Garrett checked out the wall where the coffin room used to be. Once again, he found that the wall had no seals or cracks or anything that would have indicated that something was there in the first place. He wondered what would happen if he decided to stick something in the wall, like his sword, next time before it happened. Still, there was the risk that it might trap the sword inside the wall and then he'd be defenseless. After confirming with the wall, he caught up to Min-Tul and Xul, who had already gone ahead. As the party got deeper and deeper into the Darge, they occupied their time with some idle chatter.
"So, Xul, were you really just here to see if there were any adventurers who might have needed you?" Min-Tul asked, leading the party.
"I mean, for the most part," Xul'Gomoth said, forming the middle of the party, their voice trailing off at the end. "The treasures and stuff don't really mean anything to me."
"Why not?" Garrett asked at the rear of the party. "It seemed like most adventurers here are trying to get the Treasure of Amer-Turul."
"It's the bodies that interest me the most," Xul said, spreading their arms wide. Garrett could see that their arms were stitched together like their face was, a bizarre patchwork of skin tones and textures.
"The bodies?" Min-Tul asked, turning around to face Xul. "What are you exactly? I'm normally not one for Species Bashing, but you don't look like any kind of species that I know of."
"Yeah, that's cause I'm kinda not," Xul said, turning away from Min-Tul's gaze. "Look, I told you it's a long story. Tell you what though. We don't die getting this treasure of Amer-Turul, I'll tell you all the nitty-gritty details."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Garrett said before noticing Min-Tul's gaze.
Min-Tul kept his gaze trained on Xul, not moving at all. "Well, it doesn't suit me. I need to know what you are."
"And what concern is it of yours?" Xul asked back, clearly getting annoyed.
"Because," Min-Tul said, taking off his backpack. He opened it up and showed off a large array of herbs in containers that he had neatly organized within. "If something happens to us, I need to know if I have to use any of my emergency supplies on you. I'm not about to waste precious antidote on a reptilian or risk using holy water on a demon. So, what are you?"
Both Garrett and Xul breathed a sigh of relief as Min-Tul explained. The serious nature of the conversation quickly lightened up as Xul turned their head back to Min-Tul. "Oh, so that's what you were worried about. Look, don't worry. You don't have to use any of those resources on me. Not unless you got a bottle of Dark Xir in there." Min-Tul shook his head. "Then we don't have anything to worry about, both good and bad."
Min-Tul nodded and turned back around, leading the party down into the Darge. Through the hallway they went, the path split into two directions. The left path led downwards deeper into the Darge while the right path led upwards.
"I saw we go right," Xul said, looking at the two paths. "Call it intuition." Min-Tul and Garrett exchanged glances before nodding in agreement. The trio took the right path, being careful of traps. After a few minutes, they came across a large open room. Everyone quickly moved to the side of the walls out of sight. Inside were various creatures made of rock moving all around the room.
"What are those?" Garrett asked, taking a peek into the room before ducking back into the hallway.
"Servants for the Elemental Lord of Earth," Min-Tul said, taking another good look in. "They must be patrolling the area. Guess that means there's something important here they're guarding. We'll have to find another way around, but I think we're close to the treasure."
"Guess I was right," Xul said with a smile on their face.
Garrett looked down at his weapons and flashes of his fights so far appeared in his mind. He turned to Min-Tul and nodded, but something caught his eye. He inched slightly towards the room for a closer look to confirm his suspicions. To his surprise and dismay, there was a large cage in a section of the room where some prisoners were being held. Most of them looked absolutely ragged, but there was one prisoner who stood out. This prisoner had very flashy and gaudy clothing. He appeared to be a large lizard of sorts, but not quite the same as the lizards that Garrett had encountered before. Garrett groaned at the sight of him.
"Come on, we need to find another way into this room," Min-Tul said, waving Garrett to backtrack with them. With a nod, Garrett hurried along. The three of them walked back to where the path they had taken previously split in two. "Alright, let's check this other path." The three of them nodded to each other before heading down. The path slowly grew deeper and deeper into the Darge. The crystals illuminating the walls slowly and slowly began to dim out as they got farther down the path.
"I don't think this path will lead us anywhere useful," Garrett said, noticing the fading light surrounding them.
"Well, we aren't strong enough to face down that room full of guards," Min-Tul said, beginning to prepare a torch.
"Again, I suggested going back to town," Xul said with a smirk, but Min-Tul put his hand in front of their mouth.
"Wait, look." Min-Tul pointed to a large metal door that was embedded into the rock wall.
Cautiously, the trio of adventurers approached the door. There weren't any markings on it or symbols anywhere to indicate what it was or what might be behind it. It seemed to be made out of iron and sounded solid. Xul was the one who nervously placed their hand on the door, the trio breathing a collective sigh as nothing happened.
"Okay, I'm going to open it now."
Garrett nodded and held up his shield, bracing himself for whatever might happen. Min-Tul crouched behind Garrett, giving him some support in case anything came barrelling out of the door. Xul nodded back to Garrett and pushed into the door. The door slowly opened with a loud groan as the gaping maw of the darkness invited them in.