Probe 100 watches its' twin glide to the west as it makes the descent to the desert below, just a few miles south of the abnormal weather area. Storm clouds twist and writhe on the horizon above a forest of blackened trees, skeletal and leafless. Watching from the orbital platform the AI core knows that the unnatural storm does not disperse or move on from this position, circling on a point like a massive carousel. The probe approaches slowly, gliding 25 feet in the air so its' vantablack finish makes it an occasional shadow in front of the stars, but it never drops low enough to risk a silhouette on the white dunes.

As 100 reaches the edge of the dead forest it freezes, sensors registering movement in the distance. Half a mile away a pale figure lurches through the knee-deep ash as it crests a hill. The figure stops and swivels in place, swiping through the air with a length of rusted metal, it opens its' mouth and howls mournfully. The AI commands the probe closer and it moves in careful pursuit of the subject, revealing more details of the strange creature.

The pale man is emaciated, hollowed out like the skin has been vacuum sealed to its' bones. It has stunted nubs of twisted cartilage for ears and a black pit for a nose, draped with torn skin. The creature's jaws are raw bloodless flesh crammed with needle teeth, drooling obscenely around its' swollen black tongue which hangs nearly two feet down its' chest. For clothing there is only a single rag of dirty brown fabric. The probe approaches carefully, camouflaged in the branches of the blackened forest when it is forced to freeze once again.

A man gallops over the hill, wearing dark leather armor and blackened chain mail. The leather plates glow with blood-red runes [LED's? Too advanced, no evidence of electrical engineering, luminescent paint perhaps? Pursue subject and capture if possible]. The warrior hefts a polearm, a halberd made from a single chunk of obsidian mounted on pale wood, surrounded by a baleful cloud of glowing red smoke. [How in the universe does that work? Holographic projection? Nanite cloud? Remand capture order, wait for the native to sleep then kill him, retrieve effects for study.]

The armored warrior swings his weapon and the pale man pivots on a dime, meeting the blade with his own rusted sword. The two weapons clash and a shockwave of force explodes through the clearing, sending a cloud of ash bursting across the plain and pushing 100 into a rapid corkscrew ending when it smacks into another tree further away. The probe struggles to right itself and flies out of the obscuring ash cloud to see the perfect circle of bare earth with the two combatants. The pale man is hissing and pacing away from the warrior, his sword and his right arm are both missing, the flesh of his shoulder is shredded into strips. The warrior is unharmed, even his horse standing unruffled.

The pale man lunges, mouth agape, and catches the halberd in his brain pan with a hollow thunk. The warrior shakes the corpse off his weapon and steps down from his stirrups to the ground. A flash of sparkling lights crackles in the air above the corpse and a shower of small objects patter to the ground around the body. The warrior gathers up the small coins and places them in his belt pouch then kicks a black dagger with a dismissive snort. He remounts his horse and rides towards the horizon where the pale man first appeared.

[What. the. Fuck.]

[100, get samples on the dead native, remand earlier kill order on the warrior. You stay away from that thing. Long distance observation only]

The probe waits for the man to crest the hill before moving in to check the corpse only to find the body already dissolving into ash. The black dagger is still easily located, finely made and razor-sharp. The flat of the blade is inscribed with dark red runes similar to those on the man's armor, though only one of the symbols is the same. The dagger has no electrical activity but a slight radioactivity. The paint appears to be blood, which doesn't explain the glow, and the light is all wrong for Radium. The other items are discs of bone with a burned insignia on either side, 100 scoops them all into a storage compartment for later and moves on.

Over the ridge the horse's trail makes an arrow leading further north, next to the older trail following the deep footsteps of the dead creature. The probe keeps out of sight, waiting for the horseman to cross each hill before pursuing. Three more of the pale men appear in the distance and beat a hasty retreat to avoid the warrior, none of them notice the probe hovering overhead. Two miles from the scene of the battle the warrior comes to a campsite made up of covered wagons with iron sheeting on the sides like primitive tanks. Heavily armed and armored wuxians stand on raised platforms built on to the wagons holding bows of pale wood. In the center of the campsite is a stone mausoleum carved with hundreds of screaming faces. The probe settles in to observe the camp.

[Probe 100 Observation log]

Observation reveals a count of 89 wuxians present in encampment. 16 Male warriors, 8 Female warriors, 2 Male wizards, 1 Female wizard. 7 Males of indeterminate occupation, possibly merchants which own the non-armored wagons inside the defensive ring. Merchant wagons contain 55 wuxians of indeterminate gender, most likely slaves judging by their rags and chain collars. Data gathering on slave population is difficult with them crammed into three wagons.

At sunrise a group of five slaves are removed from the cart and brought into the mausoleum by a guard of five warriors. The slaves are diverse but consistently show signs of disability. First group consists of three amputees (right arm, left leg, right leg), a blind man, and an unresponsive woman who must be led by another slave (possible mental disability).

Six hours later the guard squad re-emerges carrying five small black coffers which are placed in one of the carts. At sunset the camp is attacked by a group of pale men which are dispatched easily by the archer sentries. Arrows display explosive and incindiery properties.

[Probe 100 Observation log]

Current count of 64 wuxians in encampment. 16 Male warriors, 8 Female warriors, 2 Male wizards, 1 Female wizard, 7 merchants and 30 slaves of indeterminate gender. Reduction of slave population allows for more detailed observation of wuxians. Several subjects display tails or abnormal ear shapes. One subject appears to be a bipedal saurian, though he is still counted among the slave population. Further study of wuxian genetic diversity is necessary to determine if they are the same species.

Slave groups continue to be removed at a rate of five per day and sent into the mausoleum. Insufficient storage space in the small structure means there is likely an underground chamber. The question remains who the slaves are being sold to in exchange for the coffers and why they are being traded in small groups rather than all at once. Presence of an underground society is a possibility.

[Probe 100 Observation log]

Current count of 34 wuxians in encampment. 16 Male warriors, 8 Female warriors, 2 Male wizards, 1 Female wizard, and 7 merchants. Slave population has been completely eliminated. Several coffers have been loaded into the merchant wagons which have set out for the southern border with an escort of three mounted warriors. At the border the warriors return to the camp while the merchants begin crossing the desert headed southeast from a stone marker at the edge of the blackened forest.

The probe waits in the forest until nightfall before following the merchant caravan, there is no cover in the desert for the probe to hide behind and it would easily be spotted even miles away. With thermal cameras 100 locates the camels and buries itself in a nearby dune to wait for morning. After two days of stalking the train arrives at a windblown ruin of stone buildings in the middle of the desert. The merchants pull into the square around a well and unhitch the camels for the night.

That night, while the merchants sleep a glimmer of white light appears in one of the buildings and circles the town like an overgrown firefly. It disappears into one of the ruins and the probe lands soundlessly on the exposed roof timbers to investigate.

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"Pit! Pit! It's time!" Holly whispers. She flies in through the newly expanded entrance of the dungeon, which now consists of three rooms and a single hallway between the first two with a doorway into the boss chamber in the second room. The walls glow dimly with yellow light lending the rooms a washed out look.

Time for what? Pit says as he tweaks the tripwire in the second hallways for the fiftieth time as Holly streaks by.

"There are humans up above. I thought we would have to do something to attract them but it looks like a merchant caravan sometimes stops here to fill up their water stores at the well." Holly looks around the room, checking the growth of the plants. "All the structural work is in place, so get your monsters ready. Tomorrow morning we'll draw their attention and get our first human visitors. If we're lucky they might even try to explore the place, but we have to make sure at least one survives to carry the news back to the city! It's no use gobbling up all the humans if it means no one finds out we're out here."

Oh wow, this is so much pressure, Pit moans. Are you sure the dungeon looks alright? I want to make a good impression.

"You'll be fine, Pit." Holly pats his core fondly. "I'm sure the humans will be impressed, your aestethic sense is really a step above the usual newborn dungeon. It all starts tomorrow, be sure to do your best!"