The Lamia and the Carbuncle.... Part 1

"Hey, how much longer are you going to stay mad at me? I didn't do it on purpose!"

"When we find the girl before some wild creature finds her first, you furry little NITWIT!

When Valentina awoke in the strange woods and had begun to wander around, the three figures had flown into a panic due to an unexpectant mishap during the summoning ritual. At the last minute, the youngest figure had sneezed during the final ritual incantation that resulted in Valentina ending up in the surrounding forest instead of inside the dungeon. As a result, the two younger figures, Rune and Una, had to leave the Astral Descent and begin combing the forest for the lost girl before she ran into trouble.

Rune was the younger of the two resident monsters of Astral Descent and was a rare species of monster known as a Carbuncle. He was the size and shape of a rabbit with a lung fluffy feline tail and teeth. He had a large golden crystalline horn, bright burning green eyes, and soft pitch black fur. He was a cocky and mischievous child but he was a loyal friend.

Una was a beautiful young girl with shining pale blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and a long sapphire blue serpentine tail. As a lamia, Una had the torso and waistline of a human girl but her lower body was that of a snake with lustrous blue scales. She often wore simple halter-top dresses with a belt and leather wrist guards. She was the more mature one of two monsters, and she often acted like an older sister to Rune but she had little patience for Rune's immaturity.

Rune and Una begun to search the woods together for an hour before Rune began to complain about how long the search was going to take. In response, Una used her tail to pick up and then throw Rune off into a section of the woods and she angrily called out.

"If you have the energy to complain, then use it for finding the dungeon mistress before something else does. The poor thing's probably scared out of her mind."

"We can cover more ground if we split up, send up a fireball if you find her."

Rune agreed to Una's strategy and the pair separated and went off into opposite directions, with Una going south and Rune heading north.

Soon Rune had located Valentina and was about to signal Una to come meet up but something caught his attention. It was when Valentina had encountered a insectoid monster and she managed to tame and befriend it within minutes of meeting.

Rather impressed with Valentina, Rune decided to observe her to get to know his future dungeon mistress a bit better. In his opinion, she was certainly a work in progress but her potential was off the charts.

Unfortunately, while Rune was deep in thought, he didn't notice that Valentina had encountered one of the forest's main dangers, a hellhound. While Rune could easily handle a hellhound on his own, the same could not be said for Valentina.

When he saw the girl faint while the hellhound attacked, the small carbuncle charged at the beast.