The clothesline had been taken down, and so tonight Argent and her ratty crew took a detour over the canopy of a tent selling savory pork on skewers. More than one of her entourage took this detour farther than intended, and Argent had no choice but to chase after them, and maybe she stole a nibble or two herself as the cook wailed and slapped at them with his apron…

It was a misadventure that left them all overstuffed, drunk on delicious porkfat drippings, and full of thieves’ bravado by the time they finally reached the jeweler’s shop.

Maybe that was why the mistake had happened.

As they watched, the jeweler and his guard stepped through the door. The guard held a dead white rat by the tail.

The ratty crew chittered in anger as the two threw the corpse into the sewer.

It had happened so quickly.

One of them, a buck with a long scar on his side, had always been overeager to prove his bravery. Had always wanted to challenge Argent for leadership of the crew.

After two days of carefully scouting the location of their heist, he had run out of patience. Before anyone could stop him he had leapt down to the open window below and wriggled through.

In the blink of an eye he was down on the silk-lined tables where jewels rested. Before anyone could react he had a diamond-studded pendant in his teeth.

And just as quickly, his luck had run out.

It took the guard two steps to cover the distance between his post at the door and the table. It took no time at all for him to draw his sword, a glittering sweep of steel cleaving through the white rat’s midsection.

Just like that. The rats clustered on the balcony above flinched as they watched their brother collapse, blood staining the black silk.

Rage and bitterness. Helpless anger as they watched their brother be tossed into the sewer like a scrap of meat.

Promises of vengeance were made.

In the drowning gloom of the forest, Izzis and the glass golem were surrounded by phantom flames. They formed into arcane signs that shimmered like reflections of light on flowing water before evaporating. The spectacular sight had the little homunculus distracted, reaching out from atop the glass faun’s head to try and snatch the symbols out of the air.

Above, a slithering shadow frightened away the songbirds as it slipped from tree branch to tree branch.

The glass faun froze suddenly. Izzis tugged at its horns, cursing, but the golem only tilted its horned head upwards.

Perched on the branch above them was an enormous slug made of moss, its bulk sagging down over the broad branches. Dozens of pale pink legs emerged from a body of hanging green furs, and its head was a blossom of red petals, two long golden tendrils lined with tiny hooks extending from the core.

A ball of furry moss broke away from the creature’s body and dropped down. It landed on the forest floor, bounced up, and began to roll towards them. More and more rained down, hitting the ground with springy, rubbery impacts and going rolling towards the duo.

The faun lashed out with its spear, piercing a moss-ball directly through the center. The strange creature only shivered and expanded from a compact ball into a crawling wave that swept up the spear’s shaft. Hurling the spear away before the moss could reach its hand, the faun leapt back on nimble legs as three more moss-balls bounced up and tried to grab on to its body.

And from above, the flower-slug sent one of its tendrils snapping through the air like a whipcrack, striking the faun across the face and nearly toppling Izzis off its head.

The faun staggered, its neck twisting as the blow landed across its cheek.

Then the golem turned back, and its body began to vibrate. A long crystalline humming filled the air. The sound rose higher and higher until it became agonizing, unbearable, the slug letting out a wet gurgling cry and rearing up in pain. The little balls of moss were unable to move in straight lines, rolling about in drunken circles as the sound unbalanced them.

The faun sprung forward. Its spear had pierced into a treetrunk, and with a leap, it balanced on the shaft, jumping again to sail up into the treetops.

With the slug disoriented and thrashing from the wave of sound, the faun didn’t struggle at all to land on the branches alongside it, crouched on all fours; it rushed forward and tackled the beast with its full force. Together they toppled from the trees and went crashing towards the earth.

Izzis, still woozy from that awful sound, had the sense to scream in terror.

The golem landed on top as the slug took the brunt of the impact, its soft flesh splattering in all directions.

What was left was a stain of wriggling furry mosses and, exposed now, a slender pink-fleshed caterpillar with an enormous flower blossoming from its head.

The faun seized the thrashing insect and ripped it in half. Yellow blood stained its green hands. The moss around them went suddenly still.

Izzis let out another wail of fear, just for good measure. He slapped and stomped the top of the glass faun's head. "Stupid golem! Stupid disobedient golem! Did Izzis tell you to do any of that? No! Izzis did not!"

As he huffed in exhaustion and slowly calmed down, Izzis licked his lips, beginning to stare at the corpse with greed in his eyes. For days now he’d been catching little fishes to feed the Dungeon and reaping a tiny tithe of Mana in return.

But this was worth a lot more than any fish.

His little head swimming with greed, he gave the golem a conciliatory pat.

“Hmph. Izzis is willing to forgive you, but you have to listen to Izzis better from now on. Izzis knows plenty of things. Izzis knows how to make the Dungeon very, very happy, and all we have to do is stay right here...”

The golem said nothing, which Izzis took as agreement.

The smell of blood was thick in the air. Soon, scavengers would be coming. One kill would turn into many, and Izzis would be rich.

A fox had stepped through the door. It was a bright silver color, with a tiny streak of red like a puff of flame in the fluff that collared its neck. It had smart little spots of black around its feet like boots.

BE STILL. I ordered the two golems. They were motionless as only the unliving could be.

The little creature padded inside, sniffing cautiously, casting its head from side to side as it took in the surroundings. Not far from where it had entered, a viper was lurking, camouflaged among the glass gardens by its almost see-through flesh.

Seemingly oblivious, the fox took another step towards its own destruction.

The viper lunged. In that moment the fox turned into a blur of silver, whipping around and catching the snake’s neck in its jaws. I saw actual sparks scatter from the sweep of its brush-like tail. A quick flick of its neck and it wrung the life out of the snake.

Quite interesting.

But in the process, the fox had made a mistake and wandered too close to the edge of one my garden's deceptively deep pools. In a flash a reelfish lunged up onto shore, wriggling its way through the soft mud as its long prehensile whiskers whipped towards the fox.

Again, there was that blinding burst of speed.

The reelfish caught nothing but air, gulping in disappointment as it slowly retreated back into the waters. The fox trotted towards the door, pausing only for a second. It turned back for a moment, satisfaction evident in its beady eyes, and departed with one of my snakes hanging dead from its mouth.

Oh, this was a challenge.

I was still worried for Izzis and the golem, yes. I was still deeply unnerved by the sudden appearance of the Messenger and this doorway. But those were concerns I couldn't address in the moment. In this one moment, I had a simple goal to work towards.

I would kill that damn fox.

So far the main protectors of my dungeon were various species of snakes and spiders, as well as the reelfish. Combing through the grass and fungal forests I found a small, green-shelled mantis perched on a stalk, her scything claws tinged with a daring red along the rows of little blades that lined them.

She was a beautiful specimen and I would make her more.

I enlarged her, for one thing. I made her big enough to hunt bigger prey than locusts. Say, foxes. Next, I lined the underside of her wings with bioluminescent spots in the bloody red of her claws. Now when she flared them out, her foes would be dazzled by the rapidly flickering light, trapped by the Attunement of Gleam’s hypnotic powers.

Inspired by Aurum’s sad state, I gave her a second set of claws, these more like a scorpion’s. With a fourfold grapple almost nothing would be able to escape, and her primary set of long, curved talons would be excellent at catching prey in a sudden burst of motion. Thanks to the Attunement of Disguise she took on a translucent green tinge as I worked her into her new shape, becoming perfectly camouflaged for the gardens.

[ Mesmeric Mantis ]

Armored with four-fold limbs and a stunning display of bioluminescence, this predator lurks in perfect stillness until the moment of striking.

The next time that fox tried to hunt in my domain, it would be getting a nasty shock.

Now, what else could I do to around here...