Under this concentrated and skillful attack the skull finally met its end. It exploded creating a shower of bone that forced the coursers to take cover.

Ruin screeched and flew right up to the cavern ceiling hiding behind an outcropping of stone.

When the bone and dust settled they regrouped.

"Great job everyone!" Ravin praised. His heart was still pumping from the excitement and he could hardly keep still.

"Everyone worked together seamlessly!" Edos said, "Excellent work."

"Flynn is glad he is dead. If we ever meet another one, at least Flynn knows how to kill it now but Flynn would rather not," he rattled off.

"Let's check the state of the camp, then we'll check out the mysterious box," Edos decided.

They were soon shifting through the camp. It was a bit trampled and one of the tents had caught fire but for the most part it was not a total loss. 

"This is better than I hoped," Samantha said with a sigh, "Pity the food is spoiled now though."

"Let's clean up," Flynn announced.

They got to work and after about an hour of effort, they had salvaged all they could and discarded the rest.

"Now let's see what is in this box that warranted all of this," Edos stated.

Ravin was nervous about it but also excited.

Flynn took the lead into going back into the chamber and they had a shock. The room which had been clear before was now filled with vines and other flora in a thick almost impenetrable mass.

There was light filtering through which was creating shift shadows.

"Oh this box must contain a king's ransom!" Samantha exclaimed, "The amount of things it is throwing at us is ridiculous."

"Flynn thinks the skull being defeated triggered this spell."

"You're probably right," Edos noted, "I can't think of any other event that would cause this."

"Are we sure this is the same room and the dungeon hasn't shifted?" Ravin asked. He couldn't believe such a thing had really happened essentially overnight. In truth, no matter what caused it, it was simply unbelievable.

"I think it's the same room," Samantha offered her point of view.

"Flynn knows it is the same. It is not an illusion, we have to cut down these to get to the box," Flynn explained.

They all looked at Edos for his decision.

Edos sighed and summoned his weapon again.

"The sooner we start, the sooner we finish," he declared.

Following his lead, they all drew out their weapons and started to hack away at the dense foliage.

It was touch work, which required brute strength and little finesse.

"Are there creatures here, I keep seeing moving shadows," Samantha asked after a while.

"That's an illusion to scare us off," Ravin stated, "I was standing right next to one as it skittered by and I could clearly hear nothing."

"Diabolical..." Samantha muttered.

After three hours of working in shifts and resting in between they finally caught sight of the box again. It was in a clearing, glowing menacingly but otherwise unharmed by the sudden forest that sprung up.

Flynn stepped into the circle tentatively and boldly approached the box. They all watched with bated breath.

After a moment of staring at it, Flynn suddenly gave it a swift kick and the lid flew open! The shimmering magic around it seemed to disappear completely.

"Come and look, it can't be described," Flynn told them.

They all came forward.

Inside of the box were hundreds of thousands of gold coins. In the midst of them was an effigy which was shaped like a skull.

"So this thing is responsible for everything?" Samantha guessed.

Flynn nodded.

Edos lifted the effigy up with his weapon and cast it aside. Once it was out of the box, it started to shimmer and glow again.

"I feel like we should destroy it but I am unsure how," Ravin whispered, "Suppose it summons another skull?"

Everyone was askance at that. While it was nice to have the strategy now, not having to fight at all would be much preferred. 

No one was prepared for Edos to simply stab it with his pitch fork and then rend it into three pieces.

"Well that's one way to do it!" Samantha said and they all laughed.

"Flynn is happy. This is enough to buy the land, right Edos?"

"Yes Flynn, it is more than enough. Everybody gets a share!"

"No Edos, you take it for the militia. It benefits all of us," Samantha said and the other two echoed her comments.

Edos look moved beyond words and for a long time the four of them just stood close together and let the gravity of all that had happened to them settle in.

This would go down in history as the campaign that changed their lives forever and gave birth to the now infamous Wolf Thorn Militia.