Gunfire boomed in the closed confines of the mine ride, leaving my ears ringing as I waited for the pain of a gunshot wound to flare. Nothing seemed to hit me, but to either side of me, the legionnaire and Grulnok disappeared into mana vapor. As my two summoned creatures were destroyed, the gunfire ceased.
“Are you okay?” Calvin asked. I wasn’t too sure and looked over my body again to check for any wounds. The others also seemed fine, and just as startled and confused as I was.
“Why were you shooting at us?” Marie demanded.
“At you? No, we were shooting at the dungeon creatures,” Calvin responded as he ordered everyone to put away their weapons.
“Those weren’t dungeon creatures, those were Rico’s summoned minions,” Marie snapped back.
“In that case, I apologize. We’re a bit jumpy out here. While you were inside, we had more of those spider things attack, along with some other creatures we later identified as kobolds. With the flood of dungeon creatures emerging, we were beginning to wonder if your team had made it,” Calvin said. He looked genuinely remorseful, and it was obvious now that he wasn’t trying to kill us.
“It’s fine, I can always resummon my minions if we need them,” I assured Calvin. I was lying a bit, it would be some time before I could resummon my minions, and I was out of consumable figurines, save for the MESS key. The Grimslade Group was still an unknown and if they thought I could resummon creatures at will, it might make them more reluctant to try something now that the dungeon had been dealt with.
“Again, I apologize for the misunderstanding. Why don’t we get you out of here. We’d like to debrief you on what’s happening at the other dungeons and get an idea of what your experiences were like inside this one. I’ll keep the security team here for a day or so, but so far, once any of these dungeons are cleared, they’re gone for good,” Calvin told us.
“Let’s get out of here, and I think we can agree to a debrief, as long as you’re sharing as much information as we are,” Marie said. We were all a bit tired and worn down from the adrenaline rush that was slowly dissipating, but Marie was sharp enough not to offer more than we were going to receive in return.
“Great, we’ll leave the ride, and head over to a conference room we’ve rented in a nearby hotel,” Calvin said as we boarded the train ride to make our exit. It was strange to pass by the ride’s animatronics as we left. The old west style mine ride might have become a place of terror with giant camel spiders and kobolds running amok if we hadn’t just cleared the dungeon.
Once outside the ride, we were escorted back to our vehicle and given directions to a nearby hotel just off the amusement park property. So far, other than killing my minions, the Grimslade people hadn’t tried any shenanigans. Letting us drive to the meeting in our own vehicle was also a point in their favor. I would have been a little concerned if they tried to pile us into one of their ubiquitous black SUVs.
At the hotel, things seemed like business as usual with regular customers coming and going, and the normal hotel staff on hand. I had figured Grimslade were the ones renting the conference room, but once we went inside, several people wearing suits identified themselves as Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
“Calvin, thanks for coordinating all this for us,” A man who introduced himself as Agent Lopez said as he led the meeting. He was middle-aged with a weathered looking face that made him look older. When I shook his hand, the grip was firm, and his hand had the callouses of someone who was used to heavy labor. I got a distinct military vibe from the man.
“The Grimslade Group is glad to help,” Calvin replied. He’d arrived alone, without the usual entourage of security personnel.
“Let’s get started,” Lopez said, having us all introduce ourselves as the government folks did the same. There were four others in the room besides the Refuge folks, Calvin, and Agent Lopez. Two of the others were the DHS security team making sure nobody bothered us, and the other two were nerdy types with laptops connected to a projection screen placed at the front of the small conference room.
“I wasn’t aware the government was up to speed on the summoned beings,” Marie asked before Lopez began, fishing for information.
“We’re a small team so far, but with the recent events, I figure we’re going to get a lot more attention,” Lopez said.
“Before we start on the debrief, can you tell me what the government plans are for the summoned beings?” I interjected. Being locked away in some government facility was probably less appealing than the one the Grimslade Group might have sent me to.
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“The official position is that you are citizens with the same rights as any other. Unofficially, we’re going to let you roam free, but we’re also going to keep tabs on you. As long as you give us all the information you can, we’ll leave you alone. Whatever this system had planned for our world, we want to be prepared, and you’re our best source for intel on the changes that are coming.
“Helping us with your knowledge will save lives in the future whenever the system finally integrates here. You should know that your status can and will change if any of you are determined to be a threat to national security. We can’t have you running around and showing off your powers. If the public finds out about what’s happened, and what’s coming, there will be chaos and many lives lost,” Lopez offered.
“We’ll help in any way we can, as long as we’re allowed to live our lives as normally as they can be lived. If our people start disappearing in the night as your agents snatch them up, then we’ll have a problem,” Marie replied.
“I understand your concerns, and I can assure you we’ll keep our end of the bargain,” Lopez said.
“We’re with the government and we’re here to help, right, like I’d believe that,” Elliot mocked. He’d been shocked and I thought a bit humbled by our experience in the dungeon, but now that things were feeling safe for him again, Elliot was slipping back into the annoying teen with a bad attitude mode.
“Elliot is still a work in progress, and he’ll keep quiet if he knows what’s good for him,” Marie explained giving Lopez a look of embarrassment, and Elliot a glare that seemed to shut him up.
“Ha, no worries, I have teenagers as well. Back to the task at hand, do we have an understanding with your Refuge group? I know you operate in cells, and we’d like to open friendly interactions will all the groups that we can,” Lopez said.
“I can send the request out there, and I think most will be amenable to working together with the government as long as you can give us some hard copies of your assurances for our lawyers to keep on file. For now, consider us partners in dealing with any system related issues,” Marie negotiated.
“I’m willing to put our agreement in writing and I’ll have copies sent out,” Lopez agreed.
“Great, maybe you can tell us what’s been going on with the other dungeons, and where things stand now,” Marie said.
“Certainly, we’ll start with the numbers. We’ve now pegged the total number of these dungeon occurrences to 33. No new ones have opened, and we’ve closed, with your latest efforts included, a total of 22 of them. All of them have appeared in the United States, and most were concentrated in larger cities. There is the possibility one—I think the term is spawned—in an out of the way area that we haven’t located. Our people are combing police activity and will track down any new dungeon related occurrences,” Lopez said, pausing to take a drink of ice water.
“What about the 11 dungeons that are still operating?” Marie asked.
“We’re working on that, eight still have teams inside. We’ve found that the dungeon locks down the entrance as soon as one of the summoned beings enters. There’s a short window where other summoned beings can enter, but all the dungeons have limited the number of summoned beings inside to a maximum of six.
“As of my last update, eight of the dungeons are still locked down, and three have had their entrances unlocked. I don’t need to tell you that it likely means the teams inside the unlocked dungeons are probably no longer with us. We’re trying to organize a more powerful team to clear the troublesome dungeons, and we hoped that you, or some of your people might assist with that. Are any of you willing to deal with another dungeon?” Lopez asked.
Marie looked over at me and I gave a slight nod. Somebody was going to have to close these dungeons, or they would become an endless threat that spewed deadly, and ever more powerful, creatures out nonstop. Our team was decent, but I wasn’t sure that we were the optimal build for a group facing a more difficult dungeon.
“Has anyone entered the unlocked dungeons to do a recon on them? Normal people are supposed to be able to enter and exit at will if the entrance isn’t locked, right?” I asked.
“We have, and only two of the recon people have made it back out. What they told us is that these dungeons now have higher populations of more dangerous creatures. That matches up with what we’ve seen of the monsters that are leaving the dungeons to attack our security teams. One of our experts think these dungeons have been empowered by killing the summoned beings inside them,” Lopez said.
“I’d be willing to help, but I think we’d be better off if we had a complete party of six before we try to tackle the more dangerous dungeons,” I offered.
“I agree with Rico, but I want Elliot and Quinn to make their own decisions. They’re both young and this sounds far more dangerous than our first delve,” Marie added.
“We’re not going to force anyone that doesn’t want to go, and we may not take everyone. The teams going into the final dungeons are going to have to be the best of the best,” Lopez said.
“You guys would be lost without my fireballs, I’m in,” Elliot offered.
“Me too, I just got a quest for it, my first elite quest,” Quinn said.
“Great, thank you for your willingness to help. Once we’re done here, our analysts will look at your class, tier, and rank to determine if any of you are a fit for the new teams,” Lopez said.
“Just out of curiosity, what happens if someone on one of the team is summoned while we’re inside the dungeon? With so many people in them, there was bound to be at least one summoning that triggered during that time,” Quinn asked.
“That’s the odd part, hold on and let me check for any updates,” Calvin interjected, scrolling through the messages on his phone.
“It looks like it still holds true. Once the last dungeon formed, not one summoned being has been called for a summoning. Whatever these mini dungeons are, they seem to be blocking anyone from being summoned normally,” Calvin advised.