"So what made you want to explore the dungeons?"

Pascal's question exchoed off the moss-lined walls of the caverns, punctuated by a water droplet dripping down into a puddle below, somewhere in the distance. Hadal whinnied as it thought. Pascal and Hadal had been wandering for some time through an area that Pascal knew well, hoping to find a crevice or unturned stone that could yield loot. Yet, even though they were fixated on finding treasure, both Coursers sensed there was more to the other's motive than just gold. The darkness around them, warm and humid, seemed oppressive and threatening in the silence that followed.

Finally, Hadal answered.

"I'm not sure," it started carefully. "Something... someone? Pulls me inward. Calling to me, like rain echoing off a roof. Like a figure in the mist after a storm. It has been beckoning me since I was a foal. I want to answer it."

"Are you sure that's safe?" Pascal said, scrapping one hoof on the ground. "The dungeon holds many tricks. What if your call is a siren, looking to devour you?"

"Then I will deal with that when the time comes."

Silence fell once more between the Coursers.

"What about you, my friend?" Hadal said after a long stretch of walking. The stone beneath them seemed to shift in color, gradually turning from a mossy green-grey to a water wicked blue.

"I need the funds," Pascal said. "I want to build a clinic. I've acquired a building and some tools, but I need more space, more hooves, more, well, everything."

"That is very noble of you," Hadal said, nodding approvingly at its companion.

"Not as noble as you may think."

Deafening silence followed for the rest of the trek.