The skull was difficult to fight, but after facing it a few times, Edos, Flynn and Samantha had a good idea of how to handle it. Aldric was doing his best not to drag them back with his inexperience.

"You're doing good, Aldric!" Edos praised him, "Keep focusing your shots on the jaw and make sure you don't get hit."

"Yes, General!" he replied.

The battle continued on for another ten minutes before the skull finally exploded in a large shards of bone.

Edos was heading over to destroy the smaller effigy that he noticed dropped out last time when the room suddenly shifted and shook. 

"W-what's happening now?" Samantha asked. 

The hounds started up their fervent barking at that moment and all of them looked around expecting something else to happen. A door opened up in the wall on the opposite side to where they were and then suddenly a large vent appeared in the floor near where Aldric was standing and lime green gas started to seep out.

"Flynn thinks this is a big problem."

Everyone else agreed with him.

"Head for the door immediately!" Edos commanded.

"It smells so foul!!" Samantha complained, "And it is starting to make me feel sick too she complained."

Aldric had the first blast and he already felt light headed but he was unsure if that was because of the properties of the gas or just because it smelled so terrible. Either way, he pulled himself together and followed behind Edos to get out of the room.

When they emerged into the new chamber, Aldric staggered and slumped on the ground. 

Luckily the gas was not reaching them here, but it seemed that they would need an indefinite amount of time to rest before they could continue.

"I am a bit worried that I was not able to smash the smaller skull," Edos said with a frown, "I am still not sure if it is tied together but I didn't want to find out either."

Flynn was the last through the door, and he was dragging the last of hounds with him. 

"Oh no, Diego has passed out," Samantha lamented.

"We seem relatively safe here, but I prefer to try to get a little farther away," Edos said, "Can you manage Aldric?"

Aldric tried to get to his feet but failed. He looked at Edos with a somewhat pitiful gaze.

"Alright, Samantha and I can support you," Edos told him.

He felt embarrassed to need the help but he knew better than to refuse. They help him up by bracing against him and then carefully guiding him forward. 

They didn't go far, but Edos felt even just those few feet afforded them more security. While Samantha and Flynn set up a camp, Edos lay next to Aldric and rubbed his neck comfortingly with his muzzle.

"I'm sorry I didn't move quick enough," Aldric gasped out.

"Conserve your strength, don't talk too much," Edos told him, "And definitely don't apologize for things outside of your control."

Samantha came over with a potion, "Drink this. I'll try to make some clear medicinal soup, but if you still don't improve then we'll have to get you out of here."

Aldric felt sad that he was causing all of this ruckus, he drank the potion and found that it had a strangely sweet and also metallic taste. Afterwards, Samantha went to start a fire to cook, and Flynn was tending to the hounds and wolf companions, giving them some of the same potion diluted in drinking water.

"I don't want you worrying about this," Edos said to him in a low voice, "This is all part of our job. Recovery and emergency management are necessary to be able to call yourself a seasoned dungeon delver."

Aldric knew he was telling the truth but he was still sad that his first campaign was going so badly. He sighed and leaned against Edos.

"Besides you're mine now, I will take extra good care of you," Edos promised.

Aldric knew he was just teasing him and trying to lighten the mood. Edos took great care of every militia member, he was very responsible and also very successful. None of his missions came back with a failure. 

In order to keep Aldric awake, Edos continued to talk to him. Right now he was explaining his future plans for the militia.

"I think all of the recruits will reach Officer rank in the next week or so," Edos told him, "That means it will be time to send out another recruitment drive. I don't really have a number of recruits in mind when I advertise, and people who failed last time are encouraged to reapply. The recruitment period will be for two months this time, this gives the Officers like yourself a chance to continue to rank up and to test yourself, and it also gives me a chance to deal with some other matters."

Samantha came over with some food for Edos.

"Your soup needs a bit longer to simmer, but it's coming soon!" she promised Aldric.

"Thank you, Under General."

"Hush, conserve your strength and focus on breathing," Samantha directed before heading back over to tend the fire.

Edos ate quickly and almost perfunctorily, it was difficult to see if he was even enjoying it but Aldric definitely was enjoying his closeness and watching him. He was still feeling quite light headed and found it hard to stay away but he knew he needed to wait until  he got the medicinal soup at least.

Flynn arrived with his food, and went to Edos' side and started to eat. Unlike Edos, he chattered while eating.

"Mmm this food is so good! Samantha should open a restaurant!" he exclaimed.

"She probably doesn't have the time," Edos wisely pointed out.

Flynn seemed unperturbed by this and kept happily munching away. 

Samantha brought the medicinal soup and Aldric drank it down. It was bitter but that matched his expectations.

After drinking it, he actually felt a bit better.

"It'll take a little bit to take effect but you can rest now. If you wake up in the camp then you'll know that it didn't work," Samantha joked.

Aldric chuckled a bit and let the sleepy feeling finally claim him, snuggling close into Edos' side.