“Sounds fancy,” Frank said. “I don’t much know about apology monsters or whatever, but I suppose the big nobs wouldn’t have sent you if you weren’t up to it. You know, we had an infestation like this not long after I started on the job. Weren’t cleaned out properly, and you know how monsters get after a bit. Streaming out of the street drains, they were, terrorising regular folk. That was some kind of bug instead of rats, but I imagine it’d be much the same. You just be sure and get them all, yeah?”

“I’ll do that, Frank.”

“Right, well, I’ll leave you to it and get on to sealing up these basements. After that, I’ll come back and hang about until you’re ready to go. How long do you reckon you’ll be?”

“That depends on the rats.”

“Fair enough,” Frank said. “Just try not to get lost; these tunnels all look the same. If you ain’t back here come dark, I’ll assume you got lost and come find you.”

Frank closed the door, leaving Jason in the dark, but his vision power was more than up to the task. Taking out a knife, he sliced open his palm, letting leeches pile out of the wound.

Colin wasn't likely to go causing any apocalypses quite yet, but the neophyte life-devourer did have the power to sense out living things, wherever they might be hiding. The sanguine horror wasn't fast, but it was multitudinous, and as Jason followed the main mass, small groups of leeches broke off to head down tunnels and gaps. Jason's quest might not end quickly, but he would root them all out in the end.

72. Rat Race

72

Rat Race

Stone-chewer rats were around the size of house cats, with grey fur, protruding teeth and oversized, talon-like claws. Jason watched as a half dozen of them struggled to scratch away the leeches digging into their flesh. One writhed around until it fell into the water.

“Colin, what did I say about letting them go in the water?”

The rats, it turned out were heavy, and after falling into the water didn’t come back up. The leeches on them had no such problems, crawling out after the rat had died of either the leeches’ ministrations or from drowning.

“How am I meant to loot them down there? The ones hidden away in those nests are one thing, but this is throwing away money.”

The rats were all dead and all the nearby leeches crawled back into a pile. Jason looked at it.

“I’m sorry, Colin,” Jason said. “You’re doing all the work, and here I am complaining. I know you’re doing your best, buddy. Good job.”

The leech pile started undulating with what Jason assumed was happiness. He pulled up the quest screen.

Quest: [Contract: Rat Infestation]