Carter ascends the pyramid with careful steps. His armored friend Hugo leaps up several steps at a time, a strategy that promptly throws the large man onto his face. Carter lets out a little laughter before he can stop himself, earning him a deathly glare from Hugo.

  "Hardy har har, laugh it up!" Hugo fumes.

  "Sorry, sorry! I couldn't help it, honest."

  Carter offers an apologetic hand. Hugo begrudgingly takes it, rising to his feet with Carter's help. The two men enjoy ribbing one another like this from time to time.

  The peak of the pyramid's first visitor, Carter, is underwhelmed by what he sees. A flat platform with a square chunk of it cut suspiciously. No fancy altars or statues. No runes or ancient pictograms.

  "Well this is disappointing," Amy remarks.

  "Took the words right out of my mouth," Carter agrees.

  The four of them mill about the top of the pyramid, scanning for anything of note. Carter finds the view from here most striking. It gives him a most striking vantage point. He can see a distant fishing village nestled between the trees, one which he makes a mental note to visit later. Carter is brought out of his thoughts by Hugo.

  "Now don't blame me if I'm wrong, but I think this here is meant to be our entrance."

  "Really? And how do you suppose we open it?" Asks the party's priestess.

  "Why, with brute force!"

  Hugo squats down low to the floor, jamming his armored hands into the narrow crack surrounding the stone slab. He squeezes as tightly as he can, and begins to lift with all his might. The man's face reddens with exertion. His eyes bulge as he groans aloud.

  "Damn it!"

  Hugo swears, his arms shaking as he releases the stone. He failed to budge the stone. The party's mage, Amy, steps forward with a confident expression.

  "Leave it to me, big guy."

  "How in the blazes is a wee lass like you--"

  Amy turns her palms up to face the sky before throwing her arms up into the air. Mana bends to her will, creating a massive cascade of purple crystals which grow in the cracks between the slab and the pyramid. Hugo's words die in his throat as several amethyst growths send the stone slab he couldn't lift flying up into the air. The massive slab of stone lands with a resounding crack, tumbling down into the water below with a splash.

  "That's how." Says Amy, smirking.

  Hugo looks a tad embarrassed as he stares at the submerged stone resting at the foot of the pyramid. Amy and the priestess huddle around the entrance to the dungeon, peering down the newly revealed stone staircase. Carter slaps Hugo upon the back, comforting the man with a few words.

  "It's alright my friend. You just lacked the leverage necessary to lift it."

  "...Aye."

  "Now, what say we delve a dungeon?"

  Hugo's expression softens at the mention of their delve. He turns to face the exposed staircase, his wounded pride forgotten. It's a spiral staircase, leading down into darkness.

  Carter pulls a pre-made torch from his pack, lighting it with a firestarter.

  "I'll lead the way with Hugo right behind me, you two take the rear like usual."

  The rest of the party nods their assent. Carter leads the way, holding the burning torch aloft. Hugo follows behind him, his heavy steps echoing down into the pyramid's interior. Amy and the priestess stick close to one another at the back of the group, their pace dictated by Carter's.

  Down they go, several meters beneath the stone. There is no sunlight within the pyramid. The flickering orange flame of Carter's torch is the only thing illuminating their path.

  Carter steps out of the staircase and into a corridor. His three allies follow suit, their nerves taut as they look into the darkness. Carter does a quick head count before moving forward.

  "One, two, three... okay. Stick close everyone."

  They descend deeper into the pyramid, walking carefully down the slightly inclined passage.

  It's not long before Carter gestures for the group to stop. They wait silently for their leader to make the call. Carter scans the floor of the tunnel carefully for several seconds. Once satisfied with his inspection, he turns to address his party.

  "There's a pit full of spikes just ahead. It's roughly two meters long, so we should be able to jump it."

  The group nods in understanding. Carter takes a few cautious steps forward, stopping at the edge of the pit. He holds the torch high so as to illuminate the spike filled pitfall. Carter gestures for Hugo to step forward. The heavily armored man does as such, his footfalls echoing down the passage.

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  "Mary, get ready in case we need some healing," Carter orders.

  Mary, the party's priestess, steps forward with a silver rosary in hand.

  Hugo takes a step back from the edge of the pit, getting a running start before leaping across the pit. The clang of Hugo's steel boots hitting the opposite edge of the gap rings like a gong. He stumbles a few steps further before coming to a stop. He turns to wave across the gap.

  "It's plenty clear over here!"

  Amy steps up next, her eyes flickering from the pit to Hugo on the other side. She breaks into a sprint. Hugo steps aside as Amy jumps clear across the pitfall, easily landing on the other side.

  "Alright, Mary. Your turn."

  Mary hesitantly approaches the edge of the pitfall. She takes a deep breath, and starts to rush clumsily toward the edge of the pit. She loses her nerve at the last moment, panicking, flailing her arms to stop herself. Carter grabs the back of her robe, helping her right herself.

  "You got this, Mary!" Amy shouts encouragingly.

  Mary looks up, exchanging a smile with Amy. She takes a step backwards. Finally, she takes a running leap across the spike pit. Amy catches her, beaming at the priestess' performance.

  "I did it!" Mary squeaks.

  "Yes, yes you did." Amy laughs.

  Carter looks across the pit to see Hugo ready to catch the torch. Carter tosses the torch end over end, neatly passing it to Hugo. Hugo holds the torch steady to provide light for Carter. Carter crosses the gap with a deft leap, landing on his feet. Hugo is quick to pass Carter his torch.

  "Let's go."

  The party of four delves deeper, Carter leading the way with his eyes scanning the edges of the torchlight. They walk for several minutes before Carter halts.

  "There's something ahead. I can't tell if its a trap, but stay on high alert."

  Hugo raises his hammer. Amy's hands twitch, eager to cast. Mary just looks queasy.

  Carter takes a few silent steps forward before recognizing an alcove carved into the wall. Two stone urns occupy the alcove. Carter is cautious, approaching and carefully prodding the urns with the tip of his drawn sword.

  When nothing of note happens, Carter relaxes.

  "It looks safe. Two urns, could contain something dangerous. Get ready, Mary."

  Mary clutches her rosary tightly. Carter sheaths his sword, and passes the torch to Hugo. He carefully grabs ahold of an urn. It rattles as he lifts it. Turning the urn over, Carter catches the urns sole content. A golden coin.

  "What is it?" Hugo asks.

  "It's a coin. I think it might be made of... gold?"

  "What?! Let me see!" Amy interjects.

  On a whim, Carter flips the coin into the air. All four of them watch the glimmering coin turn end over end. An alligator's face on one side--The pyramid they're within on the other. Amy catches it before it can hit the floor.

  "It's... actually made of gold!"

  The excitement pushes Carter to inspect the other urn. He grabs it whilst the others are distracted by the gold coin. Turning it over, he catches a pair of coins identical to the first. He turns to address his party, finding them engrossed in a conversation regarding dungeon cores.

  "I'm not sure the nearest city lord would take kindly to that, Amy..." Hugo grumbles.

  "Confound the city lord! This dungeon spits out ancient gold coins, who cares about the rules when we could be getting far more valuable treasures?"

  "Amy, what're you suggesting?" Carter interrupts.

  "I'm suggesting we keep this place to ourselves."

  "No. We play by the rules, Amy."

  "But think of the opportunity we'd be passing up!"

  "We're not bandits. We're delvers."

  Amy's expression darkens upon hearing Carter's words. She takes a deep breath, and nods her understanding. Carter's watchful gaze shifts from the party's mage to the coins in his hand. The others all perk up upon seeing two more valuable coins.

  "We've acquired three coins. I say we delve deeper in search of a fourth coin, to make things even between the four of us."

  "Aye, I can get behind that!"

  "Sure."

  "I'll do my best not to slow us down."

  Getting affirmative answers from all of his teammates, Carter turns to lead the way, reclaiming his torch from Hugo. He passes the two coins in his hand to Hugo and Mary. This way he's the only one without treasure, ensuring some fairness between leader and company.

  "Stay close. We have yet to see any monsters, and I would bet my britches there's at least one lurking somewhere down here."

  Amy snorts in amusement.

  When no further comments arrive from the peanut gallery, Carter starts his march. The torchlight flickers eerily as the group creeps deeper. The constant spiraling of the passage is unsettling. To Carter it seems as if they're climbing down the esophagus of a great snake.

  Torchlight illuminates a pit full of spikes. This one looks identical to the last, right down to the arrangement of the spikes. Carter signals for the group to stop, and the party repeats the same procedure they followed to pass the first pitfall trap.

  Once on the other side, the group is greeted by an alcove filled with urns. Amy nearly lunges upon the treasure laden vessels before Carter grabs her by the back of her collar. She yelps in agitation, her face twisting with anger.

  "Let go you damn control freak!"

  "Calm down. We need to check for traps."

  A venomous retort rests upon Amy's lips, yet she doesn't let it slip from her mouth. Mary is looking fearfully at her. Shame and guilt douse the fire in Amy. She lets Carter pull her away from the urns, clearing her throat awkwardly.

  "Better. I'll check them each like before. Hugo?"

  Hugo offers an open hand. Carter passes him the torch to free up both hands. He turns to the alcove, his eyes scanning the three urns. One is squat and wide. Another tall and skinny. The third is unremarkable. Carter picks up the squat urn, hearing coins rattling inside. He turns it over, dumping four coins into his open palm with a series of clinks. The other's eyes all widen at the quantity of gold.

  "Well then... this is, fortunate." Carter murmurs stiffly.

  Carter passes out the coins, keeping one for himself. He turns back to the urns. Taking the skinny one in hand, he pours it out into his hand. Two coins fall into his palm this time. Rather than passing them out now, he takes the third urn--the unremarkable one--and adds its contents to what's in his hand. Three more coins fall from the urn to join the first two, making five.

  The group's expressions shift between excitement, fear, and disbelief. Once split evenly amongst them, each party member has three gold coins in their possession. Despite being an unrecognized currency, they're immensely valuable for their material and rarity.

  "I think it's safe to say we're mighty rich, ain't we?"

  "Y-Yes... I could afford to buy the abbey back home with this much!"

  "Really? That feels like an exaggeration, Mary..." Amy comments suspiciously.

  Mary blushes at Amy's accusation. Truthfully Mary has no idea how much it would cost to buy the abbey back home. She's just a priestess, after all.

  "We can talk about what we'll do with the money later, for now we should leave the dungeon."

  The team reigns in their enthusiasm. Their leader is right, they're still in a dungeon.

  It's best not to count your chickens before they hatch.