Much to my delight, I have gotten lucky and caught sight of the first exploration of the forest temple. Two groups of people are entering together, one being a three person party of young boys while the other is a six person party of older adults. The three boys are equipped with decent weapons and leather armor, as well as a dungeon lantern. The group of six adults are less well equipped. They're using standard guild issued spears and thick clothing.

  I watch an over eager woman stumble her way into the arrow trap in the first corridor. I get a few drops of mana in return for her pain and the emotions felt by the group. The six person group's leader, a man named Bran, treats her wound with mundane medicine.

  They progress to the fork in the hall and an argument ensues. I watch with growing impatience as they prattle on for several long minutes. Eventually Bran gets the group back on track. Now the collective group splits up. The three boys are being accompanied by a man from Bran's party, while everyone else in Bran's party sticks together.

  It doesn't take a genius to figure out why Bran sent the man with them.

  He can watch the boys and ensure they don't pilfer any loot promised to Bran's group.

  My anticipation approaches its peak as I watch the leader of the boys--a young man named Teddy--push open the wooden door to the study. The hinges squeak as it swings open. The room is relatively dim, lit only by a window made of thin rectangular holes in the stone wall. The faint sounds of the outside and fresh air are a welcome surprise for the group.

  "It looks clear... I don't see any monsters, or traps," Teddy announces.

  Teddy's words actually alert a merul hiding among the wooden debris of his presence. The merul stands up from its hiding place with a chunk of sharp wood in its mitten shaped hand. Bran's underling scoffs as he sees the humanoid mushroom stand up.

  "That sure doesn't look clear to me, kid!"

  The merul lunges toward Teddy in a clumsy strike. Luckily for Teddy, he manages to dodge the attack and stumble back a few steps. The merul turns to face him with renewed vigor. It thrusts the makeshift wooden poker at him again. This time he is met with a spear through the face, which impales it cleanly. The merul goes limp.

  "What was that thing?" The boy named Andy asks.

  "Not sure... It looks like a mushroom with arms and legs, though."

  Andy crouches over the motionless merul with a contemplative look on his face. He inspects the merul carefully, studying the simple clothing it wears.

  "It wears clothes. Isn't that strange for a monster to do?"

  Teddy nods slowly as he glances down at the dead monster--which truthfully is not dead at all. Mycelady simply had it stop moving to appear dead, since they stabbed it in the head. Combat is effectively a game for her. Her minions are the pieces. The forest temple is the board.

  "I did hear rumors about a monster that could talk, and actually had a conversation with the Pioneers. Maybe these guys are like that?" Teddy postulates.

  "Hope not. I don't want to kill things we can reason with."

  "Will has a point. Let's pray this mushroom guy was just a mindless monster."

  He's half right and half not. Technically the merul are just various pieces of Mycelady, and hurting them does nothing but cost her nutrients.

  Bran's underling ignores their conversation. He's more interested in the treasure chest sitting beneath the intact wooden desk. He pulls the chest out and pops the lid open in one fluid motion. Inside he's greeted with a pile of copper coins and three healing potions. He scoffs at the loot like it offends him, and snatches the potions up. He leaves the coins for the boys.

  How rude! Does he seriously hate the loot that much?

  Healing potions are life saving, and the coins are plentiful!

  I watch Will start butchering the merul in search of anything useful. The other boys load the copper into a bag. Bran's underling does a sweep of the room, searching for any hidden treasures tucked in the rubble or furniture. He finds nothing.

  "This thing is a mushroom, alright. No organs."

  "Really? That's a shame... guess it could be used as food."

  While that group of four finish up their business I move my focus to the other forest temple delvers. Bran's group is fighting the merul in the chamber with the fountain. One Merul is already 'dead' while the other three are chasing a squealing man around the fountain in circles. The merul all wield rocks of varying shapes and sizes.

  "Damn it, stop running!"

  The panicked man doesn't quit his circular sprint. Bran gets a woman and man who are uninjured to help him stab the merul when they get close enough. They take two passes to kill, as Bran's group failed to do enough damage for Mycelady to decide those merul should be dead. In the end, things work out fine, and Bran gives the cowardly man an earful for running around like a headless chicken.

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  "You do that shit again and I'm cutting you from the party!"

  Bran's scolding has the man bowing his head in shame. The able bodied woman in the party approaches the dry fountain at the center of the room. The sunlight let in by grates in the ceiling glints off several gold and silver coins littering the bottom of the fountain. Her eyebrows raise.

  "Boss! There's coins in the fountain!"

  "We aren't taking coins, they aren't worth the trouble."

  "No, they're not copper. They're silver and gold!"

  The woman's words gets Bran moving. He marches to the fountain's edge and peers inside curiously. He lays eyes on the rarer coinage and a wicked smile splits his face. Is he planning on swindling those boys out of the coins he promised them?

  "Damn! This is a good find..."

  Bran chews his lip in thought. The woman who found the coins starts to climb into the basin to scoop the silver and gold ones up into her pouch. Bran snaps at her.

  "Hey! Those aren't ours--I'm not keen on scamming kids out of foreign coins."

  "But they're made of gold! We could make good money!"

  "Would you rob those kids if they had a few gold on them?"

  The woman goes quiet at that. She looks hesitant when he puts it like that, as she is technically stealing what should be given to Teddy's party. She pours the coins out of her pouch unceremoniously. I'm pleasantly surprised, as I didn't expect Bran to have decent morals.

  With the room's only source of loot denied, Bran's party investigates the door at the back of the chamber. The stairwell spiraling down gives them pause.

  "Let's regroup with the others before going down there. I don't want to stay split up for long."

  My focus moves from Bran's group back to Teddy's. Teddy's party is making their way down the corridor and following the main path. They quickly meet up with Bran's group, and the boys are told about the coinage in the fountain.

  "Gold coins! How much do you think the guild will give us for these?" Teddy wonders aloud.

  "I don't know if they'll take them... hopefully we can get some silver out of it."

  Once the coins are secured the two parties decided to descend the stairs leading deeper into the temple. The only injury sustained thus far is the woman with an arrow wound in her leg, and the new coins are enough incentive to explore further.

  At the bottom of the staircase they're met with another corridor--this one isn't dark, but rather well lit by dungeon lanterns attached to the ceiling at regular intervals. They're too high up to grab. I'm sure if they weren't secured to the roof adventurers would be snatching them up and selling them like the soldiers used to do with lantern stones in the early days.

  This time the group is cautious when exploring the hallway. They inch forward slowly, their eyes scouring the ground for any sign of a tripwire. Their vigilance pays off when they notice a tripwire only a few paces from the stairs. Bran takes charge.

  "Let's trigger it, so we don't accidentally hit it on the way out."

  The others let him do as he pleases. He uses his spear to sever the taut wire, and an arrow at roughly chest height shoots out before clattering harmlessly off a stone wall. The group looks a bit wide eyed as they realize that could have done serious damage if someone had walked into it unwittingly.

  If I was in my body I'd be grinning, as I see a merul wandering down the hall around the corner. They can't see it approaching. It's coming from the bunk room and headed toward the worship hall just as I suggested Mycelady have them move.

  "Wait. What's that sound?" Bran murmurs.

  "I don't hear anything."

  Bran shushes the man who just spoke as he strains his ears to listen. He can hear the soft squishing steps of the merul as it nears them. He raises his spear wordlessly and the merul walks out casually in front of them. It doesn't see them as it turns to walk down the corridor in the opposite direction of the group.

  The group of adventurers watches, mouths agape, as the merul walks down the hall and opens the door to the worship hall before disappearing inside.

  "Uh... Apparently those monsters move around," Teddy comments unhelpfully.

  "Apparently. Let's go where it came from first, just in case there's more of them waiting in that direction."

  Bran's suggestion is not argued against by anyone in the group. I watch eagerly as the collective parties move toward the bunk room. There are a total of seven merul in the room right now, all but two of them are 'sleeping' in a bed. The remaining are sitting on the same bed holding hands for some indiscernible reason. I guess Mycelady must enjoy playing house with her minions?

  The group reaches the closed wooden door to the bunk room. Teddy's party is at the front with Bran, likely due to the three boys having better gear than Bran's party. Bran twists the handle. The door creaks open to reveal the bunk room to the adventurers.

  "What the hell?"

  Bran's exclamation is quickly followed by the two merul holding hands leaping out of the bed they were sitting on. They each grab the nearest pillow to use as a weapon. It's laughable seeing the small mushroom humanoids wielding fluffy pillows as if it will be an effective melee weapon.

  "Are they serious?" Teddy mumbles, dumbfounded.

  "Let's just finish them before they realize their folly!" Bran barks.

  The fight ensues. Bran stabs one of the merul through the chest using his spear. A cascade of feathers falls to the floor of the room as his attack pierces the pillow in the merul's hands. The other merul with a pillow lunges at Teddy. It brandishes the pillow in an overhead swing that connects with Teddy's head. All that results from the impact is a soft thump.

  Will is quick to come to Teddy's 'rescue' by slicing the merul in front of him in two. The axe strike isn't clean, but it cuts the merul's head in half while leaving the body intact. Mycelady decides the sound is enough to 'wake up' the other merul in the room, and this time she has them fight with their bare hands.

  "Shit! The others aren't playing around!"

  Bran's comment is followed by a merul leaping upon his head from the top bunk. He shouts in shock as the merul punches his head repeatedly with its fungal fist. The dull thud of each impact is much more worrying than the earlier sound of the pillow hitting Teddy. Bran's spear is useless in fighting such a close range enemy.

  Luckily for Bran, Andy is not half bad with a bow. The boy fires an arrow from the doorway and it hits the merul clean through the head before clattering off the stone ceiling. The merul falls motionless and slumps to the floor at Bran's feet.

  Bran is still relatively okay, but now his face is bruised in several places.

  "You three! Get in here!" Bran orders his underlings.

  Now the fight is eight adventurers against four merul.

  What the adventurers don't know is that two merul just so happen to be approaching the bunk room from the worship hall. They're about to get attacked from two sides.