Billy sighed with relief, and Layla did the same as they crossed the boundary of Hungrytown. "Damn, that woman scares me. It felt like she was watching us all the way to the border."

Sitting down on a tombstone to catch her breath, Layla agreed. "She was. Every person in town, even the little brats playing games with Rolly, kept turning to watch us. I don't like that place, coffee, and pie excepted."

"Yeah, it's difficult once you ascend to a high tower to come back down to earth. Hopefully, you don't have to associate with any of the lowly people down here. It's hard to get fancy clothes clean when you roll in the dust and blood and ghoul guts with the peons." The way Suzette said that almost had Billy agreeing with her. Her face didn't reveal any of the sarcasm in her statement.

Rather than take any offense, he just smiled. "Make a memo to give Suzette a job review in the near future, Layla. She's displaying management potential. First, she negotiates a deal, slips in some profit on the side for her division while selling it as a win to us, and takes a bribe from the vendor. Now she displays proper boardroom etiquette."

The Baroness mimed playing secretary. "Sorry, oh mighty Northern Region Boss, but you already filled your slots for lackeys. You have Ozzy as head counsel, Ben is the Baronial spokesperson, and Rolly handles taxes and legal. You're full up, but I have an opening for a Girl Friday in my department."

Suzette looked from one to the other. "Seriously...no, you aren't serious...you know what, let's go kill ghouls and forget about this."

Rolly looked a little disappointed. "What about Squirmie? You didn't mention her."

Billy thought about that and looked at Layla, who nodded affirmatively. "Yeah, I agree. Fearless Leader has been doing a great job making heads roll. Why change a winning team."

Ozzy strode to the dungeon and lifted the heavy bar from the doors. The piece of wood was only a few inches thick but weighed tons! He lifted it six inches and then had to drop it back in place. "Crap! I'm going to need help. Mama has this entrance sealed tight!"

Suzette moved forward and grabbed the bar, lifting it and setting it to the side. "It's not about muscle power and all about permission." She grabbed both doors and pulled. The ten-foot-tall slabs of oak reinforced with iron bands opened easily for her on squeaky hinges, revealing a fifty-foot square entryway with a set of wide stairs descending from all three sides. Four crystal chandeliers gave very little light in the room decorated with rotting red carpet and broken furniture. Marble walls showed cracks with pale roots growing out. Statues, with heads broken off were in each corner, and between them, the walls showed yellowed portraits of nobles in stylish clothing. The lowest portraits were torn to shreds by sharp claws. Besides cobwebs and some cracked and well-gnawed bones, nothing greeted them. The doors slammed shut behind them.

Ben saw a few claw marks twenty feet up the walls. The distance between the individual claws was twice that of the lower scratches. "Time to sort things out; we may get hit at any moment. No matter which way we go, we'll be leaving ourselves open to being pinned between mobs in the front and ambushers from the rear. We need some strategy and assigned roles. Some of this is obvious, with Ozzy in the front. I'd suggest squishy people like Suzette and myself in the second rank. We can both supply some healing and can reach over the front rank to add damage."

Rolly had walked to each set of stairs, and Squirmie quickly swooped down and back for a quick scout. "I'm going to suggest either right or left. The center is twenty-foot wide, and that's like fighting in a room. The side stairways narrow to only ten feet wide after the first landing. We can present a solid front line with Ozzy in the middle, Billy on the left, and Layla on the right. Squirmie can scout behind, and I'll take on the inevitable ambush from that direction or do some healing."

There was a little more discussion, but that was the plan they went with. Billy and Layla quickly realized they were out of their depth, adrift, and relying on their contract workers to organize things. But Billy had a question, "Why is Layla on the right-hand and I'm on the left?"

Ozzy lined them all up in formation. "When we fight, turn a little to the outside; that puts your shield in a protective position and opens up your sword arm for slashing ahead and to the left. I've got the reach to protect your side. Layla is swinging that big-assed sword on my right, and her most powerful slashes will be right to left. We put Ben on her side and two steps back to guard her flank. He has reach with Estoc, Whip, and spells. It's all about protecting each other and keeping our lines of attack open."

Ben added, "It will work until it doesn't. The other side won't be cooperating with us."

Suzette handed out potions, ensuring everyone had protection from Ghoul Infection and Lycanthropy, and Healing and Mana Restorative potions in their pouches. Billy raised his arm and spoke in a serious voice. "For the Barony!" A small glow appeared around each person, and their Health increased by 300. Layla and Billy stepped away from Ozzy as he grew to eight feet tall, and his flensing axes appeared in his hands. Suzette whistled, and two shadowy hounds emerged from the darkness and padded to her side. "Good boys. Guard my back."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Preparations done, they started their descent into the crypts. The first fight was short. Squirmie noticed movement above them in the cobwebs and yelled out, . The arachnids were the size of small dogs and screamed as Ozzy blew a gout of flame up at them. Spiders screamed and dropped to the ground, fried and crispy. When nothing else attacked, they moved down further after Rolly stored some spiders in his pack for later, and he and Squirmie cracked open a few, proclaiming they tasted great.

The stairs turned ninety degrees every twenty steps, spiraling down until the marble staircase ended, and they came to a room with a dirt floor. The walls were mined stone, with deep niches to hold bodies. None contained anything other than rotting cloth; the occupants were either eaten or ambulatory. Ben spoke. "I've seen this before, under the Cathedrals in Paris and Orleans. Their bodies were stored here for a generation until they were nothing but bones, then moved to smaller niches to make room for new bodies. Thousands upon thousands of people are buried in the same place. As long as the priests kept the crypts consecrated, the dead rested. I wonder what happened here?"

Billy looked around. "We'll never know. It sure as hell isn't Holy Ground now. Trust me, Layla would be complaining and scratching. It itches like you wouldn't believe." He kicked over a loose skull stuck in the dirt, then kicked it down one of the several small tunnels that led out of the room. It clattered and rolled, finally sounding like it hit something, with a clatter of bones. Everything went quiet, and then howls were heard, and red eyes peered from the darkness of the tunnels. The sound of many feet and the low murmur of hungry growls announce the horde of ghouls that rushed towards them.

Ozzy held back his fire, saving it for later. He needed to see if Billy and Layla could handle themselves against at least the small stuff at the start of the dungeon. And he hoped there was any small stuff...the ghouls rushing at them looked pretty big and nasty.

Carrion Chewers (Level 7)

These large and aggressive ghouls have made their dens near the fresh meat at the top of the dungeon. They gather packs of the rabble from the graveyard to attack travelers and make assaults on Hungrytown. You have their thanks for bringing breakfast to them.

The first five ghouls crashed into the group. Layla brought her great sword around in a downward arc, nearly clipping Ben, who moved back another half step to give her room to swing the jagged, black blade. The blow wounded the creature and knocked it closer to Ozzy, who brought down an axe on its head, splitting its skull and sending rotting brains all over the Baroness. Two ghouls came at Billy, one trying to flank, and he was immediately grateful for Ozzy's advice about positioning to block from that side. The one closer to Ozzy took an axe to the neck, slowing its charge toward Billy and allowing the Baron to hack at it twice, killing it. Suzette took the opportunity to reach over Billy's shield, jam the butt of her staff into the ghoul's face, and let loose with a spell.

Evergreen's Shining Lance did a base of 200 points in damage plus 5 points for each point of radiance, increasing her damage to 595 points. Because this was a light-based spell granted by the goddess, The Sun Blessed Staff of Evergreen doubled the effect of the spell to nearly 1200 points of damage. The Carrion Chewer was bad at math, but even it knew this was overpowered bullshit as its head exploded and its body turned to ashes. The remaining two ghouls had the poor fortune to be attacking Ozzy. The first was frustrated, trying to claw through the leather of his apron. The second was futilely hanging from his left arm with its mouth and claws, unable to puncture his skin. Suzette killed the hanging ghoul with her staff, and Ozzy destroyed the second with two hacks from his axes.

Layla turned to ask Suzette a question and only got out, "What the goddamned hell...".

The shorter, dark-haired woman was gone, and in her stead was a tall Fae Lady with long golden hair that sparkled in the darkness. Suzette winked at her, showing a perfect white smile and glorious green eyes. Ozzy had seen the transformation during the chaos of the Gopher Wars and on certain nights when they were alone. Rolly smirked, "If you walk around like that in the tavern, sales will go down when people forget to drink." Ben bowed low, "Allow me to throw myself at your feet, my Ladyship if you need to cross a puddle." Billy just whistled.

Layla shouted out. "Eyes front, idiots, more ghouls coming."