The giant slug creatures slowly surged towards the group, the closest ones held back only by the rapidly dying flames of the burning pieces of rope.

Quiet led the way back to the passage they had entered from, having to dodge around several of the monsters and their gross slime trails. The group followed as fast as they could, slowed down by John, who hobbled along using Amelia's spear as a walking aid. Picker trailed the group, doing his best to blind and deter the invertebrates using the light from his headlamp.

Unfortunately, the effectiveness of the lights on the creatures was diminishing, and several were close behind them as they managed to get into the hallway.

"[Candle Flame]." Amelia lit the pieces of rope the goblin held out to her, the hemp immediately smoldering and sputtering. Picker dropped them across the entrance, then ducked back as a pseudopod whipped out towards him.

"Hopefully that will slow 'em down a bit!"

"Perhaps, Caretaker, but there are other passageways that connect to this one. We must hurry." Lark was again perched on Amelia's shoulder, her claws tightly gripping the girl's rucksack strap.

"Sorry I'm slowing you guys down!" John winced as he continued forwards, leaning heavily on the spear shaft. Even with the wrapping, Bill had put on his ankle, he'd hurt it further in the leap back across the moat.

Even moving at a pace the injured man could keep up with, they were still making good time. The slugs didn't move that fast, and the ones immediately behind them had been delayed for at least a minute or two by the flaming rope. Amelia was just thinking that they'd made a clean get-away when she heard a whistle from Quiet. They halted as the goblin stealthily crept ahead, then returned moments later.

She motioned them all close and spoke in a whisper. "Problem. Gotta take a different path. I'll explain later. Keep close!" The goblin made eye contact with each of them to make sure they understood, then headed off. She took a passage to the right, moving extremely cautiously.

Amelia followed along behind, Shock in her arms. The puppy yawned hugely and snuggled her snout deeper into the crook of Amelia's elbow. The puppy kept running ahead, and they had been afraid she'd get separated, or wander off. So she got to ride.

As they trailed after their goblin guide, they could hear the roar of running water from the direction they had been intending to go. Amelia didn't remember any creeks or water features, so something must have happened. As the sound diminished in the distance, she heard the scritch of chalk on stone as Picker marked their path. The marks he used were more complex than the arrow or hash mark she expected. It looked like an ideogram or a hieroglyph of some sort. The goblin saw her look, then gave her a thumbs up and smiled, then waved for her to keep moving.

"Hsst! Stop!" called Quiet urgently. The goblin dropped to her hands and knees, probing forwards gently with the butt-end of her spear. SNAP! A set of spikes shot out from the wall, just missing the scout by a hair's breadth. Seconds later there was a grinding noise as the spikes slowly retracted back into the wall.

"Uh, I thought Tuuka said nobody puts traps in places like this?"

Picker raised an eyebrow at her, then gestured at the barely visible holes the spikes had emerged from. His face indicated what he really thought about his friend's previous statement.

"Keep an eye out behind. This might take a bit to disarm." whispered Quiet, already pulling a small wire probe from a pouch and examining the stones of the floor.

"How did you know something was there?" Amelia asked, watching her check each stone for gaps and movement.

"Just a hunch, and I must have caught the holes out of the corner of my eye. Seemed odd." responded the goblin, crouched low and examining the floor. A few minutes later, she grunted. Then, "Got it!" She jammed several wedges around a flagstone a few feet back from where she had stopped. It was wide, spanning almost the entire width of the corridor.

"Everybody step over that one. I think I have it jammed, but better safe than sorry." She indicated the stone with her headlamp, and waited until the others all put their own lights on the same rock, so they all knew which one she meant.

With that, the scout crept ahead again, tensing as she passed the holes in the wall, but nothing happened.

Until a handful of steps later, the floor dropped out from under her.

"Quiet!" yelled Bill, as he lunged forwards to try to grab the goblin. He was too slow, but she managed to twist about like a cat, and caught herself on the edge of the pit, her weapon clattering down into the void. They didn't hear it hit a bottom.

Bill and John both helped pull the goblin up out of the pit, her eyes wide and breathing fast. Her hands trembled from the sudden dump of adrenaline.

"You okay?" Bill asked, giving Quiet a quick look over. She nodded, shaken but not injured.

Picker pushed through the group and knelt down next to his mother. He patted her hand as he glanced over the edge into the pit, then back the short distance to the spikes.

"Nasty." he said, shaking his head.

The pit was at least ten feet across, and if Quiet had been moving any faster, there was no way she could have caught herself. As it was, the goblin was already hurting from the twist she'd done and was rubbing her strained wrist.

"That's a long way across." Said John flatly. He looked back towards the spike holes, then back to the edge of the pit. "Not sure I could jump that, even with more of a run-up. Not that I can run with this ..." He finished, looking mournfully at his wrapped ankle. He was trying to keep as much weight off the injured joint as possible and was already looking knackered.

"So we can't go forwards, and those ... things ... are behind us. Now what?" asked Amelia, looking around.

There was a brief trill of song from Lark, who had dismounted Amelia's shoulder and was inspecting one of the walls. The bird grunted in satisfaction, then turned to look at her.

"There is a door here. It is covered by illusion, but I felt the eddy of power."

Picker gingerly started feeling around the wall where the bird had indicated, then poked something with his finger. Grinning, he stuck his head through the wall. He pulled it out a moment later and motioned for them to follow him as he walked through.

"Wha?" goggled John, watching Amelia pass through the wall after the goblin.

"Oooh! Treasure chest!" they heard her voice say.

----------------------------------------

The tiny room they were in was just large enough that they had space to collapse onto the floor. Picker closed the illusion-covered door behind them, and they heard the CLICK as it snapped closed.

"We should be safe here for the moment. Hopefully, those creatures will think we fell in the pit, and give up the chase. We can rest here, then head back. Maybe the water will be down in an hour or so."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Picker nodded his head in agreement with his mother's words.

"Tea time, then!" Amelia announced and started unloading her rucksack. She'd been adamant about bringing a kettle, and now was a good time to use it!

It was still a little early for dinner, so they dug into some of the wax paper parcels of crisps they had. Tyni kept some ready-made for the café, so they were easily available when Amelia dashed in for food to take. The tea was nicely warming, although they had to share mugs since there weren't enough to go around. The candle flame cantrip Pancake had taught her worked well for boiling water, even if it took a longish time.

The goblins munched their snack while staring at the 'treasure chest' in the room. It was obviously a chest of some sort, although a little drab for treasure. It looked to be made of MDF and was swollen from the damp. They'd forbidden anyone from touching it until they were sure it was safe. Nobody questioned them on it, and they stayed well away while they ate.

"So, is this sort of thing normal when hiking in the hollow? 'Cause if it is, I might have to find someplace else to walk. No offense!" said John.

"Sorry! You're the first this has happened to. Bert would've told me otherwise. We'll have to put up some caution tape or a sign or something."

He nodded, rubbing his ankle through the bandage. "Not complaining, though. This sure beats being back in the office! Probably better for my mental health, too! Might have to borrow one of those pokers for meetings!" He grinned wryly.

"Shhh!" Bill held his finger to his lips, then pointed at the door. They all quieted down and strained to hear what had alarmed him.

There were the faint sounds of footsteps on the stone tiles of the hallway. Real footsteps, possibly booted feet, and not the quiet 'shlurp' sound the slugs made. Then they heard voices.

"Man, I hate when these things set the spike trap off! Such a mess! Corrodes the whole works, too. No idea why the Master keeps those things around." The voice was fairly high-pitched and had a strange, whistling quality to it.

Another voice spoke, but the low rumble was too indistinct to be understood through the door.

"Yeah, I see that. Dumb as those things are, they usually don't set off the pit trap. Weird."

The rumble came again, then another one, even deeper. They could almost feel the voice in their chests more than their ears.

"Right. Lemme grab the mop." This from the squeaky, whistly voice.

The door clicked and started to swing inwards. None of them were close enough or in a good position to hold it shut, sitting on the floor as they were. A small bony hand reached barely halfway up the door and grasped its edge, pushing it open. The hand was attached to a figure about goblin-sized, dressed in a dark blue boiler suit with a shabby, faded-to-grey newsboy cap on its head. Ominous, spiky runes were embroidered on matching patches, one on its hat, another on its shoulder. A different embroidered patch was on its chest, right over where a heart would be. It froze momentarily as it saw the figures in the room, then stepped in and pushed the door mostly too behind it.

"Uh, Elpis? Can you and Cleon reset that pit cover? You know I have the bugger of a time with those, short arms and such. Thanks, big guy! Kori, help me get the cupboard open? Always sticks for me." The figure gestured with its skeletal paw for the group to back up, then held it palm out, as if to signal 'wait'.

"Got it, Nic." came the deeper of the rumbly voices, slightly clearer with the door partially open. Something very large and furry passed in front of the doorway, towards the open hole that had almost claimed Quiet.

The door clicked shut just after a large spider--nearly the size of Shock--skittered into the room. It, too, froze at the sight of the party. Its body had some sort of dark blue garment on it, with pockets and patches similar to the first creature's.

"Hidin' out from the slugs?" the skeletal ratman asked conversationally, not bothering to lower his voice now.

"Yeah. We're just passing through, don't mean to cause any trouble." replied Quiet, waving to the man.

"Oh, no bother. Not supposed to have guests in here, but no skin off my nose. Heh." He chuckled at his own joke, the air whistling across his facial bones. "Elpis out there, though, he's a stickler for rules. Let's not let him know you're here, 'kay?"

Amelia blinked her eyes and focused at the two. Surprisingly, they both looked mostly the same no matter how she looked at them. The skeletal rat man glowed slightly all over, but the spider just looked like a spider. A very large spider, but otherwise ordinary. The scary-looking runes on their patches wriggled and writhed in her sight, until they resolved into words. The spider had a patch that said 'Hi! My name is: Korinna', while the other's said 'Hi! My name is: Nicander'. The patches that were the same on both of them read 'Maintenance'.

"We're supposed to report any intruders we find, but nuts to that, I say! We're maintenance, not security. Not paid for it, and got our own messes to deal with. Just leads to more paperwork, anyways, and look what that got me!" he gestured at himself, apparently meaning his skeletal form.

"Paperwork did that?" Amelia asked, surprised.

"Master's a stickler for the right form. How was I supposed to know to file a 1073-g, and not a 1176-f part 3? I'm a janitor, not an accountant!" he sighed, aggrieved.

"Hey! I'm a janitor too! Well, more of a groundskeeper, really. Caretaker. I'm Amelia!" She stepped forwards and offered her hand. Quiet facepalmed behind her.

"Nice to meet ya! I'm Nic, this is Kori, one of my colleagues." He shook Amelia's hand and gestured at the large spider.

"Hi! Pleasure to meet you!" said the spider, waving a forelimb generally towards the group.

Nic looked at all of them, his gaze lingering on the spears and gambesons some of them had. "You guys some sorta special assault cleaning force? For extra tough stains or something? We gotta make do with mops and brooms. 'Budgetary reasons', Master says."

"Uh, no, we just didn't know how dangerous it would be here. Besides, I'm the only caretaker."

Shock padded forwards and sniffed them both, then flopped down on her back at Nic's feet. He reached down and scritched her belly with his bony claws, and she wriggled around in pleasure, tongue lolling about.

"Nice pooch!" he said.

"She is! She's a good girl! That's Shock. This is Bill, he's, uh, I'm sorry, Bill, what do you do?"

"I'm a data scientist. Between jobs, at the moment."

"Right. I don't know what that is. But he's really nice! This is John. He got lost and accidentally came here, so we came to find him. This is Lark, she sings for the wood, and the wisp is Whisper, eater of candy and anything else sweet. The goblins are Picker and Quiet, our guides." Amelia pointed to each in turn and bent her head down slightly so they could see the wisp nestled in her hair.

At the last name, both the spider and the ratman started. "The Quiet? Quiet, the adventurer? The Silent Dea..."

"Yeah, that's me. Retired." cut in Quiet, cutting the man off. "It's just 'Quiet', these days."

"Uh huh. Well, pleasure to meet you! It's an honor to have you 'visiting' here. Real celebrity adventurer! Can't wait to tell the folks!"

"Where did you retire to, if you don't mind the question?" asked the spider, her voice soft and feminine.

"We live ... with ... Amelia." spoke Quiet, hesitatingly.

"It's really nice, you should come visit!" responded Amelia, before Quiet could say anything else. Picker rolled his eyes. "Although I should get Bert to make more guest rooms. I don't know if we have good ones for spiders, though."

"Bert?"

Quiet shushed Amelia, giving her a sharp look. The goblin then moved closer to Nic, whispering something into his skull where his ear should have been. Amelia couldn't make out much of what she said, other than what sounded like "no titles!" and "Donald".

The janitor's bones rattled, and he turned to the scout. "Really? REALLY?" She nodded.

He turned a made a deep bow towards Amelia.

"Your Dark..." Quiet cleared her throat loudly, cutting him off.

"High..." he started again, but the goblin shook her head.

"Empr..."

"No!" interrupted the scout, scowling at him.

"Majes..." He tried. Quiet coughed over his words.

"Maaaa'aaam?" He ventured slowly. This time the goblin nodded.

"Amelia is fine! Besides, we're fellow maintenance people! We should be friends!"

The skeleton nodded, somehow managing to convey unease, but a willingness to play along showed on his bony face.

THUMP! A loud blow landed against the door from outside, causing it to rattle.

"Need help in there? Still stuck?" came the deep rumble, barely understandable.

"We're good! Kori got it, just untangling the mop! You know how it gets! Be right out!" called Nic back towards the door.

He turned back to Amelia, then started edging past her towards the 'treasure chest'. "Look, we better get out there before he gets suspicious. But did you really mean it? Can we really come visit? Really?" His voice had a plaintive, hopeful tone.

"Of course! Any time! We love visitors! Stay as long as you want, we have room."

"Me, too?" asked the spider in a hushed voice.

"Sure! Bring your friends and family! We'll have a big party! The more, the merrier!"

Both goblins shook their heads slightly at the pronouncement but didn't say anything.

Nic hesitated for a moment, before opening the chest and pulling out a mop and bucket. He squeezed back past the group and back towards the door.

"Right! You guys stay here! We'll go do our thing. Our shift's over in a couple hours, and we'll come back and get you. That okay?"

"Sure. Will we be safe here?"

"Yeah, no problem. We're the only crew working this sector, and we'll ditch Elpis before coming back. Stay quiet, though!"

"Deal! We'll sit tight!"

The ratman nodded at that, already back at the door with the cleaning supplies in his hands. He bowed slightly again towards Amelia, and stopped himself as he saw the look on Quiet's face. He waved with the hand holding the bucket, and just said, "Couple hours then. Uh, ... Ma'am. Folks."

Kori opened the door the smallest amount to let them squeeze through, the portal clicking shut as it closed behind them.

"Well! They seemed nice! New friends, Yay!"