Tunnel Rat

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.

"Something's 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 rooftops? 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 an empty sky that was worse. And things swam in the live-water that didn't like him. He had no desire at all to go swimming and have something try to eat him. Like the gigantic eel that was chasing the two boats heading for the docks. It swam through the ocean like a snake moved on the ground, but 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. It was proof to him that he should never go in the water.

The second ship was more interesting to him. It wasn't a surface ship by any means. The sail was a jury-rigged affair with a triangular 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 of the ship, throwing up a wake, and see the small bits of steam being vented from overworked 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. Others would see a patchwork monstrosity but Milo thought it was sleek and efficient.

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. A large enough submarine might feel like just another set of tunnels. He wanted to get a look at the inside of the ship. If it survived, which was doubtful at this point. Even if it made it to the docks, that monstrosity was right behind it.

Whoever was driving the thing was pretty good. They managed to hit the beach at an angle, slide the submarine up onto land, park it sideways, and then shoot the eel with some big guns. They had an even bigger cannon being loaded at the end of the boat. The rest of the crew was abandoning the 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. Dual propellers and larger engines would give it speed, and he wondered about using the steam from the boilers to power a Gatling cannon. That would be fun.

Captain Pike was running for the ship and the place where the eel would come ashore. The Monster Hunter wasn't about to miss a chance like this. 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 despite the ball hitting it in the head, 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, interlocking plates protected him 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 dragon snake, 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. The ogre laughed and taunted it, making rude gestures and telling it he was going to sautee it with onions for dinner.

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. After he'd regained the ability to use spells, he'd seen that Bone Spike had disappeared, leaving this newly upgraded version in its place.

[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.

+60 Damage for INT above 10

Modifier: +30% damage for Skill: Ancient Runes (6)

Total Base Damage: 338]

 

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 comment on the cute little harpoons Milo was throwing. Before it left his lips, the first one hit the dragon snake 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: 507 points, enemy is staggered.

You have struck a critical blow against an Eel! The huge wound has done 1014 points of damage and stunned the creature for 5 seconds.]

 

"Nice shooting, newbie!" Captain Pike was 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 and at such a huge target. The snake’s hide was being peppered with small wounds, but it still wasn't dead.

Stolen novel; please report.

The huge head swept sideways, tossing the ogre into the sea a hundred and fifty feet away. He came sputtering to the 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, most of the time. Narwhale didn't need some Engineer telling her to slow down, measure twice, and get a job approved by sixteen people before she could fire a cannon. She'd dealt with them before when they took Leviathan in for repairs and engine upgrades. Some of them were cute but they liked to play with slide rules more than drink with a cute pirate. Still, this one had the guts to charge that snake, so maybe they weren't all bad.

"Just like an engineer to be laying down on the job. Say, spanner boy, 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 in his pants!"

Boom-Boom stood up and produced another five-pound bomb. "How about if I have two bombs?" 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 tight. "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, and he was grinning like a loon. "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. You should see the mess he caused killing the last snake he ran into. Blew the whole damned base up and nearly killed every Engineer in the place. It was glorious. But the Chief says we can't do it again."

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. He was out of harpoons, but not out of skulls. When he could, he threw explosions into the Snake's mouth and slashed at it with his tail. Shadowblight bit into it again and again, leaving bleed punctures everywhere he went.

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 against him living, and worse to actually kill the snake. 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 dodged, 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 surviving, you win 10 for each gold you bet. Who had the crazy guy in the pool? And it's 50 to 1 if the snake stays down."

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. And hiding your other two heads underwater was certainly cheating. How could he plan how to kill it if it hid important details like that? 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 sound of the overworked boilers came to his ears...the boilers were still running...still building pressure with no way to vent that pressure.

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 figured it out, she 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 the center, the ball will drop too low otherwise. I've got enough muscle in this suit that I can make the vertical adjustments."

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, but he couldn't. The cannon kicked back hard as it fired, ten pounds of cataclysmite was much more than any cannon should ever load. Boom-Boom had expected the gun to explode. But this gun was from The Iron Queen and it held! The engineer was nearly killed, despite Pillbug's protective suit. And worse, he nearly missed seeing the ball sail across open ground and impact the hull of Leviathan. Milo was already 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 in the firebox and the pressure drops too low to run the engines. Too 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 simply a very big dragon snake. 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 that lit the bombs.

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, then ripped from the body, and cooked through and through. Shadowport was going to smell like cooked dragon snake for a month. Pike and Milo were safe under the waters of the bay, out of the way of the steam explosion. Two-Screws was lower than the explosion and buried in the muck. He took some nasty burns on his backside that would keep him standing up for a week.

The scavenger clan was screaming and laughing. They like a good explosion as much as anyone. This wasn't the first shipwreck any of them had been part of, and it wouldn't be the last. Even Whale wasn't unhappy with the outcome, except when she noticed her daughter sitting next to a spanner boy and sharing a bottle of grog.

Minnow stood up from where she had been knocked down by the blast. "Who had death-by-steam in the pool? Anyone?"

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