The group had now passed the point where the town gate was visible. The road became a noticeably lower quality as they approached the dungeon as greenery pushed its way through the cobblestones. The group met up near the entrance to the dungeon and began to set up camp using the supplies Lina had purchased earlier. Lina passed around some smoked meats, cheese, and crackers from her bag as everyone sat beside the fire. The large wooden doors that marked the entrance to the dungeon loomed over the group as they ate. Derik stabbed his dagger into a small piece of cheese, lifting his visor to eat the tasty morsel.

"It's you!" he heard someone shout from across the other side of the fire.

Everyone was staring intently at Derik as Iris pointed an accusatory finger towards him.

Derik began to speak, "Well I…"

"I was just surprised is all," Iris interrupted. "I'm grateful you still decided to let me join your group after our first meeting."

After the meal, all the members of the team went through various forms of preparation. Montag put on his helm and slid his gauntlets onto his hands. Lina padded down her hair and put on her helmet, veil, and a set of leather gloves. She fished a long scarf out of her bag and wrapped it around her neck. Derik closed his visor and placed his dagger back on his belt. Derik looked to Iris and saw her take a substantial amount of equipment consisting of a padded jacket, a few long lengths of chainmail, a sleeveless shirt, and a cylindrical great helm. The shirt was emblazoned with the image of a lion standing over top of some kind of monstrous creature. Derik stood in awe as he watched her draw a mace from her belt.

"I couldn't fit that much stuff in a duffel bag, let alone a backpack," Derik thought. "That takes some astonishing organizational skills, or maybe it's just I lack any."

Derik got up and posed a question to the group, "I don't suppose anyone has any experience raiding a dungeon?"

"This is one of the areas I don't have expertise in. Dungeon clearing is usually handled by hired mercenaries and adventurers, the military only gets involved in rare circumstances where they adversely affect the surrounding villages or cities to a massive degree," Montag responded.

"It'll be fine, we just have to rely on each other. Everyone stay alert and keep your eyes open." Lina led the way into the dungeon with her distinct air of confidence and optimism.

The group flowed into the dungeon forming a tight square as they traversed the halls. Montag headed the group as he held up a torch in his left hand with Lina by his side. Derik and Iris lagged behind, struggling to stop bumping into the other members in the low light conditions. As they went deeper and deeper the halls quickly choked in around the party. Eventually, the group reached a room that funneled into a long, narrow hallway forcing them to traverse the hall in a single file to proceed. Montag immediately took the lead with Lina quickly falling behind leaving Derik and Iris to decide who would be in third place.

"I'll be the rearguard, got to have someone ready for attacks from behind right?" Derik suggested.

Iris shrugged and fell into third place with Derik following to take up the rear. Derik tested the width of the corridors with his arms; it was tight and he could barely stretch his arms out to half their normal length. It would be unlikely that something would be able to flank around behind them.

It was dark and dank in the constricting corridors of the dungeon. The faint sloshing of boots was commonplace as shallow pools of water slicked the floors of the hall. The torch that Montag carried only illuminated about 10 paces in either direction. A sense of unease began to grip the group as they continued to venture into the darkness.

"Shouldn't we have seen something by now, where are all the monsters?" Derik questioned.

Iris didn't say anything but was noticeably uneasy.

"Just keep moving," Lina ordered. "Stay close and watch each other."

Derik turned back to look at Lina as she spoke, but as he turned back around he saw a slime ooze from the ceiling. Its greyish form was hard to see from the backdrop of the similarly grey dungeon walls, but Derik could tell it was easily as large as him.

The slime sloshed forward and lashed out at Derik and he leaned into the left wall sidestepped the attack; however, some of the viscous liquid that made up the slime had detached itself from the sudden motion, landing on the arm of Iris. She let out a shrill scream and grasped her arm.

Lina turned to check on Iris as Derik plunged his sword into the slime. Derik pulled out the sword while the slime reformed, noticing faint lines of smoke emanating from the edge of his blade.

"That's not gonna work."

Derik dodged another attack from the slime and ducked around to the side. He brought back his shield and bashed the slime with its edge. The slime deformed with the impact. Losing its shape, it collapsed in on itself. Montag waved the torch behind himself as Derik observed the once ferocious foe dissolved into a puddle of ordinary water.

Derik turned back to check on Iris. Lina was examining her arm as Montag tried to strain over her back to see. Derik maneuvered to get a better look. Iris's sleeve now possessed a fairly large hole. The fluid had eaten through her chain and the clothes underneath revealing a bright red patch of skin.

"I'm ok, I think," Iris stated. "Bloody hell that was close, so much for being a rearguard you think you could shout a warning next time idiot?"

Derik wiped his brow, "My bad." As if anyone would have taken that thing's attack head-on.

The group got back into formation and went back to walking through the dungeon. The hall seemed to widen once again as they traveled.

Lina wrinkled her nose, "What's that smell?"

Derik glanced out from behind to see a barely visible dark figure that approached Montag with an irregular gait.

Montag narrowed his eyes and signaled to the group, "Fall back!"

Derik instantly turned tail and began backtracking through their path through the dungeon. They ran for multiple minutes until they had returned to the entrance of the narrow passage. The group stopped and spread out in the room.

"What happened to no retreat?" Derik snidely remarked.

"We were merely advancing in the other direction. Now we stand and fight!" Montag responded.

An irregular stepping sound emanated from the far end of the hall. The hulking humanoid stepped closer until it came into the light and was illuminated. The source of the horrid smell was made quickly apparent as the shadows parted to reveal a mass of flesh undergoing rigor mortis. Small patches of fungal growths dotted its chest and appendages.

"What is that?" Lina asked. "Can anyone tell us anything about it?"

"I can tell you it's probably not friendly," Derik replied.

Montag hastily unfastened one of his bags and pulled out a fistful of caltrops, throwing to the ground in front of the abomination. It shambled forward without bending its knees or elbows as if its joints had been locked. Its feet pressed on the spiked pieces of metal sickly yellow pus oozed out yet its advance was not deterred.

"Hmmph, that didn't work," Montag said.

Iris took out a book that was strapped to her belt and began to frantically flip through it. Montag tried to use his halberd to keep the beast at bay, but no manner of pokes, prods, or slashes seemed to have any substantial effect. Montag was steadfast as the monster edged closer. Montag took at a jab at its eye with the end of his halberd, dislodging the eye with the spike. The monster twisted its body and swung one of its slack arms upward at Montag at surprising speed knocking him back. As Montag was thrown to the floor with a grunt, Derik took the opportunity to stab his sword into the leg of the monstrosity. He went to pull it out but couldn't dislodge it. An arrow struck the shambling mound in the chest. Lina had managed to line up a shot with her longbow and was preparing to loose another arrow. The monster returned its gaze to Derik and swatted at him. Derik brought up his shield to defend. His shield took the brunt of the blow although the force of the blow launched him into the wall. Derik yelled and clutched his arm.

"I've found it!" Iris shouted. "These monsters are listed in the sacred book. It says that they are weak to flames."

Montag nodded and produced a flask full of alcohol unscrewing the cap, and splashing it near the monster. Lina added some of the damp rags of their spare torches near the monster's feet.

Montag wound up and threw his torch down near the feet of the abomination shouting "Perish!" The group watched as the combination of materials lit ablaze. There was a shriek that emanated from the beast and the sharp cracking of bones as it fell to the ground engulfed in flames. As the fire slowly dissipated Lina walked closer to inspect the corpse. A normal corpse is all it was now that its skin was charred a sickly black.

"I think we got it," Lina painted. "I knew we could do it!"

"That was one tough bloke," Iris commented.

Montag ran over to Derik and grabbed his arm to help him up.

"ÆÆÆÆÆÆ! Loosen your grip a little!" Derik yelled.

Montag let go and let him drag himself back up.

Derik massaged his arm as the group sat down and took a moment to organize their thoughts.

"We were lucky we knew how to fight that thing. I didn't know your holy text also happened to be a monster hunter manual." Derik commented.

"The order of the hand is also a creed of monster hunts so I guess it makes some modicum of sense."

"Are we going to finish exploring the dungeon?" Derik inquired.

Montag added, "I think the dungeon is clear, I saw the ending of the hallway before we encountered this monster."

"Either way, let's take a rest before we decide what course of action to take," Lina said.

The group nodded in agreement as they took a break to sit down in the room.