With a deft twirl, Logan inspected the two-headed axe in his grasp. The blades were designed to look like toothy maws to their ends rather than a flat, sharp, edge. It would do horrors when cutting into flesh, gouging it to bleed over and over. The handle was a solid metal with leather wrappings over the top, tufts of minotaur fur peeking through the gaps every so often in circles.

  Placing the weapon within his coat, Logan looked over the destroyed dungeon. Completely eradicated with no sign of degradation to the surrounding area, it was just a bit of a debris mess. Marcus kicked a few stones away as he walked over to Logan.

  “Wasn’t expecting it to all come down like that, but I suppose it’s as clean as an eradication will get”, Marcus admitted.

  “That older place, the undead city, was morphed from its original design. It would seem this labyrinth was a wholly new creation for the dungeon, rather than changing what was already here”, Logan surmised.

  “This will certainly make travel through the area faster and smoother, the labyrinth was a huge thing to skirt around, even more so with the monsters leaving the place.”

  “Too true.”

  As the pair conversed a portion of the rubble started to shift, Logan and Marcus both jumped around to face the movement as a creature dug its way out of the rock.

  Vacating its tomb, the minitaur breached the rubble and bellowed loudly. Grunting, it looked around at the destroyed area with shock across its face.

  “Huh, wasn’t expecting him to still be here”, Logan admitted as he took on a less guarded stance.

  The minitaur patted its ears again and snorted, annoyed at the sounds of the humanoids talking. Standing above the wreckage it looked over its body, raised one hand as if to see if it floated away in the wind. When it didn’t, the monster rotated the arm and retracted it, confusion across its raised eyebrows.

  “Looks like the monster thought the same”, Marcus replied in a hushed tone.

  The monster then shuffled through the rubble and placed a hand on the floor, when nothing happened it instead dug deeper and pulled out an axe made for his size. Tightening a piece of rope on its handle, it slung the weapon over its shoulder, most likely what it would have used in the dungeon boss fight if the opponents didn’t understand its demands.

  “Hey, Logan. You think it’s ok to let him just go?” Marcus asked quietly.

  Logan shrugged his shoulders and answered just as quietly, “It has enough intelligence to understand dialogue and agreements. Hell, it’s one of the few monsters who wanted to ‘talk’ before attacking. Maybe it was just following the core’s orders?”

  Walking with a confident stride, the minitaur approached the two adventurers. Pointing at their bags it made an unravelling parchment gesture and then balled both hands together before opening them up in a flourish all around itself.

  Logan nodded and pulled out a map to show the monster.

  The minitaur clapped and took the map.

  “Can… can he read?” Marcus asked rhetorically.

  The minitaur then mooed to grab their attention, pointing at the map and then the floor.

  “We’re here”, Logan spoke as he pointed at the floor and then a part of the map.

  With his hands full the minitaur couldn’t do his normal clap, so instead, he let out a short snort. His eyes started to scan over the map, taking a few moments to read the text of nearby settlements, caves, and areas of interest.

  “I guess that’s a yes”, Marcus answered himself.

  The monster shortly wrapped the map up and handed it back to Logan, nodded, and began to walk off.

  “Wait.”

  The minitaur stopped and looked at Logan.

  “Where are you going?” Logan asked as he pointed at the monster, and the forest, and then shrugged.

  The minitaur grunted, picked up some rocks and held them over its head before dropping them back onto the floor.

  “Shelter, I take it”, Marcus said.

  Logan made a halting palm, pointed at the monster and then himself, and repeated the actions of the monster as if to tell it he was going to give it shelter.

  The monster rubbed its chin and looked at the forest. Shrugging his shoulders he approached the pair and clapped.

  “I got just the place.”

  Some time later, in Pogo’s cave.

  “And that’s everything”, Logan said as he ended the long description of what happened.

  Pogo, the fenwahlash demon chuckled slightly, “Ya just gatherin’ up a bunch of rejects, ain’t ya?”

  The minitaur bellowed and patted its ears again in annoyance.

  Pogo then stared at the monster, a knowing glance that was shared with the minitaur. A minute passed before the minitaur clapped and moved to a chair at the side of the cavern to take a seat as he placed his axe on the floor.

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  “I was able to converse with the lil’ one. We cool”, Pogo explained.

  “Some form of telepathy then. No language barriers with that sort of communication?”

  Pogo minorly shook his head, “Intentions are passed, more than words. His species lacks a direct language, but movements and sounds get the point across most of the time, actions too. Seemed you two warmed him up with that duel.”

  “So you shared the intent rather than the dialogue. Fine. What’s your opinion of the monster?”

  Pogo looked over at the new guest and then back to Logan, “A fine specimen. He’ll behave. Seeing me, he seems to have donned me with the title of landlord.”

  “He seemed surprised at the eradication of the dungeon.”

  “Too right. He has little knowledge of the dungeon itself, just that it was home and charge. He was given orders and he undertook ‘em.”

  “Makes me wonder how many other monsters are like that. Communicable and amiable”, Marcus thought aloud.

  “Different tongues for different planes”, Pogo replied as he looked back at the minitaur, “Many know of Madamra and follow her doctrine, even in the demon realm. I am of a ‘civilized’ tribe, akin to the avanarians, gashriek, etc, amongst demons. We also have our own monsters, like necro-manes.”

  “So, does that mean only the ‘civilized’ tribes of demons and monsters can become below PC partners?” Logan thought to himself. “Do monsters have names?”

  “Some. It’s not common practice.”

  “Does he?”

  Pogo shook his head slightly.

  “We’ll refer to him as Reomi then. It’ll make things easier.”

  Pogo stared at the minitaur for a while, their telepathic intention sharing going on without the others’ knowledge. The minitaur clapped his hands, accepting the name. “Reomi agrees.”

  “Will Reomi get the ‘call’ of Madamra at all?” Marcus queried.

  “Most of that would have come from his dungeon. Outside, there’s little influence besides worship. He doesn’t seem the type.”

  “He was polite, as much as he could be, doesn’t seem right to just kill him. He was also just ‘following orders’ when others entered his dungeon. He didn’t seem angry when we beat him, nor did he try to hide the core at all. It was a job and he got fired when I destroyed his employer”, Logan surmised.

  “From a certain point of view, that was his domain and anyone outside were invaders. Not sure those who died in the labyrinth would feel the same. But then who really gets to converse with the inhabitants of dungeons? Most are mindless monsters who kill for food and sport, or do it in service to their monster deity”, Marcus added.

  “Morality from one view is an opinion, you have to see all angles”, Pogo philosophized.

  “Whatever the intentions are, the dungeon is eradicated and its boss won’t pose an issue. I think we can trust Pogo on this”, Logan ended with Marcus.

  Pogo put a hand to his chest and sarcastically said, “Oh, you flatter me.”

  Warping back to the city, Logan and Marcus had their signets updated and rewards obtained for eradicating another dungeon. The usual calls for assistance from other adventurers came toward the pair who declined any, as they were busy with other things.

  The quantity and quality of the classed beings in Gauntlet had steadily declined with the end of the Yestar Tournament. People went back to their hometowns or usual hunting grounds far afield. From what Logan could collate, the continent all three kingdoms were on was over twice the size of Britain. Plenty of space for people to spread out. It made Logan ponder what was out west, in the open ocean.

  Another invasion would be best planned for the middle of the year, though thwarted more easily with the barrier now active over the Gauntlet capital city.

  With a day’s rest, a full month since the end of the tournament, the two set off for their next dungeon to eradicate.

  The Alternate Conclave was a large complex built near a set of mountains, within a larger clearing on the extents of a nearby forest. Experimentation with trinkets and spell-storing items led to an outburst of spellforce. Corrupted by some means or another, the complex’s structure became tainted. Monsters began to spawn within the walls and without, forcing the researchers to evacuate.

  It had been quite a lucrative business until around sixty years ago when it turned into a spellforced dungeon. Now home to monstrous golems, sprites, and living metals.

  While mostly magic-focused, the dungeon was varied in its opponents and design. Often proving an issue for non-varied parties, and since Fighters were the norm for classed beings it caused many to flee or die within it.

  Thankfully, Logan and Marcus were able to deal with the facility within a day, with no boss to speak of, with the dungeon core being a large spiked ball reminiscent of the head of a morning star.

  Similar to the Stone Yeti Spire, Logan had to enlist the aid of Orichalcum. Ordering a Fighter to be present, they used the Power Strike skill with a mace to break apart the spiked ball device. A large wave of spellforce shot from the device as the building lost all of its magic, safely eradicating another dungeon.

  The energies formed into a pair of goggles with several magnifying glasses that could be rotated into view. Identifying the item revealed it aided in the speed of Trinket Craft. It seemed most of the core rewards related to the area at this point, with little divergence from the themes. Whatever the case, these would come in handy for Logan with his long list of items to craft.

  Removing the obstacle meant the area was safer, but also allowed access back to the mountain and its resources.

  On the following day, the pair approached the Extracted Waterways. A maze of underground tunnels and chambers formed a couple of miles from the main road to the north. Appearing over a century ago, this dungeon posed a threat to travellers with the monsters within exploring outward for materials and meat.

  Full of druidic goblinoids, plant monsters, and silversteines made up of water, the waterways were a more hazardous locale for Logan and Marcus. It had been some time since the duo had faced spirit beasts, but thankfully their vulnerability to magic was still present. Filling the underground with spells and fists alike, the pair cleared it in on the second day, as there was a boss to take care of in the end.

  Lacking a Madamra Rampart, the boss was a weaker variety, but tricky nonetheless. Jumping around a larger room, avoiding streams of water and sewage, the Spellthief and Devout took down a large jagged serpent of a mossy-green hue.

  The core of this dungeon was a large pool of water that appeared within the centre of the boss’s room. To destroy it, the water had to be completely removed from the pool. This was a simpler task for Logan and his PC inventory, alongside the ability to teleport. It took an hour, but with the final drops taken out, the pool cracked all over, revealing a bag that had been stuffed in the drain.

  Taking the items from inside the bag, Logan identified them as a pair of scarf-like gills. When attached, they allowed the user to breathe water and also provided oxygen for 24 hours before needing to be placed back in either water or a breathable area. If Logan ever faced airborne dangers or lack of air, he could rely on these in a pinch. Sadly, only one pair was found, Marcus would need to sort out his own measures for those climates.

  Clearing this dungeon didn’t give much in return, the place was still there just no longer spawning monsters, but it did make the roads safer.

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