"Sadly, your campaign ends here..."

---

Greedy idiots, the both of them; but she couldn't just let them die here... Could she?

In trying to save baubles from a lifetime in the brow of some long-lost beast, the party had awakened something. A greater being that had fallen to the imbalanced beliefs of heroes versus beast; they had not been allowed to fall to content and peace- aged by the gentle company of their own kind. Maw felt this in her core; even before the grand skeleton shuddered she felt the magic swell. She felt the adrenaline of fear- the terror of one who did not understand.

And it was this that caused her tone to be shrill, unnerved when the skeletal structure finally shuddered back to life.

No mercy to be had from the unfairly forgotten.

The dark courser watched as fear gripped the knight and the rogue hunter fell from the skeleton's brow. Even though, in truth, everything happened too quickly... it felt like a lifetime passed between each decision.

It wasn't until she yelled and barreled into the knight, causing him to drop the blade, that senses returned to something more structured.

"Kalim, Lyr! Faster! We need to get out of this level!" Maw gave another shrill whinny, the group's hooves pounding against the cobble. With a nip of her fangs, she even snapped at Kalim's flank- an attempt at getting the heavier courser ahead to shift from canter to gallop.

The risen skeleton wouldn't have been so merciful.

It wasn't until they were ascending a pathway to the surface that the party could finally slow down; nostrils flaring and barrels shaking as the adrenaline slowly left them. Winded they could finally walk instead of run- they had been allowed time. Because it seemed that the being, and whatever magic brought it to life, hadn't followed... or, at least, been able to follow.

"You didn't need to snap my flank back there," Kalim finally snorted through a shakey breath; the tone had been intended lightly but that was hard to decipher through a faltering voice.

"I did- you weren't moving fast enough," Maw responded with a snort, ears pinning back. "You lot hired me to keep you alive- not to be gentle about it." The black courser snorted, earning an apologetic look from the bay.

There was a moment of unsteady silence, even Lyr kept his muzzle shut.

With a sigh, Kalim bowed his head, "Sorry... that was intended as a jest." He was a creature of humor when nerves bested him, his pride, or his steel, but unfamiliar company wouldn't know such a thing. "Genuinely, thank you." The knight was apologetic, truly- aware the true state of his nerves had fallen on deaf ears.

Hooves continued to thud forward along a cobbled path until Maw came to a halt; they were halfway to the surface now and she intended to go no further. The dungeon was her home, she did not belong beneath the sun and sky; and though she held no malice toward the surface, it gave her no comforts either. "I will stop here and turn back," A proclamation, "Continue up this path and it will lead you to the entrance. If you need me as a guide again, you will find me."

With that Maw turned and began to descend back into the dungeon.

Kalim nor Lyr would manage a word before the dark courser disappeared, her smoke-black coat blending in with the shadows. In an instant she was gone; back towards the depths from where she had come.

Though both sides felt something similar as ways had been parted.

They would meet again.