"We need to hold this building. We do that, we win, I don't care how many rats are roaming the town. They might even help us out, clear out some of those hiding ACME fighters." Brandon could see Timmy weakening in front of him, he wasn't good in a fight unless the camera was on him and the odds in his favor.

Timmy just nodded. Too many foes outside, even if they were level 1. "Right. I'll go about sealing the doors and windows on the first floor. Do you think they can get in on the upper floors? "

A black clad figure came feet first through a window, shattering the glass. It landed in a crouch brandishing three knives, including one in its tail. It was clad head to toe in a black ninja outfit with a red number '6' on the front and back. "HA! No one expects Skweel Teem 6!" The assassin lunged foward, but took a hit from Brandon's mace on his chin, as the rat staggered back, Timmy ran him through with his sword. "So much for Skweel Teem 6!"

Five more windows shattered as five more rat-kin assassins came into the room. "HA! No one expects Skweel Teem 5!" "HA! No one expects Skweel Teem 4!"

"HA! No one expects Skweel Teem 3!"

"HA! No one expects Skweel Teem 2!"

"HA! No one expects Skweel Teem 1!"

Timmy yelled down the stairs as the assassins charged. "A little help up here!"

=*=

A swiftpaw courier ran up to a very large rat-kin in an ornate military costume and wearing a monocle. "Report from the den above the dungeon sir."

Overlord Madskweek Dreadklaw turned to the courier. "Report then."

"Yes, Overlord. Skweel Team has engaged the enemy and weakened them, forcing them all down to the first level. We now hold the second level and the third. We have also taken the room of food. Several foragers had to be killed when they tried to eat the tasty vittles."

"WHAT! Go round up all the foragers and cut off their paws, we don't need them anymore. That will send a lessen to the next soldier that steals from me. Then bring all the tasty things here to me."

The swiftpaw ran away, and Dreadklaw thought of what he would do once he took this town. He would turn it into a fortress, amass a huge army of invincible rat-kin, and march across the world. All would tremble before his might. And all the cheese would be his and his alone.

Lost in his revelry of future victories he smiled for the first time in decades. SHE had erred. SHE thought SHE was sending him here to die. He would show HER. And he would reclaim his dungeon!

Deep below, the Under Rodent reclined on her throne of piled loot. "Tell me, Very Clever one, did they all take the deal and rush off to war?"

Weaseltongue the Very Clever cowered appropriately and then answered. "Of course they did! Your majesty's plan was perfection. The Mad General thinks his army will conquer the world. The Verminator just wishes to cause death and destruction, and the Ubermaus simply wants to eat and get bigger. Of the three, that one scares me the most."

"Yes, and was the biggest pain to keep caged. Good riddance. They couldn't be trusted to run loose in my dungeon. Win or die, they serve a purpose here and we gain by their deaths. Did Mayor Burpicus lead his fat horde of rabbits down to pillage as instructed?"

"Sadly, no your awesomeness. He cowers in his burrow yet again."

The Under Rodent snorted in disgust, the flames incinerating several rat-kin standing nearby. She absentmindedly grabbed them up and chewed. "I need to find a good replacement for that stupid Mayor. No matter how many times I eat him, he doesn't get any braver. Tell his guards I'm taking applications. Extra consideration if they kill him themselves."

=*=

The Verminator came up from his tunnel, and immediately laid waste to anyone in his kill zone. Metal claws sliced through bodies and his chain-klaw whirred as the teeth rotated and ate through flesh and bone. He was unstoppable!

Unfortunately, the only thing around him were rat-kin from his own burrow.

The legends say the Verminator was the work of several mad necrotechs working together to make the ultimate killing machine. From the parts of many of the finest rat-kin soldiers they had constructed a patchwork creature of malign intent. Standing almost seven foot tall and weighing 250 pounds, he was looked like a huge rat-kin. Until you noticed the foot-long metal claws that replaced one hand and the chain-klaw on the other. Metal rods replaced bones. Metal plates covered weak skin and muscle. He was the finest fighting rat ever constructed.

He was also very angry all the time, had to eat from a trough, and considered lesser beings to be food and prey. And everything was a lesser being.

His orders were to destroy the tavern. He picked a direction and started looking for it. There had been several guides to help him in that purpose, but they were all dead.

=*=

Ubermaus was hungry. He was ALWAYS hungry. And the more he ate, the larger he got. He was almost too big to fit through the dungeon portal. He was also too stupid to understand what it was. He kept turning around and eating the handlers. Eventually they had decoyed him with a long line of cheese wheels that led to the portal, and pushed hard from behind.

In the room beyond the portal, the appearance of a massive hungry rat caused panic in the Rat-kin trying to break through into the tavern. Ubermaus ate dozens of them, and the rest retreated to the brewing room, shutting the door. Ubermaus was unsure which way to go. The little wooden wall had more rat-kin behind it, but the stair way had smells and sounds coming from it that indicated much tastier food.

Ubermaus was tired of eating rat-kin, and humans smelled lovely. He charged up the stairs, tearing apart the barricades and nearly getting stuck. Eventually he just went through the floorboards and up into the tavern.

=*=

Timmy and Brandon saw the massive rat monster surge though the floorboards and immediately grab and eat Tubagirl. The tough female fighter was still stabbing at the rat with a dagger as he finished the last of her.

Timmy had seen The Big Rat several times. This was a much bigger rat. Identifying it didn't help at all.

Ubermaus the Every Hungry

Level: A lot higher than you!

Description: You have not encountered a foe of this tier and class.

Warning: If you can read this, then you are too close!

Ubermaus was having trouble getting up to the level of the tasty critters so he clawed away more of the floor and some of the walls. The tavern started to shake.

Timmy made a tactical decision. "RUN! Get the hell away from it. Brandon, we need to go out the front and fight our way out of here!

Brandon grabbed Lori Lightingale. "Blind the thing, then blind the rat-kin close to the door out. We're running for it. Just keep doing your big flashy spell." He thrust a bag of mana potions into her hands. Ubermaus was really mad when his eyes quit working and starting hurting. He was almost to some more food.

The rat-kin outside the tavern were momentarily stunned. The door opened and Timmy lead the charge to safety followed by the remaining people in the tavern. He panicked when he saw just how many rat-kin were in the town. Brandon didn't hesitate.

"Screw getting out of town, run to the barracks. We'll be safe inside. If the workers object for any reason, just start slaughtering them."

"Screw getting out of town, run to the barracks. We'll be safe inside. If the workers object for any reason, just start slaughtering them."