There wasn't anything particularly threatening about the layout of GoldSpark Laboratory; wide high corridors led to more wide high corridors which in turn led to more wide high corridors, and off all of these corridors were wide high rooms filled with ruin. Perhaps a rusted and bent and shredded metal frame, perhaps the mouldering fragments of a desk or table or bench, perhaps the shattered remnants of flasks and other glassware, now little more than glittering dust. Maybe a little sad, possibly slightly lonely, but not really frightening. Nor was the light particularly fearsome, though it shifted and changed and brightened and dimmed and changed colour as if driven by some hidden whim; blue to green to orange to red. Disquieting at the worst. In fact if it wasn't for the monsters you could almost call GoldSpark Laboratory beautiful, in a ruined sort of way.

If it wasn't for the monsters.

They weren't common. One could venture through the corridors for long, silent minutes before so much as hearing one; perhaps the slithering rattle of a giant skull-headed snake, perhaps the clicking and snicking of a creature made entirely of blades, perhaps the whispering half-language of a smoky collection of floating eyes.

Or maybe you wouldn't hear them.

Maybe that would be the worst of all.

"I'd like to call an emergency vote, within the party," Praetorian said, his voice tight and high and fast. "Everyone who wants to use a FeatherToken this very instant raise your hand."

Even before he'd finished speaking Praetorian had both his hands raised. Sly had his up too, and Amanda hesitated before putting her bandaged hand up as well.

"No."

"Hey," Amanda said. "Just acknowledging Darkcede's existence is uncomfortable. That I'm actually agreeing with him should tell you something."

Nala looked around at her party, then she repeated herself:

"No."

"I'm sorry," Praetorian said, "but did you see what happened to that fighter? Maybe this is strange of me to say but I'd rather not be eaten by something made of a thousand needles. I suppose I'm funny like that, avoiding hideous nightmare torture just happens to be a passion of mine."

"You would not suffer significant injury," Nala said. "Your safehold shard—"

"—would activate after I was inside the creature. Perhaps some time after, I don't know, do you? The thought of spending even a short period inside anything isn't exactly gleeful. What was it you once said, 'no significant digestion', well I'm sorry but any amount of digestion would seem fairly significant to me!"

"Be quiet."

"I am entitled to share my opinions, especially as I'm sure—"

Praetorian went silent, though his mouth remained open as he stared down the corridor. The shifting light was currently a dull red, glinting off the shining blades of a sleek, skulking monster. Its head—for lack of a better term—was raised, jerking this way and that with mechanical precision. It had no eyes, no ears, no facial features at all, and yet it was clearly searching, seeking, finding—

With a smooth screech of metal-against-metal the monster leapt, disappearing down a corridor. The clattering of its passage faded swiftly, and many of Nala's party began breathing again.

"Case, I believe," Praetorian murmured, a hint of anger in his voice, "very much in point."

"Do we really need to become a team?" Amanda asked. "Isn't there some other way forward, aside from the tournament?"

Nala was looking down now, the hood of her cloak hiding her face.

"Follow me," she said, unmoving. "Do what I tell you. And we will succeed."

This was met with sceptical glances between the others—aside from Mist. She'd been silent and wide-eyed throughout their descent into the laboratory's depths, but now she spoke:

"I think," she squeaked, before wincing and swallowing and trying again: "I think we should do our best—even if we don't capture a behemoth I don't want to just give up without even trying."

"Your words might carry more weight if you didn't look and sound utterly petrified," Praetorian said.

"Just because I'm scared doesn't mean ... doesn't mean ... I don't know, just don't be so negative! We're here and Nala has a plan and she's never let us down so just ... just shut up and do what she says!"

Mist clamped both hands over her mouth and looked away from Praetorian. Nala's head was still lowered, her face hidden completely. Amanda was glaring at a rusted metal wall, her arms crossed, Sly was turning his bow over and over in his hands, his eyes shadowed by the flop of his hair. Praetorian stood with one hand in a pocket, the other slowly stroking his pointy goatee.

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"Nala," he said, eventually. Nala raised her head a little, enough that the thin line of her mouth became visible below her hood. "Your plan involves us travelling deeper into this pleasant little hellhole. That's correct?"

"Yes."

"To the 'lower caverns'. Threat level ten, if memory serves. Home to such delights as behemoths and vector worms and possibly a dragon or two. Correct?"

"Yes."

"Once there, we'll engage a behemoth in combat and through some unstated but no doubt terribly cunning means, subdue it. Also correct?"

"Yes."

"Perhaps if you would share your plan with us—"

"When you need to know what to do, I will tell you."

"That's not what I meant and you know it. What is your plan, Nala? How in all the world are we going to defeat a behemoth?"

Nala raised her head properly, her expression as flat as her voice:

"Teamwork."

With that she turned and walked away, down the corridor. Mist glanced at the others then scurried after Nala; Amanda let out a rattly sigh and lurched after Mist.

"Gotta go with the flow, dude," Sly muttered, before slinking away.

Praetorian clucked his tongue, then raised his voice:

"I could just use the token, you know! See how far you get with a necromancerless zombie slowing you down!"

The response to this came from behind; a high wheezing groan drifting through the corridors. Without hesitation Praetorian hurried after the others, his continued (though much quieter) protests soon fading into the gloom.

Not long after, something else made its way through the corridor. Its movement was swift and its path clear; it followed Nala's party with unfaltering purpose.

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After the gloomy maze of the laboratory interior the lower caverns came as something of a relief. Warm light and clean salty air flooded the cliffside passages, the scent of the ocean mingling with that of the rampant plant life. Light penetrated even into the deeper caverns, shining through translucent vines, sparkling off shallow rock pools, gleaming against angular crystal clusters. All in all a beautiful and inviting place, but for the tentacled monstrosities inhabiting it. They were coloured in shades of virulent green and toxic purple, their squat proportions belying their size. Most were stationary, tentacles twitching as they lounged in shallow pools. Some roamed, slowly and without any apparent goal, huffs of unpleasant gas and strands of yellow-green ooze effusing from their large, sharp-teethed mouths.

"Oh dear gods above, what fresh nightmare is this?" Praetorian murmured. He and the rest of the party were in a passage above the cavern, looking down upon it. "What in the world are those?"

"Xylomids," Nala said. "Good."

"Good? Good?"

"Wait here."

With that Nala faded from view, leaving her party to glance at one another and feel a bit tense.

"Um," Mist said, after a few seconds of this. "Actually ... actually it might be nice if she shared a little bit more of her plans with us."

"What do you suppose she'd do if we all simply FeatherTokened out?" Praetorian mused. "Disown us?"

"No, she'd backstab you," Amanda said. "And you'd never see it coming."

"Mm. Mm, you know, that does actually seem a distinct possibility." Praetorian looked up and down the long sloping passage, frowned at a bright purple plant with long curling fronds, then clasped his hands together. "Does, er, does anyone care to hazard a guess as to what our Nala might be planning?"

"I, uh, I got kind of an idea." Sly grinned nervously as the others looked at him. "Yeah, just ... xylomids got this kind of gas attack, y'know? Puts a bunch of nasty status effects on you. Berserk, sleep, confuse, paralyse, bunch of different stuff. So I figure maybe she's gonna do something with that."

"Monsters don't attack each other, do they?" Praetorian asked. "Even if they did, there aren't any behemoths around—I suppose that's where she must have gone, to lure one to this cavern. Still, even then, how will she stir up animosities?"

"Oh!" Mist shrank into her armour as the others looked at her, then took a small breath and forged ahead: "It must be that gem she chose, the GoadStone? It must be something to do with that, she said it makes monsters attack, so maybe ... um, maybe..."

"Would it work on other monsters?" Praetorian said, his eyes upon the xylomids crowding the cavern below. "Perhaps if she tempted one of those tentacled malformations into consuming it—or it might be a component in one of her thief's traps—"

"No." Amanda was staring at the metal bangle around her wrist, the one Nala had given to her. "This thing's got a slot. She's going to use me as bait. Again."

"Aha. Yes. It all becomes clear. Nala tempts a behemoth into this central cavern. Amanda equips the GoadStone and becomes the target of the xylomid's attacks—which will presumably also affect the behemoth. Amanda, of course, is a glumgirl and therefore immune to status effects." Praetorian laughed to himself. "Rather cunning, really—if that is Nala's plan."

"It must be." Mist looked around at the others. "Right? That must be it. That's clever! Because the behemoth will just be there, and Sly can attack it with his bow, and maybe even I can use my spear—"

"Uh," Amanda said. "So in this clever amazing plan, I'd just be standing there getting mauled by a behemoth?"

This was met with silence.

"Oh," Mist said, eventually. "Maybe that isn't Nala's plan after all."

"Guess we're gonna find out." Sly nodded down at the cavern. "Looks like we got a behemoth over here."

Even in the vastness of the cavern the behemoth still looked huge. It stalked in from a side passage, its muscular shoulders brushing the edges, its red mane flicking from side to side as it looked around—searching for something, hunting something. The nearby xylomids ignored the behemoth just as it ignored them, even as it walked further into the cavern.

"Amanda. Take this."

Amanda would have jumped at Nala's sudden appearance if her reactions were sharper. She stared down at the lumpy green stone Nala was holding up.

"So that is the plan," she said dully. "Go get mauled by a behemoth. Great."

"It's necessary."

"But not exactly fun!"

Nala cocked her head to the side. "This isn't about 'fun'."

"So, uh, that's really it?" Sly said. "You're gonna put Amanda down there?"

"Yes." Nala looked at Sly. "You will use Pinpoint on the behemoth, and attack with your bow. Mist will stand behind the behemoth and attack with her spear. Eventually, it will fall."

"Before or after it tears me to pieces?" Amanda asked.

"It will be affected by Confuse, Blind, Poison and Slow. It's possible you'll survive."

"Oh good. 'Possible'. That's exactly what I wanted to hear."

"Amanda, perhaps—"

"Oh, save it," Amanda grumbled, waving a clumsy hand at Praetorian. "Probably I just hate being the centre of attention or something."

Nala frowned. "This is the only way—"

"Just give me the stupid gem."