Garrett and his three companions made their way through another hallway, taking out a few cavern spiders that they had come across. Immediately, it was clear that the equipment they had was a far improvement from what they were using before. Still, they were cautious about what remained between them and the treasure of Amer-Turul.

"So, I've only ever heard about it, but what exactly IS the treasure of Amer-Turul?" Garrett asked as he led the party through a darkened hallway.

Suddenly, Jerten began to speak in a very excited tone. Vanessa translated with even more exaggerated excitement. "Some say it's a powerful weapon, such as a sword or a lance," Vanessa said, dramatically posing with her hands, "Others claim it's a relic that, if combined with other two legendary artifacts, can unleash powerful magic, capable of even destroying Argis the Great."

"Wait, there are other legendary artifacts?" Garrett asked, both surprised and not surprised. "Makes sense that you'd know about them, Jerten. What else do you know about them?"

"Very little," Vanessa said, matching Jerten's more upset tone, "The treasure of Amer-Turul is the best and most known one. People have only heard rumors of the other two. No one quite knows what they even look like, or what they do." She gave Jerten a gentle pat on the back. "Jerten wants to learn about the artifacts. Apparently it'll be a huge treasure hunting discovery, not to mention saving his people." She shrugged and gave a small smile. "The treasure and stuff was never my goal of adventuring, but recording and depicting the amazing achievements of the greats? Now that's my style."

"As long as I can get around," Zerat said, still adjusting to the armor body he now inhabited, "then everything's an adventure for me."

"Figures, coming from a boring hat like you," Vanessa said, sneering at Zerat. Zerat snarled back at her, pressing his hat up against her face. She moved aside, which made Zerat stagger forward a bit. "So, Sir Bates, who are these 'Cerezie' and 'Min-Tul' you mentioned earlier?"

"Oh, uh, well," Garrett said nervously. He struggled to find any words until they approached a corner. "Wait, quiet everyone," Garrett said in a hushed tone. "There's something around the corner." The other three quickly stopped moving and listened intently. Garrett gestured with his eyes to some shadows that were on the ground.

Beyond the corner was the sound of monstrous laughing and cheering. The shadows danced wildly on the ground, brightly illuminated from the room past the corner. From Garrett's best judgment, there were about 7 beings in the room, but they didn't look like goblins. He couldn't understand anything they were saying.

"Anyone understand them?" Garrett asked in a hushed tone. All three of them shook their heads. "Okay, so we can't understand them and I don't know what they are. No idea if they are friendly or foes. I don't know if I can safely look around the corner."

Stolen novel; please report.

Vanessa thought to herself, then came up with an idea. "Picturesque! I have a plan." She turned around and grabbed Zerat's hat.

"Wait, what are you- Stop! Don't!" Zerat warned, but it was too late. Vanessa had pulled the hat off the armor, causing the armor to clatter to the ground. "You. Idiotic. Demon."

"Whoops," Vanessa said, turning her attention to the corner.

Immediately, there came the sounds of creatures noticing the armor and rushing to the corner. Garrett barely had time to draw his sword when the first one came through. It looked like a large orange lizard, wearing decent armor and holding a battle axe. Garrett and the lizard both stared at each other, trying to determine if they should fight each other.

"Um, we come in peace?" Garrett said, trying not to seem intimidating. "Hey, maybe they're friendly adventures," he said, turning to his companions. Vanessa and Jerten both shook their heads frantically as they began to get into a battle position. Garrett quickly turned around as he saw the orange lizard tilted its head before screeching at him. "Not friendly!" The lizard lunged at Garrett, swinging its axe wildly around.

He barely managed to block it before a second red lizard came from around the corner. Jerten fired a crossbow bolt at it, but it barely missed. It screeched and lunged towards Jerten, only to be knocked aside by Vanessa. She quickly threw Zerat back onto his armor and got into a battle stance, which involved hiding behind Jerten. "We gotta run!"

A third, then a fourth, then all seven of the lizards came out, all wielding large axes. They violently hissed and swung their weapons at the four adventurers. "Fall back!" Garrett shouted as they began to get overwhelmed. Jerten and Vanessa ran ahead while Garrett and Zerat held off the lizards as long as possible. "These lizards have armor. I take it they aren't naturally raised here?" He slashed one across the chest, it crying out before collapsing, and dropping an orb of Helioxene.

"Nothing gets past you, eh?" Zerat said, punching a lizard away. "Take a look at their armor."

As Garrett knocked away another lizard, he noticed there was a red emblem on the lizards' armor in the shape of slash marks made by three claws. "Yeah, I see it. What's it mean?"

"It means this group of lizardfolk is working for Gorun the Brutal, one of the Chiefs of Argis the Great," Zerat said, attempting to hold back another lizard. "We should have gotten the jump on them."

"Yeah, well, I didn't know who or what they were from just their shadows," Garrett said, looking back and making sure that Jerten and Vanessa had managed to get away. "And I couldn't have just attacked them. What if they were other adventurers?"

"You can't be that trusting!" Zerat said as he began to get pushed back.

"If I wasn't, you'd still be a hat on the ground, or worse, sliced up to pieces," Garrett said, turning his attention back to the fight.

"Fair point." Zerat struggled with the lizard he was grappling with, which allowed a second one to blindside Zerat, knocking the hat off the armor.

"Zerat!" Garrett shouted, turning to see barely catch a glimpse of the horde of lizards swinging their axes. His vision was clouded in a pool of red as he felt himself collapse on the ground. As soon as it took his brain to process what happened, pain roared through his body as he felt all the wounds inflicted on him. He barely managed to yell out in anguish. The last thing he heard was Vanessa screaming his name before he succumbed to the pain and everything went black.