Every dungeon is a thinking entity with its own temperament and personality. Despite their tendency to take lives, dungeons are considered a force for good in the universe, as they provide intelligent beings with the tools and means to defend themselves from interdimensional rifts and the resulting monsters. There are exceptions, however; dungeons so insane and dangerous they''re shunned by all who know of them. The most notable of these exceptions is The Children''s Dungeon.


    Excerpt from scholar Ze Cante''s treatise on the dungeon universe.


    A Low-Level Trap. If you fall for this trap, you are an idiot.


    He obviously had no intention of reaching for the candy. The jaws would close on him, and he''d lose an arm. But he was already sick of dungeon rations, and he''d just arrived. Grabbing a dungeon ration from his pack, he threw it at the piece of candy. He wasn''t the best thrower, but he wasn''t terrible either. The dungeon ration bar hit the candy, knocking it off the stand and sending it rolling down the passageway. The metal jaws slammed shut. A minute later, the jaws opened again, dropping the dungeon ration onto the floor beneath.


    YOU HAVE BEEN POISONED!-- rested above his name in big letters. Jeremy groaned again. He was an idiot. Good thing he''d just licked the thing and hadn''t put it in his mouth. He''d heard inducing vomiting helped with poison sometimes, but he''d already vomited everything, so there was no point in that. For what felt like an eternity, all he could do was stare at his stat sheet and watch his Health stat drop. 4-3-2. As it went down, the number turned from yellow to red. If it went down to 0, was he dead?


    Interesting, he thought.


    Boom! An enormous six-foot-high stone block crashed down on the tiles, blocking off the passageway, crushing his shoe and anything else it might have landed on. The side of the block smiled at him, a smiley face next to a bright, shining sun and rainbows.


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    Boom! The block came down in front of him. Green blood squirted out from under the stone, covering his feet and pants, like stepping on a green slime-filled water balloon. A stubby tentacle poked out from under the stone block from where the lead monster had almost made it across.


    Apelike was the wrong term to describe this humanoid. Maybe a bigfoot or yeti? Obviously intelligent. The long brown hair on its head was braided with strings of small orange beads, and it wore armor made from the skin of an unknown animal that looked like a thicker, heavier version of Jeremy''s leather armor.


    You have been invited to form an adventurer party with UrgMiZinNeh. Do you accept? Yes/No


    Jeremy immediately picked Yes.