Tunnel Rat

Earlier, before the events of Chapters 158 and 159

The Hollow was starting to wake up. Most everyone had slept well, with no bad dreams. And no good dreams. In fact, no one had dreamed at all, just slept soundly with their unconscious minds not worried about anything. As they awoke, things seemed so much clearer today. They dressed and then started the day as they always had. It was time to go to breakfast.

Milo saw most of the Hollow lining up at the mess hall for the morning meal. Most mornings breakfast was a long and staggered affair, with people showing up from the 4th bell to the 9th bell to eat and then the evening meal from the 6th bell to the 12th bell. Was Rifkin serving something especially good today? Why was everyone up so early? He carefully peeked through the windows.

Rifkin was nowhere to be seen, but several people were at the counter handing out breakfast as fast as they could. But no one was sitting and talking. There was no hum of voices and no friendly gatherings. Each ratkin took the food handed to them, stuffed it into their mouth, and left in a hurry. Milo caught up to a whelp that he knew worked in the mushroom fields.

"Hi, can I ask you something? What's for breakfast."

The whelp kept walking but smiled and spoke. "New Cheese. Tasty and good for me." His eyes were unfocused and he walked on. "Got to go. Need to pick mushrooms. If I pick sixteen baskets today I get to eat dinner and have more tasty cheese! Cheese Master says so."

Other ratkin had the same glassy-eyed reaction. All needed to start their daily jobs, with a few exceptions. Some of the students seemed to have other ideas about what their job for the day would be. But without exception, everyone had a job to do.

"Time to make the mashed roots with meat drippings."

"Stomp spiderlings, mine the rock."

"Lizard races! Who wants to race Lizards? Me!"

"Making Spikey-sticks. Do you need a spikey-stick?"

"Must start picking the peanuts."

"Bataco day! Need more bats!

"Polishing shiny rocks."

"Nap time, study later."

"Smelting copper bars. I need to smelt copper bars."

Justin was walking along, whistling a happy tune. Milo stopped him to talk. Well, he tried to talk. Justin moved him out of his way and kept walking. "Sorry, got to get to my guard post. Important work guarding the Hollow."

Milo walked beside him. "Justin, have you noticed anyone acting oddly?"

Justin kept walking but paused his whistling. "No sir! If I had, I'd tell them to get to work. Great day to get to work. I'm guarding the back door and Brutus is guarding the front door. Everybody is getting their job done."

"How much cheese did you have this morning, Justin?"

Justin's brow furrowed into a scowl. "Talking about cheese isn't allowed. Say, why aren't you working?" He stopped walking and poked his finger into Milo's chest. "You know the rule against slacking. Everyone follows the rules now."

Milo showed him his ring. "I am working. My job is to scout around, poke my nose into things, and question everything."

Justin nodded and seemed satisfied with that. "Right! That is exactly your job. I remember now." He relaxed, smiled, and started walking again, smiling. "I had three pieces of tasty new cheese because I'm big and I'm a guard. So, I get extra!"

Justin didn't even seem to notice when Milo left, he just kept walking along and whistling as he passed by the Tower of Strife and the mostly empty marketplace. He took up his guard post at the back tunnel overlooking the harvesting fields where dozens of ratkin were gathering up mushrooms and vegetables.

Milo wanted another look at the mess hall. The lines to get in were packed, but it wasn't hard to get in through the back door. He slunk into the shadow nearest the door, then kept low and moved behind the counter. None of the ratkin in the mess hall paid any attention to anything but the cheese. To his surprise, the four ratkin serving squares of cheese on a bland cracker were known to him. Why were Blackwhisker and his little group of players serving cheese in the mess hall?

Luckily, no one had a high perception. Stealthy Skulking was up to rank 8, reducing their perception by 18 and essentially making him invisible as long as he did nothing obviously out of the ordinary. He wanted a good look at this cheese. There were many bags of it behind the counter. A large wedge was brought out of the bag and then cut into smaller pieces. The player cutting it was handling pieces oddly, and brushing something off as he took the wedge out of the bag.

Milo moved up carefully. He needed a diversion, and as he waited, he got one. Master Clawhammer and a group of ten tired miners walked up to the mess hall. Seeing a crowd at one door, they went to the next opening. This got them a few looks from some of the ratkin in the long lines, but no one said anything out loud. The miners looked exhausted. They sat at two tables and Master Clawhammer looked over at the servers. "Hey, buddy. We just worked a double shift, any chance of getting a plate of cheese and some breakfast?"

Blackwhisker barely looked over. "Get in line and wait your turn. That's the new rules, get used to it."

The miners grumbled, and Clawhammer stood up. They'd been working non-stop for over a day with only a couple of hours off to sleep in a corner. Spiderlings were all over the mines, and they had a new infestation of digger moles to deal with. His crew had worked hard and needed food. He walked over to Blackwhisker. "Where's Rifkin? Who's in charge here?"

The other players snickered. Blackwhisker tried to stare down Clawhammer, but when it didn't work, he put a big smile on his face. "Cheese Master Rifkin isn't here at the moment and left me in charge. How about I get you all a double helping of cheese to start out with."

While all eyes were on the Master Miner and Blackwhisker, Milo put his hand on one of the Gather bags of cheese and stored it in his ring, leaving an empty bag behind. Then he backed out of the kitchen area and made his way to the miners. He tucked his pick into his belt, imitating how the miners stored their own picks. "Hey, I've got plenty of food over at the guard barracks that we can share. Fresh bread that Gendifur drops off every morning and a big wheel of gouda that we just cut open. They don't have a lot to offer here today." He put his hand on his pick, with his Master's ring obvious to see.

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Clawhammer looked at him curiously, then nodded. He looked at the mess hall. Something wasn't right. Too many glassy stares and strange people handing out cheese. "That sounds like a great idea, I'd love to have some fresh bread and gouda. Come on guys, time to empty the larder over at the guardhouse."

Blackwhisker turned around too late to hand the miners a large platter of cheese. He shrugged and stole another piece of cheese for himself. He had a sudden realization of how fun it was to work here in the mess hall, do dishes, and hand out cheese! This was his spot, his job.

As soon as they were outside, Clawhammer turned to Milo. "What the hell is going on? I didn't notice at first, me and my guys are dead tired."

Milo led the way to the guard barracks. "I think it's the cheese. I stole some to take a look at it. Everyone is too passive and shows the same behavior. They don't care about anything other than following orders and getting to work."

One miner elbowed another in the ribs. "Sounds like you could use a few pieces, it might help us get you up in the mornings." The miners chuckled, but they were all looking around and noticing the blank stares as the people of the Hollow lined up for breakfast and then silently got to work. Inside the guard barracks was more of the same. The six guards at the barracks were all 'resting'. Just laying on their bunks and staring at the ceiling. They didn't say a word as the hungry miners ate most of the food in the cupboard.

Milo pulled the Gather sack that he had stolen from the mess hall out and looked at it. It was full of spider mites. A strong smell of sour cheese filled the air. Clawhammer looked at it and started cursing. "That's spider cheese or something like it! Why would anyone serve that in the mess hall? And where did it come from?"

That seemed obvious to Milo. "Have you seen the cheese caravan? It showed up with sixteen carts full of cheese."

Clawhammer hadn't. The emergencies in the mines had kept him busy. The miners had barely sat down and had a minute to eat, but Clawhammer stood up and spoke. "Don't like the smell of this and not just that cheese."

"Grab some bread and gouda to go. I want you guys to fan out. Get everyone who lives around the mines, or works in the crafting area gathered up. I don't want anyone eating any cheese from the mess hall until we figure this out. In fact, get everyone into the mines. We've had meetings in the cathedral cavern, let's head there. It has fresh water and lots of space. Grab all the fresh food you can."

As the miners were leaving, the twins came in through the door.

"We came to report."

"The way good scouts do."

"We followed Rifkin. He is very, very sneaky."

"So sneaky!"

"Which we found strange."

"Almost lost him, so he must be sneaky."

"He met with four players."

"They are not sneaky."

"So not sneaky, the opposite of sneaky."

"Which we need a word for."

"They spent a lot of time talking."

"Making sneaky plans."

"But really just explaining where all the pots and pans are."

"How to cook boiled groats."

"And how much cheese to give each person."

"The players went to the mess hall."

"Rifkin then headed to the cheese caravan for more cheese."

"We followed because..."

"Cheese Caravan!!!"

"...because we are good scouts!!"

"Yes, who cares about a cheese caravan full of tasty cheese..."

"We followed Rifkin, but could not get close. Very good guards."

"Not so good as Justin and Brutus, but lots of them."

"Guards with good eyes, we could feel them on us in the shadows."

"Rifkin was in a tent with a big, loud merchant who shouts like Gilad does when he is angry with us."

"We went to just take a small peak at the caravan."

"They have many carts full of cheese, but also many carts of armor and weapons."

"And two carts filled with scary, horrible death!"

"Fiends! They have two Cheese Fiends with them."

"We left!"

"That is the good scout's report for the day."

Milo looked at them. "Good job, you get a reward."

The twins looked alarmed and hung their heads.

"It would be nice if the reward was cheese..."

"but we suspect it will be another job."

Milo handed them a bag. "Why not both? Take that to Old Healer."

"And I wouldn't eat any of it, it has spiders in it. Tell Old Healer everything you just told me, then go find Master Gilad. And whatever you do, don't eat the cheese at the mess hall."

The twins skulked out of the guard barracks muttering to themselves.

"Spider Cheese?"

"Worst cheese reward, ever."

Milo went back to the mess hall and skulked around the back where he had entered before. If anything, it was easier to sneak into the kitchen area. There were four gathering bags of Milbenkase left. He put two into his ring and grabbed the other two. No one at all looked his way and he retreated, making his way outside. He stashed the bags of cheese on a part of the roof where they couldn't be seen. The less of this cheese that got eaten, the better.

That done, he thought he should head over to the caravan and find Rifkin. He was headed that way when two ratkin walked by carrying a stretcher with a wounded miner on it. They had come running from the direction of the mines. Milo asked them to stop. "I have a healing potion, let me give him that. What's happening." He pulled a potion from his pouch, one of the ones he had found in the hidden tunnels. The potent remedy immediately relaxed the wounded miner, and his wounds ceased bleeding. Milo examined him. He had a good idea of what had made those wounds. "What did this?"

"Not sure, he said something big and clanky. But that sure means trouble. We've had tons of little nuisance mobs. Spiderlings all over the place. Then digger-moles, and now there's something big in the mines, blowing stuff up."

"I'm going to head there now. But he still needs attention. Run him to Gendifur or Old Healer. And tell Master Gilad, Master Arlothe, or any guard you see walking around." They ran off with their less wounded miner, and Milo headed the other way

As he was running to the mines, he passed the tunnel to Larry's house. He hadn't seen Larry at breakfast. Another mystery. Sounds were reaching him, explosions in the mines. From behind him, he heard shouts from the tunnel leading to the caravan. He wondered what was going on, but it had to wait, he had some sort of mechanical monster to deal with for now.

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