It took about fifteen minutes to gather everyone together along with any gear we wanted to take. I felt a bit naked without the new armor and weapons I had equipped in my loadout, but I had a nice collection of figurines, as well as the 1911 and my magic missile pistol. After gathering everything up, I took stock of my figurines and other consumables.
Figurines:
1. Verdigrim (veteran).
2. Legionnaire (2).
3. Legionnaire (veteran).
4. Troll warrior (veteran).
5. Fitzfazzle.
6. Melvin.
7. Mana tabs (8).
It was a solid mix, and many were the tougher veteran figurines. With Fitzfazzle and Melvin both off cooldown, I was confident that we could deal with most situations. I also still had the final MESS key if needed. It was a good get out of jail free card if things turned south. The mana tabs were there for us if mana started to run dry.
Despite us going to what seemed like a dungeon, there were no guarantees that any mana would regenerate while inside. At least my normal minions would stick around until destroyed. The ones from the figurines were here for an extended period as well, but I’d never had one around long enough to test their duration here at home.
There were a lot of unknowns, not the least of which was what everyone was bringing to the table in terms of skills and abilities. We had just gathered inside my apartment when a police van and cruiser pulled into the apartment parking lot. A frazzled pair of police officers walked onto the property and Julio met them.
“Well, I had hoped we’d have some time to get organized, but we’ll have to try and talk on the way to the amusement park,” Marie said as we left the apartment and went to meet the police.
“Are you Marie? I’m Sergeant Goodman and will be escorting your team. I don’t know what’s going on, or what kind of experts your group is supposed to be, but I’ve been told to allow you access to any equipment inside the van. Please let me know if you have any questions on how the gear operates before touching anything. Understood?” the officer said in a no-nonsense voice.
“Roger that, Sergeant, I’m retired military and I’ll make sure they don’t get into trouble,” Julio confirmed. He’d be riding with us but wasn’t planning to enter the dungeon. It was good to have someone on the outside to look after our interests.
Inside the van, I could see it was set up with benches along each side of the vehicle, and racks of gear that looked like it came from the SWAT team. Everyone remained quiet until the doors were closed and the van was underway. We had a lot to discuss and plan during the ride over, but it wasn’t stuff for the ears of strangers.
“I’ll get some gear sorted for you guys while you talk,” Julio said, pulling down what looked like bullet proof vests and trying to figure out our sizes.
“We don’t have much time, why don’t we have everyone give a rundown of their abilities. Rico, you start,” Marie said, looking at each of us.
“I have a class called Foe Summoner that lets me summon minions to help fight. There are three currently ready to summon, and I have a few consumable figurines if we need more. I can also bolster my minions with magic, and have a healing spell. The downside is that the summoned creatures reserve most of my mana, so the pool for other spells is rather shallow right now,” I offered.
“What kind of creatures do you summon?” Elliot asked, perking up for the first time.
“Put a hold on that for now, we’ll get into details if we have time, you’re up next, Elliot,” Marie said.
“I’m an elemental mage that can burn stuff,” he mumbled, giving Marie attitude.
“Hey kid,” I snapped at him. “We’re going into a life and death situation here. We don’t have time for your attitude. If you can’t put on your big boy pants and participate with the group, you’re staying behind.”
“I agree with Rico, what’s it going to be Elliot?” Marie said, giving the eighteen-year-old a harsh glare.
“Fine, I’ll give some more details. I can cast your typical fireball, that’s my most powerful spell. I can also hurl smaller blasts of flame and ignite a small area. My mana pool is pretty good and if there’s mana around, I recharge quickly,” Elliot said.
“Thank you, Quinn, tell us what you can do?” Marie asked Julio’s cousin. Quinn looked about the same age as Elliot, but with a much more muscular build. I assumed he was at least eighteen or they wouldn’t have let him join up for the dungeon delve. He looked nervous but gained confidence as he spoke about his class.
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“I’m a Quest Knight, and I can fight with most kinds of melee and ranged weapons. I’ll be granted gear based on the quest, and even here on Earth, something will appear for me once we begin. My current quest is to aid the party inside the dungeon, and once we enter, I’ll be given a buff to my Strength and Constitution. I don’t know what weapons I’ll have yet, that’ll have to wait until we’re inside the dungeon.
“Great, I’ll finish up. I’m an Illusionist Mage and can detect traps and mana concentrations. In addition, I can summon illusions to fight, but their damage and durability is based on what the target believes them to be. I can also create barriers to protect us if need be. Like Elliot, my mana regenerates quickly, but I have a few mana tabs stashed away if we need them. Does everyone have some?” Marie asked.
Everyone was stocked up, even Elliot. He might be a moody troublemaker, but he wasn’t stupid. The drive to the amusement park wasn’t too long, and it gave Julio time to get us fitted with body armor, helmets and some backup weapons. Only me and Marie had firearms, Julio didn’t feel the younger members of the team had enough practice yet to safely use them in combat.
I was offered different weapons, but I was comfortable with my 1911 and would use that. Marie had a shotgun strapped over her shoulder, and a Glock 9mm in a holster on her waist. Elliot and Quinn both had tasers and a police baton. I also grabbed a baton to use since it fit my crushing weapons skill. While I was at it, I grabbed an extra one for Rupert to use, and a vest for both him and Lillia that I thought would fit.
The orc was well equipped already, and we were getting pretty loaded down with stuff. Everyone had a small assault backpack with some water, food, and various other bits of gear like flashlights, knives, and first aid kits that might be useful. Marie stowed a few flash-bang grenades, as well as a couple of tear gas ones. That led us to each grab a mask, with me carrying extras for my minions.
Quinn also grabbed one of the huge police ballistic shields. It looked heavy, but he seemed to manage it well enough. I figured his class probably stacked Strength and Constitution like mine did Mind and Presence. We arrived at the amusement park, and were led through the back gate, eventually pulling up behind a set of police barricades that were placed around the fake mountain that housed the Callico Mine Ride where the dungeon had appeared.
Getting out of the van, I was hit by the smell of funnel cakes that caused my mouth to water. I had forgotten there was a funnel cake near the ride. The park was evacuated, but the lingering smell told me the people hadn’t been gone all that long. Either that, or they left the deep fryer on, and the park might burn down. Given the pair of firetrucks supplementing the huge police presence, I figured we were safe from that threat.
“Over here, folks, Joseph, help them with their gear,” Calvin said, spotting our team leaving the van. We were hustled past the normal queue and onto one of the train cars the ride used.
“We get to use the ride?” Elliot asked before I could.
“I know, it’s weird, but it’s actually the fastest way to get to the dungeon entrance,” he said as one of his people began to operate the train. I was pretty sure that running a train ride wasn’t common training at the Grimslade Group, so it must not have been that difficult.
“We have my people watching the entrance to the dungeon itself, and the police are holding a perimeter outside the ride. You’re fine to talk about summoned being related things around my people, but please refrain from saying anything around the others outside. This is already causing quite stir among the emergency services, and our contacts in the government don’t need any additional attention if we can help it,” Calvin advised.
“Do we know what type of dungeon we’re dealing with yet?” I asked.
“Not a lot of details, but we did have one of our security teams poke their heads in and come right out. The small bit of dungeon they could see almost matched the look of the mine ride. It’s a dark, stone tunnel with lots of places for things to hide. They didn’t spot any dungeon creatures, but we did confirm that no technology will work inside. None of their electronics, or modern weapons were working when they left,” Calvin told us.
“Like a permanent Fail Weapons spell?” I asked as the train car clacked along the track. At least they had managed to have someone turn on the lights inside the ride, so it wasn’t the normal dark and gloomy look place.
“We’re not sure, when they exited, all the electronics were fried, and the weapons all had bent firing pins, and magazines that refused to feed rounds. There are similar reports at the other dungeon sites, and we think that might be the problem the teams without summoned beings ran into.
“So far, only non-summoned beings that have gone in and left quickly have come back. Tough as they are, special forces operatives are at a disadvantage when their firearms and comms suddenly don’t work and monsters from a fantasy movie attack them. Keep in mind that things are changing rapidly as more information comes in from the other teams,” Calvin said.
“Thanks for the heads up,” Marie said, pausing to think before continuing. “I plan to take it slow, and we’ll try to leave and check in after an hour or so inside the dungeon. Are there any reports of time distortions?” Marie asked.
“No, if there are, they’re minimal enough to escape detection. Hold on,” Calvin said, looking down at his phone.
“Problem?” I asked.
“No, just the opposite. We’ve confirmed that so far, all the dungeons possess enough mana for your mana pools to regenerate. The flow is somewhat restricted, and it’ll take at least twice as long to regenerate what you’d normally be able to, but at least there’s something,” Calvin told us.
“Good, we’ll still need to conserve where we can, but having at least some mana regen will let us stay in the fight longer. Everyone get ready, it looks like we’re here,” Marie said as the train stopped.
We were near the lowest part of the ride, where a door that would normally lead to a supply room had been replaced with a cave entrance. A dozen heavily armed Grimslade security personnel were behind portable barricades watching the entrance, and a couple helped us haul our gear out of the trains.
I could almost feel the mana leaking from the dark dungeon entrance and polluting our world. I began to worry about what our makeshift team would find inside, and what effect all these dungeons would have on the planet.