So I have come to the conclusion that I might have been better off wandering aimlessly trying to find the exit. The look in Vorn’s eyes is kind of scaring me, and the Dwarf girl… well I’m almost certain she’s insane. She went on to explain herself, most of the terms I didn’t really understand but I understood enough to know we were all in a lot of danger.

Basically, she came here in search of rare minerals and magic stones, apparently the Dwellvari mines were not producing ores like they used to, and she figured it would be a good idea to find richer deposits elsewhere. Of course, being the crazy mining enthusiast that she is, she completely neglected to tell her father she was leaving, and only packed the essentials.

After a few days travel and inspecting the ores above ground, she decided to check out the caves close by. “An’ as ye can see, I’ve found th’ best spot there is!” she says with a proud grin, “jus’ turn off tha’ blasted light and ye’ll see.” Intrigued, Vorn lets the light from his ring go out, but we aren’t assaulted by darkness.

Multicoloured veins lined the walls like an intricate spider web, softly glowing and illuminating the room, though I have to admit, it would be a lot more impressive if the corpses weren’t here, they kind of ruin the mood. “Magic stones? I’ve never seen such large quantities of it before…” says Vorn in an awed tone. Magic stones are apparently very rare, even basic ones are difficult to find. They are the product of condensed positive essence; it normally takes centuries to form.

Vorn told me there are a variety of colours associated with magic stones; each colour represents its magic capacity. From weakest to strongest they are white, yellow, green, blue, red and violet, which would explain why Vorn was so interested in the violet shards. As interesting as all that might be though, I’m more interested in something else right now, and she seems to have forgotten the first question “so where did these corpses come from, and how did you manage to kill all of them…?”

Dola looks at me, for what seems like a painfully long time, she was so absorbed in her reunion with Vorn that she seemed to forget about me completely. “An’ who is this man ye brought with ye? Gettin too old te travel by yerself now Uncle?” Vorn just scowled a bit and made a sound as if clearing his throat.

“This young man is named Blake, apparently he comes from another Realm, and I’ll have you know that I am quite capable, even in my advanced years…” Vorn was going to continue but was cut off. “Another Realm!?” she ran up to me and looked me over like she was inspecting newly discovered ore. “Do ye have strange metals where ye came from?” a little uncomfortable, I simply shrug; I wasn’t very into rocks unfortunately.

“I’m not sure what you would consider strange, but could we get back to my previous question?” I say a bit flatly, she eyes me with the look of a predator seeing fresh meat… or maybe a prospector who just found the mother load… this one seems to distract quite easily, I sigh inwardly. “Hmm, bout the corpses here?” I nod slightly; I really want to know what’s going on here.

She thought for a moment and then went on to tell us about how she found this place, the whole upper caves were more or less without monsters so she decided to go deeper after finding little of use and weak resistance. Dwellvar can see in the dark rather well, half their lives are lived underground after all. So she quickly spotted this place, she wanted to know just how far the veins stretched, and so explored even deeper.

It wasn’t long before she came upon them, a large horde of undead, at least twenty in all. Using her enchanted pickaxe she made short work of them, they were led by a Dark Acolyte, otherwise known as a Necromancer. After looting what was valuable, she was surprised to find another group come storming in through a passageway, she figured they were with this group… so she killed them as well.

Her pickaxe is apparently her pride and joy, both a weapon and a tool forged by her father, the master blacksmith Craigor Ironhide. It never dulls, and cuts through stone like butter… so you can imagine what it can do to flash and bone. I cringe slightly.

The odd thing was the other Necromancer in the second group… their kind often work alone, since they can simply raise allies if they need them. Curiosity peeked she traveled down the passage they came from, and eventually found what looked like an army of undead, led by Acolytes and a few Daemons.  “WHAT!?” I jumped at the unexpected reaction, I was surprised, and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t afraid. But Vorn looked furious, and extremely worried.

“Dola, why did you not return ‘immediately’ with this information!?” Vorn said, a bit of annoyance creeping into his tone. Dola simply shrugged it off and stated that she wanted to observe the situation more; also she needed more samples anyway so she decided to take it slow. Well thats what she said, but I got the feeling she just didn't want to leave the ores alone. How serious can you be about your work? theres a damn undead army for crying out loud!

“If it is as you say child, then we are all in danger, not just us, but all of Ghalanos may need to be warned.” Vorn was rather serious now, the joyful reunion washed away by an unknown danger. “I need to see this ‘army’ for myself, where did you say they were?” Vorn was dead set on this; there was no turning back until he was fully aware of the danger.

Hmm, so lets clarify, I’m stuck in another dimension, in a dark dank cave, with a crazy Dwarf girl, a grumpy old man, an army of undead and my dog is sniffing something I really didn’t want to look at… I think I’m screwed. Dola led us to a shaft that was more or less a hole. Vorn used his rope, the same rope he had tied me up with, and tied an iron hook to it.

“Well, I’ll go first, I’ll flick the rope three times if its clear” Vorn takes hold of the rope and slowly makes his way down. Dola was looking at me like before, a playful smile on her lips. “Ye goin too right?” I look at her, confused, “wouldn’t I just get in the way? All I have is a dagger and a weird shell, I’m no trained warrior.” She giggles at my response, making me feel a bit embarrassed.

“Ye wont be fighten ye silly man, Uncle Vorn may be a bit crazy, but he aint mad… te be honest, yer safer down there, never know wha’ might come get’cha up here.” A valid point I suppose, the rope flicks three times and Dola gets ready to go down. “Jus’ be sure ye don’ regret it if ye stay up here like a cowardly mouse.” Saying this she descends down into the dark shaft.

Coward huh? I’ve never really thought of myself as a coward, even when I ran from the Crocs, I was just trying to survive, and I was too confused at the time to fight them all off. Now that I think about it, I haven’t really been all that afraid lately, which is odd considering my current dilemma, Perhaps I’m just numb to it all now.

I’ve feared for my life sure, but I still fought for my life when I needed to, even Ben has proven he can survive in this new world. “Ben!” the Labradors head pokes up from a curious looking bone… “Come!” Ben leaves his bone and comes to sit in front of me. “Sit, and stay here, I’ll be back, be good…” Ben sits and tilts his head slightly, well he was always good with that command, I’m sure if there’s danger he will escape though.  

The rope flicks three times again, signaling its clear… well, its all or nothing, if I’m going to be stuck here, I might as well learn as much as I can about this new world. Grabbing hold of the rope I made my descent… hoping for the best.

I’d be lying if I said it was easy, I’ve never climbed down a tunnel shaft with nothing but rope to keep me from falling. Once I finally touched the bottom I found Vorn and Dola waiting patiently there for me, Dola had an approving grin, and Vorn wasn’t smiling, though I thought I sensed approval from him all the same. He told us to keep low… well told me, Dola was already low… and we made our way through the dimly lit magic stone passages.

It wasn’t long, though it felt like forever to me, before we reached our destination. I have to admit, moving corpses are terrifying… we stood on a rocky ridge overlooking a large cavern, not as large as The Deep, but large enough for the several thousand undead soldiers who stood in perfect lines, all facing what looked like a ruin of some sort.

There were plenty of subterranean ruins down here apparently, old Dwellvari mines or cities, or crypts made for the kings of old. There were even places where older extinct races once lived, these would often be referred to as Catacombs or Dungeons. Adventurers would often find these hidden places and either die or become filthy rich.

Looking at the assortment of undead under us, I noticed a few individuals that stood out, black robed men who carried large tribal decorated staffs, and what looked like full-fledged monsters as well. Horns, ferocious bear like faces and bulging muscle that could not be hidden by their rough black iron armour. The monsters were covered in fiery hair… no literally, they were on fire… these must be the Daemons they mentioned, just what the hell is wrong with this world!?

The ruins looked like a half destroyed mausoleum, great pillars that once stood tall and strong now littered the ground in debris. A few torches were lit here and there but the main source of light was the glowing fungi and the magic stone deposits. It was enough to see their overwhelming numbers. And that was enough to put a shiver down my spine.

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“There must be just under two thousand down there,” whispered Vorn, his face seemed to age drastically. Dola simply nodded and added, “they have a good number o’ Acolytes as well, and they’re led by a Sorrowen.” Vorn almost yelled out something after hearing that, his eyes now filled with desperation, and purpose, “why did you not tell me this before?” he hissed under his breath, he was paling even more by the second.

“I was gunna… must o’ slipped me mind.” Dola said innocently, this woman really doesn’t understand the importance of details it would seem. Though I admit I don’t know what a Sorrowen is. Vorn seems genuinely frightened now, and so now I am too. “We’re leaving, I’ve seen quite enough, we must warn the surrounding settlements and Zorundug…” said Vorn, his steely expression returning, but his skin still seemed pale.

Zorundug? I make a mental note to ask about it later… this seems rather serious, I’m starting to envy Benjie right now, screw courage, I want to live! I take one last look at the army below, thousands of glowing eyes, the only sound heard is the scratching of bones and armour, the dim moans of the damned and the growls of Daemons… what the hell have I gotten myself into.

We steadily make our way back, making sure to stick to the wall, and stay low. Vorn is mumbling something under his breath, and Dola is leading, her eyes see better down here. I too am keeping my eyes and ears peeled, I just saw death, and I didn’t like what it looked like. There’s a fork up ahead, just one left turn and we are home free.

We are about to round the corner when I suddenly hear a horn, a screeching sound that should never come from any instrument. A patrol, I wonder if they put it in place after the recent ‘disappearances’ our lady Dwarf here was party to. Yells and orders were bellowed in a language that kind of sounded more like coughing to me. Vorn pushed me down, just as a rusty black arrow passed by where my head used to be. Nearly shit myself.

No time for that though, Dola began yelling at me, telling me to run, she led the charge with Vorn close behind. That old man was something else, deflecting arrows like they weren’t even the slightest hindrance to his charge. The undead were many and they cut us off before we could pass.

Once Dola hit the line of undead, it was like toppling pins at the bowling alley. Using her trusty pick, she tore two shambling skeletal warriors to pieces. It didn’t end there though, the undead were wounded and crippled but not ‘dead’ yet. Vorn closed up behind her, finishing them off, all the while protecting me, I have to be honest, I feel like the third wheel here.

One of the bastards grabbed my leg, not quite dead yet… is dead even a word I should use for these guys? Anyway, I bash its skull in with my shield, the small hard spikes turning the things skull to powder and forcing it to let go. Inside I see a small white gem, more magic stone huh? Well I know what animates them now I suppose.

Not wanting to waste energy I simply use my now free foot to curb stomp the thing and move forward. I look up to see only about four undead left out of the initial twenty, so that’s how she killed them. She is swinging that pick so violently that its working more like a bludgeon, the sweat from the effort has cleaned her face and a rosy cheeked tiny goddess has emerged. I’m feeling a little emasculated… and slightly aroused, momma I think I found the one. I jump back a step as a spear fly’s past.

The Black Apostle is chanting something in that weird language, Vorn is busy covering Dola’s back, and Dola is… well she don’t need no man. I’m also the only one who seems to have noticed. I have two options, yell to warn them, or throw the dagger to break the creepy guys concentration. Seeing as I don’t have a lot of time to think, I choose option number two. I used to do this when I went to my cottage with my brothers… my hit/miss ratio was not inspiring, but hey I have to get lucky once today.

Throwing the dagger with measured strength, you can’t just throw it with everything or you might stab yourself in the foot… long story. The dagger flies like it has a purpose… no really, It freaking straightened out and flew straight at the target… what the fuck?! The point hit the man right in the chest, the last words of his chant gurgled out incoherently. What happens next though is not what I was expecting.

Unfortunately for me, I didn’t know that chants don’t just ‘end’ all that accumulated energy has to go somewhere. A large blast of white and black energy explodes from the casters body, ripping him to shreds and throwing all of us to the ground. Thankfully the last skeleton hit the wall rather hard, and was finished off.

We slowly get up, I’m shaking from the blast, my ears are ringing, I fall once trying to get up, but Vorn comes over and forces me up, yelling something I can barely interpret, I’m thinking its ‘run you idiot!’ something like that. I get going, but not before glancing down the way the enemies came, something very big is coming. Oh shit.

Vorn grabs the dagger and chants something I can’t hear. Moments later the whole area where he was standing is covered in a think smoke screen. He burst out of it and pushes me forward. I can hear again, there are loud roars and screaming men and women. We get into the chamber with the shaft and Dola goes first, this time we don’t have the time to take it slowly though. Vorn goes right after her saying something about there might be danger up top as well. I just nod, too hyped on adrenalin to care.

I grab the rope next and start to climb, as I get three quarters of the way into the shaft a huge hairy hang grabs my leg! It hurts like hell, but I keep a firm grip on the rope. Vorn looks down after hearing my scream of pain and tries to get back down to me. “Dammit! Not when I’m so damn close!” the Daemon comes almost completely into the shaft and I kick its face with my free leg, which just pissed him off.

The Daemon retreats to recover from the headache I gave it, still holding firmly to my leg, it doesn’t seem very smart, but damn it’s stubborn. Vorn is almost on top of me, from the look in his eyes he is going to either cut its arm off or my leg. Damn, I can’t let it end like this! “Vorn the dagger!” without hesitation he hands me the dagger, he’s literally right above me now, and the beast has recovered from my kick to the face. Before it can register what is happening I stab it in the eye, hot blood squirts out like I’m crushing a grape, the blood burns my hand.

Roaring in pain the thing wrenches its face out, pulling free of the dagger, its grip is even stronger now. Damn, damn, damn! Desperate and out of ideas, I try to kick my leg free. Then it happened, just like before, in my desperation, a light blue aura surrounded me, the Daemon screamed in pain as its hand and arm was burned, I could hear sizzling. It finally let go, and I wasted no time getting the hell out of there.

The Daemon was beyond anger now; it’s climbing up behind us, its fangs snarling and its single eye burning with hunger and rage. Shit, shit, shit! Moving as fast as we can, we finally reached the top, Dola and Vorn help me out of the hole, Ben is barking, as if we haven’t had enough noise for one day.

Dola readies her pick, and with a practiced swing she strikes down hard on the top entrance, then again, and again, I hear howls of rage from within, and I swear I saw a beady yellow eye shining briefly in the darkness before tons of rock came crashing down on it. The shaft was sealed, but we weren’t out yet.

“ye’re more of a man than I though’ Outlander, tha’ was some fine fightin ye did down there.” Said Dola with a wink; she seemed hardly exhausted, barely even breathing hard. Vorn was panting slightly and I was half dead with my knee on the ground, my leg hurt like a bitch. “You weren’t so bad yourself, considering you did most of the fighting” I respond with a tired smile. We seem to have a moment where each of us is sizing up the other again, new found respect there.

“Yes, I hate to interrupt your moment you two, but we must keep moving, they know these tunnels well, it wont take long for them to reach us here.” Vorn states in his customary grouchy voice, I can tell he’s still extremely worried, just what is a Sorrowen anyway? Ben comes over and sniffs my leg, he licks it then looks up at me with worried eyes. I pat him on the head, both to cheer me up as well as him.

“Lets get out of this place then, I’ve had enough of under ground.” When I say this Dola giggles a bit and says, “well ye’ll jus’ love Zorandug then wont ye?” that’s the second time I’ve heard that name, I should ask about it while we escape this hell hole. For now though, I’m just glad I’m alive… again.

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