Prompt: This part of the cave looks older than the rest. In rustic dye, you encounter a crude depiction of Coursers unlike any you’ve ever seen before, their oddly-proportioned bodies running in a herd along the wall. Who could have made this? How does it make you feel? 

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“So, how’d you manage to get lost?” Jalil asked their new companion.

“Oh, I tried to take a shortcut. Not doing THAT again,” River chuckled. “How about you, Aleyna, how’d you get lost?”

“Oh, um…” Aleyna was caught off guard, “I, um, saw something shiny and lost track of the path…”

River laughed.

“Isn’t that just how it goes down here! Never know when the shiny thing is gonna be a treasure or gonna be a dud.”

Aleyna blushed and nodded.

“So, treasure or dud?”

“Oh, um… it was a pebble. But it was a treasure to the stone golem we came across, so it worked out in the end.”

“Nice! Sounds like you found a good shortcut. I went the long way around to get to this chamber. The extremely long way around.”

“Well… I’m kinda glad you know that way. We may use it on the way out,” Aleyna commented.

“Oh yeah, you said you needed the help of a golem… yeah! I can totally help us get out of here.”

“Well, before that, how about we check out this cove in the wall.”

Both Aleyna and River turned to look at where Jalil had indicated. Following the black courser into the alcove their lanterns lit up the small space to reveal not treasure, but art. It covered every wall and surrounded them. A herd of coursers all round and oddly shaped with stick legs. Running. Up the wall until the light could no longer reach, making them question who could have possibly done this.

“Wow!” Aleyna whispered.

“Funky,” River added.

Jalil was quiet as he approached the wall and took a closer look.

There were horses of all colors among the ranks, from pitch black to pure white, every shade of brown they could probably have made with the materials they had on hand. Some spotted, some with paint markings, some somatic, and even filigree and opal, or at least what they guessed was opal by the many colors used in white marking shaped patches. It appeared whoever painted this had seen it all. The herd circled around them.

The three coursers were in awe and silently decided this was a good place to rest. They set up a small camp in the center of the cove among the comforting herd of painted coursers. Like a wall of guardians they watched over the small group as they rested, regaining their strength before they made their way back out of the Overgrown Caverns.