The cage and wires creaked and groaned, but down they went. More than one member of the party looked nervously around after a particularly disturbing sound, but when despite their worries, they arrived safely at the first stop.

In front of them was a stone corridor that looked like it had been drilled or excavated. The ceiling looked stable enough, but there were girders here and there to support it. The direction of the shaft was more or less level, neither angling up or down. There was at least one turn so they couldn’t see very far but based on what they could see the width of the tunnel changed from very narrow to comfortably wide.

There was a lot of cover for potential enemies, such as miscellaneous rubble, different-sized wooden boxes, and some big rocks lying around—most looking like they’d been there for some time. While they couldn’t immediately see any threats, they remained vigilant as they moved out of the cage. As above, there was a dull red light, but there seemed to be fewer lamps – or at least fewer- working. Some of them flickered now and then, which didn’t help the ambiance.

“I guess there’s no need to be quiet, considering the lift squealed more than a prepubescent kid in a haunted house”, said RedReaver as they started to walk forward.

“I thought that noise came from you,” joked Margos.

“Oh, I admit I let out a yelp or two, but only because you were squeezing my hand so hard,” he retorted.

Margos raised his hands, showing he carried his machete and a torch. “That must have been Eclipse. My hands are full.”

“No need to be embarrassed. If you need some extra comfort when things get scary, I’m happy to provide it. That’s just how I am. A nice guy.”

Ashira snorted. “With the name RedReaver you seem like a ‘Nice guy’, all right. Just missing the fedora.”

“Hey, no need to be mean,” said RedReaver while pretending to sulk. “Besides, we are focusing on Margos now, and his need for physical closeness in scary situations.”

“That’s a funny coincidence. My machete is triggered by bullshit and is also in need of some ‘physical closeness’ right about now. You might want to keep that in mind as your back looks mighty exposed, to me. Just a suggestion, of course.” Margos pretended that his weapon was pulled towards RedReaver’s back as if magnetized, but he was able to hold it back... for now.

“Quiet, and pay attention to your sectors,” barked Nathan. “There is something not right, here.”

RedReaver looked over his shoulder with a puzzled expression. “Jheez, Eclipse. Just shooting the breeze, nothing -”

Before he could finish his sentence, his foot tripped over a thin wire, and as he fell forward three wooden poles shot out from a crate beside him. While one of them missed by a whisker, the two others caught him flatfooted and stabbed into his side and thigh. The impact savagely knocked him off his feet.

The others yelled out in surprise and started towards RedReaver to help him, but Nathan hesitated. He recognized that what had made him suspicious was that the crate with the trap wasn't as dusty as it should be compared with the other crates around them. He scanned the area looking for other things that stood out in similar fashion, without success.

But there was another thing that caught his attention. Now that the others had stopped speaking, he picked up a background noise that gradually became louder. It sounded like something –perhaps many things – yelping or yipping or something like that. The sound echoed around in the tunnel, so it was hard to say exactly where it came from, but probably from further down the tunnel.

Nathan moved up ahead of Ashira and Margos as they helped their injured tank back to his feet. The next area was particularly dark, as none of the lamps there seemed to work. As Nathan starred into the area, he could just make out the forms of some crates and stones. And... was that movement?

“CONTACT FRONT!” he yelled and braced himself as a number of waist-high creatures came running out from the darkness, wielding spears. He only had time to notice their scaley snouts and yellow eyes before the first one reached him.

When the creature was a couple of steps away, it jumped at Nathan, reaching an impressive height and leading with its spear. Using a jump attack like that could be perceived as particularly menacing and surprising to an unprepared target. However, for the attacker, it also has the unfortunate side effect of being a thrall to the laws of physics, without any chance to change trajectory mid-flight.

Because of this, when Nathan kept his head cool and just nudged his spear tip upward, the creature had no way to avoid being skewered, its own spear never reaching its target.

Nathan swiped the spear sideways to dislodge his dead attacker, but the next attacker was already there, so instead he continued the movement and tried to take a swing at it with the butt of the spear.

The gray and scaly assailant stopped short to avoid being hit, but in doing so managed to get in the way of another attacker. They smacked into each other and went down, spears flying. Before they gathered their wits, Nathan had time to level his spear and ram it into the closest one of them.

The other one had to wait, as two new adversaries forced Nathan to dodge backwards while blocking. He kept them at bay for a breath or two using wide-sweeping attacks, but as one of them got too eager an opening revealed itself. He stepped forward while sneaking the spear shaft down and around his opponent’s, pushing it enough to the side to allow a clean strike to the torso of the creature.

His opponent was gravely hurt but stayed upright until Nathan managed to land a second attack. It crumpled, but it had given its friend enough time to line up an attack of its own. It aimed for the liver, but Nathan managed to twist sideways at the last moment, reducing the injury to a slice across the back. It hurt, but not as much as it would have done without the hide armor reducing the damage.

As he fought, he knew that a number of other creatures had charged past him and he could hear fighting from behind, but he hadn't had time to give it much thought. It therefore came as a surprise when RedReaver rushed by on the left and executed a shaky but acceptable shield bash, before chopping down with his axe.

Seeing that the squad now looked to be organized, the rest of the attacking force disappeared back into the dark with some parting shrieks.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

RedReaver was about to follow in pursuit, but Nathan managed to grab his shoulder and stop his movement before he was out of reach.

“Red, wait,” he ordered. When he got RedReavers attention, he pointed out another tripwire two steps away.

The big man looked embarrassed. “Oh, thanks. I’d have charged right into that one for sure.”

“Don’t worry about it. How are you holding up? That first trap got you good.”

“Lost a couple of hit points, but it was a bigger hit to my pride. I’m fine.”

“Good.” Nathan looked around and saw Ashira and Margos investigating one of the bodies. “Find some cover and keep an eye forward while I check on the others. And eat something. This is just the beginning.”

Following his own advice, Nathan fished out some dried meat while he walked over to the other two. They stood over what appeared to be a small dead bipedal reptilian. “What do we have here? Were any of you able to analyze them?”

Ashira nodded. “I did, but I didn’t get too much info. They are called Kobold spotters and are level 5. I didn’t get any stats or anything, and when they are dead, they reveal even less,” she shared.

Nathan looked down at the dead kobold. In size, it was similar to the low-level goblins, but the snout clearly looked to be from a crocodile or perhaps a dinosaur. Its weapon was a simple spear of questionable quality. Probably not worth picking up. It didn’t have any armor to speak of besides some rags, but the scales looked to provide some protection. And speaking of the scales, it looked to be mostly grey, but it did have some black and even brown spots. Almost exactly the same colors as the stone wall surrounding them. Could it have some chameleon traits?

“I’ll try to analyze the next one we meet and see if I get any more info. There are more traps ahead, so we should move more carefully from now on.” He started to turn away, before thinking better of it. “Ah... Are any of you hurt? Do you need some time?”

They looked at each other. “I got some scratches, but I can go on”, Ashira finally said. Margos didn’t look any worse for wear and just nodded.

“Ok, good. We can have a breather when we’ve cleared this tunnel. Now, move out.” Nathan took the lead and slowly crept forward. RedReaver followed closely behind, ready to step in with his shield if needed. Whenever Nathan spotted a trap, they waited while he disarmed it before they continued forward.

The traps were of a simple design. Efficient, but easy to break or avoid once you knew they were there. The ones using wooden spears shooting from the side was of the more complex ones, as most of the others either dropped a bunch of rocks from the roof or were just simple tripping hazards combined with sharp rocks or hidden spikes on the floor.

They kept walking, expecting an attack any second, but no attack came, and before long the tunnel stopped.

“Is this it? Where did the other kobolds go?” asked Ashira as her eyes moved from side to side, not letting her guard down. “Could it be a hidden door? Or a fake wall?”

RedReaver walked over to the wall and kicked it, but the only change was him hopping around on one foot swearing.

“Seems solid enough to me”, Margos concluded.

Nathan considered the area before sharing his thoughts. "According to the map up top, the shaft should end around here. Besides, look over there.” He pointed to an area with some old dirty fabrics piled together beside a bunch of random junk and worthless trinkets. “I think the kobolds were sleeping here.”

"You are probably right, but where are they? I saw at least three flee down the tunnel.”

“Four,” corrected RedReaver. “Pretty sure it was four.”

“Three, four, whatever. The point is, we didn’t pass any of them on our way here. Besides, if this is their lair, you’d expect them to defend it.”

“And you’d expect a boss,” added Nathan, who’d walked a bit away from the others while investigating the area. “In short, there is only one conclusion. We need to go lower. As for the missing kobolds, they are small, and their scales have a camouflage-like texture. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that we walked right past them. If so, they’ve either gone down before us to warn the rest of the tribe or...”

“Or they lie in wait in another ambush” finished RedReaver.

“Exactly. We move back in the same formation but keep an eye in all directions. And stay frosty.”

“Frosty?” the big man mouthed to the others behind Nathan’s back and received a sarcastic nod and a thump up in return from Margos.

They started back, moving the same way as they did before they discovered the first trap, as the need for Nathan’s trap-finding probably wasn’t needed. The chance of the kobolds having time to set up any new ones was low, so while it was a risk, it was a low risk. Instead of looking for traps, Nathan studied the tunnel wall in detail as they walked, looking for anything out of the normal.

He didn’t hear the ‘kipping’ sound this time. Not until the kobolds were almost on top of them, and the sound was apparent for all of them.

“Here they come,” yelled RedReaver as he hunkered down behind his shield. Margos moved up beside him, creating a bottleneck between some rubble in the tunnel.

At the same time, just as Nathan looked away from the wall and eyed the tunnel in front of them, he caught a slight movement in his side vision. When he looked back, part of the wall was slowly unfolding itself into the form of a kobold. It looked at him with raised clawed hands and hissed.

“Watch out for attacks from the side! Huddle up and watch each other's back” instructed Nathan, as he prepared his spear and moved closer to the frontline fighters.

The kobold followed him with its eyes as it slowly inched closer. The second Nathan took a moment to check on the position of Ashira, it pounced.

Still, Nathan was ready and easily intercepted it. The spear pierced the kobold's center mass, and with a flick it was thrown to the ground where Nathan dispatched it with another stab.

At the same time, Ashira was busy with her own attacker, and as he finished up Nathan took the opportunity to see how she handled herself.

Unlike his attacker, hers had kept the spear while hiding and therefore had a good reach despite its diminutive size. It struck out twice in succession, but Ashira danced away effortlessly.

As she dodged the second attack, she launched her rope-dart with a twirl of her elbow, surprising the kobold who received a wound in the shoulder. She pulled the dart back and in with a pirouette and sent it flying again after a new rotation.

This time the rope wrapped around the kobold’s neck. It dropped its spear in panic and grasped at the rope to no avail.

Ashira pulled the monster closer with a quick jerk as she also swept the legs. It landed facedown, and the ‘ninja’ easily controlled it by putting a foot on its spine while holding the rope tight. With some effort she could probably snap its neck, but instead, she pulled out a dagger from some hidden pocket, leaned down, and stabbed it in the heart.

She spent more time unwinding the rope than she did finishing the fight.

While this had been going on, three other kobolds had been teeing off on RedReaver’s shield. They would have worn him down if Margos hadn’t been beside him, deflecting the odd attack on his buckler while counterattacking.

There was no room for Nathan to quickly engage the rest of the kobolds as things stood, and as they hadn’t trained on how to work together, he decided it would be too risky to stand behind the others and look for openings. Instead, he moved a bit to the side where a large boulder was resting against the wall. By climbing and jumping from an old barrel, he was able to get on top of the boulder. As he had hoped, the elevation gave him an angle for attack.

He threw his spear in the direction of the kobolds. The way they lined up, he hoped to hit one of them. And he did. The first one saw the attack coming and moved backward. The second one did not. While the spear didn’t hit it per se, it got tangled up in its legs, making it fall. As the first one had already disengaged, that gave Margos the opening he needed to step up and end the stalemate.

Alena was able to move into the space left by Margos, and at that time the result of the fight was a foregone conclusion.

RedReaver isolated one kobold with his shield, while Alena and Margos killed the other. Then all three of them ganged up on the last one. In the end, only the players remained breathing, as the tunnel once again fell quiet.