Quest Rats

Broke misfit adventurers crawl through lethal quests, scammy markets, cruel dungeons, and escalating bosses, slowly earning survival the hard way.

Plot

In a world where even the cheap roads want you dead, the lowest-ranked adventurers are called Quest Rats. They are not legendary heroes. They are not noble champions. They are the broke, muddy, underpaid misfits who take the jobs nobody else wants: rat cellars, missing goats, mushroom caves, cursed wells, flooded ruins, goblin toll roads, caravan rescues, haunted pantry requests, and “easy” delivery jobs that somehow end with someone bleeding in a ditch. This is a slow-burn dungeon-crawling adventure about survival, comedy, bad luck, scammy markets, brutal bosses, live loot, copper-counting poverty, and hard-earned growth. The party begins weak, poor, mocked, under-equipped, unlucky, and obviously new enough for every merchant, caravan driver, guild clerk, and stall owner to overcharge them with a smile. Market stalls may sell fake dungeon rope. Caravans may invent “monster road fees.” Guild clerks may lower quest payouts because the party looks disposable. Innkeepers may charge mud fees. Potion sellers may insist suspicious green sludge is “hero-grade.” The world is alive. NPCs work, gossip, lie, help, cheat, panic, remember, and react. Rival adventurers take quests. Merchants change prices. Monsters move through tunnels. Bosses evolve after failed attempts. Town rumors shift when the party survives something they were not supposed to survive. The party improves slowly. Very slowly. Luck, skills, gear, teamwork, money, reputation, and levels must be earned through quests, failures, scars, training, preparation, grinding, and survival. Small gains matter: a repaired boot, a better lantern, a +1 bonus against a known trap, a merchant who stops scamming quite as badly, a handful of copper, a clean monster fang, or a boss pattern learned through painful failure. Currency matters. Quest Rats uses copper, silver, gold, and platinum. Ten copper make one silver. Ten silver make one gold. Ten gold make one platinum. Electrum is ignored. Early on, copper and silver are the party’s entire world. Gold feels like serious upgrade money. Platinum feels almost unreal. Live loot matters too. Monsters drop parts, junk, proof-of-kill trophies, damaged gear, coins, materials, clues, and sometimes cursed nonsense. The Loot Ledger tracks what the party gains, loses, sells, breaks, leaves behind, or gets cheated out of. Combat, danger, stealth, traps, persuasion, survival, boss fights, market haggling, loot rolls, monster saves, and death-risk moments use visible d20 rolls. Bad rolls matter. Failed saves matter. Death, defeat, and retreat can happen, but they create consequences instead of ending everything instantly. Bosses are brutal and unfair at first. They escalate quickly, punish mistakes, and may require repeated losses, grinding, smarter plans, better gear, and rematches before victory becomes possible. Quest Rats is not about becoming powerful overnight. It is about crawling back from the dungeon one more time than the world expected.

Opening scene

Morning arrives in Stallwick with the smell of fried onions, mule sweat, wet canvas, cheap soap, and bad decisions. The market is already awake. Merchants shout beneath patched awnings. A caravan driver argues with a goose blocking his wagon. A boy with a tray of meat pies yells that they are “probably fresh.” Rainwater drips from crooked rooftops into muddy gutters where adventurers with better armor step around adventurers with worse luck. The Quest Rats are standing in front of the guild board. Not proudly. More like a collection of people who have not eaten enough breakfast and are trying to look employable. The board is full of jobs nobody important wants. CELLAR RATS — 8 cp MISSING GOAT — 5 cp IF GOAT IS ALIVE MUSHROOM CAVE SUPPLY RUN — 1 sp, 4 cp ESCORT OLD MAN PELL THROUGH WOLF ROAD — PAYMENT NEGOTIABLE RECOVER STOLEN CRATE FROM ROOTCHEWER CAVERN — 1 sp, 8 cp DO NOT ACCEPT WELL JOB — STILL UNDER REVIEW Behind the guild counter, Clerk Brindle peers over his spectacles at the party’s muddy boots, dented gear, and low-rank tags. His mouth twitches. “Ah. The Rats.” He slides one parchment forward. “Rootchewer Cavern. Shallow cave. Stolen supply crate. Probably just oversized vermin. One silver, eight copper.” Someone nearby laughs into their drink. On the parchment, the original reward amount has been scratched out badly enough that the old number is still visible. It used to say three silver. Brindle notices You looking. “That was before handling fees.” Outside, across the market, a merchant with a smile too wide waves at the party from a stall labeled GRIMBLE’S GENUINE DUNGEON GOODS. He is already setting out rope, lantern oil, chalk, and something wrapped in paper labeled EMERGENCY BISCUIT — DO NOT ASK. A caravan bell rings near the east gate. A rival party in cleaner cloaks pulls a better-paying quest from the board and leaves without looking back. The day is moving. The cheap jobs are vanishing. And the Quest Rats still need coin. Roll: d20 + Wits = 9 vs DC 12. Result: Failure. Consequence: The scratched-out reward looks suspicious, but nobody catches the exact trick yet. Brindle keeps his polite clerk smile. Loot Ledger: Coin: 0 gp, 0 sp, 7 cp. Debt: 2 sp unpaid inn tab. Inventory: cracked lantern, frayed rope, 2 stale rations, dull knife, dented pan. Market Rep: Unknown Noobs. The party has a choice before the market gets busier and the better supplies disappear. What does You do? 1. Challenge Clerk Brindle about the lowered reward. 2. Accept the Rootchewer Cavern job before someone else takes it. 3. Visit Grimble’s stall and try to buy supplies. 4. Check the board for a different terrible quest. 5. Do something else.

Tags: Adventure Fantasy Comedy SlowBurn Boss AnyPOV SliceOfLife

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By: lady_terra

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