I was awakened by screaming, far earlier than I would have wished. At first, I thought we were under attack, sitting up I rubbed my eyes and looked around. Once I noticed that Iva was doing the same, I immediately feared that I’d had another happy dream and this time poked Gwyn in the rear. After a quick pat to ensure that wasn't the problem, my next thought was that the healing had had some adverse effect on Gwyn. Iva began to laugh as soon as Gwyn spoke.

"What did you do to my robes?" she screamed, glaring at me.

"Well, there was so much material, it really seemed like a waste, especially after we had to cut much of it off you," I replied, hoping my explanation would calm her down. The dungeon wasn't the best place for hysterics.

"Cut it off me?" she questioned loudly, her pitch rising with each word.

Apparently, she didn't remember being injured, so I reminded her of crashing down through the room full of spikes and being impaled. The ear-piercing screech when she found the scars across her stomach and followed the line up under the wrap she wore made my head hurt.

Gwyn's screeching was cut short when Iva smacked her and hissed "Shut up!" in her ear.

The magic in her collar took Iva's words as an order, and Gwyn was immediately quiet, although her mouth still moved as if she were trying to continue her rant. In the silence, it quickly became apparent that we were not alone. I could hear faint shuffling from the ledge above us, and a few stones fell down. A moment later, we could hear the harsh whispers of goblins. They must have been a patrol that had heard Gwyn's ranting and come to investigate.

After a few tense moments of goblin arguing, we heard them begin to climb down. Once they were about halfway down, I decided to see how many more times our trick would work and showed Iva my light stone. She quietly drew her sword, and after a nod, I cocked back my arm for a throw. I was able to plant the stone right between them, and it erupted in a brilliant white light.

Both the goblins and Gwyn screamed when the light flashed, but Iva and I, being ready for the flash, weren't affected. Iva quickly cut down the first goblin as he fell. The second one landed nearly in Gwyn's lap, and to my surprise, she immediately clamped a collar around its neck. Even as I felt the tingle of the slave collar taking effect, I had to jump to Gwyn's aid, pulling the little beast away. After pulling the creature off her, I ordered it to stop, and to my surprise, it did. I wasn't sure if the collars would work on other creatures; I had 10 more in the sac that Gwyn had been carrying.

"You will not attempt to harm, hurt, kill, or hinder in any way myself or any of my slaves. You will follow any order given to you by Iva as if it were a direct order from me," I said, once again repeating the phrase I had used on Gwyn.

"What about me?" Gwyn pouted. "I caught it, why does she get to order it around and I don't?"

Iva laughed as she looted the goblin she had killed, and with a sigh, I gave in.

"You will also do whatever Gwyn orders you to, but Iva's and my orders take precedence," I said, looking at the little goblin intently.

"What dis prez-E-dance? Not know that," it asked in very broken Common.

"It means you do what I say or what Iva says before what Gwyn says. OK?" I said with a sigh. I almost hoped he gets eaten just so I don't have to teach the little monster how to speak properly.

"No kill you," was all I got in reply from the beast.

"Yes, you can't kill us," I agreed.

He looked at me angrily and said, "No kill you… why?"

"Because I don't feel like dying right now," I said, laughing at the dumb question.

"I think he wants to know why he can't kill you," Iva said, pointing at the goblin. "See, he's straining pretty hard to draw his dagger but can't."

"Ah, that makes more sense, haha. I didn't think goblins were that dumb. You are my slave now," I said, walking up to him and pointing to the collar around his neck. "Slave," I said, then pointing to my arm band, "Master, is magic."

"Take off!" he demanded, stomping his foot while tugging on the collar.

"Only when dead," I replied to his request.

The look of defeat on the thing almost made me feel sorry for it. Even though it was a monster, it still had feelings, and I guess even monsters don't like being enslaved.

"Great Esh not happy when Melk not come home," it said sadly.

"Great Esh?" I asked, curious about who or what this Esh was.

"Big, Big, Green," Melk said, spreading his arms wide. "Great Esh killed old chief, new chief now."

"Orcs!" Iva said. "Probably like that last band we came across, using them as slave labor."

"No Orcs!" Melk said, spitting on the ground in disgust. "Orcs Big yes, Great Esh big, big, biggest big," he was now trying to extend his arms even wider.

"So bigger than an orc and green," Iva said, shaking her head. "That narrows it down to, oh I don't know, like a hundred monsters we don't want to cross paths with."

“Do you know where the human Village is?” I asked Melk hoping maybe he had been further down in the dungeon and knew a shortcut.

“Yes.” Melk said “Humanz live deep, down down. Melk only scout once, then Great Esh come. Now only scout near cave.” Melk said, pointing down the path we had come from.

“Can you lead the way to the village safely?” Gwyn asked hopeful that the terrors of the dungeon wouldn't be the death of her.

“Yes, can lead.” Melk says with a sigh. “You tell Great Esh why Melk no go home.” Perking up a bit at the thought.

“We don't want to see this Esh.” Gwyn said “is there a way around Esh to get to the human village?”

“Must use path of Great Esh to go down” Melk answered. “You ask Great Esh for key, if Esh happy, you go down.”

“And if Esh is not happy?” I asked

“Then Great Esh eat you!” the little goblin laughed.

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“Let’s stay here one more night before we go make our appearance before the Great Esh.” I announced to the group “I need to replenish our stock of scribed projectiles before we go into a possible battle.”

“And I need to spend all night accumulating energy now, because someone tore up my robes.” Gwyn said, angrily glaring at Iva. “Those robes were enchanted to aid in accumulation so I didn't have to actually focus on acquiring energy for my spells. I’m nearly empty now and it's going to take all night meditating just to get back to normal” she said pouting.

“What? It's not my fault you decided to play pincushion and get yourself stuck with all those spears.” Iva said defensively. “Also try not to get hit in the future if you don't wish to be wandering these halls in the nude.”

“What!!” Gwyn shrieked, clutching the remains of her robes that were just enough to cover her feminine bits. “You wouldn't dare!”

Laughing, I decided to come to Iva’s rescue and explained, “When we cut up your robe to make clothing, we inscribed runes of power into them. Your meager clothing is now a sort of armor. Any injuries you sustain will first damage the cloth. If it sustains enough damage in a short amount of time, the rune will drain the energy from the clothing and it will turn to ash.”

“Oh.” was all Gwyn said before wrapping her arms around her knees and starting to cry.

“You should have just let her die!” Iva said, looking at Gwyn in disgust. “She will have the entire dungeon down on our heads with all that noise.”

“No, we collared her, so she’s our responsibility. Besides, she has her uses.” I said to Iva while gesturing to the stone sled Gwyn had made.

“We all need to be quiet until we head out to see this Esh person so nothing louder than a whisper.” I said to the group. Turning I pointed to Melk and said. “You are one of us now, no noise or alerting other monsters unless your told to by myself or Iva.”

With a wide grin that showed far too many sharp pointy teeth he bobbed his head and said “Melk be good goblin, follow all masters orders.” Then cocking his head, he continued “Esh, new master, either way Melk probably dead soon anyway.”

I sat down against the wall and began to gather my tools for a long night of scribing. As I prepared, a thought occurred to me. “Gwyn?” I asked, hoping she wasn't already meditating.

“Yes master,” she replied, her voice laced with bitterness.

“It's Llond,” I said. “Can you shape small round stones for my sling out of the rubble around us? Preferably using the highest quality resources available? Having quality bullets for my sling would be great and probably improve my aim.”

“I can't do that anymore,” Gwyn said, gesturing to the sled we had used to slide down into the dungeon. “They revoked my dungeon master status when we got into the sled. That was what allowed me to move freely through the dungeon. They told me that because I broke the rules, I am now a permanent resident of the dungeon.” She sniffed.

“So I can't pull high quality stones from the surrounding area. At most, I can change the shape of the rubble in the room. I'll have to meditate for a bit before I can do that. If you have your pet goblin gather all the loose rocks into a pile, I'll alter them all once I've rested.”

“That sounds good, Gwyn. Change the stones as soon as you can. It will take me all night to scribe them,” I said. Turning to Melk, I continued, “Melk, you are now a part of our party. That means you'll have to help us, including fighting and protecting us when battle starts. This might mean fighting your own kind or this Great Esh, if they are hostile. That's why I let you keep your dagger. You'll have to fight with us. I don't care if it's your mother's uncle. You need to fight to win.”

“Can't kill mother’s uncle.” Melk said with a sigh.

"What?" I asked, confused by Melk's ability to even voice working against us.

With a heavy sigh, Melk explained, "Mother's uncle was chief, before Great Esh, ate him now new chief. Was good chief, give Melk knife. As he spoke, Melk's face brightened as he thought of his knife. He began rubbing the hilt with a wistful smile on his face. I couldn't help but wonder what kind of horrific memories Melk had attached to his blade, goblins wern’t known for their kindness or mercy.

"May I see your knife?" I asked, hoping to build some trust with Melk rather than simply ordering him to hand it over.

"Mine!" he shrieked, violently slamming the half-drawn blade back into its sheath. The sudden movement nearly tore his loincloth free.

"I just want to see how good it is," I replied, trying to calm the agitated goblin. "I might be able to improve it so it cuts better. I'll give it back, I promise."

"Cuts good!" Melk insisted while covering his dagger with both hands, trying to keep it hidden from me.

I decided it would be easier to just prove my point. I asked Melk to use his dagger to cut down one of the spikes that hadn't been collected yet and to count how many times he had to chop in order to cut it free. Several moments later, a panting Melk returned with a three-foot-long length of wood. He had chosen the smallest one in the bunch.

"Now, how many times did you have to hit it?" I asked him.

"Two!" he said with another one of his toothy grins.

"More like twenty-two," Iva said with a snort.

Nodding, I drew my stone goblin dagger that I had scavenged days ago and Melk snorted at me.

"Can't cut with that, it break." he said, shaking his head.

With a big smile, I held the length of wood out in one hand and hacked at it with the stone knife. It cleanly sliced the wood in a single chop. The goblin stood there, stunned, with his toothy maw hanging open in shock.

"You cheat!" he whined at me before demanding, "Do it again!"

Reaching into the stone blade with my meager magical powers, I could sense that it only had two or three more strikes before it turned to dust. So, with a smile, I hacked at the wood one more time. Once again, it cleanly cut the wooden spike.

Taking the wood from me, Melk began hacking at it again with his knife. Stopping him after a moment so he didn't dull his knife too much, I waved him closer and pointed to the runes I had added to my blade.

"These runes make it stronger and sharper," I explained. "With this simple stone goblin's dagger, I can cut four or five times before it breaks. I have to let it rest to build up magic again. I could do the same for your knife, if it's made of good metal. It would last a long time before breaking and always be sharp."

Finally, after several moments of deliberation, Melk apparently came to a decision. Undoing the clasp on the sheath, he pulled the dagger from his belt and reverently handed it to me. It seemed far more important to him than anything else, and I was curious about its significance.

Drawing the blade and examining it, I was shocked. Though the handle was scratched and dull, I could see that it had once been encrusted with jewels. The jewels had all been pried out at some point, and now it looked to be an old, pitted dagger. The gold, now dirty and marred by age, looked like an old, rusty hilt. The handle had been rewrapped with some sort of leather, but it was sturdy. The cap was on tight, so the blade didn't wiggle at all. The blade itself gleamed in the firelight, with not a single blemish on its entire length. It looked to have been well kept, which was odd since it had been in goblin hands for quite some time.

"Where did you get this?" I asked Melk in amazement.

"Is chief's dagger," he replied. "Passed to new chief when old ones die." Taking the blade back from me, he fished around in his tiny belt pouch and produced a rag and wet stone, which he must have gotten from a dead adventurer. He spat on the stone and began sharpening the tiny nicks he had made while chopping at the wood.

Once he was done sharpening it, he wiped it off with the rag and handed it back to me. "You make sharp?" he asked.

Taking it once again, I nodded. And after looking into the blade to determine how much magic it had, I was shocked once again. With the strength and sharpness runes, I knew this knife could cut wood all day long without worrying about expending its energy. I wasn't going to take his family heirloom, but if the little monster died, I was definitely going to take it. By then, I would have learned new runes to add to it, making it even stronger.

I began scribing on Melk's dagger to pass the time while I waited for Gwyn to finish her meditation. I made sure to make the runes as small as possible, in a way that I could add more in the future. I asked Melk to collect all the loose stones and pile them quietly near Gwyn, and since I finished before she did, I ended up taking a nap.

Gwyn woke me some time later, asking for more details on what I needed. I fished out one of the better stones I had and asked her for smooth, round stones like this, with the best material possible. I also asked for eight small, square tablets to be made of the best material we had. These were going to be healing plates. If we were injured, we could press them into a wound and it would heal as much as it had energy for.

A few moments later, I had my eight tablets and roughly 40 round stones, about an inch in diameter, to work with. Once done, Gwyn laid down to sleep. I began examining my pile; it would probably take me the rest of the night to finish these. With a heavy sigh, I got to work once again, building up our stockpile of ammunition and healing implements.