31.2ᴘᴀᴛʀᴇᴏɴ.ᴄᴏᴍ/sᴛʀᴀᴛᴏᴛʜʀᴀx

"I am most certainly not! I would never voluntarily-"

"Hey, is that a slave collar around that Kobold's neck?"

"It fucking is as well. Hey, this Kobold's being puppeted!"

"Th-this? This is a-a fashion accessory!"

"It's attached to a bloody chain!"

"Oh, that's the necklace part! It's long because it's fashionable of course! It's really popular on the bottom floor of the dungeon!"

An arrow zipped out of one of the arrow slits and struck the stone by his foot with a shower of sparks. The red Kobold leapt into the air in fright.

"You almost shot me! Scale rot you! Do you have any idea what I've been through? My own kind having the audacity to shoot an arrow at me? Have some decency you cretinous- !"

Three more arrows struck the stone around him and the red Kobold was abruptly yanked behind the rock with a tug on his chain.

An annoyed looking Goblin met his eyes.

"You suck at acting."

"No I don't, it's just that you gave me an impossible act to follow!"

"Nonsense, my plan was fine."

Rain moved away from the wall. "It was not very likely to work Opal, let's be serious."

"Hmph!"

"They somehow heard about what happened."

Opal scowled. Then sighed and her shoulders slumped. "It's my fault. My old tribe posted scouts on the Half-goblin tribe, I should have realized that other tribes would do the same. Half-goblin tribes are dangerous so it's smart to do that."

This was the fourth tribe that Opal had brought them to, and the second on the floor above the Half-goblin tribe. They had left the Half-goblin tribe intent on finding a regular goblin tribe and repeating the same plan, unfortunately each time Opal brought them to one of the nearby small Goblin tribe's home caverns they found it devoid of Goblins, with only a few signs that a tribe had recently been there. What had happened to the Half-goblins had spooked them enough to go to ground and vanish into the dungeons extensive cave systems. After the second time they found nothing Opal had suggested they take the stair up a floor, they did so only to be met with another tribe's deserted cavern. Word had apparently spread far. This had led to Opal wanting to test the local Kobold tribe, if unenthusiastically, as the Kobolds were clearly entrenched and impossible to attack.

"It happens. We just need to adapt."

Opal bit her lip and shivered. Rain noted her knees were slightly turned inward. He looked over the Goblin carefully. He could sense something was off with her since she had run away while he ate the Half-goblin tribe yesterday but he couldn't precisely say what. She'd stayed away from him until they'd made to look for more food and then he kept catching moments where she was looking at him nervously.

"Adapt, right, uhm, well we don't need to go after tribes."

"We can kill other monsters, monsters that hunt alone or in small packs. Monsters that aren't sapient. Larger monsters."

Opal tapped her lip. "Larger monsters might work, you're waaay stronger now, I bet you could take down something pretty big with some tricks, and if they are big that means lots to eat."

"That's true, but how do we find something like that?"

"I know of a potential place, maybe. Follow me."

She tugged on the red Kobold's chain and entered into the tunnel. She paused for a moment as she walked and trembled, her breath hitching. Rain narrowed his eyes but after seeing nothing more he followed.

She took them on a winding route through the caves until the ground began to be covered with the verdant moss of a new biome. Small green and white flowers speckled the walls as they went deeper. The scent of plant life filled the air and golden pollen floated lazily about them. The twisting winding tunnel eventually came to an end and the trio exited into a vast crystal lit cavern that was segmented into several broad tiers covered in verdant greenery, trees, and grassy moss and flowers. Giant flower bulbs hung from the ceiling unbloomed. The air was full of pollen.

Rain sneezed.

"Smells like I'm sitting in a bath full of flowers."

"It's blooming season, it also tends to attract a certain monster species that come here to feed. A scary monster that likes to crawl through tunnels and hunt Gobbo tribes."

"Crawl?"

"Well, it is big."

She yanked on the Kobold's chain and made her way to the edge of the tier they stood upon, a crescent moon that's inner curve dropped off as a cliff down to lower tiers. Below them, ancient gnarled trees dotted the mossy grassy ground.