Geroth stood at the mouth of the collapsed tunnel fuming, he had lost his last stitched abomination and two ghouls in this cave in. Reaching to the ceiling and letting out a plume of dark energy from his fingers in frustration he yelled “CURSE YOU! YOU… VERMIN!” If he was still capable of such biological responses his face would surely be beet red from anger. Staring at his remaining eight ghouls he angrily gestured them back behind the gaggle of zombies near the rear. "I should have sent the rotters up first anyway. Master would be so disappointed in me for wasting good ghouls that way.” Looking toward the final path open to his forces he eyed it suspiciously. He still had a dozen skeletons and thirty or so zombies and he was raising the little vermin as they died so he wasn’t concerned about having enough forces to kill the child.
In fact, Geroth could probably have killed her by himself. She wasn’t a warrior and did not wield the power of the Divine, so he had little to personally fear. However, he needed the extra bodies to test for traps and dig out the collapsed tunnels, so he did not want to spend his resources needlessly. He could tell that the kobolds were in retreat and it was a matter of time before they
After all this was the third tunnel today the little nuisances had collapsed on his forces and it was making his advance on his target much too slow. Getting angry all over again, Geroth closed his eyes and counted to ten to center his mind. "We are so close. I can feel the power as we get closer. As long as the Justicar's little girl holds on to it she will not escape my wrath!" Geroth let out a mad cackle that reverberated through the tunnels that spooked all of the ghouls under his command. "I will have my revenge on my greatest foe and please my master by retrieving the most precious relic of our Lord! Today is a blessed day!"
Motioning at the mob behind him, a group of six zombies shambled forward into the remaining path. Clutching his staff in anticipation as he concentrated on the faint pull of the relic his master had left behind when he was defeated. His reverie was interrupted when several boulders rolled out of the tunnel and bounced into the wall, taking out another ghoul who wasn’t smart enough to jump out of the way.
Furious once more, Geroth motioned to one of the ghouls and sent him into the tunnel. Using a ghoul would be a waste if they spring another trap, but a group of kobolds would be no match for his servant if it came to straight combat. The ghoul eyed the entrance with some suspicion, but smartly clambered up the wall and discreetly crawled across the ceiling. Nodding in satisfaction at the compliance of his thrall, Geroth’s thoughts turned back to his prize.
“Soon.”
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Rosalyn stared at the floating blue orb waiting for an answer, but instead of replying she turned and flew toward Birdie. "The switches are here... and here. Please depress them and come inside." Birdie acknowledged the instructions with a short grunt and scurried sideways to the first indicated spot. Rosalyn let out a cry of frustration as the blue orb disappeared through the doors.
Stomping her foot and shaking an angry finger at the retreating proto-wisp, Rosalyn’s mood soured even more when she heard Birdie laughing at her from his perch above. Leveling her gaze upon him she gave a scowl that would have made any nun proud at the offending kobold. A brief look of panic crossed his face as their eyes met. “Don’t be angry with Birdie! Birdie is opening the door right now, and you can just see for yourself!” Letting out a pleased sound he pressed an unseen switch buried in the intricate designs of the door before hopping down. “Birdie is excited! Our tribe has passed down many stories about the Great One, and only our tribe’s shaman has ever actually entered this room.” Letting out a fierce grin he stared forward with hungry eyes.
Staring at her companion she couldn’t help but grin too. Circumstances aside, this exact thing had been her dream since she was a little girl. She was in a dangerous cave following a mysterious voice while running from a horde of undead and somehow she had made friends with a kobold. The only thing that could make this a better adventure was if Janie were with her to have it with her. A brief moment of sadness washed over her, but she squashed it. Mother Cham had told her to chase her dreams and that was what she would do. She would live, reunite with Janie, and together they would see the world.
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Slapping both hands on her cheeks she stared ahead as ornate doors swung open to reveal a tunnel made of a familiar dark stone. Looking down at Birdie she saw that he was staring at her. Shrugging at her companion she walked forward past the enormous doors and into the tunnel. Upon stepping into the tunnel she found herself bathed in an ethereal white light that was illuminating the passageway ahead. Rosalyn marveled at how it made the obsidian colored stone subtly sparkle, but despite her best efforts she couldn’t see what was producing the light due to an abrupt curve in the tunnel.
Slowing inching forward with Birdie clinging to her dress like a small child, they both stopped at the bend in the tunnel. There floating gently a few feet off the ground was Serena's wisp. Waving dumbly at the blue orb, Rosalyn gave weak smile. The wisp disappeared and a deep rumbling chuckle sounded from further in startling both Rosalyn and Birdie, who hid his snout further in her dress. After a few tense moments they continued down the tunnel and entered a massive chamber. Staring around her, she could hardly believe such a space existed. The entire village could have comfortably fit in here, including the temple grounds and goat farms on the edge of town. She was mesmerized as the ceiling twinkled like the clearest night sky she had ever seen.
Drawing her eyes downward that was when Rosalyn finally identified the source of the light that was playing off the black stone. In the dead center of the chamber were four alabaster stone pillars covered in intricate carvings. Each one was easily as tall as the big tree in the village square and was as wide as two of Rosalyn standing side by side. Stretched between the four pillars was a massive foggy glowing white cube. Letting out a nervous laugh, Rosalyn turned to Birdie and said “Everything down here glows mysteriously doesn’t it?” Birdie, who was obviously terrified, just looked back at her and shook his head in disapproval. Another deep chuckle sounded from inside the cube, startling them both again. Birdie let out a high pitched squeaking sound while prostrating himself onto the ground.
Swallowing a massive lump in her throat, Rosalyn watched the fog curiously and felt the lump grow a little larger as something massive stirred behind the walls of the cube. Figuring that she had come this far, Rosalyn carefully inched toward the construct to investigate its contents as she can't quite tell what it is moving inside. Staring dumbly for more than a few moments, a giant blue eye opens in front of her face. Wind-milling her arms as she fell backwards in surprise she feels that lump turn into a boulder as a claw the size of a horse taps the cube wall.
Rosalyn watched in morbid fascination as the foggy walls slowly became transparent. Her heart skipped a beat as what she assumed was Serena appeared. She was indeed a dragon. The same humongous dragon from the vision she had had in the crypt was lounging on the ground in front of her. In fact, if anything the dragon was larger than she was in the flashback. Rosalyn’s breath caught in her throat as she took in the full form of the creature in front of her, but it wasn’t out of fear of the unknown like last time. This was a Dragon with a capital D and she was quite honestly the most beautiful thing Rosalyn had ever seen in her short life. She was covered in silver scales that shimmered with a faint blue inner light and calling her huge would be an understatement, Rosalyn guessing she would easily reach at least sixty feet tall when not lying down and she had to be a hundred feet long! Also, she had massive feathered wings! While she couldn’t really tell with her them furled, she could only guess that her wingspan was at least that as well.
Rosalyn wasn’t sure when she had started crying, but the tears wouldn’t stop flowing as she realized that she, boring Rosalyn Edders the orphan girl who nobody wanted had met a dragon. She smiled the widest smile that she had ever had in her entire life as her heart soared at this discovery, as she realized that the world had more magic in it than she had originally thought and rekindled something in her that she didn’t know had gone out.
Serena, giving a toothy grin of her own raised a claw and gave Rosalyn and Birdie an energetic wave, “Welcome children to my prison. Also, yes. I am a dragon. A veritable relic of a bygone age!” With that declaration Serena let out a booming laugh. Feeling lighter than she had in days, Rosalyn laughed with her.