1

They went through the southern portal in the order they had established earlier, hoping they wouldn’t fall into another trap. As Zack came through after Damon and Harper, he groaned. They were back in the basement. The room was large, using one half of the tower’s circumference. Thirty or more reptilian humanoids equipped with armor, knives, and spears snarled at them. Zack’s Creature Description popped up.

KOBOLD WARRIOR (Level 7)

HP: 113

MP: 40

STRENGTH: 9

CONSTITUTION: 11

DEXTERITY: 6

INTELLIGENCE: 4

WISDOM: 4

XP: 39

DESCRIPTION: Flightless dragon assigned to the mud platoon.

“Alright, Inmates,” Zack whispered to the other two orcs. “Looks like we get to fight some real warriors.”

Harper gave him the stink-eye for using the “Inmates” term again.

The kobolds looked like walking dinosaurs dressed in leather armor. They carried stone shields and had scabbards tied to their midsections. They had different skin colors; some were green or reddish-brown, others were a darker brown.

Their yellow reptilian eyes assessed them with almost human intelligence as they displayed rows of sharp fangs. As more Inmates passed through behind Zack, the kobolds lifted their spears and held their shields up.

Suddenly, one kobold honked a bird squawk twice and the kobold warriors quickly dispersed into a broad formation, charging at the Inmates from all sides.

“Fight!” Zack shouted, and raised his clipeus shield to deflect a thrown spear.

The orcs and hunters formed a wide row, clashing with the kobold soldiers.

One green warrior swung its long knife at Zack, slashing his arm. A line of blood oozed out, but Zack dismissed the shallow cut and plunged his sword into the warrior’s stomach. The kobold’s eyes bulged and its jaws gaped open. The creature dropped to the muddy floor and twitched painfully.

Zack looked around to check the Inmates’ status. The entire front line was jousting with the kobolds, and none of the Inmates were in danger. Harper kept most of the monsters at bay with her Fire Scorch spell, giving the Inmates a manageable number of kobolds to fight.

Another green kobold partially skirted Harper’s spell and charged at Zack with its leather armor in flames.

Zack thrust his sword forward. The wingless dragon swung its large shield, deflecting his attack. Zack lost his grip on the skelchion and it dropped to the floor.

The green warrior lunged at him with its spear. Zack whipped his clipeus shield across, knocking the weapon from the kobold’s grip. The spear bounced across the room.

The creature drew the long knife from its scabbard and leaped at him. The momentum slammed them both to the ground. Holding Zack down with one arm, the monster swung its knife toward his head.

As the sharp tip of the blade rushed toward his face, Zack clutched the monster’s hand and halted its swing inches from his nose. With his greater strength, he twisted the kobold’s hand, forcing it to release the knife. The weapon bounced off the orc’s armor and landed on the ground.

Zack grinned. “Now we’re just mano-a-mano, my friend,” he said huskily, relishing his first chance at hand-to-hand combat since pummeling Brett.

The green kobold snarled at him and clawed at his arms, slicing his skin.

Zack grimaced and discarded his shield. He drove his fist up into the kobold’s jaw, which snapped shut. Two fangs broke off and bounced off of Zack’s plate armor. While the kobold was stunned, Zack yanked the shield from it and threw it across the room.

For an instant in the dim light, the green kobold regarded Zack with eerie contemplation. Blood dripped onto Zack from its closed jaws. Its sharp nails dug deeper into his arms, making the orc grunt painfully. Then the green kobold honked twice, and seconds later, a red kobold rushed to its aid.

Zack tried to buck the green kobold. The red warrior moved swiftly, plunging its spear through a gap in Zack’s armor. The thick point ground into his left shoulder. Zack screamed as intense pain flared through his arm and shoulder. He warded off the green kobold’s snapping jaws with his other arm.

The red kobold twisted its spear out deliberately, making Zack feel the coarse wood grind against his torn tissue. Then the red monster dropped its knee onto his wound. Zack screamed again. In his field of vision, he saw that his HP was still good at 260 out of 348.

Both kobolds were on top of him now, biting through gaps in his armor and tearing out chunks of flesh. The red kobold smashed its hand against his face, and suddenly Zack couldn’t breathe. He swiveled to his left before doing a full roll to his right. Both kobolds tumbled off of him.

Zack quickly reached for his skelchion along the ground. Grasping the sword, he stood up. The two mobs charged at him. He swung his blade across, decapitating the green kobold and chopping into the neck of the red one.

The red kobold fell to the ground with blood squirting from its gaping wound. Zack advanced to finish the monster, but it died before he reached it.

Breathing heavily, Zack heard the clank of a sword from somewhere else in the room. Then the room was utterly silent. He spun around and saw the rest of the team looking at him. Janna was already healing what minor injuries they had. The corpses of the kobold warriors were littered at their feet. There wasn’t a single one left standing.

“Nice going, Inmates,” Zack said, genuinely pleased.

2

Emma helped with the healing duties while the Inmates discussed the kobold battle. They had used their melee weapons mostly and, while the kobolds had been fearsome, the battle invigorated the Death Row team. For a change, it felt within their range of ability. While everyone had cuts and injuries, the Inmates had enjoyed the swordplay and saw it as an opportunity to improve their skills.

There had been thirty-two kobolds in all. Ethan killed seven, which raised him to level 45. He dropped his 44 attribute points as 14, 15, and 15 into strength, dexterity, and endurance. Damon was next with six kills, putting him at level 43. He dropped his 36 points evenly into constitution, dexterity, and endurance.

Angie bagged five kobolds, which bumped her to level 43. She dropped her points as 11, 10, and 11 into constitution, dexterity, and endurance. Jordan nailed five kobolds as well, jumping to level 40. He dropped his points as 9, 9, and 10 into constitution, strength, and endurance.

Zack killed three, which raised him to level 39. He deposited his 20 points as 6, 7, and 7 into constitution, dexterity, and endurance. Emma bagged three kobolds and advanced one level under the post-50 leveling system. She dropped her 4 points into wisdom. Harper also killed three kobolds, but her 117 XP wasn’t enough for her to level up.

After using Object Description to check the drop, Ethan and Harper discovered that the kobolds’ “battle shields” were better than the orcs’ clipeus shields. They were larger and had sharp serrations of rock protruding on the front. They were heavier, but that wouldn’t be a problem for the orcs. Angie had two extra spots in her inventory, so she hung onto the clipeus shields while the orcs equipped the stone shields. Damon didn’t want a replacement; he preferred the bronze shield from the Dioskilos chamber.

The Inmates checked the exit portal next and considered passing through to the next room, but Harper persuaded them to return to the seventh room and try the second portal there.

3

After walking through the second portal of the spider chamber, Damon noted that the new room was above ground with lots of light, so he turned off his Firefly spell. The room appeared to be packed with small boulders. Then he realized that each rock was exactly the same; three feet high and oval-shaped. They looked like eggs and had a warm orange hue that reminded him of the rock formations he had seen in Arizona when he was a kid. Harper passed through next and stepped beside him.

“Those aren’t just rocks, right?” he asked.

Harper snorted. “Is anything what it appears to be in this crazy place?”

Damon grunted. More Inmates came through the portal behind them. “Why hasn’t our creature description come up yet?” he asked.

“Maybe we need to get closer,” Emma suggested.

Harper counted the rocks. Twenty-five boulders were scattered throughout the large chamber. “In any case, we have some time to plan,” she said. “Orcs, I would recommend you start with your bone-axes. Damon, use the flail. Everyone else, stay near this portal. Your weapons can’t damage rock. If you get into trouble, jump back to the seventh room.” She turned to face the Inmates. “Emma, what’s your MPR?”

“4.34.”

“Good. I want you to run Defense Buff and Offense Buff on Damon and Zack. Jordan, you should have enough to do the same thing for Ethan.”

Jordan nodded.

“Angie, try running Song of Distraction. We’ll see if that affects these creatures. Janna, just focus on healing.”

Harper placed her hands on her hips. “Okay. Jordan, Emma, get those spells going.”

Once they were ready, Harper and the orcs walked toward the mobs and waited for them to engage.

4

They got within fifteen feet before the boulders started shaking. Short legs sprouted out from under their bodies. A moment later, two arms popped out from their sides, each sporting three fingers. The mobs didn’t seem to have mouths, but one singular eye opened from the middle of their frames. The creatures’ body parts were made entirely of orange stone except for the eyeball.

Zack laughed. “Hey, it’s like Mr. Potato Head meets a cyclops.”

Creature Description finally popped up for the team members.

STONER HEAD (Level 4)

HP: 52

MP: 31

STRENGTH: 21

CONSTITUTION: 5

DEXTERITY: 3

INTELLIGENCE: 3

WISDOM: 3

XP: 27

DESCRIPTION: Tribal mini-golems with a taste for leather.

As the slow-moving creatures shuffled toward them, Zack walked ahead and raised his bone-axe.

Suddenly, one stoner head bolted for him. A window appeared in Zack’s vision.

Stoner Speed!

“Huh?” he muttered, before getting bulldozed by the accelerating mob and knocked to the stone floor. His shins were aching, but he couldn’t help laughing at the power move. “I think I just got tackled by Mr. Potato Head,” he cackled.

The Song of Distraction spell echoed through the room, and that made him laugh even more. The same stoner head that had run him over smashed both of its stony fists into his shoulder.

“Ow! You mother,” Zack complained, then grabbed his bone-axe, which had fallen to the floor. He butt-ended the shaft into the monster’s rotund body, snapping off the skeletal fang that had been added to the bottom of the weapon. “Ah, hell.”

The blow dislodged chunks of rock as it sent the stoner hurtling across the room.

Zack sat up, rubbing his shoulder. “We can’t use the bone weapons against these monsters. They’ll break,” he shouted hoarsely.

“You’re a little late on that advice,” Ethan muttered.

His bone-axe was severely damaged. The bones jutting from the back of the blade were broken off and there was a large chip on the curved blade at the front. Zack stood up and grabbed one of the chunks of rock. He ran to another mob and bashed the rock down onto its head.

The stoner’s short legs fanned out as it crashed to the floor. Its one large eyeball peered up at him.

Jeez, that eye looks human, Zack thought. As the monster reached for his legs, he pounded the rock directly into its eye. White goo and red blood gushed onto the stone floor. The creature fell over and an Epiphany cloud rose from its body. Well, that was easy, he thought.

In the background, Damon started using his flail to obliterate the stoners’ eyes. Harper blasted the eyeballs with Fire Bullet. From their position near the portal, Jordan, Emma, and Angie started shooting arrows, killing many stoners.

One stoner charged at the archers. The Stoner Speed! visual appeared again. Jordan and Angie dove to their sides while Emma, who was standing dead center, emitted a startled yelp and jumped through the portal. The charging stoner kept racing and vaulted at the portal after her. Like running into a brick wall, it bounced off the portal’s surface with a resounding crash and landed on its back. Angie dashed in and drove a spear into its eye.

Once they’d identified the monster’s weakness, it took the Inmates no time to clear the room. Meanwhile, Emma transferred back in, looking embarrassed.

Angie nailed six stoners, gaining 162 XP and reaching level 50, along with the new leveling system. She dropped her attribute points as 9, 9, and 10 into constitution, dexterity, and endurance. Damon killed five stoners, putting him at level 49. He dropped his 24 points evenly into constitution, dexterity, and endurance.

Jordan bagged five stoners as well, bumping him to level 46. He deposited his points evenly into constitution, strength, and endurance. Zack killed three of the boulders, which raised him to level 42. He dropped his 12 points evenly into constitution, dexterity, and endurance.

Harper nabbed four stoners, gaining 108 XP. That was enough to bump her to the next level. She dropped her four points into constitution. Finally, Emma bagged only two stoners, which wasn’t enough to gain a level.

5

Harper checked out the Epiphany cloud, but it did nothing for her. Jordan tried with no success as well. Finally, Damon extended his hand into the cloud and received a message.

Congratulations, Damon! Your Bronze Armor has been upgraded to Battle Armor (level 6)! Your armor now has added layers of minerals that will impede your adversary’s attacks. Tell your enemies, “Make sure you take your vitamins and minerals!”

Congratulations, Damon! Your Bronze Shield has been upgraded to Battle Shield (level 6)! Your shield now has added layers of minerals that will impede your adversary’s attacks. Tell your enemies, “Make sure you take your vitamins and minerals!”

Rock started materializing on the exterior of his shield and armor, adding an extra layer of protection. It made the equipment heavier, but Damon was happy with the improvements. Stone spikes poked out from every angle on his shoulders. Zack and Ethan received the same upgrades, but the shields they’d taken from the kobolds already had the enhancement.

Damon walked up to Harper, grinning. “Sorry, doll-face. This one’s only for orcs.”

Harper snickered.