Emma had agreed to one more quest, but this time she had gone with him into the Realm Defenders building – close to the Portals place, conveniently enough. She had taken a 'kill some rats, whatever' task for herself and hesitantly agreed to meet the esteemed leader – as Sean had recommended, and a candle-giver had pleaded. He had used the time to question another NPC about various details: apparently collecting monster parts wasn't necessary, not for kill quests, and the candle kept track of all the counts – regardless of whether it was lit or not. There were hardly any players coming and going for tasks, and even the locals had started to call it a night.
Emma finally emerged from the cinematics-chamber and looked around, confused.
He stepped over to her and said, "See? What we do here is very–"
"What is– How are twelve rat tails going to…" she interjected, then stared back at the door – already closed. "And too late for what?"
Sean chuckled, remembering his own confusion a couple of hours earlier, then added, "Don't forget the clouds making everything much cloudier, or however it–"
"But it doesn't make any sense!" Emma cut in. "How does– What?"
"Just a silly cinematic, presumably," he explained. "I think so, anyway? But it makes the quests seem very important. Oh, and apparently tails aren't needed for completing the–"
"Whatever, let's get this over with already," she broke in and headed outside. He followed. She asked on the way, "Why did you tell me to meet the esteemed leader, huh? If it was just a silly speech or whatever."
"Figured it might cheer you up…" Sean replied, but she glared at him – so he joked, "Since you love everything about the game and this world!" She merely scoffed at it, and he commented, "See, it made you laugh!"
"I wasn't– Ugh, whatever," she responded. Sean could almost hear an eyeroll without looking at her, or at least it felt that way. They left the building and he turned to the west gate.
"Where are you going?" Emma asked.
He turned around, and she was standing with her candle flaming the other way. He said, "Oh, I thought we were doing rats by the– Wait, what quest did you take?"
"Kill some stupid rats," she answered.
He nodded and began, "Yeah, but–"
"Whatever, let's just go already," she interrupted.
"Okay-okay, but maybe we should…" he started saying, but Emma had walked off in whichever direction her candle flamed. He sighed and followed. It seemed to lead them to a low, unlabeled building across the plaza. There were city guards stationed at the entrances, but they didn't bother any players moving in and out.
"Are you sure this is the right way?" Sean asked.
"Uh-huh," she replied.
There were more guards inside, and the candle led them to a staircase underground. The light was dim, coming from sparse lamps attached to the walls. A gust of wind from the tunnel hit them.
"What is this stench!" Emma complained as she stopped on the stairs leading deeper down.
"I think you, umm…" he started but hesitated for a moment, then speculated, "Is this quest, by any chance, to kill rats in the sewers?"
"No," she replied.
"Then what is this place? Not-sewers?" Sean mocked her. She didn't answer, so he offered, "Let's head back and take another quest, maybe something that–"
"Nah, this will be great," she insisted and headed down. "Plenty of lighting on the walls and stuff – much better than outside. Let's just go."
Sean followed, but complained on the way, "What are you talking about? There was plenty of moonlight… or light from the two moons – both almost full."
"Maybe for you with those oversized eyes of yours," she said.
"What? I don't have…" he started and touched his face. It felt normal, proper proportions, as it always had been. "Wait, does it look wrong from malnutrition or–"
"Shut up and focus," she broke in. "You just do your thing here and… Oh, no more lamps inside."
Sean looked into the horizontal tunnel, almost completely dark. It was some kind of sewer system indeed – the stench was terrible, and there were no lamps anywhere to be seen. The chamber at the bottom of the long staircase was guarded by four NPCs. It was round and had half a dozen exits in all directions. There was also a local manning a table at the entry, selling… right, torches. Three for one copper. He produced a coin and got himself some small torches.
He attached one to his belt, then offered another to Emma and said, "Here, you'll want this."
"Nah, I'll just use the…" she said, but then she tapped on her phone a few times and frowned. "The flashlight isn't working." Sean chuckled, but she added, "Stupid game… stuff…"
"Yeah, no kidding. Anyway, torches?" he said, then hung the last torch from his belt and suggested, "Maybe one should be enough for now. Hold it high and wield your wand with the other hand." He was already examining the tunnel: long, wide, dark, sounds of water swooshing back and forth. Another player walked down the stairs and ventured into a different entrance.
"It's a staff," Emma corrected. "I'm not short."
"What?" he asked and looked at her. Compared to her small stature, it seemed almost like a staff – but he didn't want to tease her about that. He nodded and said, "Right, of course. So hold the light up and…" He paused as a woman emerged from one of the tunnels, some melee class, judging by the leather armor and weapons. The stranger was seemingly covered in rat blood, but she didn't seem to have any injuries – so that was what Sean assumed the dark spots were. He turned to Emma and speculated, "See? One person managed it just fine – should be easy as pie."
"Why did I ever agree to this stupid quest…" she wondered out loud.
"To earn lots of XP and money!" Sean remarked with a smile. "You'll want to pocket the phone for a while." A small pause. "Come on, either this or back for another quest, umm…" he offered but trailed off. He didn't want to say that the obvious third option was to simply go home.
But Emma hid her phone and grabbed the torch to examine it in her hand. She asked, "How do I… Do you have any matches or–"
"From the candle maybe?" he suggested and pointed to the candle in her other hand, held alongside the wand-staff. "Actually – here, you can hold mine too…" He brought out his candle from a pocket. "For some extra light, maybe."
"So what, am I supposed to haul all the stuff around?" she complained. "What about you, what will you be carrying?"
"The axes?" Sean replied. "You know, fighting with them? Maybe?"
Emma fumed at him for a couple of seconds, then took his candle as well. She re-lit his candle from hers and used them both to light the torch. It produced a bright flame, though with plenty of dark smoke, and the candles flamed into the nearest tunnel. Somehow his candle also pointed at the nearby rats, so he assumed the kills should count for his quest.
"How can you stand this stench?" she asked with a grimace.
"Easy, just…" he offered with a slight smile, "try to breathe through your mouth, I guess. Or we can go take another quest, maybe check out the gate – the rats there should count for your–"
"Whatever, let's just…" she started, paused, then finished, "Lead the way!"
Sean nodded and grabbed his axes. He was a little worried that Emma might be paying closer attention to his attacks without the phone. Hopefully she had no interest in the game mechanics – maybe she wouldn't notice anything strange?
Either way, he ventured inside, and Emma followed with the light. The first stretch of the sewer was empty, though they passed one player heading back on the other side – his leg seemed injured, and he limped a little. Sean wanted to suggest healing the guy, but he quickly figured it might go wrong with Emma's Healer expertise… or lack thereof. Plus what if he wanted to join them afterwards? Funnily enough, the players here were usually wearing leather armor. There was a five-foot-wide channel with dark water flowing through it – he did not want to find out what was in there. Two walkways on either side, each about three feet wide or so. Everything stank terribly – the 'sewers' location hadn't seemed so bad in video games, but when fully physicalized…
They continued alone and turned into a smaller branching tunnel – the candles flamed in its direction. It was circular and maybe eight feet in diameter, so they fit inside comfortably. The torch was casting long shadows of Sean's armored form, but at least there was no wide ditch to fall into. Just some grates and sewage flowing underneath. An oversized rat was waiting two dozen steps deeper. Sean made quick work of it with his axes. If anything, it felt a lot easier now – thanks to a full stomach and increased proficiency, he assumed. The only issue was that he couldn't fully swing the weapons over his head in the enclosed space, but he managed with sideways blows.
Then another rat a few steps farther in, and Emma chipped in with a magical projectile. He finished the beast off and turned to complain: "Would you mind watching where you're firing these things?"
"I didn't hit you, did I?" she replied.
"No, but…" he said, but hesitated, then suggested, "I can handle one alone. Save your mana for when it's too much – or for healing too, okay?"
"Sure-whatever," she remarked, then grimaced and added, "Ugh, I breathed through my nose…" Sean suppressed a smile, but she pointed ahead and warned, "Look out!"
He turned, and another rat was charging at them, quickly dispatched with Twin Strike and some regular attacks. Easy as pie indeed – but the small tunnel was largely blocked by the two rat carcasses in one spot. They were big.
"Yeah, let's turn around and find another tunnel," he suggested. "Three down, so… I wonder if it needs a sum of our quest counts or–"
"Whatever, let's just go already!" Emma complained and led the way back.
There was a rat waiting for them in the main passage – while Sean was fighting it off, another one crawled out of the channel across from Emma. He hit the first beast once more and rushed to the other. The new rat shook off the dirty water it had swum through. Everything both stank terribly and felt revolting – but Sean finished the beast off all the same and looked back.
Emma pointed to the other rat with her wand-staff and complained, "You forgot to kill that one…" The thing was still moving, though badly injured.
"Yeah, I rushed to save you from the other, remember?" he said, still buzzing with adrenaline and more than a little proud of his achievement. Fighting these things hadn't been easy. He started walking back to the first one, but Emma shot it with her magic attack.
"There, got it for you…" she remarked.
"You're amazing, what would I do without you!" Sean mocked her, and she rolled her eyes. Then another player passed them on the walkway: a Black guy, seemingly in a hurry… and without a torch? He disappeared deeper into the tunnel without a word.
"Huh, what's that guy's problem?" Emma asked once the footsteps became inaudible.
"Probably didn't have time for rookies," Sean speculated.
"Good idea, let's get going before we die from this stench!" she complained.
"Can that ever happen?" he asked. "Like, medically speaking?"
"Yes, actually," she stated, gravely serious. "It's a well-known pathology, the stink-death – so better hurry up already!"
Sean chuckled… but it made him inhale through his nose, and he grimaced for a moment. Then he looked around, and there were sounds of chewing from the side tunnel. Rats cannibalizing the corpses, presumably. At first he wanted to head away, but he figured the tunnel should be narrow enough to keep the rats at bay – and there didn't seem to be more than two or three of them. So they ventured back inside. Turned out it was three beasts – but one quickly fled, and Sean killed the other two smoothly. The passage was almost completely blocked by the fresh carcasses, and the floor was also covered in rat blood, guts, and chunks of viscera.
And the new, fancy outfit fared much better against the rat scratches and bites – the benefits of wearing heavy armor were obvious. Sean also remembered Tank's passive skill that improved armor class even further: it must have activated once he had switched to this gear.
"There we go, much better – easy as pie," he boasted to Emma on the way back. This time he took the lead.
"Sure-sure, my knight in shining armor…" she said while 'somehow' managing to hold her phone, the staff, the torch, and their two candles. And, of course, she was also scrolling through her phone.
Sean started, "You may want to be careful with–"
"…shame your shining armor is covered in shit," she mocked him.
He wanted to say it wasn't as bad, but glanced down and… it really was that bad, if not worse. They had gone deeper and turned into another wide tunnel by the time he asked, "And whose idea was it to go into the sewers?"
"Let's see… who wanted to go on another quest…" she reminded him and paused, then added, "I'm not sure, maybe it was–"
"Okay, okay, let's just…" he started and sighed. "Let's just get this over with."
"Brilliant idea!" Emma commented. "Which is exactly what I kept telling– Aah!"
"Okay, I get it–" Sean started, but there was a noise from behind him and the light went out. He turned around, and a rat was climbing out of the water. Emma was flailing – trying to kick and bash it over the head with her staff. The torch was nowhere to be seen, so it was almost completely dark. Sean could barely distinguish the details of what was going on.
It felt like muscle memory: he stepped in with two skill uses, and the rat was trying to retreat – then a quick Blunt Blow and the beast stopped moving. The skill had really started dealing more damage with heavy armor, and he figured he would need to check on that later. For now he pushed the corpse into the channel, probably better to keep the passage clear, and when he looked around for Emma… she wasn't there!
"Emma, what happened – are you okay?" he tried.
"Down here, in the, ugh…" she said from below, and when Sean looked down… she was standing in the channel, holding her arms up, with the water coming halfway up her torso. "A hand, if you don't mind?"
He knelt down and helped her up out of there, then asked, "What happened? Did– Are there more rats in there?"
"Eww, I hope not…" she said, but paused. "Doesn't sound like it? I can't see shit in here!"
Sean could barely distinguish the shapes – it seemed like there was some light coming from above, through the holes in the ceiling. He figured they must be some kind of grates in the streets… or some buildings overhead, perhaps? Either way, it was very dark in the sewer.
"What happened to the torch?" he asked.
"Isn't it obvious? It fell!" she complained. "I think it's in the water, ugh…"
"And the quest candles?" he tried.
Emma started complaining, "Forget about the stupid quests already, who cares about the–"
"Hold up, calm down," he cut her off. "We can light the torches with– Never mind, they're also out…" he said as he noticed the two candles on the walkway, both flames gone. He picked them up and pocketed them.
"Great, now what?" she complained.
"I still have two torches, but we need a source of fire," Sean said.
Emma kept on complaining, "Oh, isn't that just brilliant, if only we had–"
"Shush!" he broke in. There were footsteps coming closer… but not another rat, a human. And a source of light visible back in the tunnel they had come from. "There's somebody coming, let's go meet–"
"What? I can't hear anything," she cut in, whispering angrily.
"There's… look at the light, somebody's coming," he clarified.
She glanced around and noticed the brightening light, then complained, "I can't be seen like 'this' !"
Sean tried to remain calm, but argued, "Seriously? We're in the middle of a sewer and you're–"
"That's easy for you to say!" she interrupted loudly. "In your stupid cosplay… it's probably waterproof… so unfair…"
He exhaled wearily as she kept complaining, and the approaching player had already gotten to the tunnel-crossing. "What's going on here?" a female voice asked with a British accent.
Sean's eyes took a few seconds to adapt to the sudden brightness, so Emma was first to speak: "Can we borrow your torch for a moment? Just to get back to–"
"Get your own, this ain't a charity!" a male voice broke in with a heavier accent. Something European, but Sean couldn't place it. He finally noticed there were actually two players, both Caucasian, staring at them. And each one holding a torch – backups, smart.
Emma started, "We just need to get back to–"
Sean cleared his throat loudly and offered Emma a fresh torch, though unlit. She ignored it, so he asked, "Can we at least borrow some fire?" The strangers glanced at each other, and the woman stepped closer to help them. Sean commented, "What a stroke of luck – running into you two in this… um, romantic getaway for couples, perhaps?"
Emma began almost immediately, "But we're not a–"
"What are you talking about!" the man also complained in his accent. "And you two should be more quiet – the noise is attracting rats from everywhere."
"Oh, that explains a thing or two…" Sean said while glancing at Emma, but she either didn't notice or ignored it.
But the torch was promptly set aflame, and Emma finally took it. She was a total mess, completely drenched from the chest down – but at least it seemed like it was 'mostly water.'
"Good luck to you two," remarked the female player. "We'll be on our way, stay safe…"
"Yeah, good luck!" the guy commented a bit more snarkily as they walked away, and Sean could swear he heard something along the lines of "Can you believe these two" whispered from some distance. Or maybe he imagined it.
"What a bunch of jerks, those two…" Emma whispered to him.
"What?" he asked quietly.
She sighed and started, "I said–"
"I know, I know, but…" he cut in. "Anyway, let's get going – how bad is it? I mean, your clothes?"
Emma looked down and grimaced, then suggested, "Maybe we can set fire to them too…"
"I don't know, are Healers fireproof?" he asked rhetorically and paused, then barely managed not to laugh at the thought. He took a moment to calm down and added, "Then again, they wouldn't burn anyway – too much moisture."
"Are you finished?" she asked.
He smirked and continued, "Almost… it's probably for the best that they wouldn't burn, otherwise it might lead to–"
"Do you want your sorry butt hurt from magic attacks?" she interjected.
"But that'd be PVP!" Sean protested with a wide smile. "Besides – you saved your phone, so it's not all bad…" he commented upon noticing her phone, but Emma only frowned at him, so he hurriedly added, "But your clothes should dry out by the time we're done with the quests. Just be careful not to fall into that thing again and–"
"Me fall into– You shoved me into it!" she complained.
Sean started, confused, "What? How do you– No, I didn't… when did I–"
"You totally did!" Emma cut him off and rolled her eyes.
Sean tried to remember what had happened and whether he had pushed her by accident, but he didn't think so? He also didn't want to argue about this, so he offered, "If I had, then I'm sorry – that wasn't my intent. It was completely dark for a moment."
She sighed, but didn't pursue the topic further.