[Dungeon of Stories] 44 – The Portal

Kohl watched as the relatively low-level Machines easily steamrolled through the NCR and House's securitrons. At the same time, another unit did the same with the fiends that built a makeshift fortress around a Vault. Still, these three machines were mere distractions. Kohl had a more important goal before the Humans would destroy the machines and begin searching for their origin, eventually finding the portal.

The fourth and last [Corrupted Defense Unit] rolled north, heading for a Vault hidden within the mountain range. The number 22 is marked on the Vault's exterior door. Kohl was very interested in what was housed within this 'Vault': a type of organism called the Beauveria mordicana. 

This unit's only purpose was to return to the Dungeon with as many fungus samples as possible. From there, Kohl could contain them for later use and experimentation, but for now, most of his mind was focused on what he saw through the optical cameras of the Defense Units and the threads he spread around his portal, deeper and deeper into the Dimension.

He watched as the NCR and House's robots destroyed the first robot, then soon after the second. The third, however, was proving to be a whirlwind of Death as it crashed through rubble, fortifications, and whatever else was in its way, tearing apart Fiend after Fiend as it charged through the makeshift Fortress.

While the machine wrought carnage upon the cowardly and sickly humans, Kohl found himself examining what he could of the more advanced weapons the Fiends were using, i.e., Laser Rifles, Laser Pistols, Plasma Rifles, Plasma Pistols, MF Breeder Rifles and Pistols, and Laser RCWs.

These weapons were dangerous, even to the stronger entities of Kohl's dungeon. As a man once said, Guns are the great equalizers of warfare. While the more primitive firearms would eventually no longer be a danger once something reached a high enough level, the energy weaponry was different. To Kohl, something like the Plasma Rifle would continue to be a threat to a high-level entity that lacked protection against such weaponry, and the same could be said with a few of the more primitive firearms in this world.  

Kohl contemplated limiting the use of firearms within his dungeon via a [Rule], but also considered the benefits of allowing such weapons being allowed within his Dungeon. For one, even if Kohl put in place a [Rule] to limit the use of guns, it would draw more attention to the weapons themselves, and eventually, something or someone would find a way to circumvent this [Rule].

Pushing that thought behind for now, Kohl watched as the Fiends eventually hit a critical system of the [Corrupted Defense Unit], causing it to shut down, but not before it could stop, as its chassis slammed through a wall, splattering a few Fiends along the way.

Satisfied with his gains, Kohl pulled back to his Dungeon, where he'd await the arrival of the new visitors.

...

Meanwhile, within the Dungeon, one of the many 'Hunters' was doing his usual rounds within the Swamp Zone of the Dome, having to face the occasional monster that thought he'd make a good meal. 

His name was Cal, and his class was [Aspirant Hunter]. With his level in the late 70s, he was in the middle in terms of strength compared to the other Hunters. While the others typically stuck to one or two of the Zones, Cal hunted in each Zone whenever he could, as most avoided the Arctic Forrest and Swamp Zones, favoring the Desert and Jungle Zones.

Of the four Zones, the Arctic and Swamp zones were the most dangerous due to the monsters not being culled as frequently, leading to the average monster being higher level when compared to the monsters in other Zones, leading to him leveling up at a faster rate than most of the other hunters, having gained three levels this week.

Cal had been here for a little over a month, having been found by one of the Scouts in the IKEA. At first, he thought it was a dream and that he was still stuck in Household Appliances, but after a few days, he knew he was not dreaming. Back home, Cal was your average cashier in a dead-end job in a giant city choked full of dead-end jobs, but here? Here he was a monster slayer. Here he was superhuman.

If he had the chance to return home...Cal did not know if he'd take it. Here, he felt like he mattered. Here he felt like he could do anything, be anything, but he would admit it was starting to get boring. Hunting the same monsters day and day out, seeing the same terrain repeatedly, nothing new to explore or see. 

Soon, finding himself at the barrier line that made up the 'Dome' around their newfound home, Cal sighed. Reaching out to the barrier, Cal remarked, "I wonder what lies outside of this tiny world we found ourselves in?"

As his hand touched the shimmering barrier, he paused when his hand, which usually met resistance whenever he touched the barrier, found it parting for his hand, revealing another world hidden behind the shimmering glass.

...

Kohl continued observing the surroundings of his second portal and New Vegas while also taking his time to study what he learned and plan for the next expansion of his Dungeon. He had somewhat of an idea of what he wanted to lay past the fractured and broken city of Invictus.

Taking inspiration from the new world he connected to, he began designing what would be called the 'Fractured Wasteland.' 

What else would a land of pure madness be called, as structures, mini-dungeons, countless monsters, and valuable treasures rained from the sky and dwelled within ancient ruins that should not have been here?

With an idea formed within his mind, he began creating the foundation of the new section of the zone while he waited for some new visitors. 

...

A few hours later, Kohl noticed that one of the Dome's inhabitants had finally passed through its barrier and wandered into the city. Meanwhile, a relatively large force of NCR and House's robots stormed out of Vegas and towards Fiend territory, their push so devastating that they easily crushed through the meager defense the Fiends put up, especially with House's robots easily taking care of any trap that got in the way.

The Fiends were pushed so far back that they were forced to retreat into the Vault under the Fiends' control and soon found themselves under siege by a majority of the NCR forces from Camp McCarran. Meanwhile, while House and his robots, with the assistance of a portion of the NCR's force, cleared out the area of the remaining Fiends, they soon found the spatial anomaly sitting in a field just outside of the Pre-War Sunset Sasparilla Headquarters.

Immediately acting on this new information, House took control of the situation and quarantined the site, using his Agents, his robots, and his riches to build the quarantine site, but concessions needed to be made, so the NCR was allowed to join in, making it a joint effort and showing a bit of goodwill when House could have forced the issue and kicked the NCR off his property. Not that the NCR would have seen it like that.