Garrett strained his head to look over at the source of the voice. He didn't recognize it as any of his previous companions, nor did it sound similar to any of the monsters or creatures he had encountered so far.

"Aw man, you two really did a number on these goblins. I can't even use any of them."

The figure looking over all the pile of goblins that Min-Tul had created was wearing a large cloak that barely seemed to fit them. The hood was down, so Garrett could see the hair was very strange. It seemed to have various patches of different hair of different sizes, almost as if someone had glued wigs together. They were holding a staff in their left hand; the hand being green and scaly, very reptilian. However, the legs were soft and furry, much like Min-Tul's. As the figure turned around, Garrett could see that their face had massive stitching that went across their face. The left side of their face was pale with a red eye while the right side was blue-skinned and had a green eye. There was stitching that separated the right side of the jaw from the eye. The jaw on the right side was gray and had fangs sticking out of it, similar to Vanessa.

"Hey, you just gonna sit there?" the figure asked, walking over to Garrett. They gently poked him with a stick. It was bizarre, but the figure's voice seemed to be a combination of different voices, almost as if this figure was a mishmash of various people. Feeling a strange tension in his gut from the air given off by this figure, Garrett backed up and drew his sword. "Hey, come on now. Don't slice me apart. It took me so long to find some good parts."

Garrett turned to look at Min-Tul, hoping for some answers. Min-Tul, however, only shook his head. "Okay, who are you?" Garrett asked, slowly rising to his feet.

"Oh, so you speak Illiman. I guess that makes sense. You are an Illima after all," the figure said sidetracked before responding to Garrett's question. "I am Xul'Gomoth, but if that's too much to remember, you can call me Xul."

Garrett relaxed a little, but still kept his guard up. "What are you?"

"What am I not?" Xul laughed before sighing loudly. "Listen, that's a complicated story and we don't have time for that right now."

"And why not? Let me guess, you're also here for the treasure of Amer-Turul?"

"What? No," Xul responded, putting their hand on their hip. "I'm just down here looking for fresh corpses. Adventurers like you tend to leave a lot of good supplies that I can use, and occasionally I find living adventurers who need my assistance."

"Assistance?" Garrett asked.

Xul closed their eyes and chanted, their body illuminating with a white glow. With a flick of their staff, Garrett and Min-Tul were both coated in white light before feeling their wounds from the goblin fight and the trapped chest begin to heal. Then, the light faded from all three.

"What was that?" Garrett asked, feeling his vigor restored and his body no longer in pain.

"Just some simple healing magic," Xul said with a smirk. "A good set of adventures should always have some way of healing themselves." Garrett chuckled before realizing that in all the previous timelines, he really didn't have any way of healing himself or his allies. Granted, so far whenever they've taken a lot of damage when they would heal up, they usually were dead anyways. Though he died first in the second timeline with Zerat, so there's no telling how well off they were. Xul gave a soft cough and kicked the ground before idling whistling.

"Oh, uh, Xul, would you like to-?"

"Yes!" Xul'Gomoth said with excited vigor. They walked over and helped up Min-Tul. "Looks like we're adventuring buddies."

"Hey, the more the merrier, and the better our chances of survival down here," Min-Tul said, his height towering over Xul. "Guess we should all introduce ourselves then." It took Garrett a moment to realize that he and Min-Tul never introduced themselves to each other in this timeline. "I'm Min-Tul."

"My name is Garrett Bates," Garrett said.

"So, you're looking for the treasure of Amer-Turul as well, huh?" Min-Tul asked, turning his attention to Garrett.

"Oh, yeah," Garrett replied, recalling that Min-Tul previously had been the one to invite himself to join with Garrett.

"Same here," Min-Tul said, extending a paw. Garrett shook it back firmly. "Looks like we got a common goal. All I ask is that you let me use it for something important." Garrett nodded at Min-Tul. After all, Garrett himself didn't have any reason to search for the treasure, but it seemed like almost all of his previous companions had something related to the treasure.

"Well, if we're going after the treasure of Amer-Turul," Xul said, approaching the duo, "Then we're going to need a bit more strength behind us."

"What makes you say that?" Garrett asked. His body winced slightly at recalling the recent beatdown he received from Krotos.

"Uh, because it's guarded by the Elemental Lord of Earth," Xul said in a sarcastic tone. "We need more people if we're going to get it."

"Personally, I was hoping to avoid the Earth Elemental Lord entirely," Min-Tul said.

Xul shot Min-Tul a look of disappointment and disbelief. "What? Did you think you could sneak up on the Elemental Lord of Earth in a cave? There's no way it wouldn't find you!"

"Then there's only one option," Garrett said, thinking along the trend of the previous three timelines. "We'll have to hope we come across another adventure who'd join us down here in the Darge." Xul and Min-Tul looked at each other before nodding. "Alright, well, we can't just hope that they'll come stumbling around here. We should get moving."

"Should we head back to town and see if there is anyone who will join us?" Xul asked, gesturing to the entrance that they had come out of.

"No way," Min-Tul said, crossing his arms. "Anyone who would help us back at town would require a hefty fee to go against the Earth Elemental Lord. Plus, by the time we return, it would be nightfall. We'd have to wait until the morning to come back here. By that time, someone could have claimed it already, or the monsters could have begun to up their defenses here."

"Well, we can't just hope that we come across someone down here," Xul'Gomoth said. "I was lucky enough to come across you two. Anyone we would find here either is prepared and strong enough on their own to face the Elemental Lord of Earth that they wouldn't bother with us, or that it's a party of adventures who probably don't want to share any of the spoils."

The two of them continued to bicker back and forth until Garrett interrupted them. "I think it's best that we continue into the Darge. I have a good feeling that we'll meet someone who can help us." He also picked up the stone that he had flipped earlier while the two were arguing.

"Do you already have a friend down here?" Min-Tul asked, heading towards the path Garrett had come from.

"No, but it's just a good feeling that I have," Garrett said, recalling the other three timelines and how he just happened to keep coming across companions.

"Alright, let's go," Xul said, following behind Min-Tul with Garrett behind them.