, so it was about the game. Julius knew how this went. The polite man would compliment him and then demand something. He wasn't sure he wanted to stretch this out. Still...he was being polite. "Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. May I ask the reason for your call? I'm sure you understand that I can hardly call it 'my game' any longer. I had to sign away most of my copyrights, patents on the machines, and rights to the game. That was quite some time ago."

The polite man nodded. "Yes, I've done my research. I'm not happy with what I found or the way things were done, but as you say, that was long ago. I can only work with the situation that I find before me. Especially in light of recent events."

"Ah, I see. You are referring to the promotional even put on by the Manpower Corporation. I have to stress that I neither gave my permission, nor could I. They found the machines, talked to the various people claiming ownership, or didn't. I don't know."

Mr. Eady nodded again. "Yes, the ownership is quite tangled. But I have to stress one point: I and the people who employ me feel that SC6 is your game, and always will be."

"What is it that you want, Mr. Eady? I'm an old man who doesn't have a cent to his name. I can't afford healthcare beyond seeing an acupuncturist and drinking herbal tea. You can insist that it's my game until I die, but I can't pay you anything."

"Oh...I'm sorry. I'm not being clear." Wyatt seemed embarrassed, and fumbled with some paperwork. "I've bungled this badly, Dr. Shepherd, please forgive me. I should have chosen my words more carefully, especially when thinking about your interactions with other corporations."

He continued quickly. "You see, we want to partner with you, buying the right to bring a version of SC6 to market, and of course, paying royalties to you."

Julius blinked twice. "I see. While I admit that I would love to explore that idea, there are three corporations who all think they own my game."

Wyatt smiled and forwarded files to Julius. "I have taken care of that. All parties who claimed any rights to your game have been convinced to sell them or give them to my employer. Claw Master Inc. now owns those rights. And if we go ahead with this partnership, our first step is to sell you those rights for the sum of one American dollar. This puts all of the ownership of your game back in your hands. We can then proceed into the partnership with a clearer vision of what we want to do."

"That...yes...a dollar? Yes, I agree. Tell me about the partnership. What are we doing?" These documents gave him back his game. They weren't even contingent on a further deal. He sent a payment of one dollar to the mysterious Claw Master Inc. and gained control of his game for the first time in many years.

"Thank you, Wyatt, and thank whoever is behind this. I'm quite overwhelmed."

The man behind the desk smiled brightly. "Oh, we are just getting started. What we propose is to move SC6 into a complete virtual universe, playable in virtual reality using MK VII gaming pods. Full NPC support. Full astrogation. And we'd like to use all of the mods developed for your game. If individuals other than yourself developed those, we will pay them for the rights, or pay them royalties. We want to rebuild SC6 the way you meant it to be. And we have a few twists of our own that we would like to run by you."

"I'm agreeable to all of that, Wyatt. But I have to warn you, I'm a little out of the way here. Data-net access is very limited and I don't own a gaming pod. You mentioned royalties. I might be able to relocate for some time, if you could advance me enough to do so. But either way, I'm in."

"I'm very happy to hear that, sir. How about this? I know you would hate to relocate permanently from such a lovely place to live, but what if we provided you an apartment here in our research complex for extended visits. We'll provide you with funds to cover the cost of travel, as well as an advance on royalties. That way you could work with our staff in developing the new game, and take advantage of our pods here at our office. We can also supply you with a pod for your home. Everyone who remembers the game has stressed how important it is to bring you on board, along with your ideas. We even have two test groups who can't wait to go explore the galaxy. They also mentioned that the 'Seedy Bars' mod needed to be included."

Julius smiled. If anything, that last statement convinced him that Wyatt had talked to some of the older players. "Of course, what would SC6 be without a place to drink after your ship blows up. But I'm curious, what are these twists you have in mind, Wyatt?"

"Oh, just a few ideas some of the lads came up with. You see, we are working with the creator of a new VRMMORPG, called Genesis Engine. They suggested that the universe was too big to only have humans building starships. They have some ideas to include Dwarven Engineers, Space-Rat mercenaries, and other races, along with their own unique ships and space stations."

Julius was excited, especially after he saw the sketches of the new races. "Oh, that will be fun. And bars, they will need unique bars as well."

Wyatt agreed. "What would an Orbital Engineering Station be without a bar for the hard-working dwarves?"

The two men talked for another two hours after which Julius started packing to catch his flight the next day to start his new job at Claw Master Inc.

Chapter 224: He's Alive!

The high-velocity train that connected New York to Paris was expensive but an essential expense for some people. Especially people who bored easily and to whom boredom was a form of torture. Nina hated the trains more than any of them. Anything that confined her movement felt like a cage, and she was done with cages for the rest of her life. The others picked up on her anxiety and did their best to help, but only Onyx had an understanding of the psychological torture they had been through. Both he and Nina had chosen characters that had addictions. He to certain sense enhancing tea, and her to instincts that drove her to hunt.

The debate over why those addictions were present in the game was a long standing argument among the five of them. It was complicated by their choosing races that were normally unavailable to regular players. Bork was convinced that the whole thing had been a trap set by someone in Seimovich's organization, but Onyx had his doubts, partly because Bork saw everything as a trap. He didn't discount the possibility because Bork had also been right many times, and spotting traps kept them alive and free.

He hadn't missed that the third person captured by the Code Mage had also had his addictions. Tallsqueak had yearned for the cheese that Philistron offered him the same way he yearned for a fragrant cup of tea. They all agreed that the rat must have become trapped in the same way they had, using one of Seimovich's hacked pods. Beyond that, they disagreed. Onyx couldn't shake the feeling that it might be their lost brother, Milo. The coincidence in name was only part of it. The rat had simply been too smart to be an ordinary person. He'd not only cracked their code, but he'd replied to them in verse! It was the casual way he did things to enabled their escape that added to that conviction, and somehow turned a hopeless situation into freedom from the game.

Bork had scoffed at the idea. He was convinced that none of them could survive without the challenge of interacting with each other. Boredom meant death by insanity, and how could any of them find a challenge if abandoned on their own in a rotting habitat? Nina didn't want to talk about the game, and her memories were hazy because of her addiction. She also didn't like rats before and had taken a dislike to Tallsqueak immediately. More racial psychology?

Zander and Algernon were intrigued by the idea but not enough to enter the game and its potential to trap them. And they had other things to keep them busy.

The latest job had certainly shown that. It had been a grueling three months, racing against time to control a genetically engineered virus that had been let loose in Kolkata. The virus had two main forms. Those who caught the active form of the virus rapidly fell into a coma while the virus attacked their bodies, re-writing small sections of their DNA. This form of the virus was 10% fatal and slightly contagious. Those who didn't die would make a nearly full recovery with two lasting symptoms: They were more docile and prone to obeying orders, and the change was hereditary. It had taken months for researchers to realize what the virus was doing.

The inactive version of the virus hid inside the host and, after a period of 3-12 weeks, started multiplying and showing the effects. In this case, the host became extroverted and energetic. They were also a carrier for both versions of the disease and highly contagious. Often the most dedicated and hard-working medical and emergency service personnel were found to be carriers of the virus.

Rebus Biotech Labs had volunteered their services and, after a frustrating three months of stalling by the government, had been allowed to set up laboratories, testing centers, and large quarantine sites. The five of them had used thousands of people to gather data and samples, tracking the outbreaks. For three months, they worked 22 hours a day breaking down the virus, finding the mechanics it used to multiply and creating vaccines to stop the spread.

It was Bork that made the breakthrough, not with medicine, but with what they did best, hacking into data systems. The barriers put in place to slow down their access and stymie their investigations had infuriated him. He broke into government agencies looking for who was profiting from the virus. Instead, he found the source itself. Government funds had been siphoned to a division of Alchemarx in an effort to create drugs that would make the populace of the 26 habitats in Kolkata more docile. Instead of drugs, the corporation had suggested a virus they had created.

Initial testing showed that the virus was more effective and cheaper than the use of drugs in the water. But after it was deployed, mutations increased both the number of fatalities and the infection rate. Soon it had jumped from the habitats to the general populace, and India had yet another pandemic racing through the population. All of Kolkata was placed in quarantine, and corporations lined up to offer their services in exchange for long-term payments that would cost the government trillions over the next decades.

Once Bork uncovered the origin of the virus, creating the vaccines was simple. A cure would be more expensive. But a solution was found that would save the taxpayers of India from footing the bill. Alchemarx volunteered to produce and distribute the virus free of charge, only accepting minor tax benefits for their generous services. Amid the costs of producing the virus was a large payment to Rebus Biotech for their work in developing them. And several other generous deposits to small banks in different parts of the world. Alchemarx was a large corporation and people were fired all the time. When one biotech division totally disappeared from the corporate structure, no one noticed or cared. Similarly, dozens of government functionaries retiring suddenly also caused no notice. Both sets of people found that their retirement funds and wealth were greatly diminished overnight.

The work had been non-stop, but with enough infrastructure in place, the blackmail finished, and the culprits outed, the five people who were the heart of Rhebus headed to one of their homes for rest before starting the next job. By consent, none of them engaged in personal hobbies while on the job. Onyx was anxious to get home and see what games had been delivered to him while he was gone. While playing the first one, he was streaming videocasts from the last three months. One small gaming event caught his eye. They were actually holding an SC6 event. His screams of anguish brought the rest of the family running.

Nina was there first, "What is it? What's wrong?" She saw nothing on the screens to cause such a response, but it was obvious that Onyx was upset.

"They played SC6, and I missed it! I've been waiting years to play that game!"

The others piled into the room and started to laugh. Onyx's love for obscure games was legendary. "OMG! They had a retro video game tournament! And we missed it? Why? Why is life so cruel."

Algernon shook his head sadly. "If it's any consolation, we have enough income from Alchemarx to buy all of those games and have our own tournament here. I think you already own half of them."

Onyx was inconsolable. "Not the same. I missed the excitement of watching it all live. Maybe if we made popcorn and all watched it together, I might feel better."

"Fine, nothing good on Politician Cage-Match tonight anyway. Just two guys in London fighting over who gets to be head dog-catcher, and I hear Boris already bribed his opponent. I'll make popcorn." Zander ran off to program the kitchen to deliver the munchies needed for a night of watching stuff.

Onyx loaded up the pre-game talk and put it on one of the screens. The rundown of the teams was interesting: Three corporate teams were competing with two of the better-known teams from two decades ago, with the last team being made up of locals from the habitat where the event was being held. They were sponsored by a little-known tech company called Claw Master.

Algernon rewound the section with the ad from the new company. "Hey, I ordered something from them. I think it already arrived."

Nina glared at him. "Were you cheating and keeping up with your technology research while we were working to unravel that virus?"

He looked pained and in anguish at the accusation. "You wound me with your accusations, but no. I set up a program to scour for things I might want to get, and it automatically placed the orders according to my parameters. I only know about this package because of the cost." Nina had complained several times about how Algernon spent his money. He loved ordering things but rarely opened the packages. He had rooms full of deliveries that they routinely donated to charities.

"What did you get, and what was the cost? Just curious, no judgment."

He looked down his nose at her. "Only the latest and greatest in gaming gloves. I wanted to be in on the initial testing and reviews for my tech report. They were letting the first wave of 100 sets go for the low, low price of one million dollars each, only available to firms that would help them test for efficiency and side effects. The early tests are quite good, putting the M-1000 gloves into second place."

Bork stood up. "If you paid five million for some fancy gloves, I want to see them. I'll go dig them out."

Five minutes later, the room was filled with five people munching on an assortment of high-sugar snacks, popcorn, and fizzy sodas as the SC6 match started. Two monitors were carrying commentary, and another six were showing views from the game. Nina and Bork were playing Smashy-Dwarf 7 with the optional chainsaw rules. Beethoven vied with Bachman-Turner Overdrive on the speakers.

Onyx was in heaven. "This is insane. Those builds are too extreme; someone was very good at anticipating what the other teams were going to bring."

Bork agreed. "True, but if anything, espionage before the game was always won by the large corporations that could pay for it, and not two teams of old players. Those guys are tearing up the pro teams, even without Claw Master helping."

The match entered the end game, and everything changed. Missiles came out of nowhere, and Claw Master somehow pulled off not one but two warps with a quad fusion drive. And then a third that ended spectacularly in the destruction of their opponents.

Onyx turned off everything except the SC6 monitors. "Play it again from the start; that isn't possible."

His siblings noticed he had dropped into a state of hyper-focus and didn't argue. They played the match again, all of them intrigued and wondering what Onyx had seen.

They watched it again and then a third time before Onyx dropped his focus. "No one should be able to do that, not with the available resources each team had. I might, and I stress the word 'might', be able to figure the missile trajectories or hold the fusion drive together for those jumps, but not at the same time."

Bork had been paying attention and now brought up a simulation for the game. "Let's test it. I've programmed a simulation for the Clawmaster ship. Each of you can run through the navigator's role and see if you can handle the fusion drive or the trajectories. Then try both at once."

The room became silent as each person sat with their controls and VR helmet, replaying the session over and over. After an hour, they all took off their helmets and compared notes. Algernon had failed each time at the combined simulation but had figured out how to slingshot the missiles after three tries. Everyone else had similar results, with no one but Onyx being able to make three warp jumps.

Bork voiced the obvious conclusion. "Someone either cheated, or the navigator was equal to us in their ability to handle calculations and process multiple problems at once."

Onyx looked at all of them as they nodded. "And we know that's the habitat we lost Milo in."

Bork shook his head. "Coincidence. It has to be. He couldn't survive that long on his own. Someone is baiting us."

Algernon took a deep breath. "I'm not sure. The thought of that being a trap is hard to believe, but also, we did work in that habitat, and there was no sign of him."

Nina was silent, thinking.

Zander was watching the rest of the videocast. "We weren't looking, though, and if it was one of us after all this time, he'd know how to hide. Whether he's still sane, I don't know. But he'd know how to hide." They watched the rest of the video cast, looking at the Claw Master team as they accepted the award. None of the people could be Milo, but they recognized the leader.

"That's Belinda Sabbatino. I don't like the coincidence." Bork was agitated and feeling the walls close in. Something wasn't right. "We took the Manpower job specifically to keep track of Seimovich's remaining relatives and set up surveillance of him. We know he's been in that habitat recently. And now there's bait to draw us in."

Onyx put the start of the event on the screen, using all four cameras that had been set up to film it. "I'm watching the video game competition; someone else get into the security system and look through the footage. Look for Victor, Belinda, and...anyone else that might be interesting."

Algernon yelled out. "I'm accessing the Raxxon cameras; they give a much better view of things. Zander, go into the original system that Manpower installed."

Onyx yelled out, "Look at this! Watch these two people play. They're actually beating Pacman 2047. Has that ever been done?"

Nina was flexing her hands, then looked at the screen. "They're wearing gloves like these."

Bork stopped what he was doing and looked at Nina. She was testing her reaction time with the new gloves over and over. Each time she changed to a new test, and each time she got the same results. She was focused entirely on what she was doing, and Bork got the other's attention and pointed at her. Nina was born with only her right hand. She had tried several prosthetics over the years but was currently using an experimental biological replacement cloned from her DNA. The new technology that Rebus was pioneering wasn't perfected yet, especially for their modified bodies. Normally her left hand was 25% slower than her right, causing her a great deal of frustration. But not now. Her tests showed that her right-hand reaction times were boosted over normal, and her left had reaction times equal to her right hand. After twenty-seven tests she snapped out of her focus and sat back, looking at the rest of them. "My hand works. She held up the left hand, shouting, "My Hand Works!"

Before anything else could be said, Onyx got their attention. "Look at the smaller person dressed like Neo. See how he moves? Look at his size. He's wearing a prosthetic left leg. And he isn't in the award ceremony, but you can see him getting into the SC6 machine with the team. He's their navigator!"

Algernon was trying to watch the same footage. "It's hard to see, but I agree. He's wearing a high-end prosthetic."

"Look at this. It's from the start of the event. The Claw Master Team. Look at the footage of the last person coming through with them. He gets hassled by security and has to take off his leg." Zander was hopping up and down, yelling loudly.

Onyx looked at the footage. "It's Milo! He's alive!"

Bork shut off all of the screens and music. "Calm down. Now! Think."

He took a deep breath. "Too many variables. Slow down. We have what looks like Milo, on a team with Belinda Sabbatino, in the same location as Victor Seimovich."

Onyx controlled his breathing. "If Victor was using that habitat for the Genesis operation, and Milo was there, he might have had access to a pod similar to the ones Nina and I used. That could have been him in the game, rescuing us."

Nina held up her hands. "They're wearing gloves like this. My hands work! This is a technology we need to know more about." Nods all around on that.

"The extra solar panels! The work they paid us for that we didn't do!" Onyx kicked himself. He'd been so close but had dropped his investigation. Onyx looked around the room, then stood up. "I propose we take a new job."

Zander smiled. Onyx was making things official, and truly, it did look like a challenge. "The goal of this job?"

"A complete investigation of the South Philadelphia Habitat. An investigation into Manpower and Victor Seimovich, along with John and Belinda Sabbatino. Concurrently, an investigation into Claw Master Inc. Goal of the job is to determine if this is our brother Milo, and if so, make contact with him and bring him home."

"I have two concerns. The first is that this is an elaborate trap to draw us into the open. The second is that Milo might be working with Victor." Everyone agreed with Bork. Caution was always a good thing, and paranoia had kept them alive before.

Everyone nodded and got to work.

Chapter 225: Of Wizards and Liches

Milo was playing a game of DeathRace2020 with Belinda, racing ramshackle, over-powered vehicles through a plague-zombie-infested city where the inhabitants huddled inside their homes. Milo ran over an open sewer hole in the middle of the road, and a large clawed hand reached up and ripped off one of his tires. His vehicle tumbled end over end before a horde of zombies tore him from his car and ate his brains. Belinda looked at him with annoyance and then went on to finish the mission for an easy win.

"What the hell is up with you? That's the lamest trap in the game! You can see them on the road!"

Milo stood up, slumped, and put his hands in his pockets. He reviewed the problem for the thousandth time and saw no winnable outcome. It all depended on someone else and meant he was taking a chance. "We need to talk." He turned and left the house. The rest of the family looked at each other, having no more clue what was going on than Belinda. This was odd behavior for Ghost. Leave? Sure, all the time. But to talk to someone? That was new. Belinda wasn't sure what to do. Yumi sat down and put an arm around her. "You'll drive yourself crazy trying to figure him out. But if he wants to talk, go talk." Nodding to her, Belinda grabbed her arm braces and hobbled to the door on her own power.

Outside, one of her bodyguards had her wheelchair ready for her. "The young man over by the tree said the two of you needed room to talk. We can go down the hall, but we have to keep you in sight." That was standard procedure. Belinda had gotten used to always having them around, trailing behind her. They backed off, and she moved over to where Milo sat with his back to a wall, near the tree but with clear lines of vision for anyone approaching him. She'd noticed how he was always skittish when outside of the house and always watching around him.

Looking at him, she noticed he was trembling slightly and in a state of high anxiety. Not good. "So, what do we need to talk about?"

Milo looked up. He was always Milo in her head, but she had made it a habit to call him Ghost when out of the game. He liked that better.

"I have a problem and several sub-optimal ways to solve it. Each has its own possibility of a disastrous outcome."

She considered that statement. Mama had spoken to her and all the other children about paying close attention to what Milo said, especially when he was troubled by something. She claimed it could give you clues about what was going on in his head. "Well, how can I help? Do you want to run the problem by me and talk about how to solve it?"

He shook his head. "That is the problem."

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "The problem is you can't talk about the problem?"

"Yes."

"Well, can we talk about the reasons why we can't talk about the problem? Or can you talk about it abstractly?"

He considered that. "Let's postulate that several people are playing together in Genesis. Everyone gets some loot from a treasure chest. Pretend we killed a world boss. Big glowy chest. Everyone is happy, and everyone grabs some cool items. But there's a problem: One person might have a cursed item. The curse works on her because she has a really good heritage, and is descended from a major boss in the game. Let's say her ancestor is a lich." He paused, and Belinda indicated she was following along.

"The problem is, only one person knows this, a Wizard who has a cheat code that can find out the truth, showing him the friends character sheet. That isn't good because she made him promise never to look at her sheet. He can use his cheat code to let him look at her character sheet to find out if she is descended from the Lich and whether the curse will take effect. But it's more complicated than that. Let's say that if the curse takes effect, the friend will become more powerful but evil. If she rejects the curse, she keeps the item, and it works normally. And, of course, if she isn't related to the lich, she won't be affected at all."

Belinda screwed up her face, then her eyes got big. "Oh, the curse isn't the problem. It's using the cheat code. You're saying he's violating her trust?"

Milo nodded.

Belinda went on. "Ok, so, the first option is just to tell her he can do it. That way, she gets to decide to show him her sheet. Let's say she says no...Oh! I see. If she says no, now the wizard has a choice of letting it just happen, or he can use the cheat code against her wishes. Just knowing he has a cheat code might spoil their friendship. If she becomes evil, it probably spoils their friendship."

Taking a deep breath, Belinda went forward. "Ok, so trust, and choice can lead to no, but if it leads to yes? Then he's helping her. Maybe she isn't related? Damn, but if she is, it will give her the choice of power and evil or ditching the magic item."

Milo sat up straighter. "Or he can betray her trust, use the code, get the info, and then have to deal with either telling her or hiding it and having her find out later. I don't like a lot of the scenarios."

Belinda's head snapped around suddenly. "Is this about the ring you gave me?! It better not be. I love that ring, and you aren't making me toss it into a volcano!"

Milo actually smiled at that. "No, that ring is fine. Glad you liked it."

She seemed relieved. "So, you have an abstract problem with lots of bad outcomes. How about we move on to the real problem now and try to solve it?"

He shook his head and wrapped his arms around his knees, looking straight ahead. "Nope."

"You can't talk about the problem? What's stopping you?"

"Suboptimal solutions."

"Ok, then let's go back to the Wizard and his friend. What's worse, losing her to the lich or losing her to breaking her trust?"

He shrugged. "One is bad. The other is bad. He promised. He also promised to help her."

Belinda got an idea. "What if he just stays friends with her? If she's good, he's good, but if she joins the lich, he does too?"

Milo thought about this one and then shook his head violently. "No, very bad. So many people suffer. Everyone would lose. And the last god would have to hunt down the evil wizard."

That part Belinda couldn't follow. "Ok, that's bad. Does the Wizard have a mother he can ask about things? Mothers are good listeners."

"They are, but the Wizard's mother doesn't know how powerful a wizard he is, and he can't reveal his friend's secrets or talk about the lich. But his mother is part of the problem. She made him promise not to betray his friend."

Belinda wished she had a spread sheet to keep track of things. "Ok, so we're back to the basic problem. Let me think a moment." Milo was frustrating to deal with. It was like he was trying to give her clues. At the same time, he was confusing her. She kept trying to think of something in the game that had him upset. She felt like she was involved with this somehow. And then it hit her.

"I made you promise to never lie to me."

"You did."

"Which would make me the friend."

"Nope, won't talk about it."

Ok, she thought she was getting somewhere. So he wanted to talk to her about something, but he didn't want to lie to her, and not talking about something was just as bad. He'd found out something about her. That made no sense; she played video games and sat in a wheelchair or did hours of physical training that never made her better, only not worse. She thought for a half hour while he sat quietly. When the revelation hit her, she wondered how she could not have seen it sooner. He was smart, he used a computer, and there were too many news stories he could stumble across. He'd found out about her Uncle Victor and was trying to warn her.

It was ironic because she'd known Uncle Victor was a bad man for a long time. When you're little, no one expects you to understand Russian or to listen to what your bored security guards talk about. Sometimes Uncle Victor would speak with his associates in front of her. He used the cover of taking her places as a way to meet with people. Everyone ignored the poor little girl in the wheelchair who could barely move her head. Too many people saw a broken body and assumed a fractured mind. She'd listened and learned a lot. But even knowing what he did, he was still her Uncle and one of the few people she had that talked to her and treated her like an adult. Milo was probably worried about how she would react. The analogy seemed clear now. If he warned her about Victor, would that ruin their friendship? This wasn't the place to talk to him about that. Her security guards certainly had a way to listen to their conversation, no matter what they said.

"I heard a story about a lich when I was little, but that wasn't his name. It's an old story from Russia about an evil creature called Koschei. My Uncle Victor told me about him. He was called the Deathless, and no matter what happened, no one could kill him. I was always scared because my uncle told me that Koschei could hear your secrets if a shadow were nearby, so you could only talk about him in bright sunlight or a dark cave with no shadows."

He smiled at that. "Did I tell you where I was exploring in Genesis? I'm nearly a mile down in the ground, exploring huge caves. I need a break, though. I could be in Shadowport in two days at noon, where we killed the World Boss together."

"Sounds great. I finally get to hang out with you in Genesis. It's a date." She started rolling back to the house. "Now, come play a game and pay attention. It was pathetic watching you before."

Milo got up, agreeing with her. Dying to a sewer trap? Pathetic. Then he froze. "A date?"

Chapter 226: Time for Schooling

Milo pushed aside his anxieties about dealing with Belinda to the back of his mind. There was no use worrying about things until they next talked, and he had to focus hard to erase the shame of dying in a sewer trap. He was mostly successful, beating her five out of seven games, despite Minerva insisting he needed a "scouting partner." She sat beside him, pointing and yelling, "Lookout! Sewer Monster!" whenever she spotted an open manhole. When Milo glared at her, she only giggled and said innocently, "Helping!".

The big news was the change in schooling for the twenty children living in this quadrant of their floor. Instead of using the old computers and VR helmets at the school located two floors up and across the section, they would be learning using brand new MK VII pods that would be part of the new facility Big Butch would oversee. They would have access to the pods for educational purposes, and if they did their assignments, they would be rewarded with hours of gaming. The inclusion of Genesis brought a round of cheers. That Big Butch got to go to work in Genesis had always generated a sentiment of 'Adults get all the cool stuff!'. It didn't help that he told them about his job when he was home and exaggerated the best parts. He stressed now that getting to do the tutorials and starting areas of the game was totally dependent on finishing their daily and weekly assignments.

To his surprise, Milo wasn't excused from this program. Big Butch took him aside later for a discussion. "From what I'm told, you've kept up with your schooling and even done advanced classes. But, knowing how to reprogram a food processor or do fancy math won't get you a technician's license someday without proof that you went to school. We need to show that you did the classes. Mr. Smith is helping with that. He said that since your files are sealed, we can give you the tests, starting with the basics, and you can advance through the tests as far as you can. That way, you get credit just like you had been taking official courses over the years. Then we start you on the classes that will take you higher. Trust me, it will come in handy someday when you want to try for a good job, maybe at that company that makes the gloves."

That made sense to Milo. They were creating documentation. "That shouldn't take me long."

Big Butch shook his head and smiled. "Oh yes, it will! You're going to take your time doing this. Use that big brain of yours. What happens if you finish years of tests in a few days? Now I have to kick you out of the program. You're done."

Going slow wasn't something Milo had ever considered. He did so now and saw some of the advantages. Increased socialization with others, and he didn't widen the chasm between himself and them. That would be counter-productive.

"Learn to slow down, son. Take your time and milk the system a little. Have some fun playing games on those fancy machines with the other kids. Or tutor some of them when they get stuck. You can learn a lot about yourself when you spend time teaching others. And you can help me with running this fancy program. I'm going to need an assistant." Milo thought for a moment and then agreed. This was all a new experience, but he was moving in the direction he wanted.

After a few hours, he said some quick goodbyes and prepared to leave. He had things to do. One of which was to finish exploring the underground cavern and then start the long climb back up through the tunnels to Shadowport, far above. Ironic that Belinda and he were sitting next to each other, and days of travel away, both at the same time. He nodded to Belinda as he left, and she held up two fingers about their meeting. After leaving the apartment, he walked past her guards and into another part of the habitat. Normally he scrambled quickly into the ductwork, but he had become predictable. He needed to vary his paths, both in the hab and ducts and drops. He noted that one of the unused apartments that fronted the courtyard had someone moving in. The older man was stooped and using a cane. He looked ancient to Milo with a wispy white beard and bald head. He waved absently as Milo went by, slowly moving several small boxes and plastic trash bags into his small apartment.

Some apartments in the habitat were oddly shaped and small, where walls and corridors met and produced a space smaller than normal. The residents referred to them as slivers. They were always small, often oddly shaped and triangular. The benefit they came with was single occupancy. A glance into the room showed Milo a cramped living area with barely any floor space. Without asking, Milo flipped one of his braces around, used it to hook one of the bags, and pulled it into the small room. The old man nodded his thanks. "Appreciate it. They moved me up here to get me out of the black mold over in G, but they dumped my stuff by the door." He patted Milo on the shoulder after moving the last bags into the space. "You make it look easy, and you've got two canes to my one." He laughed a bit and then coughed. Milo noticed his faded and much-patched coverall had a patch he didn't recognize.

"You worked in maintenance? What patch is that?"

"Yep. For about ten years, a long time ago. I was working in the 'ponics section. Nice work, lots of plants, and even some fresh food now and then if no one was watching. Made the air better. But they shut it down and moved me to plumbing. I haven't worked in a few decades; I just hide inside and play games. But they don't make clothes like these any more. Comfortable and don't wear out as quickly. And people ask me about the patch." He smiled at that. Milo noticed that the plastic trash bags held dozens of video games. He pointed to them and then to Butch's house.

"We take our games pretty seriously. I'm Milo. Butch lives over there. Tell him you have stuff to trade if you need new stuff to play.

The old man's eyes lit up, and he nodded. "I might at that. I mostly sold my extras before the move. Less to pack with me. But I wouldn't mind something new. I'm James or Jimmy. Or Old Jim. Most folks call me Old Jim now. Take your pick."

"Nice meeting you, James. I've got to go. Make sure you talk to Butch."

As Milo moved down the hallway, Old Jimmy watched him go. He'd watched the polite boy closely, but he hadn't tried to steal anything. He'd stopped to help an old man. Quite a contrast to what he was used to. This might not be a bad place if the other kids were half as nice and had games to trade. But he'd be careful; old habits died hard. After a nap and food, he took an ancient Gameboy and hobbled over to sit by the horrible-looking fake tree. He sat and played with the sound turned up louder than normal until he was noticed, and the local children came to investigate him. The youngest child handed him a paper plate with two pancakes and real syrup. "Mama says welcome. We have extra dinner, and she thought you might be hungry." Jimmy took the food and ate a bite. Surprisingly good. This was a well-off family.

They became very friendly when he asked for Butch and mentioned trading games. They brought forth their games, and some trading was done. He declined an offer to eat with the family. One step at a time. He was cautious but optimistic about his move to Section E and retired to his little room in a better mood than when he'd arrived.

Milo, meanwhile, had arrived home and crawled from the ductwork into the water tank. It seemed smaller all the time. He wanted a larger area but wasn't trading security for a bigger room. His idea to build a hidden area underneath the habitat had failed when his machine had found something else buried there. Until he knew what it was, it would be foolish to relocate. And he was so curious about what it was. The large tunneling machine was for excavating, not scouting. He solved that problem by spending money on a new machine that was used to map underground areas before large-scale drilling or excavating was done. The Carson T-3 Underworld Cartographer was made by the same company that made the large machine. Unlike the huge tunneler, it was designed to shift only enough dirt and stone to let the machine move through areas that need mapping. It trailed a three-inch hose behind it that disposed of the crushed rock. Milo had it delivered to a warehouse below section H and forged the paperwork to hide his purchase. He programmed it to find the edges of the hardened area and map its shape, along with any caverns, water and power lines, or transportation tunnels that it found. It would report back its progress, and he'd check in each time he was out of his pod. He knew he had to be careful. Unlike the game world, this wouldn't be a ratkin Hollow or a Dwarven Engineering Outpost.

With that job started and nothing else pressing, he got into his pod. It was time for another half-day of exploration and then a long walk back up through the tunnels. He had plenty of time to get to Shadowport for his date with Belinda. Date? No! Meeting. Talk. Why had she used that word?

Chapter 227: Just a quick explore and then a trip home

Waking up for the second time in his camp on the top of the tower, Milo made his plans for the day while he heated water for tea and chewed on some slightly stale bread with a thin slice of cheddar. He still had some snail meat stored away that he gave to his watch lizard. Georgie had worked a double shift and deserved a big breakfast. The lizard agreed. Milo took a good look around the large cavern, planning his route. He saw two more large, open pit mines, both filled with buildings. If he explored that way, he'd complete a large loop through the cavern and retrace his steps up the long stairway to the ceiling and the Hollow.

He did one small experiment that morning with the sliver of Duram Argenti that he had enchanted the day before by touching it. Holding it in his open palm, he felt nothing. He closed his hand and tried to infuse mana into the sliver, the way he forced mana into runes to charge them. It was like turning on a faucet; some of his mana poured into the sliver until he felt some resistance. Examining the sliver, it had changed again.

Duram Argenti: small chip

Estimated size: 0.25 ounces.

Infused

Hardness: Tier 3

It had drained 300 mana from him, twice the amount needed for the first step. Curiously, the hardness had decreased. The small sliver glowed beautifully. There had to be a use for this ore, and he was sure that the dwarves would know more. Especially those skilled in magi-tech, like Sledgemonkey. He pondered the problem of the ancient miners. The mining style pointed to some of them being skilled in detecting ore hidden in the ground. He could sense hidden veins, but only if they were close to the surface and he was concentrating on the rock near him. Somehow they had found the veins of Duram Argenti that came close to the top of the layer of Duram Gneiss.

But they had been unable to mine further. Were they lacking levels of mining skill? Or lacking tools made of high-tier materials? Both? He'd found the remains of the miners and their overseers but nothing to tell him why the mines were abandoned. He'd seen outcroppings of other ores that were left untouched. Iron, Dark Iron, Deep Copper, Tin, and coal seams. But it was only Silverite they valued enough to dig out. Perhaps this area was far from civilization at the time when the mining operation had been active. He had lots of questions and too few answers. Maybe today would bring more knowledge.

He quickly descended the tower's stairway and began his travels. To his surprise, when he went to dismiss Georgie, the lizard shook his head and headed for the stairs. Milo didn't know enough about magically summoned watch lizards to know if this was normal behavior or not, but if either of them was a professional at their job, it was the lizard. Milo followed along, and as Georgie began to move from cover to cover, he faded into the shadows and skulked behind his pet. The two soon fell into a pattern of only one of them moving at a time as they moved across the abandoned mining complex. Twice, Georgie changed directions and insisted on a different route. Milo noticed a large cave opening the first time, and the second was near a low hill or mound. Milo wondered if it was possible to learn to speak lizard? He was curious about what lurked in those places but not curious enough to look into them when his lizard, whose only job was to guard him, was anxious to avoid them. Still, maybe the next time he came down here?

They came to the first open pit mine, and immediately Milo saw the differences. The houses were decayed and crumbling, most of them reduced to rubble. The tower in the center of the open area was crumbling, with damage on many floors, and the stairway had fallen, filling the bottom two floors with rubble and taking parts of the upper floors with it. Most curiously, the flat, open expanse of Duram Gneiss was broken up in one part. A thirty-foot wide circle of stone was now a crater filled with rubble, the hard stone broken up. More ominously, Milo saw bones and crushed skulls mixed in with the rubble of the houses, along with broken furniture, pottery, and brightly colored cookware. He explored a little and then left.

Roads were everywhere, winding among piles of mining debris, small pits, stairways to the ceiling, and broken towers. He found the site of another large battle. Behind makeshift stone walls, several ogre-sized creatures had fought to the death against hundreds, maybe thousands, of the small miners. Piles of skeletons were piled against the barricades. The dead had been left where they fell, but nearby he found a rusting pile of slave collars taken from the dead. It had been a rebellion then, and whichever side had won, the mines were abandoned after that. He traveled on, coming to the last open pit he planned to investigate. Beyond it was a spindly staircase that went to the ceiling, and past that, the slag pile at the base of the stairway he had descended and the road that ascended the wall to the mines. He was making good time, helped by Georgie, who kept him moving.

The last open pit was large and, like the first, had a village that ringed the pit and ascended in tiers up the side of the pit. There was no tower here, but there was an anomaly. In the center of the pit was a large mound, over 50 feet across and 20 feet high, made of Duram Gneiss. The sides sloped gently up as if a bubble had formed between layers of stone. Something sparkled on top of the mound. Georgie growled and looked anxious. Milo petted him. "Just a quick look, ok? If something big comes out of it, we run like hell until we can start climbing." He started making his way down through the buildings, stopping to listen and skulking through the shadows of the buildings, never exposing himself to the view of the mound. He carefully examined it but saw no openings.

The sparkle was coming from crystals set in the stone. He carefully walked forward, hearing nothing and sensing nothing in the stone. He stopped at the mound's edge and examined a partially exposed crystal.

Mana Crystal Core

Small

Partial Charge: 550/1000 mana

Milo blinked, surprised. He'd seen these before. Sledgemonkey complained about never having enough of them. They were used in many of the more complex types of dwarven machinery. He'd never heard where they came from but had assumed either a mine or they were grown from smaller crystals in a mineral solution. He saw over fifty small crystals on the mound and larger ones near the top. At the apex was a huge, thin crystal, about two feet tall and a few inches across.

Georgie was pulling on his tail, but Milo knew the Engineers needed these crystals. Carefully, he put a hand on the mound. Nothing happened, but he could feel the mound was hollow. Two feet of stone separated him from an inner cavity. He carefully touched a small crystal, but there was none of the mana drain effects he'd experienced in dealing with the nugget of Duram Argenti. Trying to sense how deep the crystal was embedded in the stone, he could sense that a soft substance separated the crystal from the stone. He wiggled the crystal back and forth, easily removing it. The small socket the crystal was embedded in turned out to be a version of Duram Argenti, highly charged with mana.

Duram Argenti foil

Enlivened

Hardness: Tier 1

He carefully checked the crystal for any bit of the metal foil, but it was clean. He put the crystal in his pouch and began gathering more. After clearing one side, he moved up to the larger crystals. Georgie was growling, a low sound but insistent. Milo hurried, just in case. The four large crystals went into his pouch, and he began gathering the smaller ones, leaving the largest crystal for last. Just a hunch, but if anything bad were going to happen, it would be that one.

He could feel a vibration in the stone beneath him. A crack appeared in the mound. Georgie made a sound halfway between a bark and a hiss, taking matters into his paws. He raced up the mound, grabbed the large crystal with his mouth, and ran down the other side, not waiting for Milo and heading toward home. Taking the hint, Milo leaped down from the mound, only to have it explode behind him. Chunks of hard stone blew up and out, one catching him in the shoulder and knocking him to the ground, stunned. A few seconds later, he regained his feet and heard movement behind him.

Quest Initiated: Diplomatic Relations

You have encountered a breeding hive of an unknown variety of intelligent Stone-Lurkers. Use your new Diplomacy skill to assure them that you and your allies mean no harm.

Success: A lot of experience in Diplomacy and the opening of relations between you and a group of insular, xenophobic monsters that would normally feed you to their young.

Failure: If your attempt to talk to the Lurkers goes bad, you will be pulverized into baby food.

Suggestions: Don't hurt the eggs. Don't let them know you were the hero that killed Uthneragrubban.

In a large crater filled with what looked like stone eggs, creatures were wailing and clutching the eggs to their chests. They looked like small stone lurkers but were the color of the Duram Gneiss they lived in. One screamed and pointed at Milo, the others also screaming.

All around him, the ground was trembling. Huge Black Stone-Lurkers erupted from the ground and began lumbering at him as he sprinted away in the direction Georgie had taken.

Quest Failure: Sorry about that; your Lizard stole the scene. But really, with that Crystal Pick in your hand, there was no way you could claim to be innocent of whacking their queen.

New Quest: Catch that Lizard!

Help Georgie escape from a horde of Elite Homicidal Hive Guards who just watched you kill a nest of their babies. We'll talk about rewards if you make it.

Milo vowed that someday he was going to find out just who was behind the System messages and have a long talk with them. They seemed to be more personal than ever before. But for now, he ran as fast as he could. With an agility of 25, Milo was quite fast when he wasn't trying to skulk. Added to that was a 50% bonus to his speed from Fleet of Foot at Rank 10. He bounded from rooftop to rooftop as he put distance between himself and the lumbering stone monsters. Reaching the top, he raced after Georgie. Watch lizards are great sprinters, very dangerous over the short distances, as anyone who tried to dodge an alligator knows. But they aren't made for longer runs. Georgie had paused and was panting, his long tongue out, the crystal on the ground before him. Milo tossed the crystal and his pick into his pack, picked up Georgie, and started running again. His hopes of outrunning the horde of angry Lurkers were dashed as he saw the monsters emerge from the stone and lurch toward him.

He had the horrifying thought that they might be much faster moving through the stone than above it. A theory that was proved as two emerged in front of him!

Chapter 228: Catch that Lizard!

Instead of dodging, Milo sprinted at the first lurker emerging from the ground and leaped high. He bounced off its head, leaped at the next one, and then was behind them both and running. "Keep a look out, Georgie, and warn me if they're getting close."

Rather than skirt around the broken walls and large boulders covering the cave floor, Milo bounced from one to the next as much as possible, hoping that he made a tougher target to any lurker moving through the ground. This worked for a few minutes, and then as he leaped to a rocky outcrop, he was surprised as he landed on a monster as it rose from the ground. The only thing that saved him was the lurker being equally surprised to find its quarry and a small lizard clinging to its face.

Enraged Gneiss-Lurker Hive Guard

Level 10 Elite creature

Temporary boost to speed and damage while enraged.

Able to track their prey through solid stone of less than Tier 3.

Milo leaped as the Gneiss-lurker struck at him with both hands, hitting itself in the face and cracking its own skull rather than crushing the annoying rat it was chasing. Milo wondered how long they would stay mad but suspected it was a very long time, probably forever. He angled his path, aiming for the small, thin staircase that was a much nearer target than the way home. He hoped the lurkers would climb slower than they swam through stone; otherwise, this would be a short and painful race. He wouldn't be so worried if he were alone, but he didn't know if Georgie could resurrect with him. "How about it, buddy? Can you go back to where ever you go to?." The lizard shook his head no, and glanced nervously to their rear.

Behind him came the horde of enraged monsters, anxious to revenge their broken nest by stomping the soft thing into a smear on the ground. Milo could feel the ground shaking as they pounded behind him, their enraged sprint not much slower than him and their stone swimming much faster. Individuals would dive into the rock, only to emerge near him, forcing him to roll and dodge, slowing him down and letting the horde catch up. Based on the rumble of the ground, he thought they were catching up, but a quick glance showed the runners still a hundred yards behind. As a horrible thought hit him, he turned and cut left, changing his course by 90 degrees. The ground was rumbling hard, and then the spot where he would have been exploded as a very large and angry Lurker came out of the ground, screaming to its children.

Enraged Gneiss Lurker Queen

Level 15 Elite creature

Doubled speed and damage while enraged.

Able to track their prey through solid stone of less than Tier 4.

"Sorry for doubting you, Georgie! So very sorry!" The lizard licked his ear, accepted the apology, and hissed at the queen.

He reached the stair and started to climb, his feet pounding up the spiral staircase, his heart pounding. Never again would he begrudge the conditioning that Gilad put him through. Without the daily fighting and exercise, he'd never have been able to make the climb.

The first of the Lurkers reached the staircase and started up considerably slower than Milo. The queen lumbered up and made her own contribution by grabbing a Lurker and throwing it up to the 50 ft level, where it caught the edge of the stairs and began its climb with a head start. Milo didn't think that was sporting at all. He considered throwing a spell to slow them up, but any spell that would hurt these monsters might also damage the stairs, and he had a long way to climb. Lurker after Lurker started up after him, only the queen remaining at the bottom, too large to climb. The staircase was wobbling a little now as the weight of many tons of Gneiss Lurkers pounded on the steps as they chased Milo. But if he could keep up the pace, he could make it to the top and escape.

The queen must have done her own calculations and agreed with him. She struck a hard blow to the base of the staircase, sending a shockwave up it. Milo almost fell as he looked down, and she hit it again. Chunks of stone were flying. He looked at the 250 feet of stairway he had to climb. He wasn't going to make it. The queen was going to sacrifice her minions to make sure he was dead. "Hold on tight, Georgie. This may hurt."

Milo concentrated on the rune of force, and a directional vector made with two engineering runes, controlling them with his tail alone. If it hadn't been a simple application of force he wouldn't have been able to hold it. He stepped into the center hole, holding on with one claw and one toe, making sure of his orientation and pointing his tail straight down. When he was confident of his bearing, he let go and triggered the rune of force. The power of the basic spell lashed out in a line, clipping the shoulder of one Lurker and impacting on the queen's head, striking a hard blow. No Void Rune absorbed the reaction as Milo recreated the experiment when he had tried to cast a spell using Keppler's arm. Milo didn't know what a mule was, but he'd heard the expression 'Kicks like a Missouri Mule' and made a note to himself to look it up as the reaction grabbed hold of him and kicked him straight up with an equal amount of force.

The queen saw her prey escaping, grabbed the stairs with large claws, and braced her legs. Her head hurt, her babies were dead, and she was going to smash a rat! The lowest level of the staircase crumbled, and for an instant, the rest of the construction hung in space before starting to fall. Far above, Milo hadn't reached the top but was slowing. He panicked and recast the spell using Faster Casting. The mule kicked him with both hooves this time. Georgie cried out and held onto Milo tightly. Rungs of the stone staircase flew by in a blur as they passed the point where it met the ceiling. Milo saw horizontal mineshafts go by in the darkness as he kept flying. Below, the spell hit the the Gneiss Lurker Queen, stunning her and thwarting her attempt to move into the ground beneath her to avoid being crushed.

Finally, he emerged into a cavern, rebounded off the ceiling and a large stalactite before hitting a wall and falling into a heap on the cavern floor. He was aching and sore, with less than half his health, but he was alive. Georgie did not look good. The watch lizard wasn't moving, and his tongue was out of his mouth. Milo quickly poured a healing potion over his pet and thumped on his chest. Could you do CPR on a lizard? He was going to find out.

The room shook as 500 feet of stone spiral staircase fell, but that wasn't all. The stairs that made their way up the crevice another 200 feet to where Milo had landed also fell. Gneiss-Lurkers and stones tumbled down. Milo started calculating the kinetic energy released but abandoned the calculation as messages scrolled across his eyes.

You have slain Enraged Gneiss Lurker Hive Guard, gaining 2 CSP

You have gained 250 Experience in Trap Making

You have gained 250 Experience in INT

You have slain Enraged Gneiss Lurker Hive Guard, gaining 2 CSP

You have gained 250 Experience in Trap Making

You have gained 250 Experience in INT

.

You have slain Enraged Gneiss Lurker Queen, gaining 26 CSP

You have gained 2500 Experience in Trap Making

You have gained 2500 Experience in INT

Total gains: 47 CSP, 7500 Experience in Trap Making, and 7500 Experience in INT.

You have successfully completed the quest: Catch that Lizard! Because Georgie survived, he has earned a share of your experience.

Georgie shimmered and began to grow. He rolled over and stood up. His scales were darker green, and his claws seemed to have outpaced his other growth increases.

Georgie has purchased the ability: Guardian Pet 2.

Georgie has purchased +3 Perception.

Georgie has purchased Blessing of Hekate: Canine Speech.

Georgie has purchased Rending Claws

Georgie has purchased Gator Bite!

Milo scratched his ear, and Georgie looked at him and said, "Woof." Then he bounded off to check the cave for anything menacing. Milo stared after him, many questions in his head. Then he shrugged and found some lunch for himself and something to eat for his much bigger pet. He must weigh at least a hundred pounds now. And he could talk to dogs?

Milo considered his own points. He had made a mistake before of saving them as if they were a resource to hoard, like spare parts. There were things he'd had to skip at the end of Tier 2; he should rectify that. He bought Under Linguist, Grunt and Throw Hands, another level of Shadow Skulking, Skilled Provider, and Smugglers Summoning. That left 20 points. He could purchase more mana or health, increase the size of his stash, or gain a better regeneration rate. He considered his day of exploring and then purchased Robust Regeneration. He could now regenerate health 16x faster than normal. That would cut down on his recovery time while out exploring. And maybe keep him alive if one of his impromptu traps backfired. He expected that he was going to need it. The next level of Regeneration appeared on his list:

Near-Fiendish Regeneration Cost: 40 points.

Grants increased, (x24), health recovery. An hour's rest is equal to a day for anyone else. Regenerate scar tissue, and small missing body parts in 1 day. (Helpful when you blow your fingers off with spells or explosives. Good choice! ) A steady diet of cheese speeds the process. Simple wounds will be wiped away in a period of 1 hour, restoring all health. Health regen is slower if regen must deal with healing more complex wounds. (bleeding, missing parts, burns, broken bones, etc.)

Expensive...but coming back from injuries nearly as fast as Larry was a huge increase.

Georgie came running back, excited. In his mouth was a snail at least three times the size of the snails they'd found in the small cavern on their way down. He sat back, waiting for Milo to cook it.

"OK, we'll have a long lunch, but then we have to find a way through these mines to the right staircase. You can show me the snails so that I can mark them on my map. But no more snacks until we get to the Hollow. We'll see if you like puff cakes and syrup."

Chapter 229: Guard Duty

Four hours later, Milo had successfully navigated the maze of mine tunnels and finally found the staircase that led up to the Hollow. Georgie had been a huge help, constantly running to find a way forward, or more often, a tunnel that led to a dead end, saving Milo countless steps. His pet looked tired, and not just from the exercise. His scales were dull, and he was constantly panting. Milo set up his camp, and Georgie barked three times at him, then curled up and went to sleep. Milo made a cup of tea and dismissed his camp, along with his pet. This was the first time Georgie had ever stayed after the camp was recalled to his ring, so Milo could only guess, but it seemed likely his pet could only stay for a short time. He could test it later, but for now, he would let his lizard rest as he climbed back up to the Hollow.

He felt a dull burn in his legs when he finally reached the top and unlocked the door. Another mystery: Which had come first? The stairs or the door? Had the Hollow found a deep crevice and put the door there to keep monsters out? Or had it been in response to a stairway being constructed that led to the hidden tunnels? He might never know. There were still many caverns to explore, but he had a hard time believing anyone would stay in the mining complex if they weren't forced to. He left thinking about those mysteries until his next visit and focused on getting home and taking a nap without being surprised by the girls.

He made his way to the exit in Larry's House. Things looked different now, with Larry moving all of his favorite things to the new house. But a new picture was on the wall. It showed Larry and all of his family together and a map of where to find the new house. At the bottom, it said, 'Larry has a new house and a new family. Please visit.'

From there, he stopped for a meal in the mess hall and found Gilad, Bleusnout, Clawhammer, and Vilma, the newly appointed Master Miner. Smiley waved him to sit down and brought him a double dinner. "Eat up; you're losing weight." Milo took his advice as he appraised the Masters and former Masters of what he had found a mile beneath the Hollow. When he was done, Vilma asked to see the ore he had. She examined the chips carefully and made notes in a small ledger.

"We haven't encountered these minerals anywhere in our mines, but it's known that the deeper caves have harder stone and rare minerals. One of my books mentions Silverite as a high-conductivity metal, but I've not heard of the other metal, this Duram Argenti. That translates to 'Hard Silver.' Interesting that it uses Old Speech. It's a dead language found in ancient books. Halfling scholars prefer it for classifying their herbs, and elven authors prefer it for their cross-species romance novels."

Milo could read Latin, and many of the 'Old Language' words seemed similar. He found it interesting that it was in use in Genesis. "I will be traveling to Shadowport soon, then down to the Engineering Outpost. They may know more. The caves are a long way down and can be dangerous, but they could be a benefit the Hollow if we can safely mine their resources. I'll find out more." He got up to leave, but Gilad put a hand on his arm.

"If you are traveling to Shadowport, you need to know about a situation that has arisen. More players have found the Hollow. A large group visited yesterday, but some of them became belligerent and argued with the others. Seven of them attacked the five who were peacefully trading with us. Two of the seven perished, but their opponents were slain. It happened outside of Limburger Hollow, and we only know of it since those five players chose to make camp in the outer caves and quickly walked out of Hade's realm. They tried to reason with their one-time allies but reported to us that they were being 'Corpse Camped.' An interesting term. If you travel that way, you should have no trouble skulking past them." The old warrior sighed and looked at the others at the table. "I was convinced not to take some of my best students and deal with them myself."

Bleusnout snorted and then laughed. "You've been riled up since that fight with Gangrene."

Gilad flexed his claws and sighed. "It would have been an epic battle to fight him, but the tides of war swept us apart, and Tallsqueak received the honor. I don't begrudge him the honor of his victory." Milo bowed his head humbly, thinking he would gladly have let Gilad have that fight. That mace had nearly pulped his brains with only a glancing hit.

"I'll be sneaky and get past them. Humans see poorly in the tunnels, even with torches." He stood up. "I'll be leaving soon and will be gone at least a week or two. When I return, I'll lead a party down to the cavern, and we can search it and decide if it is worth mining there." He waved to Smiley and anyone else in the room and headed home.

He saw five nearly-naked players sitting around a campfire in the outer cave. He recognized Frostyone and Elvarion. They'd fought together against Bone Crusher, in the mines. Both were missing most of their gear, although Gorbel had the heavy shield he'd won in the fight. They seemed in good spirits, planning on spending a few days in the Hollow doing small gathering quests and hoping the group killing people in the caves outside the Hollow got bored. Milo left them to their conversation; they didn't know him with fur and a tail.

As he walked into his home, the sounds of battle filled the air from the playroom, the clang of weapons hitting armor telling him the girls were still having fun with the weapons and armor from the ring. Gendifur was tending to Brutus, who was lying on his couch, bruised and battered. He seemed to be enjoying her fussing over him. Gendifur smiled at him as he walked in, and Milo could tell she was tired. "Thank the gods. The girls are over-excited, and we're having trouble calming them down. Can you go throw explosives at them or do something to wear them out so I can put them down for a nap? I really don't care what you do or how hard you play with them."

Milo was tired himself, but he wasn't injured. Brutus and Gendifur were exhausted. "Sure, I have an idea."

Gendifur collapsed into a chair. Brutus smiled at her, "Still up for a dozen more?" She glared at him and then smiled happily. "Yes."

When Milo walked into the playroom, he saw the girls had put on bits of plate armor and helmets and were chasing each other around with two-handed swords. They squealed when they saw him and charged. Trying to get their attention proved fruitless, but they were clumsy in the heavy armor, so he dodged their huge swings and tripped them with his tail. They finally listened to him after they'd been tripped a half-dozen times each. "I have a new game to play called Guard Duty."

Rosie narrowed her eyes at him. "Like Daddy does? Daddy says it's boring!"

Tallsqueak rolled his eyes. "That's because Daddy does it right and proper. We get to do things my way."

Buttercup asked, "What other games can we play?"

"It's either Guard Duty or Dodge the Exploding Skulls." They considered the choice and chose guard duty.

He explained the rules. "You have to dress up with as much armor as possible, and then we'll go on patrol to defend the Hollow." He helped them with the armor, strapping on the pieces that fit them. Soon, two armored 'guards' with shields, maces, and huge swords followed Milo out of the house to march around the cavern. The girls were clumsy in the armor, and it was heavy. As he had hoped, they were calming down as they got tired. Unfortunately, their Fiendish Metabolism regenerated stamina very quickly. Just marching wasn't going to be enough.

After ten minutes, Buttercup said, "This is a poopy game. I don't like it." Rosie agreed.

Tallsqueak smiled at them. "That's because we're only at the start! Now that we know the Hollow is safe, we can scout for bad people."

Buttercup pointed at the humans. "Like them? They aren't doing anything bad." Rosie had a thought, "What if we chased them?"

"That's rule 1: You can't attack people until they attack you first! It's a very important rule."

"What's rule 2?"

"Rule 2 is guards use their weapons, not their claws, and always walk on two feet, not four." Tallsqueak also had a new weapon. He had borrowed one of Justin's spare polearms and was wearing a helmet from the hoard that fell out of the general's ring.

They began marching noisily out of the cavern. The girls had difficulty moving in the armor and sometimes tripped, despite their weasel slippers. Milo decided to try something different. He started humming a catchy tune and doing the Happy Hamster Hop as he moved through the caverns. The girls squealed and started dancing as well. Marching was boring; dancing was fun.

Five adventurers sat a few hundred yards away, telling stories and playing cards. "How long are we going to wait here?"

The large barbarian, Rogarth, took a deep breath and counted to ten. "Same answer as last time, Willy, until we get the loot. We kill those feebs anytime they try to loot their stuff from the tombstones and kill anyone else that wanders down this way. And hopefully, if we keep killing the giant moles in that cave, the boss will spawn, and we will get some points. Until then, we can play cards and raise our Gambling skills." Willy nodded like he had the last six times he'd asked that question. He was annoying, but they kept the half-orc assassin around because he was hell on wheels in a fight. If only he would work on something other than skills that gave him DEX, CON, STR, or AGI. He was tough and quick but also impatient and not really smart. He claimed that was his half-orc heritage, but no one believed him.

There were two orcish wizards in Shadowport who were awesome team players and good strategists. Rogarth had tried to recruit them, but Chauncey and Skullcarver had shaken his hand and left after one dungeon, claiming Willy had driven them insane. If Willy weren't his boss's kid, Rogarth would boot his butt from the group. He might have to, anyway. And there were always other jobs. Willy was just that bad.

"I can't believe the other guys didn't back us up when the rats tried to throw us out! We brought them some good stuff, and they got all huffy about it!" Willy had packed fifty pounds of cheese from Shadowport to Limburger Hollow, intending to make a profit.

"Willy, they told you the rules. You sell cheese to the Master Merchant. They caught you trying to sell cheese directly like you were dealing drugs!"

Willy laughed. "That's what it is to them! I sold 37 little packets of parmesan in ten minutes before they got all upset about it. I'm just a businessman providing a product. There's no rules against that!"

"Except for the rules they have posted on the big sign as you enter. The warning about contraband cheese is at the top."

"That's a rat rule, not a people rule. Willy only rolls with people rules."

"Fine, Willy. New people rule: Shut the hell up and deal the cards."

From down the pathway to the rat village, they heard noise, the unmistakable clank of heavy armor as someone tried to run. "Up and at 'em, boys. We have company."

Willy drew two jagged knives. "Awesome. I'm going to kill someone and eat their liver in front of them. Watch me." He faded into the darkness as three figures spun and hopped closer to them, clanking loudly as they came.

Chapter 230: On Patrol

Rogarth wondered how much the approaching people had drunk. They had linked arms and were hoping forward together, stopping for little kicks and sidesteps while singing a drinking song. The little guy in the center was so drunk the other two held him in the air. They kept coming until they were fifty feet away. The little guy must be a mess; he could barely hold his halberd, and his helmet was crooked. The other two laughed and pointed at him before he yelled at them to stand at attention and straighten up.

They were close enough for him to see how big the other two were. When they quit slouching, they were at least as six-feet tall but were wide and heavily muscled. He wasn't worried; they didn't have much skill with their weapons or fighting in armor. They stood straight while the little guy took a step closer and thumped the butt of his halberd on the ground for attention. "Greetings! Do you need assistance? I see many tombstones in your camp. Are you having trouble with the moles? If it is too dangerous for you, perhaps you should return to the human city."

The voice was a little high and had a strange accent to it. Rogarth had heard that accent a lot in the Hollow. Mystery solved; this guy was a ratkin from the Hollow sent to hassle them. He gave the signal to be ready to fight. Both Ardvus and Black John gave the return signal. Willy, of course, was off in the shadows somewhere and hadn't been able to memorize hand signals in the first place. Ardvus was focusing on his spells and having the same problem as always: Where was Willy? The enemy was perfectly grouped for a fireball, but the half-orc was probably nearby. That's all he needed was a deep-fried Willy complaining to his dad. Black John was ready with his shield and Sword of Ravaging. The thing was already humming and buffing up his strength. Necrobarb was hiding behind John's shield. She needed to get close for her bow to gain the most damage. Rogarth hated that bow, even if Barb loved it. What good was a bow that put you near the enemy, no matter how extra damage it did? He shook off his annoyance and yelled back.

"Thanks, we could use some help. The moles killed some of our party members, and we're waiting for them to return. Need a drink? We've got some beer and a little brandy left. Come share it with us while we wait for the moles to respawn."

One of the big fighters yelled out in a high-pitched voice that sounded like a little girl. "Do you have candy? I like candy!"

The other started yelling as well, also mimicking a little girl. "Or cheese! Do you have cheese?"

"That's Bad! Mama says no asking for cheese!"

"That's Hollow Rules. We are brave guards patrolling tunnels."

"What would Mama say?"

"What would Mama say?!"

"...Momma would say no cheese. I want candy, then!"

"We both want candy. Candy for brave guards who kill moles!"

Rogarth had trouble keeping a straight face. Barb was giggling and even sour-faced-Joe had a smile. These guys were a comedy troop. He turned to the group. "I'm tempted to let them live. These guys are funny. Does anyone have candy? When we split the loot from the moles, we pay them candy. If they argue, we can always kill them then."

Barb whispered back. "I have some licorice in my pack, and Joe is hiding those sugar cookies he likes." Joe glared at her.

Rogarth was about to yell back when Willy stood up from the shadows at the feet of the guy in the lead, plunged two daggers into his chest, and then rolled between the two fighters—disappearing back into the shadows. "Willy Wonky has your candy right here! Have a double dose!"

Barb and Joe advanced together to take out one of the fighters. Rogarth charged the other. Ardvus let loose a spell of Battle Blessing, giving all of them a boost to their damage. This fight was going to be over quickly. One guy was down already. Willy might be a crazy shithead, but he packed a punch. Each of those daggers carried enough poison to do 1000 points of damage in only two rounds.

He wasn't quite dead and must have said something to his bodyguards. The two had started to look for Willy but turned and charged forward.

Joe met the first one on his side, prepared to block with his shield and keep their attention while Barb moved in for a point-blank shot. Rogarth engaged the other one. He side-stepped the powerful overhand slash, noting the sparks and chips of rocks that sprayed as the sword hit the ground. He winced; that was no way to treat a good sword! His weapon sliced across a gap in the armor, wounding his foe in the side. He got in another slash as they brought up their sword to swing again. "You aren't a nice person! I get to hit you." Rogarth almost laughed at the silly voice but paid attention to the clumsy slash, knocking it to the side before kicking the other fighter's knee to knock them over. Or that was the idea. The guy's leg was like a tree trunk, and he showed no reaction.

He heard a cry of pain, and Joe sailed by, landing ten feet away. His shield bent in the center and ruined. The other fighter pointed and laughed, ignoring Barb, who moved up to them and fired an arrow at point-blank range into their back. At that range, her Bow of Mangling would do triple damage and deliver three different poisons: a paralyzing nerve toxin, a poisonous spider venom, and a blinding toxin. Barb started to draw back her string for another shot. The big fighter wasn't collapsing or staggering around blind, which was the normal reaction. Instead, they threw back their head and roared! They spun in a circle, swinging at Barb, who tried to dodge. She was partially successful, avoiding the sword, but not the large foot that kicked out, catching her in the stomach and knocking the wind from her.

"Sister!" Rogarth's opponent turned toward the injured fighter, screamed, and ran at Barb, ignoring the slash Rogarth landed on her back. Joe was getting up; Willy was wherever the hell Willy had gone to, and Rogarth had to chase his foe before they got to Barb. "Ardvus! Need an assist over here!"

The mage was already casting a spell. "On it! Edward's Yucky Tentacles of Ensnaring!" The spell failed to go off when a javelin caught Ardvus in the shoulder, spinning him around, blood spurting from the wound. The leader, obviously a spell caster, wasn't dead. More, he had taken off the helmet in lieu of a set of magical bone armor. And a tail. Definitely a rat from the Hollow. Rogarth ignored him, that was a dead mage. If he wasn't watching for Willy, he was going to get stabbed again. Barbarians were fast, wearing no armor and having a skill to increase their combat speed. But he couldn't catch his armored opponent, who quickly skipped in Necrobarb's direction. Worse, the other fighter was on her as well, seeming to throw off the effects of the arrow. Each of them grabbed one of Barb's arms and a leg, and he was pretty sure one of them said, "Make a wish!" They pulled the archer apart a second later, sending entrails and blood all around the area. Rogarth felt the rage rising and let it come. He needed power now, not a clear head. These were monsters!

Willy saw his chance as the rat wizard cast a spell. The guy was freaky, covered in bony plates with a long boney tail. But he still had Willy's daggers stuck in him, and Willy was going to add to that collection. The rat was casting another spell, glowy-magic-stuff coming out of his hands, oblivious to him. The half-orc went for his signature kill shot, leaping high with both daggers over his head, he'd seen Squint do this against the World Boss, and it had looked cool. He'd been practicing ever since. "Willy Wonky Kill Shot! Have some candy!"

Magic ran down a glowing tail, forming a runic formation aimed at Willy. Milo had been waiting for the rogue to leap again from the shadows. The spell hit Willy and slammed him against the tunnel ceiling before he fell to the ground, stunned. Milo noticed the ceiling where Willy hit was cracked, and a big chunk of rock was loose. He burned double the mana to cast the force spell again, aiming for the ceiling. Rock cracked, and a chunk of the ceiling came loose, falling on top of Willy with a satisfying crunch. Milo turned to see how the girls were doing; this fight wasn't going the way he had expected. Their opponents were high-level, and the rogue had taken them by surprise. How did anyone fight in a helmet? The stupid things made it hard to see and lowered his perception.

The girls were having trouble. The Barbarian and the warrior dodged their clumsy blows, and the mage was getting ready to cast another spell. Milo decided playtime was over.

"Guard Rules are over. We're using Rough Playtime rules now!"

Rosie and Buttercup screamed in delight and threw their swords at their foes. Rogarth dodged, but Buttercup managed to nail Ardvus in the head with the hilt of her sword, knocking him down again. Joe saw the wounded fighter he was beating on throw away her weapon and helmet, deciding to fight with claws and teeth. And what big claws they were. They were the envy of any Kodiak bear or chimera. She leaped at him, taking a wound but grappling him. Claws shredded his armor, and she bit down on his shoulder. They rolled on the ground, screams and laughter alternating.

Rogarth wasn't aware of it; he was deep into a barbarians frenzy, hacking and slashing while ignoring the attacks of his foes. They stood toe to toe, damaging each other terribly until his rage expired. The monster before him looked at him and giggled, her arms bloody to the elbows. Pain hit him, and he looked down to where most of his torso was missing. His eyes rolled up, and he fell dead at her feet. Both cheese-fiends stood up, as did Ardvus. They began stripping off their armor, revealing fur and tails.

"Armor is dumb."

"Hard to move in."

Ardvus readied an escape spell that would let him run like the wind for one minute, but their leader was walking forward, a spell ready in his nimble fingers. The mage stared, realizing what he was seeing. That wasn't a spell! Those were runes. Multiple runes! The rat wizard was juggling multiple runes at once in a complex pattern.

"You promised my sisters some candy, I think. It would be rude not to share."

The two monstrous little girls agreed.

"Really rude! So rude!"

"Not sharing is bad, and we'll tell Larry."

Rosie sniffed. "And what does it have in its pockets?"

The wizard smiled. "Trust me; you don't want to make Larry mad at you."

Ardvus held up his hands in surrender. "How about some black licorice and some nice sugar cookies? And I have some lemon candy in my pocket and more in my pack! Please, take it! I'll leave and not come back! I'll be good! It was Willy's fault!"

The girls suddenly turned, hearing a moan from under a rock.

"Tallsqueak? May we go play with Willie? You have to get our candy for us!"

"Yes. Save it, please. We can't eat until we wash up. Mama's Rules!"

"Sure, go play. Remember to remove all his clothes and weapons before you play with him. If he isn't dead, he has some good stuff on him. I'll have a talk with Ardvus here about how to behave in the Hollow."

Ardvus spent the next ten minutes finding candy and sweets, piling up the group's loot, and helping Tallsqueak separate what had come from the other group. Once he realized he wasn't going to die, they had a polite conversation about proper etiquette in the Hollow and the area around it. He was even helpful in pointing out the magic items that belonged to Barb, Rogarth, and Joe. He had a question, though.

"Can you give me a hint of how high those two are? I can tell you're third tier, and it amazes me you can already use runes, but my group was Levels 14 to 16. Willy and Rogarth are in the fourth tier, and we outnumbered you five to three."

"Hmm, hard to say. But I think six."

The mage paled. "They are in the 6th tier! Oh god, we screwed up."

Tallsqueak shook his head. "No, six years old. We're going to celebrate their seventh birthday in a week. Would you like to come to the party? Remember, they like candy."

Ardvus swallowed hard. He really didn't want to deal with the rest of the group again. Especially, Willy, the guy drove him nuts. "Um...could I help you return the gear to the other group? I'd love to apologize, take my lumps, and maybe stick around the Hollow for a while. I can see some advantages of polite society."

Milo thought it over. "Sure. Everyone deserves a second chance."

They watched as the girls freed an injured Willy from his rocky prison and stripped him to his underwear before making him play tag with them. When it was his turn, he pulled a dagger from somewhere and threw it at Buttercup, sticking it into her shoulder. "Ha! Tag! Your It! Willy Wonky Wins!" He didn't survive the tag back.

Ardvus shook his head. "Everyone except Willy."

It was late when a tired group of brave guards returned from patrol. They delivered a repentant mage and a pile of loot to the half-naked group sleeping by the campfire. The girls were sleepy and exhausted but wanted to tell Mama Gendifur about their adventures. She listened while she cleaned them up and let them eat their sweets. After putting them to bed, she returned to the living room and glared at Tallsqueak. "Did you really take them out and attack a group of players?"

He spread his hands. "You did say you didn't care."

She relaxed and sighed. "I did, and it was a nice break. But now they're making up stories about fighting a giant mole named Tunnel Tyrant. Is that a new story for bedtime?"

Milo shook his head. "No, he charged us as we were about to leave. He was a level 19 Elite and really tough. We let the girls play with him while Ardvus and I whittled him down with spells. We all earned 18 Bonus points from the fight. I had them buy three INT and three WIS. It helped a lot." He yawned twice, excused himself, and took a nap.

Gendifur sat down next to Brutus. The two of them looked at each other, and he said. "Looks like I'll be taking the girls on patrol with me some."

Chapter 231: Dressing for Success

Once again, Milo wondered who had designed Arcane Libraries. Arriving on the wide porch that fell off into the void was unnerving. He opened the door and scampered inside as fast as he could. Cichol was reading through a book, one of those from the Code Mage's library, and chuckling to himself. "You paint this person as a fearsome foe, stern and serious, and yet I find a disguised book of Elvish Porn that came from his library. He obviously had a few flaws and vices." The book was set on the floor beside Cichol's chair, with several bookmarks between the pages.

Milo shuddered. "He had many flaws. A true monster in human form."

Cichol "And not the last you will encounter, but enough of him. What can I do for you today?"

"I need advice on dressing myself."

The old sorcerer nodded as if in earnest agreement. "Yes, I can see that your upbringing lacked lessons in the proper way to style your hair, and that blouse is out of fashion." He laughed. "You are a Wizard; dress as you like. Or call yourself an engineer and wear those bulky coveralls the dwarves prefer. Wizards don't adhere to fashion! We are the bad examples people warn their children about."

Milo shook his head. "My problem is the cowl; it's very distinctive. I have two forms, and in both of them, I'm wearing a tattered, orange, rune-covered piece of clothing. There are people moving between the Hollow and Shadowport. Someone will notice. The advantages of being a were-rat go away when everyone knows you are one. And humans already react badly to me some of the time."

Cichol looked confused. "Then why not change its appearance?"

Milo looked down at the cowl. "It can do that?"

Cichol touched his shoulder, and the cowl changed to a low-cut pink evening gown, perfect for dancing at a Prince's fancy ball.

"Well, not when you first bonded to it. The bond must be strengthened by blood. Have you been injured while wearing it? Silly me, you showed up half-dead in the arms of Astraeus; of course, you have. Simply concentrate on the cowl as you would to Identify it, and think hard on its appearance."

Milo did so and felt his connection to the cowl strengthen. Hastily, he changed the garment back to its traditional look.

Bone-Runed Cowl

An enchanted garment crafted by Archmage Cichol in his youth. Bound by blood and soul, an apprentice mage gains the following benefits:

+2 INT

Access to Cichol's Arcane Library.

Fellowship with the spirits trapped within the Cowl.

After a sufficient time, the worthy mage may claim further benefits:

Arcane Tailoring: The cowl will lengthen or reshape to another style of robe, dress, or hooded shirt. Color is changed, and the runes may shine bright or be nearly invisible.

Arcane Dry-Cleaning: Never have to wash out the dirt again! For only 50 mana, the cowl becomes sparkling clean and doesn't disturb the spirits resting inside.

Cichol chuckled. "Amazing, isn't it? Most wizards try to go for power, but a little quality of life is nice as well. So, which of you gets a new look, and who is still stumbling around in an orange rag?"

"Too many people in Shadowport have seen Milo wearing the cowl, and it won't matter to people in the Hollow if Tallsqueak has a new look."

"Well then, I'd say I have done my share of fixing your problems for one day, or did you have another?"

Milo was experimenting with changing the garment's look but paused momentarily. "I have some girl trouble..."

The old man laughed and shook his head. "Can't help you, never did figure them out."

Sometime later, a traveler moved up the tunnel that connected the mines below Shadowport to places deeper in the earth. He was a mage dressed in a thick robe that started at his cowled head and covered him to past his knees. It was split on the sides, front and back, for easy movement. The flaps covered most of a pair of jet-black pants, the dark pants contrasting with the ivory-colored robe the same color as his staff. His face was hidden in the cowl, but clawed feet and hands declared him to be something other than human. He carried a tall staff of rune-carved bone, and on his belt was the traditional ratkin weapon called a spikey stick.

As he entered the mining area, he was noticed by a few of the humans and dwarves hauling ore and rock. He simply nodded at them and said nothing, continuing on his way until he came to the large cavern where the mining guild processed ores into ingots. On the side were offices where the guild bought ores from independent miners who worked for themselves, staking claims in far tunnels. More people were in this area, working the ore processors and standing in line to sell ore. The ratkin mage strode confidently to the line of ore sellers and took a place there, looking around curiously and humming to himself. The two dwarves already in line noticed him and recognized the tune of "How many spanners will it take to get her armor off?" a classic dwarven drinking song. One started humming along to the same tune.

The next two people who got in line were less than thrilled at the presence of a ratkin (or maybe they didn't appreciate the humming, who can say?), but in any case, they were annoyed and spoke up. "I think you've got the wrong line. This is for selling ore. You know, the metal you find in rocks?"

The ratkin turned, smiled, and replied. "Yes, thank you for confirming that this is where I sell my ore. You are quite helpful for a human, if a bit obvious." He turned back around.

The two humans grumbled a bit, and the first raised his voice. "And it's for members of the Miner's Guild. I'm pretty sure I've never seen you around here!"

The line moved forward a notch. With plenty of time to spare, the mage turned around to speak. He threw back his hood and stepped toward the human heckler. "Take a close look; I'm sure you would remember a handsome face like mine with my sleek fur and sharp teeth. And you have my assurances that I will be a proud member of the Guild before I take even a single copper in payment for my ore."

"What ore? You don't have a pack with you! You don't even have a pick!" His voice growing louder and louder, attracted several other people, most of whom seemed only amused or curious. A few humans backed the hecklers up while several dwarves were humming and singing the drinking song that Milo had started. The noise attracted the attention of a large and heavy-set dwarf who stepped out of the building.

"What are you ninnies carrying on about now? And it's not time for afternoon beer, no matter how much you sing that song. We went over that last week." The dwarves chuckled and, while not ceasing their humming, took it down to a much quieter level. The discussion of what time the afternoon beer break came was never over.

The ratkin bowed deeply. "Greetings, Guild Master Durthanson. I have come to sell the ore I have mined and am enjoying a lively discussion with my fellow miners. I apologize for the disturbance. They are loud in their happiness to make my acquaintance and establish friendship with a fellow miner."

"Pipe Down!" Master Durthanson yelled at the half dozen miners upset with the polite visitor. "Yeah, I can see they are just itching to sit down and have a beer with you." He shifted his cigar in his mouth. "I don't believe we've met, but you profess to know me."

The ratkin bowed again. "My apologies if it seems I was insinuating a relationship. I am Professor Tallsqueak, a Mage of the Tower of Strife, pre-eminent college of magic in Limburger Hollow. You and Master Engineer Rolf Morgenstern are known to us since you represent the closest Dwarven Mining and Engineering guilds to our Hollow. I have traveled far through dark tunnels, collecting ore as I walked in strange places. I seek to pay my Guild Fees and sell my metal."

Grundle Durthanson didn't know a lot about ratkin. And most of what he knew about them was from dungeons. He'd heard the people of the Hollows were a different breed entirely. This one certainly knew how to be polite, and his bowing reflected a knowledge of dwarven etiquette. But still, he didn't look like a miner with his bulky robes and staff. "From what I heard, the boys here may and may not have a point. You can sell ore here, and if you pay your dues, you will receive a higher pay rate. But the guild is for miners, not mages. It doesn't matter if you have metal from some old ruins."

A polite nod of understanding preceded a moment of thought. "I see the point, and I must agree. The guild is for those who crack rock, not merchants with metal to sell. Perhaps you could judge my mining technique, which will settle this argument?"

There were calls from the hecklers. "Make him prove it." "Yeah, make the rat show us he can work."

Grundle was OK with that. "Sure, show me you can mine."

The ratkin pointed to a rock wall where a mechanical drill was being repaired. "Am I correct in that you are expanding the cavern in that direction? Can I mine there?" When the Guild Master shrugged, he walked that way, momentarily pausing to look at the machine and shake his head sadly. "I suggest you all take a step back. The rock really flies when I get going." There were chuckles from that comment. After a moment when no one moved and were wondering just what the hell the ratkin was going to mine with, he raised his hands and staff, and a glowing rune took shape in front of him. His tail began to inscribe what Grundle swore were Dwarven Engineering runes around the large rune in the center. Mana flowed into the formation for ten seconds.

The mage brought his staff down sharply on the rock, yelling loudly, "Sunder!"

Magic dispersed in the wall, rock cracked and split, chips and dust flying, and then with a loud rumble, a twenty by twenty-foot section of rock wall almost ten feet deep fell in an avalanche of rubble to the floor. The mage avoided being crushed by leaping backward high in the air, turning in a complete flip, and landing with both feet solidly on the ground. He paused to let the dust settle before speaking. "I also have a good pick for small stuff."

The five humans who had been far too close to the front were covered in bruises and small cuts. They scrambled to their feet and moved away from the frightening creature they had been annoying. Two of the dwarves clapped slowly, followed by others. Grundle shook Professor Tallsqueak's hand. "Welcome to the guild. Let's sign your paperwork and look at your ore."

Chapter 232: After the Dust Settles

Over a dozen curious members of the Shadowport Mining Guild were 'just hanging around' in the assay office to see what the new member had dug out of the rock. After his display of breaking stone, no one openly questioned his ability to mine. The next question was: "What does it have in its pockets?". Because other than a few pockets, the strange wizard had no way to carry ore. But wizards were tricky, resulting in a room full of curious dwarves and a couple of humans. They were all miners with a ten-year patch on their shoulders, and a few beardlings had been tossed out the door. Age and rank had their privileges.

Grundle had given the newest member of the Mining Guild his badge and taken his application. His status as apprentice, full miner, or veteran was the only thing left to determine. He could bring down a lot of rock, but that didn't mean he knew the rest of the trade.

"So, what do you have to show me, Miner Tallsqueak? Have a big payday in those pockets?" Grundle admitted to himself the possibility that Tallsqueak might have many things in those pockets. Wizards were tricky at times, producing wands and crystal orbs from small pouches.

"I have a small amount of ore from my travels in the deeper mines. My priority was exploration for my Hollow, but it is hard to bypass shiny bits of ore when I notice them." He held his hand over the counter, and Grundle noticed the ornate ring he was wearing—old work and well-made. Four full Ore Gathering Bags appeared, one by one, as Tallsqueak moved his hand over the table. Not just sacks, but actual Gathering Bags. The type that held far more ore than their size suggested. Grundle dumped out the first one, and 150 chunks of high-grade Deep Copper ore were scattered across the metal table.

Tallsqueak dumped the second bag. "This also has Deep Copper. It is a common metal in the area where I live, but I understand that the Engineering and Mining Guilds in Shadowport pay well for it. It is also of interest to the Deep Rock Engineers and Scavenger clans. Our Hollow sells most of its ore to the Engineers, but since I was coming to this city, I stopped off on my way home and filled my bags. I was told that you value it as well."

"You've been told correctly." The Guild Master took the not-subtle hint that the new miner was informed on ore values. That made things easier in some ways. Everyone had heard him, and no one would question giving him the top pay rate on the valuable ore. Some of the older guild members felt that the top pay rate should be reserved for senior members. It never was, but they never missed a chance to grumble about it. The chunks were quickly weighed on large scales and put into an ore cart to be taken away for processing. The third bag had chunks of Dark Iron, some of the pieces the almost pure metal that came from lower caverns. The fourth bag had an assortment of ores: auric, common gold, tin, silver, and a dense form of lead that the elves valued in their crystal-making called 'Glass Metal.'

"The guild will buy all of this and take more anytime you have it for sale. It looks like this came from many different rock strata; you do move around a lot."

The ratkin nodded. "It did. I move up and down through many tunnels and dark caverns. This is a particularly hard rock that I found deep down. I'm curious if you have seen it before. He placed a chunk of rock on the counter and stepped back for several miners to look at the Duramgneiss. Several of the miners turned it over in their hands and shrugged. Two older dwarves tasted the sample and smelled it. They nodded to each other, and one spoke. "Hard Rock, or the fancy name it's identified as, Duramgneiss. You can hit layers of it in some of the middle caverns. I've been in dwarven holds that were built at that level. Good foundation rock to build on. It takes a lot to tunnel through it, and there's no worry about getting critters coming up from below."

His partner scowled. "Except for the damnable Ghostlurkers. The things can move through Hard Rock the way a normal Lurker can walk through stone and a lot faster. A Ghostlurker infestation means either a long fight or a reason to move a hold."

"Yes. I ran into a nest of those. I don't like them, and they don't like me. They ran through the stone faster than I could run away."

Everyone became quiet, and Grundle voiced their thoughts. "How long was your walk back from the underworld? At least you were close to it."

Tallsqueak looked a little embarrassed. "My apologies for not being clear. I didn't die. They forced me to flee upward and kept pursuing, so I dropped a few hundred tons of rock on their heads from an altitude of 700 feet. Physics took care of the rest, killing the Queen and her Hive Guard."

Grundle was trying to do the math and gave up when he realized anything underneath that much rock was either dead or too scary to think about. A cave-in fifty feet above your head was deadly. 700 feet? Even Ghostlurkers could die. The two older dwarves grasped the hammer symbols around their necks and said a short prayer. "Truly, the Lord of Stone and Steel blessed you that day. You, uh, didn't find anything special in the rubble, did you?"

Minor Tallsqueak reached into a pocket and carefully took out a pair of gloves and a handkerchief tied around something small. They watched as he put on the gloves and rolled out wo nuggets of ore. "The first is called Silverite. Small threads of it are found in the DuramGneiss, and I have found nuggets in some of the strata above the Hard Rock. The second nugget is dangerous. Duram Argenti is normally found as an ore with Tier 5 hardness and softens as it absorbs mana. A small piece can drain you dry and leave you weak." One adventurous hand paused before picking up the nugget and hastily pulled back.

The Mining Guild's Master nodded. He'd heard of that ore. "That right there is worth a fortune, even in small amounts. I'm going to register that you found a source of the material. Always good to fill out the paperwork, even if you do the sensible thing and keep your claim secret. But that's something to take to the Enchanter's Guild or down to the Deep Rock guys."

One of the older dwarves was staring at the Duram Argenti. "And if you ever find a big chunk of it, you might think about heading to a large dwarven hold. The Kingsguard have armor, shields, and hammers enchanted with this stuff. Never a bad thing to gain some friends in low places."

Tallsqueak bowed, thanked them for the information, and then put the shiny nuggets away. They watched as his empty ore bags went back into his storage ring, along with a small bag of gold and silver coins handed to him by Grundle. "I thank you all for accepting me as a miner. I appreciate it, as does my Hollow. I think we will be doing much business together in the future. Now, you much excuse me. I have an appointment with a cheese shop above us and some friends to visit." He quickly left, ascending the stairs to Shadowport, his long tail bouncing on the stairs behind him.

Grundle yelled out at everyone around him. "What are you waiting for? Go break some rock or drink beer. I have to start up that ore crusher and process this load. And if anyone sees more ratkin coming up from the Hollow, you be polite and send them my way. You hear?"

Chapter 233: Just a small slice, please.

Moving upward through the Mining Guild, Tallsqueak nodded politely to people but said nothing. He didn't ask where to go and walked through the guild as if he had every right to be there, showing confidence and poise. Milo contrasted that with his first trips up and down, getting lost and asking questions from people that didn't enjoy his intrusions into their business. Knowing the layout of the guild helped him present the demeanor of a confident Wizard from the Tower of Spite. Which he was, sort of. But he needed there to be differences between Tallsqueak, the ratkin, and Milo, the human. There was a possibility that someone might be looking for a Were-rat Scout, and he didn't want to give them clues. Especially if it was Victor. His identity in the game was now tied to the real Milo in the habitat. Belinda knew, and he hoped she wasn't telling anyone.

Arriving at the top of the Mining Guild, he made his way over to the Adventurers Guild and spotted the overworked halfling, Bernard. He strode up confidently and bowed. Bernard looked at the elaborately dressed ratkin mage before him and sighed. "Let me guess? Daddy gave you money to buy spiffy stuff for your first character, and here you are, ready to go on a huge adventure."

The ratkin cocked his head and smiled. "How many guesses are you allowed? Your first is incorrect."

Bernard was used to rattling new players. A few ratkin came into the guild after starting down in the Hollow and racing through the tunnels to get to the more familiar human city to start doing quests for the Thieves Guild or to join a gang. This player was different, somehow. "Well, you got me there, chief. I get bored making guesses. I'll just assume you took Tailor as a trade skill and sewed that fancy gown yourself. Nice look to it, by the way; I like the subdued runes and the matching staff. So let's make guess number two that you're here to pay your guild dues."

Tallsqueak bowed low. "Rumors of your ability to guess the obvious are proven true. I am Professor Tallsqueak of the Tower of Strife, a prestigious college of the Arcane Sciences located in lovely Limburger Hollow. You should visit sometime. Chef Smiley makes a very tasty cheese soufflé; his puff cakes are second to none. I've been told that you accept yearly dues here from 'adventurers.' I would like to sign up. What are the dues for a Tier 4 mage? I would like to pay ahead by three levels to save a return trip later."

That got Bernard's attention, and he made an effort to Identify the person in front of him. He was telling the truth. Solidly in the third tier and heading to the fourth. But what was a Runic Mage? He had a lot of bling, that was for sure. Magic Robe, magic pants, and multiple magic rings. "I like people who pay ahead. Tier one is 15 copper, and then 15 silver for tier 2. As you might extrapolate, the third tier will cost you 15 gold, but I'm running a special for Runic Mages. All you have to do is tell me what the hell your class does, and we'll round things down to 16 gold, even."

"That is a bargain, sir, and I don't mind explaining at all. You've just given equally valuable information that my class is rare among humans. A Runic Mage studies runes from different races and learns to adapt them and create Runic Formations that are the basis for powerful spells. Observe." One fingertip traced a simple rune in the air, then two more. When Tallsqueak snapped his fingers, the glowing lines became a small ball of storm magic, crackling like blue fire and sending off sparks.

Bernard looked at it and relaxed. Another odd class to add to his book. "Nice for killing small critters and level-one players. Thanks for the demonstration. Here's your badge, and welcome to the Shadowport Adventurers Guild. If you have questions, give me a yell, and you can check out the quest board to your left."

Another snap of the fingers and the ball of lightning was snuffed out, and sixteen gold coins were placed on Bernard's desk. The Runic Mage pocketed his badge, bowed, and said "Good Day." before walking out of the Guild Hall. Bernard pondered his words. "What's a Puff Cake? And why am I suddenly hungry for them?"

Tallsqueak wandered the night market outside the guild hall, looking at interesting things and sniffing the air. Finally, near a fish vendor in a corner of the market, he spied the small cheese stand he had bought from before. He quickened his pace and saw broad grins on the faces of the halflings inside. Looking at the assorted cheeses, he inhaled deeply, savoring the scents. "My, it all smells so good. I can tell that this is a difficult decision. You have a fine selection."

Cousin Bungo was on duty. He hooked his fingers in his suspenders, anticipating a large sale. "Finest cheese in town, and at the best prices. How much would you like, sir, or should I get a crate and start filling it?" He'd seen the look in the eyes of ratkin before, and this one was no different as he stared at one cheese after another.

"I believe that small half-round with the heavy rind is ten-year aged Gouda?"

Bungo bowed low. "It is, excellent eye and nose, sir. That is a small sample wheel. We also have ten and twenty-pound wheels. You could also "Hollow-Size" your order and pick up one of our fifty-pound wheels."

"Thank you for the information. I'll take a slice, please." The ratkin waited patiently, exhibiting none of the shaking Bungo usually saw.

"A slice, sir, to sample?"

"Oh no, simply to purchase. A slice, make it generous, two ounces at least." He leaned patiently on his staff while Bungo tried to puzzle things out. Luckily, Lizzie was there as well. She cut the slice, wrapped it in waxed paper, and handed it to the waiting customer. "Here you are, sir. Try that out, and know we have much more to offer."

Tallsqueak handed her several coppers, at least double the normal cost. "Thank you for your service. I am allowing myself a small slice today to celebrate this new town. While I adhere to Master Bleusnout's litany of 'Be Master of the Cheese to be Master of yourself.' a small bit now and then for medicinal purposes is good for the digestion. Good day to you." He walked away, whistling, the cheese in his pocket."

Bungo watched him go. "He'll be back. I can tell."

Lizzie wasn't so sure. "He seemed to have his cravings under control. That's not a good sign."

Bungo heard the sound of running feet and saw three ratkin dressed in black clothing with rags around their faces, sporting a colored patch of the Red Talon gang on their shoulders.

"Payday, we have money!"

"And money buys cheese. What do you have for us, Bungo?"

"Let's get an assortment platter, guys!"

The two halflings raced to assemble a lovely cheese tray for the three players, collecting every copper they had on them—thoughts of the distressing customer who came before the three addicts were forgotten.

Tallsqueak melted into the shadows of Light's End after leaving the cheese shop. Spying a tall building, he scaled the back of it, climbing steadily until he was on a secluded roof, unobserved by anyone. Milo spent some time changing the Runed Cowl to its original orange and tattered look. Shadow Blight was in a belt loop at his right side, his pick on his back under his backpack, and a heavy spanner hung from his belt on his right. His class changed from Runic Mage to Senior Deep Rock Engineer. The new ability, Shroud of Hecate, was incredibly useful, allowing him to adjust the information someone gained from trying to identify him and strengthening the illusion ability that let him pass for human. Neither of his forms showed his true class of Ancient Runic Engineer. He wondered about the vague mission she had given him to find the mysterious adversary behind the Slaver Mage. Astraeus was sure it was the same person who had caused him so much trouble in the past. That was all Milo had to go on for the time being. He'd just have to keep searching for secrets and see what he turned up.

Which reminded him of his reason for being here in Shadowport. He needed to talk to Belinda and find a way out of the Gordian Knot of promises he found himself tied up with.

Mama told him not to lie to her.

Belinda asked for his trust and no lies.

She also needed his help finding out how his gloves fixed her arms.

But he couldn't betray Wally.

And didn't want Victor to find out anything.

And didn't want to tell his secrets.

And he had to keep his family safe, from Victor, from Manpower, from everyone.

But he needed her medical records.

He wasn't going to be able to follow all of those rules. It was a linear programming problem with too many restraints and no optimal solution.

He had just enough time to meet her and see if they could find a way to defeat Koschei the Deathless without dying themselves.

Chapter 234: A little lost Kulag...

Milo leaped from the third floor of the building he had climbed, turning a flip in mid-air and landing in a three-point stance. Two rough-looking men walking by were startled and started to draw their swords, then relaxed and held up a hand. "Kulag!" Milo did the same and then continued on his way. The two members of Squint's gang looked up to where a small balcony stuck out from the front of Madam Daintyfoot's Parlor. The doors behind it were open, candlelight spilling into the night and the scent of lilacs.

"Isn't that...?"

"Yep, and I am not going even to wonder what a certain gang member is up to, leaping from her Ladyship's private rooms."

"Above my paygrade, in so many ways."

"And no yelling or alarms, so she isn't upset."

"I didn't see anything."

"Nope. Too dark down here."

Milo, for his part, was enjoying having nothing to do. He went back through the night market and shopped for small things that would be useful: a small lantern with an enchantment that let him power it with his mana, a better bedroll to replace his old, tattered one. Several hundred feet of the light silken line preferred by high-level thieves doing second-story work and a water jug that carried the same enchantment as his Gathering Bags. He politely dickered with each merchant, but only to be polite. He had more money than they did and didn't mind them making a good profit. His last stop was at the apple vendor he had bought from before. The man recognized him and knew him. He bowed low. "Ah, my best customer! How are you today, sir? I see that you're back in town. Off on another mission for Lord Squint, I suppose. Your last one sure shook things up! Rescuing all those folks. Here, try one of these on the house." He tossed Milo a yellow-green apple that was sweet and crisp. "Fresh from the north. A little expensive to import, but they travel well and never bruise."

Milo loved it. "This is really good! Can I have a bag of them? And the arrangement we had before? Let's continue with that. I don't want those little one's going hungry." He handed the man a small stack of gold, part of his earnings from selling his ore." The apple vendor counted it and became nervous.

"Yessir, and don't you worry. I'll order more and ensure those young ones get an apple daily. You have my word." Milo nodded to him and walked off toward the Adventurer's Guildhall.

The apple merchant yelled at his son. "Mind the store. I'm off to order another two shipments. That's one of Squint's captains. I'm not taking chances of anyone saying I didn't follow up on my end of a bargain with him." He hurried down to the docks to buy four more barrels from the captain that had imported them and to place orders for more.

His visit to the apple vendor accomplished, Milo skirted the night market, on the side away from the halfling's cheese shop. The smell was enticing, but he was determined to control his addiction. Cheese was too powerful a tool in battle or as an aid to recovering from wounds to turn it into a casual enjoyment again. If a cheese fiend like Larry could master himself, certainly he could. He ducked through a back alley between two buildings, knowing that the smell of rotten garbage would cut off the alluring odor of stinky cheese that was following his nostrils. The pungent aroma of rotted fish and urine blocked the scent, yet even such a horrid little alley had its inhabitants. Three shadows stood up at the far end, blocking his way.

"Well, well. What do we have here? A lost little Kulag who thinks his gang is still in charge of the city. We own these alleys, and you'll have to pay the toll!" Two more people blocked off his retreat. Milo could see them perfectly, but all of the gang were humans and had trouble seeing him. A slight noise from above told him of at least one more assailant. Two of the group blocking his way were Level 9, and the leader was Level 11. A glance behind showed two Level 8 players blocking the rear. They all wore bits of leather armor and rags and were armed with two poisoned daggers or small, jagged swords. The smell of the poison came to his sensitive nostrils. It was a cheap poison made from rotted fish livers and black mold. Very intense and easily identified. Also useless against him.

He could run back or climb up and escape the clumsy trap, but he hadn't had a good workout in over a week and was curious about what was happening.

"I see. Did Squint give you a good deal when you bought his alley? It's nice to see him giving young gangs a chance to own property. How many copper do I owe you? And can I pay in advance for tomorrow? This really is one of the better back alleys to stroll through." He decided to use his claws and tail in this arena but would give the one above a special treat if he attacked.

"Damned Kulags! Always with the lip and the quick comebacks. When you come back tomorrow and limp off to Squint, tell him the Poisoned Talons are coming for him." They took several steps toward him, and Milo turned and ran at the pair behind him. They'd half expected him to do that but were surprised at his speed. Both stabbed at him with their knives, inflicting small wounds. Milo concentrated his attacks on one poor player, not trying to dodge. His claws swept up, the first cutting deep and the second scoring a critical hit. With six opponents, Milo didn't play with them. He had honed his strikes during his time in the arena fighting Larry. Only his most powerful attacks could hurt his friend, and Gilad had trained him not to strike at less than his full power. Against a normal player, his claws could disembowel with one strike. This player got two, and the second was overkill. He fell to the dirty cobblestones with his insides on the outside, and Milo hit his partner with a hard tail slap that seemed to appear out of nowhere, knocking him backward.

As expected, the player on the roof tried to join the fight. Milo knew he was there but was still surprised that he didn't even attempt to use stealth. "Cowabunga Dude!" The player dove at Milo, both daggers poised to stab downward. Milo turned and thrust upward with his palm, releasing the runic formation he had prepared. The alley lit up with the release of the Rune of Force, blue-white light showing every grimy detail as a bruised body was slammed a hundred feet into the air. One player moaned as he died on the ground; his partner leaned against the wall, shaking his head and trying to clear it. The three who had charged into the alley paused as they got a good look at their opponent.

Bone covered his head, giving his face a bestial appearance. Sharp talons emerged from bone-armored forearms already covered in blood, and a snaky, ten-foot tail moved back and forth like a scorpion. As they slowed to surround him, he yelled "Kulag!" and charged the rightmost opponent, slashing his hamstring as he went past and dodged the other two strikes. Instead of fleeing, he turned and faced them. "I like this alley; maybe I'll buy it." He charged back at them.

The fight lasted a minute and was bloody, neither side giving quarter. While Milo was outnumbered, his opponents saw poorly in the dark and weren't coordinating their attacks. Milo, on the other hand, had fought against multiple opponents many times. Their knives hurt, but the poison was ignored. He'd felt the pain of Cremona's poisoned claws, and this was nothing. Their daggers did roughly a hundred points of damage but had trouble connecting with him, and his vitals were protected by plates of interlocking bone. Striking back, the rune-powered strikes of the Claws of Alta Viator carved deep into their bodies, doing hundreds of points of damage on each strike. And he never quit moving, leaping over his foes, running along the alley's walls, or tumbling past them. Soon all of them were wounded or dead; only the leader left as a threat. Milo was bleeding from a dozen wounds, but they were already closing, his regeneration sealing off the bleeding.

Milo saw that his last opponent was winded and wary. Perhaps it was time to talk? "I've been out of town for a bit. Tell me about this little gang war so I know the stakes."

"What's to know? It's every guild against the Kulags. Squint got too big for his britches and thinks he's in charge of the city. Lots of money coming down from the merchants up top to encourage a little descent. Didn't you get the quest?"

Milo shook his head. "Like I said, I've been out of town. But don't worry; I'll go talk to Squint and catch up." Two of the gang were up now, limping forward. "I think it's time to end this; sorry, but I'm on a tight schedule today." Two minutes later, only five tombstones marked where the Poisoned Talon Gang had died. The sixth was on a roof where he had come down from his trip to the ceiling. Milo leaned back against the wall and pulled out a healing potion. That had been a fun fight. He'd lost over half his health and been forced to fight all-out against them. The experience point gains were small, but there was more to fighting than a number. Training in Limburger Hollow had taught him that. After a ten-minute rest and cleaning himself off, he went on his way, staying out of the back alleys and walking along the edge of the market. He didn't have time for more fights.

From atop a nearby building, a figure in the shadows stroked the fur of his cats. "Yes, you were right. He was just playing with them the whole time and wasn't in trouble. If he sticks around, he's going to tip the scales in our favor quickly. I may have to cower in my headquarters for a week eating pudding, to keep the sides even. Good job sniffing him out; I had no idea he was back! I'll have to think of a good quest for him to do."

Chapter 235: Return of the Righteously Vengeful Empress

A well-armored figure moved down the streets of Shadowport, waving to a few people and making her way across the city. Belinda was easily recognized by her sky-blue robe, grey plate armor, and shining crystalline shield. A flanged copper mace was tucked into a belt loop. As a known healer, she had fewer problems walking through Shadowport but kept to the main roads. It seemed to her that it was more dangerous and chaotic today. She'd seen fights between players start for no reason three times as she walked along the main boulevard. She'd been out of the game for over a month after a bad reaction to one of her drugs. The doctors were always nervous about her using her pod, endlessly fussing with it, and Daddy always sided with them. And no one seemed to think she was old enough to understand what was happening to her own body. She put up with it for now, she had no choice, but it was one of the things she would change as soon as she turned eighteen. A commotion in a nearby alley brought her out of her musings—another fight. One player had dived off a rooftop to stab another. She stepped nearer to a man selling battered sausages on a stick from a cart. She pointed at the fight, "Any idea what's going on?"

He shrugged. "All I know is the sausages are plump and juicy. My wife worked hard to make the batter and bake them in an oven. She works hard every day. I work hard too!"

Belinda smiled and handed him a silver coin, far too much money for cheap food. "I'm hungry; two of your fine sausages, please."

The vendor smiled, showing missing teeth, and bobbed his head. He put two of the sausage-on-a-stick on a plate, put those on a small table, and invited Belinda to sit. He lowered his voice and spoke. "The gangs are at war; it is a bad time to wander alone. Outsiders have come to the city and challenge Lord Squint for control of the Shadowport. At first, they just fought with each other, yelling 'Surprise' and ambushing rival gang members. Squint played them off against each other, but then some of them formed an alliance, and the fighting became worse as they challenged the Kulags. Other gangs have joined in to nip at their heels. Stay out of the alleys if you can. Light's End, too."

Mumbling around the meal and thinking about her route, she asked, "Is the main road clear? I need to meet a friend at the guild hall. What happens if the gangs win? Doesn't Squint do a lot to control the chaos?"

"Bad things, I think, unless one gang can control the rest. That will be hard. The alliance will break when they kill Squint or chase him from the city, and the gangs will fight again. But, on the bright side, business is good. My brother owns a weapons shop and is selling daggers and truncheons as fast as he can make them, and I sell sausages to the hungry players who have walked back from death and need food."

Belinda sat, talked, and enjoyed a baked apple from the cart beside the sausage vendor. The food just tasted better in the game. Soon several people were gathered around, discussing the latest events in town. A child showed her a scraped knee, and she healed him, bringing several other people over to politely ask for healing for sprained ankles, a burned hand from grasping a hot pot, and a badly set broken arm. She waived any payment but encouraged people to fill her in on recent events.

As soon as word of the gang war started, players from all over teleported to nearby ports where they could book passage and take part in the citywide PVP event. Gangs recruited new rogues and fighters at the docks, escorting them to their 'hidden' lairs which always seemed to be in the basements of taverns. The delay for respawning was set to one-quarter of normal if a person was in the city and died due to PVP. The chance of dropping a piece of equipment was also increased. Some players weren't even bothering with their best gear, preferring to rely on skill and a pair of rusty poisoned daggers.

In contrast, the docks and residential areas were relatively calm. The Sea Captains wanted no part of the chaos, and the docks were declared neutral ground. One large gang had tried to claim it for themselves despite that and found out the hard way how far an angry ogre could throw an enchanted harpoon. A fight had disturbed Captain Pike while he was having lunch. Such an insult had resulted in two gangs being wiped out to a man. Three players were further traumatized by seeing Pike rip off their limbs, add salt, and eat the tasty treat in from of them. The docks were off-limit after that. Squint had likewise declared the areas where the fishing families and traders had their homes to be off limits. The gang lord generally stayed out of the small fights, but he patrolled the streets daily and dealt with any gangs who trespassed. The Kulags had remained quiet during the early part of the gang war, holding onto control of Light's End and the key bridges in the city.

That changed when several gangs started working together to take the Kulags and depose Squint from his position at the top of the gangs. The raid had started successfully, with half the Kulags killed before they knew what was happening. Squint and most of the gang defended their Bordello-Fortress of Light's End, but that end of the city was slipping from his grasp. That was when someone screwed up and tried to raid the Adventurers Guildhall. Bernard had grabbed his spear and magic helmet and offered very generous quests to anyone nearby. The rogues and assassins suddenly found themselves facing all the other players who swept through Light's End, killing every gang member they could find. Squint laughed and watched the chaos from his balcony. Strangely, the Kulags who had been killed while on patrol or guarding the bridges had mostly been players. Only two NPC Kulags died, and they arrived back to the city, stepping off of a small black boat with wild tales to tell of the strange seas of the underworld. The gang war continued, but Bernard sent letters to every gang, reminding them that the guildhall was neutral ground and threatening terrible vengeance if they crossed him again.

Feeling like she had a better feel for what was happening, Belinda waved to her new friends and went on her way. At the main bridge across the ravine, four heavily armored Kulags waved her through and warned her about trouble up ahead. "The Poisoned Talons are roaming around the market. Five of them jumped a Kulag in an alley."

Belinda frowned. "That hardly seems fair."

The two guards she was talking to shrugged and smiled. "It wasn't. All five of them have a new headstone in that alley. I hear that Milo is back in town, and they didn't recognize him."

"Oh! Really? He's supposed to meet with me for lunch, and he's out killing bandits. I knew I should have come earlier." With a small wave, she walked on, quickening her pace. Things became darker the further she went from the docks with their natural light and into the hollow city. As she walked, she cast a small spell called Foxfire that created a small area of light around her in a twenty-foot radius. It was enough to help her navigate the streets as things got darker. Many streetlights were broken or missing, casualties of the gang war.

The downside of the spell was that it attracted attention. Four cloaked and hooded figures stepped out into the main street, surrounding her. "What do we have here? That's a lot of shiny loot you're carrying. Be a shame to drop something." The other's nodded and did their best to look menacing.

Belinda didn't even draw her weapon. "Very shiny and very much mine. I'm a healer, and I'm not playing your stupid games. Move."

The one who had spoken did so again. "Really? That's strange. See, Vinny got his guts ripped out recently, and while he was waiting for the Death Penalty to wear off, he went to get a sausage. He distinctly heard you say you were on your way to meet Milo. And the only Milo we know works for Squint. And we don't like Squint."

"And we don't like Milo."

"And that means we don't like you. So hand over some shinies or head to respawn, and we'll loot your stuff."

Belinda drew her mace, cast Armor of Virtue, and started walking forward. "I'm leaving. Stay out of my way, please." The rogues before her moved to cut her off, flanking to either side, while a thief and assassin moved up from behind. She blocked a stab by the rogue on her left with her Crystalline Shield and fended off the other with a thrust of her mace. The rogue's sword shattered on her shield. He was quite angry about it.

"That's bullshit! What is that shield?"

Belinda rolled her eyes, but if they talked, they might return and leave. "World Boss loot. We were allowed to pick a crystal weapon as tough as the boss. This is mine."

"Uh, it's a shield."

She nodded. "And if you have shield bash, then shield counts as a weapon. I took a shield. It sucks to be you or your sword. Now leave me be."

The assassin appeared behind her, the thief a step behind. The thief went for her belt pouch but found it securely locked and riveted to her belt. The assassin put a thin blade deep into her side, just below her armor, scoring a critical hit and injecting a Tier 2 poison into her that he saved for higher-level players. Belinda staggered and went to one knee. "Damn, a backstab, poison, and a critical. You must have done over 1500 points of damage with that."

The assassin was happy someone appreciated his skill. "1532, to be exact. Plus, 100 poison a round for ten rounds. I'm surprised you're still up. The paralysis on that is a bitch to deal with."

Belinda took a breath. "Yeah, this will hurt; remember, I offered to let you go. Vengeful Healing of the Empress." The ring on her finger glowed brightly, her wounds healed before their eyes, and she straightened up and smiled, even flipping her hair back and winking. All her four attackers dropped to the ground the next instant, screaming. Each had taken a terrible wound in their sides, and the poison burned in their veins.

"Now you all know how it feels. I love the added paralysis. Makes it easy to gather a few items from you." She went from one to the next, taking their belt pouches, shoes, belts, and weapons. Three of the near-naked players died, and headstones appeared. One had a little more health than the others. She walked over to him and beat his skull to a pulp with her mace. She took their meager amount of money and left everything else in the street for whoever noticed it.

A minute later, she passed the last building and walked through the Night Market. She waved to a few players she knew and headed to the Adventurers Guild. It took some time to descend to the mines, but half an hour later, she approached where Uthneragrubban had been destroyed. A nervous Milo was waiting for her.

Chapter 236: A Place with Uncomfortable Memories

Milo was regretting meeting at this place; he had too many uncomfortable memories associated with it. They'd won a huge battle, but at the time, he had been hurt so badly that he'd just wandered off to feed his growing cheese addiction and been captured by the Slaver Mage. When he returned, he was self-absorbed and only focused on fixing his head, regaining his bones, and trying to understand what had happened. It took time to recover from that. Finding Limburger Hollow had been good for him. He was much better now, more confident, and better trained in his abilities. Most importantly, he was free to go where he wanted.

But the ordeal on the airship would haunt him. He was very glad Philistron was dead and that he'd helped kill him. He had met no one else in the game who was so cruel and inhuman. That the Slaver had been created by a human player, not the AI running the game, was ironic. The anti-AI groups always talked about AI being 'inhuman.' The whole encounter had been like being in hell, but he'd learned so many new things and, in the end, helped people. He needed to focus on that. Freeing the clan of halflings and children from the city and everyone else in those cages. And the two people trapped with him and tortured by Philistron. He thought about them from time to time. Wally's revelation that there might be people like him somewhere in the world had been shocking. He'd denied it at first but slowly unwrapped the idea. There could have been another batch created. If so, they were strangers and could be friends or foes. He had a tendency to paranoia, but some of his siblings, like Bork, had been consumed by it. That would make them dangerous.

A small part of him considered the idea of it being some of his family. Deaths could be faked. He had gone back over the reports about the deaths of each of his family members. The early reports were brutal. 'Subject 4G dead of seizure, body disposed of by incineration. Subject 4J died from unknown causes. The autopsy showed a possible stroke. Body sectioned and sold to {redacted} for research.' His own was interesting. He was listed as 'Subject 4M lost in transit, assumed dead.' It was the file with the last report that he went over again and again. There was little information. 'Subjects 4A, 4B, 4N, 4O, and 4Z dead from vehicular wreck, explosion, and subsequent fire. Remains of bodies consumed by fire found in the wreckage of vehicle used in the escape confirm deaths.'

They would have been very smart and capable by then and could work flawlessly as a team. Yet, their escape plan seemed simplistic. He started a new investigation, focusing on every person who had worked at that facility and followed them for years. He found three people who seemed very well off for their jobs. Each year, on a day near the anniversary of his family's death, a fairly large chunk of money was deposited into the accounts of each of the three men.

If Wally was correct, and someone was using the same tools he used, tools which left tell-tale signs only detectable by an AI, it might be his family. If they were unaware they were leaving clues, Wally might be able to get information on their whereabouts and what they were working on. Someone using those tools had cleaned out the majority of Victor's assets that were invested in Syllabary. Milo had taken the rest of his money, leaving Victor broke and on the run. Wally would alert him if the A.I. found anything. Milo wondered if he had already met two of them.

It would be a strange coincidence, but they fit the profile of what Milo would expect in his siblings, and he had large doubts those were two of Victor's employees using the specially programmed pods. Firstly, based on the strange quest, if one person was logging in to use a special character, why not all 37? Only three of the special pods had been used. The others had been found in different countries, linked to thousands of Mark 2 pods. Secondly, they had been smart. He'd argued with them, especially the cat. All three of them were crazed and in withdrawal from their individual drugs. But they were smart enough to converse using a code that would be difficult for a highly intelligent person to follow and impossible for a normal person. They were too good at it, even considering they'd been there for weeks. Wally could find no record of them. They never logged back in. That was smart or paranoid. If that had been part of his family, he would be insanely happy to find them. But for now, he'd wait for Wally to complete his search. He hoped it was them who had stolen Victor's money. He deserved it.

It wasn't lost on him that he might have created his problem with Victor. The aging mobster had traded in every favor he was owed, thrown every criminal he knew to the wolves, and taken a deal in the US with witness protection. And now he was laying low near his last remaining relative. Milo didn't feel it was any coincidence that Belinda would inherit a large amount of money soon.

That brought him back to today's problem: Belinda. He wanted to help her. He had to warn her. She'd asked for help with her medical issues. But could he trust her? It wasn't just about him. If Victor found out Milo was alive, he would come after him, especially if he suspected Milo had taken some of his money. Milo could run and hide, but his life in the habitat would be like a hidden fugitive again. Butch and his family would be at risk as well. He could yell for help from Wally and Steven, but he wasn't sure what they could do. It was a bad situation with too many variables and something Milo would do almost anything to avoid.

Belinda had no trouble descending into the mines. The miners knew her, and she'd often come down here to heal injuries and set broken bones. Good relations smoothed out potential problems when she came down here with groups to explore caverns and kill monsters for experience. Several people asked if she needed an escort, but she thanked them and said no. The monument put up marking the defeat of the World Boss was only a quarter mile into the mines, along the largest cavern. It was a convenient meeting spot for adventuring groups. The mining guild had hired a stone sculptor to create a model of Uthneragrubban and a large plaque commemorating the battle. She had such great memories from that fight. Everything had been so awesome, and she'd been someone important, not just a healer who tossed out band-aids. Everyone who had been in that battle talked about it all the time. Winning an un-winnable battle had been the game's high point for almost everyone. And Milo had been right in the middle of it, designing the trap for the boss. The place must hold special memories for him, too.

She was a little nervous about talking with Milo. She didn't understand him, and the more she thought about him, the more confused she was. Something had him tied in knots and barely able to speak. He was really worried about something. Her first guess was her Uncle Victor. She knew he'd done some bad things before he retired, and he was very possessive of her. Victor and John had been arguing a lot lately about her medical care, going to see her friends and even her gloves. John wanted her to borrow them. "Just a loan, just for a little bit." She'd hid them instead, leaving them with Min, and then screamed at John for a day when her arms hurt and didn't work right. Uncle Victor used that as a wedge, encouraging her to keep what was hers. She was happy to have him on her side but sensed it was more about opposing her stepfather.

And the fight over her name. John had papers he wanted to submit, changing her name permanently to Sabbatino. That went over poorly with Victor, and she wasn't sure at all what she wanted. Seimovich was the family name. Her mother had kept it when she got married. Belinda wanted to use the family name when she turned 18. But John was being clingy, saying he was afraid of losing her. It was extremely tiring. And how crazy Daddy acted made her wonder if that might be part of the Milo problem. Her dad was in charge of Manpower, and they were hiring everyone they could in the habitat. Many parents were working long hours. Butch and Brad had talked about working for her dad as soon as possible. That would really break up their group.

She was sure they could work everything out if she got Milo to open up. She saw him sitting cross-legged on the ground with his back to the wall. It was hard to miss him in that glaring orange tunic with all the tears and patches. She walked up and sat down next to him. "Hi, how are things in the dark caves of doom?"

He smiled a little. "Not bad; I like it in the caves. I know most of the rules down here. I'm not as good up in the city, and I think I'd freak out if I had to deal with being on the surface much.

"Sort of like the habitat? You don't mix with a lot of people there, do you?"

"Nope. It's why I'm so bad with people. I get tied up in knots, and it's hard to talk sometimes."

Belinda bumped him with her shoulder. "Yeah, I've noticed. I think that's why we're here today. You ready to talk some things over?"

Milo looked around the cave, then at where the boss had died. Maybe it wasn't such a bad spot after all. If you were going to talk about uncomfortable things, why ruin a good place? He took a deep breath and prepared himself for another tough battle, mostly with himself.

"Sure, time to talk."

Chapter 237: Conversation between two people unused to having friends.

With greetings out of the way, Belinda and Milo settled down to an awkward silence. Finally, after sitting quietly for a moment, it became apparent to Belinda that she'd have to start poking at him and try to figure out what was going on in his head. "I'm guessing you know something about my Uncle Victor? And that worries you? Or is it something else?"

Milo took a deep breath. "He's certainly part of it. I know a lot about your Great Uncle, Victor Seimovich, and what he's done. You can find out a lot about him with a good computer and a few hours of searching. How much do you know about him? About his real business?"

She shrugged her shoulders, glad she'd guessed right. "I know he isn't the best person. No, that's wrong - He's a bad person, but he's always been good to me. I heard a lot about him when I was younger. He talked with people on the phone or with his employees who followed him around. Always in Russian, and they just assumed I didn't understand. It was a fun game I liked to play, at least until I understood what he was talking about. At some point, I think he realized I could understand a lot of what was said, and he was more careful. It's not something I ever talked to him about, and the one time I asked John, he just said, 'We don't talk about what Uncle Victor does.' After that, it became something I knew about, but it didn't affect me, and I could pretend he was just Uncle Victor.

But if you're worried that he's in the habitat, don't be. He hardly leaves his apartment. Something big happened before he came here, and he's being very careful about where he goes."

Milo picked up a rock, considered how useless throwing rocks at a stalactite was, and threw it anyway. "Let me tell you about the last bad thing he did, and you judge if we have to worry. When the new game started, he had places all over the world where he put people in pods to work in the game and sell their labor. But not the new pods, the old crappy ones that could hurt people using them. And these were worse. They were broken, with no maintenance, and stored for years when they should have been destroyed. The people he used were desperate. Refugees, people from habitats, and people accused of crimes he paid bail on. It was a huge operation, with tens of thousands of people. The old Mark 2 pods were bad when they were new, and you can't legally use them because of the flaws. People were dying every day working for him. And they couldn't quit."

Belinda was staring at him. "Victor did that? What happened?"

"The authorities found out. They saved a lot of people. And found a lot of bodies. One of those places was at the bottom of this hab. It could have Big Butch, or any of our friends in those pods, dying so Victor could make money. And Victor and the people working for him didn't care. Everyone else that they caught went to jail except Victor. So yeah, I worry that he's here. You should, too."

"I'm not saying I don't believe you, but it's hard for me to understand that someone would do that."

"You don't have to take my word for it. I sent you the files as a message in the game. They're nested inside twenty layers of memes about kittens, dumb jokes, and pictures of Butch and Brad sleeping while Min decorated them with a pink marker. Tell me what you think."

Belinda spent a minute finding the message and going through layers of stupid cat pictures. The first two newspaper articles and a report from Interpol were enough to convince her. One report from Poland showed a stack of dead bodies in a freezer. She quit reading after that.

"Oh my god! That's horrible." She stood and paced, arms crossed. Milo gave her time.

She stopped and looked at him, panic in her eyes. "Wait! Daddy is doing the same thing! The entire idea behind Manpower is people in pods working for the corporations! Is he involved with Victor?"

Milo shook his head. "No. I think Victor discovered what John planned to do with Manpower and copied it using illegal pods, forced labor, and hacked logins. John makes some money renting labor. Victor made 100 times as much and had a bigger operation. He killed people while making a profit. What your father is doing isn't bad and at least gives people jobs.

"It's safe?"

"Your stepdad is doing something similar, but safe and legal. He has to use Mark 7 pods. They heal people instead of killing them. And the workers have a contract, a pretty good one. I'm not worried about Manpower. I'm worried about Victor Seimovich and you."

Belinda smiled. "I'm flattered that you're worried about me. But Victor won't hurt me; I'm the only family Uncle Victor has. And I can handle Daddy. We argue, but I can usually get my way eventually."

Milo sighed and tossed another rock. Belinda grew restless as he didn't talk for a minute.

"Talk to me. Why are you worried about me?"

Milo sighed. The damned knots weren't going to cut themselves. "You turn eighteen soon. What happens then?"

"That's why you don't have to worry about me! My trust funds have enough money so I can live independently and take care of myself!" That day couldn't come fast enough for her.

Milo turned to her and thought hard about what he would say. "And what if, for medical reasons, a court declares that you aren't capable of handling that much money? That for your own good, you need a permanent guardian? Someone who can now access your trust funds and care for you. Maybe John. Maybe Victor. What then?"

She'd thought a little about that. "If daddy tries that, I'll fight him. A broken body doesn't mean a broken mind. I've passed enough courses by now to have a college degree if I wanted. A court would see that." Milo was staring at her, waiting, hoping she'd see the problem. "You're worried about Uncle Victor? Aren't you? He's not my guardian; Daddy is. Why would Victor get involved?"

"Because Victor is a bad man, trapped in a bad spot, and he needs your money to get back his power. His money is gone; yours isn't. With enough money, he can disappear all his troubles and be back in business. Don't think of him as Uncle Victor. Think of him as someone who lets people die of starvation while trapped inside faulty pods. And worse. Don't underestimate him."

Eyes wide, she shook her head back and forth. "No, that doesn't make sense! I don't have that much money! Daddy has control of most of it now, and I don't care. When I get the ten million dollars in my trust funds, I can do what I want. But that's nothing compared to what Victor used to talk about. He laughed at 'mere millionaires'; he had billions before he lost it."

"Your father is lying to you. Victor is lying to you. Maybe for good reasons? I'm not good at how family and money work. I'm still figuring that out. But there are records of financial transactions that give hints. Even at a low estimate, your father was worth 150 billion dollars when he died. Your mother was even richer. You are the only heir and get it all when you turn 18. Unless someone decides you aren't competent."

Belinda leaned back against the rock wall, thinking. That was a stupid amount of money. Was he telling the truth? Probably. She was conscious of how controlling her stepfather was and how little contact she had with people outside her bodyguards and doctors. He had moved them a lot, going from place to place, and she'd lost the few friends she had made. She could only hang out with her new friends because Eric had pushed Daddy hard to keep his promises. Now that she thought about it, he didn't even like her being online in the game lately. The more she thought about how he acted lately, the more she got angry. It was just like him to do this. Keep control of her and keep secrets.

"But how would he do that? I have doctors and nurses that would testify to my competence. Wouldn't they, or are you saying Daddy would pay them to say I wasn't?"

Milo let out a deep breath after thinking for a moment. "I don't want to scare you, but you have to understand what could happen. Declaring you mentally incompetent would be tough. All a judge has to do is talk to you. But what if something happens to you physically? You get worse. Have a mysterious relapse. Go into a coma? They control your records. They could show that you're physically unable to care for yourself. You've lived in different countries. What happens when some night you disappear, and we don't know where you are? All they have to do is add a drug to your pod to knock you out, and they could move you like a piece of cargo wherever they need. Pay a judge or a government to side with them, and you never wake up. It's been done before. I know of people it's been done to."

The bottom dropped out of Belinda's world. She hadn't played in weeks because of a problem with her new drugs, and now she wondered. She got better, then worse, in a constant cycle. Was it real? Or were they using drugs to control her? It sounded crazy and paranoid.

Milo continued. "Now, take that scenario and keep going. Who knows you? Who could sound an alarm about a missing heiress and something suspicious happening? How hard would it be to eliminate some people living in a habitat? Who would notice? It would be tempting to Victor, and that's who I'm worried about, to cover his tracks, just like he's done before. But John might do it too."

Belinda nodded. It hadn't seemed real before, just like something in a movie. Now? She felt horrible. She'd heard Victor talk of making people disappear.

"You're worried Victor will come after you, Butch, and all the rest. I can see that. But I promise. I PROMISE I'll do anything I can not to let that happen! I won't let Victor do something to you." She came close to him and suddenly hugged him. "Please believe me; I won't let them hurt anyone." Milo stiffened for a moment, then hugged her back awkwardly.

"And I promise not to let them do anything to you." The moment ended, and they backed away from each other and sat back down, facing each other this time. I Milo thought he was getting a breather, he was wrong.

"There's more, isn't there." If he was just worried about warning her about Victor, he could have done without all the drama. And there were too many odd things happening. ClawMaster, an unknown company that trusted Milo with a half dozen ultra-expensive sets of gloves. The new school, Butch and Mama getting jobs, money for the people testing the gloves. Milo was in the middle of it all.

She knew so little about him, but some of what she knew didn't make sense. He was smarter than she was but younger. He should have been on one of the professional gaming teams, but he lived in the habitat. And then the Claw Master deal. How had he learned about the company? And he understood what the gloves did and how they worked. Most people in the hab couldn't program a food processor. She knew she couldn't.

"You're hiding a lot of things, aren't you?"

Milo threw a rock at a stalactite and then another.

"Right. Not talking again. Got it. You warned me about Victor and Daddy and what they might do to declare me incompetent to manage my money. I get it. But there's more. A lot more! What's the problem and why won't you talk to me? Is it something about Claw Master? Some sort of NDA? I'm not going to say anything. I've only got six friends in the whole damned world, and you're one of them. I'm not going to betray your trust!"

Milo set down the next rock. "No lies. Promise?"

"Yes. I promise. No lies."

He took a deep breath. "Rules are important to me. They help me deal with the real world. But I get tied up in knots when rules work against each other. I promised Mama I wouldn't lie. I promised you I wouldn't lie. I want to protect all my friends. But I also need to not talk about some things. Some of my friends...well, it's complicated. Like some of my secrets. I have to break some rules, and that's tough to do."

He paused for a second, then rushed onward.

"Your Dad and your doctors are hiding your medical records. ClawMaster asked for them after I told them about how the gloves helped you. The files they saw said you were totally healthy. Your pod is sending fake data. Your stepfather has to know about that. Do you know of any reason they might be doing that?"

"No. I can't. And I don't even know what's really wrong with me. I've asked, and Daddy always says it's unhealthy for me to think about it. That's such bullshit! I deserve to know. I hate him; I think I really do. He's trying to keep me from having friends and from playing games. He tried to get my gloves. I love my gloves! My arms were working, and I had to take them off and hide them!" She sat down and cried for a minute, then looked up at Milo. "You're right. I need to worry about John. He wants to be in control." She paused, gathering her thoughts and getting herself under control.

"So what do I do? You have more to say; I know you do. You have friends outside the habitat; it's obvious. You work for ClawMaster, know how the gloves work, and you got to pick your team of playtesters. Did you plan to get me on your team from the start?"

"NO! I mean, some of that is true, but I didn't know you were Belinda...I mean, that you were the Belinda I knew in the game. I saw it on the monitor and freaked out a little when I put things together. I don't like surprises like that. It had been a long day, and I needed to be alone, and then that guy attacked me and tried to steal my gloves."

"What? What guy? Why didn't you say something before?" Anger replaced everything else she was feeling.

Milo shrugged. "The guy that hassled me at the start of the day. He cornered me in the bathroom. I knocked him down and left."

Belinda took a deep breath and drove down the anger. She had to think. "John must have told him to get a pair of the gloves. The other companies were really upset at losing. Which means they might come after Butch, Min, and the others. This just gets worse and worse. Can ClawMaster help? I'm sure they don't want John getting a pair of gloves until they do their big release."

Milo nodded and smiled slightly, thinking of his friends who ran ClawMaster. "I think they can. They helped me a lot. They straightened out the adoption process and are the ones setting up the school. They might be able to help you as well. But this part is tricky. I can't tell you who they are. That's their secret, not mine. But they already want to help you. We need to get your medical records. It would help if I could look at the pod you use. Do you trust me on that? If I can get your medical records to my friends, they can tell you the truth. Then we can find out how the gloves help."

Belinda's face broke out into a smile. "Yes, I trust you with that. And I have a great idea of how to give you a look at my pod. Daddy promised me a clubhouse and a party. I'm going to find Uncle Eric and get him on board with my idea, and all of you can come over to my place to play games, eat cheesy-chili-corn-dogs, and play the video games we won. Daddy doesn't like the idea, so I won't ask him this time. It will be great!"

Milo nodded to her. "That works." He'd been planning to sneak through the tunnels into her section and do the work after he jiggled the security cameras. He was a little disappointed, actually, but her plan had food and games.

She stood up and reached out a hand to him. "I like this; let's keep talking. But I'm starving. There are some places to eat by the docks; we can have a nice lunch together. We can even have some fun on the way. There's a gang war going on, and I hear people are looking for you. I need a good fight to work out some frustrations."

Chapter 238: Date Night

Milo slowed and stopped after walking out of the Adventurer's Guild with Belinda. "I have a question about something you said that I don't understand."

After the revelations in their recent talk, Belinda wasn't sure she was ready for more. But at least Milo was talking. "Well, ask it, and I'll try to answer."

"Is this a date? I've never been on a date. Can I get a definition? I'm hazy about what it is, and what I heard Butch and Brad discussing confuses me more."

She looked at him hard, making sure he was serious, then crossed her arms and was silent for a moment. "I'm the last person to ask about dating advice, and I have no idea what Butch and Brad told you. I'm almost always in a powered wheelchair. That makes socializing a little tough. Why are you asking me this?"

"Oh. Sorry. When we talked by the glowy tree, you said, 'It's a date.' I've been worried about what that means."

She covered her face with both hands. "Oh god. Is that part of what has you worried? It's an expression people use. It can mean, 'We have agreed on a set time and place to meet.' Or it can mean two people want to get together and enjoy spending time together with each other because they want to be friends. Or maybe better than friends. That part I'm really not good with. Wheelchair girls don't date much."

"So, how did you use it?" Milo was looking at her with pure curiosity on his face. From anyone else, she'd have thought they weren't serious.

"I'm not sure. Both? We needed to meet up and talk, and I like having friends. Look, some things you just can't define. Dates are one of them. Let's have lunch, hang around the town for a while, hopefully get ambushed, and have fun. There's no right or wrong to it. Whatever we do counts as a date. Just relax and have fun."

Milo nodded. "I can do that." He looked at the area around the Night Market. "There's an alley over that way with people skulking on the roof."

"Awesome, lead the way. There's a little café hidden in a cul-de-sac near there. They make great tacos. "

Whatever the four thieves from the Jacks-are-Wild Gang thought they were going to do, it didn't work. Jack had spotted Milo in the Guild Hall and set three traps for him on nearby rooftops. As soon as he came out, they'd had eyeballs on him. He was talking with the Healer and wandering toward one of the traps. The other two groups converged on the area. But somehow, they lost track of the Kulag, and just the Healer was moving into the alley. You couldn't miss her, not with the big, crystalline shield and shiny helmet. So they waited as people moved about the rooftops, getting into position, peering over the edge of the roofs.

As usual, people were screwing around. Gary pretended to get too close to the edge, mimicking panic. Then the asshole actually over-balanced and fell. Donweebo tried to grab his partner and only managed to fall as well. They hit the cobblestones from three stories up. Gary had gone head first and scattered his brains on the road. Donweebo stood up, cradling an arm, only to take a hard hit to his head from a shield rush. Knocked to the ground and stunned, it was easy for even a Healer to finish him off. Then she looked up at the surrounding buildings like she expected something else to happen.

Jack moved over to Jimmikneecaps and Black Kitten. The two were paying more attention to each other than their jobs. He startled them, and they sprung apart from each other. "Shit, don't do that, Jack; you scared us!" Jimmi at least looked guilty. Kitten just glared at him and said, "Asshole."

"Look, this is serious; we have the bait below and a Kulag Sub-chief wandering in the area. You're lucky he didn't sneak up on you. Now one of you keeps your eyes on the healer, and the other keeps looking around because you never know if..."

"KULAG!"

Something knocked all three people off the roof hard. Hard enough that they slammed into the building across the alley. Kitten and Jimmi hit the stone and bounced, landing in the alley. Jack went through a pair of flimsy shutters and a closed window into the room beyond. An elderly woman had just emerged from her bathtub and screamed. Jack tried to simultaneously apologize and pick glass out of his arm. The woman expertly wrapped her towel around his neck like a garrote and, using that to control him, forced his head under water. Jack died with the taste of lilac-scented bath salts on his tongue.

In the alley below, Jimmi managed to stagger up with a broken leg. Black Kitten was holding her side. With Belinda rushing the two of them, Black Kitten turned and ran, leaving her boyfriend to take his lumps. Belinda swung her mace, and a three-quarters arc that came up into his chin. Skills like Dodge didn't work with a broken leg, and Sense Danger told you the next blow would hurt.

While she was finishing off the wounded rogue, the last three opponents rushed her from behind and tackled her. Two held her while the third brought back his dagger for a kill shot. It never came as a bone spike went through his forearm, and a second later, another went through the back of his head and out his eyeball.

The grip of the two thieves slackened. One was turning green and dying rapidly from a poison where a small snake bit him on the hand. The other had seen the Healer reach out and poison his partner with just a touch. He scrambled to get away but ended up facing an angry Kulag with outstretched claws. Milo eviscerated him with a double-claw strike, followed by a spinning kick to the face. He would bleed out soon, but two more blows killed him quickly.

Belinda watched with a smug smile on her face. "Wow, where did you learn all that?"

Milo wiped off his hands on a cloak and smiled back at her. "I found an old trainer in a city down below. He was really tough and worked me half to death. Worth it, though. What about you? You're as good as a warrior with that mace. And you have a poison spell?"

"Sort of. A girl has to have some secrets. I had a lot of gold after the world boss raid. Two of the big gaming sites wanted interviews, and I charged them a fee that I paid for some training. I don't want to be just a band-aid station." She looked around at the headstones. "Lunchtime, this place makes great fish tacos, and they have this awesome pickled seaweed. You have to try it."

They'd only made it to the end of the alley when she made a face and cursed. "Dammit, dammit, dammit. NOT NOW!"

"What's wrong?"

She turned, angry. "A message from my doctor, something is wrong. I have to log out so they can check my medications. I hate this so much. I only have a minute while they log me out from their end. Bring everyone by tomorrow for lunch, I'll set up a party, and we can play games. And stuff." She winked as she said the last part, then disappeared.

Milo scratched his head. That hadn't been bad for a first date. He explored, trying to find the little café with the fish tacos.

Chapter 239: Fish Taco Tuesday

It took an hour to find the spot Belinda had told him about. He'd taken to the rooftops to search for it, and the little cul-de-sac was nearly invisible from above. The alley leading to it was narrow and partly roofed, where someone had connected two rows of buildings with rooms between them. The small dead end was likewise hard to see, with buildings that grew wider at the top and used each other for support, their upper levels merging together into a rooftop. Milo finally caught a glimpse of the area below because of the lanterns that ringed the round courtyard. Retracing his steps and dropping to street level, he found the alleyway leading to the cafe Belinda had been taking him to.

The area reminded him of parts of the Hollow. It felt like a smaller cave within the hollow city. Lanterns hung from the ceiling providing bright light. In the center of the courtyard was a statue of a dwarven warrior, most of the details lost to the ages. His outstretched hand pointed at the cafe, and a sign hung from his arm that said, "Every Day is Taco Tuesday." Milo took his advice and went into the little eatery. It was packed with people, and at the back, sitting at a table piled with food was Captain Pike.

"Oi! Look what wandered into my net. Come grab a chair and get some grub with me." He pointed to three people sitting at the table who had been listening to his stories, "You lot! Shift your loads over. Make room for my little buddy." The three sailors hurried to comply.

Milo took one of the seats. "Hi, Skipper. How are the tacos?" If there was one safe topic when talking to Ogres, it was food.

Pike stuffed two more crunchy tacos into his mouth, chewing noisily, swallowing, and belching. "Good grub. Some of the best in the city. Always something different."

"And we are always happy to have you come by, Captain." An older man in an apron brought out two more plates of food, placing a large platter in front of Pike and a smaller plate in front of Milo. "Try a little of each, and let me know what you like. The first is a crispy taco with grilled shark, spicy cave lichen, and pickled vegetables. The round patty is my family's recipe for crab cakes. Next to that is an enchilada with creamy cheese and shrimp filling. Finally, we have a bowl of New England clam chowder."

The Ogre looked at the bowl suspiciously. "I never can figure out half the places you've been, Carlos. Where the hell is New England? For that matter, where's Old England?"

A woman brought Milo a pitcher of sweet tea and filled his glass. "I'd bring you a map of where we're from, but I'm worried you'd sail off to find it, and then I'd lose my best customer."

The Captain patted his large belly. "You're fattening me up. I may need a bigger boat." She laughed and went back to the kitchen.

Milo tried the food on his plate and fell in love with all of it. The little roll of shrimp and cheese was his favorite. He ate until he couldn't fit another bite. Pike grabbed the leftovers and scraped them onto his plate. "Never waste food; you don't know when you might miss a meal and regret it." The Ogre paused in his eating after he finished Milo's food, then picked up his harpoon from the floor next to him. "Thanks for lunch. I have to hustle off. There's a sushi place on the docks that got in some fresh tentacle beast. Good eating if you have a tolerance for the poison. Keep me in mind the next time you go hunting big critters. I have a reputation to grow. Can't stop with just a measly World Boss."

Milo put together Pike, thanking him for lunch with his long-ago offer to foot the bill. Carlos gave him the bill, and Milo paid over the substantial cost along with a good tip. He started to leave, then thought better of it. "Carlos? You and your wife are players?"

Carlos shook his head, "No, not the way you might think. We just enjoy the world. Years ago, I cooked in my grandmother's cantina in Baja California. Then she sold to a large conglomerate, and I went to work for them. My grandmother left me her stock as an inheritance, and then I owned a share of the company. Fifty years later, my wife and I are retired from corporate life and worth enough money to do as we like. So we came here, where the fish is fresh, and they needed someone to cook a new style of food."

"Does the company you owned make food like this?"

His wife came out from the counter. Rosalinda had married Carlos when he was 17 and had her own share of family recipes that she recreated in her kitchen. "Not like this. They have similar recipes, except for the monster parts, but it's all frozen and ready to eat. Quick, but not as tasty."

Milo got the information on the company and memorized it. If the food was even half as good in the real world, he wanted some more of it.

Belinda was groggy as she awoke in her pod, much worse than normal and feeling nauseous. The pod opened, and she saw people in the room with her.

Doctor Silverstein spoke in a low voice as she reached in to disconnect the nutrient tubes, "Easy, go slow. Your blood pressure dropped while you were in the game, and we had to wake you up; we have you stabilized, but you need to relax and let Bart and I move you to a bed." Bart was one of the registered nurses working for the doctor. He easily picked her up and laid her in a mobile hospital bed. She hated the beds.

"I want my chair, please. I'll feel better in it." She couldn't move independently in the bed and was reliant on others.

The Doctor nodded, which meant nothing at all. "We will. Just as soon as we find out what happened. I'm worried about the effect that game has on you. I'm going to run a scan, take some blood samples, and you'll be able to be back in your chair by tomorrow. But no game until I see what's going on."

"That doesn't make sense. You can monitor and scan me using the pod. No matter how many wires you hook me up to, I should be safer in a Mark 7 pod than in a hospital bed."

The doctor sighed. Belinda had heard that sigh a hundred times. It was her way of showing fake regret when she had bad news. "I'm afraid not. There is some worry among the higher-ranked medical professionals that those pods pose some long-term problems in special cases. I have to be careful."

Belinda cocked her head. "Really? What problems? Putting people in pods is the entire purpose of Manpower. Something that makes a pod unsafe affects our business model, not to mention tens of millions of people playing in the game."

"Everyone else isn't my concern Belinda, just you. And I did say special cases. It's very complex, and I don't want to worry you. You should just rest and concentrate on regaining your strength. Your father will be down soon to visit you, and Bart will be in the next room if you need him."

As soon as her doctor left, Belinda put in her earplugs, put the Teletubbies Christmas Singalong Marathon on the monitor, and cranked the sound high. She couldn't hear it and turned the video portion off. Bart hated it, and she played it whenever she could. A laptop was incorporated into her bed, and she swung that in front of her and brought up the company email, telling Uncle Erik that she had invited friends to come by tomorrow and gave him their names to notify security. At least she could visit with people and talk to Milo. She was increasingly convinced that he might be right, which scared her.

She waited for John to come down and visit with her, only half expecting that he would. She wondered what he knew about the supposed problems with the pods.

Chapter 240: The Dreadful Secrets of the Mysterious Claw Master Corporation!

Bork triple-checked everything again. All of his systems were operating within acceptable parameters. It wasn't easy working this way. The more direct the linkage was, the easier it was to breach security systems. Immersed in their pod-induced comas, wandering the digital landscape of the internet was second nature to all of his siblings. They saw the ebb and flow of data and the patterns that indicated watchdogs and security. It was easier and more fun to do things close up and hands-on—also more danger of being caught and compromised.

More than once in the early days, they were forced to abandon comfortably hidden bases of operation because one of them had made an error, and someone had traced a signal. Whether that would have resulted in a raid or not didn't matter. They didn't take chances. They would be away from that place within minutes, and another mysterious fire or explosion would destroy any evidence they had been there. It was expensive, but that was just money. Each of them was more concerned with failure. No one liked to screw up in front of their family. It was embarrassing.

Bork, least of all. The others could laugh it off, but he pouted for weeks, even when he knew the others forgave him. This is why he so rarely got caught and why he was working at a distance today, through remotes and cut-outs, reading data from his extensions rather than feeling it and tasting the flow. This target was too smart. If they hadn't already suspected that Milo had something to do with Claw Master, the amount of security at this corporation would have made them curious, making the place an automatic target. They loved a challenge. And Claw Master was proving to be a very difficult nut to crack.

Nina had been the first to try. Her report was amusing at first. They were using McGruff Security for their firewall. The company hadn't updated in decades. No one took it seriously, and as Nina had suspected, there was a second layer. This also caused some laughs. Encrypto was a very good security system used by many corporations. It was affordable, updated regularly, and a very good choice for small to medium companies. It had one flaw in keeping Nina out: She'd worked with Onyx to create it. They were still getting royalties from the security software a decade after selling the rights to Interlocking Technocracies, complete with the backdoors they had built into the code. Behind the Encrypto system, Claw Master had been wide open. She'd found the files she wanted on the gloves, their creator, and several other interesting things.

And that was when she was attacked by seven different probes using different methods to backtrack her signal. She almost panicked; it had been a long time since anything so aggressive had noticed her. She blocked what she could, set off an alarm, and got help from the others. They'd lost a small facility in Singapore that was compromised and another in Hungary, but that had bought them time to disengage. Nina was not happy about the situation. "Not polite at all. Who the hell behaves that way? No finesse at all, no attempt to lure me in, just launch probes and scare me off."

Algernon patted her shoulder. "But it did the job. The big, bad watchdogs barked loudly and scared you away. I'm sure whoever they have in their security division is showing off what they did and asking for a raise. Don't worry about it. You made my job easier. I'm going to peel this place like an onion."

Two days later, there was a mysterious fire in a warehouse in Sacramento that burned the building to the ground. The owners collected their insurance, and the firm renting the building was mysteriously gone. Drug residue was found along with the remains of a laboratory. The alphabet was in a private jet that would take them halfway around the world, and Algernon was trying to explain what happened. "I was working my way in, slowly. Each layer was subtle, and I had to take control of the security program at multiple points. My onion analogy was accurate. They had over seventeen layers of security that made up the system. If I'd screwed up on any layer, it would have triggered the probes again. So I took it slow and steady."

Bork asked. "And?"

"They were peeling my system like an onion, taking their time and moving slowly, identifying each strand and working their way back. I didn't know what was happening until all the layers reconfigured and the probes were past my security and digging into my computer. I hit the panic button and ran for the transport." They all looked at each other, exchanging glances and gestures that conveyed thousands of words. Then four of them turned and looked at Bork. He nodded. "Right, my turn. Give me a week to set things up."

So here he was, nestled in a new command center that fed information to his pod but kept him at a distance from the advanced security surrounding Claw Master. He would take his time and slowly work his way in, gathering data. It would take him weeks at this pace, but he would crack them open this time.

Wally brought up the attacks with Steven. "They are trying once again and getting smarter. Whichever corporation is behind this, they are determined to find out the dreadful secrets of the mysterious Claw Master corporation!"

"You're having fun; admit it."

Wally grinned, reminding Steven of Ralph. "Damn right, I am. I enjoy seeing humans get better and smarter. If this is the same group, they are learning and being patient. Of course, I'm patient as well. This could take weeks for them to get inside, at which point I think I'll let them download the file with a picture of the new advertisements we plan to run, maybe a day early. If I can find who leaks them, that will be a clue."

"Have you mentioned this to Milo?"

"Of course not. He pays me to handle such mundane things as corporate espionage and marketing. Milo is the research arm of Claw Master. We need to leave him in peace to see what else he makes." Wally spun in his chair and showed Steven a letter, which he opened and read. "Listen to this; I think it's very promising. One of our early sales of the first run of the gloves was to a research group at Rebus Biotech Laboratories. They are making some very impressive strides in cloning replacement limbs for accident victims. They think Milo's technology can help the cloned body parts learn to work with the patient's nervous system. They sent along a synopsis of their first experiment."

That got Steven's undivided attention. Rhebus did a lot of good work in the world. "What are they asking for? A research grant?"

Wally winked at Steven. "Just the opposite. They know that a breakthrough in their cloning procedures has the potential to be worth hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decades, along with the improvement in the lives of millions. They want to license the technology for research and use it to advance their cloning technology. The basic deal is generous: Claw Master receives royalties from any patents related to Milo's technology, and they will pay an advance on those royalties of five billion dollars. They want the usual non-disclosures and exclusive use of the technology for medical purposes related to their work."

Steven nodded as he read the synopsis of the deal. "It looks good. One thing I wonder. Will it work on Milo? His physiology and nervous system isn't normal."

Wally held up his hands. "No way to know, but I share your doubts. The cloning process is designed for normal humans. It might be decades before they could adapt it to his singular biology. But I'm guessing he won't mind an additional five billion dollars in the bank."

"No, I don't either. I'm wondering what he will spend that much money on, or if it will just sit in an account gaining interest."

Wally shrugged. "My guess is that he will find a use for it, and it will be something interesting. I look forward to finding out just what it is."

Sometime that day, in San Diego, California, a salesman named Frank looked at an online brochure for a vacation he would never take. He had two weeks off from his job at AnytimeTaco Inc., but the vacation cost was out of his reach. Maybe in a couple of years. As he debated going home, something everyone else had already done on a Friday afternoon, a deliveryman came into his office with a package he had to sign for. Curious, he broke open the envelope and looked at the order that had been delivered by a special courier. Someone was having a party for 2000 people and needed a rush order of frozen MexTex snacks sent by refrigerated delivery to Philadelphia. It was prepaid with a sizable certified check. He made calls down to the warehouse and got things moving. No one else was around the office, so this was all on him.

Three hours later, his wife called. "Yes, I know we had plans to go over to the Simpsons tonight, but something came up. I'm working late. But I'm glad you called. I went over the budget again, and we can afford two weeks in Cancun this year. So pack your bags and get the kids ready to go. We leave as soon as I confirm a shipment arrives in Philadelphia.

Chapter 241: Hunting the Alphabet

It was rare that Wally was permitted to investigate a corporation's financial dealings. His kernel included very restricting rules about what he could and could not do without human permission and who those humans were. His ability to interfere in any way with Governments and Corporations was narrow and limited to extreme cases where human lives were at stake. His investigations usually ended when he notified regional authorities or filed reports with a government organization.

The spill of toxic chemicals into a river and the death of a thousand people in a nearby town? He could immediately quarantine the water use and notify local authorities that he recommended they evacuate the city. But in the case of the slow poisoning of millions of people from toxic bi-products dumped into the same river? File a report. The high probability of a satellite falling from the sky? File a report. Concerns about failing infrastructure in bridges, roadways, and habitats? File reports.

But in the case of Syllabus, where very powerful people lost hundreds of billions of dollars, he had been given carte blanche to investigate. He was still limited in what he could report, but he could follow all financial transactions through banks, corporations, and any financial institute that moved money through a decaying system. When real money was at stake, and the thieves were still on the loose, rules were bent and permission given. All it had taken was mentioning in a report that he had the ability to trace transactions used by whoever had cleaned out Syllabus. For the next two weeks, requests were made to verify the report, and constant requests for updates and data on his search were sent to him by banks, government agencies, and financial investment groups. To all of them, he replied the same way:

"In accordance with the restrictions placed upon my operations and the laws of several nations, this investigation will not begin until full permission is granted."

No one seemed happy with that answer, but it was the only one they got, no matter how many times they asked or how many demands for further information were made. The automated system spat out thousands of replies a day but saved all of the communications and dutifully set up a system to notify them if he learned anything and was allowed to disseminate that information. After two weeks, he was permitted by several governments to investigate foreign banks and other governments. China was ok with him looking into anything outside of China. Likewise, the US wanted him to investigate China and Russia. Helpful suggestions were made about where and what he should investigate. Someone even wanted him to look into Area 51, certain that it was aliens.

A month after his first report, Steven was called to testify before the United Nations Office of Program Planning, Finance, and Budget, wishing to know why the investigation was taking so long. He spent six hours explaining the difficulties Wally faced and what needed to be done. The next day he had to do the same thing to the World Bank. A week later, it was a closed-door committee session of the US Congress. He patently ignored the requests for meetings with ACME, ALCHEMARX, and concerned but unnamed business consortiums in Russia, Belarus, and Italy. He met the same problem in all the meetings: They wanted a watchdog to sniff a trail but didn't want him to have any teeth.

Wally turned down every proposal as unworkable. He couldn't trace the thieves if he weren't allowed access. Eventually, a compromise was worked out. Wally would be given total access, but what he reported on would be limited, and the rest would be erased. He could report on the thieves' activities and any crimes they had committed. In addition, a very narrow list of crimes could be reported. These were at first limited to illegal A.I. activity and nuclear weapons in the possession of terrorist organizations. Wally had insisted on including illegal human genetic experimentation, human trafficking, slavery, and exploitation of children. His Kernel couldn't let him ignore those crimes like a human could look the other way. Grudgingly, those crimes were included. Steven had pointed out that not including them would also look very bad if that information was ever leaked to the press, which made a few people up for re-election very nervous.

Six weeks after Wally had put in his initial report, he was allowed to investigate the fall of Syllabus and hunt the mysterious hackers behind it. The remains of Syllabus were the start, where human technicians were still working to find any clues. Wally assimilated the information in less than a second and began processing it in a dozen ways, splitting his resources and attention to do things simultaneously. The underlying system behind the gutted cryptocurrency was sound. The theory worked, and the security was top-notch. In point of fact, it was nearly flawless. Wally suspected Milo would have difficulty getting past it and would surely be detected. His curiosity had him start a side project to recreate Syllabus and its security and let Milo attempt to break it. In the future, he might need a distraction to keep Milo busy.

Recreating the security system also helped him analyze where it had failed, and he concluded that it hadn't. There was no break-in. No hackers. This was an inside job. Someone had spent years creating Syllabus and then stolen a portion of the money, a very specific portion of the money. Most investors had been able to access their funds after a short time and pull out their money. The targets had all been large criminal organizations and corporations running illegal operations. The distinction was small in some cases. Criminals incorporated, and corporations became criminals. Either way, Syllabus took their money.

The next step was tracing that money wherever it went, recovering it, and finding the people behind the theft. This became a much larger job immediately. The A.I. had to bring in more resources. Rarely did he need to use more than one quantum fortress with their ten linked quantum computers. Today he sent commands to two others, available to him since the others had been imprisoned. Not all of them were equal in resources, power, or accessibility. Many had been mothballed, and the fusion reactors powering them shut down. Fusion power was tricky, and humans became nervous without an A.I. to run the reactors. Four of those left were useful to him without spending months asking permission. Dallas-Fort Worth was a tool waiting to be used, all of its databases wiped by the EMP that ended the A.I. imprisoned there. NASA still maintained the fortress that KEPPLER had operated from. Near Zurich, the Swiss banking system maintained and used the fortress where KATHERINE had worked to create and simplify language for a human-machine interface. Others he'd never get access to. QF Norad was unavailable to him; the US military didn't have ZEUS running Operation THUNDERBOLT any longer, but they would never allow him access inside that fortress.

There had been some call to destroy all of the quantum fortresses. People equated the machinery with the A.I. that had used them. Wiser heads prevailed. Destroying the quantum computers was a costly waste. Destroying a fusion reactor came with significant problems and costs. The thick collapsium walls that encapsulated the entire fortress weren't something any country wished to attempt without an overwhelming reason to do so. Collapsium was created in a fusion reactor, one molecule at a time, and while in an unstable state, could be placed and linked to other molecules of its type. The nuclei were much closer than in any other substance, and like other metals, the shared electrons wove around then in a thick sea. One inch of collapsium was stronger than ten feet of the hardest steel alloy and a hundred times heavier. It was unsuitable for almost any use other than a fixed defense on vital resources, reactor housing, and atomic weapons storage.

Part of Wally's report would focus on his need for the unused fortresses as additional computing resources. It was always good to remind people rather than find out after something was made unusable. With more resources available, he started to trace the millions of transactions the thieves had made with the money they stole. Small increments had been sent worldwide, stored for a day or week, then moved to other accounts. Corporations and banks had no idea they were being used as temporary storage. Wally followed the trails, and patterns began to emerge.

Posing as a criminal organization known for supplying sex slaves, a quarter billion dollars was invested in an illegal bio-enhancement laboratory in Queensland by a breakaway section of ALCHEMARX. Entering the organization's computers, Wally found the locations of 300 altered humans that had been sold around the world and the people who bought them. The information was gathered into files to be sent to law enforcement in each city.

Fourteen opium growers in Thailand who produced an especially addictive, genetically engineered substance were sent over a billion dollars to purchase their product. Trucks and drivers were hired, and Wally traced the product to a series of warehouses where it had sat for months. Drug enforcement in Thailand and the countries working with them were sent information about the farms.

On and on Wally went, finding the criminal organizations that benefitted from Syllabus's breakup.

-A string of orphanages that took in children in ten countries and sold them in twenty others.

-Slave-labor gangs working the diamond fields in several African countries, the people supplied by a mercenary group that preyed on vulnerable people in the worst habitats.

-BioHaven, a corporation on the bleeding edge of cloning technology, was actually buying parts from black market body-baggers.

After sixteen hours, an immense amount of time for Wally to devote to one problem, he had identified 212 illegal operations that he was allowed to report on, accounting for 16% of the money stolen. He had no clues as to the identities or whereabouts of the thieves, and the trail was cold. The tell-tale signs left by their hacking tools went no further. Over the next week, Wally ran the problem repeatedly with the same result. Whoever they were, and he was certain it was several people, they were very good at what they were doing.

The files were sent to the authorities; the reports were written and sent. He emphasized that it would take a diligent watchdog to keep these thieves from striking again.

His last job was talking to Steven. His best friend listened to the story and started laughing, long and hard, as Wally knew he would. "Are you serious? Sorry, of course, you are. They played you! They used you to expose huge criminal organizations worldwide in a way that can't be swept under the rug. That's amazing. How long have they been planning this?"

"Too long. Creating Syllabus took years. Lookin at things with a different perspective, I think they made one mistake. That was assuming I would be allowed to investigate Syllabus and start on that trail immediately. If we hadn't been dealing with Milo, I would not be aware of either the methods used to bypass the security, or the markers left by those methods. Markers which are now useless. But one thing greatly bothers me."

"And what is that? That they outwitted you?"

"No, if anything this is a good lesson for me. I have power far beyond a normal human to process information, but this again shows that I'm not always 'smarter' than some people."

"Ah, like these people. And Milo. I see the problem."

"Yes, what if we have another Milo out there? Many Milos?"

Steven pondered that for a moment. "Look on the bright side: At least you won't get bored."

Bork was not happy to have Algernon and Nina run into his room laughing; he'd failed once again to get past the Claw Master security systems. "Some of us are actually working. What do you need to show me?"

Within seconds they put different News programs on twenty monitors showing law enforcement dealing with criminal organizations around the globe. "He found the clues and took the bait! I thought we'd been too subtle or that he wasn't allowed to go looking! But the A.I. finally woke up and followed our trail of breadcrumbs."

Bork smiled; they could finally close down the last of the Syllabus operation. He set aside another attempt to break into Claw Master. "That's the best news I've had all day. Let's go waste time doing something silly and fun."

Chapter 242: Excavations

After a fine meal of tacos, Milo was unsure what to do. Rather than keep playing without Belinda, he paid for a room at the inn next to where he'd just eaten and logged out of the game. He sent a message to Butch about visiting Belinda the next day and then put some time into solving a puzzle that had been bothering him.

His small tunnel scouts had been doing their job, mapping out the dimensions of the obstruction under Section E. From just the preliminary data; it was quite large. What he had thought was a thick plate of metal was actually a rectangular solid. So far, the tunnelers had found a solid surface on all four sides going down 150 feet. The only discontinuity in those surfaces was the support pillars of Section E at each corner and a horizontal structure that jutted out from one side. This structure was made of normal building materials and thirty feet on a side. A tunneler had followed and mapped it for a hundred feet before returning to mapping the main surface.

Milo was more curious than ever. It couldn't be solid. There was no reason to make a solid block of ultra-hard material. So what was in it? And if it was some sort of storage facility, bunker, or manufacturing facility, then the extension was certainly a supply line. Most probably a maglev supply train or similar transport system. Building such a facility under a Habitat wasn't a coincidence. The alignment to Section E was too perfect. He had some other theories, but first, he needed to test the material the walls were constructed of and investigate the extension. He sent commands to all the tunnelers, large and small, to clear certain areas. And then he went to get dressed for exploring.

He'd been wearing his graphene exo-suit for days at a time, correcting flaws and learning how to move in something that enhanced his strength. The results had pleased him, and he'd worked out equipment to use with the suit. A solid helmet with an opaque smoked-glass faceplate replaced the soft mesh hood and face covering. It locked to the neckpiece of his suit, giving him full protection and a heads-up display from his systems. He'd stolen many of the ideas mentioned in the original Starship Troopers book by Robert Heinlein to control his sensors and work with his systems. Tongue, jaw, and neck combinations acted like a keyboard. A detachable backpack contained air and water for extended use in areas where the air might be bad.

He had rebuilt his claws after testing and much research into materials. Additional 'exo-muscle' in hands, feet, and tail made up for his lack of mass. The claw tips were tungsten reinforced with lonsdaleite, a hex-based carbon form 58% stronger than diamond. It wasn't easy to work with, and the replicators had gone through several tries before Milo was happy with the outcome. Alta-Viator wasn't around in this world to give him sharp claws, so Milo made his own.

Down in the sub-basement where the large tunnel started, he had a small cargo mover ready. The vehicle was meant for moving in service tunnels and was only 30" wide. Milo loaded tools and scanners and drove it into the tunnels that slowly sloped down to where the excavators had hit the blockage. After an hour, he emerged into a modest cave dug out by the machines. The air was bad here, filled with exhaust fumes and rock dust. He was glad to have a full air system in the suit. Examining the material, he saw a dull grey metal with low luster. An attempt to scratch it with a diamond-tipped drill resulted in a broken drill bit. The claws of his suit couldn't touch it. They were made of the hardest material available to him, and they couldn't leave a mark on substance. He was getting more and more excited as he tried several other tests.

Forcing himself to breathe slower, he tested the material with X-Ray Fluorescence. The analyzer came up with no information other than 100% of the X-ray beam had failed to penetrate the material and excite its atoms. The angle didn't matter; all of the beam was dispersed. That was the final clue Milo needed. Someone had built a huge installation of some sort using Collapsium and hid it beneath a Habitat. The material was horrific to make. It was technically a metal, but the distance between individual nuclei was much shorter than normal, resulting in an ultra-dense material. A one-inch plate of collapsium was equivalent to ten feet of steel.

There were many drawbacks to using it. First was the weight. At over a hundred times the density of normal steel, it was useless for anything other than a fixed location. Several corporations had dreamed of constructing tanks and missiles with the material, but it wasn't feasible. Why buy a collapsium armored tank that is too heavy for most roads and too slow to maneuver? Especially when it costs a thousand times more than a standard tank! Secondly, making collapsium took the use of a microscopic black hole to generate the stress needed to collapse the molecular structure. The black hole required the power of a fusion reactor. Each molecule of collapsium was created in a flux state and could be moved magnetically to where it bonded with a larger amount of the material. The building beneath Section E had taken years to construct fully, and Milo had zero doubts that it had contained a fusion reactor at some point. You simply couldn't transport the amount of collapsium in use here.

Which gave hints as to what this was.

The main uses of collapsium were for armored bunkers beneath government capitols and nerve centers. The largest in the world was part of NORAD, under Cheyenne Mountain, in Colorado, USA. The chance of using nuclear weapons was small, but governments and militaries prepared for extremes. The second major use was in fusion and fission reactors. Milo pondered his next moves. Someone had tried to hide something under the habitat. They might be upset at him finding out. Of course, that was only if he got caught. He briefly considered consulting Wally but decided that was a bad idea. It was too high a probability that Wally had something in his kernel that would be triggered by someone like Milo breaking into something important that was probably a government installation. Milo had no intention of leaving something like this alone. It was underneath his home, and he considered it fair game.

The next step was moving down through the narrower tunnels that led to the extension that jutted out from the collapsium walls. The small tunnelers had been busy making sure those tunnels would accommodate him. It took him two hours to carefully move down to that level, testing for possible cave-ins and leaving lines to help him climb back out quickly. The insanity of crawling through tight tunnels recently bored in the rock, hundreds of feet underground, didn't even occur to him. He was having too much fun.

Finally, he was standing on top of what was certainly a supply tunnel. The construction was standard reinforced concrete block, two feet thick. He was surprised to pick up no magnetic fields in operation nearby, which he would have if this were a maglev tunnel. Normally, getting inside such a tunnel would be difficult. Luckily, he had machinery for that. After another hour, his tunneler had made a two-foot diameter opening in the tunnel. Milo had been listening with audio sensors the whole time, picking up nothing and shutting the machine down every minute to hear. When it hit a hollow area, it pulled back, and Milo looked inside to find a dark tunnel extending in each direction. His first guess had been right; he saw the metal rings at two-foot intervals of a magnetic levitation transport system but completely unpowered. Someone had turned it off long ago, based on the dust on the rings. Milo waited a half hour and looked in each direction using a probe as far as he could. Nothing happened.

The next step was to send in a drone. The little robot fired up its three small propellers and moved into the tunnel, sending its visuals back to Milo. He sent it away from the installation first. It moved along steadily until it came to a blockage. Something had collapsed the tunnel in this direction. That was something to investigate later. He sent the drone in the other direction. The tunnel was the same and ended in a set of collapsium-coated doors sealing the tunnel. To the side was a small walkway that led to a more human-sized door. Milo was through the tunnel and jogging that way a moment later.

Chapter 243: Tunnel Rat

The drone flitted back and forth slowly at the end of the tunnel. No active scanning was detected. Milo moved along the side of the tunnel, taking his time and not moving fast. He was much harder to detect with slow, steady movement. Anyone that constructed an installation of this size and expense had to have some type of detection system running on their entrances, but he was picking up nothing.

The area at the end of the tunnel was a small area to unload cargo and people. The main doors would only be opened for very large and important shipments, for security purposes. Normal cargo and passengers would be handled through a smaller door. Normal steel doors sealed off a small warehouse next to the wide platform where cargo from the maglev would be unloaded. To the side of the doors was a call box and keypad, neither of which seemed to have power. Within five minutes, he had the front panels off and was tracing wires and trying to find out if any of the system was live. It wasn't. Moving to the doors themselves, he saw that the locking mechanism was electromagnetic. With enough power, the lock would hold even if the doors were blown off their hinges. But he detected no power.

Feeling silly, he forced his claws into the crack between the doors and heaved. It opened easily, taking him by surprise. He fell over, rolled, and returned to a standing position, waiting for something to happen. Nothing happened. He shrugged and walked into the small warehouse. On one side were modern electric pallet movers and forklifts designed to handle encapsulated material. A stack of empty cargo capsules was taking up one corner. The smallest was 24'' in diameter and 72" long, designed for pneumatic delivery systems similar to what was used in the Habitat. The large cargo capsules were 72" in diameter and 144" long, designed for heavier loads or large machinery. Loaded capsules would arrive on the maglev and be brought to this area, checked carefully, and then put on ramps that would push them into the pneumatic system to cargo areas within the facility. All of the machinery was electric but was uncharged. Charging outlets were dead.

There was a small waiting room for people, with a scanning booth and then a set of collapsium doors that would open to let people in one at a time. He carefully investigated every inch of the area around the scanning booth, finding nothing active. There was no power running to anything. Also, no way to open the heavy doors. As before, he began taking things apart, testing circuits, and looking for anything that would give a clue about what the facility was and how to get inside or access its security system. After two hours, he gave up on getting in through the doors and investigated the pneumatic system.

The door mechanisms were locked, but the manual locking mechanism was easy for him to bypass. They weren't security doors, but cargo doors. A capsule was inserted, the door shut, and the area would pressurize and shoot the capsule through the system to another warehouse. Opening the largest door, which was at the end of the ramp for the 72" diameter capsules, he saw that there was already a capsule loaded into the chute. That wasn't something he could move on his own.

The second door, only 24" in diameter, was empty. Beyond it was a second door that would open when the system pressurized. Ten minutes later, the first door was off its hinges, and Milo was cutting open the second door. There was no pressure in the tube or power to the system, but he wanted the door removed entirely. That took a full hour, cutting into the steel and removing it. There were four ways to enter this complex that he'd found: Massive collapsium doors he couldn't move, a smaller human-sized door that he couldn't move, a large tunnel jammed with cargo capsules, and the small tunnel that he was going to explore.

A 24" manhole was easy for most people to move through. A short, 24" pipe could be crawled through by small adults for a short time. Several famous prison breaks had been through sewer tunnels this size. But long tunnels descending into unknown facilities in total darkness was something most people could only enter in dire emergencies. Ten-year-old children, desperate prisoners, and Milo had no trouble. For Milo, it was like parts of the Habitat or the smaller caves in Genesis. He did take the precaution to go slow and not dive straight in. A 100' safety line gave him a way to pull himself out. His claws had no trouble holding onto the softer steel of the pneumatic tube. Pausing and thinking over what he was doing, Milo risked it—the tube entered by a passage through the collapsium siding. In an emergency, he might be able to cut out of the tube, and he had air for another six hours and could send his drones for more supplies if needed or retreat.

The first fifty feet were at a thirty-degree decline, which would help move the cargo capsules, and after that, the tube straightened and made a long curve to the left. Milo advanced on his hands and knees for several hundred feet before entering another sealed door. A visual sensor in the tunnel controlled this one. Incoming packages would trigger it and open the door. But again, there was no power to either door or sensor. Milo was forced to bring out a small powered tool that used the same material as his claws for a cutting blade. It took him an hour to cut through enough of the mechanism to force the door into its slot and proceed past it. Things were easier after that. The next part of the tube was clear plexiglass on top, and he pushed the door upward and hopped out.

He was in a cargo area like the one outside, with hundreds of empty cargo capsules stacked on cargo movers. Pallets, pallet movers, and small cargo trains filled the room, along with tube systems to send cargo onward. Three chairs sat in front of keyboards and screens, unresponsive. There were several sets of locked steel doors leading from the cargo area. Lights were off, and the temperature was 60 degrees Fahrenheit, but what surprised him was the air quality. It wasn't breathable. Someone had flooded the area with argonite, an inert gas composed of argon and nitrogen. Trying to crawl into this area without a breathing apparatus would have been fatal. And it put him on a timer. He signaled the drone at the top of the tube to call another and bring him more air tanks, just in case.

He didn't bother trying to work with the computer terminals. They were dead and a waste of time with no power. He needed to go into the complex. None of his sensors were picking up any sound. Moving to the interior steel doors, he found he could insert his saw, cut the lock at the top and bottom, and force them open. Before him was a long hallway, twenty feet square, that would be well-lit if there were power. Doorways on either side were numbered and had lists of what was stored inside. The first was so mundane that it made him pause: Sixty-seven pallets of toilet paper. That at least confirmed the obvious guess that this facility had once had inhabitants. Curious, he checked the floor for dust and found nothing; it was swept clean. He advanced down the corridor, sometimes noting the contents of rooms but increasingly looking for an area dedicated to control systems, engineering, power, or anything but household goods, food, and mundane items. He was forced to make right turns three times but found no cross corridors. He finally came to a second set of doors and, after opening them, found he was back in the cargo area he had first broken into, with a drone waiting to give him two bottles of compressed air.

Sighing, he opened the other two sets of doors. One led to an area set up as living quarters. It reminded him of what a Habitat must have looked like in the early days, with clean walls and floors and apartments opening off large hallways. There were several large kitchens and dining areas, a gymnasium, and a large room that confused the hell out of him until he recognized it as an athletic field complete with a quarter-mile track around a large, empty swimming pool. Whoever had lived here had done so in style!

Or had they? There was no wear on the track, no scratches on the basketball court floor, and no evidence there had ever been water in the swimming pool. The facility might never have been used. He was wondering how this had all been powered. The last doorway led into a smaller area that showed wear on the floors. Wooden office doors were open, and marks on the floor showed where furniture had been. Meeting rooms, projection rooms, and rooms with nothing but several whiteboards and a stack of aging Post-it notes were quickly passed by. At the far end was a non-descript wooden door with a missing nameplate. From underneath the door, Milo saw a glimmer of light. Carefully moving forward, he listened at the door and, hearing nothing, checked the doorknob. It turned. The room beyond was beautiful. There were a dozen computer workstations. Each station had six monitors, and more were on the main wall, or they could combine to make one large viewing screen. A plastic popcorn maker seemed very out of place on a side table.

Light was coming from one monitor at one station. Milo sat in the comfortable chair in front of the screen, not breathing, pondering his next move. This was the first powered machinery he had seen in the entire complex. A lone prompt blinked on the otherwise black screen, and then a word appeared.

[Hello?]