[AotR] LP-01 The Fall and Rise of Rodentia
Actions of the Rat
|Lad Phelps|
In a world beyond, where kingdoms abound; the actions of a few, will never be found...
[AotR] LP-01 The Fall and Rise of Rodentia
By Darrel Vanwinkle (Lord Pouchlaw)
December 11th, 2018
Chapter One
"Sire! The Kingdom and castle are under attack!"
The rat princess approached her father the rat king from her side tower study and she said, "Father, I got a glimpse of the attackers from my tower window; it isn't the cat kingdom making the attack... The humans from the shoreline kingdom are the ones leading the attack!"
The rat king growled, "How dare they double-cross us after we gave them assistance with the historical research they had been doing in the nearby mountains!"
The rat princess turned and began to make her way rapidly out of the throne room.
The rat king exclaimed, "And just where do you think you are going?"
The rat princess replied without stopping, "I am going down to the catacombs to fetch the peace maker weapon! Someone has to stop this nonsense or we are done for!" And she vanished out into the hallways just as the castle sustained a massive strike to the forward walls.
The rat knight of the realm and the chief rat wizard then came into the throne room; the wizard said, "The princess about ran us over, your highness!"
The rat king raised his voice, "She went to the catacombs to fetch the Peace Maker weapon! Go after her and protect her from possible attackers who might try to get into the castle from the lower tunnels! Even if I fall, the princess should live! GO!"
The rat knight replied, "As the crown commands... Come friend wizard! Let us go after the princess!"
The rat wizard and the rat knight charged off at a tear as they headed for the stair well leading to the catacombs. En route, the rat knight commented, "I have never heard of this Peace Maker weapon, wizard... What exactly is it?"
The rat wizard replied, "According to legends; the ancient rat warriors of this land developed a weapon so fearsome, it was dubbed as the 'When all else fails' weapon. They named it as 'The Peace Maker'. When activated, it is said to bring peace back to the land and warns that no one should emerge from the vault where the weapon was slumbering until three days after the launch has passed or until the first rain has cooled the ground. I am not sure what that means exactly, but no one has ever dared to use it since it was rumored to be held under this very castle. I am sure the princess does not know the legend as I do. It may be the worst weapon ever devised."
Down deep within the catacombs, the rat princess stood within a small chamber which had glowing crystals and odd looking black levers that made no sense to her at all. At that moment, The rat wizard and the rat knight entered the chamber and saw her standing there in silence. She said, "There are no weapons down here at all. Just these crystals and these useless black sticks." She then turned to look at those who had entered the chamber just behind her and as she turned, her dress caught hold on one of the black sticks which pulled it out of alignment. This in turn caused all of the crystals to begin to flash wildly and then a fast, loud and creepy siren began blasting all over the rat kingdom! In the rat language, a verbal announcement was issued: "Attention All Rodent Citizens! Head for your storm cellars! This is not a drill! Lock yourselves in and wait for the all clear call! REPEAT!...etc." The rat princess exclaimed, "What happened? I didn't touch anything!"
And then the entire castle and the kingdom as well felt as if it was hit by the epicenter of an earthquake as the stair well to the catacombs caved in sealing the way down to their location. And then a muffled explosion was heard as if someone fired off a loud cannon point-blank outside of the castle. After the initial explosion, it was quiet for all of ten seconds before the second explosion occurred which had the sound as if someone had dropped both a tornado and a hurricane directly on top of the rat kingdom all at the same time. Dying screams of agony only lasted seconds as whatever was occurring above ground continued for several days. And finally near the end, the three noble rats in the catacombs heard the sound of rain falling above ground. And it was not a light shower either. This downpour lasted for nearly three more days. When the rain began to subside, a light wind could be heard outside and that was when the three rats began digging their way out of the catacombs trying to make their way toward the surface. This dig took several hours to make and it was not so easy since most of the ground the castle had sat upon was extremely solid rock.
And then the rat knight managed to open a hole into the royal escape tunnel which would have extended from the throne room to the ship docks below the kingdom on the ocean itself. After helping his fellow rats into the escape tunnel, then made their way up the reinforced tunnel toward the surface where the broken throne had to be shoved out of the way where upon they got their first look at what was left of the kingdom. The throne room which was once in the middle of a powerful castle now lay open to the elements and rubble lay strewn all over the entire scene before them. The rat wizard picked up a bent and broken crown which had dried blood upon it. "The king has fallen," he said as he showed the crown to the rat princess. "We need to use the ship to travel out to my island fortress tower. I have food supplies there as well as servants who can help us. The Peace Maker weapon in ancient days was nicknamed as the Atom. Again, I am not sure what that means... but after activating the Peace Maker, you can see what it did to the royal castle. If any rats made it into their cellars, they may survive; otherwise, they went the way the rest of the kingdom went. We have to get going... unless you want to stay here in the remains of the old kingdom. Come..."
The rat princess about complained, but the rat knight knocked her out from behind and he hefted her unconscious body over his shoulder as he said to his friend the rat wizard, "Lead the way, old friend. Perhaps your island tower fortress survived the destruction of the kingdom. We really have no where else to go."
Descending the escape tunnel, the rats emerged at the docks protected by a grotto embedded with the base of the mesa on the ocean itself. It was then that they saw several rat families awaiting them at the ship. Together they boarded the ship and with sailor capable rats helping to unfurl the sails and pilot the ship, they made way away from the devastated kingdom out to sea to an island just outside of the kingdom which was surprisingly clean and intact. Docking the ship along one of the piers, the rat families were directed to occupy the dockside town itself, while the rat wizard led the rat knight and his sleeping beauty up the trail to the tower fortress. Within the tower fortress, the rat princess was laid into a guest bedroom and then the rat wizard led his friend the rat knight up into his study where a teen aged human boy holding a broom smiled when he saw the two arrive. "Valerian! You're home!"
End of Chapter One
|Lad Phelps|
In a world beyond, where kingdoms abound; the actions of a few, will never be found...
[AotR] LP-01 The Fall and Rise of Rodentia
By Darrel Vanwinkle (Lord Pouchlaw)
December 11th, 2018
Chapter One
"Sire! The Kingdom and castle are under attack!"
The rat princess approached her father the rat king from her side tower study and she said, "Father, I got a glimpse of the attackers from my tower window; it isn't the cat kingdom making the attack... The humans from the shoreline kingdom are the ones leading the attack!"
The rat king growled, "How dare they double-cross us after we gave them assistance with the historical research they had been doing in the nearby mountains!"
The rat princess turned and began to make her way rapidly out of the throne room.
The rat king exclaimed, "And just where do you think you are going?"
The rat princess replied without stopping, "I am going down to the catacombs to fetch the peace maker weapon! Someone has to stop this nonsense or we are done for!" And she vanished out into the hallways just as the castle sustained a massive strike to the forward walls.
The rat knight of the realm and the chief rat wizard then came into the throne room; the wizard said, "The princess about ran us over, your highness!"
The rat king raised his voice, "She went to the catacombs to fetch the Peace Maker weapon! Go after her and protect her from possible attackers who might try to get into the castle from the lower tunnels! Even if I fall, the princess should live! GO!"
The rat knight replied, "As the crown commands... Come friend wizard! Let us go after the princess!"
The rat wizard and the rat knight charged off at a tear as they headed for the stair well leading to the catacombs. En route, the rat knight commented, "I have never heard of this Peace Maker weapon, wizard... What exactly is it?"
The rat wizard replied, "According to legends; the ancient rat warriors of this land developed a weapon so fearsome, it was dubbed as the 'When all else fails' weapon. They named it as 'The Peace Maker'. When activated, it is said to bring peace back to the land and warns that no one should emerge from the vault where the weapon was slumbering until three days after the launch has passed or until the first rain has cooled the ground. I am not sure what that means exactly, but no one has ever dared to use it since it was rumored to be held under this very castle. I am sure the princess does not know the legend as I do. It may be the worst weapon ever devised."
Down deep within the catacombs, the rat princess stood within a small chamber which had glowing crystals and odd looking black levers that made no sense to her at all. At that moment, The rat wizard and the rat knight entered the chamber and saw her standing there in silence. She said, "There are no weapons down here at all. Just these crystals and these useless black sticks." She then turned to look at those who had entered the chamber just behind her and as she turned, her dress caught hold on one of the black sticks which pulled it out of alignment. This in turn caused all of the crystals to begin to flash wildly and then a fast, loud and creepy siren began blasting all over the rat kingdom! In the rat language, a verbal announcement was issued: "Attention All Rodent Citizens! Head for your storm cellars! This is not a drill! Lock yourselves in and wait for the all clear call! REPEAT!...etc." The rat princess exclaimed, "What happened? I didn't touch anything!"
And then the entire castle and the kingdom as well felt as if it was hit by the epicenter of an earthquake as the stair well to the catacombs caved in sealing the way down to their location. And then a muffled explosion was heard as if someone fired off a loud cannon point-blank outside of the castle. After the initial explosion, it was quiet for all of ten seconds before the second explosion occurred which had the sound as if someone had dropped both a tornado and a hurricane directly on top of the rat kingdom all at the same time. Dying screams of agony only lasted seconds as whatever was occurring above ground continued for several days. And finally near the end, the three noble rats in the catacombs heard the sound of rain falling above ground. And it was not a light shower either. This downpour lasted for nearly three more days. When the rain began to subside, a light wind could be heard outside and that was when the three rats began digging their way out of the catacombs trying to make their way toward the surface. This dig took several hours to make and it was not so easy since most of the ground the castle had sat upon was extremely solid rock.
And then the rat knight managed to open a hole into the royal escape tunnel which would have extended from the throne room to the ship docks below the kingdom on the ocean itself. After helping his fellow rats into the escape tunnel, then made their way up the reinforced tunnel toward the surface where the broken throne had to be shoved out of the way where upon they got their first look at what was left of the kingdom. The throne room which was once in the middle of a powerful castle now lay open to the elements and rubble lay strewn all over the entire scene before them. The rat wizard picked up a bent and broken crown which had dried blood upon it. "The king has fallen," he said as he showed the crown to the rat princess. "We need to use the ship to travel out to my island fortress tower. I have food supplies there as well as servants who can help us. The Peace Maker weapon in ancient days was nicknamed as the Atom. Again, I am not sure what that means... but after activating the Peace Maker, you can see what it did to the royal castle. If any rats made it into their cellars, they may survive; otherwise, they went the way the rest of the kingdom went. We have to get going... unless you want to stay here in the remains of the old kingdom. Come..."
The rat princess about complained, but the rat knight knocked her out from behind and he hefted her unconscious body over his shoulder as he said to his friend the rat wizard, "Lead the way, old friend. Perhaps your island tower fortress survived the destruction of the kingdom. We really have no where else to go."
Descending the escape tunnel, the rats emerged at the docks protected by a grotto embedded with the base of the mesa on the ocean itself. It was then that they saw several rat families awaiting them at the ship. Together they boarded the ship and with sailor capable rats helping to unfurl the sails and pilot the ship, they made way away from the devastated kingdom out to sea to an island just outside of the kingdom which was surprisingly clean and intact. Docking the ship along one of the piers, the rat families were directed to occupy the dockside town itself, while the rat wizard led the rat knight and his sleeping beauty up the trail to the tower fortress. Within the tower fortress, the rat princess was laid into a guest bedroom and then the rat wizard led his friend the rat knight up into his study where a teen aged human boy holding a broom smiled when he saw the two arrive. "Valerian! You're home!"
End of Chapter One