Tunnel Rat

It's a known fact that the best seats in a classroom are next to a window. That way instead of being bored and paying attention to the professor, you can be bored and stare out the window. So, it was unsurprising that a few students had noticed the start of the altercation. Knowing that any argument simply had to result in a duel, they came stampeding down the stairs to watch. Their professors didn't even try to stop them and instead headed to the faculty lounge that had a lovely bay window overlooking the front area of the tower, perfect for viewing the weekly official duels and numerous 'accidental' duels.

None of the people watching were surprised when the novice death mage immediately started casting a spell. First year death magic concentrated on poisons and toxins before the students moved on to necromancy in their second year. Each student had to create his own version of Noxious Cloud and Toxic Gaze spells. Storm magics had more choices in their first-year spells, including Ball Lightning, Blazing Arc, and Overloaded Blazing Arc, along with Static Repulsion. Storm mages had to be more careful with their casting, where a misplaced hand motion could result in your own spell electrocuting you. Death was quick, but Storm was careful and more powerful, at least in the first year.

"I cast Gehlter's Death Cloud!" It was a commonly held superstition among the students that the louder you yelled the name of your spell, the harder it hit. Plus, what good was coming up with your own version of a spell, if no one knew about it? Gehlter was very proud of his version of Noxious Cloud.

Huge clouds of billowing green smoke rolled towards the challenger, pouring over the ground and covering a large area. Gehlter had decided early in his career in magic that if he couldn't be the most powerful mage, or the best at aiming, at least he could be the fastest. He had taken the standard Noxious Cloud spell with its large dose of weak poison and complex hand motions, and pared it down to a much simpler version. A huge area of effect meant he didn't even need to aim! Once the student he was dueling couldn't see or breathe, the duel was half won. Of course, it also didn't do a lot of damage. He was disappointed when he didn't hear any coughing or choking coming from the cloud.

Not everyone agreed with him, including his two temporary team mates. "This is why you're always going to be picked last for team duels, Gehlter. Your damned fart cloud screws up the rest of us." Squiggel and Bunt both cursed at him as they interrupted their casting of Blazing Arc and changed their spells to Ball Lightning. The former spell needed a target to cast at, and all they could see was a large area of green clouds. So instead of two powerful electrical arcs, they sent two man-high balls of sparkling blue storm mana rolling across the ground and into the cloud of gas. The diffused charge meant the spell did far less damage than Blazing Arc. Bunt wondered what the interaction between their spells would be. Mixing magic like this could have unexpected consequences.

The result was quite shocking, as a bare skull rolled out of the cloud and stopped at their feet.

Bunt felt his tail go limp, and his arms slumped at his sides. Killing someone in a duel was bad, bad, bad. He felt sick. "Oh hell, what have we done?" It was almost a relief when the skull exploded, knocking them all off of their feet and putting splinters of bone into tender places. The green mists were dispelled as Gehlter lost his concentration on the spell, and the imposing figure of Tallsqueak stepped forward.

Squiggel noted with approval that Tallsqueak was doing things properly.

Small threat backed up by power? Check.

Proper entrance to the fight? Check.

Eyes glowing with barely contained annoyance? Check.

Object of power held high in preparation to smite your enemies? Got that too!

All in all, he'd have gotten an A+ in "Classical Ways to Intimidate your Enemies". Squiggel wondered where he had taken the class.

Tallsqueak stood and glared at them, a large wrench held high in the air, his lustrous fur standing up with static electricity, and an angry look on his face. The runes on his old robe were glowing and he had conjured bony armor over half of his body. He looked in their direction and spoke low and menacing. "Let's see what you have, sparkle boys. Take your best shots."

Gehlter started to cast a spell, but Bunt kicked him hard in the shin. "Our turn, Fartcaster. " He nodded at Squiggle and both of them began casting Blazing Arc, taking their time to pump up the mana to Overload. Huge arcs of electrical power jumped from their hands to Tallsqueak, running through him and down into the ground. The smell of ozone was strong in the air. When their eyes could see again from the sudden glare, they expected to see their opponent unconscious or stunned.

Instead, Tallsqueak was still standing there, holding up his large wrench-shaped wand, as if nothing had happened. He lowered it slightly, motioning at them. "Not bad, want to try again? Or should I start beating on you?" Neither apprentice mage hesitated to cast their best spell again, this time using every bit of mana they could shove into it. Again, the spells arced out, and again they seemed to hit Tallsqueak, without doing any damage at all to him. The two storm mages felt ill from mana depletion, and it was occurring to their small minds that maybe this skulker wasn't really a skulker. Neither noticed a long copper wire connecting the large machine and Tallsqueaks spanner that he held in his bone covered hand.

Tallsqueak starting walking towards them. Gehlter turned to run. No rule said you had to stay in a duel and get your head beat in, and he'd already used his best spell. Tallsqueak's menacing voice came from behind him. "Oh no, if you start a fight, you finish a fight. That's a rule I learned from Capt. Pike." Squiggel and Bunt saw him flicked his wrist and a small bone spear appeared in his hand. As he threw it at Gehlter, the other two wizards saw runes glow along its length just before it flashed across the distance, going all the way through the fleeing Death Mage's leg before it shattered against a large rock, breaking the stone. Both decided that not running was the best course of action.

Another skull was tossed by Tallsqueak, knocking down the two Storm Mages. As they struggled to get up, each took a minor blow to the side of the head from a heavy Engineer's Spanner. Gehlter was crawling away when the wrench of vengeance knocked him out and ensured he'd be seeing a healer for the next few days.

As the dust cleared and the fight ended, shouts and the sound of running feet heralded the arrival of several young ratkin wearing white tunics with a red cheese wheel on the front and back. "Out of the way! Emergency First Aid crew is here and ready to save the day! Where does it hurt?" Tallsqueak pointed at the three apprentices and the half dozen junior healers gleefully descended upon them.

Above, in the Tower of Strife, two figures observed from a high balcony. Cremona was dressed in a lovely black silk robe with glowing green trim, low cut in the front, while her husband preferred a classic blue robe with high collar and silver-white trim.

"My, wasn't that exciting? A mysterious stranger challenges three of our students to a duel and beats them handily with strange magics. I'm tingling all over." Arlothe sniffed. "Ah, and there's nothing like the smell of fresh ozone. My lads threw some pretty powerful arcs, did you notice?"

"I notice that our mysterious challenger shunted the spells off into that old lump of machinery you so love. This is a smart one. We simply must invite him up to dinner, dear. I'm in love with that exploding skull spell he used. I think it must be some variation on the classic Poisoned Skull that old Professor Pestilence used to teach." Cremona was happy to see a visiting Death Mage. Maybe he'd be up for a bout or two. While it was a staple of their marriage, dueling with her husband each day could get stale. She was sure he wouldn’t begrudge her a minor dalliance.

Arlothe observed that a crowd was forming, and the usual players were entering the field. "Round two is about to start dear."