The Heart Grows

It was a cunning trap. Jill-The-Knife Lizard worked her wire-thin tools into the lock and, with the most deft of digits, worked the trapped pins into the correct position and opened the door. "Easy as that," she hissed. Her party members looked impressed, and well they might be, because Jill-The-Knife was blessed by the gods themselves and the greatest goddess in particular. "Now, what's insi— Rat!"

Ratslayer-The-Hammer Lizard stepped forward, putting himself between Jill-The-Knife and the beast. When the rat crashed into him, not only didn't he shift, but he drove his distinctive head into it and knocked it backwards. "Not today, rat. You don't know who I am, clearly.

"I am Ratslayer-The-Hammer, and that means killing you is the focus of my life, rat." His claws were worn down from days digging rock and his scales hardened to an oxidized metal finish, but that didn't stop him from punching the rat to death where it stood.

"Ratslayer! Get back— Ah, blowflies." For all Ratslayer-The-Hammer was a good friend and a stunningly effective slayer of rats, he tended to get tunnel vision. When two more rats swarmed around his friend, Alistor-The-Cold raised his staff and splayed his digits forward, projecting a cone of freezing magic toward the rats.

The beasts struggled on, fighting their own bodies as their limbs froze up, their necks, heads, and finally—with mouths open and reaching for Alistor-The-Cold—became completely frozen in place and stopped.

"Ratslayer! You can't just—" Alistor-The-Cold cut himself off short as he saw what his friend was up to. There were five rat corpses between them, and Ratslayer-The-Hammer clubbed another down with his fist. Sighing a lizard sigh, Alistor-The-Cold got out a tiny hammer and chisel then set to work inspecting the rats he'd frozen for loot.

"Did you find any loot, Ratslayer?" Jill-The-Knife asked.

"Jill! Come quick! This one has two hearts!"

Shivering at her friend's idea of "loot," Jill nonetheless laughed. "Make sure to get them both, Ratslayer." She turned to look at the last member of their party. "Frilly, is there anything you need from these first ones, or can we move on once Ratslayer has his, uh, loot?"

Smiling beneficently, her frilly neck folded down, Frilly-The-Pious nodded. "I can move on whenever we're ready. Did our friend, Ratslayer, take any injuries?" She saw the big brute of a lizard turn around in the sharp confines at the sound of her voice.

Ratslayer-The-Hammer rushed over to Frilly-The-Pious and lowered his head. "I was bitten and scratched, but it must have been a miracle that they didn't get through my hide."

Reaching a clawed foreleg up, Frilly-The-Pious patted Ratslayer-The-Hammer on the head. "Perhaps you should keep back with the rest of us next time, though? There were two rats you walked past and—"

Tears sprang up at the words. Ratslayer-The-Hammer dipped his head lower still until his chin touched the ground. "My lady, I promise to not let the battle lust overtake me but my style of fighting requires advancing to avoid harm to myself."

"Say no more, handsome warrior, I will be close."

Filled with a new drive to do better by his fellow party members, Ratslayer-The-Hammer set off, keeping an eye behind to ensure they weren't getting too far back.

"Hey! Let me go ahead!" Jill-The-Knife had to run over the top of Ratslayer-The-Hammer to get past him due to his bulk. "You'll never survive some of the traps in here, Ratslayer."

The deeper they went, the more rats they fought. Ratslayer-The-Hammer was true to his word, holding back with the party and letting the rabid monsters come to him for a change. This tactic did result in him getting in situations where he needed healing, but he had Frilly-The-Pious right behind him.

At last they came to a big set of doors that had Jill-The-Knife's full attention. She pressed the side of her head to the doors, even licked at the air under them, but finally she took to the lock with her tools.

It was a simple lock, and though she hadn't dealt with its exact type before, she got it open in short order. "Everyone ready?"

Getting only nods in reply, Jill-The-Knife checked again the hinges and shoved both the doors inward, stepping to the side to let Ratslayer-The-Hammer past her.

The monster, sitting proudly on its throne, was not one rat but ten. The rats scurried forward, their mass constantly moving so there was always fresh claws and teeth facing Ratslayer-The-Hammer.

"What is that unholy abomination?" Frilly-The-Pious asked.

"Rat King!" Alistor-The-Cold shouted. "You need to kill the individuals to slow the rest down, but be careful, Ratslayer, they're fiercely smart!"

Jill-The-Knife looked, in dumbfounded shock, between her allies and the monster. "It's just ten rats with their tails tied together."

"Look out, Jill!" Frilly-The-Pious was already acting as she shouted. Casting a healing spell intended to land a moment after one of the rats (that had apparently not been part of the king) lunged out and made a grab for her.

No sooner did the rat get its teeth around Jill-The-Knife's left arm than the spell hit her. The pain was wiped for an instant and, with the rat holding still for her, she gave it a quick ear exam with the pointy end of her dagger.

Ratslayer-The-Hammer was dealing with the worst of it, but was doing so in his own style. As the rats rotated around and came into range, he'd punch them in the head, treating the Rat King as a huge speed-ball.

Soon there wasn't much left but the sound of screeching rats as, forced by the rest of their Rat King to keep attacking, the rodents were beaten down by Ratslayer-The-Hammer. Finally, as the Rat King dropped to the ground unmoving, a huge white rat with a battleaxe clutched between its teeth came rushing to avenge its King.

"No." Alistor-The-Cold stepped up beside Ratslayer-The-Hammer, raised his hand, and gestured expansively at the rat's legs. They started to freeze up, but not quickly enough. Ratslayer-The-Hammer stepped past him again and punched the rat in the head.

When the rat shrugged off the punch and brought its axe down, it was Ratslayer-The-Hammer who was the target. The weapon struck true and the big lizard reached up and grabbed the axe, then punched the rat again.

The giant rat seemed to only draw strength from the blows. Screeching, it jerked the weapon back from Ratslayer-The-Hammer and swung it again, clipping Ratslayer-The-Hammer in the side of the head with the flat of the blade. Turning its attention to Alistor-The-Cold, it screamed defiance and rushed at him.

It was all going wrong. Jill-The-Knife tried to distract the rat from the sorcerer but it was too intent. In the end, only the damage done to its weapon saved Alistor-The-Cold from a fatal blow. As the rat swung the axe, the punches and chill caught up with the head and it shattered, leaving the heavy haft coming down on Alistor-The-Cold's noggin instead.

There was nothing else for it. Jill-The-Knife stepped between the enraged rodent and Frilly-The-Pious and tried to stand her ground. The rat rushed at her, discarded the handle of the axe and bit down on her foreleg.

"No."

The feminine voice echoed around the room, shortly followed by glowing yellows and reds as flames leaped high from a lizard that'd just walked in behind the beleaguered party. When the big rat let go of Frilly-The-Pious's leg, it stared in the newcomer's direction. The lizard wizard spoke further, "I am your doom, rat. Burn!"

Flames in blue and white lanced from the wizard to the rat, and the smell in the room—already bad thanks to a King Rat residing there—got so much worse as burning rat was added to the bouquet.

Panting and dropping to the ground in relief, Jill-The-Knife watched as the rat ran screaming, only to die on the far side of the room.

Waking up in a tavern wasn't anything new to Ratslayer-The-Hammer, but he hadn't expected to wake up at all this time. Looking around, he spotted Jill-The-Knife and Frilly-The-Pious sitting nearby, talking with another female lizard.

Beside him, still unconscious, was Alistor-The-Cold. "Wake up, old friend. We're safe, but something odd is afoot."

"He's awake," Frilly-The-Pious said. "And, now both of you are, come on boys and join us. We were just discussing things with—"

"Infernus-The-Wizard. Thank you for aiding in my escape." Bowing her head, Infernus-The-Wizard Lizard was waiting for all the questions she was about to be pummeled with.

"Who are you?"

"What were you doing in that place?"

"What did you do to that rat?"

"Can I get a drink?"

"Ugh. Fife, really?" Katelyn slumped back in her chair, the lizard sitting on the table that wore a little set of robes and carried a twig looked at her and flicked its tongue out.

"Hey, I'm thirsty! This is a totally cool game, Trav, but it has the getting beaten up bit all wrong. Ratslayer-The-Hammer would never get knocked out by a rat!" Fife was rewarded for her bad roleplaying when Mixie brought her over a mug of ale—only spilling a little. "Hey, thanks!" Taking the ale, Fife reached out to ruffle the girl's mop of hair but she was already running across the tavern.

"Ahem," Travis said, unable to make the sound so having to improvise by saying it. "While you're all sitting there—getting drinks—an old lizard walks up to the table. He says, 'Slaying the Rat King has made the house owner very happy, even if the whole house smells of burning rat now.' He gives you each a gold coin for your troubles."

"Just one?" Brayden asked, dutifully writing the gold coin down on his wax tablet.

"The gold coins are as big as your head. It's enough to keep Ratslayer in ale for a month if he doesn't drink too much," Travis said.

Beaming with delight, Ludmiller made sure to add the gold coin to the list of items her character had. It wasn't that her lizard rogue was some kind of packrat, far from it, but gold was always fun to collect when it wasn't stupidly limitless.

"Can I roll to drink too much?" Fife asked, eyes glittering beneath the dull metal brow that was her hide now.

"Sure," Travis said.

"Does a… sixteen— Wait, I have plus five constitution. Does that help?" Fife asked.

Travis laughed. There was something good about bringing back some of his own childhood and teaching it to new friends. "It makes it harder to get drunk, and means you have to drink a lot more to drink too much. Add them together."

"Twenty-one?"

"That's how many drinks is too much."

"Then I—then Ratslayer-The-Hammer—drinks that many and one more! Ratslayer-The-Hammer is not safe to be around and should come with a warning!" Fife tipped back her own ale and downed it all in one swig. "Jacob, can you send your girl over with another?" she shouted to the bar.

"Okay," Penelope said, having been sitting on the sidelines and watching, "do you have room for one more?"

"Uh, I'd rather keep it at five maximum," Travis said, and saw Penelope's face show annoyance. "But, if you can find three more who want to play, I think Katelyn would be a good DM."

"Me? But I've never been a dungeon!" Her mind, though, was already spinning with ideas for a story. She rolled her staff in her hand, and let out a laugh. "I guess I can give it a try. Okay, Pen, if you can get three more, I'll try to do something fun."

"Hey, Brayden, what's up with you playing a girl lizard?" Fife asked.

"What's with you playing a boy lizard?" Brayden asked, shooting the question back at Fife.

Fife took a swig from her new ale; not having noticed Mixie had dropped it off. "Eh. You know me, I've been an omnivore all my life. Figured it'd be a laugh."

"Is it?"

Looking down at her tablet, Fife shrugged. "Ask me again after nineteen ales." She held out her current mug, avoiding the book in the middle of the table since it had the rules of the game in it. "To Trav's weird games, good ale, and better friends!"

Everyone in the tavern cheered at that. Katelyn quickly closed the rule book before it did get doused in something they'd regret. She smiled, thinking how the dungeon was more of a home to her now than anywhere she'd ever lived before.

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This story is released under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license. If you are paying money to see this or the original creator, Damaged, is not credited, you are viewing a plagiarized copy of the story.