Aubrey slowly walked forwards, and the rest of the people kept pace, some walking sideways or backwards. Their spears poked outwards, forming a circular wall protecting Kyle and his group. The entire circle of spears drifted into the cavern at the pace of a leisurely walk.

Glowing red eyes appeared in the darkness, and a familiar low growl filled the chamber. Kyle’s light illuminated humanoid forms that cast long shadows on the far walls of the cavern. From the darkness, a half dozen goblins emerged. Some held swords, like the first goblin Kyle fought. Others had axes, curved blades, or large clubs. Each face was unique; gnarled noses adorned bulbous faces covered in lumps and boils. Beady eyes full of hate watched the group traverse the cavern.

Kyle looked at them nervously. “They don’t attack?”

“No,” said Aubrey, not looking back. “They’re ‘too smart’ to charge spears head on. They try to circle around to flank a spear-holder instead, but they can’t do that, either.” As Kyle walked, the goblins prowled around the circle. Occasionally, one would scream and dart forward, but one of the players would angle a spear towards the goblin, and its charge would abruptly stop.

“This is such a cheese tactic,” Mia said, watching the goblins trying and failing to find a gap.

“I know, right?” Aubrey said. “You just need to figure out what heuristics the AI is operating under and then exploit them.” As they continued through the cavern, more goblins came from the dark. Their group was soon outnumbered. Still, no goblin dared to come in range of the spears.

Mason smirked. “Guess she could be an E-sports athlete, huh Lumen?”

Lumen chuckled. “If she had skills like Adrianne, maybe. It’s not all about systems knowledge, after all.”

“I’m just grateful to have an escort as befitting my exalted station of Mayor of Crystopia,” said Dvorak, straightening his tunic and strutting.

“This is some real organization,” Kyle said appreciatively. “How did you find this many people willing to band together like this?”

“Mostly, we pulled them from the starting cells,” Aubrey said, her head scanning the crowd of circling goblins. “Maybe you got out of your cells by killing everyone else, so you wouldn’t know, but they only let one person out every day. First they pit four people against each other in a fight. Then three. After that, you’ve got two people who are supposed to duel one-on-one to escape. And sometimes, those last two people don’t want to fight.” She shook her head. “Imagine that. Two people, both of whom have gotten murdered twice, deciding they don’t want to kill each other.”

A goblin charged from the front. Aubrey reangled her spear slightly to point directly at it, and it stumbled back. “But the starting dungeons are all equidistant from that crystal the brigands are guarding, so if you’re clever, you can find them,” Aubrey said. “I’ve been visiting them one at a time. Sometimes they’re empty, but usually you can find two or three people hunkering somewhere in the starting dungeon, trying to figure out how to survive without fighting, getting hungrier and hungrier.” She pressed with her shoulder against the hip of the human player to her right, and the whole group adjusted course slightly. “I’ve been rescuing them. We’ve still got four more dungeons to check, but they’re hard to get to, because they’re on the opposite side of the crystal from here.”

By this point they had attracted enough goblins that they were outnumbered two to one. Even though they seemed incapable of attacking effectively, they were making Kyle nervous. “We’re the, uh… we’re the ‘brigands’ around the crystal,” admitted Kyle. “So we’ll be able to help with the rescue operations if you want.”

“Really?” Aubrey said, half glancing back before setting her eyes forward again. “Interesting. I thought that was an NPC bandit camp. Sometimes you can even see… oh huh. That Jakarna in leather prowling around the nearby woods must have been you, right?”

“Probably,” said Lumen. “I’m surprised I didn’t see you.”

“You never looked up,” Aubrey said.

Kyle elbowed Lumen, and Lumen looked back and chuckled sheepishly. “I mean, Kreyfas never go higher than about eight feet. And it’s not like you’ll find Sansi up there.”

“Anyway,” continued Aubrey, “I’ve been visiting one dungeon at a time, pulling people out and bringing them here. Helping them get their first crystal so they can get a skill. Trying to bring some modicum of civilization to this nightmare world.”

Kyle was struck by how fortunate they were that they managed to escape their starting dungeon without anybody dying. As he glanced around at the multitude of red-eyed goblins, he realized that while he had been messing around building and crafting, these people were stuck in a cave, trapped between a mass of goblins and the world of people they thought would kill them. Failure meant the pain of death. This woman was brave. He wondered if she was so determined because she had died. And if so, how many times?

“The crystal’s up ahead,” she said, motioning with her spear-point to one of the several exits from the large cavern. “There’s a big goblin in that room. A boss, I think. But he acts like the others, so our spears will keep us safe. We’ve done this run a half dozen times now. We’ll be fine.”

“This feels like cheating,” Mia said. “Don’t they have any ranged attacks?”

“No,” Aubrey said. “Why do you think we were so overconfident when we faced you down in the tunnel back there? I’d never even seen a ranged weapon. None of us have even have the option to craft them.”

“The option shows up if you have some tendon, which you get from a Sansi. That’s those deer things. Besides that, it’s just wood,” Lumen said, nocking an arrow. “And speaking of ranged weapons, this circle tactic could be abused to get decent loot, don’t you think?” Lumen drew his bow, aimed briefly, then released his arrow.

As always, he hit his mark; the arrow hit a goblin square in the forehead, burying itself halfway up the shaft. The goblin was thrown back by the force of the blow, landing on the floor dead.

The rest of the goblins paused for a moment.

Then, simultaneously, they all shrieked and charged.