Chapter 12: Chapter 10 – Handicapped

I felt my stomach churn but before I could even really register that discomfort, I was in a dark room. The only light source was a glowing nimbus around Leo. I released my aura to light up the rest of the room and could see the others. The room was bare. There was only stone walls and one door leading out. "I guess we go that way." I said but the others were looking at the golden light surrounding them.

Clyde was the first to comment with a "oh pretty". Well that was about what I had come to expect from him. Then I heard "What is this" and "How did you do that?" coming from Leo and Kevin at the same time.

"It helps me with my healing." Was all I said about it and then tried to get them moving. "Shall we?" I pointed at the door and moved to get into position. I did not want to be too close to the front in case of area affect spells. I cast Aid on Kevin. He was so skinny I was afraid he would crumble with one hit. His skin lightly glowed making him seem healthier immediately.

I saw a long hallway once the door was open. I do not know what I was expecting but walls that a master mason would be proud of wasn't it. There were old torches hanging from those walls burnt and forgotten. That old worn look was more what I was thinking. A dim light could be seen coming off the torches, even though they were not lit, as if the ghosts of the flames still lingered. It was creepy. Noises of some unknown creatures could be heard coming from the distance and did not help the creepy factor at all. Leo walked out as if he was taking a stroll. I wondered if he was brave or just dumb. What about traps? What about monsters? He did not seem to think of such issues. Kevin hesitated and then followed. Clyde? Well I gave him a light nudge after he did not move. I could see why some of the kids were scared. Being tossed into darkness with unknown things making noise all around you would shake adults much less children.

The well-designed hall opened into a cave. Seriously? I frowned. The lack of logic in the design of this place bothered me. Why would it go from beautifully crafted halls to a dank cave?  I raised my vigilance. The roomed screamed bad things happen here. A pool of water could be seen around the middle of the room with a dripping noise coming off the water dripping off the stalactites above the pool. The noises I heard earlier still seemed far off, so those things probably weren't in this room. Leo walked in without pausing and wrinkled his nose. "uhhh it smells!" his cry was somewhat muffled by his arm he had put across his face. He tried breathing through the little cloth the armor allowed through. It did not seem to help at all from his reactions and his ongoing shouts. I think I heard something moving inside the room but with him making a racket about the smell I could not be certain.

The others also began to make noise as they followed Leo into the room. Kyle just started complaining. Clyde started twirling about waving his arms as if shooing away the smells while making retching noises. Clyde's reaction would have been comical if this was not dangerous. I cursed silently in my head and wondered why the school did not screen people that wanted to go into the dungeon. I saw something moving around. There were ripples in the pool as well. They seemed bigger than what a drop of water should make. Something was here.

As I went to warn the three idiots about the danger, I knew it was too late. I saw something dropping from the ceiling onto Kevin. He freaked. With a high pitched scream, he began to hit himself trying to dislodge whatever it was that was on him. I had all their health windows open and I saw Kevin's health starting to drop. Leo turned around, looked at Kevin and hit him right in the face

To say I was stunned is an overstatement. While I did see something fly away, I also saw Kevin's hit points take a bigger drop from Leo's whack than from any damage caused by whatever attacked him. I also noted the "dizzy" condition that appeared in his health window. Boys! Are they dead set on wasting my magic? I cursed silently and cast heal on him and watched his health improve. I heard a ding and off to my left I saw a window saying "+1xp". Hmmm, maybe I should have Leo hit him some more. No, no, no I need to focus on whatever that was.

I quickly glance around looking for whatever attacked us. I saw a trail of liquid leading to the pool. I heard a splash and then silence. "What are we dealing with?" I looked at Leo when I asked that since he probably had the best look at whatever it was.

"A rat," was his simple reply as if his words were gold. Really just a rat? When the hell do rats ambush people? This isn't like a Tarzan movie where snakes just fall out of random trees is it? I gave up on the mental gymnastics that would be required for a rat attack to happen like that. I scanned around looking for super rats. I gave up on listening. Clyde was still twirling about making noise and now Kevin was crying because Leo hit him so between the two any other sound would be hard to hear.

Sure enough in about a minute there was movement on the ceiling again. I saw a rat moving around the stalactites. When I say around, I mean around. The rat seemed to be made of jelly. It elongated its body or bent at weird angles that normal rats could not do. As the rat got closer to us, I saw more movement further back. It was still in the shadows so I could not make out what they were. Yes, I know it's probably more rats, but I am trying to be professional here. The fact that there are bendy rats is both amazing and unsettling. I am going to have a talk with Leo about his naming skills on monsters. That was not a regular rat. Couldn't he have said "super bendy rat" or "rubber rat" to help clarify?

"Here it comes," I say while pointing. Kevin whimpered and half crawled, half ran behind me. Sighing I pulled out my mace. I guess I was the backup. At least I still had Leo. The other two were currently useless.

Very quickly it positioned itself over Clyde, but the rat kept hesitating because of his constant movements. He was never directly under it for more than a second. It looked like it would jump down but would notice its target had moved. It would growl and try again. About the fifth time it gave up with a hiss and moved to the next closest person; Leo.  The shadows, I had seen earlier, had moved into the area I was lighting up. I could see four more rats scampering our way. I watched as one jumped down at Leo. Leo was also watching it and with a mighty swing of his sword… missed completely.

"…" I tried to think of something to say as I watched the rat latch onto his armor but could not think of anything. Was it really too much to ask for one capable teammate?

The rat crawled, bit and hissed but it could not get through his armor and my armor spell. It kept trying but nothing major got through. Leo flailed about trying to attack it but swords were not meant to be used that way and with his skill, or lack thereof, it was useless. I watched this for a second, looked up to see the four other rats getting closer and made my decision.

With a BAM sound, Leo flew back the way we came from. Yes, I hit him with my mace. Well, technically I hit the bendy rat and with a splat sound flew off into the darkness. I heard the ding and the flash of +5xp but my mind was on other things. I dropped the spells I was maintaining on the others and cast armor and aid onto myself. I decided to move about so only one of the rats could get to me at a time. I hoped anyway. "Get out" I told the others and Kevin ran out of the room before I finished speaking.  Clyde did the same thing Clyde has been doing since he came into this room which was wave his arms about trying to shoo the smell away.  I did the best I could to keep them safe hopefully the teacher will save them (and me) if it comes to that.

Holding my mace like a baseball bat I waited for the first to jump at me. I counted myself lucky that the rats were not too smart. I did not wait long. I watched it coming right at me and all my time I spent with my friends playing ball did not go to waste. I hit it square on and watched it deform then shoot off across the room. I was expecting a ding but did not hear one. Was it still alive? I did not have time to worry about it. With the time I took on that one two more had begun to leap out at me. Well I'm screwed quickly flashed through my mind and I moved as best as I could. I swung wildly at one and materialized my wings above my head to act as a crappy shield for the others that I knew were still up there. I felt the mace connect but I doubted it did anything substantial. I felt the other attach itself to my leg and felt two impacts on my wings. A subtle splash could be heard along with my cursing about useless teammates at this point. I glanced over to see Clyde briefly stare at me before going back to doing whatever he was doing.

Pain lanced through my wings as the little bastards bit them. I guess the armor spell did not extend to them. I also felt the other one trying to bite my leg. A dull ache could be felt as it penetrated my skin. It was not a lot of damage but being eaten alive by a squeaky toy was not how I wanted to die. I needed to get clear of this mess. I used my "flash" spell out of desperation, but it worked way better than I expected. They all squeaked and relaxed their claws. The one on my leg tried to climb up my leg and I forgot about the other two. Dresses are not for dungeons! I clamped my hand onto its head and in my panic squeezed it. It felt like a slimy stress ball. I pried it of my leg. Its arms stretched impossibly long and then they snapped back to its body leaving long scratches on my leg. Trying to ignore the pain of my wings from being bitten again and the new pain that blossomed on my leg; I threw it hard against the nearest wall. I watched it flatten and when I thought it was going to bounce, I saw cracks run along its body and liquid began to pour out. With a weak squeak the now dubbed "super bendy rat" tried to claw its way to the pool. About halfway it stopped, and I heard a ding. I guess they were considered monsters since it died from my attack.

"Now for the others." Using flash one more time, I flexed my wings hard when they loosened their claws flinging both of them off of me. I heard Kevin scream as one flew that way. The other hit the wall, bounced, and ran back to me as if nothing happened. Once it got closer to me, I hit it with my mace and with nowhere to go it splattered across the floor like a popped pimple. It looked just as gross I assure you. "So that was the trick to killing these things" I thought. Smiling, I looked for the other rats. Time to clean this up. While I did not see any I did heard Kevin crying for help, so I moved that way. I was greeted with Leo hitting Kevin because the rat he was aiming for kept dodging. Sighing I walked over and grabbed the rat and like last time I threw it like a ball as hard as I could against a wall. As it left my hand, I saw scratch marks down my arm where it had managed to grab a hold. I heard the ding right after it hit the wall, so I knew it was dead. I dematerialized my wings and started healing everybody.

I think there was one more, but I could not be sure. I had lost count and for all I knew there was a nest of these things. With that in mind I pulled Clyde out of the smelly cave back into the hallway. "OK we need to talk." I was not amused, and I am sure they heard it in my voice. "Do you guys not have any training? Did you not practice?" I looked at them all and waited.

"I stab things." Clyde was the first to reply and for the first time I really looked at his weapons. The knives were old and rusted. They were probably dull as well. Sighing I knew I needed a better game plan to make it out of here without a teacher's help.

***

The loud sound of the slap could be heard across the hall. "what did I tell you, you worthless child?! Are you not happy unless you destroy our house? I told you to leave the powerful children alone. If you needed some children to play with, just take from the worthless weaker peasants! Now half the towns guards are about to revolt and if the kid gets into the school and trained, she will definitely come for you after what you have done." A grey bearded man continued to curse the fat man at his feet.

Rubbing his face where the hand print could still be seen, the Duke's face still held a look of disbelief that he had been struck. "Father do not worry. I already took care of it. There is no way she will pass the test and get in with those kids in her group."

"You better be right! Now lay low for the time being, there are others after you and I need to deal with them. You are so useless. Get out of my sight! You are dismissed."

***

"So, you just let them rearrange the teams? Oh my, you are so bad." A cheerful voice could be heard over the others talking nearby. "What if they all die?"

"Of course, I did. I want to see who is working for who and it should work out ok. There is still the teacher after all."

Updated Character Sheet (Feel free to skip ahead)

Name: Alice

Race: half-Angel

Level 2

Profession – Angel of Mercy

Experience - 68 of 200

Stats: Points unspent 15

Strength          9

Stamina          9

Intelligence    10

Wisdom          17

Charisma        14

Dexterity        11

Perception      11

Luck                none earned

Skills:

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Mace: Beginner  93 / 200

Enchanting – Talented  3 / 100,000

Herbalism – Journeyman  12 / 700

First aid – Beginner    3 / 200

Alchemy – beginner    30 / 200

Cleaning – 28 / 100

Tailoring – 15 / 250

Embroidery – 23 / 250

Cooking – 35 / 500

Poetry – 3 / 150

Painting – 3 / 400

Knitting – 10 / 150

Acquired Dodge Skill 1 / 200

Acquired Pain Resistance Skill 1 / 200

Acquired Camouflage Skill 1 / 200

Acquired Endurance Skill 1 / 200

Acquired Sneaking Skill 1 / 200

Talents:                                                                               

Holy Casting

Bloodline:

Angels gain following skills

Demonic Counter - Heal spells do damage to demons equal to healing value

Flight – Medium level flight

Holy Aura – A 3-foot aura that reduces pain and adds boost to all healing spells

Speak No Lie – People with angel blood are unable to tell lies

Pacifistic Blow – any attack against others will always fall short of killing them (monsters and demons excluded)

Vision of Diagnosis – Ability to detect ailments at a glance

Spells:

Light heal – a minor healing spell that is good for scrapes and bruises

Small Heal – a healing spell that will heal large cuts, scrapes and bruises

Bone Setter – Fixes broken bones

Aid – Temporarily increase another's health

Slow Poison – Greatly reduces the onset of poisons

Purify – Removes impurities

Minor golden armor – a thin protective barrier

Coat of Arms – Strengthens the target with what they hold dear to the hearts (strength increases with level)

Blinding Flash – a quick bright flash of your aura (works better in darker environments)

Resistances:

Lightning – 1%

Wind – 2%

Earth – 1%

Charm – 1%

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