Verrick led the way into a cavernous hallway. Ray could tell immediately that the walls had been put in place and were fortified with everything and anything that could be found on hand. This wasn’t a normal entry hallway… this was a killing field. An area meant to funnel in attackers and wipe them out. The fact that he couldn’t see any weapon emplacements made him shiver at what kind of hidden traps may be present in this part of the building.

The hallway was about a hundred feet long and just wide enough for two of them to walk side by side. It didn’t take long for the group to funnel in and work their way forward. The doors closing caused him to jump a bit, even as Nyx chuffed out a laugh.

“If they meant us harm, Ray, they would have burnt us to a crisp with those fire devices at the front,” she chided.

He turned an inquisitive look towards her, “You could figure out what those flamethrowers were?”

“No. I had no idea what they were,” she admitted. “But I could smell the sulfur and smoke that lined the devices. Those have been used before. Probably several times before.”

“That doesn’t exactly bring me comfort,” Ray replied as they walked out into a larger chamber. Seeing the non-functioning restaurants that lined the walls, they had definitely just walked into the food court.

“It should bring you comfort!” boomed a voice from the center. There, sitting at a table and eating what looked to be some kind of salad, was a very robust man. He couldn’t have been any taller than Ray himself, but weighed easily two or three times what he did. He was wearing greasy overalls, had a shiny bald head, and was wearing thick, black, horn-rim glasses. Overall he gave a very ‘my uncle is a farmer’ vibe.

“If we never used them we could never need them. And if we needed them at some point we would never have had them!” the huge man called out cheerfully, shoving the rest of his food into his mouth before standing.

Ray walked over to him with Nyx and Verrick in tow. “Hey there! I’m Dennis. I kinda, sorta, maybe run this place. When the others let me,” he said with a cheerful chuckle. He held out his hand, “Nice to meetcha!”

Ray shook the man’s hand, his own not-so-small limb disappearing in the massive bear paws the other possessed. He grimaced at the nearly overwhelming strength he felt from the man's grip, causing Dennis to wince and quickly withdraw his hand.

“Sorry about that, I am still adjusting to my own strength. Can’t tell you how many cups I’ve broken in the last few days. Erica is angry at me bout that,” he drawled bashfully. “Anyway, Verrick! Good to see you, my guy! What brings you here? And who have you brought?”

Verrick made a half bow at the waist giving Dennis far more respect than anyone Ray had ever seen him give before. “A pleasure once more to meet with you Lord Dennis,” the Aelvin said formally. Straightening he continued, “With me is my Liege Lord Raymond Finnegan, First of his Line. With him are his Goblin Warrior escorts and his Soul Companion Nyx.”

“A pleasure to meet you,” Nyx said shaking her head in greeting.

“Likewise,” Ray said, shaking his hand. “That’s a crazy grip you have there.”

Dennis laughed cheerfully, a huge grin on his face as he patted his large belly. “A talking dog eh! Boy things have changed hah!” he laughed. “Yeah! Sorry again about that. The changes that got dropped on everyone gave me a crazy strength level. Thirty-one points let me mold steel like putty, but it helps with my class,” he said, his grin turning mysterious.

“But enough of that stuff,” he said turning to the {RANGER}. “Your Liege Lord? You know we have been trying to get you to join us for a long while now Verrick. You have to explain to me how that happened. We didn’t even need you to swear allegiance to us or nothing.”

Verrick nodded. “Indeed. However, My Lord has been my Liege prior to the Integration. Continuing our relationship when presented with the opportunity seemed ideal. We knew who we were dealing with. We knew the caliber of his character. And it hadn’t changed upon our chance meeting.”

Dennis shrugged that off, “Fair enough. It's not like it changes much,” he said, raising an eyebrow and looking at Ray. “Unless it does? Give me the low down my guy, why are you here? None of this fancy beating around-the-bush bullcrap either. Give it to me straight.”

“Dennis be nice to our guests or I will beat you senseless!” yelled a woman through the speakers, causing him to grimace.

Ray just grinned. He knew a wife’s tone when he heard one, and the large man definitely picked up on that realization. “That’s Erica… my wife,” he said sheepishly. “Guess I gotta apologize again,” he began, but Ray cut him off.

“No. No don’t do that. We get it,” he said waving the apology off with a chuckle. “We serve at the whims of our significant others. And I understand the caution. Really I and my little group are here to find the others we lost during the Integration. Finding Verrick as quickly as we did was just a huge plus. The other task I had was to scout the neighboring territories and figure out what we had for neighboring friends… or enemies.”

Dennis rubbed his chin, “Ah yeah, I remember something about a guy…” he trailed off as he realized who was standing in front of him. “You’re the guy that solidified his territory! We saw that System message about you!” he said, pointing a meaty finger at Ray’s chest. “Ah hell, you here to declare war or something? You wanna fight?”

“No, not at all!” Ray said, holding up his hands in a peaceful gesture.

A slamming noise had everyone turn as a door whipped open and a short red-headed woman with green eyes stormed out from one of the restaurants. She looked mad as hell and was holding a frying pan. Verrick’s eyes went wide and he took several steps backward to clear the path between her and Dennis.

“Oh shit,” Dennis muttered holding up his hands. “Erica, honey, sweety, I didn’t mean it!”

Ray, utterly lost as to what was going on, watched the five-foot-nothing woman go after Dennis with the drying pan. “You angry assuming chunk of husband mine! Pull your head out of your ass and start treating others with a bit of dignity!” she yelled as she popped him in the gut with the edge of the pan, using the cooking utensil somewhat like a spear. Ray could hear the air leave Dennis’ lungs as she turned to him.

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“What my rude, but chubby and darling, husband meant to ask is what you may want from us,” she said, clarifying. “We aren’t aggressive, but we are a smaller group with bigger means, and we don’t put up with much,” she said pointing at Ray. “So if you come in peace, great. If not, there’s the door.”

Ray chuckled, “You seem to appreciate getting directly to the point. So, I will do just that. While we mean to find our friends, we also mean to unify the groups as much as possible. Through peaceful means as much as possible. Your home here is fairly secure, but to be honest one pass from Rivea and this place would be gone. I would like to extend an invitation to join us at our fortified Arcology home in the next territory.”

“Pass,” Erica said instantly and fiercely. “We know nothing about you. Zip. Zilch. Zero. Don’t come in here and start asking us to uproot and move at the drop of a hat.”

Ray just chuckled, “I hadn’t even dreamed of it. But maybe we can at least trade or something? We have access to a System shop… well once we fix it that is. But we can barter quite a bit. We have food, supplies, and abilities that we can use to support one another.”

Erica eyed him speculatively for a moment before saying, “Aye? Well, you aren’t being entirely truthful, but you aren’t being outright hostile either. Maybe. Tell you what, you take care of those bandit fuckers or maybe clear that dungeon that’s been blocking us from getting to the waterfront, and we can talk about some more long-term plans. But for now, this is all that we are offering.”

“Fair enough,” Ray acquiesced, then he froze. “A dungeon? Like an actual, honest to god place you explore, fight monsters, and then escape with whatever it generates as loot?”

“Aye. That kind of dungeon,” Erica confirmed. “Lots of loot and goodies to be had there, but it's harder than a frozen goat's ass to get deeper into. Between the traps, the monsters, and the puzzles we haven’t gotten past the second floor. The worst part is the damn thing is blocking access to the sound.”

Ray thought about that for a moment. They had two paths forward here. The first would be to go after the bandits. Wiping them out would be key to ensuring peace in the area. Particularly if they were the largest and most hostile group. He would need his Drake for that. Probably.

The second path would be to try and clear the dungeon and get access to the coast. Getting a boat or two going would be a huge boost to their ability to explore if that was even possible. The dungeon would be static however, while the bandits would remain a threat that could hit them from behind if left unchecked.

Nodding to himself, he made his decision.

“We can take care of those bandits. That shouldn’t be too hard,” he reasoned aloud as Eric snorted and Nyx sighed loudly. “What? We just get Rivea to do a flyover and melt them all. Problem solved.”

Even Verrick turned away a bit at that statement.

Dennis chortled, “No one person is going to make a dent in that group. It’s a den of thieves and murderers that will kill you as quickly as possible and use your body for lunch or a sandbag. Probably both. Ain’t no way a single person is going to change that. Between their numbers, their traps, and some of their insane abilities they are a tough nut to crack.”

Ray grinned wildly. “You just leave that to us,” he said before turning to Erica. “But once they are gone I want something a bit more binding in place between the two of us. Trading, allies, or whatever. We are helping you a lot, so I expect something in return.”

Erica was caught a bit flat-footed at Ray’s casual display of absolute confidence. “I only put out the agreement from the group. What you accomplish remains to be seen,” she finally said. “We certainly won’t be letting you take us over as some colony. We fought and bled for the little amount of safety that we have now. The world can burn around us before we let go of that.”

Ray just sighed and turned back to the hallway leading outside. Before he led the group out he looked back over his shoulder and said, “At some point, you will have to either choose to become part of something larger and live, or watch your world do just that.”

With that he led everyone outside, leaving Erica and Dennis behind them. The woman had a thoughtful look on her face while Dennis only seemed amused.

“My Lord, contrary to your interaction with them they are good people,” began Verrick, but Ray cut him off.

“Don’t worry about it Verrick, I don’t want to fight them,” he assured the {RANGER}. “Outside of them actually becoming hostile, I think I can take the territory without them actually surrendering. Once that happens we can come to an agreement, that is if they don’t join us first. Now, about those bandits?”

The Aelvin just sighed, then turned the group up a nearby street and back into the jungle of twisted metal and abandoned buildings.

“The bandit group is holed up in the remains of what seems to be some kind of bank,” began Verrick, “It has been heavily fortified with one entrance and one exit. That we know of. Their patrols cover the streets outside of the building for several blocks in each direction. We should, most likely, run into one here shortly MY Lord.”

“Will we have to fight them or will they be open to discussion?” Nyx asked, curious.

The {RANGER} only shrugged. “I know not Lady Nyx. Most of their members who remain free of enslavement are of the homicidal persuasion. Kill first, rape later, ask questions if it only crosses their minds once the dirty and fun tasks are complete. We have never had a peaceful engagement with them, however with Lord Ray here he may find a way.”

“I do have a way with people, don’t I?” he said with a bit of pride.

“No. No, you do not. You mostly just threaten them or avoid death at the last moment,” Nyx chortled back, “Calling you a people person is like calling an apple a mage.”

Ray just shrugged. “Hey, I knew a Djinn once…”

He was about to continue when Verrick froze in place. The group of {RANGER}s spread out around them in a combat formation. Taking the cue, Ray and the Goblins drew their weapons while Nyx started eying the area around them.

Turning to Verrick Ray asked quietly, “What is it? What do you see?”

“A block in front of us are the remains of quite a few people,” he replied, narrowing his eyes to concentrate on something in the distance. “I make out… fifteen to thirty bodies. A wide range to be sure, but they are torn to pieces.”

He cautiously advanced forward on silent feet, the other {RANGER}s moving with him. Ray and his group slowly moved forward as well, not wanting to just leave the Aelvin {RANGER}s to fight whatever may be waiting for them. The group moved forward for another block, passing the silent buildings that loomed around them. It wasn’t long before they came up to the remains of the first body.

Bending down, Verrick touched the butchered corpse. The legs, head, and a single arm had been removed while the chest was nothing but an empty cavity. Verrick touched the arm at the elbow where it had been severed, looking back up at Ray in alarm.

“A clean cut. This was done by either a weapon or a very sharp tool,” he said calmly.

Ray muttered a curse. “They probably got ambushed. My first thought is some kind of monster or mutated undead. I don’t see any undead corpses here, or at least none that didn’t get up and walk away after the fact.”

“No, My Lord, I think this was one person or creature,” Verrick muttered, looking over the carnage. “Twenty-seven bodies. Clean cuts on all of them in the same areas. All are lethal and meant to kill, not maim or incapacitate. No weapons or equipment were taken. Ambush. Well planned.”

The {RANGER} leaped back as the sound of tearing metal echoed through the area where they were. The wicked noise bounced off the walls of the buildings to create a cacophony of noise. The remains of a bus not far from them were unceremoniously cut in half as a monster out of Ray's nightmares burst through it. It was huge, deadly-looking, and utterly silent.

“Well planned and still present,” grunted the {RANGER}.