Running through the streets of Toronto while it was ablaze as the night fell, Lance could not help but grimace. It had been quite the day already, what with monsters appearing from open rifts in space that led to pocket dimensions – dungeons if you will – and a magic Shop that could give you any ability you’d want, so long as you killed enough monsters to get the necessary coins.

Holding his bow in one hand, a magical arrow formed and nocked; Lance had his head on pivot. Somewhere along the way, one of those rifts to a dungeon had spewed out giant spider creatures. They weren’t exactly spiders – having slightly slimmer bodies and lacking the cephalothorax of a typical spider, instead having a more singular body like a beetle.

The fact that they were pitch black, lacked the ability to shoot out webs and preceded their attacks with loud screams were the only reason they hadn’t managed to land a fatal ambush thus far. Even then, their first encounter with the creatures had seen Sarah bowled over as the creature landed on her, before mandibular jaws tore into her body. The Enhanced Strength woman had managed to get her boar spear in the way, managing to keep it from fully enveloping her body, even as the team fired arrows and magical Elemental Bolts through it.

Heil, charging into the fray, managed to bowl the the creature, his new Shield Rush ability that he had purchased after their successful dungeon run illuminating his entire body and making him a blazing blue-green comet. His attack had half-crushed the monster before it bounced into a nearby brick wall, where additional magical blasts to its softer underside ended it.

Now, Lance spotted another monster high above, one that crept into their range while Matt, their scout and fellow archery enthusiast had managed to get ahead of the team. It was possible that his time running around with his grandparents hunting was not as much a waste as he had always complained. In either case, Lance was just grateful to have a dedicated scout now.

Choosing to open fire rather than speak, he loosed the glowing arrow into the monster and used his own Conjure Mana Object – Arrow ability to create a second one in his hand. He plucked and fired from his bow as soon as it formed, catching the monster that was scurrying towards them as it jumped.

Already, he could feel his Mana Core refill the ability, shortening the cooldown on it. Still, shorten was not remove and rather than wait, he pulled an explosive arrow from his Never Ending Quiver, finishing the monster as it landed awkwardly.

“What’s that? The third?” Yanesh asked as he trotted pass the dissolving monster, barely glancing at it as he kept up with the group. He was breathing a little hard, though not horribly so. The team was keeping to a slower pace, not wanting to wear themselves down before they hit their next dungeon; but life as an IT worker did not come with a lot of physical exercise as a matter of course.

“Fourth,” Melissa said, lips tight. “I still want to know why it had to be spiders.”

“They’re not really spiders…” Sarah said.

“Six scrawny, angular legs. Little bits of fur everywhere. SPIDERS.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Lance said. “We need to keep moving.” Then, his face lit into a grin. “Unless we want Matt to take all the coins.”

“Bastard’s been sniping all the monsters on the way to the dungeon,” Yanesh complained, but followed along as Lance hurried down the streets.

The roads were mostly abandoned, cars barely running along the street. They kept moving down it, only dodging the occasional vehicle driven by an oblivious or all too frightened civilian.

“Huh.” Lance muttered.

“What?” Neil asked, turning his head to the side. “Realised something important?’

“Just thinking of others, and the way they’re now civilians in my mind.” Lance shrugged. “Which is weird.”

“And we’re what?”

“Adventurers!” Yanesh said, firmly.

“I actually kind of like that,” Neil said, grinning behind his helmet.

Lance snorted, spotting Matt who was crouched down low further ahead and peering around the corner of the building. The man was slightly on the chubby side, but he moved with ease, his curly brown mop of hair stained with sweat as he retracted his head back.

He waved the group forward, putting a finger to his lips which made the group fall silent. Even as they neared the man, Lance could smell the difference; a musky odor that was not natural, along with the tang of spilled blood and fecal waste from voided vowels. A smell he had begun to associate with death.

Once the group arrived, Matt leaned forward, speaking quickly. Lance was beginning to understand why human armies used hand signs. Then again, he doubted they had a hand sign for…

“Gnolls?” Lance muttered.

“A hill? We’re fighting moving hills?” Neil muttered

“No. Gnolls – with a silentish g.” Yanesh muttered. “Wolf humanoids.”

“How big?” Lance was more interested in that. Matt had already mentioned they were moving in packs of four or five, the two groups ahead of them.

“Not huge. Five feet tall? Except the leader of the team at the back whose nearly seven. Maybe eight. Hard to tell when he’s hunched over,” Matt muttered.

“Think they’ll aggro if we take the front group out?” Lance said.

Matt shrugged and waved the man forward. Switching spaces, Lance poked his head around and frowned. The group at the back had broken into a butcher’s shop it seemed and were gorging themselves, while the team ahead of them was currently savaging the bodies of a pair of humans torn from a car.

Thankfully, it seemed that the majority of office workers had left, heading back home via car or subway or foot. Leaving only a few people downtown and most of those had retreated up to their residences or stuck inside their offices, waiting to be rescued.

A dumb decision in Lance’s opinion – but then again, wasn’t he and the rest of the team actually doing the rescuing? So, maybe not so dumb.

“Don’t know. We might. Depends on how smart they are,” Lance said, drumming his fingers as he looked down the street. Thankfully, the wind was blowing crosswise so they weren’t likely to alert the gnolls with their scents. Also, with so many humans around; he wondered if it mattered.

“Okay, that blue Ford and the other truck? That’s fallback one.” Eyes flicked further back and spotted the shattered windows of a clothing store. Looting or monster, he was not sure. “Forgetful Twenty for fallback two.”

“The what?” Yanesh said. Sarah poked him and pointed and he nodded. “Right. Clothing store.”

“Alright, we good?” Lance said, sternly. This was not the time to get off track. “Usual tactics. Archers and range combat, we pull. Melee holds behind the wall, ranged will retreat on command behind melee and wait. Questions?”

The group shook their heads, even the M&Ms managing to grasp the simple plan.

“Then let’s do this,” Lance said. He couldn’t help but feel a thrill as they faced their first real challenge since the closing of the other dungeon portal.