Gatsy trotted along through the Earthen Furnace behind Markas, who they’d chosen to be their escort into this part of the dungeon. Gatsy had done a few solo dungeon delves before, but only on the first level. The Furnace was entirely new to them. 

As was the experience of having a comrade. Gatsy had been impressed by Markas’s confidence and good humor, and had hired him against the advice of some of the other mercenaries, who had warned Gatsy that Markas had a propensity to be overly bold. That was a risk Gatsy had decided they were willing to take - he seemed competent enough, so what could go wrong?

The pair chatted amiably as they traversed the dungeon, but after a while Gatsy stopped suddenly, their tall ears pricked. 

“What is it?” Markas asked, but before Gatsy could answer he heard it too.

Howling. 

A grin slowly spread across Markas’s face. 

“Do you know what’s making that sound?” Gatsy asked curiously.

“Hellhounds,” Markas replied, swishing his tail and shaking his mane restlessly. “Look, there.” He gestured with his head to a ledge above them, where a canine silhouette stood looking down at them. Gatsy shuddered.

“What should we do?” They asked. 

“We’ll need to fight them off.” Markas replied, looking somewhat excited. 

“That sounds dangerous.”

“Running would be more dangerous. Hellhounds are better at chasing than they are at confrontation.” 

Gatsy nodded in understanding, but still felt wary. They’d never fought much of anything before. 

Around them, hellhounds began to emerge from the lava and from crevices in the stone walls of the cavern. There were around five of them. Gatsy shuffled closer to Markas as the hounds began to circle them. 

One of the hounds lunged forwards, trying to spook the pair into running, but Markas boldly kicked the hound away with one of his front hooves and it flew backwards with a yelp. That sight gave Gatsy a bit of confidence - Markas made it look easy. When a hound lunged for them next, they too kicked their assailant away. They felt a little bad for the yelping creature, but also quite satisfied with themself. This wasn’t so hard. 

Gatsy and Markas steadily drove the hounds away with well-placed kicks and stomps, and although there were a few close calls, they were mostly unscathed by the time that the hellhounds retreated. 

Gatsy shook out their mane, winded from the skirmish. 

“We did it!” 

Markas snorted with satisfaction. 

“You did pretty well. You sure this was your first scuffle?”

“Heheh. I’m just a natural, I guess.” 

After a moment of rest, the pair continued through the dungeon.