Tunnel Rat

Harry followed along behind the engineers as they navigated through the mushroom caverns to his old home. Two-screws and Throttlecog commenting on how the rock lay, giving Harry directions for his tunneling efforts. Several times Milo caught movement out of his eye, and noticed that they were being followed by a gaggle of small myconians who immediately sunk down into the earth and pretended to be mushrooms if anyone noticed them. Rather than any sort of threat, Milo was reminded of a video he had seen of mother duck and her ducklings.

With just a bit of extra time spent for earth moving, they arrived at Harry's old home. He sat in the center of his mushroom beds, too big to move around much. "I believe this is as far as I will go today, Milo. You have places to be, and the tunnels to the uptop are much too tight for me. I will expand them in time, but that is time you don't have. However, before you press on, please go to my library and find the book sitting upon the small table. And bring the satchel next to it as well."

Milo found the book easily. It was leather bound and only an inch thick. In large lettering across the cover was the title. 'Molds and spoors used in the art of making cheese'. Opening the book Milo saw that Harry had written chapters on how to use myconic potions to simulate the rennet used in cheese making, along with how both mushroom spoors and molds were used to ferment the curds and create the rind on different types of cheeses. The knowledge was far beyond his meagre cheese making skills. He brought both the book and the satchel out to Harry.

"Those are for you, Milo. As I began my research into your favorite food, I found quite a bit of cross-over into my normal fields of study. The satchel contains samples of the mold cultures and spoors of the mushrooms I talk about in my book. I hope it will all be useful to you."

Milo expressed his gratitude, but Harry waved it aside. "You saved me from fading away. I'm just glad I finished that book before my latest transformation. Take it with the thanks of an old troll."

Eager to reach the top, the engineers moved upwards. Milo knew the way by heart at this point. The dwarves were slower than he was at climbing through the caves, but not by much. Dwarves were at home underground and spelunking through caverns was a skill ingrained into their heritage. Added to that was the armored suits they wore. Milo knew they weren't just armor. He'd seen both dwarves move rocks much to heavier than they should have been able to lift. Some sort of strength and enchantment or mechanical system was used in their construction.

Milo asked about the suits but got little in the way of explanation. Throttlecog said the technology to make them was referred to as 'magitech'. It was something of an art form with each engineer designing his suit in their own style. Two-Screws was wearing a borrowed suit, having been a junior engineer only recently promoted. The Engineer had insisted he wear one for the journey.

"I'd tell you a little bit about magitech, but for everything I explained you'd have seven more questions, and seven times seven questions when I answered the first seven. Easier to give you a few dozen books to read when we get back."

Eventually they came up the last incline and into the massive cavern under the city that had been carved out in search of ore and gems. Miners had been at work here for generations, carving out the rock, driving tunnels in all directions. Giant pillars of stone had been left to support the ceiling as the main cavern got bigger and bigger and the walk to the current mines got longer and longer. Several times one group or another suggested carving the pillars and walls, and turning the area into a magnificent fortress underground. But since there was no money in that, and hence no one to pay the stonemasons, the plans always fell through.

Milo had been through this area several times, and was surprised to see how many miners were clustered in here by the caves that lead downward. Three coal fires were burning supplying light for those humans or halflings without good dark vision. Nearly fifty miners were here, hastily trying to repair makeshift barriers of stone, wood, and overturned ore carts. It looked more like a small camp of soldiers preparing for the assault of an enemy. And as it turned out, that’s what it actually was.

"Get ready, the damn things are coming again!" The speaker was a dwarf standing atop two crates, peering into the gloom. The sound of heavy footsteps could be heard. The engineers pushed forward, curious what was going on, and who the miners were fighting.

Milo set down his pack, and brought out his weapon. "Who's coming? What's attacking you?"

The dwarf looked down at him, half sneering and half confused. "Where the hell did you come from? You know what, doesn't matter. Get on the line and do your best to chip away at them. We've got four of the smaller ones lurking around here. If that's all, we have a chance, so swing hard."

Throttlecog moved forward, followed by Two-Screws. The dwarf on the crates got quiet and his eyes bugged out. "Oh, we can hit pretty damn hard, can't we brother?" He pulled the large wrench off his back, and spun a screw on the handle, extending the weapon to its full six-foot in length."

Two-screws held out his metallic hands which seemed to glow and then were replaced by spinning metal augers that started to whine and growl as their speed picked up. "Oh, that we can brother. Now you-" He pointed at the dwarf on look-out. "Answer Engineer Milo's question. What the hell is it we’re fighting?"

Wisely deciding that it couldn't hurt to be polite, the dwarf took off his hat and bowed to the three of them. "Ah, sorry, a little worked up what with all the fighting. It's stone lurkers, sir. Dozens of the immature ones. The mama keeps hatching more out and sending them in waves."

Someone yelled, "Here they come!" Milo could see four of the monsters heading slowly towards the barriers. They were barely half the size of the ones he had fought before, let alone Bone Crusher.

Shadowblight was humming in his hand. He was nearly out of cheese and these things were between him and some tasty, tasty wheels of cheddar. The dwarves and humans nearby stepped backwards as the little human suddenly changed. Heavy bone claws appeared on his lower legs and forearms. A ghostly tail whipped out behind him. He spun an obviously enchanted weapon in circles as if limbering up. A feral grin appeared on his face as he turned to the other engineers.

"Race You!"

Throttlecog and Two-Screws cursed as Milo leaped over the barrier and ran at the stone lurkers.

"Damn your hide! You better share!" Two dwarven engineers in magitech battle armor leaped the barriers, vainly trying to catch the scampering rat who was racing at the attacking monsters.