The calcified assaint rushed at Balthazar, his bones rattling as he ran with the chipped hatchet in his hand. A massive jaw bounced precariously from side to side with every step as his cackle echoed all around the chamber like a thousand shrieks from hell, making the crab quickly shrink back against the coffin, every bristle in his body standing up in a fright.

  “I’m a friend of Tom’s!” Balthazar blurted out as he covered his eyestalks with his cws.

  It was the only thing that came to his mind in the spur of the moment, other than perhaps “please don’t kill me, I still have so many pies to live for.”

  To the crab’s surprise, the charging skeleton actually stopped dead on his tracks. Which, really, is the only way skeletons stop oracks anyway.

  “Oi, you know Tom, do ya?” said the grinning skull, with a cheery and loud voice.

  Balthazar’s eyestalks peeked up from behind his pincers.

  “Y-yes. We’re trade partners.”

  “Ooh, that makes sense,” said the skeleton, finally l his on and putting his hand bones against his hip bones. “I did wonder why you weren’t defending yourself. Usually, this is the part where they fight me back, heh.”

  “Hah, right,” the crab said with a nervous chuckle, as he stood back straight and away from the coffin. “Just gd you stopped when you did.”

  He g the hatchet with a gaze of slight .

  “Oh, this?” the unclothed skeleton said, tapping a bony finger on the rusted bde of his on. “No reason to worry, really. The thing’s so old and dull it ’t even cut cheese. It’s all just for show, ha ha.”

  “That’s a relief,” said Balthazar, with an expression of someone who was anything but relieved. “I’m Balthazar, by the way.”

  “o meet ya, ha ha! I’m Jim!” The skeleton paused and eye-socketed the crab up and down for a moment. “Wait, you’re the mert crab Tom talks so much about!”

  “Well… yes,” Balthazar said. “Didn’t you suspect that might be the case when you saw a crab walk in here?”

  The skeleton shrugged.

  “Not really. To be fair, I wasn’t sure if you weren’t just a dwarf in weird armor or something, ha ha.”

  The mert frowned, but before he could say anything, the cag maniac spoke again.

  “So, I guess you’re here to see Tht?”

  “Yes, that’s right, actually.”

  “Wao get him for ya?”

  “If you don’t mind, yes, that would be—”

  “Hey Tom!” yelled the skeleton at the top of his empty rib cage. “Get your bony butt over here!”

  The sound of meatless steps came from somewhere behind the walls, apanied by the rattling of an irohat Balthazar knew well.

  A se of stone wall split open revealing a secret passage, and from it came another skeleton, this one wearing an old, dusty suit full of moth holes, and an equally old hat with several rat bites around its brim. As the other traveling mert appeared, surrounded by the faint halo of light from his firefly ntern, a big grin appeared on his skull once his empty eye sockets found the crab.

  “Balthazar!” Tom greeted cheerfully. “You came to visit!”

  “Tom!” excimed the crusta, finally letting himself rex slightly at the sight of a more familiar skeleton. “How are those old bones?”

  As the bony mert approached, he stopped to look at the other skeleton, and his gbel frowned.

  “Jim, what the hell?” he excimed. “How many times have we told you? You ’t go around the dungeon naked, it’s weird!”

  The taller skeleton looked down at the floor sheepishly. “But I told you it gets hot and stuffy ihe walls, and I enjoy the nice breeze blowing through my ischium bones when I e out.”

  “Oh, for the love of… Just go put on some clothes, will you? ’t you see we have a guest?”

  Jim grumbled as he dragged his feet back through the passage on the wall, closing it behind him as he left.

  “Alright, sorry about that,” Tom said, turning back to Balthazar with a smile. “Some of these guys spend so much time cooped up dowhey fet how to act civilized.”

  “Heh, I noticed,” said the crab. “Especially the part where he came out of a wall cag and swinging a me.”

  “Oh, I hope he didn’t scare you too much? It’s all part of the act for any visiting adventurers. But anyway, you’re here! I almost ’t believe it. You finally came out of your pond!”

  “Yes, I did. I just had too many things that I o do out here, it had to happen.”

  “That’s right, I remember now, your friends,” said Tom, the smile fading and his skull assuming a more somber expression.

  “Besides, I felt it was time to e out here, get on the road and expand my business,” said the crab, wishing to quickly shift the subject.

  The skeleton’s smile came ba a fsh.

  “Hey, you’re not going to step on my turf by being a traveling mert too, are you?” he said in a teasing manner.

  “No promises, Tom,” said Balthazar with a wink. “No promises.”

  The old skeleton chuckled loudly.

  “It’s great to see you, crab! How did you end up around these parts anyway? Something else brought you here?”

  “What, am I not allowed to show up for a social visit?”

  Tom threw his arms up. “Of course you are! Hell, in fact, e with me. Let me introduce you to the uys and give you a tour.”

  Balthazar cocked aalk at the turning skeleton, unsure if a tour of a dark, damp dungeon is something he’d want, but the crab still followed the other mert heless.

  “The uys are going to love meeting you!” excimed the excited skeleton as he quickly tapped a very specifibination of loose stones on the wall, causing them to shift and a passageway to be revealed.

  Following Tom through it, Balthazar was surprised to find a much more well-lit corridht behind the wall of the crypt hall.

  Rows of glowing nterns lihe wall in both dires, and the ck of dust or skittering critters made the crab feel like he was in airely different pce altogether by taking just a couple of steps.

  “This way!” said Tom, heading down the corridor.

  After just a couple of turns, they both arrived at a rge room, about the same size as the previous hall, except this one had lights and no coffins, only skeletons.

  Around the opposite side of the room, a few skeletal fellows wearing ed clothes were mulling around the pce, seemingly busy either moving stuff inte woodes, or putting on different kinds of half-broken armor over their sy bones.

  “Guys, guys!” called Tom. “Guess who came to visit. It’s Balthazar, the mert crab!”

  The others stopped their tasks to look over to them, and with toothy smiles and bony waves, they all greeted the crusta, who despite the strangeness of the pany he found himself in, waved back to be polite. After all, he always heard good manners form the bae of a good retionship.

  “Oh man, it’s a shame you didn’t show up yesterday,” the skeleton mert said to Balthazar. “Monday is our rehearsal day, you’d have loved it!”

  “Rehearsal?” asked the crab.

  “Yes, did I ell you? We have a band!”

  “I could go get the instruments,” said one of the bigger skeletons standing over an open loot chest. “The day’s beey quiet so far, I doubt we’ll get any adventurers until after lunchtime. We could py a few tunes for uest.”

  Tom turo Balthazar, a big smile on his skeletal face.

  “That’s Bob, he’s a monster on the drums. You really got to see it to believe it.” He pointed back at another one of the skeletons. “And wait until you hear Tim orings!”

  Stepping out of yet another secret passage on a side wall, Jim joihem in the room, now wearing just a pair of lime-green swimming shorts.

  “What did I miss?” he asked. “Are we going to be pying?”

  “Oh, and Jim over there is an a the xylophohe excited mert told the crab.

  “Guys, I appreciate the offer,” said Balthazar, “but I don’t want to be any trouble, and I also ’t stick around for long.”

  “Are you sure?” said Tom, looking slightly disappointed.

  “Yes, really. Remember, I’m out here on a mission, I ’t just stand around for certs when my friends are out there ting oo help them.”

  “Ah hell, you’re right,” the skeleton said, scowling at himself. “What was I thinking, this is serious stuff. There will be other opportunities for us to py for you. Maybe after a few more band rehearsals we will even be ready to go py at your bazaar, make a nice party out of it.”

  “Heh, sure, maybe someday,” said the crab, chug awkwardly as he imagined everyone’s faces back at the bazaar, watg a musical band of skeletons g their bones around on a stage.

  “So, tell me, what I help you with?” asked Tom.

  Balthazar tilted his eyestalks, thinking.

  “Well, I was w, with all the loot you guys handle down here all the time, and all those advehat e through here, have you ever seen or heard about something called a Scroll of Potential?”

  The skeleton mert looked up, tapping on his pointy bone.

  “Hmm, don’t think so. We see lots of scrolls around here, adventurers carry and loot those things all the time, but holy, I wouldn’t know what for or if any of them are called that.”

  “Dang it…” the crab said.

  “Maybe we could ask Sal,” Tom said. “If someone around here would know, it would be him.”

  “Sal? Who’s that?” asked the curious crab.

  “Oh, yonna love him. He’s the oldest skeleton around here. He knows this dungeon and adventurers better than anyone. e with me.”

  The skeleton quickly dipped under a small alcove and into a narrow passageway, Balthazar following close behind, struggling to fit his shell through.

  As they advahrough yet another corridor and a few more winding tunnels, the crab realized that most of the areas they passed, well-lit and , were directly adjat to the regur areas of the crypt, with vantage points and peepholes into their dark, dusty halls. No doubt the way the skeletons watched any adventuring fools ing to loot the pce.

  “Here we are,” said Tom, as they arrived at a small room with seemingly nothing and no ohere, save for maybe some loose items and dim dles strewn around the iions in the walls.

  Balthazar rolled his eyes around, fused. “So… where’s this Sal guy?”

  “Right there!” said the happy skeleton, pointing towards a small alcove built into one of the cobblestone walls. “Hey, Sal, I brought a visitor to see you.”

  With a frown, the crab approached and looked at the spa the wall closer, realizing with surprise that what sat on the ledge was not another rock, but bohe back of a lone skull, g any skeleton u.

  The skull spun around with a jump, startling the approag crusta. Just like Tom and all the other skeletons in that pce, this skull had no flesh, muscle, or skin, only old yellowed out bone. Except it also had a long gray beard attached to its face.

  “What?” said Sal, his face moving like someone looking around the room, minus the part where he had any eyeballs to do that with. “Who’s there? Tom, is that you?”

  “Yes, Sal, it’s me. I brought a friend to meet you.” He turned back to the crab and whispered. “He’s pretty old, so he doesn’t see very well anymore.”

  Balthazar cocked aalk. “But… None of you have… You know what, never mind.”

  “You did?” said the talking skull with great i. “And who is it?”

  “Remember the mert crab I told you so much about, Balthazar?” said Tom. “He finally came to visit our dungeon! And I brought him down here because we were hoping you might know something about an item he’s looking for.”

  “Ah, Balthazar! I’ve heard much about you,” Sal said, fag ay area of the room opposite of where the crab was. “If I help a friend of little Tommy here, you bet I will.”

  “Go ahead, ask him,” Tom said to the other mert. “Sal’s job here is to be the watcher for any ining adventurers, so he knows everything that has passed through these halls.”

  “Wait, his job is to watch…” an incredulous Balthazar started. “Actually, fet it, let’s get to the point.” He turo the skull and, for whatever reason, decided he o talk very loudly. “Hello there, Sal. I’m Balthazar, and I was hoping you’d be able to tell me if you ever saw something called a Scroll of Potential around this dungeon.”

  “Boy,” said the old skull, “you don’t have to shout, I’m not deaf.”

  “ht, my bad, I didn’t mean to—”

  “Just messing with you!” Sal said with a cackle. “I am a little deaf too, actually.”

  Balthazar scowled at the skull.

  “Alright, but, about the scrolls…”

  “Oh, that, yes, hmm, let me think,” the old ium said, twitg his grizzly beard from side to side. “Ah, I do recall some adventurers mentioning that name before while delving into our halls. More specifically, they seemed vihat they might find some of those scrolls down here.”

  Balthazar’s antennae perked up. “Really?! And did they?”

  “No idea,” the skull replied. “We get lots of old scrolls here, those guys always seem to carry loads of them in their packs, for whatever reason. But we never really know why or what's written ihat is so valuable to their kind. They’re all gibberish to me.”

  The crab’s shell defted with slight disappoi. “So you don’t know if you guys might happen to have one of them around here somewhere?”

  “Not really, but—”

  Suddenly, a powerful rumble shook the halls of the crypt from below, shaking Sal off his ledge. Tom leaped forward and caught the old skull in his hands right before it hit the floor, as tiny stone pieces of the ceiling dropped from above, along with clouds of dust.

  The unnatural earthquake struce, twice, and then again, like some gigantic being angrily stomping on the walls around and below them.

  Balthazar struggled to maintain his footing on all eight legs, his body boung from all the shaking as he tried to speak through trembling words.

  “What… is… going on?!”

  “Oh no…” said Sal from betweeher skeleton’s hands.

  Tom had turned pale, which was quite the feat for a skeleton.

  “We fot to feed it.”