Marcus Dulham never wanted to take this job, but after the last . . . “Incident” at Kardok, he knew the arena would no longer welcome him. He needed the coin to take care of Kat. He could survive on a few Copper Shields, but the doctors charged in Silver Diums, more than a month's worth of honest work! No sane person could afford to pay those charlatans! Then again, no sane person contracted the black rot, he thought with a wry smile.

  So when the figure in heavy cloaks offered not just Silver Diums, or Silver Beals, but Gold Dragons for a small job, he had to take it.

  Just one Gold Dragon and he could take care of Kat for years and still have spare change to live a life of luxury.

  With twenty? Maybe they'd actually find a cure.

  Kat wouldn't be happy that he broke his promise, but. . . He'd figure that out later.

  Right now, he just needed to survive.

  Hounds barked behind him. They were hunting him.and of course this Gods damned cavern was riddled with traps!

  He ducked as a needle the length of his forearm narrowly missed his head. He heard one of the hounds give a sharp whine but he didn't look back. These damn mushrooms just wouldn't give them a break! This cave was riddled with them! Some shot spikes, others puffed out choking spores. It was disgusting and he'd have to be careful he didn't bring any of these spores back to Kat.

  Out of the original forty members, only five of the crew were left. If the hazards and traps didn't get them, these thrice damned fungi would! Half of the mercs hired were dead. Killed by some trap or another that plugged this place up tighter than a Sar’ketan Tomb. Others were wandering around blank, all sense of purpose lost from some sort of poison or mind magic, Marcus didn't have the expertise to know. How long until it affects him? Would he forget about Kat? Would she be ok? Or if he got this far, did that mean he was immune to whatever it was?

  The man in rags was paying them to retrieve an artifact, just another bloody adventure! Yeah right, he should have known when he saw who was hired, mercenaries and loners that no one would notice if they went missing.

  Well except for the people left behind, like Kat.

  A hound lunged as Marcus heard a click under his foot.

  Marcus rolled cursing under his breath under the blades that swung from the wall at waist height, bisecting the unlucky hound. Seriously? Where in Pancosma do they hide those things? At least there were only five hounds left.

  Kat had made Marcus swear off adventures after that mummy business down in Sar'ket. He knew adventures always went bad! It's always a mistake, fighting the strongmen in the arena, or even the menagerie was safer than this!

  "Up here!" He heard from above.

  There was a cave!

  One of his fellow mercs waved at him. He had twin hand axes on his back and a long beard. He sprinted at the wall.

  If he could just get enough height to catch the hand that was held out for him!.

  Somehow these loners and newbies had managed to all get split up! By Lumin's beard, did no one know how to make or follow a plan in this expedition? He cursed as he ran up the wall, scrabbling and climbing for any extra height he could. The cold fuzzy moss kept slipping and the moldy dirt crumbled. Then the merc caught his hand. Was his name Delvin?

  "Got ya! Damn, I'm too old for this." Delvin grunted as he heaved Marcus up with a single arm.

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  “Yeah old man? Then what kind of strength was that? Are you half giant or something?” Marcus rubbed his hand.

  “Something like that.” Delvin said quietly.

  “Thanks for the save.” Marcus brushed himself off.

  Delvin chuckled. “We aren't out of it yet, Duelist.”

  Who was this man? Did he know about his ‘incident’ in Kardok? Or was he just a fan who knew his reputation? Delvin was always quiet and watching from the edge when they camped. Marcus didn't know him well, but then he kept his distance too and didn't really know any of the mercs. In a way, it didn't really matter.

  Arrows sped past their heads.

  “Watch out, Goblins are coming” Delvin said pulling Marcus away from the edge.

  “Allumbra’s tits! This place is a deathtrap! No wonder the Rag man was willing to pay so well!” Marcus cursed.

  "You know, maybe we wouldn't have such bad luck if you didn't curse the gods all the time, they tend to not care for it." Delvin said quietly.

  The hounds circled and bayed behind them.

  "If the gods didn't give me such bad luck then maybe I wouldn't curse them so much! Where are the others?" Marcus snapped back.

  Delvin looked down and shook his head, then pointed at the wall.

  "Well, the mage and the girl are back here a ways. Figured we'd shelter up and rest for a minute, they should be safe enough here for now, but we're in bad shape."

  "Bad shape or not, we need to keep moving. Do you know what was back there? A whole village of crazed gobs. They are using the fungus in this cavern to build defenses and trap anything that moves, and trust me, they are not ‘Funguys’. They set those hounds on me."

  Delvin's eyes widened as Marcus spoke.

  "A village?"

  "Come on, that was a good joke!”

  "Are you sure it was a whole village?" Delvin asked again his voice low.

  "Yes! They know we're here, and they won't stop."

  As if on cue another arrow hit the stone next to his head.

  "Kh’orrs' blood!" Marcus yelped, ducking further into the tunnel with Delvin.

  "You should be careful that you don't say that around the girl, she might get offended. Let's get in. The illusion will stop them for now." Delvin lectured, walking forward into stone as the light bent around his body.

  Marcus followed, the weave of the illusion spell caused a small amount of resistance against him as he pushed though to a small campsite.

  "Don't say what about me?" A woman half the size of a giant stood before them, furs lined her muscled and scarred body as she gently punched into her hand.

  "Gii'da, relax, we're on the same side here. . ." Delvin began, his hands up defensively, but Gii'da interrupted him.

  Right, Marcus had forgotten about this. The Kh’orrish woman was a bit sensitive to perceived insults. He'd tried to avoid her as much as he could on the trip up. It was never good to get on a barbarian's bad side.

  "Do we have any idea where we are?" He asked the mage by the fire, ignoring the argument heating up behind him.

  He always thought mages should be old and wise, but the one in front of him couldn't have been even 20 summers yet.

  "The compass is broken. I'm trying to build a spell to navigate, but the weave is slippery here."

  "Slippery? How does that work? It's magic, not a greased pig, for Cere's sake!”

  "Unfortunately, your droll metaphor is rather apt. Much like a pig, magic sometimes has a mind of its own." Lucius replied with a grimace.

  "Then we should get moving, or do something so we can make a plan!" Marcus said

  "Do what? Go where? We are lost, the Irrushium Idol is nowhere to be found, and as far as we know, we four are the last. I say we get out of here.” Lucius responded

  "What happened to the other guys?"

  "Trust me, it's better if you never find out." The mage shuddered.

  "I'm hungry, cook something." Gii'da demanded, plopping down on the stone beside them, her earlier irritation sizzling under the surface.

  "Cook what? We lost our supplies when we were separated" Delvin replied behind him.

  "I have a bag of chilies, maybe some iron rations." Marcus offered. He pulled his pack off and looked at it. The side pouches where he kept the rations had been torn off.

  “Damn it! Nevermind, I just have chilis”

  Gii'da glared at him. “Great, I guess all five of us will have to live off your great bag of firepeppers.” she said, rolling her eyes.

  "Hey, this isn't helpful. Besides, now is not the time to eat!" Delvin hissed "Marcus said there's an entire village of goblins down there!"

  He looked around at the nonplussed reactions.

  "Why aren't you reacting?" Delvin asked.

  Gii'da stretched, "Well, they are just goblins right?"

  "It's a goblin village. We aren't talking about two or three goblins, when they nest they number up to two hundred. I've seen better equipped parties be torn to shreds from underestimating a goblin village.” Delvin said.

  Marcus looked up, "The village probably has food."

  The other three starving mercenaries turned towards him.

  "Smart!" Gii'da grinned. "We smash the gobs, and get the food! Get up Spellweaver Lucius! We're going hunting!"

  Marcus sighed, adventures, it happens every single time. Kat was definitely going to kill him when he got home.