Josie tilted her head to one side as she examined the strange, lizardlike lava creature. She looked up at Terrence.

“Terrence, what’s this?” She asked him. Terrence trotted over to her side to look.

“It’s a salamander,” He declared. “They’re very useful to alchemists. Something of a rare find these days, though.” 

“Really? What’s happening to them to make them rarer than they were?”

“Well, adventurers like us collect them to take to the surface and sell.”

Josie looked shocked. Terrence shrugged. 

“That’s terrible! There has to be a better way.” She looked back down at the salamander, which was looking a little lethargic as a result of its cooling body. “...Is this one going to be okay?”

“It’s just cold. If you threw it back into the magma, it would probably be fine.” Terrence explained. Josie nodded, gently picking up the creature’s tail in her teeth and beginning to drag it back towards the magma. It had a squishy texture, and even after having cooled off it was still almost too hot to hold in her mouth for long. She worked quickly to return it to its home and when she was done trotted back to Terrence with a satisfied look on her face.

“There. Hopefully that one has learned its lesson about wandering too far from home.” 

Terrence nodded.

“A brave hero you are.” He commented, half-joking.