"These little ones keep coming in waves, but they aren't what's worrying me.

We need a better idea of what's coming." Throttlecog empathized his point with a double-handed blow of his spanner to the side of a Stone Lurker's head.

Spanner beat stone, the creature crumpled, leaving the cavern quiet except for the heavy panting of exhausted miners and the groans of those suffering injuries.

Milo and Belinda had been healing the injured after each wave.

They were weak and battered but still able to assist in the fights.

Both of them were running low on mana.

Belinda noticed two things: Milo regenerated his mana far faster than she did, and he ate a lot of cheese.

The miners were quickly learning how to take down the small lurkers by working in fast moving teams.

But there seemed to be an endless wave of them.Two-Screws slowed the spin of his augers, and they reshaped into mechanical hands.

He walked to the nearby barrel of ale and brought back two large flagons, handing one to Throttlecog.

No one had objected when several dwarves from the guildhall had hauled down the barrels and made a makeshift bar.

Dwarves healed faster and fought harder with good ale to drink.

Milo theorized it must act like a low-grade cheddar on their systems.

He kept trying the stuff at Two-Screws urging, but it still tasted weak and bitter to him.

He'd stick with cheese.

"What we really could use," Two-Screws exclaimed loudly.

"Is a fast and agile scout.

Someone who doesn't mind taking suicidal jobs and going into danger.

Someone who could go find the big lurker and report back."Milo sighed.

He'd been thinking the same thing himself and expecting that he'd be running off to scout sooner or later.

What he hadn't expected was someone else to volunteer.

Vary rushed up to Two-Screws and saluted.

"I volunteer sir! I'm fast, and know the caverns.

I'll go find it."Two-Screws paused and looked over to Throttlecog who just laughed at him.

Two-Screws finally said, "Lad, no one is questioning your speed but...""But it's a job for more than one person.

I'll head out with Vary." Milo stepped up and put his hand on the young dwarf’s shoulder.

Burnock was listening to the conversation from off to the side.

He'd taken part in some of the fighting, but had a tendency to not engage until the monsters were injured and slowed.

He wasn't taking any chances on being laid up with broken bones, or outright killed.

Now, he saw an opportunity, and turned to Shifty.

In a low voice, he told his cousin, "Go with them.

The kid is green and doesn't know what to do, he'll get in a jam and the spannerboy will try to save him.

That's when an "accident" can happen.

You'll look good coming back with the info after the other scouts die."Shifty ran the idea through his head.

As usual it was a crappy Burnock-style plan that put him in the frying pan while his cousin strutted around in his shiny armor.

Not that he had much choice.

He started shucking his armor into a pile.

He shouted to Milo.

"You'll need a third.

Three of us can handle any stray Lurkers and I'm as fast as either of you." Wearing just a miner's simple clothing, he grabbed his pick and walked up to Milo.

There were a few murmurs of approval from the miners.

They all knew this was a bad job, and their opinion of anyone who took it moved up just a bit.

A few also scowled, knowing Shifty's reputation.Two-Screws nodded in approval at Shifty and Vary shook his hand.

The youngster looking longingly at the ale in his hand.

Throttlecog walked over and handed his full flagon to Vary.

"Here Lad, fortify yourself, it's a dangerous job.

Go find the critter, stay out of fights, and let us know how many more little ones to expect and some info on the big one.

Don't take chances; that's what you have Milo along for.

He can't seem to stay out of trouble."In a few gulps, the flagons were empty and a slice of cheese eaten.

The three scouts ran rapidly into the darkness, looking for trouble.

After moving through the large central caves for a few minutes, they saw a lone Stone Lurker shambling along.

Vary looked like he wanted to charge it, Shifty held him back.

"Don't go off half-cocked.

They look slow, but those big talons strike at you like a praying mantis kills a beetle."Milo nodded in agreement.

"I can take hits better than either of you.

Let me get its attention.

Then you two can chip away at it.

If it turns, back off immediately and run away just a little bit.

I'll hit it and get it back on me.

Ready?" The other two nodded.

Shifty's keen eye noticed the armor that suddenly grew on Milo's arms and legs.

Milo charged out, leaped and spun in the air.

A long, bony whip reached out and slashed at the Lurker, surprising it.An excited Vary turned to Shifty.

"Wow, is that an engineer thing? It looked like he was casting a spell."Shifty was also wondering.

He saw Milo take two chunks out of the Lurkers chest with his pick, and then just dance around, avoiding its strikes.

The engineer waved at them to engage.

The fight went well.

Milo kept the beast's attention, and the two miners slowly depleted its health with dozens of hits.

Only once did it turn on the two miners.

Shifty took no chances, grabbing Vary by the arm and dragging him well out of the fight.

Milo hit it twice more, crippling a leg and forcing it to focus on him.

Vary and Shifty waded back in and finished it."Wow.

That was awesome." Vary had seen little combat before this, and was excited.

Shifty turned to Milo.

"Teaching fight?""Yes, I thought it would be good to build some team work with the loner.

I held back a lot and let you and Vary get the feel for how your new weapons bit into it.

Good job, both of you."Vary was excited and proud.

He'd gone into battle with an Engineer and gotten his first big kill.

Shifty was troubled.

Part of him wanted to sneer at the young one, and tell him how easily life went to shit.

Another part was enjoying the straight forward fight, and thrill of working with someone who took the risks and valued his teamwork.

He was going to feel guilty when it all played out badly for his two 'partners', but that was ok.

A bit of guilt let him know he wasn't at the bottom yet.

Burnock hadn't expressed guilt even when they were children together.The sound of rock scraping on rock let them know that more Lurkers were coming.

Hopefully that also meant the Brood mother was up ahead.

This time it was a group of nine that was moving through the caverns, heading straight for the miners holding the line at the entrance to the city.

Milo and his group stayed hidden in a side cave as they passed by, then continued on.

Three more times they passed groups of the immature Stone Lurkers, between six and ten in number.

All were following the same path, heading towards the ongoing battle.

Entering into what Vary said was one of the larger caverns, they finally found the monster they had been looking for.

Milo stared out in in awe.

The creature was huge, even bigger than the Myconian Ancient or the Snake.

And quite possibly more powerful.Vary was having trouble even looking at the creature from afar and his knees felt weak.

Milo could just barely identify the creature.

He said as much to the group.

"I'm only getting a name Stone Lurker Brood Mother.

I can't see any information on her, just too powerful."Shifty chuckled.

"Let me give both of you a bit of advice: Work on your perception.

Spend your points from the Miner's Guild to buy the Assaying skill from old Brickleback in the Assay Office.

Then go up to the adventurers Guild, and do some quests for the halfling.

You can get Legendary Lore and some other odd stuff like Magical Item Appraisal or Creature Identification.

Try to gain experience in all those skills.

You'll thank me down the line for that, if for nothing else.

And if you spend a lot of time, and get Brickleback to like you, you can learn Gem Valuation.

A little hint, he likes peanut brittle.

I must have bought the old sucker twenty pounds of it.

And there might be other skills you can find as well.""Now let's take a look at this mother."

UthneragrubbanBrood Mother of the Stone Lurkers, Breaker of Heroes, the Earth Shatterer

Level 17 Monstrous World-BossAblative Stone Armor, Brood-Mother, Crystalline, Stone Based Regeneration, Rumbler, Unique