They left the strange rock and its writing behind, the bat fluttering along behind them. It was a part of the dungeon he'd never encountered before despite connecting to an area he was quite familiar with; somehow they had just missed it.

The thin passage opened back up into a long tunnel. He knew that there was a large, branching network of tunnels at the end; he would look there, see if he could find anything interesting to explore.

Their hooves echoed around the walls as they trotted down the tunnel. It created an odd sort of echo chamber, feeding into itself and growing continually louder. He shook his head with a snort.

Then he paused. Beneath the echoes, they could hear a second set of hoofbeats. These were less organized, off-rhythm - panicked. Whoever it was, they were slipping on the stone ground in their fear.

He couldn't hear anything else, but that didn't necessarily mean there wasn't a monster. Keeping his original pace, he headed towards the other courser curiously. It was difficult to tell how far away they were; all the echoing was throwing off his senses.

After a few more seconds of trotting he turned a corner and nearly ran headlong into the other courser, who whinnied in surprise and threw her weight back on her haunches, coming to a sliding stop.

"Cat! Big!" The other courser gasped, and as he spoke, Friar saw a bobcat turn out of a side tunnel - presumably where the other courser had come from - and begin to advance.

He snorted. As if a bobcat could be considered a big cat.

As it approached, Friar pinned his ears and stepped between the cat and the other courser, who had for some reason stopped behind him instead of continuing to run. When the cat hesitated, he reared and struck the air dramatically before mock-charging a few steps for good measure. It ran off, as expected.

"Thanks," the other courser breathed, and Friar turned to see that he had taken a few steps closer, taking them almost nose to nose. "I'm Cully."

He shook out his mane, taking a half-step back. "Bobcats will only chase you if you run. Act confident and they'll get intimidated."

"You must know a lot about the dungeons," Cully said as Friar pushed past him to head back for his original goal. At some point the bat had landed on his back.

"Sure," Friar replied noncommittally, flicking his ear as Cully began to follow him.

"So, uh.. would you mind helping me out? I'm a bit lost," Cully finally admitted. "The bobcat was chasing me, and, well, I got turned around."

Friar turned to appraise the champagne courser for a moment. Most adventurers wouldn't ask some random puck for advice, even if said puck had saved them from a few nasty scratches. Either Cully was woefully ignorant or very perceptive. Or too trusting of a horse who had changed off a bobcat for him.

"Sure," Friar found himself agreeing without really meaning to, and he looked away. Whatever. It wouldn't take much time for him to lead Cully to a cave close to the surface; it wasn't like he really had anything better to be doing.

He turned abruptly into a different tunnel. This one would take them on a rather straight-shot upwards, through a couple different caves. Cully stayed silent for all of two minutes before saying, "So what's your name?"

Friar grunted and didn't respond. The tunnel began to slope upwards, and he heard Cully slipping on some of the loose gravel. Not an experienced adventurer, then. Which was evident in the first place by her getting chased by a bobcat.

They emerged into the first cave and Cully gasped. This one was filled with bioluminescent moss, which was rather pretty until you tried to eat said moss and discovered that it would give you a stomach ache for a week. Not that Friar had eaten the moss or anything.

"This way," They said impatiently when Cully stopped to sniff a nearby moss-covered rock.

"So how long have you been down here?" Cully asked as they left the moss cave behind, entering a passage unfortunately wide enough for them to walk side-by-side. Friar glanced sidelong at her.

"My whole life."

"Oh. Wow." Cully clearly hadn't been expecting that answer. "No wonder you know your way around."

He snorted in response, and they lapsed into silence again. The next major cave was nondescript, filled with plants. It continued for a while until Friar took them on an offshoot that grew narrow once again. This part wasn't steep but contained ledges that jutted out of the ground like gargantuan steps.

"Nearly there," he muttered, more for his own sake than Cully's. The other courser only huffed in reply and the puck imagined that Cully was having some trouble with the steps. At least it would keep her quiet.

Finally, they emerged into a cave flooded with natural light. Friar nodded in the direction of the light's source. "There. It'll take you right back up to the surface."

Cully trotted forwards a few steps, then paused, looking back at Friar. "..Do you want to come with me?"

He stared at Cully for a moment, taken aback. Go with him? Really?

They shook their head. "No," he muttered after a long moment. Cully glanced back up towards the surface again, and by the time she looked back, Friar was gone.