Tunnel Rat

Chapter 18: Apple core, nothing more

Milo failed to see how a free meal from chanting wash-women was a good thing, but he took the priest's word for it and thanked him. Then he quickly scampered off into the city, sticking as much as he could to roofs and alleys, avoiding people.

While hidden high above the street, he changed into his natural form. Time to test out this disguise skill. He'd much rather move around as a wererat than a human and he needed to test the limits of the skill. He still had eight points he could spend on abilities and might consider buying Invisible Tail if anyone saw through the base skill.

Wandering down the street, skulking in shadows as he preferred to do, and staying away from people was working fine. No one noticed him, and if they did, they just saw another human keeping to the shadows. Venturing out into the better lit streets near the harbor made him nervous, but he needed to test the skill.

The bright end of the city was a busy place today. Several merchant ships had come into the harbor which spurred the locals to quickly set up merchant stalls and street fairs in the larger courtyards. Sailors spent money, new goods flowed into the city, and business was good for everyone. Milo decided to approach a fruit and vegetable vendor at the edge of a small market. The area was well lit, but he could easily retreat to the darker alleys if he needed. A large, plump man behind the counter looked at Milo and snarled. "No hand-outs, and don't touch the merchandise."

Milo flipped him a copper coin and said "Apples." That brought a change to the merchant. A smile broke out on his face. "Yessir, finest apples in town right now, just got them from one of the orchards around the horn, picked fresh two days ago." He grabbed a sack made from course hemp and filled it with two dozen apples. Milo noticed that the ones that went in first were from the barrels behind the counter, and only the top few were the large ripe ones from the counter. Milo took the bag and thanked the man. He began wandering through the area with more confidence.

A few times he saw human whelps running through the market, or hanging out by various stalls. Many of them seemed quite thin and raggedly clothed. The merchants eyed them carefully. A tugging at his trousers alerted Milo to one of them standing next to him. Hmm, two actually. Behind the boy in dirty rags was a thin waif of a girl holding a crude cloth doll. "Please sir? Might I have an apple for my sister? I don't even mind one with worms."

Milo had plenty of apples he wasn't going to eat, he gave each of them one of the good ones off the top. If there was any doubt about their hunger, it was disproven by how the boys eyes got large, and the girl immediately bit into hers as they ran off quickly. From behind him he heard a chuckle. "Oh, you're in for it now. Every one of those urchins has a dozen hungry friends and they'll tag you for an easy hand out now." The speaker was an old woman who was sitting in front of a small table full of knives and kitchen utensils.

Milo shrugged. "I don't mind. They were hungry. I know what that's like. Would you like an apple?"

The old woman considered him for a second. "Yes, I would, if you're still handing them out. I'm Kettie, by the way." Milo tossed her an apple that she caught and bit into. "Not bad, fresh from the farm these are." Her focus turned to something past Milo and she chuckled again. "Best be on your way, or be prepared to feed a horde. Word got out of your generosity."

Sure enough, there were a dozen children coming his way, begging for something to eat. He began tossing each an apple. They all ran off except for one tall, thin girl of about twelve. She was looking at Milo strangely. "How come you have a tail?"

Dammit. He should have expected that the illusion might not work on everyone. "Long story, but it comes in handy." He used his tail to reach into the mostly empty sack and toss her another apple. She deftly grabbed it and put it into a pocket.

She thought about it and nodded her head. "When I tell the others, they'll all want tails too." She was eyeing the mostly empty sack of apples. Milo grabbed the sack with his tail and handed it to her. "Well, it's rude to mention other people's tails. Maybe you could hand out the rest of these for me?"

The girl grabbed the sack, her face showing an innocent, wide-eyed expression. "Thank you so much. I agree, rude to talk." She waved and ran off to the nearest alley. Freed of his burden of fruit, Milo continued his walk around the market, exiting on the side nearest the harbor.

Actual sunlight was now hitting the streets, slanting in from the Sun above the bay. Jumping to avoid a man pushing a wheel barrow, Milo bumped into two sailors from one of the ships. One of them turned and scowled at him. "Since when do they let your kind wander around the city?" Milo had pushed the limits of the skill. Standing in sunlight, both of the sailors seemed to see him as he truly was. The other smiled. "Oh, look, the little rat is scared. Didn't think we'd notice you skulking about. Wonder if they still have a bounty on rat's tails down at the port master? This one would bring a few drinks worth of coins."

That was enough for Milo. He turned and ran. The sailors in hot pursuit. Another aspect of the skill seemed to be that it failed utterly when running through a street of people and the two people chasing him were yelling "Grab the rat!" and pointing. Luckily, the street was even more crowded. While the two sailors ran around people and carts, Milo jumped onto or over them, or skittered between their legs. As he ran through the small market, he passed a gaggle of children eating apple cores. The smallest girl looked up at her brother and said "See! He did have a tail! I told you he did!" And older girl patted her on the head and said "Shhhh! Rude to talk about other people's tails."

Taking to the roofs, Milo kept moving until he was deep into the darker part of the city, where streets were always lit by lanterns. Crouching under the eaves on the top level of a nine story pagoda, he caught his breath and opened up his skills window.

The first thing that he saw was a message from the night before telling him he had acquired the Bonecasting skill. He vaguely remembered the messages as he fell asleep, but had forgotten about them. He had bled onto the old robe, and bound himself to it. That explained the chained spirits somewhat. But what exactly was bonecasting?

Glad you asked!

Bonecasting is a very specialized form of spell casting that draws from necromancy and death magics. Bones are the tools of your trade and the fuel for your spells! Each level of Bonecasting will give you access to two general knowledge spells of that rank. At level 0 you have the following spells:

Exploding Skull: Charge a skull with your mana and hurl it at your enemies, doing damage to anyone within 20 feet of its impact point.

Bone Spike: A small bone dart erupts from your body and shoots towards an enemy. Range: 100 feet.

To increase the power of these spells, increase your rank in Bonecasting.

Bonecasting can be enhanced by the use of bones from powerful creatures, by rune carving, and in conjunction with alchemy, poisoning and other magical skills. More information will be available from your arcane library.

His mind whirled with ideas. How could he find out about all of these things? He made himself a jobs list, just like he would have done on a project in Section E. Oh.....he should log out soon, he realized.

To do list:

1. Buy Invisible Tail

2. Sell Ore and get some coins.

3. Find a butcher or other place to get some bones and skulls.

4. Go shopping in the market of Lights end for some supplies.

5. Go deep again, and see how mushroom guardians liked exploding skulls.

6. Ask Harry about Arcane Libraries

He headed back to his small room at the inn and logged out.

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