Despite Tyto's best efforts to strike a deal with the two strangers, Strix had decided he was not interested in a deal. A shouting match had ensued where Strix informed the colorful mares that the treasure he and Tyto found belonged to them. Strix had watched the mares turn as if they were going to leave. With a blur of motion, Strix had felt a rather shiny hoof land a hard kick to his chest, knocking the air out of him. As Strix fell to the floor, he heard a loud crackling mixed with the whispering sound of feathers in motion.
     As Strix lay on the floor and Tyto ran to his side, the two watched their loyal pets launch an assault against the two mares. Taffy screamed as an enraged owl attempted to blind her with its talons. Charm spun and shrieked as a living flame singed her flanks, crackling with energy. Tyto helped Strix to his feet and the two seemed tempted to flee the chamber. "We can't leave all that treasure. We've been collecting that for months," Strix said, watching the mares run around the chamber and nearly collide multiple times. Tyto nodded, "We need to get them to leave. We can't afford to fight them. If they win, they'll kill us." Tyto smacked his lips a few times, which was Oracle's cue to return to his owner. The owl paused its attack and fluttered to its owner, sitting on the top of Tyto's neck. The wisp saw its avian companion leave and followed suit, moving to hover near Strix's face, illuminating his features in a dull blue light.
     The two mares stopped their panic, turning to look at the stallions. Spittle and foam gathered on the colorful coursers' lips as they heaved and wheezed. They weren't used to being so physically active. Raiding abandoned camps was an easy living, after all. Strix cleared his throat and spoke, his voice echoing in the chamber, "You need to leave us alone. We don't want to make any deals with you. We just want to be left alone." Tyto nuzzled into Strix's neck, silently praising his calm approach to the situation. Charm looked over at the stallions as Taffy hid behind her and rubbed at her face with a foreleg. "Look, we got off on the wrong foot. Obviously, we aren't some kind of ruffians. If you don't wanna make a deal, that's fine. We will leave you alone," Charm said, looking back at Taffy's bleeding face.
     Taffy groaned and kept rubbing her face as she spoke, "Normally, people take the deal because they're scared of us and they're scared of these tunnels. I guess we've just gotten a big head about it. We're the only ones who know these tunnels so we kinda sorta started acting like big shots," Taffy said, her voice trembling. Charm spoke, her voice soft and serious, "Truth is, we need any help we can get. These tunnels are tough and we just aren't tough enough. We know the layout, sure, but weird stuff keeps happening and we're pretty sure some of the tunnels changed shapes somehow. I know, it sounds crazy. I know. We just keep raiding people's camps for supplies so we can survive a little longer. We wanna be done with this place but something keeps moving the exit right when we find it. We're stuck down here. We're cursed." Taffy lifted her face and turned to look at Strix and Tyto, her pink opal markings stained with red blood. She spoke, "We may have taken some kind of magical golden thing from one of the store rooms and it may have been cursed. Also we may have lost it when we were getting chased by some kind of monster."
     The mares explained their plight to Strix, who was getting his chest checked over by Tyto. A nasty bruise was showing through the white fur of Strix's tobiano. The two had stolen some type of idol from a store room deep in the tunnels and it seems like a spirit trapped in the idol had cursed the coursers to be trapped in the tunnels until their deaths. The two had tried to put the idol back but they were chased by what sounded like a massive poisonous slime. The idol had fallen out of their pack and they had no idea where it was now. Strix had sighed deeply as the mares finished their explanation. Fine, the four of them would seek out this lost idol and then the two camp raiders would leave the tunnels and let the stallions explore in peace. Tyto had been very proud of Strix for coming to a nice calm resolution.
     The rest of the day was spent on healing and resting. Taffy needed her face covered in a special type of healing moss and Charm had smeared some of the moss's juices on her wisp burns. Tyto deemed Strix to be healthy, despite the large purple bruise hiding under his chest fur. In the morning, the search for the lost idol would begin. Strix couldn't wait to get it over with.