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Ernesto began to wiggle the head of his axe edged club into the sand, each turn of his wrist working the blunt tip of his weapon in a little deeper. Once he got over a foot down he hit the bottom "It's deep enough for things to be buried in there."

Iris looked out at the salt. "Well, let's just wait. If anything is hiding under there, they'll have to come up for air pretty soon, right?"

The three of them stood there for a while with nothing happening before the boy finally turned to look at the other two and shrugged before taking a step out onto the salt.

Pausing, and still seeing nothing happening he began to walk across the sand filled room, with Iris and her cat, then Molly following along behind.

The healer always goes in the middle. I was going to have to hammer that rule into them soon.

Halfway across the room, Ernesto activated the summoning. Four spiked kobolds appeared in shallow pits topped with large metal mixing bowls that created air pockets large enough for them to appear in. All curled up with some stone clubs identical to the boys. Just smaller sized for the copper rank three creatures.

Since the top of the four bowls which were lined up alongside the path from the entry to the exit were only an inch below the top of the salt, the kobolds suddenly rising to their feet sent salt flying in all directions and startled the adventurers badly enough to let the creatures close in on them. Swinging their clubs and hitting all three of the people in their legs and nearly flattening the cat.

After that, well, people are still six times as large as even my largest Kobold. The spiked were my toughest guys, but the outcome was never in doubt. But for once all four of the group were bleeding by the end of a fight and for once they decided to retreat rather than push on to complete the level.

I guess that was a good outcome. They learned a lesson on discretion. Got a good day's worth of experience points for some new fights and even got a magic ring out of it. It was a good morning.

So I don't see why they were all depressed. Or in Iris's case, angry.

"Freaking Tark. Why does everything have to go for my legs when I have to walk up six flights of steps? And how am I supposed to get my shoes clean? I can't walk around with bloodstained shoes. Does he expect me to have a special part just for this? Well, he can dam well pay me for them then."

And so on all the way upstairs. Molly just seemed concerned and exhausted while Ernesto remain stoic.

Even in the face of something he should be celebrating. "I got to level two."

Well, at least that brightened up the other two. After consulting with him they ordered pizzas, one for him with all the meat, another for the women with a mix of vegetables and fungus for some odd reason. I've heard of people eating mushrooms. But normally it was starving people or forest folk.

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From their discussion, I learned Ernesto had gotten Simple damage reduction which would decrease how much damage he took from all sources, physical damage anyways. Combined with his ability to ignore pain he was shaping into quite the Defender. He was really lucking out to get two combat abilities in a row. Abilities to go without food or water, resist heat and cold, or eat bad food were more common for Survivors.

Hopefully his class would change before he got something useless for adventuring.

Rather than plunge into another trip downstairs for more danger and injuries, they decided to call it a day. Molly went home to surprise her boyfriend. Iris watched an old movie on her computer.

Ernesto stashed his bag full of armor in Iris's garage and then used it as a pillow. Preferring to nap on a cement floor for the rest of the afternoon rather than go home.

I decided to send out some blankets and couch cushions later that night in case this came up again. I don't want him all stiff and sore when he goes into the dungeon.

The next day the boy showed up with a four pronged short handled pitchfork. When Iris raised her brows at him he explained. "I want something I can stab with when there isn't room to swing, but it's heavy enough to swing too.'

The old woman asked to see and poked and swung it for a bit. “Yeah, that’ll work.”

Their trip downstairs went a lot quicker and with fewer injuries due to not being surprised this time. Which also meant less experience for them, but they didn't seem too upset this time. When the four spiked kobolds popped up this time the first thing that happened was Iris kicking a spray of salt into two of their eyes and the boy impaled one.

They seemed pretty pleased with themselves. Just wait until they learn I was going to switch up the positions and what creatures were in the room every day.

From there they went around the corner to a brightly lit room filled end to end with plants. I even had some wild grape vines running up the walls.

Molly looked over the boy's shoulders wide eyed. "He can grow stuff down here?"

Ernesto seemed less impressed as he stabbed the pitchfork into the ground and drove it in deep with his foot. "It's just as deep as the salt, probably more stuff hiding under the dirt."

The three of them looked around the room, but no. This room was all about learning not all dangers come from creatures. At least until I changed the room.

Ernesto made it about halfway across before the pins holding up the floor got pulled by two Spiked kobolds below the floor. The ramp created by the dropping floor wasn't much more than forty degrees. But it was enough to send the boy tumbling down it toward the water filled pit below.

Rolling over and over in the mix of various weeds along with a lot of poison Ivy. Beware the environment.

Iris only had one foot on the top of the ramp, and it only dropped a few inches for her, barely making her stumble. But it did keep her from even trying to stop Ernesto's fall.

The first time I tested the room all the dirt and plants on the ramp went down into the pit, which may have buried anyone going down with it under a few feet of dirt, while also being underwater. So I put a lip on the bottom of the ramp to stop the loose material, leaving only the boy to tumble in for a soaking.

He seemed a trifle annoyed as climbed the ladder to get back to the room.

The women crossed over the slope easily, if cautiously, enough. Molly handed the boy a dry if slightly ripped and blood stained towel.

From there they came to the last, well lit room in which a heavy copy of Iris’s front door awaited them.

The three of them shuffled forward to all stare at the writing on the door.

Iris rubbed her eyes. “Really Tark. A riddle.”

Molly grinned as she read it out loud. "Every time you speak, you destroy this. I think I know it, but I also have.." She pulled out her phone. "Ta-da. The power of Google… or I would if I had a signal down here. Why did I think that would work?"

The other two stared at her as she held her phone up as if pleading to an unseen god and began a slow dance around the room. Iris finally broke the silence. "I don't think that's going to help. You said you know the answer. So what is it?"

The healer stopped her dance and looked a little embarrassed. "Oh. Silence. I'm pretty sure."

The mouse concealed in the wall pushed the unattached deadbolt out of the socket as the three of them looked at the door waiting for some kind of acknowledgment of having gotten the right answer. I guess I would have to add a bell from the kitchen timer.

After a moment Ernesto asked "Should I try the door?" and as the other two nodded and agreed he turned the knob to reveal another resting room and a small stack of hundred dollar bills along with a metal mixing bowl of iced drinks, and another filled with fruit.

Upstairs Envoy was waiting for them with a note telling the boy why his arms were itching.