The second bone golem arrived while Tobias slept. Besides the Qilin, they arranged the various undead outside with eyes glazed, bodies moving only in minor adjustments to keep them upright. Tobias woke up grumpy, but didn’t indulge in any drugs this time. We gathered half the undead, walking alongside the Qilin driven wagon towards the south for 2 hours. Mathias slept on the ride over, before waking and eating hard bread from the rations.

I kept my head forward, but noticed that he continued to stare at me out of the corner of his eye. Mathias specifically avoided looking at Tobias, as if weary he would catch his anger. I looked back at Mathias, my display turning on automatically to show a golden retriever running in a backyard. Mathias jerked back, and I faced forward.

We followed a road that cut through the forest south, covering ourselves in dust and dirt. The road sunk into the forest, a trench that lead to an abrupt and total end of the forest. A wide open plain surrounded an eclectic structure of exposed, raised stone. It looked like a construction bot had malfunctioned, building an alien palace of white granite. Walls spun out in elliptical curves, like gigantic bowls filled with trees and towering pillars of crumbling stone. Some pillars of stone supported more gigantic bowls, rising higher and higher in stacked layers, until they were five high. From this distance, they spread so far they dominated the horizon.

Vines hung from above, covering some bowls in shadow, but curiously, not stretching over the side of the white walls. Above the layered bowls sat a shining pearl. An obloid sphere of polished limestone sent the sun’s light scattering over the ground. Tobias held a hand over his forehead, trying to stare ahead.

The curved walls sloped upwards and outwards before curving back in, meaning that at all sides there was a steep overhang, save for a sheer entrance in the rock face connecting to the road. Blocks of stone feet high designated the entrance to the dungeon, providing a way up the cliff without climbing the outer face of the wall. The stones didn’t form complete staircases, instead each block requiring you to move left or right to find another easy block to climb, otherwise presenting towering sheer faces. It looked like blocks had spilled out of the entrance rather than anything intentional.

The dungeon that constructed this likely didn’t believe that such an entrance was abnormal. I began profiling it based on the design. The access to the sun likely meant that its monsters ate some form of vegetation and could climb sheer surfaces.

“Are we going in?” Mathias asked, looking up nervously towards the dungeon.

“No.” Tobias sneered. “We’ll send the undead. How intelligent do you think it is, Mathias?”

I turned towards Tobias even as he turned towards me, evaluating.

“Intelligent enough.” Mathias replied, also staring at me.

“Take all the undead. Clear the first floor of the dungeon. Bring back the corpses.” Tobias said. “Can you do that?”

//AFFIRMATIVE. SUGGESTION: RETAIN THE QILIN FOR SELF DEFENSE.

“It will be faster if we just send all the undead.” Tobias replied.

“It’s right, Tobias. If any more of its litter are around, we’ll be dead.”

Tobias acknowledged Mathias with a grunt before addressing the 5 templar undead and the bone golem. “Follow and obey…” Tobias turned towards me, squinting.

//OFFICER 01, DESIGNATION OFF01

“Follow and obey Offo. Go.” Tobias said. With no more preamble or conversation, I walked towards the dungeon, ascending the staggered stone steps.

The other undead followed close behind, the Templar corpses ascending the stairs easily, while the Golem had to heave itself forward, its body wobbling as it ascended. Climbing the staircase to its apex, I sat on the edge of an alien world. Earth fell away to reveal the inside of the bowl. Sunlight poured into the bowl; shadows of the other dungeon rooms didn’t touch this outer level. The stone was too thick for radar to penetrate, bouncing inside of this room instead, and the path to the next was another sloping staircase.

In the center of the room, a creature stared at me. It looked like a humanoid goat had been stuck on the body of a horse. Swirls of white interspersed gray fur. Four wicked horns curved around its head, looping before ending in forward points, and its pupils were unblinking slits that followed the bone golem behind me. Its upper body featured long, multi-segmented arms, ending in huge human hands, wrinkled black leather grabbing onto a bush and tearing pieces off, shoving them down its throat as fast as it could chew.

Without warning, it bleated, charging. It moved in regular hops, accelerating with its back legs even as its front legs only just touched down. It flew forwards, rushing towards the bone golem.

I released my prybar, stabbing forward into its path. My arm jerked, metal stressing as I arrested the monster’s entire forward moment. I nearly stumbled, adjusting my balance. The creature gripped the prybar with both hands.

//KILL IT

I instructed all six of the undead. The bone golem reacted first, despite being slightly farther away. Spikes of bone slammed downward into the creature’s torso, and it stilled. I braced a foot on it, pulling my prybar free.

///XP: 50/350

The volume of XP was below my estimates. The creature seemed much more dangerous and powerful than a goblin. Was XP rewarded based on a creature’s value? Energy potential? Level? None of the books I consumed mentioned any material on dungeoneering or hunting monsters.

The simplest way to find out was through direct testing. I did not land the killing blow on these creatures. Perhaps the XP reduced based on that.

There would be plenty more monsters to test on. I detected nothing else inside of this bowl, and moved on, heading up the only staircase leading deeper in. I climbed to the top of the stairway into the next dungeon room.