Eries came through with clear directions for the adventurers to follow to find Girrigz's den beneath Korvosa. It had been the first time the group had been in the sewers and Griffin hoped they never had to return. His scarf over his mouth and nose did little to protect him from the noxious stench of the sewer. The group had to be careful to walk alongside the stone paths rather than the water, filled with muck. Griffin could see that the path they were on continued as expected with the torch he carried in one hand lighting the way. He held his silvered dagger in his other hand in preparation for battle with wererats.

The rest of his friends had their weapons out as well. Griffin looked over his shoulder to see Alexander behind him and his eyes drifted toward the banner that was attached to the warrior's back. The morning that they left to the sewers, the tailor Tiran introduced Griffin to deliver the banner he promised to make. It was made of black cloth with a red hound stitched in the middle. Griffin had hoped that the gift would be enough to get Alexander willing to return for the group for good or even to lead while he was still around but the warrior was insistent that his stay was only as long as blood veil was a threat.

He turned back to focus on finding the den. The group needed a new leader, and so far, everyone expected for Griffin to take the role. He'll admit that he did a good enough job when it came to coming up with the overall plan but there was a difference between making a plan and leading his friends into battle. When it came to planning, he had a chance to figure out what to do in case something went wrong before it happened to begin with. In a battle, there were too many ways something could go wrong. Griffin wasn't sure if he'd be able to come up with an answer on what to do if one of his friends that was meant to play a pivotal role in the battle was seriously injured.

At the very least, Griffin had told the group of their formation. Falenas and Verik would stay at the back and weaken the wererats with their ranged attacks while everyone else engaged them in melee. The noble would have preferred for Takota to give up his mithral dagger and use his crossbow but he was insistent on keeping the weapon. Griffin didn't consider himself as good of a fighter as Alexander and Viera were, but with his dagger, he might make enough of a difference.

Eventually, Griffin spotted a crack in the wall and figured that it was the entrance to the den based on Eries' description. It was large enough for a man to fit through with ease. He motioned silently for the group that they were approaching the den and started to make his way through the crack. They wouldn't have the element of surprise for long with Griffin's torch revealing their presence but he hoped that their initial attack would be enough.

Griffin had to cross a stream, and immediately as he did so, a piercing sound filled the cavern he found himself in. The sound came from large black mushrooms to his right but he was more concerned to his left when he caught a flicker of movement. Griffin stepped forward, giving Alexander, Duke, and Falenas a chance to step through, and pointed towards the three large rats. More dangerously were the trio of rat men that stood on their hind legs and wielded swords.

Falenas wasted no time and threw one of his prepared bombs. It landed on the face of the first wererat and exploded outward into chilling ice shards. Although the attack harmed the first wererat, the other two were nimble enough to get out of the way. Verik, who had joined the group inside the cavern along with Viera and Takota, fired his longbow off at one of the rats. Griffin tried to shout out orders but found that he couldn't hear himself over the shrieking mushrooms. He knew that there were going to be more wererats coming their way but had no way to warn his allies.

Duke charged forward and the others were quick to follow in his lead. While the dog threw himself at one of the rats, Viera advanced toward the wererat Falenas struck and her weapon was enveloped in a faint white light. Griffin wondered what kind of divine power she called upon when she struck the wererat out cold with the hilt of her sword. The other two wererats sprung into action with one failing to strike Viera and the other challenging Takota. The ranger and the wererat each struck each other with their weapons, and when the lycanthrope tried to bite him, he was quick to get away from it.

Alexander joined Duke in fighting the trio of dire rats and Griffin realized that he had to do something. He decided that Viera could hold her own and that Takota needed his help more. The noble circled around the wererat the Shoanti fought and stabbed their foe in the back. The wererat screeched in pain as Griffin's attack drew blood and prompted Takota to stab him in the chest with his mithral dagger. With the wererat weakly standing, Griffin slammed his silvered dagger's pommel on the back of his neck and he fell down, unconscious.

Griffin turned around to look over the battle and realized that there were more rats and wererats. Falenas had already thrown one of his frost bombs at three wererats that had joined the battle while Duke and Alexander fought the rats. The warrior was covered in a swarm that he tried to fend off while Verik continued to shoot down dire rats with his longbow. Viera was still fighting her foe with the light from her blade now covering her entire body, and when Griffin thought about whether he should help her or stall the reinforcements, the choice was made for him. Two of the wererat reinforcements broke through the formation and advanced on Falenas and Verik while the third advanced onto Viera.

Griffin tried to shout out a warning for his friends but the shrieking made it impossible for anyone to hear him. Falenas and Verik were able to fend off the initial attackers but the alchemist retreated, leaving the archer by himself against two foes. He quickly pulled out his shortspear and tried fighting back against them but he was outnumbered. Viera's gasp was drowned out by the shrieking when the new wererat struck at her.

Takota ran to aid Viera, and knowing that Verik needed help, ran forward to help him. Before he could make it to help, one wererat ran his blade through Verik's shoulder while the other bit harshly into his forearm. Verik tried to fight back with his spear but he couldn't land a solid hit. The wererat wielding a sword hadn't noticed Griffin's approach and one swing of his pommel to the back of his neck was enough to knock him out.

The sound of the shrieking faded away to be filled with the sound of battle. Falenas was the first to take advantage of everyone hearing him.

"Verik, I have a healing extract ready for you!"

"Go to him!" Griffin called out. "I'll hold this last one off!"

Without a word, Verik ran toward Falenas and the remaining wererat turned to face him. The wererat wasn't much of a fighter as Griffin was able to dodge both sword swings and bite attacks. However, he couldn't find an opening with his mind distracted by the chaos. He nearly slipped up and was only saved when Viera shoved the wererat away from him. Griffin glanced towards the two wererats she and Takota fought to see that one was on the ground and the other fought the ranger still. He took advantage of Viera aiding him to strike the wererat across the thigh, drawing blood with his silvered dagger.

"Korvosa has come to wage war upon us, my brothers!" a new wererat joined the battle, adorned in a chain shirt and wielding a rapier. "Kill them all!"

"That's Girrigz!" Alexander called out; most of the normal rats had been killed or fled with the one brave one left fighting Duke.

"Let's get this over with," Falenas called out.

Falenas tossed a bomb at Girrigz but the wererat was quick on his feet and rolled away from the attack, which exploded harmlessly in the back of the cavern. Falenas cursed under his breath and Alexander charged forward, fighting the wererat leader. Griffin jerked his head back to his own fight when he heard Viera gasp in pain when the wererat cut across her shoulder. Griffin stepped up to aid her, but when his attack went wide, his foe cut across his stomach. He grimaced in pain, but before the wererat could do more damage, Viera slammed the hilt of her sword on the lycanthrope's nose, breaking it while knocking him out.

"Griffin, are you okay?!" Viera asked over the dying combat with a worried expression.

"I'll live," Griffin told her before he focused on her own wounds. "What about you?"

"I'm injured but they haven't bitten me yet," Viera told him. "Let's finish this fight."

Takota knocked out his foe, and with Duke biting down the last rat, the only foe left was Girrigz. Verik, healed from Falenas' extract, had shot an arrow that stuck into Girrigz' calf while the alchemist closed in on the fight, drinking one of his extracts. Alexander banged his flail against his shield in a challenging gesture toward the leader.

"Korvosa won't fall to you, Girrigz!"

"I'll kill you and everyone else in that surface city!"

Girrigz charged forward, and while Alexander was able to block one rapier jab with his shield, the following blow found its way through his armor and struck his chest. Griffin could tell that Girrigz knew how to fight and that he needed to get his weapon out of the wererat's hand. While the wererat tried to bite Alexander in a futile gesture, the noble advanced and tried to jab his dagger at the paw holding onto his rapier. Girrigz was able to avoid the strike and slashed his claws across Griffin's forearm, drawing blood. Yet Alexander was able to take advantage of the opening and swung his flail. The chain wrapped itself around the rapier, and with one pull, the warrior pulled the rapier out of the wererat's hand.

Girrigz was unarmed and everyone focused their attacks on him. Falenas spat out a gooey and adhesive material that covered the wererat and left him stuck to his spot. Verik landed another shot on Girrigz with the arrow tearing across the wererat's cheek while Viera landed a glancing blow across his arm. Takota and Griffin were vicious in their attacks with the ranger stabbed his mithral dagger into his back and the warrior slamming his flail onto Girrigz' face at full force. Even though his weapon wasn't silvered, Alexander's attack was enough to drive the wererat to the ground with the only sign he lived being his groans. Duke barked at Girrigz from afar with the wererat slowly standing up.

"Last chance to surrender," Griffin warned Girrigz.

"I… I will never surrender!"

Girrigz lunged as best as he could but wasn't able to move much with the adhesive goo he was covered in. Griffin was faster and stabbed his silvered dagger into the wererat's throat, ending his life. He pulled his blade free and let his foe fall down to the ground.

"That's the last of them," Falenas noted. "I'd suggest stripping Girrgiz of anything he has. It wouldn't surprise me if some of his equipment was magical."

"I'll get on that," Alexander offered. "What else should we do, Griffin?"

Griffin took a few seconds to think before giving orders. "Viera, Takota, search the rest of the den to be sure. Grab anything of value if you want. Falenas, I want you to treat Verik. He was bitten and I want to be sure he isn't infected with lycanthropy."

"I like that last park," Verik nodded. "I'd hate to turn into a rat."

Viera and Falenas headed deeper into the den while Falenas examined the bite Verik sustained. Griffin took several deep breaths while watching Alexander pull the chain shirt off of Girrigz. The warrior had sustained several bite marks but they were small enough to be from the rats instead of the lycanthropes. Griffin let out a sigh and shook his head. Alexander, taking notice of Griffin's reaction, grabbed Girrigz' rapier and examined it.

"I thought that was mithral," Alexander nodded and held it out to Griffin. "I wouldn't mind if you take it."

Griffin took the rapier but remained focused on the warrior. "How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"That battle was chaotic and I couldn't decide what to do quickly enough," Griffin told Alexander. "Maybe if I looked out for myself I wouldn't be so critical but so many of us were injured. That's on me."

"Don't blame yourself," Alexander shook his head. "How were we supposed to know that the wererats had shrieking mushrooms as an alarm?"

"I couldn't even warn anyone because of them…"

"Sometimes, battles are rough," Alexander said with a firm tone. "You can't predict what will happen. What matters is that everyone is alive."

"Verik might be a wererat," Griffin pointed out.

Alexander looked over his shoulder at Falenas and Verik. "How is he?"

"I'm not experienced when it comes to lycanthropes but I don't see any kind of subtle change," Falenas noted and shrugged. "I think I'm certain that he isn't infected. Not all bites are enough to inflict lycanthropy."

"You think?" Verik shook his head. "I think I need something more certain than that."

"Go to a temple then. I have a plague to cure."

Alexander chuckled and patted Griffin on the back. "Everything is fine, Griffin. You don't have to worry over every little thing.

Although Griffin admitted the battle could have been worse given what happened, he wasn't convinced he was ready to lead his companions. All it would take was one battle gone wrong and someone may very well die. At the very least, the noble was certain that Eries would keep her word, meaning that less people in Korvosa would fall sick. That was the only part of the victory that he could find some joy in.

A/N: Honestly, this was one of my favorite fights to write. It was nice to focus on the action without any dialogue or sound with the shrieking.

Until next time.