Prompt: You are climbing up a rocky incline when the ledge begins to shake, rolling under your hooves like joints being stretched. You have in fact stepped on several moss-covered golems. They don’t seem to mean you any harm, but you have awakened them from a restful slumber, and your way forward is above their shoulders. What do you say to these stone giants?

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After resisting the urge to vanish into the thicket to hide the embarrassment of getting lost over a shiny pebble, the rest of the next leg of their adventure deeper into the Overgrown Caverns was quiet. Jalil led the way while Aleyna followed behind. Aleyna felt a little better having someone to follow.

They came to a fairly steep incline that led to an opening in the stone wall of the cavern. It was pretty high but luckily the boulders leading up appeared like they made good steps for the coursers. Jalil scaled the boulders quite quickly and easily, reaching the upper ledge just outside the entrance to the tunnel. As Aleyna began her ascent the boulder beneath her began to roll and shift. Not in a natural way. They were lifting, not falling or rolling. Quickly the cremello leapt down and took some steps back. Jalil backed up into the tunnel to avoid being knocked off the ledge.

Aleyna looked up in shock as the boulders became large stone golem. It turned its head to look at the little courser and tilted its head.

“Umm… m-my ap-p-pologies,” she stuttered fearfully.

The golem raised a hand and with a flat palm made a motion as if to tell her not to worry.

Jalil poked his head out from hiding and looked around for another way for Aleyna to get up or for him to get down. Meeting Aleyna’s eyes he shook his head. The ledge led nowhere.

“Um, I hope this isn’t rude, but….” Aleyna paused and looked to Jalil nervously before looking at the golem again, “would you be willing to help me get up there?”

Aleyna pointed up at the ledge.

The golem looked at the ledge and spotted the other courser, acknowledging him before turning back to Aleyna. While the golem had been distracted she had noticed a small pile of shiny stones, some looked like gems while others were just pretty. The golem appeared to be collecting them.

Grabbing something from the small pouch she had, she lifted her head with the shiny pebble between her teeth. She motioned her head towards the golem. The golem reached out a hand in response and Aleyna dropped the pebble into their hand.

“F-for your collection,” she said.

The golem was surprised and was mesmerized for a bit before bringing their other hand to hold it against the ground in front of Aleyna. Aleyna paused for a moment before stepping up into it. The hand began to move and she nearly fell over but managed to stay upright long enough for the golem to bring their hand up to the ledge where Jalil waited. Aleyna carefully stepped onto the ledge and turned around to the golem.

“Thank you!” she chimed.

The golem nodded in response and turned to continue admiring the newest addition to their collection.

Jalil seemed impressed and began down the tunnel, quiet at first, with Aleyna following.

“That was good thinking,” he said eventually.

“W-was just an idea. Guess the pebble came in handy,” she replied.

Jalil’s smile was hidden in the dark, but he was glad she had figured out a solution to the problem by herself. She’d be a good dungeoneer, he believed, with time.