“Rusty crescent wrench, bent screw driver, tiny channel locks.” Jane sighed as he rifled through his remaining tools. “Looks like it took all the good stuff.”

Today was not a good day for Jane’s tools. In addition to having most of his tools stolen, he was also missing the pipe wrench, level, and pliers he had taken with him earlier that morning. Luckily, his tape measure was still firmly attached to his belt.

“I definitely won’t be able to run that gas line without a new set of pipe wrenches.” Jane said as he stood and faced the ghoul.

The ghoul stood still, with one hand in front of him, as he navigated his status.

“Screw the gas lines!” The ghoul said, excitedly. “You need to get this place up and running.” The ghoul began pacing back and forth. “How long have you had this place? Definitely before your contract, right?”

“Well, yeah. Of course.” jane replied guardedly, suspicious of the ghoul’s sudden excitement. “Why?”

“You read your contract, right?” The ghoul asked. “It states that you’re prohibited from exiting the dungeon. Do you know why?”

“Well, n-” Jane started.

“Of course not.” The ghoul interrupted. “He wouldn’t have told you, but the contract is directly tied to the dungeon. If you leave, it’s completely annulled.”

“Furthermore,” He continued. “The contract is psionic. The part where it prohibits you from entering the first floor actually makes you mentally incapable of entering the first floor.”

“So, what does my base camp have to do with it?” Jane asked.

“Thats just it. It’s your base camp!” The ghoul stated. “It’s inside the dungeon, so it doesn’t annul the contract, but technically, it doesn’t belong to the dungeon. It belongs to you. That means that your contract can’t be enforced while you’re inside it.”

“So, that’s cool and all, but how does that help me?” jane asked.

“It doesn’t. At least, not directly, but it’s a start.” The ghoul admitted. “the size of your encampment is determined by how much area you take over. If you make changes to it, by say running some piping to somewhere else, your encampment will expand to accommodate that. So, if you run piping through the first floor entrance, then the compulsion to not enter the floor won’t affect you, and you can get onto the first floor.”

“I get it.” Jane said, nodding along. “My contract doesn’t prohibit me from being on the first floor, or require me to leave the first floor, so if I can get there, I’ll have the run of the place.”

“Pretty much, yeah. Well, the entire dungeon will be trying to kill you for violating your contract the moment you leave your encampment, but yes.”

“Why not before?” Jane asked.

“Encampments are blind spots for the dungeon. It can’t actually see inside here, and there’s no way for the dungeon administration to listen to us either.”

“Won’t they notice that we’ve disappeared, that they have a blind spot?” Jane asked.

“Not if we’re careful. If you work backwards from an area near the entrance, then connect to here. It should all be considered your encampment. As long as you’re not too obvious about what you’re doing, you should be able to get to the first floor before your encampment is noticed.”

“That sounds like a good plan, but what about getting out?” Jane asked. “I don’t think the dungeon is going to let me plumb my encampment over to the front door.”

“Let me worry about that.” The ghoul said. “I have the start of an idea for it, but it still needs some work.”

“That sounds like a decent plan, but why are you helping me, anyway?” Jane asked. “I thought you were a company man.”

“Any other time, I would sock you one for insulting me like that.” The ghoul said with a wink. “But the truth is that I’m helping myself as much as I’m helping you. I have a contract too.”

Jane thought for a moment. “You used to be human?”

“Yeah.” The ghoul sighed. “I was a certified adventurer with the Delver’s Guild. Then I got caught. My choice was between death or an employment contract. I guess I got both.” he said with a bitter laugh.

“What’s the Delver’s Guild?” Jane asked.

“You don’t know?” The ghoul asked.

“No, I’m not from around here.”

“Really?” The ghoul replied with a flat expression. “Well, wherever you’re from must be pretty far away. But, to answer your question, the Guild is an organization that trains, certifies, and equips adventurers to go into dungeons across the world in search of treasures and items that are produced by the dungeon. The Guild then pays the adventurers for these items and controls the flow of goods into the rest of the world.”

“Dungeons?” Jane asked. “You mean there are more places like this out there?”

“Well, not like this one.” The ghoul replied. “This dungeon is ‘not financially viable’.”

“What does that mean?” Jane asked.

“It means that the guild bean counters were spending more on adventurers than they were pulling out in items.” The ghoul explained.

“So, too many people were dying?” Jane asked.

“Basically.” The ghoul stated.

Then, the overhead lights in the dungeon cut out, just as suddenly as they had come on that morning.

“Looks like its lights out.” The ghoul said. “You’d better get some sleep. I’ll keep the gremlins off your stuff.”

“Thanks man. For everything.”

Edgar watched as Lakesh walked in front of him, transfixed by the way her dark hair curled and bounced against her tawny skin with each step she took down the hallway.

“You know I can feel you watching me, right?” She asked softly.

Edgar flushed as he looked away. “Yeah, sorry about that.” He said, feeling the ring on his finger. He hadn’t gotten quite used to it yet, although he had long since gotten used to his wife’s psionic abilities.

“Well, it was just my hair, so I can let you off this time.” She replied with a smirk, grabbing the matching ring she wore on a necklace. “Just don’t let it happen again.”

Edgar let out a light laugh. “No promises, but I’ll try.”

“Oh, would you two quit flirting? We’re knee-deep in a dungeon, and I don’t want to become ghoul food.” Grantia scoffed as she rolled her eyes.

“Grantia, relax. Give the lovebirds their space. This is basically their honeymoon.” Bolvóc stated with a smug grin. “Of course, choosing to delve on their honeymoon. I think they are as married to their work as they are to each other.”

“Right. Well, these two love-sick workaholics can make eyes at each other on their own time.” Grantia stated. “Or did you forget that this is the part of the dungeon that people go missing in?”

Suddenly Lakesh put one hand up and stood still, signaling the team to stop.

“We’re being watched.” She said softly.

“Which direction?” Edgar asked, his voice as tight as his expression.

“Every direction.” She replied.

“What do you mean, every direction?” he blanched.

“It’s hard to describe. I can feel one creature, forty-six eyes,” she thought for a moment. “Every direction? No direction? I’ve never felt anything like it.”

“I don’t like it. Formation two!” Edgar barked.

The adventurers quickly responded to the command, their previous levity forgotten. Formation two had Edgar and Lakesh in back, with Bolvóc and Grantia four strides in front of them. Whatever is coming at us should be coming from the front. Edgar thought to himself. I told Illyana to scout ahead of us, but I don’t know if she pushed past any side passages or not.

Bolvóc and Grantia reached their position in the formation. Then the lights went out.

“Casting Light! Bolvóc, ready Intervention! Tighten formation!” Edgar commanded before immediately beginning the short chant for Light.

“Hey, what’re you-” He heard Grantia exclaim before a rending screech interrupted her. He finished the cast for light to find a wall of pipes standing where the hallway had stood previously. The party was split.

“Bolvóc? Grantia? Can you hear me? Are you okay?” He called out, hoping that the pipes hadn’t caught them in their explosive growth.

“Yeah, we’re fine, but I want to talk to you about hazard pay when we get out of here.” Grantia shakily responded through the gaps in the piping.

“Sure! Just stay where you are. We’ll come find you.” He shouted, then breathed a sigh of relief as he turned to Lakesh. “You got ‘em?” He asked.

“Yes, but it’s positional. I can only track their direction and distance from us.” she stated. It was information that he was already familiar with, but it helped them both to feel in control of the situation.

Edgar looked down the hallway that they were now in. Darkness clawed at the edge of his light from both directions. Which way? He wondered. I don’t know, I’ll have to pick one and go with it.

“This way.” He stated, pointing in front of him. I hope I’m right. He thought as they began to explore down the dark hallway.

Bolvóc was shaken. They’d almost died. When Edgar had given the order to tighten formation, he had been about to move back when Dangersense activated, warning him of the impending death that was about to find him. He’d used Intervention to prevent Grantia from making the same mistake he had been about to make. He reached behind himself to pull a torch from the side of his pack. Lighting it, he found that they were in a large square room with doorways leading out of each side, except for the side they had come from. He looked at Grantia

“I think I may need to discuss hazard pay with Edgar as well.”

Illyana scouted forward with a feeling of unease. Why was this hallway so long? Why were there no enemies? Why were there no side passages? The hallway had twisted and turned around on itself several times, but it never seemed to give her any options other than straightforward. It never seemed to present any threats or challenges to overcome. It was too easy. The hallway suddenly let out into a large round room as Illyana rounded another corner. She looked into the room, noticing that it had a large round hole in the center of the floor, and no other apparent exits.

Illyana crept carefully into the room, wary of potential traps. As she neared the center of the room, she found the hole contained the stairs to the third floor. She turned around to report back to Edgar. Then everything went dark as a loud screeching sound rang out through the room. Illyana pulled the glowstone from her pack and touched the activation rune on the side of it. True to its name, the carved stone lit up with a dull, green glow. The dim glow of the stone wouldn’t have been enough for a human to see by, but for Illyana it was perfect. Bright orbs scanned the now visible room as she looked around to find that the way back had been blocked completely, but a new passage had opened in the side of the room. She crept forward towards the new passageway. Her ears twitched as she heard muttering coming from the opening. She stopped short as first one, then another, then a third ghoul shambled out of the passage. They saw her and stuttered to a brief stop before the first one pointed at her and shouted. The other two ghouls let out a bone-chilling scream as they charged towards her. Illyana turned and fled into the pit at the center of the room, running away from the ghouls, and deeper into the heart of the dungeon.