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Two of the squirrels began circling the edge of the room. Molly spotted the movement in the plants growing out of the top of the dirt filled fake branches. “We got some movement above us, on both sides.”

The four others raced down the tree trunks and began to dart across the room. Which made Iris completely focus on them, as well as distracting Molly.

Were animals supposed to plan things out that well?

Buttercup came racing up behind the ones on the floor, narrowly dodging the remaining one who leaped down. Apparently it had been waiting for the cat to reemerge.

One of the ones circling around jumped down at Molly from above Iris’s head and got flattened again the wall with the racket and held there as Molly stepped over across the door. A move which made the other one who had leaped for her back instead land and then cling to the back of her leg.

Iris spun around in front of the younger woman with a sweeping kick which caught the first of the squirrels running at her and sending it flying off to the side. Then she snatched the one on Molly's leg and threw it across the room.

She then raced out into the middle of the other three, two of which were in a rolling snarling fight with Buttercup. "Get off my cat!"

I would say that they were doing pretty well. I wondered if I should suggest some ranged attacks for their next time.

Molly punched the one she was holding against the wall and let it fall, stunned, to the ground before beating it to death with the edge of her racket. It did in fact, hold up pretty well.

Iris meanwhile kicked the one in the middle that was not fighting her cat and grabbed the tail of one of the ones that was on Buttercup. Then she began twirling it around to keep it from twisting around to try to bite her.

Then she swung in low as the first one she threw came at her and sent it flying again with the spinning one.

Now with only one dungeon animal to fight, Buttercup managed to get his teeth around its head and crunched down.

From there it was just clean up since one of them was down and three had been hit hard enough to slow them down. Breathing heavily, the two ladies and the cat stood with their backs to each other as they looked around for anything else to fight.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Seeing nothing else, Molly checked herself and then the other two for any signs of blood, and winced when she saw some wet spots on the cat. "Will he let me heal him? I don't want him freaking out if I just grab hold of him.”

The old woman looked down at her pet. “He bonded to me somehow. He understands me pretty well, and can usually get his meaning across to me."

Leaning forward she spoke directly to the cat. “Hold still and let her fix your cuts. I don’t want you leaving blood stains everywhere." The cat narrowed its eye and looked from its owner, then Molly, then back to the old woman, who then laughed.

"Nope, no sharp pokey things. She is just going to put her hand on you and the pain will go away."

The beast actually nodded at the healer.

Looking a little awed, Molly knelt down and pressed the palms of both her hands on the cat's back. Then a dim white light came out from her palms until the cat got bored and slunk out from underneath her hands.

Meanwhile the last of the dungeon creatures breathed its last and all seven faded away. Leaving a few dozen coins, a furry hat with a bushy tail hanging off the back, some small cuts of meat, and finally a few claws and teeth. The last being crafting components I guessed.

The two ladies stared at their loot while the cat sniffed at the meat.

Molly’s eyes lighted up. “We get loot?” Then began picking things up and collecting them in one hand. “I think I needed the armor, but I wish it had pockets.”

Iris wandered over to pick up and examine the hat. “Really, a squirrel skin hat? At least it's got a nice lining. And a label…”

"One size fits all. Hat of scampering. Increase movement pace by ten percent."

The two of them looked at each other, then Molly headed over to read it herself. “I think you could use it more but could I try it on?”

Iris shrugged and passed it over. Molly had a strange smile on her face as she set the hat on her head. “Oh, it’s real. I got a notice.” then she began to run around the room. "I think it's working!" The second time around the room she stopped to glance into the exit of the room, sticking her head in long enough to see the stair’s going down around a curve.”

Looking back to Iris, she asked. “Are we going to try the second level?”

Iris thought it over. "Tark said he only had the one room, but the stairs were there before." She shrugged. “I’m not sure if anything is down there at all, but we can look.”

The younger woman began heading down the stairs without hesitation, only to give out a disappointed sigh when she found that it dead ended on a lower landing facing a solid wall. She spent a few minutes poking at various spots until Iris finally asked her what she was doing.

Molly blushed. “Checking for secret doors. But I guess there really isn’t another floor.”

As they headed out I received a notice.

[ You have received .57 Build points for a slightly dangerous dungeon run. ]

Upstairs the two of them examined their loot as they drank some unnatural colored drinks called gator-aide. Which I would not be sending a kobold up to sample. The drinks just didn't look right.

The healer had opened up the top of her full body suit at the front to cool down. Revealing a tight sleeveless shirt similar to what Iris was wearing.

Iris had her new hat on and was checking her computer to find out if squirrel meat was safe to eat, when Molly looked up from the copper coins. “All these pennies are from nineteen eighty-two, is there something significant about that? And isn't Tark being a bit of a cheapskate?"

I’m not sure what that is, but I feel offended.

Iris frowned and turned back to her computer to poke at the buttons for a bit. "Huh, that was the last year they made pennies out of copper instead of zinc with a copper coating." She poked some more, then turned to the healer with a grin. "Good news, they're worth more than a penny due to the copper content." She nodded happily. "It turned out they're worth a whole Two and a third cents each.’

She slapped her hand together and rubbed them back and forth. "Hot dam. We're going to be rich."

Molly gave her a wry look.