The fight could not have lasted for more than a minute, but the surge of adrenaline and the aftermath of spent combat fervor had left my hands trembling. We stood there, our chests heaving, as we sought to catch our breaths, hands resting on our knees in an effort to recover.

"Well, that was certainly something," the Rogue quipped, trying to mask his earlier fear.

But the bearded dwarf's expression was grim and dour as he spoke, "Those two were just a scout pair. There will be more of them ahead... a lot more."

The wildman, unfazed by the danger ahead, simply shrugged and spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. "They'll make for fine trophies."

He proceeded to tear off the scythe blades from the Drone's lifeless body with ease, showcasing his raw strength, before carefully placing them in his wicker basket. However, when he made a move to remove the insect heads, he quickly changed his mind, shaking his head.

Peering into the gloom, now that the immediate threat had been neutralized, we saw that the tunnel connected to a large, wide, circular room. Within it was a vast concave floor that resembled a pit that dipped shallowly towards its center. Without so much as a whisper, we cautiously entered the space, our senses alert for any sign of peril lurking within.

Casting our weak blue lights at the edges, we walked along the circumference, only to find the room filled with old bones, loose rocks, and a miscellany of detritus. The whole area must have been a great garbage pit for the refuse of the underground monsters.

Seeing that no further tunnels branched from the room, the dwarf decided to explore further. Skidding down, followed by loose pebbles, Durhit made his way to the center of the room. As we followed in his wake, the crunch of animal bones beneath our feet sent shivers down our spines. Large and small, the bones were of species unknown to us, intermingled with the occasional cracked human skull, a grim reminder of the fate that may yet befall us all.

"So, this is where the lost miners ended up," Durhit mused, his attention diverted as he lifted a humanoid skull for closer inspection. "Some of us even thought they had found a way out. No matter, let us search and see if we can find anything useful."

We swiftly followed his lead, scouring the trash heap for any useful items. What surprised us were the occasional remnants of once-colorful garments that were strewn among the bones, a stark contrast to our own drab slave linens.

As I examined a particularly large femur, my attention was drawn to the remnants of a crude doll lying nearby. The small toy had small horn buttons for its mouth and eyes and was no doubt once a beloved toy of some innocent child.

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Elwin sifted through the refuse and uncovered a plain, rusty iron dagger, which he quickly concealed up his sleeve. Kidu, meanwhile, discovered a rotten bow that nearly crumbled to dust in his grip.

After searching for a while longer, Durhit found something and tossed it my way, exclaiming, "Should be about your size, manling!"

Caught off guard, I fumbled with the object, my hands clumsily passing it back and forth in a rather comical fashion. Eventually, I regained my composure and examined what he had given me. It was a conical, open-faced bronze helmet, tarnished and dull and the helm bore no special markings or patterns. The old piece of armor seemed nothing more than an old, albeit serviceable, helm. Durhit gestured for me to try it on, and I obliged him.

Undoubtedly, I must have looked a little foolish, clad in nothing but slave linens and a simple bronze helmet, but my limited knowledge of warfare had taught me that protecting the head was of the utmost importance. To my recollection, the helmet was the first piece of armor that any soldier worth their salt would invest in. The leather straps had long since rotted away, making the helm feel loose on my head, but it was certainly better than nothing.

Continuing our search through the rubble, I stumbled upon an iron spear lying next to an almost fully intact skeleton. The spear had seen better days, its diamond-shaped spearhead pitted with rust and corrosion. Kidu cast envious glances at the weapon, clearly longing to wield it.

I had hoped for a more formidable weapon than my reliable pickaxe, which, despite its power, was difficult to handle in combat. Nevertheless, I yielded to Kidu's evident fascination with the spear and handed it to him. After all, he probably had more expertise in wielding it than I did, and with his massive frame, his reach would be lethal.

In a gesture of appreciation, Kidu handed me a pair of surprisingly well-preserved leather gloves. I donned them, feeling a slight loss of Dexterity, but knowing it would have little impact on my combat style. After all, the pickaxe was not the most subtle of weapons.

The Rogue had discovered a pouch filled with small copper coins. Despite the fact that there was nowhere to spend the money, we agreed to split it among ourselves. Much to Elwin’s chagrin, we each ended up with ten copper pieces. Durhit skillfully fashioned basic money bags out of scraps of torn, formerly colorful fabric that lay strewn about. Over Elwin's weakening protestations, the dwarf handed a pouch filled with the coins to each of us.

Realizing that any further time spent searching through the rubbish den would be a waste, we clambered out and cautiously made our way back to the main shaft. We continued down the tunnel as stealthily as possible. Holding his new iron spear with both hands as a precaution against potential dangers, Kidu placed himself at our van.

Slipping further down into the tunnels, we stumbled upon the broken bodies of drones. Among the corpses, we noticed a larger, more menacing version of the Echo-Stalkers. These mutilated bodies had thicker, more heavily armored chitin carapaces with larger extra vicious scythe blades for their weapon arms. Some of the corpses were almost torn in two, while others had their skulls completely crushed by what must have been extreme blunt-force trauma.

In the gloom, Elwin uttered, “What sort of creature could have done this?” as he visibly gulped.