The dense canopy of Eldoria's northeastern countryside barely filtered the afternoon sun as Tikon shoved through another cluster of low-hanging branches. Sweat trickled down his temple despite the cool autumn air.
"Fucking bureaucrats," he muttered, yanking his inspection form from his satchel. The paper crinkled in his calloused grip as he squinted at the dungeon entrance ahead—if you could even call it that anymore.
The thing looked pathetic. Crumbled stone walls gaped open like a toothless mouth, the once-imposing structure reduced to glorified cave after years of low-level hunters picking it clean.
Moss crawled across shattered bricks. Empty torch brackets jutted from the walls at odd angles.
Tikon rolled his shoulders, feeling vertebrae pop. His lower back screamed from three days riding on shit roads to reach this dead-end assignment. "Instead of sending excavation crews, they send me to verify what everyone already knows."
