44)

The next day, the adventures, like so many others, had fully, confidently, prepared themselves for everything that had happened in the last battle they had been in.

The first thing they had to deal with was the larger more dangerous squirrel that led the fight in the squirrel rampage room. But ultimately its greater size and bright red fur just made it more of a target and even with its greater strength and more deadly claws, it was still just a small furry animal.

Molly swatted it out of the air and into a wall and Iris called out, "I got it!" and almost made it over to it in time to kick it to death before it got back to its feet and leaped at her.

"Spin kick!" Only for it to get kicked out of the air hard enough to stun it until Molly reached it and racketed it to death.

For once the old woman didn’t hurt herself using her skill, but she did end up falling halfway over until she stopped herself with one hand. I’m not sure why she keeps yelling the name of her ability.

Molly made a point of announcing her disappointment in there not being any special rewards for beating a new monster while looking around the room as if speaking to an unseen listener.

Weird.

Halfway down the stairs to the second floor, Ernesto came to a stop. "It's dark down there."

Then both he and Molly produced handheld devices made to shine a cone of light forward. The healer handed hers to Iris and produced another version that strapped around her own forehead.

Iris snorted "If you two have any more good ideas, maybe share them next time, before we come in?"

At the bottom of the stairs, the boy came to a stop again and pointed. "There are webs." Iris looked around the corner from the stairs. "Yep. Tark has been busy. I'm just hoping it isn't going to be three hundred spiders this time."

Heh, no not three hundred. But I do summon a notepad and mark her suggestion down. Not right now, but I will make that happen for you someday Iris.

After some discussion, the boy took the first jump and when nothing happened, another one. With a shrug, the old woman jumped to the first slab, but as her cat started to follow, it stopped with a hiss as it saw a long spindly leg reach out from below the stone platform that stood above the water filled pit.

As the spider climbed up, Molly screamed and pointed. Ernesto looked back and missed the two climbing from underneath the front of the slab he was standing on. Iris turned around in time to spot the spider as it began to climb over the edge of her foot.

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The old woman's attempt to kick it away landed it on Molly's feet. "Whoops!"

The healer let out a high pitched squeak and fell onto the steps going up as she tried to go up them backwards, and Buttercup managed to dodge her wildly kicking legs to start to tear the big spider apart.

Ernesto only realized that two of the spiders had begun climbing up his legs after they failed to penetrate the thick material of his boots and began to climb up higher. Spinning around with a yell while he was trying to knock them off, he fell off of his stone slab. As he tipped over he reached out to grab the slab Iris stood on with one hand with his feet still on the first one and he dangled in between them.

Then he began to shake himself while trying to swat the two spiders still clinging to his pants with his free hand. "They're still on me!"

Iris sighed, "Just drop into the water, bugs can't hold their breath."

He glanced up at her, then looked down into the water, and falls.

His splash is much larger and louder than Iris's when she dropped. For in addition to being much larger, the bottom of the pit is now ten feet deeper down.

The spiders, sadly don't make it as they hit the water and then are hit by a large hulking teenager. Even if they had survived the fall his panicked thrashing in the water with all his gear on would have finished them off before he realized the water was only five feet deep.

And recently chilled with a few hundred pounds of ice.

The two women looked down in some concern before Ernesto stood up straight. Between his light and theirs, they could see that the pit go past another room below them with a five foot wide pit filled with water alongside a five foot wide slope that runs along it with a ten foot long balancing beam over the gap below the landing on the bottom of the stairs.

The ladder to climb up is now over on the other side of the pit that goes below the jumping slabs.

Ernesto climbed up and shined his light back towards the balance beam once he got halfway up the ladder. "There are no walls to lean on for balance next to the beam, but a room opens up further back and I think I can see an exit."

Iris called down to him. "Keep going up, I'm sure we'll end up down there later on anyways and we can figure it out then.

Pushing on they find the miniature castle empty, this time at least, and Molly handed Ernesto a towel. Iris gave her a look. "How much crap are you carrying around down here." The healer just shruged. "It's the scout motto, be prepared. Besides you complained all the way upstairs when you got wet last time."

Dropping the door the three of them crowded around the doorway to look into the fight room cautiously. I don't know what they expected to see. The monsters never appeared until one of them crossed over the fallen door. And I made a point to clean up their messes like burning paint fumes and scorch marks on the floor.

Finally, without even a nudge to get him started, Ernesto crossed over the pit below the door. Iris stood behind him with a spraying paint canister and lit lighter behind him. Molly stood ready to run for it behind them both with Buttercup at her feet.

Three black faced raccoons scrambled out of the summoning room as soon as the boy's foot hit the floor. All three of the adventures seemed to relax as they moved out to meet the fight, then froze as blue flashes of light came from behind the raccoons.

Two kobolds armed with two scalpel spears each followed alongside the yellow scaled electric kobold as it sauntered out of the summoning room. Arcs of electricity dancing between her hands as she stepped out with an evil grin.

Just before a spraying paint canister smacked her in the head.

Way to ruin the moment Iris. At least the canister didn't explode into flames or anything.

Molly managed to hit a raccoon on the shoulder which slowed its charge for the moment as the boy ran at the other two, tossing a wet towel at one's head as he next swung low with his club at the last one, clipping it as it tried to move aside. Sending it half rolling, half dodging away.

Iris jumped over the one with the towel to land a solid kick on one of the remaining kobolds but had to jump aside as the other charged her legs with a scalpel spear in each hand stabbing wildly. Only to get body slammed down by Buttercup.

The electric kobold managed to use it's magic to give Iris a nasty burn on her leg just before the old woman stomped on it with her full weight. Denying it a real chance to show off what it could do. Hopefully the next time it would hang back like a real spellcaster and use it's magic at range.