Looking toward the back of the cave, he saw a disaster.  Dozens of vermin were swarming around the human survivors.  Biting and clawing at legs and feet.  A man Allistor didn’t know was on his back, thrashing about as three of the rat things chewed on his face and arms.

Allistor ran toward the downed man, stabbing one of the vermin as soon as he got within reach.  His spear passed through its body and into another, killing both.  A swift kick knocked the third vermin off the man and sent it careening off a cave wall.   He stuck out a hand to help the man up, but he didn’t accept it.  A closer look showed the man was blinded, both eyes having been chewed by the vermin.   Allistor grabbed the man and dragged him toward the front of the cave with one hand, keeping the other on his weapon.

When he’d cleared the melee, he dropped the man and turned back to the battle.  He saw Nancy slashing at a nimbly dodging oversized rat with her knife, scoring a hit here and there as Chloe huddled behind her. Sam was taking careful aim with his pistol, then blew one of the nasty things out of existence.   Sean’s shotgun sounded again, and a swath of the vermin dissolved into pink mist and chunks of flesh. Allistor picked one and Examined it.

Vermin Gatherer

Level 3

Health 220/400

Meg, oddly enough, seemed to be the most effective of the melee fighters in the group.  She swung a long-handled frying pan like a home run hitter, smashing in the faces of vermin after vermin.  Cursing them with each stroke.  “Take that, you ratty-assed little shit!”

Rejoining the fray, Allistor swung his own spear, crushing the rat creature that was threatening Nancy.  Then he stabbed the rebar spear forward at a low angle across the cave floor, skewering two more.   He paused to scrape them against a boulder to clear his weapon, then stalked forward.  He smiled to himself as he remembered Chloe’s admonishment not to get bitten.

Another shotgun blast scattered the last clustered group of the mobs, leaving only a few for Allistor, Meg, Nancy, and Robert Edward to dispose of.   Robert Edward wasn’t using any weapon other than his feet, stomping the life from any vermin that held still long enough.

When it was over, each of them looted the rats they had helped to kill, identified by a faint glow only they could see.  Except for Nancy, who had moved to the fallen man to try and help him.