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C-Ranked Trouble

When I awaken the following morning, Belinda is looking up at me, while still lying on my chest.

Belinda: “Good morning.” –She then raises herself up giving me a soft kiss on the lips. - “I got work to do, and I need to prepare for my next trip to Madam Erin’s dungeon so I better get started.”

When she gets up walking across the room I watch her hips sway back and forth, with her butt mostly exposed from the bottom of the gown. I find myself feeling unable to tear my eyes away. When she transfers from the room, I instinctively reach out grasping at air with my mouth awkwardly gaping open.

I don’t know why but I don’t feel I will be able to look at her the same anymore. Without realizing it I have pulled the screen hidden behind the desk out. She changes from the gown to her normal day clothes with [Menu] leaving me somewhat disappointed, she then begins blushing.

She then shakes her head and slaps her cheeks a few times before, and then she transfers herself to Thirty-seven and Lilah’s room. Hitting the confirmation button when she tries to pull food from the dungeon inventory, I watch her prepare the items quickly, the three sit down eating breakfast…

I somehow feel left out watching them talk while they eat. Thirty-seven and Belinda seem to have reached an understanding concerning Lilah, as they both take turns shoveling food into her mouth. For not being required to eat, Lilah is probably the one that consumes the most food…

When they finish eating I quickly hide the screen back behind the desk when Belinda transfers again, but she arrives at the exit of the dungeon. With one more look back she begins to head down towards Tobes.

I place a hand on the screen finding myself still staring at the screen long after she has disappeared from sight. Even with the events of the previous evening playing back in my mind, I am still unsure the reason I have started to act so strangely.

Surely things will return to normal soon. Shortly after Belinda sends me a message that a mid C-ranked group is on their way and they look pretty well equip.

The group when it arrives consists of 2 beastkin males, one is some kind of dog, or wolf, while the other has short ears and a stubby tail so I can’t be sure. While the canine carries a large greataxe on his back, the other beastkin seems to carry no weapon at all.

The next member in the group is a human female mage, and another human male with a mace and tower shield, for being a shield bearer it seems rather odd that he is positioned in the middle of the group.

The last member of the group is a beastkin female, she is a rabbit but unlike Lilah she doesn’t belong to the feral type so she essentially just has the ears and a puffy tail. She has a rather ornate thin blade on her hip but is carrying a bow in her hands, and she also seems to be the leader of the group.

Once reaching the cave she orders the group to take a break. Even though the members of the group seem to have some experience they don’t look like they have been together long, as for when they take a break they split off and do their own thing.

After setting down his shield the human man sits down on a large stone, he then dusts it off with his hand. The human female then sits down next to him wrapping her arms around one of his and leaning against it.

The two beastkin male however take out a cup and after swishing it around place it upside down on a flat stone revealing a few small cubes. It seems to be some sort of game, as they each take turns swishing the cup and staring at the cubes. They even start to use gold coins, however the canine seems to be picking the coins up far less then he puts them down.

The rabbit beastkin sets off into the trees scouting the area, when she returns she is carrying two dead rabbits by the ears, and after starting a fire she begins to slice them open removing their insides. Even though beastkin are much closer related to humans then animals it still seems weird watch this rabbit beastkin mutilate the bodies of the rabbits.

Apparently I am not the only one, because as she pulls the skin from their bodies the human male says as much to his female companion. The rabbit beastkin however pays them no mind as she finishes prepping the rabbits, and then places them close to the fire.

The canine beastkin gives up at the game he was playing as he says he is out of gold, and the other beastkin seems rather pleased with himself. He then however takes a large amount of the gold and gives it to the rabbit beastkin.

Male Beastkin: “I believe that makes us even.”

Rabbit: “I won’t accept payment, until we return to town.”

Male Beastkin: “Why not? I got the gold now, what’s the difference.”

Rabbit: “Have you not heard the rumors of this place? Once we return, you can pay me then.”

The beastkin gives in placing the gold back into a bag which he then secures in his pack. Even after noon passes and the rabbit beastkin as eaten both of the rabbits she cooked by herself, they still don’t appear in any hurry to enter the dungeon.

I finally decide I need to get Thirty-seven and Lilah their food, so I set [Menu] to warn me if the group enters the cave, then I transfer down to Thirty-seven’s room.

Lilah: “Master is late Lilah’s hungry…”

“You don’t get hungry.”

She then puffs out her cheeks and moves over to Thirty-seven pulling on her arm.

Thirty-seven: “Yes, I thought we had been abandoned. Giving up all hope we were preparing to begin chewing on the leather from the chair.” –She says in a monotonous way.-

Lilah then nods her head seeming proud of herself.

“Who’s teaching who here?” –I can’t help but to just shake my head. I then take out some food placing it on the table.- “I got tied up a bit, there is a rather strong group sitting outside the dungeon, I wanted to keep a close eye on them, but they still haven’t seem to make up their minds if they are going to enter or not.”

Lilah: “Awww, dried meat and bread again? Does Master ever get anything good?”

“This will suffice to sustain Thirty-seven’s body, as such it is also easy to acquire, and store.”

Lilah: “But we need cake!”

“You are referring to that sweetened soft bread? Belinda seems rather fond of that as well, maybe you should ask her, as she is the one that has to buy and transport it.”

Lilah: “Yay cake!”

She does a fist pump in the air, she then pulls on Thirty-seven’s arm, and then she joins in. [Menu] then warns me of the intruders entering the cave so I head back to the core room.

The adventurer’s entering the dungeon now appears very different from when they were outside. Although their formation is the same, they all now wear at least some type of armor. Even the human mage’s robes appear reinforced with leather.

The canine beastkin with the greataxe is wearing a chainmail armor of at least superior quality, and the other male beastkin is wearing black leather armor, but it has been crafted in a way that prevents the armor from interfering with movement.

To no surprise the human male has on full-plate armor, he even wears a full helmet, which is rather rare. I heard talk one day at the adventurer’s guild that helmets tend to obstruct view to much, and unless you have plenty of gold to spend on a great one it’s better to do without.

The rabbit beastkin is wearing what looks to be a mix set of armor, with the chest piece of full-plate armor, the arms and legs are chainmail, although they are reinforced in places with more steel plates. She doesn’t appear to be wearing a gambeson but there are clearly parts of the armor that consist of leather as well.

The human male has a map of the dungeon attached to the backside of his shield as he warns the group as they approach the end of the tunnel.

Human Male: “There is a trip wire just ahead in the archway there, and in that room it should have a small amount of poorly equip kobold, that appears to be the only trap.”

Rabbit: “From what I can pick up, that seems accurate. Be careful, this floor should be easy to take care of but that’s no reason to become careless.”

The group then pushes forward, as they move though the first floor the human male focuses primarily on defending the mage and the rabbit beastkin while telling the group everything that the map shows, the rabbit beastkin confirms what he says before they proceed. The canine beastkin with the axe holds nothing back even using quite a few axe techniques.

While the other unknown type of beastkin uses tooth and nail biting and clawing his way through the kobolds. At one point after clearing a group of kobolds the human female asks him if the kobolds taste horrible, but he just wipes blood from his chin and shrugs his shoulders.

The rabbit beastkin doesn’t attack often but when she does the kobold always drops instantly with a precision shot from her bow. The mage uses some type of dark attack magic similar to the ability Listel used when in my crystal room, although this is much weaker consisting of only a single blade.

They don’t seem in any hurry, but they still manage to clear the first floor in just over an hour. Even though no one seems injured they still take another long break before heading down to the next floor. The group maintains the same attack patterns though the second floor although now some tend to take some minor damage here and there as they go.

After clearing the old prison room, the human man comments the discrepancy in his map and what they encountered, he then makes the revisions on his map while returning to the central room.

Human Male: “Now the group ahead in the next room, is supposedly far better equip then what we have faced so far, but the reports very on just how well.”

Rabbit: “I believe they are said to being wearing full-plate right?”

Human Male: “One or two of them have full-plate but the rest are still roughly the same, but after this room it is said the third floor is rather poorly defended.”

Rabbit: “I don’t hold to the legends about living dungeons, but they do tend to surprise you if you take them for granted.”

Canine Beastkin: “What about the golems?”

Human Male: “My map doesn’t say anything about golems, but I did hear that from the village as well.”

Rabbit: “Well we will have to worry about that if we encounter it. For now let’s worry about what’s in front of us.”

The human male blocks the mage and Rabbit pretty well so the kobold focus their attacks on the other two beastkin. With the leather armor crafted to not prevent movement it tends to be weaker at the beastkin’s joints so the kobold focus at them points.

Before they clear out the kobold they manage to do some serious damage to the unarmed beastkin, and moderate damage to the greataxe canine. The mage moves forward after the battle pulling out a handful of small magic stones, invoking the magic held in them she heals the wounds of the two beastkin.

Mage: “Sorry, that’s the best I can do. Water healing magic is rare, and I can’t use light magic.”

Unarmed Beastkin: “That’s alright, and it’s my fault I took so many hits. I thought they were just getting lucky, but I then realized they actually found and are now attacking the weak points in my armor deliberately.”

Rabbit: “They said the kobold here were cleaver, but to see it for yourself it does seem so odd. I wonder if it has to do with the crystal this dungeon has. I heard it’s unlike any crystal that has been reported before.”

Canine: “I thought you said you didn’t believe in fairy tales? There is no way the crystal doesn’t hold an element. I am sure it was just a lightly colored gem and they jumped to conclusions.”

Mage: “I heard it was a diamond… Can you imagine a diamond as big as a dungeon crystal?”

Human male: “Take the thought from your head, the crystal is under protection of the kingdom, besides you couldn’t even wear a diamond that big.”

Mage: “A girl can dream can’t she?”

Rabbit: “I could care less about the kingdom. I’m not from here, but they might send out bounty hunters for messing up the village. Besides the dungeons not even big enough to grant you any ability so it would be pointless.”

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Mage: “I get it alright! But I would still like to see it…”

Rabbit: “Well unless the rumors of golems are true, you should be able to, but if there are golems I don’t think we have the right setup to go against them.”

After they rest up for a while long they then proceed to the third floor. Entering the + shaped hallway they see one kobold mage down the far end.

Human male: “See I told you get gets much easier from here on.”

Rabbit: “Wait! It’s a trap!”

Human male: “What are you talking about my map says nothing about a trap.”

Rabbit: “Not that kind of trap, I mean look at the intersection on your map? I can sense more kobold on either hiding around the corners.”

Canine: “I can smell them as well, that was a close one. If they managed to get in behind us…”

Rabbit: “They may be kobold, but I think we ought to start treating them like human combatants.”

As they slowly move forward the mage just waits at the end of the hallway. Getting a little closer the rabbit beastkin readies her bow, but then the mage ducks through the door. Once they get close to the intersection the kobolds jump out and attack.

Canine: “One, two, three… Three of these guys are wearing full-plate!”

Rabbit: “Regroup! Tiki, you step back behind me. Mason you join the other two, we can do this just stay calm”

On her orders the human male runs forward to assist the beastkin males that are being hammered by the kobold, and the mage runs back. The kobold mage now re-enters the room from down the hallway casting a spell at the rabbit beastkin.

Rabbit: “Damnit, when did you sneak back in?”

Catching her off guard the ice spell hits her left arm. This causes her accuracy to fall but not enough to stop her from dealing a near fatal wound back to the kobold mage. With the assistance of the human male, they push back one side of the attacking kobolds and focus on the other.

When they eventually drop the last kobold the only one in the group not wounded is the human mage Tiki.

Tiki: “I got a few more magic stones left. I’m sorry Mason, but Dane and Kodiak seem to need it more.”

Mason the human male answers. “Think nothing of it, and besides this much won’t be a problem.”

Tiki then moves forward using the stones to heal most of the injuries to the two beastkin.

Tiki: “I got one left, Dakota, your arm looks pretty bad, do you want me to heal it?”

The rabbit beastkin apparently named Dakota simply says. “Save it for an emergency.”

Mason: “The rooms off to the side are supposed to be vacant I suggest we pick up and rest up till morning just to be on the safe side.”

Dakota: “This hallway was not supposed to be this well defended either. I don’t want to risk opening one of the side doors to find them rumored golems. Let’s set up camp here close to the stairs.”

Tiki: “What if they close in on us from both sides then?”

Mason: “For whatever reason, dungeon monsters cannot freely move between floors, so nothing should be able to come down the stairs, and Dakota is right, if we left here. We would probably have to face this group again tomorrow, and without the healing stones I don’t think we can afford that.”

With their backs to the stairs they set up camp right in the middle of the hallway… Well at least this way I can get some xp from them.

Tiki: “The rod this kobold had is better than mine, Dakota can I take it?”

Dakota: “Go right ahead, I don’t need it.”

Canine: “I am going to take a few of these full-plate armors back to town and see if I can sell them.”

On the other hand maybe not… Maybe I should have the golems attack them in their sleep tonight… After setting up camp they prepare food, and while they are sitting around eating I receive a message from Belinda.

Belinda: “The adventurers haven’t returned yet, are you ok?”

“yea, they set up camp in the dungeon, which might have been good if they didn’t plan taking everything off the kobolds and selling it in town.”

Belinda: “I’m sorry, I am really busy down here so it’s going to be really late before I can come home, so you don’t have to wait up for me.”

“Ok, if you want to just stay in Tobes tonight that’s fine.”

Belinda: “No! I am going to come home when I am done!”

“Ok… Just be careful coming up the mountain in the dark then…”

Belinda: “Don’t forget to feed the girls either!”

“Ok…”

Somehow I have seemed to make her mad again… After making sure the adventurers aren’t planning anything I take food down to Thirty-seven and Lilah.

Lilah: “Awww. No walk today? Lilah wants to go see Belinda!”

“She is busy, and won’t be home till late. Besides we have a strong group of adventurers camped out in the dungeon, so I can’t leave right now.”

After more protest from Lilah she pulls on Thirty-seven’s arm till she joins in. I tell them I have to go to keep an eye on the adventurers and retreat to the core room. We might have to separate those two, because Lilah is beginning to teach Thirty-seven bad habits…

The adventurers talk amongst each other for a bit, and to confirm what I thought before they begin telling each other more about themselves, apparently this is their first time working together. The canine beastkin Dane, and bear beastkin Kodiak both come from Kortova.

Mason and Tiki come from the capital, and both pairs joined Dakota after she posted a commission for a group heading here Tobes. Although Dane and Kodiak have only known each other for a short time completing only a few commissions together before now.

Tiki and Mason on the other hand have apparently been close since they were young children. Dakota doesn’t give out much personal information to the group, but she as well appears to be from outside Gowen somewhere.

The group decides to set up a watch system having Dane and Kodiak take the first watch. I want to wait till midnight to see how much xp I get from the group and Belinda has yet to return to I continue to watch them.

Dakota quickly goes to sleep in a small sleeping bag on the floor while Mason and Tiki are huddled together on a small cot. Dane and Kodiak pass the time playing the game with the cup and cubes again, but this time they use the kobold’s weapons and armor instead of gold coins.

Once midnight hits I manage to acquire 110 xp from the group which is actually a sizeable amount for them not being held prisoner. Dane and Kodiak also switch places with Mason and Tiki. I start to prepare for bed when I notice a light coming up from Tobes.

I figure it must be Belinda so I decide to put off going to bed, to wait on her. Watching Mason and Tiki while waiting on Belinda something strange happens. After closely examining the other adventurers Mason quickly strips off his clothes, and after hanging a blanket blocking the view from the others he removes Tiki’s robe from her as well.

Tiki then climbs over Mason rubbing her fingers across his chest much in the same way that Belinda did to me she says the same words to him that Belinda told me “I love you.” Mason quickly rolls on top of Tiki and they begin to breed right in the middle of my dungeon.

I find the entire situation a bit odd, as they both seem to be enjoying the process quit a lot, Mason is even forced to cover Tiki’s mouth at one point to keep her from calling out. She in turn just bites onto his finger.

As I am watching rather curiously on the screen I hear something behind me. “What are you doing?!” Belinda quickly rushes forward blocking the screen with her body. She however after a few seconds is staring hard at the screen as well.

Since I can no longer see I reach forward pulling her arm for her to get out of the way, but when I do it causes her to jump.

Belinda hastily says while blushing. “You shouldn’t be watching this. That is private…My god…” –She quickly cover her face with her hands but sits down on the chair next to me, and peeks out at the screen.-

We continue to watch till the conclusion, Belinda blushing as red as she possible can, and never removing her hands from in front of her face. After Mason and Tiki finish Belinda quickly jumps from the chair.

Belinda: “You should be ashamed of yourself!” –she says while breathing rather heavily. - “I…I…I’m going to bed!” –She then quickly transfers from the room.-

I don’t get it… Is it some kind of human thing? The more concerning thing is Tiki’s actions followed what Belinda did to me almost to the letter. She isn’t expecting me to breed with her is she? We already determined that it wouldn’t work…

Oh, look they are at it again. Wait what is she doing now? Why did she put it in her mouth, that makes no sense…Mason seems to like it though…Aww what are they doing now…? That’s disturbing, why… It’s now clear more than ever. I do not understand humans…

The image on the screen causes me to shutter, and I decide I can’t watch anymore so I decide to go to bed… The next morning the adventurers are still preparing when Belinda appears in the core room. Without saying a word she begins to blush, she then quickly transfers out of the room exiting the dungeon in a hurry…

Dakota: “The way I see it, we have two options. We can take what we got and head out of the dungeon, as we will have to fight the monsters that have returned. Or we can press forward.”

Dane: “There was no point in staying the night if we turn and leave now. I say forward.”

Mason: “You are just saying that cause you lost all your spoils in that dice game with Kodiak.”

Tiki: “I don’t feel like we have hit our limit yet, I think we need to move on.”

Kodiak: “I’m in it for the long haul, let’s see what else there is.”

Dakota: “I am a little worried about the lack of a capable healer, but if you guys are sure.”

Mason: “I guess the question now is, do we try to clear? Or do we just push forward to the crystal room then retreat?”

Dakota: “No reason to push for the crystal as we can’t destroy it, I say we try to clear it, and if we reach the crystal room then so be it.”

Dane: “Alright we got a plan.”

Tiki: “Should we continue with the revised formation?”

Dakota: “I think that’s best, Mason, you ok with taking point?”

Mason: “Leave it to me! The crystal room should be dead ahead past another large room, if you want to hit that last, then should we head left or right?”

Dakota: “Lets hit right, but remember Tiki, while in the back you need to stay in this hallway, if we leave the monsters would be capable of respawning here.”

Tiki: “But what if I can’t attack?”

Dakota: “Think of it as singlehandedly holding off 5 kobold. If things get to dangerous we will need to be able to fall back to this room, so your task could be the one that saves all of our lives.”

With the group using Mason to block from the start of the battle, and Kodiak more mindful of the kobold targeting his weak points they manage to clear the room suffering far less damage then they did in the hallway.

Dakota: “Great work everyone, but if the room at the other end of the hallway has the same setup it may become a problem.”

The group has mixed feelings when they find the other room empty. They then prepare to enter the big room. When they open the door they rush into the room, but Tiki remains just inside of the hallway.

Mason: “My god, just look at them. There may only be 4 of them but that armor is better than mine…”

Dakota: “Focus we can do this! Tiki stay right there, use the door as a shield if you must, but don’t come into this room.”

Tiki: “I got it.”

Leaving Tiki behind the group presses forward behind Mason’s shield, Dakota places her bow around her shoulder pulling the long thin blade from her side, and once they reach the group they spit up each facing off against a kobold.

The kobold with two swords faces off again Kodiak, while the one with the halberd faces Mason, Dane is stuck with the mage, and Dakota with the archer.

With Dakota coming in close with the sword the archer pulls his two daggers blocking on blow from Dakota’s sword but losing one dagger in the process. The kobold with the halberd brings it down hard against Mason but he uses his shield blocking the blow.

Dane meanwhile attacks the mage with his greataxe. The mage manages to dodge, then hits Dane across the arms with its battle-staff causing him to lose his grip on the axe. Once on the floor the mage casts a [Freeze] spell on the axe preventing Dane from being able to pick it back up.

Kodiak if forced to dodge the blows as he can’t parry the swords with his claws. After one jab from the kobold he manages to grab the kobold’s wrist and sinks his teeth into its arm. The kobold responds by slashing Kodiak in the back with his other sword.

Mason swings his mace into the heavy armored kobold but doesn’t seem to faze it much as he brings his halberd down causing Mason to back up creating some space between them. Dakota attacks with her sword again this time the archer just dodges backwards and attempts to put as much space between him and Dakota as he can.

Dane gives up on the axe leaping onto the mage biting down on its neck. He then spits and complains. “Argh how do you do that Kodiak?”

The kobold then manages to push him back with its staff. Meanwhile Tiki nervously waits in the doorway, unable to reach with her spells at that distance. Now that the kobold archer has created a gap he pulls his bow firing at Dakota. When she dodges however the arrow hits Masons thigh. She quickly pulls her own bow and shoots back at the archer.

Her accuracy proves far more reliable then the kobold, and the arrow hits it right between the eyes causing it to collapse on the floor. Mason now injured seems to be losing ground against the halberd wielding kobold.

Kodiak releases the kobold’s arm this time targeting its neck as he manages to grapple both of the kobold’s arms. As he thrashes his head back and forth the kobold beings to lose strength. Dane beings a tug of war match grabbing the mages staff. With a sudden push of strength he manages to bust the kobold in the jaw with its own staff.

Dakota moves in to help Mason but not before the halberd kobold manages to stab the point of the halberd deep into his shoulder, Tiki then beings to panic rushing into the room.

Dakota: “NO!”

Pulling her sword again she manages to slash the halberd kobold in the back but she is more focused on Tiki.

The kobold in the hallway quickly are reborn from the rift, although their gear is now gone, so I pull some of the weaker gear from the kobold upstairs. Tiki now manages to get close enough to attack the halberd kobold with her dark spell causing quite a bit of damage to the kobold.

Dakota: “Damnit Tiki, you just put us all at risk.”

Tiki: “I’m sorry, but Mason.”

Mason: “I’m fine Tiki, its ok, we will figure something out.”

Kodiak’s kobold finally quits moving, and although not dead Dane’s kobold seems to be unconscious. With everyone converging on the halberd kobold it loses its life as well. I hold on to a little hope that the kobold elder might survive, but that is shattered when Dakota angrily stabs it with her sword a few times.

Dakota: “You had one job Tiki ONE!”

Dane: “Take it easy there Dakota, what would you do if you saw your lover in danger.”

Kodiak: “Besides we have their gear, so it’s not like they can do much anyway.”

Dakota: “Monsters always respawn with new gear.”

Mason: “That’s not always true, on small dungeons like this one they often don’t.”

Dakota: “Well there’s nothing to be done about it now. Let’s take a break…”

The unity of the group seems to have broken now as the group and split up back into the three separate groups in which they started yesterday. To replace the damage they have done, I am going to have to get the weapons and armor they have back, and hold them for at least a few days.

I only have the two golem and Rufus left, but that should be enough to hold them off, the bigger problem is getting the gear back. For now I decide to put the kobold in the + hallway at the end towards the stairs blocking their escape.

I then add Rufus to the group for good measure and keep the two golems stored in the crystal for now. Now it is just up to what the adventurers decide.

Tiki tries to insist that Mason uses the one remaining magic stone but he refuses, and after a while of debating they decide to at least check out the crystal room before trying to leave.

Once in the crystal room they are all pretty awestruck.

Tiki: “Pretty…”

Dane: “I have never seen a real crystal before…”

Dakota: “I can’t believe it’s so clear…and every pulse changes color, could the rumors really of been true?”

Kodiak: “Hey I just got an idea…”

Dakota: “No we are not taking it…”

Kodiak: “We should consider destroying it though… Sure we might have to leave Gowen, but think about it. If we destroy the crystal we should be able to get out of here without having to worry about monsters.”

Tiki: “I don’t like it, I like living in Gowen.”

Dakota: “Hold on, let’s think about this…”

I decide I have heard enough, and send out the two golems.

Dakota: “OH shit run!”

The group flees back into the large room, the golems however don’ fit though the door.

Mason: “Well that was a brilliant idea. let’s talk about killing it right in front of it…”

Dakota: “Don’t tell me you believe the old wives’ tales do you?

Mason: “I don’t know if its “alive” but I know it at least has instincts, and it probably could sense your intentions.”

Kodiak: “Regardless, we still are going to have to find a way out of here.”

Tiki: “How often do you think groups make it down this far?”

Mason: “I have enough food to get us by for two or three days, we could just wait for help.”

Dakota: “The golems are only rumored, and the map has changed. That means their information isn’t reliable, I would say we would run out of food and starve long before help arrived. I just say we hit fast and hard try to get out of here.”

Mason: “Well I want to live for those two or three days, your plan would work just as well then as it does now…”

Dakota: “We have no way to defend this point though, they could hit us from any side, the room’s size is also a great disadvantage.”

Tiki: “Nothing has followed in here yet, so I think if we just stay here we will be safe…”

Dane: “I am sorry Dakota, but I have to agree, if nothing comes up when we run out of food then we can try pushing through, until then I think this is our best option…”

Dakota: “Fine, but when this goes wrong remember I told you so…”

…I think I just got captives without even having to lock them up…