As they moved closer to the end of the corridor Curan saw the light of the day. They didn’t spend as much time inside the dungeon as he previously thought. The sun was still high.

“Don’t drag so much!”

Gob was holding the side of the chest with both his arms. It contained every piece of junk Curan deemed worthy.

“Don’t sweat it we will not drag this bullshit all the way to the camp.”

Curan threw the torch he was holding in one hand and focused on the walk. They kept a comically uneven pace. Gob was too small to support the package properly. Meanwhile Curan dragged it by the only handle that stood the test of time.

Wobbling up and down, the chest they plundered finally saw the first sunlight in years. It was filled with junk. Poaches of silver from unlucky travelers, cloth and scavenged gold they pillaged from the heap of orcish rubbish and a set of usable weapons amulets and accessories the orcs didn’t destroy.

With a sound of coins rattling inside the chest they put it down under the tree near the entrance. The coins that originally filled the chest were ancient. Curan left most of them back in the Bearmole room. Maybe after a proper appraisal he would come back for the rest?

They weren’t gold, and he didn't feel like searching for an odd collector. The city was sealed. The profit would come from the weapons they took, and he knew for sure that many people would buy a decent sword.

Whatever the orcs had was of high quality metals. With enough polishing he could gather what he needed to move away from the city of Erlen. It would just take some time, but he had a decent idea on how to keep the money flowing in. It was currently breathing tired from all the 'mulework' while sitting under the tree.

Gob looked at Curan pillaging the chest. He didn’t have the time to replace the sword as they feared more Bearmole.. Eh…rats to come. He moved to also rummage through the junk. As they silently checked the weapons a cloaked figure approached them.

Viper stood close to Curan, but he said nothing. He instead talked to Gob.

“This dagger looks nice.”

As he passed the simple looking knife to the goblin, he finally settled on his own sword complete with the new sheath.

Gob only saw Viper twice before so he used this rare opportunity to scout the man. He wasn’t as tall as Curan and that was about all he could tell. Even in broad daylight Viper was masked so that even his eyes were invisible. Heavy dark cloak covered his whole body. Similarly to Curan he had his hands covered by gloves and sported a pair of boots that Gob would refer to as soldierlike.

“It would be easier if there was someone else inside.”

Gob tried to provoke the figure to speak, but his words met a solemn silence so reminiscent of Peter. Curan said nothing.

The humans were clearly waiting for his choice so he focused on his pick. He swung the dagger Curan gave him in a series of quick slashes that surely showed the surrounding air who should stay on top.

Curan had an impressive talent to pick weapons. Gob focused on the highly ornamented daggers that were present in the chest, but it seemed that this simple looking knife was superior in both quality and swinging comfort. The slashes felt incredibly light while keeping the speed and sharpness of the dagger.

He looked at Curan unsure if he would be punished for taking the dagger, but he only threw him his previous sword sheath. It wasn’t meant to hold a dagger inside, but with a few adjustments Gob added it to his attire in a form of knife holding belt. It adorned his plain cloth pants. He would need to find something better later. Hopefully without cutting himself while searching.

While he was fixing his makeshift belt Viper took a few clothes that Curan carefully hand picked earlier to take and hide it somewhere inside his robes. Gob didn’t know why they were important. Maybe the materials were valuable.

With the preparations over Viper closed the chest with a loud bang and proceed to slowly caress the chest exteriors with his black-gloved hands. Curan smiled at this sight, but then regained his composure as Viper looked back at him.

Gob was puzzled, but Curan just waved his hand. They were meant just to watch.

As Viper touched the chest it slowly began to glow. A pale bluish glow formed around its corners in a small specks of light. It was magic! As Gob watched the marked down chest began to dig itself down under the tree.

The ground just moved away and the package they made got swallowed by the dirt leaving almost no trace of magic. A slightly deformed earth was left in its place. Gob sniffed the air, but there was no leftover ether. The magic was done solely by the caster's mana supply and the incantation must have been perfect.

Curan walked to Viper and placed his hand at man’s shoulder to check if the magic went fine. As he assured himself that everything was in order he moved to Gob.

Gob moved his gaze from the tired looking earth mage to Curan.

"So what do you want to learn about first, eh? This trick or mine sword play?"

Viper looked at Curan slightly tilting his head. It looked like he wanted to say something, but changed his mind.

Curan looked back at Viper and then approached Gob with a more serious expression.

“I want you to stay with us Gob.”

It was genuine, but all Curan saw was a puzzled goblin looking somewhere in the distance. He moved in front of him. Gob looked at him with a sudden bewildered face. As Curan took it for refusal, he continued to talk.

“It's okay. I know we... Listen!"

He placed his hands on Gob shoulders.

"I won’t sell you. You proved to be trustworthy and didn’t backstab me once. I don’t know this forest that well. Gob I need your knowledge. I can promise...”

He shut up as Gob waved at him with a serious look. Curan instinctively jumped back thinking the goblin wants to cut him with the dagger, but it wasn't the case. Gob's expression was the one of pain. He looked like he wanted to run away as he kept looking at the forest behind him.

Gob mind was going wild.

How could he forget? It was in the middle of the battle, but he was sure that Evie assisted him somehow. She didn’t appear anymore. Why? Why did she even appear?

Fishcatcher...

Bad feelings took over Gob as he felt something looming in the forest. He faced the puzzled Curan and spoke.

“We need to go now.”