64)

Observing an armed invasion from the dungeon core. Mood, peeved.

Another damned Dark One, and they broke my door.

The Thermite things they put on the stone slab I had been using as a door mostly melted the stone, but I think it ended up cracking open due to the weight of the door itself. Since It wasn’t part of the dungeon structure which was reinforced with magic, but instead was just a block of compressed dirt, it wasn’t all that tough.

But I decided that was still cheating and decided to do something about it.

The kobolds armed with spray cans and capsaicin dusting roaches were not one of the normal random monster groups, but one I made while the soldiers were searching the house. I only dropped the ball on the button to hide the fact that I could choose to send in monsters to the starter room anytime I wanted.

Plus it was worth it to see the look on their leader’s face as he watched helplessly as it dropped.

The resulting fight was both comedic and educational. The officer quickly realized their weapons were not working and had all of his people pulling out blades of all types with just the one word. “Melee.”

These guys, and gals, were good.

They were also rainbow colored and snot nosed after the fight. Some of them were even pulled to the back of the group due to having trouble breathing.

I guess I might want to mix something in with the capsaicin when I only trying to warn people they had managed to annoy me.

The Dark One, while walking around inside a human form, was from a race I wasn’t familiar with. Imagine a human with red skin and a set of wings while still having arms as well. Add on a set of horns to go with the tail that ended with a flared pointy tip.

Oh, and stark naked.

I guess that wasn’t much of a concern for her since no one could see her true form as a spirit riding inside of her host. But it still seemed a bit unprofessional. I mean she seemed to know something about cores, did she not realize that I could see her?

Or was that her plan? No thanks lady. I’m married to someone I both like and love. And she would find some way to kill me if I got together with someone without her.

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Addams seemed to have finished getting all of his people eyes washed out and was testing some of his firearm weapons by trying to shoot them down the steps.

A small woman pointed out the sign on the landing. "Says it's trapped Sir." He nodded at her. "I noticed, that's why I'm sending you down first."

She grinned and almost began eagerly jumping up and down. Must be a rogue.

The woman managed to jump out of the way of the eight foot long steel spike I had the kobolds drop through the weakened panel in the ceiling right behind her. Just before the tip even began to break through.

Definitely a Rogue.

The point slammed into the floor and it was the metal that broke, or at least bent, on the floor.

A bunch of the soldiers snapped up their useless firearms and pointed them at the spike. Their captain didn't even flinch, instead he just read the engraving on the spike. “Only five people at a time.”

Turning to the Dark One he asked. "Are we following this rule too Lucia?"

The Dark One’s host body crossed her arms and nodded. “We might as well. If we don’t play by its rules it might pick us off one by one until we are down to only five anyways.”

Somehow I don’t think saving people's lives was her real motivation. Maybe she was planning on something that she wanted fewer witnesses for. After all, it would be a lot easier to kill four inconvenient people than twenty eight of them.

Addams looked around. “Me, Lucia, Zucker, Garth, and Swiftwater will be the entry team. Kowalski, get a fiber optic scope up into that hole and see what's up there."

Then he turned to the Rogue. “Swift, find the trap.”

The small woman first sprayed down a clear misty something down the steps from a device like the paint cans. Then she began tapping on the walls and steps with a small hammer. She hit the ceiling with the tip of a knife she stuck onto the end of her no longer working firearm. Her captain had insisted they still carry them along.

She found the oil releasing mechanism, as well as the panel meant for a kobold to drop down a road flare from.

My kobolds were pretty upset about that, but they also seemed inspired. A sense of spite can be very motivational.

The five of them slowly, very slowly made their way down the steps. The little Rogue in front. The captain with a drawn saber he had retrieved from the Porter's room. The Dark One who had a knife hanging on her belt at the Captain’s insistence. The Porter with an improbable looking crossbow built with two cross arms to shoot two bolts before reloading. Then finally at the back the man who had wreaked my door with a throwing hatchet in one hand and a broad bladed knife in the other.

There had been some discussion with the Captain's second about bringing a healer with his group of five, but the Captain only said he had his reasons not to do so.

There had also been some discussion between the Captain and the Porter about the double shot crossbow, but the Porter claimed that he had space left in his white room to carry discretionary equipment.

Down below, looking at the unlit salt room caused the Porter to produce large block like goggles from his white room that all five of them strapped on over their eyes. Then they flipped switches on them before walking into the salt room.

The very room I had been relying on adventurers to have lights with them to let the Quick kobolds see by.

As my creature stumbled around in the dark, the Rogue skewered one while the large man kicked one in the head before the other three hid.

The one that had been kicked had its arms, legs, and snout tied up with plastic strips and then stuffed into a sack which the larger man shouldered.

Not sure what their plan was there, but I took a moment to look through my Champions eyes across the street to see him looking into a small, round mirror I had put on a metal rod to allow him to look around corners. Such as the one he was currently looking around at the four guards keeping an eye on Iris.

My ant scouts had kept track of her, and I was going to need her help with the Dark One.