The next day, the trio and their new goats quickly made their way back to the octagonal chamber they had found last time. This time, instead of crossing the room, the went to the stone door immediately to the left of the statue gallery. Forcing open this door revealed another short hallway leading to a room. There appeared to be a large stone coffin and something metallic on the far wall.

"Alright. Kurt, Karrank, you two stay on that side of the door. Make sure nothing is peeking out into the doorway." Sylvester ordered.

"Got it. What now?" Kurt responded.

"Now, we send the goats down until they trigger the trap." Sylvester explained while slapping one of the goats to make it run down the hallway.

"Clever, this way someone else will set it off!" Karrank called out.

After a few moments of nothing happening, Sylvester sent a second goat down the hallway. Once again, nothing. He sent down the third goat. There were a few more moments of silence, and then a resounding BOOM as a bolt of lightning shot down the hallway and across the octagonal room.

When everyone had finished blinking the stars from their eyes, they looked down the hallway to see two panicking goats and one very charred corpse.

"You know, I was worried about the animal cruelty of what we were doing, but I don't think I care as much anymore." Kurt admitted.

"Alright, you two round up our remaining goats. I am going to grab the treasure." Sylvester ordered while leading the way down the hallway. They all stepped carefully around the cooked goat which was still steaming and made their way into the burial chamber. This one didn't even have any clay copies of burial goods, just the coffin and a plate sized electrum disk on the wall. Sylvester quickly pried it off and tossed it into the safe treasure bag.

"Are you sure that thing is safe?" Karrank asked, eyeing the plate with suspicion.

"Pretty sure. This trap was only made to function once, since it would normally wipe out the entire group of tomb robbers in a single blow." Sylvester explained while reorganizing his pack.

"Fair enough."

Sylvester then led the trio to the last door that would make a square with the other doors they had opened. Unlike the others, this one was wooden and opened with a gentle shove. It didn't open into a hallway, either. Instead it directly opened into the room it blocked, being diagonal across one of the room’s corners.

This room was filled with more Snakeman statues in three rows. They were all sculpted to appear as realistic as possible, and each one was different enough to make them seem like a small army ready to attack at any moment their king commanded them. Kurt and Karrank both gulped at the sight of the statues, which appeared especially fearsome in the flickering light of their lanterns and followed Sylvester to the opposite corner of the room.

"Kurt, time to shove another statue."

"Wow, they really like hiding things with statues."

"They do, though you can't deny that it is very effective."

"Certainly," Kurt grunted while heaving against the statue. "Is!"

With the statue pushed to the side, a trap door was revealed. Sylvester yanked it up to show a tunnel continuing away from the trio. He quickly hopped down and turned back to the others.

"Alright. Hand me that goat corpse. This tunnel shouldn't be that long, so I will be back very quickly for one of the lanterns. Just set one of them on the ground here." He directed.

Soon, he was walking down the passage. It had a short ceiling, forcing him to stoop as he dragged the goat corpse deeper into the darkness. When he reached the end of the passage, he dropped the corpse and went back for a lantern. He directed Kurt and Karrank to wait for a few more moments before heading down the passage again.

With this lantern, it became obvious that the end of the passage was a doorway, though its strange inset nature suggested that it was hidden on the other side. Sylvester set down the lantern and carefully opened the door. He shoved the goat out as far as he could without leaving the passage and quickly shut the door.

Pressing his ear to the door, Sylvester heard nothing for a few moments. Then, there was the rattling of chains. A bit more silence. Finally, the sounds of crunching. Satisfied, he returned to Kurt and Karrank.

"So, what did you do with the goat?" Kurt asked, seeing Sylvester returning with the lantern.

"I fed it to the basilisk."

"By the gods! There's a basilisk down there!?" Karrank shouted in horror.

"Yes, but one that is at least partially domesticated," Sylvester explained. "Now, kill another one of those goats. I would like this thing completely full before we go down there."

"That thing is going to be waiting for you, you know that right?"

"Yeah! How do you know it won't just petrify and eat you too?"

"I prepared a miracle of sanctuary today. It would need to be incredibly determined to attack me, at least for a little bit. I am going to use that time to judge its state and see if we need more food."

"You're absolutely insane." Karrank announced in disbelief.

"Just you wait, the second half of our adventure is going to get even weirder." Sylvester chuckled, grabbing at the goat that Kurt had just killed.

He took the second goat down the passage and steeled his nerves. He knew, he knew, that this basilisk could be friendly if it was full. He quickly sucked in a breath, channeled his internal energies to ward off hostility, and opened the door.

Like had been predicted, the basilisk was there waiting. It looked something like a crocodile, but one that was easily large enough to eat a man and with significantly longer legs. It had eight of those legs, along with large metal blinders bolted to its head, the bronze glittering in the lantern light. Sylvester could even see the chain attached to this contraption, winding a way on the floor before ascending into the darkness above.

The basilisk moved its head and sniffed the air like a snake. Sylvester felt a pressure as the basilisk glanced at him, but it didn't focus its petrifying gaze on him. He tossed the goat forward and the basilisk hungrily devoured it in only a couple bites. Quickly, Sylvester was alone with the basilisk. As it poked its nose into the air, sniffing, Sylvester felt his magical protection fade. The next few moments were especially tense, but still the basilisk didn't focus its gaze on him. Taking this to be a good sign, he carefully backed away, making sure to close the door behind himself.

Kurt and Karrank were very relieved when he popped his head out of the trapdoor in the floor again.

"Oh, thank the gods you are fine." Kurt heaved a massive sigh of relief, one that Karrank shared.

"It looks like this is going pretty well. If we pull this off, we could even keep it."

"You want… to keep the basilisk?"

"Yeah. If we can get it fully trained, it could become a great asset for going through dungeons," Sylvester explained. "At the very least, we can use it to deal with the skeleton jellies."

"Skeleton… jellies?"

"Skeletons covered in orange gel. We have no way to harm them, so they need to be restrained, petrified, or pushed into a pit."

"Why are things like that down here?!" Karrank was ready to pull his fur out in frustration.

"Alright, I can explain that one, but I need you both not to panic. Ok?" Sylvester looked at them seriously.

"Ok?" They nervously answered, dreading whatever was about to come out of Sylvester's mouth.

"There is an enormously powerful undead Snakeman wizard down here. He has been studying immortality. I plan to completely avoid him, but if we come across him, under no circumstances tell him the Snakeman empire has fallen." Sylvester seriously answered.

"Ok, that’s it. How do you know this?" Karrank demanded. "I could accept being perceptive with the statues and stuff so far, but this… This is something else."

"Enlightenment brings much knowledge." Sylvester sagely replied.

"So, a trade secret then." Karrank kept a watchful eye on Sylvester's expression.

"Yes." Karrank sighed.

"Anything else we should be wary of then?" Kurt came in to try and keep things productive.

"Two things, one of which I will explain later. For now, just watch out for the fungus goblins. They are another failed immortality experiment. Very fragile, but too numerous to take on."

"Wait, I speak a smattering of Goblin. You certainly didn't need me for the traps, so is that why you took me instead of someone else?" Karrank suddenly put some pieces together.

"Exactly. If we come across any, you need to proclaim that I am their king. This should make them safe, but on the full moon they will ritually gut and consume their king."

"That sounds unpleasant."

"It does, which is why I plan for us to be done before that even comes close to happening."

"That's why we have a one-month timetable!" Karrank put more pieces together.

"It is." Sylvester confirmed. "Now, hand me that last goat. This is going to be today's make or break moment."

He took the last goat, and once again made his way to the basilisk to feed it. This time, the basilisk began bumping its neck into Sylvester once it was done eating and sniffing the air. Sylvester knew that it was trying to ask for neck scratches, but it didn't make what he was about to do any less scary.

Carefully, he complied with what the lizard wanted and began to scratch the chipped and broken scales under the collar-harness. He moved his hands around, causing the basilisk to shiver and stamp some of its legs like a dog. It was strange, but it also helped Sylvester feel more confident about what was going on. He kept reaching and scratching until he found what he was looking for: the key wedged under the basilisk's collar. A few quick tugs and it came free into his hands. Feeling much better about the situation, Sylvester began talking to the basilisk like it was a giant, scaly, dog of petrifying death.

"Oh, you are just a big sweetie aren't you. Well don't you worry. We'll get you out of here soon enough. Oooh. You really enjoy this spot don't you."

After a few more scratches, Sylvester stopped and made his way back to the others.

"Alright, come on you two. The basilisk will be safe provided no one spooks it. If it bumps you, it is looking for scratches."

"Is there another way?" Karrank asked, still antsy about being with a basilisk.

"There is, but it involves fighting a golem that is just as strong."

"Actually, I think I prefer my chances with the basilisk."

"Good choice."

All three of them made their way to the basilisk's room with careful motions. Things were tense as the basilisk sniffed Kurt and Karrank, but it didn't attack them.

Looking around with both lanterns in the room showed that it was enormous. It was a long room dominated by four partially destroyed pillars. Small statues of bats and vermin littered the floor and the walls were covered with murals of the triumphs of the Snakeman empire. The ceiling was so high that even the group's lanterns couldn't illuminate it, though it did illuminate some of the bats that were there.

They carefully made their way to the left side of the room, which had a large opening into another room with geometric patterns, though that was partially covered up by the rotting remains of the drapes and tapestries that had filled this room.

Also, in this room were a number of short, misshapen creatures with pale skin and beady red eyes; fungus goblins. One of them even appeared to have a pitchfork that had forks and knives strapped to its end.

Both sides stood staring at the other for a few moments before the goblins broke out in incessant chittering. Karrank stepped forward and began chittering at them, but with obvious difficulty. After a few moments of back and forth, the goblins broke out in screeching.

"Karrank?" Sylvester asked, warily placing his hands on his mace.

"Its fine. Its fine. They are cheering for their new king… I think."

"Ok, then tell them that we will come for my crown soon but must do something else first."

Karrank nodded and began chittering at the goblins again. They did a small dance before they all ran off into the darkness, their chittering voices echoing long after they were gone. Once silence had returned, the trio continued. They ignored a room behind a rotting door and instead focused on a short hallway that was ridged like a snake's gullet.

"Do you see those raised stones? Arranged like winding snakes?"

"Yes." "Yep."

"All of them are triggers for this trap. Smack the closest one with a staff to set it off."

Kurt did so, instantly filling the hallway with swinging blades. They watched it for a few moments before an ominous creaking became audible. Suddenly, the entire structure collapsed, sending out plumes of dust. The crash was deafening, and the ruins of the trap blocked the entire hallway.

They took their time to clear at least part of the way forward. On the other side of the trap was an area that appeared like a crossroads. On their right were two incredibly fine Snakeman statues guarding a doorway that had been completely blocked by a pile of junk.

Ignoring that, they turned to the doorway on the right. This led into a decently sized alcove with a statue of another Snakeman god.

"Alright, I need you two to lay down around the base of this statue, creating a body barrier on the floor."

"Can I ask why?" Kurt inquired.

"This statue is going to spill a lot of treasure in a moment, and I would rather have to spend a bunch of time collecting the treasure that rolls away."

"That sure sounds like a good reason!" Kurt and Karrank enthusiastically laid down, Karrank grabbing Kurt's feet to complete the body barrier.

Sylvester stuck his arms into some holes in the statue and began to rotate it clockwise. There were a few ticks as it spun before it clicked into a final position. A small flood of gold coins spilled from the statue's feet, but none of it travelled far as Kurt and Karrank blocked it with their bodies. Every gleaming coin was quickly stuffed into the safe treasure sack.

Once they were sure they had not missed anything, they went to the doorway opposite the, the one piled with junk. They began to dismantle the pile, with was loud and laborious. Twenty minutes in, Karrank called them to stop.

"Do you hear that?" He asked them. Distantly echoing toward the party was the sounds of something squelching. They all held their breaths, hoping that whatever it was would ignore them, and their prayers were answered as the squelching faded once more.

They quickly finished their work and stepped into the room. It was U shaped, bending back around the crossroads and smelled overpoweringly of wine and rot. They moved further into the room, and their lantern light illuminated a young woman huddled in one end of the room's U shape. She was dressed in plain, but torn, clothes and had her ankle shackled to the floor. She quickly stood up, hope on her face, as the trio approached her. She pushed her brown hair away from her face, revealing bright eyes and a beautiful face slightly marred by dirt.

"Oh, thank the gods! You have to help me! These horrid goblins captured me while I was out gathering herbs!" She begged them.

"Not a step closer you two." Sylvester stopped Kurt and Karrank from going any further. Both turned to him.

"What?!" "Why not?!"

"Rule three." Sylvester cryptically replied.

"You can't be serious! A helpless young girl has you on edge?" Kurt shouted in exasperation.

"If only. It may be hard to see, but she is currently standing in a magic circle." Sylvester pointed out. Everyone paused to take a closer look at the floor.

"So, she's bait for a trap?" Karrank said, looking at the rest of the room more closely.

"In a sense." Sylvester replied, his eyes never leaving the woman.

"Oh no. I don't want to die! Please! You must help me! What if those goblins come back?" She continued to beg, panic creeping into her voice.

"The goblins avoid this room. In fact, they were the ones who tried to seal it off with junk."

"Wha-" The woman's eyes went wide, while Kurt and Karrank both turned to look at the junk pile they had removed.

"So, lets drop the charade and make a deal Baltoplat."

The woman's expression froze. Then in a transition so quick one would think you were looking at a different woman, she stood taller and crossed her arms with a confident expression on her face. Her entire persona shifted from a damsel in distress to something closer to a confident merchant.

"So, what can I do for you, Mr. Priest? Cease existing? Or are you about to try and 'turn me to the light'?" She asked sarcastically.

"Luckily for you, I attained enlightenment and don't need the gods. I had something else in mind." Sylvester answered, shocking Kurt and Karrank with his seeming calm to this situation.

"Ah, I see. You also want secrets of the lower hells." She nodded her head, still confident in her estimation.

"I likely know more than you, so no," Sylvester's statement caught everyone's attention. "I want a favor. One soul's worth. Also, a guarantee of safety for me, my companions, ad our basilisk from you for a week."

"You certainly speak like you know what you are saying." Baltoplat carefully responded, narrowing her eyes.

"Do we have a deal?" Sylvester asked. There was a moment of silence as Baltoplat carefully stared Sylvester down, weighing her options.

"Yes. Now let me out." She finally decided.

Sylvester extended his hand past the circle, offering it to her. She gracefully took it and stepped out, her shackles fading away like the illusion they were.

"We still have two places to loot, three if we really want to risk things. Will you be sticking with us, or making your own way out?" Sylvester asked while retracting his hand.

"I think I will stick with you all for now. I am quite intrigued at what secrets you know," she grinned predatorily. "For example, your name is still a secret to me."

"We were going to rest for a few minutes, so we can do some introductions while I grab the valuables in here." Sylvester decided, causing Kurt and Karrank to sigh with relief. Adventuring with Sylvester wasn't deadly, but the amount of stress that it put on them couldn't be good for their long-term health.

"I am Sylvester Bayes, patron, leader, and priest of this party." Sylvester introduced himself while searching the room.

"Ooh, a minor noble." Baltoplat purred. "Where does someone like that learn the things, you know?"

"This is Kurt Trimble, friend and fighting man."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance." She smiled at Kurt.

"Y-yeah. Same." He turned away, a blush creeping onto his face.

"And this is Karrank, Rogue and translator."

"A pleasure, once again," she smiled again, but Karrank ignored her. "Since I will be sticking with you for a while, feel free to call me Val, succubus and potential ally."

Kurt immediately lost his blush at hearing that Val was a succubus and Sylvester finally found what he was looking for. There were a couple golden bowls that went into the safe treasure sack, a stone snake that Sylvester set aside, and a wavy dagger that Sylvester handed to Karrank.

"Here, this dagger should be enchanted but safe. Hopefully, we won't need it."

"Better to have it and not need it." Karrank said while examining the dagger more closely. It was a well-crafted dagger with a leather grip and a wide guard reminiscent of fangs. The blade was over a foot long and it waved back and forth, much like a snake.

Once everyone was ready, the newly expanded group set off once more. They headed back across the destroyed trap and instead of heading into the basilisk's room, they went down a hallway that slowly sloped downward. As they went, they felt a warm breeze pushing up toward them. When they reached the room at the end of the hallway Sylvester had them stick to the edges of the room.

No one even needed any further explanation when he pointed to a missing tile that, instead of showing rock or dirt, showed a deep pit under the floor. Luckily, there was a decently wide one-foot rim around the edges of the room. The air only continued to get warmer as they approached the doorway on the opposite end of the room.

The next room was mostly dominated by a large pit against one of the walls. The pit was deep, and flames could be seen at the bottom, burning on something. A few charred bones were visible at the edges of the flames.

They ignored the pit and continued out of the room into another crossroads, with doors on each of the four walls. It had a domed ceiling painted with frescoes of proud Snakemen nobles on the ceiling. More importantly, the door opposite the one they had passed through was large, ornate, and made of metal. As they approached it, Sylvester produced its key, much to everyone's amazement.

"Where did you find that?" Kurt asked.

"The basilisk had it."

"Really?" Karrank asked skeptically.

"Yes."

"… Of course it did." He just shrugged and put it aside.

"Now, before I open this door," Sylvester began to explain. "I don't know what is on the other side of it, other than a sizeable amount of treasure. Assume there is a hostile creature or trap in here. Understand?"

"Yes." "Got it." "Makes sense."

"Good. Now, set the lanterns down."

Kurt and Karrank quickly complied, Karrank pulling out his new dagger. After making sure everyone was ready to strike, Sylvester finally opened the door. The trio were ready to strike at any sign of movement. Luckily, there wasn't any. Instead, they came across what was obviously the treasure room of this complex. There were several chests filled with coins, one with gems, and two pedestals with gorgeous necklaces displayed on them. Everyone's breath caught at the sight of so much wealth before them.

"Kurt, give every chest a solid smack to ensure they are safe to handle." Sylvester ordered before anyone could relax too much. Kurt quickly complied, and every chest appeared to be safe.

"Not going to lie, this is significantly more than I expected. As soon as we can get all of this out of here, we are done with these ruins."

"Oh, thank the gods." Kurt praised.

"What about the other treasure down here?" Karrank asked.

"Rule four: don't get greedy." Sylvester answered.

"Fair enough." Karrank nodded.

After thoroughly checking the room for traps or hidden monsters, they began to inspect their spoils. For the coins, each chest held a mixture. They were mostly copper, with a sizeable amount of silver, and the occasional gold piece present as well. Each of the chests were decently sized, but it still took three of them to hold all the coins. Being full of precious metals, they were incredibly heavy.

"We could get maybe one of those chests if Karrank helped me, so I think we will need at least three trips." Sylvester summed up.

"That seems about correct. The rest of this stuff is light enough that it won't be a burden." Karrank agreed with the estimation.

"Kurt, you take my shield, Karrank's crossbow, and some of his other supplies. It is the only way we will be able to comfortable move this thing."

"On it."

Quickly, the gear situation was settled and soon Sylvester and Karrank were in position. They quickly began to take the first chest back the way they had come. The hidden pit trap slowed them down, but they luckily had enough room to shuffle sideways and weren't pulled forward by their chest.

Soon, they were back to the basilisk's chamber. Then they heard chittering. Four fungus goblins were approaching them.

"Karrank!" Sylvester hissed. "Tell them we are preparing to get rid of the basilisk and they need to stay away until we are done."

Karrank hurriedly and quietly chittered at the goblins, worried that the basilisk might attack.

"We have a problem. They want to help."

"Gods!" Sylvester cursed. "Tell them we need to pick every dungeon cucumber in their warrens to make a big potion. They should be blue!"

Karrank chittered some more and the goblins quickly scampered off. Karrank and Sylvester finally managed to get the chest into the secret passage while the basilisk carefully sniffed Val. They had to take a break after lugging such a heavy load. Both Sylvester and Karrank had deep marks in their palms and were beginning to sweat from the exertion.

They managed to make it back to the vault without issue and were soon making a trip with their second chest. This trip went off without a hitch, though they had to take another break after.

They began their final trip and returned to the vault. Sylvester tossed the jewelry into his dangerous sack and locked the vault behind them as they began their final haul. Once again, they managed to get their ill-gotten gains to the secret tunnel without issue, where Sylvester and Karrank nearly collapsed from exhaustion. After another break, they began moving their loot to their temporary base in the room behind the statue.

It took them a couple of hours in total and when they got out the sky looked like it was about to darken. They barely made it back to town in time to be let in.

Val ended up staying with Sylvester at his house. Luckily, she was extraordinarily talented at lying and already had a cover story; Sylvester and his group had rescued her from the goblins. Unfortunately, it was too late in the day for them to do anything once they got back so she needed a place to stay.

She was quickly given a room to stay in for the night, along with some replacement clothes (not that it mattered to her). Everyone was beginning to get a bit more curious about Sylvester's project since it seemed to be having some success, but they didn't get a chance to ask him.

He left early in the morning, taking Val with him. Sylvester prepared the Fracture miracle and rented a cart with the last of his loose money. The four rode back to the dungeon in the cart and had the farmer wait there with it. Then, they began to shuttle their chests back out of the dungeon. It took over an hour to get everything hauled. Finally, they went back in for the basilisk. When they arrived, it was luckily still happy to see them.

Several feet into the chain, so that they could still lead the creature, Sylvester used fracture to severely weaken a link A bit of pounding with a spike and mallet completely broke the link, freeing the basilisk. From there, they carefully coaxed the basilisk out of its prison, using up some rations in the process. Sylvester even managed to completely close the basilisk's eye coverings to ensure that no accidental petrifications occurred. As they left, they took extra time to reset the hammer trap behind them, to prevent the goblins from following the same path they had.

The cart driver was absolutely terrified the appearance of the basilisk, but still stuck around when everyone assured him that it would be safe and that they planned to head back to town at once.

Halfway back, however, they stopped to take a more complete inventory of their gains. They had at least three magic items, a ring of eyesight, a magic dagger, and a cursed ring of snakefang; over 600 gold worth of safe treasure, and another 4,000 gold in what they had stuffed into the chests from the vault.

They separated the safe loot into the three chests equitably, and all agreed to decide what to do with the magic or cursed items later. As they finally rode into town, Sylvester tossed a nice tip to the cart driver and gave everyone a piece of advice.

"Spend most of your money quickly. We are all too poor to have this much money."

Both Kurt and Karrank nodded at that, before getting people to help them carry their chests back home.