"Good idea," Alex said as they walked down the large 'Engineering Guild' tunnel. "With Bomb-bait out front, I feel very safe."

"That's because they didn't blow you up last time," muttered Phuong, sounding somewhat less enthused.

"I save you, old man, no problem. Don't worry."

"Wait," said Garet. "Did he say 'bomb'?"

"Small bombs," Alex said with a shrug. "More like grenade. Don't be scared, big man."

"Nobody said I was scared. I'm just...well, I like to know what I'm dealing with is all. And..."

"Quiet." Mason was straining to hear ahead, and pretty sure he heard something like steam hissing. That probably wasn't good. "There were also flame shooting tanks. And vaguely robotic, re-animated trolls. Oh and exploding crystals. Though they may not have any of those here. I did say be ready for anything."

He expected a few people shared a glance, but didn't look back to find out.

Instead he stepped out into a much larger cavern, which split into two ramps both heading down. On the right side were actual tracks filled with rail cars, most of them empty and just waiting for use at the top of the rise. On the other was a footpath that veered off below into a dozen corridors.

On the far side of the cavern was another iron door with letters around it too far for Mason to read. It seemed all paths led there, and before Mason could think it Blake was leaning towards his ear.

"Twenty bucks says that's the dungeon."

"No bet," Mason said, then started down the footpath. He had the urge to tell everyone to get ready again, but expected that was unnecessary. What he didn't see were actual goblins, though he could smell them, and abandoned tools lay haphazardly everywhere. He expected they'd had some kind of warning and all fled for their lives. The question was where.

Streak was sniffing and growling as he moved ahead, and Mason expected it wasn't far. "We're close," he whispered, following his friend. The others trailed behind, then Mason let Streak lead him down the corridors that all had the same, well-cut stone walls. Finally he heard goblin voices and whispering, and dashed into a room behind the wolf.

"Mercy!" A thin, half naked goblin dropped to his knees in what looked like a kitchen. All around the walls were more pitiful creatures that looked the same, huddling against one another with their faces hidden behind hands or knees.

Mason blinked as he stood frozen, sword raised and arm begging to swing, to kill. He didn't see a single weapon held by any of them, despite a nearby rack full of dull knives.

"Where are your masters?" he growled. "Why aren't there any guards?"

The goblin looked up at Streak's giant mouth a few feet from his head, shaking as he stared. Mason snapped his fingers and pulled the wolf slightly back.

"Focus on me. Where are the guards?"

"Th-they ran. Don't tell us where. Just slaves. See?" He gestured to a brown armband all the goblins shared. "Slaves. No trouble."

Mason growled and smashed the knives from the counter, sending the goblin scurrying away with a shriek. He wasn't angry that the guards ran. He was angry because every bone in his body wanted to slaughter these creatures. Because he'd already sworn to do it. But now he wasn't sure he could.

He felt Cerebus' eyes glaring, his mouth twisted in contempt.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Such weakness, he heard the voice in his ears. They could be lying. An assassin could even now be hiding in their ranks, ready to plunge the knife. And if not, who cares? They're the servants of your enemy. They fill the bellies of those who tried to kill you.

And if they have children further in, he wondered? Will I kill those too? For a very long few second he stared at the cowering goblins, and he just wasn't sure.

"Might I offer a suggestion, brother?"

Mason glanced back to see Blake smiling politely. He nodded.

"The orcs make use of slaves and treat them well enough. They work with goblins. Perhaps we can...gather them up, take them over as a gift. Better than death, I'd think."

Mason eventually nodded, though he wasn't sure, and had no idea how they'd manage the logistics of that. But in that moment he wanted any option that wasn't slaughtering the wretches, and turned back to the corridor.

"Go on, Streak," he said. "Find me the rest."

* * *

The corridors and their rooms held nothing but slaves, unarmed servants, and the abandoned lives of fleeing goblins. Mason learned all the important ones had fled into the 'guild proper', which almost certainly meant the dungeon.

Soon enough Mason and his team were at the entrance, and he pressed his hand against the door and activated the prompt.

[You have discovered a dungeon! Goblin Engineering Guild. You may enter with a maximum of six players. Please select them and try again.]

Mason clenched his teeth and lowered his voice just for Blake. "Max six, apparently. I'm pretty sure Streak comes with me now and doesn't count as extra. I want you and Becky with me. Does that mean Annie, too?"

"It's...up to you, but..." Blake glanced at the redhead and winced. "Preferably yes."

"OK. Well with Calypsa we have a total of eleven. I'm pretty sure she'll only go with me. So that makes you, me, Becky, Annie, and Calypsa. Other team gets six. Agreed?

Blake nodded, and Mason went back and gathered the others. His planned team meant the other was Phuong, Alex, Garet, Jason, Seul-ki and John, which was a pretty powerful and flexible team save for a lack of range.

"Do you guys want to wait outside, or go find another dungeon? You have a pretty strong group, but it's up to you."

He resisted the urge to tell them to just wait. He knew he had to get far better at relying on others, and respecting that other players could take care of themselves. But it was hard. And he couldn't help but picture the whole lot of them dead because he'd risked it.

The six players all turned and chatted amongst themselves, then turned back.

"We'll go on, Patron. The wizards are likely the most dangerous, so we'll try the Prospector tunnel. Once we're done, or if we turn back, we'll meet you at the lair entrance."

Mason nodded, meeting the eyes of the others one by one.

"Good luck. Remember you can likely leave the dungeon. So if things get too risky, don't be heroes. You can't get more powerful if you're dead. Oh and remember Rosa's vials. There might be poison."

Phuong winked, then gestured for the others and all five walked back towards the footpath corridors. Mason pushed them out of his mind as he looked to his own team. They were the only ones he could keep safe now, and he had no intention of being distracted.

"Let's talk powers a minute. I'm pretty much the same as usual, except, if I get hurt or need to get stronger, I...sorta turn into..."

"A giant murder hero, we pretty much get it," Becky said with a grin. "I'm sorta the same, too. Oh! Except I can focus my reflect at one thing now. Been meanin' to hit you with that."

He gave her a glare and she stuck out her tongue. "I can't wait. Annie?"

"Hmm? What? Me?" The little red head glanced around like she had no idea what they'd been talking about.

"Any new powers we should know about?"

"No. Same old. I mean you've seen it." She held up her axe and shook it with a lot less control than one might like. Blake and Becky both took a step away, and Calypsa looked at Mason and shrugged.

"I have many spells and abilities, druid, I'm not going to list them all."

He'd expected as much.

"Alright. I think I have the idea anyway. Blake?"

"Right." Blake cleared his throat. "Well, let's see. I can make about five permanent constructs, maybe six now with the upgrade. But it takes awhile."

Mason raised his eyebrows at that. He'd only seen three, and that had seemed bloody impressive enough.

"I can do all the uh...old stuff." Blake cleared his throat. "I can identify most magic things now. Well, Navi can. That's the floating round robot here. Oh and I can animate some objects. Like gates, for example. And then I can make new objects. Pretty much anything you can think of, really. But if it's complex then it might be hard. So, yeah. I think that's it."

Mason, along with everyone else, was a little bit speechless. Obviously he'd seen some of these things in action, but he hadn't quite realized just how...unlimited Blake's powers seemed.

"OK," he said finally. "We're technically a man down. Stay sharp. No more mercy. They left the innocent outside."

With that he touched the iron doors again, and vanished them all into roboGod's void.