63)

In a house that had recently had a garage sale.

I nodded at he old lady. “Something like that. I didn’t want any more kids getting killed by these things.”

Deslover shrugged. “Somebody has to find the feral ones first. They won’t be the last.”

I gave her a long look. “You don’t seem too concerned.”

She laughed. “They got killed because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. But the moment they got a notice about entering a dungeon, they had a choice to walk away. They didn’t. That wasn’t a a tragedy, it was a risk that didn’t pay off.”

“Me, I got the same notice, made the same choice, and lucked out with Tark. He wanted me to not only survive, but to level up. And I got all the way up to Copper four and bumped up my Health by three points before the government decided to invade my home and “Save me” from the horrible fate of getting to live longer and healthier.”

She looked from me to Muerta. “Best I can hope for now is ending up homeless. But I’m guessing I’m going to end up buried in some secret prison or end up somehow tragically dying from something they’re going to blame on Tark.”

I wanted to deny it, but the words died on my lips at the smirk on Muerta’s face as she stared down the old woman.

I cleared my throat. “Miss Deslover. I have orders to enter the Dungeon and secure the entities core. Is there anything I can convince you to share with me that might save my teams lives. It’s possible your cooperation could help you as well.”

She sneered. “At least you’re not making any promises Addams. If that is your real name.”

The old woman ignored my attempts to protest. “First, you ain’t the first ones to try to go after Tark. The last ones didn’t have anything left of them but some holes burned into my dining room floor. Run Tark’s gauntlet, kill his critters, take the loot and you’ll be fine. Go after him, and the gloves are off.”

Deslover shook her heads slowly. “I’ve never pushed him, but just trying to make things a challenge for me has almost killed me a few times. Piss him off and you’ll get to see what he really can do.”

Then she grinned at me. “Really piss him off and you’ll get to see what his wife has set up for him.”

I saw the old woman stiffen up as she realized she may have said too much. “His wife?”

She shook her head. “I said too much, some of which is not supposed to be spoken of, or what little communications we have will get cut off entirely. No more talking, just get me my lawyer.”

The guards began to explain to her that she was only being detained. In a tone of voice that sounded like it wasn’t the first time they had to explain that to her. I followed Muerta back outside. “I don’t think Deslover has anything else to say Addams. So perhaps we should proceed into the dungeon?”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

I nodded in agreement and rejoined my troops.

A quick briefing from the Agent who had made the initial entry of the house indicated that the entrance to the nest was in the basement below the house’s stairs. I sent in the first team to secure the landing, while the second team swept the rest of the house.

Afterwards we ended downstairs in an atypical for the area basement looking at a set of stairs going two stories down around a curve.

Sargent Burk point at the wall. “Sir...”

A white stone sign slowly flipped over sideways to reveal lettering saying that the Dungeon was open.

Someone, probably Zucker whispered, “Creepy...”

“Stow that talk. Team one, proceed down the steps.”

It took a bit of time to get two dozen fully armed and armored men and women down a flight of steps, and considering that the room down below was only twenty foot across, most of them ended up still trailing up the steps.

There was some giggling and outright laughs as my people entered the room below

Kolwalski pointed at the wall at the bottom of the steps. “False panel sir, should we breech?” I glanced a the wall. “Let Kirby check it out.”

For once no one suggested a stool for the petite young woman who had been barely admissible to the military. But a Copper rank three Rogue with a trap finding skill had gotten her some leeway on the height requirements and on the team.

After probing the panel for a bit, she eased it open, stared and then turned to me. “It’s got a stack of cash in it sir. The top bill’s a hundred. Permission to loot sir?”

Well the old woman said taking things was approved. “Granted, but you buy the first round when we get out of here Private.”

Then I entered my the Dungeon itself.

[ You have entered Tark’s hole ]

[ You have entered your first Dungeon. Reward 10 experience ]

Well, that happened.

The room beyond the doorway had a circle of statues that I guessed was the monsters we could end up fighting, as well as a pedestal with a button on top to bring up the first wave of creature to fight in order to open the door to the stairs that could take us deeper in.

I looked around the room. “I’ve been told you can communicate and are called Tark. How about you stop playing games and open the door so we can talk face to face.”

I got few odd looks, but no reply. “Garth, wire the door. Everyone but team two clear the room.”

The door was wired to blow. The remote was triggered. Nothing.

My demolitions man checked his work, took cover behind the pedestal, and triggered the explosive again. Nothing.

The bearded detached special forces Sargent had begun to look a bit miffed. “It must be blocking the signal somehow Sir. I’m going to hook up a wire.

The wire worked just as well as the first two attempts.

“Screw it. Zucker, pull out some Thermite.

The porter pulled one of Garth’s crates from his white room. As the bricks began to light up, what I had thought was a decorative ball in the center of the molded ceiling dropped down directly on the button to summon a number of monsters equal to the number of people in the room.

A room in which fourteen of my people had bunched up in to see what was happening with the door.

Things I learned.

Fifteen people stuffed into a twenty foot across room with fourteen kobolds armed with cans of spray paint puts the kobolds at a advantage.

Dozens of cockroaches flying at people’s faces could release puff of what felt like cayenne pepper into people’s eyes with a fair degree of accuracy.

Insisting on all of my people having a knife, machete, tomahawk or other hand to hand weapon had been a wise decision as the few of us with clear shots found out our guns were not working.

Painted, blinded, and with no working firearms, I was not happy to hear Muerta’s commentary. “Well done Addams, maybe we should just play the entity’s games as we continue.”

I shot the woman a glare as she glanced down the stairs past the shattered door. For a moment I thought I saw two different shadows stretching out ahead of her. But it was probably just the remaining pepper in my eyes.