“Goddammit Leeroy!” Joshua shouted at Sin. “I didn’t tell you to pull!”

Joshua yelled this as he scrambled to get away from the monster that Sin had brought back with him into the stone room as the familiar flew squawking and jubilant ahead of it.

Xylsie was less thrown by the sudden appearance of a monster, but was still wary, slowly backing away and to the side, axe at the ready as the creature moved through the room. If it had been chasing Sin at first, it was now more interested in exploring its new surroundings.

It looked like a giant, bejeweled, crab, its blue-red shell encrusted with what appeared to be gems. It had multiple clear eyes like glass marbles, each with four distinct specks within. Centered between these was what Joshua took to be a mouth, the inside of which seemed lined with suckers that looked for all the world like the suction cups used to attach phones to windshields.

The creature itself was the size and shape of Joshua’s torso, but its ten limbs were tiny, the size of fingers.

This didn’t hinder its movement, as it didn’t crawl on the ground, but floated through the air.

“What the crap is that!” Joshua shouted, all the way back by the main wooden doorway by this point.

The answer came as his Identify spell cast itself on the beast.

Which drew its attention toward him.

[Wardenshell Revivifier]

(dungeon monster)

“That’s not helpful!” Joshua shouted at his interface as the monster now floated menacingly in his direction like a hydrogen-filled blimp ready to blow. “Stop doing things without my permission!”

“Stop talking to yourself,” Xylsie scolded.

Sin squawked and flew toward the monster on an intercept path. Instead of divebombing it like he had done to the mysterious man in black armor who had phased through the doorway this thing had come through, the familiar landed on top of the monster’s shell as it continued to float toward Joshua.

“What are you doing you dumb bird!” Joshua shouted.

Sin squawked indignantly and began pecking at the shell.

The monster didn’t react to this, continuing its slow pursuit.

Xylsie was just standing there, watching it go after him.

“A little help?” he called.

“It… it seems like a dungeon monster,” she said in surprise.

“That’s what my spell tells me it is.”

She shook her head, still staring at the monster. “This can’t be a dungeon.”

“Well maybe it escaped from one then. I don’t know. Just kill it!”

“They’re not all hostile. Some will only attack if engaged. Maybe this is one of the not-hostile ones.”

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“Maybe?” Joshua said wearily, continuing to move around the room as the slow creature pursued him, Sin still on its back pecking away at the thing’s shell. “I don’t think it’s just looking to play tag.”

“It seems to have locked onto you. Stay still and see what it does.”

“No!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

“I don’t need protection if I don’t let it catch me! You stay still if you want to test it so badly.”

“It’s not coming after me.”

The sound of Sin pecking on the monster’s shell was a constant metronome as the creature slowly pursued an increasingly agitated Joshua, who navigated the stone slabs, keeping as much distance as he could between himself and the monster.

The repetitive sound and the monster’s slow, interminable pursuit made Joshua feel like he was in a Friday the 13th movie. Or Peter Pan.

“Truly,” Xylsie said, “it’s only a White. Stop moving and see what it does.”

“How do you know its rank?”

“From its aura.”

“Oh, auras again.”

“Just see if it attacks. It’s not going to kill you in a single hit.”

“‘It’s not going to kill you in a single hit,’” Joshua mimicked derisively. “You kill it. Should be easy if it’s a rank below—” Joshua stumbled over one of the stone beds, allowing the slow-moving creature to gain some ground.

He cursed and scrabbled over it and two more, then moved to the other side of the room, darting around the slab with the overseer’s covered body and joining Xylsie on the opposite side, now back by the dark doorway to the unknown the creature had come through.

“Easy might be a stretch,” she said. She seemed much more relaxed now that the thing was clearly after him. “Monsters may not be as smart as people, but they’re generally stronger. An equal-rank fight against a monster leans heavily in the monster’s favor.”

“And you wanted me to let it hit me!” he asked, voice cracking.

“Yes.” She motioned at the Claw of Vorn he wore on his right hand. “This would be a good time to test that out.”

He looked down at it. He’d forgotten he was wearing it. His fist was clenched causing the claw to be fully extended. It was a good thing he couldn’t hurt himself with it. He took a calming breath and relaxed his fist. The blades shrunk down, the weapon returning to its bracelet form. “Would it kill it?”

“It is quite big.”

“I get that a lot.”

She frowned. “Didn’t you just loot it?”

He sighed. “My wit is wasted. Maybe I should swap our places with the Ring of Deception again and you can fight the horrific monster.”

Xylsie shrugged. “If you like.”

“Really?”

“It’s not every day you get to see an illusion of that caliber. I wouldn’t mind seeing it again.”

“Sweet.” But Joshua’s joy was quickly squashed when he discovered the ring still hadn’t recharged.

“Then use that,” Xylsie said when he told her, pointing at the claw.

From using his Identify spell on it he instinctually knew it had a projectile attack, which meant he wouldn’t have to get in close to hit the crustacean.

He was reluctant to use it however, because, one, he didn’t want to aggro it if it wasn’t already aggressive, and two, he wasn’t certain how much damage he’d be able to inflict, or even whether he’d be able to inflict any at all. Having the equivalent of a miss or resisted attack wasn’t his ideal way of opening a fight.

“Maybe we just leave it be and go through the doorway,” he suggested. He couldn’t believe he was suggesting heading into that wall of shadow, but it was better than facing a monster.

Xylsie shook her head. “If there’s one, there’s likely more in there. I’m not going until we know if it’s hostile or not.”

“Why am I the one that has to deal with it? You’ve got the giant axe.”

“It’s not at all because I want to see how well you can fight.”

Joshua frowned. “Is that sarcasm?”

“Is it?” She considered, then shook her head. “No, decidedly not. Perhaps you are projecting.”

Before they could come to an agreement on how to proceed, the monster passed over the covered body of the slave overseer on the slab directly across the room from them and came to a sudden halt.

“Oh, that can’t be good,” Joshua said as the creature began to descend, its finger-arms growing in length like retractable tentacles and making their way toward the body.

“Get off there,” Joshua hissed to Sin, who was still pecking the thing’s shell.

“It might be a feeder,” Xylsie said.

“A what?”

“A cleanup monster. They eat corpses so they don’t pile up in dungeons.”

“They eat corpses? That’s disgusting.”

She glanced over at him. “We all eat corpses.”

“Speak for yourself. I absolutely do not eat corpses.”

“Are you a rabbit?”

“What? No.” He looked down at himself. “Is this about that unihorn? It’s not my fault it was so small.”

She laughed. “What are you on about?”

“I—” Joshua’s reply died on his lips as his gaze fell back on the ‘feeder’. “Oh crap.”

Xylsie returned her attention to the monster and grimaced. “Not a feeder after all,” she said as the slave overseer’s covered body sat up, the slip falling away, revealing discolored skin with rapidly spreading hard fungal growths. “It’s a necromancer.”