The caverns near the front of the dungeons weren’t nearly as dark and dank as the ones farther in, but they certainly still were dark and dank, midnight on stone. Denver clopped haphazardly over pitfalls and ancient bones, cobble that might catch his hoof if he stepped wrong. It had been a fairly uneventful trek so far, but a long one, and the courser was starting to wonder if the others in his tiny settlement had somehow already pilfered the entirety of it before he’d set eye on even a single rock of the ancient ruins within.

It was still exciting though- that thrill that there could be something around the next bend, the mysterious allure of the depths. He wasn’t one for adventure per say, but a burly buddy from his youth had struck it rich in one such labyrinth, and he’d not heard hide nor hair of him since he decided to uproot himself and travel abroad- ‘see the sights’ as it were. Lucky prick. He hated to begrudge him the good life though, when it was all any of them really wanted, wasn’t it?

As it were, Denver didn’t have any such luck on his second delve; the first having been a mere step or two inside, before he chickened out and ran back to his tent to pretend like he had never left in the first place. Despite his massive size and muscles to carry his hulking frame, he simply wasn’t built for combat or acrobatics or whatever it was you needed to traverse such a place. The walk was arduous even if it wasn’t filled with monsters or traps, and he was starting to think of turning back, of the last of his ripened cheese brought from the city sitting wrapped in the trunk at the end of his bed. There were plenty of days ahead of them anyway, if what Bert had said about settling down was true.

The enormous bay didn’t have a lot more time to think about it however, when he rounded the corner to find the most fantastical looking stream he’d ever seen. It shimmered like diamonds, cascading vibrant colours on the stony walls around him and flowing freely from one end of the hall to the other, disappearing into some unseen drop in the floor beneath it. A strange scent hangs in the air, light and sweet like perfume from flowers or fresh honey pulled from sun-warmed comb. The courser trots lazily toward it, blinking down at the churning rainbow. ”Hmm…” he hums to himself, thinking about his sister, Cally. She’d tell him not to drink it, that it was probably poisoned or something, but she wasn’t here right now and if there was any chance that this liquid would get him absolutely wasted he needed to know now so he could bring a few broad-shouldered assistants back with him to load up on as many barrels as they could carry. Talk about a big break!

”Don’t mind if I do then, sweetheart” wasting no more time at all, he kneeled to dip his thick snout delicately under the current, sucking in the sugary dew. It was sweet, and refreshing, and when he lifted his head to toss back his hair, lips smacking and water dribbling from his chin, he let out an enormous and satisfied sigh. ”*Fuck* that’s good!” he exclaimed, before going in for another sip. ”Cally’s gonna love this…” he hadn’t thought to bring any empty flasks, nor even a canteen for himself to drink (he wasn’t about to spend all day in here just yet), so he resigned himself to backtracking on his way out, memorizing the path to return to. If they could sell this…. Well, if he wanted to sell it, anyway.

Denver went to stand once more, but found he was quite stuck to the spot, legs like the jelly his mom used to spread on bread in the morning, with just a pad of warmed butter to top it off. When he looked back at the water the colours swirled in patterns he hadn’t quite noticed before… patterns that were slowly coming together and morphing and lifting up and up until it was as if there was no longer any gravity for the strange liquid light. It floated in bubbles around him, reflecting his own widened eyes back to him- pupils dilated to the edges of his iris. He felt, strange; light and bubbly like the water. His head was a rush of euphoria, a dizzying amount.

”Oh- ohoho, now *this* is fun, isn’t it?” He asked the large rodent to his left that was pulsing colours to match the current, and the rat responded; ”Ya fucked up.”

”HA! A talking rat, not everyday you see one of those. Don't suppose you've seen any treasure around have you little fella?” he smiled dopily, already far enough into the hallucinogenic effects of the strange stream that he didn’t question what he was seeing. Why of course the dungeons would have these things, they were strange places after all! Wouldn’t Cally like to hear about this!

”You fucked up, mate, go home.” The rat was a large warty toad now, and Denny wasn’t sure he liked that it could change so quickly without him noticing. The floor had changed too; morphed into strange grass laid flat, packed like hard earth in place of the dungeon floor.

”Well y’see I was going to go, before all of this happened. But life’s strange isn’t it, like a dream.” It certainly felt like one anyway. Was this a dream? Everything was so much brighter now, it almost hurt to look at. He wanted to close his eyes, lids squinting almost shut.

When he looked back at the rat-toad, it was tilting its large horse head at him, eyes still amphibian. ”Then GO” And suddenly- he was gone. The giant bay had fallen asleep, having over-indulged in the magical substance true to his nature. Callahan would be worried, surely, and come looking for him, but in the deep dreamless sleep he’d fallen into, Denver hardly cared at all what happened to him next.