Tash shook the cobwebs out of her mane and followed Laszlo out of the dungeon. She’d been delving with an old friend - Crispin - and throughout their adventure onto Level 2 he had regaled her with stories of the other adventures he had been on recently. A very busy horse by the sounds of it! They now walked in comfortable silence together, enjoying how the air cooled as they ascended from the sweltering heat of Level 2. 

Her faithful bat friend peeped and led the way, eager to return to the surface in time for dusk. He was a little dracula bat, fluffy and round and only a tiny bit more bloodthirsty than his fellow bats. As they approached the surface together, with Crispin in tow, Tash paused. The light didn’t feel quite right. It was more red than usual. Laszlo peeped and circled her, urging her onwards. She spoke to Crispin for the first time in around fifteen minutes;

“My friend, the light doesn’t feel right?”

Her bat didn’t care, he urged her to continue. Crispin came up alongside her and continued too. 

“It’s alright, just the Harvest Moon. Go steady tonight, The Harvester might be about.”

Crispin winked. Was The Harvester just an old tale? Hooves clicked against cobblestone and the outside world came into view. A gorgeous sunset danced across the sky and Tash paused to take it in - much to the annoyance of her flapping pet. He swooped and flapped at her face and made it very very obvious that he wanted to move quickly. 

Just behind her, Crispin emerged from the dungeon. She turned to face him, ignoring her small companion’s urgency. 

“Thank you for today, I had fun chasing those hellhounds!” She laughed, and Crispin creased up with her, both replaying the vision of hellhound butts disappearing into the distance in fear. 

“No problem at all, Tash - I’d best head off now, I’ll catch up with you soon. Stay safe, dear.”

“Stay safe” She echoed.

Crispin turned to the left and gently wandered off towards his home. Tash stood still in the crisp evening air and looked up at the Harvest Moon. Lazslo peeped in annoyance. 

She spoke to her bat friend then, flicking her ear in annoyance at him. “Laz! Settle down please. I’m not sure I want to be out in this full moon. Something feels eerie about it. Like we might meet The Harvester or something.”
She shivered, shook herself and began moving towards home - first at a steady walk and then when she was sure Lazslo was following in his swooping looping pattern, she shifted into a trot. The well trodden path between her local dungeon entrance and her home was familiar - but not in this light.

Everything was bathed in red. As if someone had put a filter over the moon and dipped everything into liquid ruby. Rose-tinted glasses, but without the glasses.

It wasn’t long until her home came into view. A comfortable place, amongst old ruins. Vines and leaves held the roof together and she had cultivated flowers around the entryway, usually they were blue, but in this light they came over ultraviolet. Inside, Tash had built a real deep and comfy nest of blankets, gathered from scraps of material on her adventures. She kept a rafter clear for Laszlo to roost on.

“Come on mate, get inside. You can go out to feed when its not.. Like this.”

He didn’t argue, swooping into the doorway and going straight to his roost with a contented chirp. She looked up at him, to check he was alright.

“Let’s hunker down here for the night. I wonder how long The Harvester will be around.” She hoofed at her nest like a dog seeking comfort, circled a few times and then lay down with a contented sigh, causing some of her loot and hauls to clank and roll a little away from the pile. She dragged a torn and chewed spellbook with mercenary contracts tucked into it from beneath one of the thick blankets and settled in to read.