They didn’t have to go far before they reached the next hindrance; a doorway. More specifically, the tunnel narrowed to just a bit larger than a doorway, which was covered by some cloth hanging from the roof.

  “If I remember the map correctly, the tunnel should have stopped here,” Nathan whispered after he signaled the others to stop. “I’m guessing this is some sort of boss room. How are you doing on health, Red? Need some time?”

  “About half-full, but more time will not help. I’ve eaten all the food I can stomach, so that’s all we can hope for.”

  “Ok, let’s see if we can avoid you being overwhelmed this time. Ash, are you comfortable trying to sneak a bit further in and see what’s on the other side? If you’re not, that’s ok. I can go.”

  Ashira looked a bit embarrassed and sent a nervous glance towards the doorway. “I’m sorry guys. I know that with my stats I have all the tools needed to be the sneaky type, but I just don’t have the experience –or the nerves- for it. I’m starting to sweat just thinking about going in there alone. Perhaps next time, after I’ve had some practice in safer environments?”

  “Sure, no worries. I’ll go and take a look. Margos, you’re responsible for getting them ready and in good positions in case I return with company.”

  “Eh...sure.”

  “If I’m not back in 15 minutes...”

  “Then you’re probably dead, and we should go up without you?” Margos guessed.

  “What, no. Then I’m probably laying low in a bad spot, and you should come and get me, or create a distraction or something.”

  Nathan turned and walked away as he continued to mutter to himself. ‘Probably dead’, what bullshit is that?”

  They’d picked up the active chem light and used it to illuminate the path forward as they moved, but Nathan dropped it to the side of the entrance before he carefully and quietly used his spear to push the cloth to one side, ensuring that the light streaming through into the unknown was minimal. Seeing nothing alarming, he slipped through and let the cloth fall back into position behind him. He walked until he could only see black, and then he stopped to allow his eyes to get used to the dark.

  He could hear his party members talking among themselves, but there weren’t any sounds from further ahead. When he could see well enough to see where he was going, he continued forward.

  While he had expected to enter a room or cave, it was more of a corridor, but not a straight one. The roof and walls were uneven and lumpy, and looked to have been haphazardly mined. First it went left, then back right, then up a bit and up some more until it reached a section that was particularly tight. Nathan had to duck and go sideways to get through, and still managed to bump his head in the dark. Afterwards, the tunnel widened again and did a ninety-degree turn left.

  As he walked,d Nathan focused on the walls and ground, fearing another trap, so when he finally noticed that there was some brightness further ahead, he was unsure how long he had been able to see it. As he crept closer, he discovered that it was an opening to a wider part of the tunnel –possibly a cave. The light flickered unevenly on the wall, indicating an open flame.

  He dropped to the floor and crawled the last distance as he closed in on the entrance. When he was in position and certain that no-one had discovered him, he carefully raised his head up tilted it sideways just enough so that he could see where the light came from.

  It was a boss room - or boss cave. A circular one, perhaps 20 meters across. Not very large, but big enough that it allowed some maneuvering if needed. The light came from five torches evenly spread along the wall. They were surrounded by a bunch of rather large eggs. Some whole, some hatched. In the center were three kobolds.

  Two of the kobolds looked to be of the same type as they had just fought, and a quick inspection confirmed that they were indeed Kobold Guards. That made sense, because they were clearly defending the last kobold, which was very much new. The creature was perhaps twice as tall as the others, which meant it also dwarfed Nathan. But it wasn’t its height that was impressive, it was its girth. It had an enormous stomach covered with what probably was some sort of slime or mucus, with a couple of fat small hands poking out halfway up. Nathan was unable to see its feet, but he imagined they weren’t very functional. If he were to compare the creature to anything, it would be a scaly Jabba the Hutt.

  Kobold mother

  Level 10, Monster

  Health 35/35

  Damage Resistance: 3

  Nathan forced himself to look away from the creature and scanned through the rest of the room once more. It was hard to see with the light flickering, but he thought perhaps he could see some small indents or holes in the stone wall. It could be tunnels, but they certainly were not big enough for him or his companions. Happy with his scouting, he returned to the others.

  Nathan continued to move carefully and quietly, so when he egressed from the small tunnel opening RedReaver had not noticed anyone approaching and was looking in another direction completely. Exasperated, he slid forward and gave the big man a swift kick in the behind.

  “Gah!” RedReaver blurted out as he spun around, also attracting the attention of the others. “Where the hell did you come from?”

  “From the tunnel. You know, the tunnel you’re supposed to guard.” Nathan hissed.

  “Yeah, but I only looked away for...” he stopped and looked at the others, expecting some support quiet support, but not receiving any. He sighed before he muttered to himself. “I thought she was supposed to be the ninja?”

  Nathan gave him a last glare as he moved past him. “Luckily, I don’t think we’re gonna be attacked anytime soon, but we do need to plan for a boss-fight.”

  He informed the others of what he’d seen, answering any questions they had as good as he could.

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  “So how do we do this?” asked Ashira.

  “Red and I will go for each our guard, from the outside so that we are outside the reach of the mother. Margos will stay out of the initial fight and be ready for any newcomers-”

  “Adds,” inserted RedReaver.

  “What?”

  “They are called adds.”

  “What are?”

  “Extra monsters or enemies that show up during a fight. Short for ‘additional’, I think.”

  “I can’t say I care, but sure, whatever. Margos is on adds. Ash, you help Red at first, then move to... adds as well. Once the guards are down, we move to the mother. At that point, it is important to communicate. If you need help, yell out. If more enemies are coming, yell out. Hell, even if you just want to feel cool, yell out. Questions?”

  “What if the torches go out mid-fight? As some sort of trap?” asked Margos.

  “Good question. That could very well happen. You should have time to break your chem-light at the start of the fight, which covers that possibility. Anything else? Good. Let’s go!”

  The group moved single file through the tunnel, Nathan leading the way. They left the traditional light sources behind to not lose the element of surprise, so they had to keep close and move slowly. Despite that, a weapon, shield, or a head would still hit the wall or the roof from time to time, creating a dull echo. Probably not loud enough to raise the alarm, though. Probably.

  When they got close enough to see the light, Nathan stopped the group for last-minute instructions.

  “Here we go, guys. From now on, stealth is out. Rush in, remember your task, but be careful. Ready? Move!”

  They ran through the rest of the tunnel, and as they hoped, the kobolds did not look like they expected an attack. The reptiles reacted quickly, though. The guards took up position in front of the mother, lowered their spears and hissed angrily. The mother wobbled around a bit before releasing a piercing scream that reverberated through the room.

  While the scream was overwhelming and made Nathan want to stop and cover his ears, he managed to shake the impulse and continue his attack. RedReaver faltered just a bit beside him before he also kept moving forward.

  Not everyone managed to ignore it. Ashira threw herself to the ground and wrapped her hands over her ears. She squirmed around a bit before the effect passed. Margos dropped the chem-light he was about to throw, but he’d had time to break it, so it didn’t have any practical impact. In fact, it might be an advantage as their enemies would have to look towards the light.

  “Remember, guards first, then the mother!” yelled Nathan, as he charged forward and used his reach advantage to get the first strike on his assigned opponent. His spear struck true, and he continued forward and dished out a Spartan-like kick to free his weapon. While he took a glancing blow to get close enough, the kobold was sent flying, toppling one of the torches at the far wall and scattering sparks everywhere.

  Nathan took the opportunity to stab at the mother as he moved after his downed opponent, but his attack struggled to get through the thick scales, and while there was some blood, he didn’t do much damage. You wouldn’t know it to look at the mother, though, who recoiled backwards and let out another piercing scream.

  “Here they come!” Margos warned the others.

  Sure enough, small scaly creatures slithered out of the small tunnels and cracks. At the start they were hard to see as the shadows flickered over the uneven stones hiding their movements, but once they started to drop down to the floor, there was no hiding them.

  Margos already moved to intercept, making a short process of the first arrivals. “There are a lot of them. Ash, are you with me?”

  “Give me a second!” Ashira was busy helping RedReaver, and by working together they had been able to whittle down most of the guard’s health. The tank had made himself the focus, blocking and throwing out an axe-attack every now and again, while Ashira distracted and looked for gaps. When the kobold overextended on a lunge trying to get around RedReaver’s shield, she managed to catch the creature’s ankle with her rope, sending it sprawling with a simple pull.

  The maneuver allowed RedReaver to drop down upon the guard and pin its spear to the ground with his shield. The kobold had no way to avoid the subsequent axe chops. “One guard down!” he informed the others.

  In the meantime, Nathan had moved to finish his own downed opponent, but had to abort his move as a small creature came flying in from the side. He batted it away with the shaft of his spear, returning it from whence it came. Another small enemy came running at him from the front. He gave it a good punt, sending that one flying as well. Unfortunately, the delay gave the guard time to get back on its feet, so he no longer had a free attack.

  No longer in a rush, he gave one of the small creatures a once over to see what they had to deal with.

  Kobold hatchling

  Level 1, Monster

  Health 6/6

  Damage Resistance: 0

  Attack:

  Natural claws – d4-2 slashing dmg

  Natural bite – d4 piercing dmg

  “Watch out for the small ones’ bite. The claws can’t do too much damage, but their bite can,” Nathan warned the others.”

  “Easier said than done,” complained Margos from the other side of the room. He tried to pry a hatchling of his foot with his short sword while at the same time fending off another one with the buckler in his offhand. Ashire swooped in to help. She’d exchanged her dart-rope for two daggers and was spinning around slicing whatever was in range.

  RedReaver had moved on to the mother after downing his guard. The fat lizard was easy to hit as she was neither capable of dodging, blocking or deflecting anything, but she was hard to damage. A lot of the attacks did minimal or no damage, but minimal damage was still more than no damage, so he made good progress. That was until the mother released yet another scream. In the aftermath, a hatchling jumped onto RedReaver’s back, and he had to drop the axe as he tried to dislodge it.

  While RedReaver was struggling, Nathan was pressing his guard hard and finally found an opening he managed to take advantage of. An accurate stab to the side of the neck was enough to finally end the last guard. He then also turned to the mother.

  With the increased range of the spear, he was able to aim for more exposed areas such as the eyes and throat. While difficult to hit cleanly, the hits he landed were often critical hits making the damage resistance less impactful. The number of hatchlings were still increasing as he fought, so he had to change up his pattern and do wide sweeps with the spear to clear enough room to safely attack the mother.

  At that point RedReaver was covered in small green monsters and was rolling around on the floor partly to crush them and partly to try to avoid them biting him. “Not to like -ouch, you fucker- rush you guys or anything, but time is a factor here. I’m almost at zero. Any help would be very -let go, you bastard- helpful!”

  “There are too many of them!” Ashira was spinning and dodging, and while few managed to latch onto her, they still managed to claw at her as she went past them. She looked to be in bad shape.

  “Ignore the adds and focus on the mother. We need to kill her NOW!” yelled Nathan, instinctively understanding the flow of the battle. As his own health was still in the green, he redoubled his effort, leaving himself open for attack to maximize his damage.

  Margos also came rushing in from the side with a lizard clawing at his buckler, smashing the shield -and hatchling- into the mother. He followed up with a couple of quick stabs from his short sword.

  As the mother looked to gather herself for yet another scream, Nathan managed to land a good hit that went through her lower jaw and deep into the top of her mouth. Instead of the expected scream, she exhaled a spray of blood and gurgled a death rattle before she sank into herself like an old, tired bean bag. The remaining kobolds started to scream, and quickly fled to the tunnels they’d arrived from.

  [Quest] [Clear the mine] has been updated, Mine cleared: 1/1