Once Saw had the goblin free she took him back to the kobold room to feed him. Grug was happy to sit with the flowers and wait on food.

“I wonder how long it will take the others to respawn.” Arizo pondered worriedly. “The core always brought them back right away. Even if I could respawn defenders I wouldn’t have the mana.”

“You keep saying that. How much mana do you have?” Una asked.

She blinked at the kobold then checked her character sheet. “I’m level 5 just like the core. I now have 28 maximum mana. I have 5 points I could spend but even if I dropped them all in wisdom that would only give me 52 mana. That’s about half of what the core has and it has dungeon skills which lowers the cost of everything.”

“Why haven’t you used your stat points?”

“Why should I? Very little can affect me due to my extraplanar status. The core does most of the work and I don’t have any skills in magic or weapons.”

“It sounds like you have made a cage for yourself.”

“What do you mean?” Arizo was shocked by Una’s opinion

“If it were me I would train myself, learn skills and enrich my life. That’s exactly what we have been doing. We train our weapons and tools, go out into the world and find new things and learn more each day. If all we did was wait for the next attack life would be boring. I would be no better than the guardians.”

Arizo floated down to her chair and thought about what Una said.

____________________________

“Something just entered.” Arizo stated her head jerking up after who knows how long.

“It’s those 2 coyotes again. They are racing down the hall and they look hurt…. They brought a bear!”

“Am I needed up top?”

“Yes!” There was real fear in her voice.

Una raced out of the core and leapt into the archway to the 3rd floor. From there she immediately turned and jumped back through the arch which Arizo quickly connected to the entrance hall. The coyotes had run past the kobolds and were hiding under their beds. Seeing the massive bear the goblin did the same.

Thankfully Axe and Left had respawned. They were holding the thing off with Right and Saw as Una came from behind. She left her shield on her belt and leaped onto the massive back using both hands to drive her sword into its shoulder.

The bear roared in rage standing up to use its front paws to try and grab her.

That was a mistake as it exposed its belly to a massive axe swing. The iron blade dug deep but there is only so much damage a 3ft kobold can do to a 11ft bear.

The axe blade was stuck and as she was pulling it free the bear smacked Axe aside. Its massive strength throws her into the opposite wall and she wouldn’t get up again. But the swing over balanced the bear and it came back down on its front paws hard. The force threw Una over it’s head leaving her sword stuck in its back and dazing Una for a few seconds.

Right got lucky and when the bear came down his spear was under it forcing the tip deep into its chest. Unfortunately it didn’t seem to hit anything vital and it snapped the spear. The bear took a bite out of him before he could get out of range.

Saw saved his life, slashing at the bears eyes getting it to let go. She was able to dance back as it took a swing at her. Left rushed forward and stabbed the biceps of the front paw still on the ground during that swipe. That caused the bear to stumble to one side and roar out in pain.

Taking advantage of the distraction Una jumped back on its back and yanked her sword out. Before she could stab it back in the bear threw her free.

There was a standoff. The bear watching them as Una, Left, Right, and Saw were in a semi circle surrounding it. It was bleeding and panting.

Finally the bear made its move. Taking a deep breath it let out a massive roar. The sound stunned all but Una. Seeing she was unaffected it charged her.

Instead of backing up Una ran toward the bear which it didn’t expect from this tiny being. Catching it off guard Una sliced at its throat. The wild swing barely drew blood due to all the folds of skin there to protect the bear. But it let her reach the broken spear shaft and yank it back out.

That caused a new sound from the beast. The roar it let out was more of a moan. The wider backend of the tip doing much more damage coming out than going in.

While she was grasping the spear and pulling it out the bear had gotten its mouth around most of her right side and clamped down. As it fell it took her with it.

“UNA!” Saw cried. She rushed forward, stabbing one of her daggers deep into the eye socket of the dying bear. Finishing it off.

Both spears came over to help Saw get Una out of its mouth. She was still breathing but there was blood everywhere and her side was shredded.

“We have to get her deeper.” Saw was in a bit of a panic. Una had never been defeated. Seeing her so wounded affected all of them and dropped morale.

“Take her to the arches. She can rest on the 3rd floor where it’s safe.” Arizo ordered. There was literally nothing there but grass and water. Once Una was left to the side of the gate on the 3rd floor the others returned to the first floor.

“What are we going to do about them?” Saw asked. Glaring at the coyotes still in their room.

“The core wanted to make a contract with them. As long as they don’t attack, leave them be.” Arizo ordered.

Saw hissed. “This is their fault. They should be killed for that trouble. Una is probably going to bleed out and as a level 2 will take even longer to come back. We need her not these things.”

“Saw.” Arizo said in a warning tone. “The core wanted them. It’s not either of our place to go against that.”

She huffed and marched out of the room. Saw headed to the entrance and leaned against the archway watching the world outside.

Arizo sighed. She had hoped that the dungeon residents would give her as much respect as they did the core. Obviously not. She turned her eyes to Una. Now that she was on another floor the bleeding was starting to slow. Saw was right about one thing. They did need Una. She was the only one that hadn’t been stunned and she was a level higher than everyone else in the dungeon.

As Una and the coyotes healed Arizo and Saw kept silent watch.

___________________________

It was after midnight when something large entered the lawn. Arizo contacted Saw to ask her what it was.

“It’s almost as big as the bear with orange and black stripes. It’s not a bear.” She whispered.

“Don’t attack unless it attacks first. We can't lose any more defenders.”

Saw didn’t reply but watched the creature approach. It sniffed around the area coming ever closer to Saw. But it wasn’t acting aggressive. Saw still held her daggers at the ready. It stopped just out of striking range and looked at her with luminous eyes.

This was a true hunter, smart as it is deadly. Saw had to fight her instinct to attack. She wanted this beast for the dungeon. This would make a great defender. The Creator would be pleased. The only thing that stayed her hand was Una. They didn’t have their leader or the number to take this on. And it was too smart to enter the dungeon. So Saw had no choice but to watch it wander back into the treeline, where it seemed to disappear.

She settled back against the entrance and stood vigule as the night slowly passed.

The fog hadn’t even started to recede when the coyotes came up the steps and left the dungeon. They looked at her as they passed. She gave a hiss. These were also intelligent creatures. They knew the dungeon would be a safe place to hide. Didn’t mean she had to like them.

As the day passed Saw returned to the dungeon. Left and Right took her place on either side of the entrance.

Once Una recovered she traveled to the 1st floor.

As she walked past the newly spawned Shovel she took his weapon. Approaching Saw, she used his signature move and smacked the other kobold across the face with the broad side of the tool.

Una tossed the shovel back to its owner as she glared down at Saw.

Saw looked up at her shocked after spitting out a few teeth.

“I will not accept excuses or apologies. Until the Creator has recovered you will not question me or Arizo. You will not sow discord and chaos during our time of need. Once this is over we will bring your mutiny to the Creator. They may have more leniency than I do.”

Without another word she turned and left the floor returning to the core room.

Saw didn’t rise for a long time. She was ashamed at being scolded by Una. She hoped the Creator understood. She wasn’t trying to mutiny or harm the core.

The others didn’t know what to do. This was the first time there had been any fighting between them.

“Are you sure that was wise?” Arizo asked the furious kobold once she was back in the core room.

Una hissed. “No. But I am ashamed of how she acted. She deserves punishment for speaking against you. We must work together. There is an order to things and you are above all but the Creator.”

“I think you are wrong there.” The fairy replied. “I see it as you and I being equal.”

She sighed and ran a clawed hand over her snout. “Even then she would have never talked back to me.”

“She was scared. They all were. You have never been defeated and I fear the other kobolds believe you CAN’T be defeated. With the core down seeing you fall made them lose all hope.”

“I won’t apologize. The Creator can deal with it when they wake.” Una’s pride wouldn’t let her apologize even though now that she’d calmed she knew she had reacted too strongly.

“Agreed. We can all tell our sides of what has happened once they are healed.” She looked at the core

“They are almost back to normal.” Una commented looking at the core, shelving the other issue. The core was glowing almost as brightly as usual.

Arizo moved through the barrier and placed a hand on the core. “I hope so.” Her head turned toward the ceiling. “Someone else is here.”

Una closed her eyes and sent another silent prayer.

“It’s Olive, Tuck, Le’Ly and Hamish. Along with 6 new people.”

She looked to Arizo. Taking a deep breath and sighing. “The Creator wouldn’t want them harmed.”

“No but I don’t know if it’s safe to let them just wander freely.”

“We could bar the way. They acted with honor and would likely leave.”

Arizo sighed. “However if we allow them in and they don’t fight then they are free mana. If Olive is just here to pick plants the longer they stay the healthier the core becomes.”

“You have a point. Have the spears block them from entering the first room and send me up behind them. We will be their escorts. But will stop them from going farther than the chicken room.”

Arizo nodded and Una left the core room.

__________________________________

Olive was excited to see the dungeon again. Makish, the Lionfolk leader of the Adortin Marine Adventurers guild, had asked her and Tuck to escort a team to the dungeon to evaluate it and place the marine protections on the core.

Lionfolk were an odd bunch. One of the marine equivalents to beast kind. He had characteristics of a lionfish. Black stripes all over his body and graceful looking fins. Like his creature counterpart Makish also had poisonous barbs. Running into him could poison you but he can pull his own spins off to use as weapons in a pinch. According to Hamish, Makish used his poison to coat all his weapon tips.

Tuck and Hamish were with her for this return trip. The twins had even talked their mom Evanna into coming. Olive knew her mom was nervous but she still kept her eyes on the forest knowing there was as much danger between hom and the dungeon as there was in the thing. And there was no way Le’Ly was being left behind.

Joining them was Olga, head alchemist and potions maker in Adortin. Also known as Olive and Evanna’s boss. Typha, a 20 ft naga and high ranking adventurer. She is Hamish’s mom. Poli, an older triton and the runic trainer of the guild. He would be placing the protections.

Olive didn’t know the last 2 as well. Rechni, a young triton and Warsh, a merman. They were Poli’s apprentices and assistants. The farther they went the more uncomfortable Warsh looked. He was wearing a relic that transformed his tail into legs and let him breathe on land. But just from observing, it didn’t look comfortable.

She turned her attention back to the present when the clearing and the dungeon entrance came into view. The trip here had been uneventful. They knew where they were going and the hazards along the way. Being fresh had cut hours off the trek.

As they passed under the arch Tuck paused.

“What’s wrong?” Olive asked, going on alert.

“I don’t know but something is off. The dungeon doesn’t feel like it did before.”

“Should we turn back?” Evanna asked. She did a good job keeping fear out of her voice but she would gladly leave and never return.

“Can you describe what you’re feeling?” Typha asked, hand on the hilt of her sword.

Tuck shook his head. “No, not really. The air is just different. Something has changed and I can’t put my finger on it.”

“They’re scared.” Le’Ly said in a soft voice.

“The dungeon?” Olive asked. Le’Ly nodded. “They have nothing to fear from us.” She petted the little girl on the head then looked to the ceiling. “Core, you have nothing to fear from this group. If you need us to leave we will. But we’d like to help with whatever is wrong.”

There was no response. “I think we should head on. Until the dungeon tells us it doesn’t want us here.” Tuck suggested.

Poli nodded. “Perhaps not sending anything is its response. Allowing us to continue.”

Decided the group headed into the entrance hall.

Typha paused with a raised eyebrow ridge. “Surely there are not 10 floors.”

“Yenstar thought there were only 2 when we were here a few days ago.” Hamish replied. “He seemed to know a lot about dungeons.”

“From the size you kids reported we’ll only be able to explore 2 floors. We don’t have the rations for more than that.” Typha said for the dungeon’s benefit. Everyone else already knew that.

“They didn’t do that last time.” Olive informed them as they stopped several feet from the crossed spears. “Do you want us to leave?”

There was a pause then the pair shook their head no.

“Can they understand us now?” Le’Ly asked.

“No,” Poli replied. “But the core can understand both sides and translate for us. Though it can’t speak to us directly.”

“So we have to play charades.” Olive replied with a small laugh. Le’Ly also giggled at the idea.

Evanna let out a startled yell. The whole group turned weapons at the ready. The arch with 3 hashes was glowing.

“That’s Una. She’s the kobold leader. But what was she doing on the 3rd floor?” Olive asked, putting her daggers away.

There was no response as she moved closer. Una picked up a pair of copper lanterns from the alcoves in the hall and handed them to Tuck and Hamish. She then moved ahead of the group. The spears straightened their weapons letting them past. Una waved them forward.

“I guess we follow.” Olive said with a shrug.

“So this is where these 2 almost skewered me and Yenturis.” Tuck said motioning to the doorway. They were waiting just inside and ambushed us as we passed. Using the low light of this room as camouflage.”

“We know from the ones near Peo that kobolds have darkvision.” Olive added.

“They can be a nuisance when we go harvesting in the caves.” Evanna said. “Are these any different than the ones from there?”

“Smarter and more organized.” Tuck replied. “Una here kept them all under control and focused. For a team of just us teens they would have been a nightmare. She also told them to retreat when it was obvious they weren’t going to win.”

Typha took note. She was making a more detailed map and notes for Minny. So the old selkie would know what items were available and the dangers involved. It would help when writing jobs for the dungeon.

Now that they had the lanterns in hand they were able to get a better look at the room. It was just a featureless cube. The wide open space is great for the kobolds to work together and surround any invaders. In the middle of the left wall there is an opening.

“That leads to the kobold’s room.” Tuck told them. He then pointed to the opening almost directly opposite it. “And that leads deeper in.”

Saw hissed and stormed past the group toward the entrance. She wasn’t going to stand around and watch them catering to these invaders that killed several of them last time. Even if it meant angering Una again.

The group looked at the kobold then back to Una. Seeing her making a face but shaking her head they left it without comment.

“Let’s have a look at the kobold room before we head on.” Olive turned and started that way as she spoke. Le’Ly was right on her heels.

Right past the opening there was a sharp turn. This made the entrance hard to see in the dark. The room looked like a soldier’s bunk. There were 6 stone bed frames with woven vines as mattresses. At the foot of one of the beds was a chest. In the center of the open space was a fire pit with a flame happily burning. Making the room nice and toasty. There was a barrel full of clear water and a table with food stuff.

“This looks like a nice home. Nicer than the orphanage.” Le’Ly stated as they looked around. “And they have cherries.” She eyed the fruit with envy.

Evanna chuckled. “We might find you your own cherries as we travel. For now leave them be. I did notice that there are no cooking utensils or spices. Do kobolds eat their meat raw?”

“I don’t know.” Typha replied. There wasn’t enough room for her to fully enter but she had poked her head in. “It looks like more than kobolds live here.” She pointed to the goblin hiding under one of the beds.

“Maybe a goblin attack is what changed the atmosphere?” Hamish hypothesised.

Olive shrugged. “We won’t learn any more standing here. Let’s move on.”

“This hall has 5 traps. But only 1 is really dangerous.” Tuck informed everyone once they were near the doorway out of the 1st room. “This first one,” He cracked the slate topper with his spear. “Has a pool of water at the bottom and the walls are slick and slimy. But there are plenty of hand holds to climb back up with.”

“You and Myra fell in this one?” Typha questioned. When he nodded she continued. “How much damage was dealt?”

His face turned red. “I only lost 5 health but lost about 1000 points of pride.”

The rest of the group laughed at his embarrassment.

Everyone but Le’Ly and the 2 nagas were able to leap over the trap without issue. Typha’s body was more than long enough to span the gap and she allowed Le’Ly and Hamish to use her tail as a bridge across.

“These next 3 are trip hazards more than anything.” Olive explained as Tuck smashed their toppers. “The vines in here are perfectly safe and look to be from a honeysuckle bush. The spikes in this one are rather dull and wouldn’t do more than a dozen points of damage. Maybe cause minor bleeding if you were really unlucky or unprepared. And lastly this one is filled with what looks like fish and or snake scales along with rat tails and bits of fur. Another trap to cause fear more than pain.” She gave a mischievous grin. “These are one of the reasons I like this place. Last time it felt like the dungeon was laughing at us and having a good time.”

Hamish sighed, “It did feel that way. This time is different. I still feel like we’re being watched but it feels less… It’s hard to describe.” He shook his head and stopped at the edge of the final trap in this hall. “This one is dangerous if you aren’t prepared.”

Tuck came over and once more broke the topper.

“Fireweed and poison ivy.” Olga stated crouching near the edge to get a better look at the plants. “Not a friendly pair. But we have the ointment to treat anyone that might fall in.” She added standing.

“I can jump the distance with a bit of a running start and I think Mom and Tuck could too.”

“I’d like to give it a try but first we need to get everyone else across.” Tuck replied “Olive go and get the table we used on the way back out. That will get us all across if Mrs. Typha uses her tail as a bridge again.”

“Aye aye.” She gave a joking salute and did as he asked. It took a bit for her to move the solid wood table by herself but she managed.

Once it was over and she had shoved it as far into the trap as possible the others were able to cross. Typha and Hamish still had some trouble due to their long bodies but made it in the end. The group stopped to let the alchemists put salve on any spots where the plants had irritated.

“I found 7 tungsten rounds sitting on the table.” Olive stated after everyone was safely across and ready injuries were treated.

“That must be the core’s reward for passing the traps.” Typha hypothesized.

Before any more could be said Le’Ly shouted with excitement. “Look! A secret door!”

They all looked, and sure enough there was a small pocket door in the wall behind where the table had sat.

She rushed over and opened the door in excitement. Inside was a small stone chest that the core hadn’t updated when it unlocked metal. The others looked over her shoulder as she opened it. Inside was a very shiny lump of metal about the size of Tuck’s fist.

“Can I see that?” Typha asked, holding out her hand.

Le’Ly handed it over with a small pout. She had been hoping for more cherries.

“I’m not sure what kind of metal this is.” The other adults looked it over as well. But none of them knew enough about metal to identify it.

“Dad will know when we get back.” Olive stated with a shrug. Neither twin had interest in their fathers blacksmithing. “Now left takes us to the church like room and right is the hall we didn’t explore last time.”

Typha slithered over to the first trap in the left hall. She took a fortifying breath then thrust her unprotected arm into the path of the iron arrows. After letting it get hit several times she pulled the arm back and looked at the damage.

There were a few cuts and jabs. “I’ve had worse damage when forced to slither over coral in one of our dungeons. This could do some damage to a low level adventurer but anyone about level 10 will be more annoyed at the stinging than harmed.”

“The other 2 are similar in strength.” Tuck added.

“They do sting and leave shallow cuts. Myra was the most damaged because the clay floors slowed her down. Olive had her healed in minutes.” Hamish explained.

“I’ll go and map that room and then we can head into the unknown.” Typha replied after listening to the boys.

“If the door locks put something in the statue’s hand to get out.” Olive told her.

As the naga slithered off Olga, Evanna and Poli sat in the 3 chairs that had been around the table. Left followed her.

“How are you doing Mom?” Olive asked, coming over and sitting across her mother’s lap, wrapping her in a big hug.

“Ok.” She replied after taking a deep breath and letting it out. “I am cautiously optimistic this dungeon won’t try to kill us all.”

Una and Right froze then looked to the ceiling. Right let out a shout thrusting his spear in the air in triumph while Una dropped to one knee, bowed her head and appeared to pray.

“What just happened?” Olga asked, looking around curious.

An odd feeling flowed through the dungeon as a whole. The was awake!

“I don’t know but I think whatever was wrong is better.” Olive replied. The air felt more lively, not quite what it was when the were here last time but better than when they arrived.