Amongst the scattered bones and desiccated leather sat a few items of intrigue.

The first was a pendant much like the one Nurgle was in possession of that had fallen to the ground around its neck.

The next was a ring with an eerily familiar heptagram star engraved along the front with runic letters scattered around it that flowed around the golden metal like a message scrolling across a billboard.

The animated nature hypnotized him in a way similar to their feline adversary. It took Nurgle grabbing it out of his hands to look at for him to snap out of the spell.

The final item was exactly what Drew had been looking for since the last run. He had found lesser examples on the first floor, but nothing that would hold up to the combat they experienced.

Much in the same way the ring attracted his sight, the black and gold shield before him sucked him in.

It was the perfect implement for the combat they would be delving into in the coming fights.

Drew collected the ring from Nurgles roaming hands and slid it onto his finger. He felt a similar feeling to the strength-enhancing ring ruffle through his body. His skin tightened slightly, gaining a feeling of callused skin across all of his body.

The sensations put his original ring to shame and they seemed to stack on top of each other, granting him truly superhuman levels of strength for someone of his size.

“Master, this place is rather odd compared to the rest of the dungeon. It seems like it has been untouched by the rest of the elements common here.” Sapphire looked around the barren room for any more information to take in.

The lights above them flickered periodically dimming the whole room to momentary black only to turn on once their eyes had started to adjust.

It felt like the ruins of a failed civilization on its last legs. The statue that reflected the light had tarnished a tan color up to its legs. The person that lay scattered around his feet had taken their last moments to pray to this horrid statue like it would save them.

“Poor bastard.” The morose feeling permeated the room. It was societal decay in the strangest of places.

Drew looked at the bones near his feet. Calcified growths showed the wear and tear this person had experienced in their life.

“Master, this person appears to have been stabbed from behind before their death. There appears to have been zero healing taking place. This might be their cause of death even” Sapphire pointed to a set of ribs on the ground with massive gouges taken out of them.

“Yeah, that's amazing and all but I just want to get out of here with the new stuff. It’s bumming me out for some reason.” The trio grabbed their spoils and headed for the exit when Drew saw something above them.

He glanced up when he saw a ray of light glance to the side as if it reflected off of something only to see a strange sight.

On the ceiling, a human-shaped silhouette hung from above. They all froze as they looked at the strange sight.

The thing was wearing all white clothes and appeared hooked into some contraption.

“Master, I believe that thing is alive.” Drew whipped his head to the side then back up, doing a double take in the process.

As if on cue, the white figure unhooked itself and landed before them without making a single noise.

“Um, hello?” Drew looked at the strange posture of the thing in front of him and backed up slightly as it rose to its full height.

It stood at average human height with slightly bent knees and strangely long limbs. The white clothes turned out to be wrapping like bandages.

“Is that a fucking mummy?” Drew balked at the monster in front of them, undecided on what action to take as they stood opposite each other, unmoving.

“ARRRGh!” Deep guttural moans shook them into action as the monster sprinted at them with surprising grace.

Drew dropped Nurgle and readied the brand-new shield for the coming strike.

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The monster slipped a curved dagger out of the bandages right before it made contact with the metal instrument. It bounced off with the grace of a ballerina and did strange flowy moves to right itself. Before whipping its head back towards them.

The elegance and flowery motions made this one of the stranger enemies they had faced. The hulking monsters were scary, the zombies were nerve-racking, and the goo beast was disgusting, but this thing was just weird.

The monster pirouetted around before pointing the dagger at them in anticipation of the coming violence. It exploded in movement again, dashing straight for them.

Drew kept his blade level with the approaching monster, ready to impale it on his blade.

Mid step, the mummy tripped on something, sending it tumbling before them. Nurgle wasted no time in ending the creature with several chops to the back of its skull.

+320 xp for defeating Mummy Stabber [Summon small monster] has inherited the xp in your place. 2840/9600 xp

+320 xp for defeating Mummy Stabber

[Summon small monster] has inherited the xp in your place.

2840/9600 xp

A single vertebra had found itself scattered far away from the skeletal remains only to trip the monster that had presumably killed them however many years before.

“Huh, that was kinda anticlimactic. Good job Nurgle.” The pair left the skeletal remains behind to rest for another eternity and went back to exploring.

The looping and winding halls of the second floor caused much more confusion than the first. Despite only having a few more splits in the paths, the distance they traveled was incomparable.

The path they traveled sent them straight back to the trap room they had left hours before.

The rock door was still shut tight blocking anything from entering or leaving

“Should we open it?” Drew got closer and put his ear up to the stone only to be answered with silence.

“What a fantastic joke master. We shall get fully prepared and then we can open it. I shall prepare the laser while you attract their attention.”

Drew walked up to the door and banged on it with his hand. Despite his efforts, no noise leached through the thick rock. He looked back and saw Sapphire hunkered down with her shot ready to let loose.

He pressed the button to the side, causing the large stone to grind back up. As the door opened more and more the zombies on the opposite side slowly came into view.

The dull eyes stared at the trio, unmoving and uncaring at the loud intrusion.

“They look dead already like they have rigor mortis and they got stuck standing up.” Drew waved his hand in front of its face to no reaction. He thrust his sword forward and brained the leading monster with ease.

The death of one of the horde members seemed to awaken the monsters as they all surged forward once the experience message hit Drew’s vision.

“Fire now please!” The sudden surge pushed him back, leaving him fighting the strength of dozens of zombies pushing ahead at once.

The golden laser zapped off from behind disintegrating the monster on contact like a hot knife through butter. The beam disappeared before his eyes as the light died off behind the falling legs and heads.

The mess of bodies before him cleaned themselves up, clearing the path for the forward.

“I almost shit myself there. That scared the life out of me.”

Drew picked up his plushy friend and the small cyclops and headed down the path to the statue ahead.

“Try not to get mauled this time master.” Sapphire seemed rather pleased with herself at the comment and asked to be sat down out of range of the golem ahead of them.

The statue held out stone versions of the artifacts they had looted before, completely devoid of the glow and wonder that theirs had.

Drew knocked them aside and waited for the statue to present its neck. He stole the necklace off and watched it slowly turn to flesh.

Stealing the initiative, he plunged the sword into its neck, aiming to destroy it before it could attack. It succeeded in damaging the spine but failed to destroy the stone.

Its arms and head dropped down limply while its lower insectoid limbs flailed around in disarray. Without the fear of being gored to death, he knocked the monster off of its feet and bashed the bone that protected the core into pieces with his shield leaving it exposed to damage.

Nurgle took the opportunity and bashed away, destroying the core.

+325 xp for defeating Flesh golem [Summon small monster] has inherited the xp in your place. 4015/9600 xp

“Good gob. Now we know what to do next time. All that's left is to find a way to the boss.”

“I remember the way. Would you like directions?” The plushy poked his cheek with her trunk startling him with the sudden intrusion.

“Do you know the entire layout or something? “ The sarcastic comment earned him a one back.

“That’s ludicrous. How could I not recognize the same tunnels we have been wandering for the last few hours.”

“........Fair.”

And so, the trio marched their way to the puzzle room and blitzed through the identical puzzle with ease much to Sapphire's ire.