"Chimera?! Where's the chimera?!" The armored human shouted, reaching for his sword and standing from the rock he was seated on.

"Oh. The 'camera'? That thing? Okay. So I just talk to you, then? But look at that?" He asked, settling back down on the stone. He looked a bit disappointed that there was no chimera.

After an apparent affirmative from whoever was holding the foreign object that recorded his words and actions, the man continued.

"Well, uh. I'm Brody. Team captain. I basically keep the team running. Make sure we're all alive at the end of the day. Just doing what leaders do, really," he said, sitting straight-backed on a rock in the torch-lit underground.

"What do I think of our situation? You mean being underground, in a cave system that's part of a dungeon that seemingly spews out an endless stream of unusual deadly magical creatures?" He scratched the back of his neck. "Dangerous. But that's our job. And we're good at it. Some of us. I'm working on getting the others properly motivated. I think my speeches are really starting to have an effect."

The scene shifts to a view of Brody in front of a group of four adventurers in the caves; a hulking orc dressed smart - he even had a bowler hat on his head - and an enormous axe resting on one shoulder, a scholarly male elf in purple robes, a lithe female half-elf in mottled dark clothing, and a motherly female dwarf.

"The enemy is there. And we can kill them. If we attack their weak points. Like the head. Or the neck. Or the heart. And sometimes the hamstrings, if they're tall. But we also need to stay alive. And for that, we need to not get clawed or bitten or kicked. Or spit on if they have some sort of acid attack. And we can do it. We're The Undefilers!" Brody stiffly raised a fist in the air as he concluded, waiting several moments for his teammates to join him. They didn’t.

The scene shifts to the enormous orc sitting down, slouching, trying to make himself look a bit less imposing.

"His speech? It was definitely very direct. No room for misinterpretation. He is an exemplary warrior, and we can all learn from him. He does lack some… social aptitude. I find that a true leader must demonstrate the qualities he desires more than speaking of them. A leader can be judged based on the standards he sets for himself. By that account, Brody goes beyond his humble call," the orc said, absently stroking one of his foot-long tusks.

“Oh, The Undefilers? That was Brody’s idea. I… disagreed with him about it. But he was convinced that the name perfectly encapsulated our mission and ideals. Then again, I championed the ever-so-humble name ‘Exemplars’, so I can’t really deride his choice,” Groll finished.

The scene shifts to darkness. Then shadows bob up and down before a tent flap is opened to reveal the adventurers fighting a monster in the cavern just outside the ring of tents that made up their camp. It appeared to be a giant toadstool with a dozen chitinous, multi-jointed legs and a scorpion's tail.

"Go for the head!" Brody called, expertly blocking the stinger with his shield before administering a precise counterattack with his sword that bounced off chitinous plates of armor.

"What? The mushroom?" Called the elf in the purple robes, just barely outside of another tent in the cavern they camped in for the night.

"Where else would it be, Keevan? But hurry up, it looks like Groll is in truffle!" The half-elf called.

Groll, the hulking shirtless orc, groaned. And not because of the legs that pinned him down by the haft of the gigantic axe he carried. "Kylie, must you make those horrendous jokes while we're in actual danger?"

"What? Was it in spore taste?" Kylie replied, cackling as she threw another poisoned dagger at the creature where it bounced off ineffectually as the hilt struck the spongy ‘head’ of the monstrosity.

The dwarf woman appeared from behind Groll, helping the hulking orc push back several legs of the creature. Once that situation was resolved, she bustled over to Keevan where the mage was still looking at the mushroom creature in confusion.

"Okay, dear. Just aim firebolts at the big mushroom part, okay? Firebolts, now. Not your go-to fireballs. Firebolts," she said, patting the elf on the shoulder.

"Oh. Thanks, Helen. I can do that," Keevan said, lifting his hands and tossing small lines of fire at the monstrosity.

Helen hurried over to where Kylie was quickly running out of her signature throwing knives.

"Dear, it looks like this creature is resistant to your daggers. Maybe try your crossbow? That will surely pierce its skin," the dwarf woman said, smiling encouragingly at the young half-elf.

Kylie muttered to herself and took out her crossbow to fire at the creature.

The scene shifts to reveal Helen seated on a rock at the camp.

"Am I the leader? Oh dear me, no. I just go where I'm needed. My two boys are off in their own adventuring teams and it doesn't take a genius to know that they would rather be eaten by a giant worm than have their mother around. So here I am, helping where I can to keep these kids kickin’. Makes me feel like I'm with my boys, don'tcha know," Helen said wistfully.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

The scene shifts back to the battle with the toadstool.

The mushroom part was blackened and charred from the many fire bolts of Keevan and appeared to be part pincushion after the many bolts from Kylie's crossbow. Many of the legs had been broken off and the scorpion tail had been severed.

Brody triumphantly held up his sword from his position behind the monster, near where the tail had been, as the creature stopped moving.

The scene shifts to reveal Brody seated in front of a rock wall.

[https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/VvrbFvdgU4SGy31JnF_rtSVDrsGQrL-3E0v48f3D4-lqK5UDKQgj3xJiadeLMG1ho3Q0GH8n3xp-u2fGCH_GBjF78S1HzgF_SJTsWUiwNPIdTazWqW4Qfepse3L2VSPU9Q=w1280]

"Adventurer Tip: Sometimes your efforts are best spent pummeling the rear,” Brody said.

The scene shifts back to the adventurers around the toadstool monstrosity.

Groll and Brody took a cautious step forward with weapons raised. The creature began to shake and shudder before violently bursting apart in a shower of slimy green goo.

Keevan let out a high-pitched squeal and began to jump up and down, fanning at his face.

"It's on me! It's on me! Get it off, get it off!" He cried hysterically.

A small drop or two of goo was on his cheek, but he was otherwise perfectly clean. Well, as clean as Keevan ever was.

Kylie bent over laughing, gripping her belly with one hand and pointing at Keevan with the other.

"Hah! Yep. You're a goner. Or maybe a goo-ner. Hah!" Kylie said, barely managing to get the words out between guffaws.

Kylie kept laughing, even as Keevan's eyes went round and he stopped panicking long enough to take a step back. Eventually, she caught on and looked behind her where two large humanoid slime shapes loomed.

Kylie almost fell over, she was so surprised. But then Helen came bustling over with a few rags.

"Oh goodness me. You poor dears are absolutely drenched in that ectoplasm!" The dwarf said, fussing over what turned out to be Brody and Groll. "I would cleanse you with magic but I can't do anything against ectoplasm. That would be Keevan's expertise. You can cast a spell to clean off the ectoplasm, right dear?"

Keevan cleared his throat, "Ahem. Yes, of course. A very simple task of arcane magic," he said.

He raised his hands and cleared away the slime from his face with a wave of his hands and some mumbled incantation. After a few moments under a pointed look from Helen and some not-so-subtle head tilts toward Groll and Brody, he also cleared away the ectoplasm from them.

The scene shifts to reveal Keevan sitting on the stone.

Keevan sat on the stone, staring dramatically into the middle distance. Then, he began to pick at something in his ear. Then he examined his findings. Gave it a sniff, then seemed to remember he was asked a question.

"Oh yeah. Yes, I learned loads of spells. It wasn't very hard for me. Being an elf really helps, and I guess my family has really good magical genes or something. I really only need to look at a spell in a book for a few minutes and I can pretty much always cast it after that. Unless it's a really big spell. Then I'd have to spend maybe an hour or two staring at a page. Who has time for that, right? But yeah, I'm the magic expert. Keevan the Wise, Master of the Arcane," he said, attempting a dramatic pose.

He paused briefly, listening to a question.

"Woah, really? It takes people weeks to learn a simple spell?! That's way too much work. No wonder not everyone is a mage," he finished.

The scene shifts to Kylie sitting on the stone.

"Master of the Arcane? Hah! What a load that is. Sure, he knows tons of spells. But he can't remember that he knows them. I, on the other hand, am a master rogue. Poisoned blades, stealth, even disarming traps. That's where I fit in. These jokers would be lost without me," Kylie says, trailing off a bit as she looked at the group. Her confident smile faded slightly before dominating her face once more. "Absolutely lost. They'd probably be dead a hundred times over without me."

The scene shifts to the group standing around the large puddle of ectoplasm where the monster had been.

"It didn't leave anything behind? Not even a scale or some venom from the stinger we could use?" Brody asked, standing next to the puddle.

"Nope. Just the crossbow bolts that Kylie fired into it. That's summoned monsters for you. All you get is a big puddle of ectoplasm or magical goo or, if you're lucky, some fairy dust," Helen said, pacing around the puddle.

"Summoned? So someone made this to attack us? Or could it be that the dungeon itself has become sapient and is controlling the flow of magic to suit its own devilish desires of destruction, demanding the demise of we, these dungeoneers?" Groll questioned, one hand rubbing at a tusk-like another man might stroke his beard.

“Okay, everyone! Team meeting back at camp about this new development!” Brody called, voice ringing with authority.

“But we’re all together right here. Why do we need to go over there to talk?” Kylie asked.

“It’s… it’s how you do things. You know? It’s official,” Brody replied, much less confidently than before.

The group walked the twenty paces back to camp. Well, a bit more than twenty paces for Helen, who had much shorter legs. But still not far. Once back at camp, Brody put on his authoritative voice once more.

“So. We know that magic is at work. Someone or something has been summoning these creatures that have been escaping the dungeon. This is not just your average magical dungeon, then. So, Keevan, what is our plan of action?” Brody said.

“Me? You’re our leader,” the elf replied.

“You are our expert on all things arcane. Surely, you have some insight into what we’re facing and how best to combat it,” Brody responded.

“Oh. Yes. Of course. Well, um, the monster was summoned. As evident by the ectoplasm. So it was summoned by a summoner, one who summons. Or by something else that summons creatures. So our best bet is to stop whoever it is that is summoning the creatures,” Keevan said.

“Excellent insight, Keevan. I believe Brody was asking for more of a detailed approach to going about stopping whoever or whatever is behind the summoning. Must we venture into the depths of the earth, confronting all manner of summoned beings at every turn with the combined force of our might, minds, and magics? Or must we devise a magical homing beacon of some sort to seek out this perpetrator of peccancy in their place of power?” Groll asked.

"Peccancy? What does it matter if they're hungry?" Kylie asked.

"Ah. You're thinking of 'peckish'. If something is peccant, it has been offensive or committed a sin. Apologies, I can sometimes get carried away," the hulking orc replied, slightly shame-faced.

“Ah. Yes. Um. We can try to do both at the same time? Keep going into the cavern while I devise some method of locating the source of power?” Keevan said.

“Excellent! We have a plan! First, we rest! Then, we head out at first light! Or, well, whenever first light would be if we weren’t underground. When is that, again?” Brody said.

“I believe that was about an hour ago, dear,” Helen said, nodding.

“Ah. Well. In that case. We pack up and leave now!” Brody said.

“Oh, I’m sure everyone is quite tired after being woken up by an attack. And by the fight. And all before breakfast, no less! Poor Groll didn’t even have time to put on a shirt. Perhaps we should have a bite to eat before charging headlong into danger?” Helen asked.

“Ah. Yes. Of course. To breakfast. Then to danger! I mean, to find that summoner,” Brody said.

“Ooh, can we have some of those tiny sausages?” Keevan asked, demonstrating the size of his desired meal with a thumb and forefinger.

The group migrated over to a spot where Helen had taken out a frying pan, some eggs, and tiny sausages to cook. She pointed a finger, directing Keevan where to start the magical cookfire. All of the group went there except for Groll, who went back to his tent first to put on a shirt and vest. He may have been a barbarian, but he wasn’t uncivilized.