The lantern stone on Silvia’s waist swung back and forth as she pressed onwards. Its light reflecting in the small puddles of water spread throughout the rocky tunnel. What was at first hard stone under her boots had turned to mud and slop. The mixed stench of urine and mould caused her to fight off a gag. She pressed on through the vile odour for the sake of glory and gold.

As an elf she had never had to fear the darkness, she wore the lantern stone so that her team could turn to her amidst battle and take strength from the determination in her eyes. While on paper she was still a grade F adventurer, she knew she was meant for greatness, and part of greatness was being able to set an example for others to follow.

Her infravision allowed her to see well in the dark, she saw the environment in different shades of grey, and the warm bodies of her fellow adventurers in red. Kobold’s however were cold blooded and wouldn’t be as easy to see as her party. She would have to keep alert.

She was glad she had Garett to rely on, his talent for dealing with traps would serve them well in facing Kobolds in their warrens.

She had heard horror stories from adventurers that had faced kobolds and barely made it out alive. Fatigued by the task of watching out for traps, taunted from the shadows, peppered by arrows, ambushed, and dragged into the darkness of the water to be drowned and torn apart. While similar in stature to a goblin, their way of fighting couldn’t be more different.

While goblins were impatient and tended to swarm adventurers. Kobolds knew how to bide their time and fight a war of attrition; drawing adventurers deeper into their lairs, and wearing them down with traps and ambushes until the party is fatigued and easier to kill.

In the distance she saw the glint of two red eyes peering back at her before vanishing. If it were not for her being an elf, and being alert, she wouldn’t have spotted it. She signalled for everyone to hold their position.

“They know we are here”

Garett pointed to the ceiling where loose rocks were held in place by a net. Each of its strands were woven from subterranean plant fibers and muck. “And they are prepared for intruders”. The group carefully circled around the trap so as to keep noise to a minimum. The mineshaft opened into a cavern filled with pools of water and hanging stalactites. A warm mist drifted up from the murky water, and the stench became thick enough that you could cut it with a knife. Silvia pulled a rag from her waistband and wrapped it around her nose and mouth to give herself some relief.

Yuta and Galt stood with pikes ready, while Jerimiah in his minimal attire, and the shieldbearer Vaan stood as the front line between them. The girls hung back with their arrows nocked and on the lookout for movement. While the rogue with his dagger stuck to the shadows, waiting for his chance to sneak off during the fight and find just the right angle to strike.

She trusted her party, but she knew those red eyes slinking in the shadows were prepared to fight. She drew an arrow back, and took in a deep breath.

FWET!

Her fingers floated away from the string, sending the arrow piercing through the air.

THUNK

The arrow landed true, right between two of the glowing eyes of one of the creatures, and it collapsed to the ground.

FWET FWET FWET!

A hail of arrows rained back on the adventurers. They had to weave and dive for cover behind rock formations in the cavern. The party’s archers scattered off behind cover, then leapt out to release a volley of their own.

FWET FWET FWET! THWACK THWACK TING!

Two of the kobolds were struck by arrows; one in the thigh, and the other in his bow arm causing him to drop it and clutch the wound. Two more of the kobolds rushed up to attack the adventurers in melee, but Yuta and Galt pounced out of cover and drove forward with their spears. The kobolds’ red scales reflected the light of their lantern stones, their eyes wide in fear from the charge of the attack. The kobolds turned and thought better of fighting the men head on, fleeing to the back of the cavern.

“Phew” Silvia mumbled to herself. “We drove them back, it is a good start, but it will only get tougher from here, stay alert”

Silvia knew that good starts could turn ugly quickly, she tapped Vaan’s shoulder and held her bow drawn while trailing behind his protective shield as they pushed into an adjoining cavern.

She searched the darkness for movement, and listened for the hiss of their breath.

“Hrmm”

A blast of water hit her from behind. She turned to see alligator-like jaws and talons closing in on her. She danced back from it several steps and released an arrow, which whooshed past the side of its head.

All around the party, kobolds leapt from their fetid pools of water, and pounced. Two of them snatched onto the rogue, and dragged him kicking and screaming back into the water. He slashed wildly, and succeeded in pushing one of them off but another kobold leapt from the water and helped pull him under.

Silvia tried to rush over to help, but her own kobold blocked the path, snatching and slashing at her with its claws. Vaan raised his shield and charged right through the kobold, blasting it off its feet. He plunged his hand into the water and gripped onto the rogue pulling him out of the darkness. Blood poured from his neck from where kobolds had managed to sink their talons.

Silvia drove her arrow into the downed kobold, and rushed over to help. She pulled out a potion from her pouch and popped the lid, but as she did, the kobolds that had dragged the rogue into the water shot out and swiped for her neck. She stumbled backwards and the potion smashed on the floor.

Vaan slashed with his sword, cutting one of the kobolds from hip to armpit, its guts bursted out of the gaping wound and it made a splash as it fell back into the water. The rogue gripped at Vaan’s leg, desperately clawing at him, and gasping for breath.

Silvia was thrown back by the ferocity of the kobold’s attack. It slashed from all angles in a chaotic flurry. She stepped and dodged as best she could but received a slash just above her eye and was pushed up against a stone formation. As her back hit up against it she kicked the kobold in the chest, and fought to keep her space. It stumbled backward which gave her just enough time to draw her dagger. Blood poured down the side of her face forcing her to shut her left eye. The kobold spurred on by her struggle pounced on her. As she attempted to wrestle its grasp off of her, she struggled to find her footing and stumbled. The kobold slashed the other side of her face and sent her sprawling face first onto the ground.

Vaan kicked off the rogue’s grip on his leg, and sprinted to Silvia’s aid. He smashed his shield into its skull and knocked it out cold. Silvia took his extended hand and pulled herself up.

“Quickly, he is bleeding out,” Vaan said.

Silvia snatched another potion from her pouch and slapped it into Vaan’s hand, “Go”.

Vaan nodded and quickly ran over to the rogue’s aid.

Silvia wiped blood from her face, and then drew an arrow.

FWET... FWET.... FWET...

Her arrows pierced deep into the scaled flesh of the Kobold’s attacking the girls. The girls all then took aim at the remaining kobolds attacking Galt, Yuta, and Garett.

FWET FWET FWET

The kobolds fell to the ground screeching and gargled on blood bubbling up from their lungs. Silvia ran over to Vaan. “How is it?”

“It isn’t working! The wound is sealed but he is drowning in his own blood”

The rogue’s hands fell limp at his sides. .

“He is gone,” Vaan said.

Silvia knelt down and sliced the throat of the kobold Vaan had knocked out earlier, “Well fuck!”

Galt kneeled beside the body and patted Vaan on the shoulder, “You did your best bud, no one could have asked more of you”.

Vaan stood to his feet and turned away from the party to hide his tears.

Yuta looked at the corpse blankly and then walked over to Silvia, “Sucks that you had to waste potions on a guy that wasn’t going to make it”

Silvia looked to the side, she didn’t want to admit it but he was right, she had panicked and now she only had one left.

“Maybe we should leave, take him top side to be buried” she replied.

Yuta thought about his options for a moment and remembered it was the main quest.

*If the town is going to be attacked by the monster hunters and the Sawtooth queen, then I really can’t go back, I just have to trust the questline*

“We should push on,” Yuta insisted.

“Why? How is it still worth it? A man just died”

“Yeah, he died, but the rest of us have to go on living, and we can’t do that if we don’t keep pushing ahead. It was bad luck. Galt and I should use our pikes to check the pools as we push on though,” Yuta said.

Galt stepped forwards. “I will take the left, you take the right”

Vaan wiped his tears on his sleeve. “Silvia and the girls can kill them the fastest, if the front line holds of well, it will give them the room they need to finish the fight for us”

Garett kneeled beside the dead adventurer and offered a prayer. “May he find the light in the heavens that he could not reach in his time here with us”

The girls replied all in unison. “May he find the light”

Yuta and Galt were now the advanced guards of the group. They escorted the party through the cavern and carefully guarded bodies of water that could pose a threat. Everyone was now on high alert, aware that a fight could break out at any moment. Yuta wiggled his fingers and checked his grip, while Galt listened intently for any sounds. He could hear the clicking of geckos on the cavern walls, and drips of water from stalactites into the pools below them. While the going was slow, they eventually edged their way to the next passageway.

Garett ran up ahead and spotted a false floor trap. He collapsed the thin clay tile covering to reveal a pit full of spears fashioned from bone. Everyone took turns leaping across, all except Garett who climbed around its edge which was just large enough to support his footing.

As the group exited the passage they found themselves in a large hall made of stone slabs, and supported by enormous pillars. Rocks had collapsed from the roof which they would have to make their way around to see what was beyond.

Vaan stopped in his tracks, “Oh hell no!”

Galt patted him on the shoulder, “Easy big fella”

Garett rushed ahead and clambered around the stones. “Guy’s you won’t believe this”. He waved everyone over with his arm. Everyone moved ahead except for Vaan and Galt, who probed and prodded at him to follow the others.

Silvia gasped as her eyes landed upon what was in the middle of the hall. Its breathing was slow and deep. Puffs of smoke poured from its nostrils, and dark spiked scales covered its enormous lizard like body. From all sides, enormous chains pinned it to the ground.

Yuta’s eyes opened wide, “I can’t believe what I am seeing”.

Kobolds were gathered around the enormous black dragon. They were all working to free it from its chains but had made no progress.

The dragon’s voice boomed, “I smell humans”

Its closest eye opened and turned towards the group, locking onto them with frightening precision. The kobolds all leapt into action and sprinted in all directions, while releasing arrows, forcing the party to withdraw.

Silvia bounced back to where Vaan was standing, “I’ve got good news and bad news”.

“It was a dragon I heard just now right?”

“Yes, but it is restrained”

“How restrained are we talking here?”

“It is chained to the ground and can’t even move an inch”

“Okay”

“The bad news is, there are about two dozen kobolds coming this way, so we need you!”

“Arrgh!” he replied. “Fine, but after this you owe me!”.

Vaan stormed forward to the largest opening in the rubble and raised his shield. Three kobolds leapt through the gap. Yuta lunged forwards with his pike and impaled one of them, while Galt stabbed another.

FWET

Silvia’s arrow caught the third.

FWET FWET FWET

The girls unleashed their arrows at the smaller crawl spaces other kobolds were squeezing their way through. Each of the arrows deflected off the stone, and three kobolds dived out into the hall entrance. Arrows shot through the large opening at the boys, causing them to scatter.

Garett swept in from one of the kobold’s blind spot and slashed a tendon on the side of its knee, causing its leg to buckle. As it toppled over, he lunged onto it with his dagger drawn and plunged it into its neck.

Another of the kobolds turned and rushed towards him. Garett dived off to the side and scrambled back to his feet.

Three more kobolds pushed their way through the crawlspaces and landed down in the hall entrance. Galt and Yuta turned towards the five kobolds, and rushed to help the girls while Jerimiah stayed with Vaan to guard the opening.

FWET

Silvia released an arrow that lodged itself into the chest of one of the kobolds. Three of the remaining kobolds all rushed at the girls, darting from side to side, and swinging their talons wildly. The girls didn’t have time to release their arrows, so had to resort to using footwork to evade and dodge the attacks.

Yuta and Galt converged on the kobold stalking after Garett and stabbed through it from both sides. Garett then slipped between its legs and threw his dagger into the back of one of the kobolds cornering the girls. It screeched in pain, and reached for the dagger in its back. One of the girls broke free and released an arrow at another of the kobolds, dropping it dead in its tracks. This allowed another of the girls to break free and shoot another. Which in turn released the third who finished off the one with the dagger in its back. Garett swept forwards and retrieved his dagger.

The girl with the flat butt, named Eve, smiled at Garett. “Thanks, you really saved us there”

Vaan roared and swung his shield in frustration, as five kobolds had him surrounded. Jeremiah had another kobold pinned to the floor and was pummelling its face in. Another three kobolds leapt from the crawlspaces, and now some kobold archers had circled out to the side and were ready to launch a volley of arrows.

FWET FWET FWET FWET

The girls and Silvia took out four of the kobolds surrounding Vaan.

FWET FWET

“Ahhh!” Silvia was struck by an arrow in her side, while another swooshed past Eve’s ear.

Silvia turned toward the archers and released her arrow in retaliation.

FWET

The kobolds shortbow flew out of its hands as it was sent stumbling backwards with an arrow in its arm.

Yuta and Galt rushed back to the large opening, as another five kobolds made it through.

FWET

The remaining kobold archer released its arrow, and it pierced into one of the girls’ eyes and thudded into the back of her skull. She collapsed to the floor without even time to scream.

“Amy, no!”. Eve launched her arrow with deadly precision and it struck the kobold archer through the heart.

Two kobolds rushed at the remaining girls, and dived on both of them. Eve tried to hold her kobold off with her bow, but the other girl had her bow knocked to the side and was being slashed at wildly.

“Ahh! Help!” she balled up behind her arms to protect her face, but the kobold switched targets and slashed at her body. Fortunately her leather armor was tough, and protected her from being eviscerated. Garett weaved through the legs of several kobolds and plunged his dagger into the neck of the one on top of Eve. He turned to the side to see the other kobold breach through the other woman’s guard and drive its talon’s into her eyes.

She screamed in horror as it drove them in deeper, before falling silent.

Jeremiah jumped up off of the body of a kobold. “No! The women need me!” and dashed across the battlefield. Another kobold managed to get around Vaan and dived on Jerimiah. It dug its talons deep into the flesh of his pectoral muscles. “Argh! Begone you fiend!” he said as he smacked it aside. The kobold that had just finished its kill turned and leapt at Jerimiah. He grabbed his neck, and threw it into the ground. Another kobold that had come from a crawl space drove a bone spear into his ribs, plunging it deep into his chest. Yuta quickly responded by stabbing it through the neck with his pike. While Galt stabbed the Kobold on the ground.

Five kobolds remained, two of the girls and Jerimiah were dead, and Silvia had dragged herself further from the battlefield, to use a potion on her arrow wound. So only Yuta, Galt, Eve, and Garett remained able to fight.

“Form together!” Yuta yelled.

Everyone rushed over and formed a semi circle around the passageway entrance. Eve released an arrow at one of the kobolds but it darted off to the side. All of the kobolds moved in on the party, using careful footwork to avoid the range of Yuta and Galt’s pikes. While the pikes were busy, two slammed through. One dived onto Vaan’s shield, and held onto it. Its full weight now made it impossible to hold up causing his guard to drop. The second kobold drove its talons into his throat. Blood spewed from his mouth as his windpipe was crushed in its hands. He fell down onto his knees, and collapsed with an expression of shock on his face. Garett lunged forwards and drove his dagger into the kobold’s eye, but was then smacked by the kobold on the shield, sending him sprawling across the floor face first. Yuta looked out of the side of his eye at what was happening but had to remain focused on the kobold infront of him. Galt however completely lost it.

“Vaan! No!!!” He drove the back of his pike into the kobold and then turned to finish it off. The kobold he was holding off dived forwards in an instant and latched onto his back, reaching its claws around his throat. Galt’s screams were cut off by the gargling of blood before he collapsed on the floor next to Vaan.

It gave Garett just enough time to get back to his feet and stab the kobold in its gut. It keeled over on the floor.

FWET

An arrow flew from Silvia’s direction, and shot into the kobold’s open mouth that was mounted on Galt’s back.

Yuta switched frantically back and forth with the tip of his pike to fend off both of the remaining kobolds, but the one furthest to his side jumped in and latched onto the pike. The other kobold dived in at him with its talon’s aimed at his neck.

“ILLUMINATE!”

Yuta quickly dropped the spear and let off his one and only cantrip. He stepped to the side and escaped the swipe of the kobold’s claws. It sliced into his neck a hair’s breadth deep, a reminder to him that if he had not used the spell when he had, he would have met the same fate as Vaan.

*That is one hell of a tricky tactic*

He drew his club and swung hard to clear space between himself and the kobold.

FWET

Eve released an arrow at the kobold latched onto Yuta’s spear. It deflected off the side of its lizard-like face only accomplishing to stir it into a blind frenzy. It sprinted towards her at full speed.

“Oh no!” Eve stumbled back trying to draw another arrow.

Garett dived in front of her and latched his arms around its legs in a desperate attempt to stop it. It’s knee smashed hard into his jaw, knocking him unconscious.

Eve panicked and ran back through the passage with the kobold following after her.

Silvia struggled to reach for another one of her arrows, wedged behind her. Her side burned with pain as her hand gripped onto its feathers. She drew back her bow and launched her arrow.

FWET THUNK

The kobold fell down dead behind the fleeing Eve.

“Ahhhh!”

Eve stumbled and fell into the spiked pit. Several of the bone spears, piercing through her body.

The remaining kobold faced off against Yuta.

*What the hell! How is everyone dead?!*

Yuta and the kobold circled around one another.

“Have you got another one of those arrows?” he asked Silvia.

“I’m sorry, I can’t, I’m in really bad shape here” she replied.

Yuta grit his teeth.

*Damn it, how can I get the advantage?*

CHAPTER 21

The Kobold moved back and forth testing Yuta’s reactions, looking for weakness, while the rest of his party was either incapacitated or already dead. It was a complete disaster, the kind of situation he would never have kept playing if it was a game. He would have decided to reload already. But as he looked at the final kobold, and it began to sink in that he was the last chance that any of them would make it home alive.

*How did it get like this?*

... Earlier that day...

He awoke early in the morning to a nightmare, it was a kind of nightmare that made him doubt himself and feel guilty about who he was as a person. The emphasis of the dream was that he was, as always, a loser. That if anyone was to ever rely on him, it would lead to their death.

I mean, after all, he died from a strong gust of wind. How could he lead anyone to a better fate?

As he walked to the meeting with Silvia and the rest of the party his palms were sweaty. His knees were weak, and his arms felt like spaghetti.

Silvia bounced toward him with a smile “Hey Yuta! Are you ready to pillage and plunder?!”

*Holy moly, she has a lot of energy in the morning. Wait isn’t pillaging and plundering about raping and stealing from a conquered city?*

“Plunder, yes, pillage… That will just depend on how the day goes, haha”

Yuta cringed inside as he realised this wasn’t the comment section on the internet, and that a bad joke being ignored didn’t quite roll off his back like it normally would. Regardless, Silvia moved on with the conversation without missing a step.

“We are going to be really lucky today, I can feel it! And with a team ten strong, we’ve got this on lock”

*Wow, ten people? I’ve never played a game with a party that big without mods, isn’t that almost cheating?*

“Ten? Isn’t that four more than your usual party, why so many?”

“It is just standard practice, if you are exploring somewhere unknown you enlist more adventurers, just in case you need the backup”

*Oh, so they do it on purpose so they don’t get mobbed. This makes sense, I am totally on board with it… Wait who are these other people*

Yuta looked around and saw the misfit mercenary crew that had joined the party and it didn’t instill him with confidence. A halfling boy who wasn’t even his full height and had a hunched back, a man without any equipment who looked like he was cosplaying Tarzan, and a guy in such rough shape he had to be a hard drinker on his days off. Though, he couldn’t say he was the ideal mercenary addition to the team either.

“Wait, why are the other three just as ragged looking as me?”

“Cheaper that way! Adventurers above grade F won’t take an escort mission without pay upfront as well as taking a larger split from whatever we find. This way it’s just a ten way split and no extra fees”

*Ah, I guess it makes sense that they are trying to save money. But isn’t that kind of dangerous? Like cutting corners in a place of business? Hopefully it won’t factor into things too much*

“Oh, okay, but technically I am still a grade G”

“Don’t worry about that, you’ll do fine. I saw you take out those bullfrogs. Think better of yourself!” Silvia replied.

*She is coming around finally. But then again I did work pretty hard to wrap my head around the basics*

“So what do we do now?”

… Yuta wiped some sweat off the palm of his hand as he made his way down the stairwell.

*Come on, come on, don’t get scared now. Just focus on the basics. Keep it simple, keep it disciplined. Mirio wouldn’t flinch, he’d move forward, I just have to keep moving forward and trust the fundamentals*

The entryway was dimly lit and smelled of mould. The large room beyond it smelled as stale as an old folks home but was filled to the brim with a menacing presence. As he looked out to each far stretching wall he could imagine how adventurers of times long past could have met their end.

*Boss room!*

“Boss room”, “Or a place for an ambush”, “Guys we should be careful!”

Jerimiah leaned into his ear “Don’t worry man, I’ll protect you”

*What the hell is this guy imagining? That one guy can turn the tide of any battle? He is just a grade F adventurer. Run of the mill, what is he going to do?*

Yuta watched on as Silvia and Garett organised themselves and set up traps all through the room. He paid special attention to the placement, looking for the strategy being used, but couldn’t find any, they were just filling the room with them.

*Damn, how am I going to remember where all of these are?*

Silvia then took out a piece of glowing chalk and marked pathways through the field of traps.

*Oh okay, I guess now it makes a bit more sense*

The party then collected by the start of the main hallway as he lured a monster back towards them.

*Now this is a tactic I like, wait is that a skeleton?*

Vaan rushed in and tackled the skeleton to the ground and Galt, his ever trusty sidekick, tried to come in with his pike.

*Damn it Galt, use your head*

Yuta unslung his club and tossed it to him “Here, use this!”.

Galt smashed through its head like it was made of glass.

*These skeleton’s must be thousands of years old judging by how frail they are*

*Hrmm, they aren’t even carrying weapons, were they villagers when alive?*

After finishing off the remaining couple of skeletons the party made their way into the next room where a wall painting showed the ominous scene of a dark smoke flowing through the land, and wiping out a village.

*There is no way this isn’t connected to the main quest* Yuta thought to himself. *If the information those bandits gave Sierra was correct, they are bringing a large monster queen to destroy Elmvale, and plunge it into chaos. And no doubt the bandits knowing this are preparing to take advantage of the chaos. I wouldn’t be surprised if this entire county was turned into bandit territory after all is said and done*

A thought struck Yuta like lightning *Ah of course, if the nobles know about the attack, they are leaving because they want it that way! But why would they want the bandits to take over the county?*

*Bah, maybe I’m reading into this too much. This painting could just be about a natural disaster, like Pompei*

“What is that?” Silvia asked, pointing at the mural with her arrow.

Seeing that no one else was going to say anything, he felt like he was being prompted to comment, as though it was part of the quest line script.

“Maybe it was a volcano? They spew out ash and fire that looks like smoke. But why would a picture of it be here? Do you think the misty meadows are built over a fault line?”

“A what?” Silvia asked.

“Oh, right… A fault line is a split in the earth; they create volcanoes, and sometimes they cause gasses seep up from below the surface. It could be what is creating the fog, and maybe the people who lived here before had their village wiped out”

“Thats stupid, how could a split in the earth create a volcano, besides, it is common knowledge they are created by the gods, or sometimes dragons like the red mountain in the west. To me it looks like a plague, some kind of disease, spreading through the land”

*Maybe it is both? A plague, stirred up by a natural disaster? Either way, whatever happened was buried*

Vaan looked shaken by Silvia’s words. “Don’t tell me we might unearth a plague in here, or a dragon”

Silvia slapped him on the shoulder, “Nah, the only thing to be found here is treasure”

Vaan forced a smile “Yeah, okay, but just in case no one should open any strange jars or containers”

*I can’t believe they just started mentioning dragons, there is no way there is a dragon fight in the first quest. I’m sure this is just a teaser kind of thing, to show what is to come later. Usually early game quests that lead out of town are just time wasting, so that by the time we get back, everything is burning… But still...*

.

Yuta nodded “I agree, we should be careful as we move ahead”

Garett came back from the left hallway. “Both ways are collapsed, but on the right side there is a hole that leads further down”

*A hole? Yeah this misdirect has to be something weird. Maybe there is a dragon? Maybe it is a quest giver? Or better yet, it will give me more magical power so I can fight off the invasion of the bandits!!!*

Yuta’s excitement turned to stone eyed pragmatism as he realised there was no way that could be true.

*I might be wrong about all of it, but we are probably safer in the dungeon. And as long as Silvia has her potions, we aren’t that at risk. So long as we are careful*

Yuta scrambled down the stoney passageway and hopped out onto the wooden walkway. He peered down the large hole.

“Whoa, now that is a hole” the man with the dagger said.

“Looks like the walkway leads down,” Galt replied.

“Okay, let’s all keep going, but be mindful of your step” Silvia said.

The boards creaked underneath Yuta’s feet.

*Oh damn, even if this is another world, heights suck. Especially in dim light*

Yuta felt like the descent was similar to that of a five story building, made longer by taking a poorly built walkway all the way down.

Yuta bounced as his feet hit the solid ground at the bottom of the hole.

*Finally!*

Garett kneeled by some tracks, “Kobold!”

“Kobolds?” Vaan asked.

“Yes, they are a humanoid race, similar to goblins, but they are half lizard”

“I know what they are. They are dragon kin! Look guys, I don’t know about all of you, but this is looking more and more like a lair of some large and dangerous creature, and less and less like a place for us. I say we leave and let the guild know” Vaan replied.

“No! There is treasure here, I’m sure of it. And kobolds don’t always mean dragons, we’ll be safe if we just take things one step at a time” Silvia said.

*Oh that is good news! Aren’t kobolds usually the weakest enemy type in most games? They are really frail lizard people, and are a bit weaker than normal humans. I think they have a strength of about 7 or 8. Which is about the same as me. The only trouble is when they manage to work together as a team, that always makes them more dangerous*

Yuta chimed in. “I think she is right, we should push on”

As the group walked into the passageway Yuta couldn’t help but be mesmerised for a moment by the way Silvia walked. It was as if each step carried a purpose.

*Maybe she is comfortable down here because of her elven sight?*

“They know we are here,” Silvia said.

Garett then pointed up to a stone collapsing trap just ahead of them.

*I was wrong about this guy earlier, he is probably the most useful addition to the party when facing kobolds and their traps. It will be much easier with him around*

Galt waved at Yuta to catch up to him up at the front. Garett directed them around the edge of the pressure plates hidden in the floor. Once on the other side of the trap Yuta readied his pike.

*I just need to focus on the fundamentals, and wait for the kobold to make a mistake, then attack with a strong thrust*

Jerimiah tapped him on the shoulder and whispered into his ear. “Relax man, we got this”

FWET

Silvia released an arrow that shot past Yuta’s ear. He heard it sink into a kobold up ahead, and the readying of arrows upon their bows.

*Shit!*

He grabbed at Jerimiah and then dived off to the side behind a stone pillar.

FWET FWET FWET!

Jeremiah looked around frantically for a moment, “Damn it, I hate ranged fights. Why can’t they fight us like men? Up close! Thanks for the save by the way”

“... Right… Don’t mention it”

Yuta looked to his side to see the girls peek out from cover and release their arrows.

FWET FWET FWET! THWACK THWACK TING!

*Great, that is three down, I think this is going well. The girls are great shots, now I just have to make sure I do my part too!*

“We drove them back, it is a good start, but it will only get tougher from here, stay alert” Silvia said.

She then took the lead with Vaan. Yuta turned towards Galt and waited for the girls. The two curvy girls yanked an arrow each out of the corpses and moved ahead. As they made their way into the next cavern something felt off. Like they were being watched.

*It doesn’t make any sense, I can’t hear or see anything, are they hiding behind the stone pillars ahead?*

Water splashed up from all sides, as kobolds leapt up from what looked like shallow pools but were actually water filled tunnels. The sound of them screeching echoed through the cave.

*An ambush!*

Yuta smacked the closest kobold with the back of his pike, and then swiped around himself with the speartip to clear his space. He checked for the archers and backed his footing up towards them, swiping his speartip at kobolds to get them to leap back.

WHOOSH

An arrow flew from Silvia’s direction just above their heads.

“Gargh!!” the rogue screamed and kicked as talons latched into his shoulder and back. He flailed with his dagger wildly and threw the first kobold off, but was grabbed by the other. Another kobold dived out of the water, gripped onto his legs and dragged him into the water.

*Holy shit!*

Yuta’s eyes were wide open now.

*Kobold’s never did that in a game! That was like something a crocodile would do! FUCK!!!*

His knees began to shake as adrenaline flooded into his body. His movements jerked as he flung around his spear at the surrounding kobolds. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, as he prodded his spear at each of the kobolds trying to keep them at bay.

FWET!

An arrow whizzing past his head broke him out of the trance and a kobold fell down dead out in front of him.

FWET FWET FWET

The sound of launching arrows came from all around him as the girls finally found their aim and took out each of the kobolds with frightening precision.

*Holy crap! I thought we were done for, archers are overpowered! I see why Silvia’s group leans on them so much now. As long as they are given enough room, they make short work of unarmored enemies*

Yuta then looked over at Vaan as he desperately tried to revive the guy missing his front teeth.

*Ah that sucks, looks like the guy won’t make it. That is just really bad luck. We have to watch out for those pools*

He looked off to the side to see another potion broken on the floor *Wait, what the hell? Are we going to run out of potions? Those are our lifeline, screw this guy, we need those for ourselves if we are to go any further!*

His sympathy turned into a quiet rage at how the situation had now turned. *Damn it, just because that guy felt he could sneak around on his own, we are now worse off. Why didn’t he stay closer to the group*

The rogue’s arm fell limp at his side.

“He is gone,” Vaan said.

Silvia knelt down and sliced the throat of an unconscious kobold, “Well fuck!”

Galt kneeled beside the body and patted Vaan on the shoulder, “You did your best bud, no one could have asked more of you”.

Vaan stood to his feet and turned away from the party to hide his tears.

Yuta looked at the corpse blankly and then walked over to Silvia, “Sucks that you had to waste potions on a guy that wasn’t going to make it”

*Ugh, that didn’t come out quite right. Bah, close enough*

Silvia looked to the side, she didn’t want to admit it but he was right, she had panicked and now she only had one left.

“Maybe we should leave, take him top side to be buried” she replied.

*Hrmm, I suppose we could, but it probably isn’t good practice to head back right away. If we find enough treasure up ahead we might even be able to take the guy to a cleric. And I’m also not sure that going back is the best idea, I can’t just abandon this quest, I have to keep going. There has to be a reason why we are here*

“We should push on,” Yuta insisted.

“Why? How is it still worth it? A man just died”

“Yeah, he died, but the rest of us have to go on living, and we can’t do that if we don’t keep pushing ahead. It was bad luck. Galt and I should use our pikes to check the pools as we push on though,” Yuta said.

Galt stepped forwards. “I will take the left, you take the right”

*Seems Galt agrees at least. This whole thing is probably just scripted anyway, to add a sense of danger. Yeah, no way kobolds are normally that dangerous, we should be fine*

Yuta moved on ahead with Galt and carefully tested each of the pools with his pike. It took them longer, but it was a safer strategy now that they knew what the kobolds were capable of.

After making their way through the rest of the cavern they entered into another passageway. Garett brought everyone’s attention to a pit trap a couple of paces wide. With a running start it was an easy leap to make even for Yuta.

“Huah”

Another thirty paces past the trap was a large hall made of stone slabs. With enormous pillars running down each side. It reminded Yuta of the halls of an ancient palace, except less decorative, and cut short by a collapse of rock and debris.

Vaan stopped in his tracks, “Oh hell no!”

Galt patted him on the shoulder, “Easy big fella”

*Ha, he’s reacting like I did earlier to what I thought was the boss room. Maybe we should have saved all those traps. I wonder if it isn’t too late to go up and get them, and set them up down here?*

Garett rushed ahead and clambered around the stones. “Guy’s you won’t believe this”. He waved everyone over with his arm. Yuta looked around and surveyed the room first. While it was obvious the hall stretched on for at least a hundred paces, they could only see about a quarter of it. Rocks had collapsed in at some point, and only a section off to the right had a hole cleared of enough rubble that one could climb through it. To Yuta it looked pretty safe, so long as they could hold the front line at the opening, it would be easy to defend.

Satisfied with his understanding of the area he walked up to the opening Garett was waving him over to.

Yuta’s eyes opened wide, “I can’t believe what I am seeing”.

Kobolds were gathered around an enormous black dragon covered in massive chains attempting to free it.

*Holy crap! There really is a dragon! Maybe it is friendly? And in need of help?*

The dragon’s voice boomed, “I smell humans”

Its closest eye opened and turned towards the group, locking onto them with frightening precision. The kobolds all leapt into action and sprinted in all directions.

*Forget that! It is definitely hostile!*

Yuta fell back to the opening and took in a few sharp breaths to ready himself for action.

*Come on Yuta, you can do this, just stay focused*

Vaan ran up beside him, but there was no time for greetings, shadows flickered around the opening just before a kobold leapt through.

*ATTACK FIRST*

Yuta lunged in and speared into the kobold’s gut as it soared through the opening. Galt followed suit, taking out another.

FWET

An arrow came from behind and took out a third.

FWET TING FWET TING FWET TING

*Where the hell are those other girls firing, isn’t it only this opening over here? Wait, don’t tell me there are other ways through… Damn it, what do we do? Gah! They are coming around the other way because they know we are covering this entrance*

“Stay here Vaan, cover it for us while we help the girls,” Galt said.

“Sure” Vaan replied.

“We got it here bud” Jerimiah replied.

Galt nodded at Yuta and they ran towards the girls, watching on as Garett slashed one of them in the knee and sliced quickly into its neck as it fell to the side. A kobold turned towards Garett and stormed at him wildly forcing him to dive off to the side.

STAB STAB

Both Yuta and Galt speared into the creature at the same time. Garett slipped through its legs and threw a dagger into one of the kobolds’ backs. Yuta wanted to rush ahead and finish it off but felt like he was getting too far away from the opening. He turned around to see kobolds streaming through the gap.

*Gah! It was a ploy to distract us! How could I be so stupid!*

FWET FWET. FWET.

He glanced back to see that the girls and Garett had finished off the kobolds attacking them.

*Shit, tons of them are making it through*

Yuta ran back to the opening and tried to spear one of the kobolds, but it dodged out of the way of his attack.

FWET FWET FWET FWET

Arrows shot in from the backlines and thinned the numbers, but there were still too many. Yuta saw out of the side of his eyes an archer kobold release its arrow. He tracked its flight as it hit into Silvia’s side.

*Noooo!*

He then heard the screech of a Kobold beside him and turned the tip of his spear in its direction to hold it off.

FWET!

Another arrow was released by the second archer kobold, and it instantly dropped one of the girls. And like that, in an instant, the battle had turned for the worse. Yuta was left struggling with a single kobold, and unable to change the course of events. The girls screamed, as without enough suppressive fire they could no longer hold the kobolds off that were coming through the crawl spaces.

Jerimiah leapt up from one of the kobolds he had beaten to death, and ran to aid the girls. He was latched onto by a kobold which he then threw off. “Begone you fiend!” He then grabbed one of the kobolds by the throat and slammed it to the ground, but another snuck up beside him and drove its bone spear into his ribcage. Blood spilled out from his mouth, as he collapsed to the floor.

Yuta sprinted as fast as his twig legs and portly body could carry him and drove the spear into the killer kobold’s side. But it was too late for Jerimiah. Garett used the time Jerimiah had bought him and used it to save Eve, but it was too late for the other girl, who was now screaming as a kobold drove its talons into her eyes.

“Form together!” Yuta yelled.

Everyone glanced at him for a moment and followed his lead. He rushed to the passageway opening to defend it from the five remaining kobolds.

Everything around him moved like a blur, and it was almost as if he was watching his body from above, as he tried to fend the surrounding kobolds off.

*Oh no, they are working as a pack now*

A couple of the kobolds slipped through his attempt to fend them off and leapt onto Vaan and his shield. The attack was incredibly effective, and Vaan dropped to his knees with his throat slit.

“Vaan! No!!!” Galt cried out. He drove the back of his pike into the kobold on top of his friend knocking it prone and turned to finish it off. Yuta tried to step across to hold off the kobold Galt had stepped away from, but he couldn’t stop the attack of opportunity given to it as it latched onto Galt’s back and tore his neck to shreds.

*Ahhhh!!! Fuck! What is going on?! SHUT UP YUTA JUST FOCUS ON THE FIGHT*

Yuta disciplined himself and calmed his panic. He turned back to the kobolds in front of him and continued to fight them off.

Garett lunged forward and stabbed one of the kobolds in its gut causing it to keel over on the floor.

FWET

An arrow flew from Silvia’s direction, and shot into the other kobold’s mouth as it let out a roar.

Yuta switched frantically back and forth with the tip of his pike to fend off both of the remaining kobolds, but the one furthest to his side jumped in and latched onto the pike. The other kobold dived in at him with its talon’s aimed at his neck.

Everything moved in slow motion as Yuta tried to tug his pike free but realised that the kobolds had superior leverage on their side.

*I can’t! I have to fall back!*

He raised his hand, and with a flick of his hand cast the magical sigil for light.

“ILLUMINATE!”

Light burned in front of his eyes as he darted off to the side.

FWIT

A kobolds talon sliced a hair’s breadth into his neck.

*I got away just in time, I can’t believe those kobolds know how to disarm weapons and shields to perform double attacks*

*That is one hell of a tricky tactic!*

He drew his club and swung hard to clear space between himself and the kobold.

FWET

Eve released an arrow at the kobold latched onto Yuta’s spear. It deflected off the side of its lizard-like face only accomplishing to stir it into a blind frenzy. It sprinted towards her at full speed.

“Oh no!” Eve stumbled back trying to draw another arrow.

Garett dived in front of her and latched his arms around its legs in a desperate attempt to stop it. It’s knee smashed hard into his jaw, knocking him unconscious.

Eve panicked and ran back through the passage with the kobold following after her.

Silvia struggled to reach for another one of her arrows, wedged behind her. Her side burned with pain as her hand gripped onto its feathers. She drew back her bow and launched her arrow.

FWET THUNK

The kobold fell down dead behind the fleeing Eve.

“Ahhhh!”

Eve stumbled and fell into the spiked pit. Several of the bone spears, piercing through her body.

The remaining kobold faced off against Yuta.

*What the hell! How is everyone dead?!*

Just a couple of lucky shots from a couple of kobold archers, had led their entire party to collapse under the pressure, and there wasn’t anything Yuta could have done.

*You bastard kobold! It is just you and me now!*

“Have you got another one of those arrows?” he asked Silvia.

“I’m sorry, I can’t, I’m in really bad shape here” she replied.

Yuta grit his teeth.

*Damn it, how can I get the advantage?*