Did she? Did they? Did they want to neutralize the brains of the operation against them? Lacey tapped the pencil against her chin as she thought about it. It would be so easy. All they’d have to do was unfairly wipe out any character under the level of 25 and then let the hoard take out the rest in the larger caverns of the warrens. If it was war, that was exactly what they should do. Was it war? Or were they a dungeon in a game, designed to provide a challenge that met those adventurers head on?

  “When did we decide to just kill everyone who broke our rules?” Lacey turned to Colt.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m just asking,” Lacey turned from the monitors to pace away from the problem. It wasn’t something she did a lot; pacing. “Are we a dungeon or just a leveling machine?”

  “Where is all this coming from?” Colt looked at her like she’d lost her mind.

  “I don’t know yet,” she stopped to look out over the valley behind the dungeon. Rejects went about their duties like it was any other day. They plowed, planted, herded.

  “They came after us first,” Colt reminded her, plopping down in her chair.

  “Yes, Monty and Hughe,” Lacey didn’t take her eyes off the valley. Some of the goblin crafters were working on housing and workshops. “The system even tried to corner us into its way of doing things. They came at us when we were small, and they made us feel vulnerable.”

  “That’s what bullies do,” Colt leaned forward with his elbows on his knees.

  “Bullies,” Lacey turned back to Colt, but her eyes flitted over the war wall and she had to look away again.

  “Lace, you’re not making any sense,” Colt pressed his palms together and rocked them between his knees. “We don’t have much time to make this decision. I’m cool either way, but we should decide before time runs out. I’m leaning toward wiping out the mastermind before he gets close enough to do some real damage.”

  “You don’t think our dungeon levels, trap levels, and three backup armies are enough?” Lacey shrugged. Lacey took a deep breath and turned to deal with the war wall and Colt. “Do you see those numbers? We outnumber them almost 100 to one and we have mobs higher than most of them.”

  “And we worked hard to build all this up,” Colt argued.

  “Who is the bully here?”

  Colt jerked back to sit up straight, his brow furrowed.

  “That’s what happens,” Lacey waved a hand at the stats on the screen. “Weak people get bullied, and they get mad to cover the trauma. Then they get powerful, or at least they try to. And when someone new comes along, they hit first so that they don’t get hit.”

  “We’re defending ourselves from an invasion!” Colt stood and it was his turn to walk away from her.

  “We’re a dungeon,” Lacey reminded him gently. “We are supposed to be invaded. That’s what we planned for, and I’m not saying that we just let them waltz all the way to the end zone and steal our lair, but we don’t have to do it that way.”

  “This is a crazy time to come up with a conscience,” Colt growled, trying to see whatever she had seen through the glass wall of the control room. “We have contracts, and they broke the rules. We have the right to respond with prejudice.”

  “You know what?” Lacey cocked her head to the side. “Even Kat and Benny have been trying to push us around.”

  Colt whipped around to stare at her, eyes narrowed and hands on his hips, but she cut off his angry retort.

  “They had all the best of intentions, and they were nice about it, but they still sat out there and told us how to run our dungeon,” Lacey shook her pencil at him. “It was nice not to be vandalized and attacked long enough to get our feet under us, but even they tried to control us with contracts and rules.”

  “Without those contracts, we’d have been trashed daily,” Colt’s voice rose.

  “I’m grateful,” Lacey held her hands up to him. “I am. I swear. But even you have to admit that we are more of a leveling machine than like any kind of dungeon. Is that the kind of place you wanted to make?”

  “I don’t know what kind of place we should make, but I’m not calling our saviors out as bullies,” Colt stood firm.

  “Bullies was harsh and I don’t mean that they forced us into anything, but,” and Lacey’s logic stuttered out. “I don’t know, but maybe it feels like we let them tell us what kind of dungeon we are.”

  “They didn’t tell us to make Burrugs and Crocorats,” Colt objected, his hands dropping to his sides. “They didn’t tell me how to make a level that was based on macaroni and cheese, and they didn’t tell you to throw something together like the Bluebeard level. We’re using puzzles and traps that are all us, not them.”

  “But they told us how to cycle the groups through and we’re more like an amusement park trying to balance death rates, compensation tables, and amusement,” Lacey didn’t actually know why she felt so adamant about this. She was working it out by talking with Colt. This was what she always did, but he rarely got upset at her. She was more used to him playing devil’s advocate than being annoyed with her.

  “If you don’t want to wipe out the guy who’s trying to bully us, fine,” Colt crossed his arms over his chest. “But you need a better reason than trying to call Kat a bully for helping us learn the business side of the dungeon building game.”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “Yeah, that’s probably fair,” she admitted with a wince. “I know we needed that help, and I don’t think she or Bernard were bullies, but maybe… I don’t know. But doesn’t this guy have the right to play against us too?”

  “What?!” Colt rolled his eyes at her.

  “What?” Lacey shot back at him. “You want your opponent to ask your permission before they move their chess piece on the board? You want the cheat sheet for the entire world before you’ll play the game? I don’t.”

  “We did not have a cheat sheet,” Colt’s eyes widened. “We didn’t even have a manual! The instructions weren’t even in English!!!”

  “Yeah,” and she cracked a smile at that. “But we did okay.”

  “You’re not making any sense!” he turned his eyes to the ceiling and kept them there.

  “Okay, maybe look at it from another direction,” Lacey pulled the closure ticket out of her pocket. They’d taken to carrying at least one around at all times, just in case. “We can use this anytime, right?”

  “Right,” Colt took his eyes off the ceiling and allowed himself to look at her again.

  “So, why not let them try?” Lacey waved the coupon in the air. “We don’t have to be the bullies. We can let them come all the way to the door and still keep everything we built. Not that I think they’ll get that far.”

  “Damn right they won’t,” Colt grumbled, his arms still over his chest.

  “If we kill them all or use the coupon, then we have to resurrect everyone on our own dime,” she pressed on. “But if we can get even one of them to retreat then the dungeon automatically repopulates completely. Sure, we could just run out the time, but that’s no better than using the coupon. What is our real win scenario?”

  Colt’s frown got contemplative at that.

  “One of them has already died, so we can’t double our experience and loot with that, but as long as we can convince even one person to exit the dungeon voluntarily, both sides win,” Lacey spread her hands out to her sides. “Does killing off all their little guys do that?”

  “Even the war wipe-out plan doesn’t do that,” Colt’s arms loosened, but didn’t drop yet.

  “We just lost sight of the real win scenario,” Lacey took a few steps toward Colt. “We got caught up in the need to not be bullied.”

  Colt pursed his lips.

  “And do you really think that the NPCs, the ones that don’t ever act like this is one big game, are going to back out without at least one player out there being able to reason out that going against the hoard is futile?”

  “He’s an ass,” Colt glared at her.

  “But he’s a smart ass and I’d rather have a smart ass than a dumb ass to reason with,” Lacey raised her eyebrows at him.

  “I’d rather not deal with the ass at all,” he sighed.

  “You like Kat though, right?”

  “Yeah, but even she doesn’t like her dad,” Colt tried to keep up the huff, but he was seeing reason. “She wouldn’t blame me for kicking his ass.”

  “No, but maybe he’d respect you more if you could show him how out of his league he really is by taking us on,” Lacey seized the logic. “If we let him get in close and then rub his nose in the fact that we only let him think he was winning? If we show him that you are not only smarter, but better than he is.”

  “That sounds,” Colt’s tone turned liquid with evil joy, “delicious.”

  “So,” Lacey rubbed her hands together as Colt’s arms dropped to his side and she knew she’d figured out what had been bothering her about all this. “Let’s define our win scenario. Our real win scenario.”

  “To have that supercilious, pompous smart-ass have to admit that we not only defeated his army, but that we could have done it over and over again for days and days,” Colt’s eyes glittered.

  Dom jammed his crowbar into the slight wedge between rocks as his cohort distracted the emerging beetle. The crowbar twisted in his hands, and he slid a shoulder into the opening. Gio made quick work of the beetle, since it was easily four levels below them and a very basic creature. They’d lost one of their group already, but that was only because they’d been startled by the levels and aggression of the breeders. They hadn’t attacked him during his first foray into the dungeon, but they’d been less than a tenth of his level back then. Now that he was within ten levels, the beetles attacked immediately and with great vigor.

  “If you’re done,” Dom grunted to his mates.

  “Coming,” they kept their talk terse, knowing that the dungeon could be listening.

  Gio went through first, followed by Mel and Tag. Dom ducked his head down to push through, letting the one-way door drop like a flap, automatic reflexes grabbing the handle to keep it from making noise at it closed. He didn’t think he needed the precaution, but old habits couldn’t be undone with god-card demotions. His skills were going back up quickly, though it still rankled.

  “Uh, D,” Gio was saying as Dom stood. They weren’t using names.

  “What?” he asked, but Dom saw it as soon as his head rose over Gio’s shoulder.

  “This for you!” the large Goblin handed the envelope to Dom.

  Dom examined the Goblin automatically.

  Elite Goblin Chief – Level 57

  The Goblin glared at Dom with one eyebrow quirked up in a way that let Dom’s stomach clench with dread, not that it showed. Gio hadn’t attacked it because to do so was suicide and this wasn’t supposed to be a suicide mission.

  Dom took the envelope, his elegant hand steady and casual. The Goblin leaned in, keeping hold of its side of the envelope for a moment longer than necessary. Dom didn’t fight the creature. Could they take the Goblin? Probably not, but Dom might have pressed his luck if not for the larger Gossowary behind the Goblin. Its leash was held by a small centaur-like monster that Dom hadn’t seen in the dungeon before. The baby centaur thing was cooing to the more antsy Gossowary on the other side of it.

  Gossowary – Level 59

  Gossowary – Level 58

  Dom waited patiently for the Goblin to let go of the envelope, his cohorts parting like the Red Sea to let the beast’s grinning face draw within inches of Dom’s nose. It was close enough to smell popcorn on its breath and Dom had to press his lips together not to smile at the incongruity of the threat with the memories he had of popcorn. Dom let the breath ruffle the lock of black hair that drooped over his forehead, careful not to do anything to provoke it.

  The Goblin backed away, its smile of pointy teeth never dimming. It spread its hands wide suddenly, causing his buddies to jump back so that there was a very clear column between it and Dom. The sword in its right hand swung forward to point at Dom. The Goblin backed up, sheathed his sword, and then gave a mockingly slight bow and wave, inviting Dom and his group to continue their progress through the arena’s back areas.

  “That’s one,” Colt spoke into the dungeon audio system so that it echoed in the small chamber where Dom and his group stood. At least they were pretty sure that it was Dom.

  Lacey and Colt watched the man shake his head with a bemused smile. He touched the envelope to his forehead and swiped it away as if to salute them. They waited as he opened the envelope and broke into a surprised laugh.

  “That’s two,” Colt said and then shut off the audio so that they couldn’t be heard.

  Inside the envelope was one of their many dungeon closure coupons.

  Dom, and they were both sure that it was Dom at that point, reached into a pocket of his pack and pulled out two items. One looked like a slip of paper and the other was a pen.. He’d taken their coupon from the envelope and exchanged it for one of his own. Lacey frowned as he then scribbled on the envelope.

  The whole group warily passed the Goblin and company, Dom shaking his head. She saw the hint of a smile on his face, though. Was it bad that she felt the same smile on her own face?