It's another rat, of course, but this one is different. For one thing, it has a name, which is always a dangerous sign when it comes to monsters or animals. Beyond that it's significantly larger than the others. It stands on its hind feet atop a barrel, an ugly, scruffy and filthy creature of snaggle teeth, angular features and an odd glint of intelligence within its dark eyes. Could this creature be the reason for the mission difficulty? Had other adventurers come here only to find themselves ambushed by it, unexpectedly, which kept raising the priority, transforming an ordinary low level adventuring job into a far more difficult task?

  No matter. Those magic missiles really hurt, but they're nothing that I can't handle.

  My whole body suddenly feels heavy as it's engulfed by a purple miasma. Darn it, I was really counting on reaching my opponent within a single round.

  That one really hurt, even if it wasn't super damaging. Fortunately, the paralysis isn't an absolute effect, but every time I move anything, there's a high chance for the muscle to just seize up for a fraction of a second. Now closing the distance will be even more difficult! This is one tough rat!

  Those little specks of red energy spiral towards me and strike from all directions at once, and are virtually impossible to evade. I had never realized just how annoying ranged attackers could be. Well, it can't escape me now!

  Mid pounce I find himself struck in the side by... something, and am knocked away. What's going on? That was way bigger than a rat!

  Well, that answers that. I rise back up to my feet only to see a black cat with a thick metal collar about its throat blocking my path. From behind it, I can see the strange magic using rat smiling smugly.

  Why on earth would a cat be protecting a rat? I guess the 'whys' aren't important. Now I have another opponent to worry about. Oh well, it could be worse. It's just a cat. It isn't very large and it certainly doesn't look very strong. Still, I've got to deal with it as quickly as possible. I can't waste too much time fighting it, as I can already see the pointy muzzle of the rat murmuring to itself, clearly casting another spell. Sorry, kitty! I don't know who you are or why you're trying to stop me, but I have a quest to finish!

  There is a 'ting' sound as the blade strikes the feline between the neck and shoulder. That is absolutely not the sort of sound that you want to hear when you land a direct hit to bare flesh. It inflicted way, way less damage than I had anticipated, and even worse? The feline barely even flinched! What's going on here?

  "Heh, not bad." the cat purrs. "I haven't been hit that hard in a while. Still, you're going to have to do a lot better than that if you expect to reach my mistress."

  Mistress?

  Okay, good. It might be inexplicably tough, but doesn't have a whole lot of stopping power.

  I'm briefly blinded as a small red ball strikes the ground in front of me, bursting into a wall of intense flames. They don't appear to ignite anything, and vanish just as quickly as they had appeared. It seems that Slave (ugh, is that actually the creature's name?) was also caught within the blast, but completely shrugs off the effects.

  Oh, right, almost forgot about that, I think to myself, wincing from the pain. This could be a problem.

  ---

  Slave: "You dumb mutt! How dare you undo my Mistress' restraining magics! Do you have any idea what a rare honor it is to be able to experience them?"

  Vile: "Oh, don't worry about that. I'll make sure to save the best of it for you."

  Squire: "I have a very bad feeling about this..."

  Vile: "Are you worried that we're going to kill you?"

  Squire: "That's a surprisingly small part of it."