A warm glow began to fill the cavern along with the inviting crackle of burning wood. Rukbat had finished setting up the evening’s fire, and he worked absently at undoing the straps of his barding before settling down. Auriga wore far less gear, so she had begun to wander the perimeter of the camp while her mentor busied himself. He’d already cleared the area of any hazards, so she could be certain it was safe, at least for the time being. Most monsters, at least on this level, seemed to avoid fire. Perhaps it was due to all the plant life that flourished here? An unsupervised fire was likely to spread untamed with so much easy fuel, which would be a danger to everything that lurked in these caverns. She’d heard that the deeper levels of the dungeon were quite different in environment. Once she had more experience, Rukbat promised to take her so she could explore some real ruins. For now, though, she was content exploring every nook and cranny of the first level, until she’d exhausted all of its secrets.

At the moment, she had her nose buried in a pile of rusted, dented Courser barding. How old was it? It didn’t look quite like the styles she’d seen other Coursers wear, but that was a weak point of her knowledge. She’d have to ask Rukbat about it later. Had it been discarded because it had been abused to the point of being ineffective? Or were some of those rust stains actually blood? Hm. She didn’t see other signs of remains, so unless this armor was old enough for its owner’s bones to rot into dust, this was probably just a trash heap due to ordinary wear and tear. She nudged a piece aside, and her ears pricked forward as something shiny greeted her. Treasure! Or, wait, was it? It looked like a small batch of gold and gems, but the individual gems were moving! Auriga watched in fascination as the scene began to make sense before her. What she had thought were coins were actually beetles, with gemstones embedded into their wingcases. Most of the more active beetles sported large horns, which they used to ram into each other and attempt to flip each other over. Higher up on the pieces of barding, a small assortment of hornless individuals milled about, apparently watching the combat below. Fascinating!

“What do you have there, Auriga?” She had been so engrossed in the spectacle that she hadn’t heard the sound of Rukbat’s gilded hooves approaching behind her.

With wide eyes, she raised her head to meet his weary gaze. “Look! I think these beetles here are fighting for mates. The ones with the horns are probably the males, which means the females have to be the ones up here watching...”

“That’s what catches your attention? Not the gems all over them?”

“I mean, I did notice those, but come on, it’s a beetle coliseum! How often do you see that?”

“Not often, considering most Coursers probably just bag them up without actually looking at what they’re doing. Could get good coin for gems like that.” Rukbat swished his tail and turned back to the fire. “We should do the same. Pack them up when the show’s over.” He carefully lowered himself to the ground and began to munch on a pack of rations. “And make sure the bag’s tight. Can’t have them crawling out while we’re asleep.” A more experienced adventurer probably would have killed the insects first to prevent such a problem, but Rukbat knew Auriga would be too softhearted for such a deed. It wasn’t like the gems would crack under the weight of a hoof. Well, probably not.