"I tried punching it in the nose. Just made it angrier," he chuckled, giving in to a full grin as well at Lucanis' laugh.

"Turned out it was a great distraction for my team to get in and out of the cave. Got the body, found a hole leading down to the Deep Roads. The scout was nice enough to write it up as a brave instead of incredibly stupid action."

He was lucky, he knew. To have the kinds of close calls that made funny stories instead of sad eulogies. Not everyone was so lucky.

"Got any of those kinds of mission stories?"