Chapter 55: Chapter 54

Immediately upon starting the attack, Tibs decided this wouldn’t be fun. The Ratlings reacted to their presence the instant they crossed the threshold, screeching as they pulled clubs and knives made of bones. Many more ran out of the tents, and quickly it was clear the near dozen Tibs thought they’d be dealing with was more like three times that.

He followed Jackal, slicing at any that made it around the fighter while he was busy, with Khumdar was by Tibs’s side using the two halves of his staff as clubs. Air current gave him an indication of where Carina aimed at and the occasional explosion told him Mez was still in the fight.

Then things changed for Tibs with a warning yell from the cleric, an impact, and staring at the ratty face of the Ratling that had tackled Tibs as he fell between tents and onto his back. It was just like the rats from his nightmares, beady eyes, whiskers and sharp teeth trying to bite his face as his arm against its neck held it back. He got over his terror and planted a knife into its side over and over until he was covered with stony rubble.

Tibs shuddered, trying to get himself up. The fighting wasn’t over, but Jackal had been right. Those things were creepy. They’d been terrifying enough when they were small, and now they were nearly as tall as Tibs was. He shuddered again. If there had been two of them, Sto might have eaten him.

“I hate those things,” Tibs whispered, getting to his feet. Thankfully, Sto and Ganny remained quiet.

He inched his way to the path; the fighting had moved away. From what Tibs could tell from the quantity of rubble on the ground, the Ratling who had tackled him was part of a larger group and had kept his friends from coming to his help. By the voices responding to Jackal’s calls, everyone was still alive. Tibs almost yelled to say he was okay, but noticed the Ratling heading for the fighting and he pulled back instead.

He looked around; six tents in a circle with a fire pit in the center. He hadn’t noticed the arrangements from the entrance. But if that was the same for the other side, and what he remembered, further along, it would be a system of alleys formed by the tents. Tibs smiled. He knew alleys.

He glanced in the path. The Ratling was further along, moving cautiously. Tibs went around the tent, then two more before checking back on the path. He’d move halfway to where the Ratling now stood, looking like he was waiting for an opportunity. The club it held wasn’t made for throwing, but Tibs knew anything could be thrown when you wanted it badly enough.

He made sure no one else was in the path and crossed to the other side. Two more tents and he was behind the Ratling. He took out a knife as he snuck behind it, then grabbed and stabbed it in the back multiple times. When it was rubble, Tibs stepped between tents.

He realized that even if they were made of stone, or something that looked like stone, they’d felt warm, and behaved the same way when stabbed a person did. He filed the question of why the dungeon would do that for later.

The center of the village was open and was where his friends were busy fighting. He almost ran to help them, but they had things under some control, and more Ratlings were waiting at the periphery for their chance. Tibs would be more useful to everyone if he removed them before anyone noticed what he was doing.

He removed three of them, closing his hand around their short muzzle to keep them from calling out as he stabbed and pulled them back. Then, on his way to a fourth, the inside of an open tent caught his attention, or rather the chest in it.

He should go help his team.

He looked at the central space. They were holding their own.

There might be something useful in the chest, he told himself, before just admitting he was curious and running into the tent.

The chest was simple, wooden slats tight against one another, a cover with painted scenes of Ratlings hunting rats with three hinges at the back. No locks, no obvious traps, but there was a lack of essence inside that worried him. He couldn’t recall ever coming across a place where there was no essence.

He used a knife to open the chest, standing to the side, and not missing Sto chuckling. The cover fell back loudly and Tibs readied himself for Ratlings to storm the tent, but the only sounds were that of the fighting.

He looked inside, and at the bottom of the chest rested a wooden staff taller than Tibs was, with designs carved into it. He couldn’t believe his luck. Khumdar could replace his broken staff.

“Really?” Ganny said dryly, as Tibs reached into the chest and froze.

“What?” Sto replied.

Tibs waited. Maybe they’d forgotten he could hear them and they’ll let something slip if this was a trap.

“A staff?” she demanded

“What’s wrong with there being a staff?” Sto asked.

Tibs noticed a detail he’d initially missed. The chest was smaller than he was, barely the length of his arm.

“You’re telling me you didn’t plan this?” she asked.

The staff was taller than he was, and it was resting on the bottom of the chest.

“You know I did. I planned everything on this floor.”

How could something taller than he was fit into something not even the length of his arm?

“That’s not what I mean and you know it.”

“Ganny, I have no idea what’s irritating you this time.”

“The cleric had his staff broken in the previous room, and Tibs just happens to find one to replace it?”

Tibs touched the side of the chest. They were solid inside and out.

“It’s in the rotation. It’s just luck.”

“There’s no such thing and you know it,” she replied.

As far as he could tell, the sides inside the chest were also straight, which meant that for the staff to look that large, it had to be a lot deeper.

“Fine, it’s randomness. Ganny, you know I created the loot drop list before I even knew about the cleric. You were there, half the items on it are your idea. The staff was your idea. She found out about it from one of her friends who’s helping another dungeon.”

Tibs froze as he was reaching for the staff. Sto had clearly addressed him, so they hadn’t forgotten.

“Yes, but what are the odds it would show up now?” she asked.

“Six hundred and eighty-two to one. You know that too.”

“So you can see why I’m concerned that you’re not following the rules.”

Tibs touched the staff, and he didn’t have to leaning in. The chest was only as deep as it looked.

“Ganny, the chests are set to randomly make something when the floor’s reset. How would I have put a staff in there for the cleric when I didn’t even know Tibs was the next team to come in?”

How was that even possible?

“What about after they entered? You knew he was there then, you could have switched it.”

“When have I ever done something like that?”

Tibs closed his hand around the shaft. It felt properly thick.

“Oh, let me think…” she said dryly, “no, you’re right, you never gave in to a runner crying and screaming at you because someone he cared about was killed by one of your traps?”

“That was a onetime thing,” Sto grumble.

Slowly, Tibs raised the staff.

“So you claim.”

“Ganny, I swear, I didn’t do this.”

Nothing changed as Tibs raised it, it had the same weight as Khumdar’s staff had had.

Ganny sighed. “I believe you, but you get how it looks, right? If they find out you’re breaking the rules, they aren’t going to be happy.”

“Those ‘they’ again,” Sto replied in a tone Tibs expected came with an eye-roll; if dungeons could do that. “You won’t tell me who they are, or why they care what I do. You haven’t even met them. I’m starting to think they aren’t even real. You made them up just so you could tell me what to do.”

And the staff was out of the chest, stretching beyond each side. Tibs didn’t see any changes in it as he lifted it, and now, as he placed it on top of the open chest, it didn’t fit.

“Oh, they are real. There was that one dungeon in the Arnian Kingdom that—”

“Yes, yes. You told me that story already, three times. It wouldn’t toe the line, so they came down and caved it in until there was nothing left. You saw the result. You told me. But you never saw them do it.”

Tibs turned the staff and put it in the chest, leaving more of it poking out.

“Neat, isn’t it?” Sto said. “I did it with—”

“Sto,” Ganny warned.

“Oh, come on, it’s not like he has the void essence. Or any of the others required to make my containment chest.”

“Void?” Tibs asked. How did the element of nothing allow for a chest to be larger inside one time and not the next?

“Yeah, you see, it’s not really—”

“Stone Mountain Crevice!” Ganny ordered. “You are not telling Tibs anything about how you can do things, it is against the rules.”

“There are no rules about what I can and can’t tell Tibs,” Sto replied. “You said it yourself, no one’s ever been able to talk with a dungeon before.”

“Is that really your name?” Tibs asked.

“Of course,” Sto replied. “It’s what I am. But it’s kind of long, so Ganny calls me Sto.”

“I wanted him to go for something simpler, like Steve, but no, he had to pick a name that describes where we are.”

Tibs nodded. So long as he liked it, any name worked. He was confident Jackal wasn’t his real name.

“I’m going to go back to the fight, so can you be silent again?”

“Will do,” Sto said.

Tibs looked outside and with the way clear he ran for the center of the village, cursing when he saw the situation. The Ratlings were down to just over a dozen, but Khumdar was on his knees, bleeding, with Jackal, Carina, and Mez around him. Mez was down to using his bow as a staff, and even Jackal looked exhausted.

With a yell, Tibs ran, brandishing the staff and almost throwing himself off balance as he swung it at the closest Ratlings.

“Tibs!” Carina called, “you’re alive!”

He threw the staff in their direction and took out two knives. He cut the Ratling that reached for him, then an impact against his back nearly brought him down, and a clawed hand reached for his face. He stabbed and cut behind him. He looked down and one of them was gnawing at his leg, trying to bite through the leather armor. He yelled when teeth found the knee joint and bit hard.

They were going to eat him.

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He slashed at them, but he missed.

He was in his nightmare, all the rats pilling on top of him, biting. His armor wouldn’t last. And then it would be him.

Something grabbed at his neck, then he was flying back.

“Now!” Jackal yelled as he held Tibs against him.

The explosion was hot, even with the earth fighter between Tibs and it. And then all that was left was the sound of falling stone as Tibs held on tightly.

“You okay?” Jackal asked.

“I hate those things,” Tibs replied, and the fighter chuckled.

“I think you’re entitled. But are you okay?”

Tibs nodded. He hurt in a lot of places, but he was alive. So was Jackal, Carina, Mez, and Khumdar, who groaned as he used the staff to get to his feet.

“Why didn’t you use the explosive arrow before?” Tibs asked the archer once Jackal released him.

“It would have been wasted with them spread around us, and I was out of normal arrows, so I couldn’t make small explosions anymore.”

“I tried to draw them away,” Jackal said, “but they’re smarter than they look and realized it left the others undefended.”

“Next time,” Carina said, “we need a proper strategy. This running in without knowing what we’ll find isn’t working anymore.”

“Told you,” Ganny said proudly.

“To be fair,” Jackal said. “I thought there were only a dozen and a half of them.”

“I want to point out there’s something like three times that many tents,” Carina replied, “but it didn’t occur to me either they would contain people.”

“Ratlings,” Tibs corrected her as Sto said it.

“Whatever,” she replied.

Khumdar joined them, using the staff to help him walk. His robe was in tatters, exposing broken leather strips that had offered extra protection. “I thank you for the staff. Where did you find it?”

“In a chest,” Tibs replied, “in one of the tents. There are others.”

“Loot time!” Jackal exclaimed. “Where are they?”

“I don’t know, but the dungeon let it slip there's at least one more.”

“What? When did I do that?” Sto demanded. “Ganny, I did not tell Tibs about the chests in this room.”

“I was there, I know you didn’t, but you basically confirmed he’s right just now.”

Tibs smiled. “More than one more.”

“Are there any more Ratlings around?” Jackal asked.

“I—” Tibs began.

“No, they’re all destroyed,” Sto answered. “I can’t make them all that smart yet, so they’ll fight until they’re destroyed. If there was any left, they’d be attacking.”

“What about the one that was sneaking around?” Tibs asked. “They’re all dead,” he told Jackal.

“You trust the dungeon?” the fighter asked.

“His job is to make us stronger,” Tibs replied. “We won here. He’s not gaining anything by lying to me now. We solved the problem.”

“More like eradicated it,” Mez said.

“Alright, Khumdar, find a place to sit and rest,” Jackal instructed. “Tibs can look after you once we have all the loot and coins. The rest of us are going through each tent looking for chests. When you do, tell Tibs and he’ll check them for traps.”

“They don’t have any,” Sto said.

“Why didn’t you trap them?” Tibs asked, causing Jackal to stop.

“They’re your reward, not another test. Although I randomize how many and where they are each time, so if a team’s in a hurry they could miss one.”

“They aren’t trapped,” Tibs told the others. “But they aren’t always going to be in the same tents and there might be more or less the next time.”

Jackal looked uncertain, then shrugged. “Okay, you heard Tibs. Check the chests and we come back here with loot, and collect every coin you find.” He looked at Tibs expectantly.

“What is he waiting on?” Ganny asked.

“At this point,” Tibs said, “he’s probably waiting for you to tell me something like how many coins there are.”

Jackal nodded.

Sto snorted.

“That’s not coming,” Tibs told the fighter.

“Worth a try.”

“Pick a quadrant,” Carina said, and was stared at. She sighed. “The village is divided into four by the paths.” She indicated the four larger paths. “And there’s four of us mobile. That’s one each. It’ll avoid wasting time by us looking into the same tents.”

Jackal curtsied. “My lady honors me with her insight.”

“Mez, your bow, please,” She said, extending her hand in his direction.

The archer took a step back. “I don’t want it broken.”

She looked at him, surprised. “You smacked those things around with it.”

“Yes, but it’s Jackal’s head you’re planning on hitting,” he replied.

Tibs snorted.

Carina glared at him.

“Khumdar, that staff is sturdy, right?” she asked.

The cleric finished sitting by a tent. “I am afraid that it hasn’t been tested, therefore, I am not willing to risk breaking it against our esteemed leader’s head. If you are willing to look, I am certain there is one of the halves of my previous staff in the center, somewhere.”

“There’s stone all over the place,” Jackal offered.

“Which you had no problem punching through,” she explained, throwing up her hands and walking away. “Just pick one!”

Tibs turned and headed for the tents before him.

“Tibs, why didn’t you tell them about the inside of the chests?” Sto asked.

“Are they all bigger?”

“They’re whatever size they need to be to fit what’s inside, and right now there’s…” he trailed off.

“Go ahead,” Ganny said. “It’s not like him knowing what’s in them now is going to change anything.”

“My shoes?” Tibs asked hopefully.

“I’m afraid not. One of them had a set of iron armor. It’s pretty poor quality, and it won’t fit anyone on your team, but I figured it would be nice to show the teams something that hints at what’s coming.”

“Okay.” The first four tents had nothing in them. They didn’t even have bedding. “You know, next time I do a run, it would be nice if one of the chests had my shoes in them. Or the pouch.”

“I don’t control what the chests contain, Tibs.”

“Is it on the list? Well?” he asked when Sto didn’t reply.

“No. The shoes are a first-floor reward, and the pouch…” he trailed off. “I’d made that for you. It’s not exactly easy to do.”

“But if you put it in the list, it just makes itself, right?”

“The essence still needs to be there. Something like that on this early of a floor would drain me too fast. How did you know there was more than one chest?”

“You told Ganny the chests were filled randomly. That’s plural.”

“You need to remember how clever Tibs is,” Ganny said, “since you like that about him.”

Not being able to get the pouch again was disappointing, but its actual use had been to hide the amulet from the guild, and he no longer had that either. He’d rely on the hiding places on his armor to carry his coins. It was more secure than a normal pouch, anyway.

“So,” Tibs said. “You won’t tell Jackal how many coins are in the room, but how about you tell me?” he smiled. “Please?”

Ganny sighed in exasperation, while Sto chuckled.

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