Babs was up before the sun a few days later, she was busy making breakfast for the crew to have before they would go down to the mines, she pushed the door to the kitchen open with her hip, her arms full of plates of cooked marshrooms and cactus. She let out a huff and carefully made her way to the pub, getting ready to bump the door open with her hip when a gloved hand grabbed the door, opening it for her. She looked up, seeing Malroth, worn out and exhausted. "What are you doin' up, Mal?"

"I can't sleep."

Babs frowned; he hadn't been sleeping well ever since Lily took a hit that had nearly killed her. Her body was mostly healed, but she hadn't woken up yet. "I'm sorry, Mal."

"It's fine. I need to keep up on patrols anyways. Since that attack from the shaman the monsters have been coming more frequently." Malroth tried to ignore the sympathetic look he got from Babs as she went to duck into the pub.

"GOOD MORNING, BABS. GOOD MORNING, MALROTH."

The two looked over, Goldi had actually whispered for once since they had met him. "Morning, Goldi." Malroth let the door shut when Babs finally went in before stepping over to Goldi. The golem was curled up where he normally sat, working intently on something with his back to the pub. "Something wrong, Goldi?"

"STRONG FORCES… WAKE UP… ME WORRIED."

"We'll get you to silver, we're down to what now? Two thousand…?"

"LAST NIGHT… WE HAVE ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED LEFT."

Malroth patted the golems arm as he turned to leave him, but something caught his eye. "We'll get you there." He turned back, trying to catch another look at what was in Goldi's hand. "What's that?"

Goldi glanced at Malroth, glittering eyes flashing for a moment. "PRESENT… FOR BABS."

Malroth tilted his head, staring at the tiny glittering rock. "Why are you giving her a gift? And what is it?"

"BECAUSE ME LOVE BABS." Malroth could hear the smile in Goldi's voice as he looked down at the small thing, holding it up for Malroth to see. "PIECE OF EYE. BABS APPLE OF EYE." A small silver chain hung from the large copper finger, a shiny little rock dangling from the end.

"Huh… well, don't use too much of your power to make gifts." Malroth warned before leaving Goldi to his business. He climbed the stairs that Lily had built up to where the silver pub would be. She had just laid out a bare skeleton, where the iron floor and silver floor would meet so she would have an idea on how much she would need for this project.


Babs fixed the ears on her head as she cleaned the bar again. She had cleaned the blood off, but every now and again, if she glanced over and the light from the scones hit it just right, it looked like there was blood there again. She huffed and tossed the rag under the bar, leaving as quick as she could. She made quick work of the stairs to Lily and Malroth's room, seeing Lily was still sound asleep. The miners had convinced Malroth to let off some steam down below, pointing out that Goldirox, Babs, Magrog and Digby were staying up top and more than capable of taking down a few monsters if any showed up.

Babs looked over, seeing Tiny sitting on the windowsill, looking out at the pass to the desert. "Mornin' Tiny."

"Good morning, Babsss." Tiny twisted, looking over at the dancing girl as she came in. "I'm not sure what'sss going on, why she hasssn't woken up yet." He flapped his wings and landed next to Lily who was curled up. "But I've never ssseen anyone take a hit like that and live to tell the tale, maybe she'sss pressserving energy."

"Maybe. I hope so." Babs sat down on the foot of the bed, her hand touching Lily's foot. She stiffened when Lily let out a whimper and a sigh. "Lily!" She gently shook the other girls' leg, smiling as Lily began to stir more.

"Don't wake her too sssoon!" Tiny hissed, bouncing over to Babs. The dracky let out a cry when Babs grabbed him and tossed him to the side. "H-Hey!"

"Hush! You'll be fine." Babs got up, leaning over Lily. "Lily? It's time tah wake up, c'mon."

Lily's eyes fluttered open and she looked up, seeing Babs over her. "What time is it? What happened?"

"What's the last thin' you remember?"

"Remember…? Being in the mines with Malroth and Dougie… we found… a lift… I don't remember anything after… that."

"That's alright don't try to think on it too 'ard. You got sick, been sleepin' for three 'ole days." Babs glanced to Tiny, not liking that the dracky asked everyone to just tell Lily that she got sick. The builder had almost died, she deserved to know that. "C'mon, let's get you up and movin' around."

Lily grumbled but let Babs pull her up. "I was sick?"

Babs helped Lily change into fresh clothes, smiling at the builder. "Malroth went down to the mines, 'e should be back up before too long. 'E'll be glad to see you're up. 'E was so worried about ya, Lily."


Malroth emerged from the mine with a few of the miners behind him. He wiped his brow off as he climbed the stairs up to town. As he crested the top, he saw a familiar blonde walking into the pub. He couldn't stop himself, he bolted up the rest of the stairs and burst through the doors, all but tackling Lily from behind. "Lily!"

Lily let out a shriek, staring up at the body that covered hers now. "M-Malroth! What's gotten into you?"

Malroth stared down at for a few moments, a soft look coming to his eyes. "Nothing. I'm just… glad you're up and about." He leaned down, kissing her gently.

Lily smiled against the kiss before carefully pushing him up. "I'm sorry I slept for three days. I didn't realize how-"

"It's fine." Malroth got up, easily pulling her with him. "C'mon, I think you should give that bell a ring."

Lil gave Malroth a confused look, but she followed him. "Am I doing that weird glow… thing?"

"No, not really. You were… a little… before the mines." He helped her up the stairs, waiting next to the bell as she slammed her hammer into it. The magic was warm over Malroth's skin, and a sigh left him. That magic meant she was alive and well, that was all he needed.

"I could listen to the sound o' that bell all day long, I tell ya! It's so inspirin'!" Den ran up with the others, a soft look on his face. "Such a wonderful sound."

Magrog looked over, seeing a group of men coming from the east. "And it looks like we've brought in a few new miners, too. I think things are about to get a lot busier around here!" He let out a laugh, glad to see Lily back up on her feet.

"Wot's goin' on 'ere?" One of the miners barked as the group came up, he was short, a lot shorter than the others, but he looked like he was the angriest ones. His shoulders turned a shade of red as Lily explained once again that they were rebuilding Khrumbul-Dun and the mines. "Wot?! Are ya insane-" He stopped short, eyes catching Babs who walked up next to Lily. "Woah…"

"'Oo cares abaht 'Argon an' 'is band o' buffoons when we could be livin' wiv such a gorgeous girl?!" One of the taller ones pleaded with the shorter one, shaking the small man.


Malroth followed Lily around like a lost puppy for the rest of the day, helping her as best he could when she was building; which was mostly him lifting her up for her to reach spots that were just out of reach. He reached out as often as he could, touching her in anyway that he possibly could. Before he knew it, Lily had the silver tiles and iron tiles laid out and soon the fountains in what would be the pool were all hooked up and ready for her bottomless pit.

She ran around, quickly making up the cocktail bar minus one or two things that Malroth could notice right off the bat when he would give her direction on where to place things according to the blueprint. Once she finished the bar, she moved on to the smaller things, throwing in three places to lounge next to the pool along with two places to sit, cards at one, drinks at another.

Lily leaned against Malroth, her toes in the cool water of the pool as they looked over her creation. "How have the mines been going?"

"They've been going. Oddly enough there haven't been a lot of monsters running around down there now."

"Probably because you scare them off." Lily teased him, pressing her cheek harder against his shoulder.

"Lily! You finished me bar! After a few glasses o' Digger's Jigger an' a quick dip, the lads'll be set for another day o' 'ard diggin'!" Den ran up, clapping as he ran around the bar, checking it out. "Speakin' o' diggin'… the whole town's buzzin' about these deep dark tunnels you've opened up." Den sat on one of the chairs behind where Lily and Malroth sat. "It actually reminds me of an old Khrumbul-Dun legend – a sorrowful story of unrequited love. I'll tell it to ya, if ya like."

"Sure, why not." Lily twisted around so she could face Den, a soft grin on her face.

"Alright then, 'ere it goes… once upon a time, a maiden wiv beautiful locks o' long, flowin' 'air showed up on Khrumbul-Dun. Before long, she'd fallen 'ead over 'eels in love wiv the most 'andsomest geezer on the 'ole island. But this bloke was a bit of a man about town, if you know what I mean. The maiden's affections turned to jealous… and then 'atred! Then one night, in an 'ateful rage, she tied 'er 'air into a silky-soft ponytail, strangled the poor blighter in 'is sleep, an' ran away into the mine, never to be seen again." Den let out a small laugh, grinning at the raised eyebrows he got from the two of them.

"Don't worry, it ain't a true story. Just somethin' the miners made up. You'd never guess it to look at us, but us Khrumbul-Dunner's got a romantic side, too!" He got up, putting a hand on Lily's head. "I'm glad you're doin' much better, Lily. I was wrong before, about builders. 'Argon is wrong too, you don't spread despair, 'is minions do that."

Lily and Malroth watched as Den made his way back into the main area of town. "We should probably call it a night after that story." Malroth got up, helping Lily up once more.


Lily opened her book the next morning, looking at the list of things she wanted to get done. Babs had asked for help with her cooking, something had been missing and it was starting to bum her out. She put her book up and set to work on making a frying pan. She hadn't gotten very far when Digby peeked into the smithy, eyeing her. "Yes, Digby?"

"Does Babs look un'appy to you? Like… somethin' might be botherin' 'er?" He came in, watching her work on whatever it was that she was working on.

"I'm sure this is a paradise for an intelligent girl like Babs; being chased around and drooled over by a bunch of hot-blooded, muscle-heads like you lot." Lily spoke as she hammered out the iron, trying her best to not ignore Digby.

"Wot do ya mean by that?! Are ya bein' sarcastic? I can never tell when you're pullin' me." Digby pouted at Lily, poking at her. "I think she needs a place to relax! Can we get a shower room? For Babs? Nice hot water to relax achin' muscles."

"I'll see what I can do, Digby." Lily smiled, she was glad these muscle-heads had Babs' best interest at heart, though sometimes they barked up the wrong tree; like asking for a pumping station like it was the missing puzzle piece for Babs.


It didn't take long for Lily and Babs to work out a new recipe that was an instant hit with all the men. Bunicorn steak and marshroom sauce. Once she had shown Babs how to make the meal, she moved onto the showers. She stood in the room; fingers pressed to her chin as she thought about how to set the room up.

Malroth was standing on the other side of the room, waiting to see how Lily set things up. He shuffled around when she shooed him to another location. She put a few dividers up then started work on the showers themselves, it took a little while for the first one, but once she figured all the bits and pieces, the other three went together just fine. Malroth stood in front of the door, looking at the dividers. "I can't see you, so that's good."

"Yeah, I'm not worried about anyone peeping, maybe on Babs, but she'd put her blade through their eye before they could pull back." Lily laughed softly, popping around one of the dividers. "Do you want to head down to the mines today? It's still kinda early."

Malroth went stiff, staring at Lily for a moment. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he ignored the thought of watching her go down again. "Yeah. Yeah, I think that would… be alright."

"Lily?! Lily?"

Lily perked up when she heard Magrog calling out for her just outside the showers. She stepped out, seeing him over by the silver bar. "Magrog! What's up?"

"Oh! There you are!" He trotted over, hands in the pockets of his loose-fitting pants. "I don't think one vein of silver is going to be enough to get Goldirox up to silver golem any time soon. I hate to ask this of you, but do you think you could meet Dougie down at the old lift? To go find a few more veins?"

Malroth's eyes narrowed, he hated to admit it, but Magrog was right. If they wanted to help Goldi get his power back, they needed more silver. And if Goldi was right and there was a stronger force awakening, they'd need to get it done sooner rather than later. He glanced to Lily who was smiling, it was that goofy ear to ear grin, one that meant she was excited to be working hard again. "We were actually planning on going down there! We can meet up with Dougie." She giggled and skipped away, going to get stuff ready to go down.

"Malroth, I don't like askin' her to go down there, especially after what happened… but we need more silver." Magrog explained, worry in his eyes as he watched the other male.

"I know, Magrog. But it's alright. I'll make sure to stay by her side this time; I won't fail her again."


"Digby!" Lily dropped a crate of tools into a minecart that was on the tracks to go back towards the docks, a grin on her face as Malroth loaded a second crate.

Digby ran over as fast as he could, huffing and puffing a little as he looked at Lily. "Yes, Lily?"

"Would you take these to Brownbeard at the docks?" She handed him two letters, one had 'Furrowfield' scribbled on it while the other had 'Isle' on it. "Ask him to run these tools to these two places and give them these letters. I've upgraded their tools from stone to metal, it'll be easier on them. Please, and thank you."

Digby nodded and jumped in the front minecart, headed for the docks. Malroth followed Lily down towards the mines, hands in his pockets. "Lulu and Rosie are going to freak when they get those."

"I hope it'll help, I had to replace those stone tools all too often and the metals ones they did have were way too rusted to be of any use."


Dougie looked up when Lily and Malroth finally made it to him, the poor man was shivering in his boots. "Lily! Malroff! I fought I told ya I was scared o' the dark!?" He pointed to the wall in front of him, slowly calming down now that they were there. "Will you help break through that wall? My abs are just absolutely tinglin'! I know there's silver back there!"

Lily nodded and started slamming her sledgehammer against the wall, easily knocking it out of the way. The three headed into the winding tunnels, Lily would stop every so often and pluck up some of the mushrooms and vineapples. Malroth stayed close but lit the scones along the walls as Dougie stayed right behind the two. The large man let out a shrill noise when they rounded the corner, seeing something bouncing around just ahead. "W-W-W-Wot's that?!"

Lily rolled her eyes and headed in, seeing it was a monster. But it was a large sack with items spilling out of the top. "Uhm… hello?"

"Who goes there?! I can't varda anything in the munge of these tunnels…" The monsters voice fluctuated from shrill to deep, making Lily raise an eyebrow at it. "Seriously, in all this darkness, I can't see a thing!" The monster turned, looking at Lily and her two companions. "Say, are you Lost or something? We get nanti visitors down here, you know. Hardly any at all!" The monster puffed up but gave the trio a goofy grin. "Well, you're here now, so maybe you can do me a big fat favor! What do you say?"

Lily glanced to Malroth who looked skeptical of the monster, but he didn't protest. "I don't see why not."

"Fantabulosa! What a bona young palone you are! I haven't even told you what I want yet!" The monster bounced gleefully around Lily, chirping at her. "Now then, my three little brothers have got lost in these mazy tunnels, the dizzy chickens! Could you charper them out? We all just love to ogle zhooshy things! Maybe they'll be near a sparkly seam!"

Lily's eyes sparkled. "Two bird, one stone! If we find your brothers we can find the seams we need!" She turned to Dougie, slapping his arm. "C'mon, ya dizzy chicken!" She laughed as the three set off into the tunnels, they didn't make it far before they came across a 'Y' in the path. "Left or right?"

"Right." Malroth offered, running behind Lily as she trotted down the tunnel to the right. The three lit torches as they went, only to be stopped by a large cave in. "Got an explo-" He shrugged when Lily was three steps ahead of him, having already lit the explosive and was in the middle of throwing it at the wall. Once the explosion took care of the wall the three headed on again.

The area they walked into was large with a landslide in the middle. Malroth tipped his head, frowning. "I can hear something under the dirt there, Lily." He pointed to the landslide, his fingers touching her arm. "Want some help taking it out?"

"No, no. I should be fine." She smiled at him as she set to work. Soon, Dougie could see the sparkling silver the dirt was hiding. And a smaller bag monster. "Hey, little guy."

"Whoopee! The dirt is gone! I'm saved! One minute I was staring up at that shiny stuff, and the next thing I knew, the ceiling caved in! I thought I was a goner!" The little monsters voice cracked just like the bigger ones, listening to it was starting to give Lily a headache if she were being honest with herself.


More walls, more explosions. Tunnel after tunnel, the three searched. Lily started to go to the right when they saw that the tunnel was lit up ahead. Her eyes grew wide as she watched as a large monster came around the corner and into the light. Its skin was a sickly gray and it had one swollen eye. "Not that way." She ducked behind Malroth, hoping the monster hadn't seen her.

The ducked to the left, going down that way and avoiding the bigger monster. Malroth grabbed the back of Lily's bag, yanking her back when they say a hooded monster. It took everything in Malroth to not lose control when he laid eyes on the best ahead. He let out a growl and pulled out his axe, glancing to Lily. "Are you ready?" The two dodged around the large monster, easily taking it out together.

The group's attention snapped up when they heard a cry for help a little deeper in. "Hey… what if that's one of the goodybags?" Malroth took off, Lily hard on his heels with Dougie wearily following them. They rounded the corner, seeing a group of mushroom monsters attacking a small goodybag. "C'mon, Lily!"

Lily leapt after Malroth, whacking one with her hammer before spinning hard on her toes and slamming another back against the wall. Malroth tore through three in one swipe of his axe, a wicked grin on his lips. "You helped me! You saved me!" The goodybag bounced up to Lily, rubbing against her leg, crying to her. "I was just staring at the beautiful shiny stuff when those nasty monsters attacked!" When the monster mentioned shiny things, Dougie perked up, gawking at the silver in front of them.


The three moved along, blowing through wall after wall, Lily looked in her bag, frowning. "I only have a few left." She looked up at the next wall, rubbing her eyes. She was exhausted, they must have been down here for a good portion of the night, if the monsters sleeping told her anything. She set the explosive down and jumped back. When the dust settled, she slowly walked through the new opening, her jaw dropping at the sight.

A waterfall flowed from somewhere up above, but there were mushrooms that were huge, reaching all the way up to the ceiling. Glowdrops gave the area a little light as they walked in, in awe at the area around them. That's when Lily saw her. A woman walking amongst the mushrooms. "Mal! Dougie! Look!"

The woman turned, seeing the small group. She wasn't what Lily expected at all, she had eyes that were too small for her face and a pointy noise and thin lips that were framed by deep laugh lines. "What's this? Visitors? Humans is it?! If you don't mind us asking, who are you and what are you doing here?" Her voice was oddly deep for a woman of her age, which threw Lily off for a moment.

"I'm Lily, I'm a builder, this is Malroth and Dougie. We're trying to find some silver so I can rebuild Khrumbul-Dun."

"We've heard of people like you, but not for a long, long time."

"What's an old bag like you doing all the way down here? And what's wrong with your voice?" Malroth stood behind Lily, hands on his hips as he glared at the woman.

"Oh, we're sorry. We should explain. We've been down here so long – spended many years alone… we can't remember when we last used our voice." The woman gave him a soft smile.

Lily reached over, smacking his arm and glaring at him. "Don't be rude, Mal."

"Don't mind him deary, we don't mind. Would you mind going and seeing what the commotion is up there? We would, but some of the mushrooms are missing their caps, and that seems to be the only way up." The woman turned, pointing to the area above them where they could hear something chirping excitedly.

Three mushroom caps later and the three made it to the top, their eyes sparkling as they gawked at the largest silver seam they'd ever seen. Along with another goodybag. "Eek! Who are you?! You haven't come to steal my precious jewels, have you?!"

"Well, well, well." The old woman bounced up after them, grinning at the goodybag. "So, the voice was coming from a little goodybag all along! Nothing for us to worry about!"

"You were worried about me? I'm fine! I was just captivated by the shiny stuff, is all."

The woman and the goodybag watched as a few miners set to work on the silver. The woman turned to Lily, grabbing the builder's hands. "You came all the way from the surface, didn't you? Take us back with it! We wants to see the sky! We hope you don't mind if we follow you outside! Our name is Ordelia, by the way. It's a pleasure to meet you. We follows it home, even if it says no!"

"FANTABULOUSA!" The group turned, seeing the larger goodybag bounce up. "You found all my little brothers! The feely chickens must have been so scared on their own! I can't thank you enough!" The goodybag leaned against Lily as she patted the top of it. "Sorry about my brothers, they haven't seen a lot of treasures, so they get excited over little things like this. I have though, but only if I had the Echo Flute, then I could find every last treasure in these tunnels!"

"Er, yeah… whatever you say. Now then, Lily, we found three seems of silver like Magrog asked. Let's head back to base and give him the good news." Malroth took Lily's hand, pulling her away from the two goodybags.


Magrog ran up to the four when they got up top, eyes gleaming. "You did it?!" He patted Lily on the back, laughing loudly. "I'm sure the others have told you one or two of our legends surrounding the mine. Truth is, nobody knows what's lying in wait below… maybe the tales of the underground temple are true. Perhaps you'll even be the one to find it!" He laughed again, wiping tears from his eyes. "But for now, we wait. I'm sure we'll have Goldi up and all silvered out in a few days! Let's celebrate for now! Drinks on me tonight!"