“Looks like there was a fight,” Gregan said. He was studying the ground.

“We can see that. What we need to know is between who,” snapped Impetitus.

The adventurers were in a square intersection. The walls continued to be polished black with glowing blue lines. The chamber they were in branched off into four directions. It was a wide space, and the corridors twisted and turned off from it. The floor was littered with dozens of demonic skeletal remains and black ash. The half-orc moved around the room, searching, sniffing, and examining.

“Was it the goblins?” Verene ventured, her hands clenched to her chest.

“No,” Gregan said, his eyes still focused on the floor.

“Are you certain?” Asked Impetitus.

The half-orc stopped what he was doing and rose to his full height. The mercenary closed his eyes and took a deep breath with a hand on the bridge of his wide, grey-skinned nose. He opened his eyes and looked at the templar.

“Look, I get it. You are in a bit of a rush. I do. Let me do my job, eh? Ever since I became an adventurer, the first tracks I learned to find were from goblins,” explained Gregan.

“The blasted creatures were all I fought when I first started,” added Markham.

“But these are not your ordinary goblins. What we are hunting are much different,” Impetitus stated.

“But they will leave the same tracks. I don’t see their tracks here. I see two groups of things. One are the winged demons we faced earlier. These other sets are something else,” Gregan said, hand on his chin as he looked at the floor. The half-orc whistled through his one tusk.

Vix laughed. A full laugh that made her dark braided hair tumble over her shoulders as her chin raised up. She gently slapped Viridal’s shoulder. The gladiator was leaning up against the wall, and across from her, pretty close, was the blue and silver-robed wizard. He was talking, and his hands were twirling. His dark pupilless eyes and grin were wide. Vix chuckled gently, and she nudged the wizard from something he had just said. Verene scowled at the two.

“Vix, Viridal, I need you two to focus. We are exposed in this intersection. Keep your eyes and ears sharp,” Impetitus ordered.

Vix rolled her eyes, smiled once at the wizard, and pushed herself off the wall. Viridal winked and grinned under his white beard. The two quieted their talking. An ambush now would be bad. The templar thought to himself. He took a deep breath to give more specific instructions to the two, like to separate and focus on the corridors, when he was interrupted by the half-orc.

“Okay!” Exclaimed Gregan, and the half-orc clapped his calloused hands together. He motioned for the templar to come closer to him.

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“The winged beasts did the ambush. They attacked something big. I’d say about the size of a horse, with four, no six legs,” the half-orc explained, his eyes still focused on the ground. One hand was on his chin, and the other was pointing to the tracks that were practically invisible to the unskilled templar.

“They attacked from above,” the half-orc continued, his eyes looking up to the high ceiling.

“Swooped down and fought here and here. I’d say about a dozen of them blasted things,” Gregan concluded, nodding his head with certainty.

“What were they fighting?” Growled Impetitus.

Gregan took a deep intake of air through his clenched teeth. His eyes shifted back and forth over the ground. The mercenary walked in a small circle around the inner part of the chamber. His feet were careful to not step on the bones or piles of ash.

“Oh,” he said, his narrow eyes going wide at a discovery that only he could spot. His hand came off his chin as he squatted to study some more tracks. After a moment, the half-orc rose, clapping his hands.

“Okay, got it. It was the dozen winged creatures against four of the giant beasties. Judging from the way the things were killed. I’d say the large creatures have giant pincers. They got six clawed legs with no toes. Weird feet, like a, hmm, like an insect!” The half-orc exclaimed.

“Giant insects?” Asked Verene.

“Exactly! That will explain this,” the mercenary nudged gently with his boot, a black plate thing on the ground.

“They have armored layered hides. This piece fell off. If I were to guess, I would say that they are giant scorpions, and one of them was really big,” he concluded.

“Scorpions are not insects, and they have eight legs,” Viridal pointed out smugly.

Gregan glared at the wizard and snorted. His report was finished. He stood up to stretch his back. The tracker gathered up his shield and spears. He nodded down a corridor and said, “They went that way.”

“You are certain there were no goblin tracks here?” Impetitus asked again. The half-orc nodded and scowled.

“Why do you think they were fighting?” Vix asked.

“A power struggle, perhaps?” Viridal said.

“That makes sense since the Dreaded One is gone. The Demons are fighting amongst themselves for a new leader,” stated Verene.

“Do we follow the giant bug things?” Markham asked. The others looked to the templar.

“No, let’s go back to the Dreaded One’s chamber. I suspect that the Goblins have not arrived at the Dungeon yet. I am still certain that they will head to the chamber.”

“What will they do if they discover that the Dreaded One is dead? They may bring the Chalice to another powerful demon,” Verene observed. At this, the templar tapped his chin and pondered.

“We can always kill the powerful demons and leave only one choice for where the goblins to go,” Vix said.

Verene scoffed at that suggestion. Viridal clasped his hands before him and bowed his head to think.

“I do have the Binding Ritual,” the wizard said, looking up.

Gregan, Markham, Verene, and Impetitus all glanced at each other. Vix scratched her head. She had little understanding of what was going on.

“If this big insect demon is a lord...” Impetitus pondered.

Verene had a change of heart, and she said, “We follow the tracks.”

“Aye, let’s kill us some more demons,” Markham said with a wide bearded grin.