Chapter 34: The Third Faction
Chapter 34: The Third Faction
Everyone in the Announcements Forum waited nervously for the rats to show up.
"What do you think they're waiting for?" Frozen Feet asked.
"I don't know," Riibu said.
Zephyr Tempest and Zeviz were arguing with each other.
"You should stay in General," Zephyr Tempest said.
"No way. I tried that last time. I'll take my chances out here, thank you. You go to General and start reviving people. You know how to use Galactic Core, anyway."
"But... oh, fine." Zephyr Tempest left.
The Stew Boy burst into the forum and nearly collapsed. He was breathing heavily. "Delicious Vlish and I... we... we managed to... to kill... Attorosi."
"Really?" Stareye asked.
The Stew Boy nodded.
"In that case, I'll see if I can get them to surrender," Stareye said.
Stareye entered the Geneforge 4: Rebellion Forum. The rats were all milling about at the far end of it while the fluffy turtle slept off their massive meal in another corner.
Stareye poked his head back into the Announcements Forum.
"Saunders, do you think you could lead the fluffy turtles back into the fluffy turtle pit."
"I could try."
While Saunders coaxed the fluffy turtles out of the Geneforge 4: Rebellion Forum, Stareye walked close enough to the rats to hear what they were saying.
"What do we do now?"
"We can still defeat the humans without Test Subject No More."
"No, we should just leave."
"What, and let the humans live?"
"Um, hello. We can't leave. The humans are blocking the only way out."
"Maybe if we tell them we just want to leave..."
Two of the original guards of Smoo stood over the fallen body of their companion. It had been killed by a blast of ice.
"We are tainted," one of them said.
"What do you mean?
"Look around. We are supposed to be punishing humans for our evil ways, yet Attorosi..."
The other rat gasped. "You said Attorosi!"
"It's dead now. It doesn't need fancy titles. Anyway, Attorosi used its magic to create red rats that are too fast but too weak and blue rats that are too strong but too slow and white rats that use more magic and let the mung rats get too smelly and diseased to be around the rest of us and... and... and we should be infesting cellars and killing cats, not dying on some message board!"
A red rat that had been listening in spoke up. "And you haven't even seen what Attorosi had in the back cave."
"What? What?" the giant rat asked.
The red rat shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't seen it either."
Stareye was about to offer a chance for the rats to surrender when Schrodinger, Rakshasi, the Lurker, Synergy, and Archmagus Micael entered.
"Rat right behind us!" Archmagus Micael said.
"What's so dangerous about a... oh." Stareye saw the perfected rat enter.
"What are you doing, rats? Kill them!" it squeaked furiously.
Schrodinger tossed the madness gem into the rats. The six Spiderwebbers ran for the Announcements Forum in the confusion.
The perfected rat snatched up the Heartstriker Bow, rose onto its hind legs, aimed at Synergy, and fired. Synergy went down. The others made it safely to the Announcements Forum.
The perfected rat waited until the effects of the gem wore off. "Come on, what are you waiting for? Get in there and kill them!"
"Hold up!" one of the rats squeaked.
"Yes?"
"You, um, need to leave your sanity here, or the fluffy turtles will attack you."
The perfected rat looked amused. "I fear nothing. I can be brought down by nothing. But I will leave my sanity here if it will reassure you." The perfected rat placed its sanity on the ground. "Now attack!"
---
"Is this everyone that's left alive?" Drakefyre said.
Schrodinger nodded. "We broke the summoning machine and killed almost all of the rats in the Blades of Avernum Forum."
"I hope you didn't do any unnecessary damage to the summoning machine. I might still want that army of kumquats!" Dintiradan said.
Everyone ignored him and Schrodinger continued, "But we ran into a... a perfected rat. It's incredibly powerful. Killing it is going to be tough. Urgh." Schrodinger went down with an arrow in his back. The perfected rat raised the bow for another shot as the rats swarmed in.
---
The three rats remained the Geneforge 4: Rebellion Forum.
"So, uh, what do we do now?" the red rat asked.
"We could try to recruit new members," one of the giant rats said.
"We could, but that would be dangerous and probably get us all killed. We should just stay here and let them kill each other."
"What? Why?"
"It takes care of all the experimenting, doesn't it? Nobody can experiment once they're all dead. And we'll be left with a clean slate. We can bring in rats and humans who understand afterwards and create rules to make sure nothing like this happens ever again."
"What do you think they're waiting for?" Frozen Feet asked.
"I don't know," Riibu said.
Zephyr Tempest and Zeviz were arguing with each other.
"You should stay in General," Zephyr Tempest said.
"No way. I tried that last time. I'll take my chances out here, thank you. You go to General and start reviving people. You know how to use Galactic Core, anyway."
"But... oh, fine." Zephyr Tempest left.
The Stew Boy burst into the forum and nearly collapsed. He was breathing heavily. "Delicious Vlish and I... we... we managed to... to kill... Attorosi."
"Really?" Stareye asked.
The Stew Boy nodded.
"In that case, I'll see if I can get them to surrender," Stareye said.
Stareye entered the Geneforge 4: Rebellion Forum. The rats were all milling about at the far end of it while the fluffy turtle slept off their massive meal in another corner.
Stareye poked his head back into the Announcements Forum.
"Saunders, do you think you could lead the fluffy turtles back into the fluffy turtle pit."
"I could try."
While Saunders coaxed the fluffy turtles out of the Geneforge 4: Rebellion Forum, Stareye walked close enough to the rats to hear what they were saying.
"What do we do now?"
"We can still defeat the humans without Test Subject No More."
"No, we should just leave."
"What, and let the humans live?"
"Um, hello. We can't leave. The humans are blocking the only way out."
"Maybe if we tell them we just want to leave..."
Two of the original guards of Smoo stood over the fallen body of their companion. It had been killed by a blast of ice.
"We are tainted," one of them said.
"What do you mean?
"Look around. We are supposed to be punishing humans for our evil ways, yet Attorosi..."
The other rat gasped. "You said Attorosi!"
"It's dead now. It doesn't need fancy titles. Anyway, Attorosi used its magic to create red rats that are too fast but too weak and blue rats that are too strong but too slow and white rats that use more magic and let the mung rats get too smelly and diseased to be around the rest of us and... and... and we should be infesting cellars and killing cats, not dying on some message board!"
A red rat that had been listening in spoke up. "And you haven't even seen what Attorosi had in the back cave."
"What? What?" the giant rat asked.
The red rat shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't seen it either."
Stareye was about to offer a chance for the rats to surrender when Schrodinger, Rakshasi, the Lurker, Synergy, and Archmagus Micael entered.
"Rat right behind us!" Archmagus Micael said.
"What's so dangerous about a... oh." Stareye saw the perfected rat enter.
"What are you doing, rats? Kill them!" it squeaked furiously.
Schrodinger tossed the madness gem into the rats. The six Spiderwebbers ran for the Announcements Forum in the confusion.
The perfected rat snatched up the Heartstriker Bow, rose onto its hind legs, aimed at Synergy, and fired. Synergy went down. The others made it safely to the Announcements Forum.
The perfected rat waited until the effects of the gem wore off. "Come on, what are you waiting for? Get in there and kill them!"
"Hold up!" one of the rats squeaked.
"Yes?"
"You, um, need to leave your sanity here, or the fluffy turtles will attack you."
The perfected rat looked amused. "I fear nothing. I can be brought down by nothing. But I will leave my sanity here if it will reassure you." The perfected rat placed its sanity on the ground. "Now attack!"
---
"Is this everyone that's left alive?" Drakefyre said.
Schrodinger nodded. "We broke the summoning machine and killed almost all of the rats in the Blades of Avernum Forum."
"I hope you didn't do any unnecessary damage to the summoning machine. I might still want that army of kumquats!" Dintiradan said.
Everyone ignored him and Schrodinger continued, "But we ran into a... a perfected rat. It's incredibly powerful. Killing it is going to be tough. Urgh." Schrodinger went down with an arrow in his back. The perfected rat raised the bow for another shot as the rats swarmed in.
---
The three rats remained the Geneforge 4: Rebellion Forum.
"So, uh, what do we do now?" the red rat asked.
"We could try to recruit new members," one of the giant rats said.
"We could, but that would be dangerous and probably get us all killed. We should just stay here and let them kill each other."
"What? Why?"
"It takes care of all the experimenting, doesn't it? Nobody can experiment once they're all dead. And we'll be left with a clean slate. We can bring in rats and humans who understand afterwards and create rules to make sure nothing like this happens ever again."