It was another rat, of course, but this one was different. For one thing, it had a name, but beyond that it was significantly larger than the others. It stood on its hind feet atop a barrel, a ugly, scruffy and filthy creature of snaggle teeth, angular features and an odd glint of intelligence within its dark eyes. Could this creature be the reason for the mission difficulty? Had other adventurers come here only to get ambushed by it, unexpectedly, which kept raising the priority, transforming an ordinary low level adventuring job into a far more difficult task?
No matter. Those magic missles really hurt, but they're nothing I can't handle.
---- Battle Start! Squire Versus Vile! ----
--Vile casts Slow! Squire's movement speed has been dramatically reduced!
--Squire approaches
Darn it, I was really counting on getting to it in a single round.
--Vile casts Chain Lightning! Squire suffers 22 points of damage and is affected by lesser paralysis! Squire's HP has been reduced to 116!
Ugh, now moving is even harder! This is one tough rat!
--Squire summons her inner strength! Attack power increases! Negative status effects removed!
--Vile casts a barrage of Magic Missles! Squire suffers 3, 3, 4, 5 and 4 points of damage! Squire's HP has been reduced to 97!
I never realized just how annoying ranged attackers could be. Well, it can't escape now!
--???? attacks! Critical hit! Squire suffers 8 points of damage! Squire's HP has been reduced to 89!
Mid pounce I found himself hit in the side by... something, and knocked away. What's going on? That was way bigger than a rat!
---Vile's Slave has joined the battle! ---
Well, that answers that. I rise back up to my feet only to see a black cat with a thick metal collar about its throat blocking my path. From behind it, I can see the strange magic using rat smiling smugly.
Why on earth would a cat be protecting a rat? I guess the 'whys' aren't important. Now I have another opponent to worry about. Oh well, it could be worse. It's just a cat. It isn't very large and certainly doesn't look very strong. Still, I've got to deal with it as quickly as possible. I can't waste time fighting it, as I can already see the pointy muzzle of the rat murmuring to itself, clearly casting another spell. Sorry, kitty. I don't know who you are or why you're trying to stop me, but I have a quest to finish!
--Squire uses Divine Strike! Slave is hit for 105 points of damage!
There is a 'ting' sound as the blade strikes the feline between the neck and shoulder. That is absolutely not the sort of sound you want to hear when you land a direct hit to bare flesh. It inflicted way, way less damage than I had anticipated, and even worse? The feline barely even flinched! What's going on here?
"Heh, not bad." the cat purrs. "I haven't been hit that hard in a while. Still, you're going to have to do a lot better than that if you expect to reach my mistress."
Mistress?
--Slave attacks! Squire suffers 5 points of damage! Squire's HP is now 84!
Okay, good. It might be inexplicably tough, but doesn't have much stopping power.
--Vile casts Fireball! Squire suffers 34 points of damage! Slave suffers 10 points of damage! Squire's HP is now 50!
I'm briefly blinded as a small red ball strikes the ground in front of me, bursting into a wall of intense flames. They don't appear to ignite anything, and vanish as quickly as they had appeared. It seems that Slave (ugh, is that actually the creature's name?) was also caught within the blast, but completely shrugs off the effects.
Oh, right, almost forgot about that, I think to myself, wincing from the pain. This could be a problem.