Vera was an expert tracker, as it turned out. Silently, we followed the course of the retreating kobold, stopping at each juncture as she peered down at the stone path, somehow finding a drop of blood, or a clawed print left in the slick mold covering the path. It wasn’t much time at all before we huddled, peering around a corner at the kobold as it shoved the last of the rat carcasses through a gap in the stone wall, lit by daylight filtering down from a nearby inlet grate. We stayed low and silent, watching the creature stand to its full height on spindly, backward bending legs before sniffing deeply and peering in both directions down the tunnel. The ruff along its hunched back was black and matted, and beady eyes glared out from a scarred dog-like snout, nose twitching as it swung back and forth. Raising a furred hand, it scratched at the mange peeking from beneath its uncured leather bandolier, decorated with bone and bits of glass. Seeming satisfied, it crawled into the hole in the wall, clawed feet scrabbling for purchase as it shoved its bulk through the gap.

Vera and I pulled our heads back around the corner, and crept back another dozen yards before daring to stop and convene. Vera began whispering “Alright, that’s going to be a tight fit. Definitely one at a time, which means I’m going in first. No offense, but I’m a lot tougher than you are.” I raised my hands and nodded in agreement, motioning for her to continue as I schooled my heart to calm. “So I’ll go in first, and hopefully they aren’t watching the entrance. If they are, well, it’s going to get loud. If that happens, I’m just going to go full iron and start swinging,” she continued, motioning to herself as she held up an arm, skin briefly transforming from red to the dark gray of unworked iron. “I’ll holler back and let you know when it’s safe to come in.”

I nodded in feigned nonchalance as I jealously stared at Vera's skin as it regained its color. “That’s just plain not fair,” I whispered back, shaking my head. “You ogres are blessed. But what if they aren’t watching the entrance?”

Vera grinned back. “Don’t worry about it, if they aren’t, I’ll let you know to come on in. And isn't that why we’re down here? To get you some magic of your own, right? Focus on that, and remember it when you’re staring down a kobold. They’re between you and magic.” My eyes narrowed and I nodded sharply, all jokes forgotten. Just another obstacle.

Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly, letting it calm my nervous heart. “Let's go then. No reason to waste any more time than I have to without power.” Reaching over, Vera squeezed my shoulder with a grin. Shuttering our lanterns, we silently crept back to the kobold’s entrance, nearly missing it even when we’d just seen one enter, so cleverly was it hidden in the shadows of the crumbling stone. Peering into the crevice, Vera slowly took off her pack, placing her lantern within as she motioned to hand mine over as well. She placed the pack against the wall, then stood, stretching and limbering her shoulders. Then, in the dim light reflecting off the pools of stagnant water, gray bloomed along her skin, spreading outward along her limbs, flowing almost like water until even her hair changed, seeming to freeze in place, strands no longer moving even as she turned her head, looking over at me.

Eyes wide, I stared up as she grinned, giving a thumbs up as she clambered into the hole, moving slowly so as not to scrape the edges more than necessary. She was trying to be quiet, but every time she brushed against the stone, what would have been almost imperceptible against flesh became the grinding of stone against her iron form. It quickly became apparent there would be no possibility of stealth. Vera seemed to come to the same conclusion as she stopped moving slowly and began shoving her way forward, shards of stone bursting around her as she exploded out the other side, landing so heavily I could feel it reverberate through the stone beneath my feet. Yips and barks soon erupted from the other side, but despite it all Vera’s laugh echoed through the stone. Dear gods she was actually laughing. Loud bangs and yelps accompanied the thump of unbelievably heavy footfalls, as Vera yelled back, “Come on in Bram! Quick!”

I took several quick breaths, trying to ignore the sounds coming through the hole, remembering the sting of teeth as they sank into my flesh. My hands shook, but I clenched them harder. No, I thought, listening to the sounds of Vera working. No, I will not just wait for Vera to kill them all, if I want to do this, then I have to do it. Grabbing the edges of the stone I pulled myself into the gap. Vera had widened the hole considerably, and I was through almost before I was ready. The sounds of fighting were now echoing all around me in an overwhelming cacophony, and I stood in a puddle of blood beside a crushed corpse. The cavern was well lit, a glowstone perched upon a short outcropping of rock reflected off the low ceiling, and a curtain of leather crumpled on the floor explained why it hadn’t spilled into the tunnel outside previously. A dozen kobolds were surrounding Vera as she spun between the piles of litter, bone and hide that made up their nests, their claws and crude stone knives glancing off her ineffectually as she twirled between them, striking out and sending them tumbling.

I drew my sword, and stepped forward, intending to gut the nearest creature from behind, but it spun towards me first, snout lifted as it caught my scent. Diseased lips peeled back from yellow, chipped fangs as it raised a clawed paw. I stared into its dark hate filled eyes and hesitated only for a moment, before my resolve firmed. Just another obstacle. Surging forward, I swept down, catching the kobold across the chest as a spray of blood threatened to blind me. Taking a quick step back and risking a brief wipe of my eyes, the kobold was replaced as two more took notice of their fallen nest mate, yipping as they ran toward me. My mouth thinned to a line, and I charged right back, blade raised for a devastating slash from the side. In my mind, I intended to cut right through the first and into the second. I was wrong, of course.

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Cutting deeply into the creature on the right, the blade stuck fast as it met spine, lodging deeply into the bone and jerking to a halt. The abrupt stop caused me to run straight into the pommel, the force directed into my own gut as the air was forced from my lungs, sending me tumbling atop the creature as the other kobold skidded to a stop, claws passing over our heads with a whuff! Rolling over the corpse of the kobold below, the sword was ripped from my grasp. Panic welled within me. I was weaponless. The kobold still standing leapt, landing atop me as it tried to claw into my face. Raising my arms to shield with my bracers, I twisted and bucked, trying to throw the creature off, but it gripped me with furred legs, clawed feet easily finding purchase on the slick stone as it furiously scratched my arms and face. I need a shield! My mind raced, I was going to die under this thing if I didn’t do something. Spying a glint of bone from between my arms, an idea struck. I relaxed my legs for an instant before shoving both knees up as hard as I could, sending the kobold sprawling atop me. Disgusting matted fur brushed my face as I gripped a trophy along the creature's bandolier and ripped it free. As the kobold managed to raise itself up to bite with its fangs suddenly mere inches from my face, I drove the spike of bone up through its jaw as hard as I could. Dark blood sprayed down into my face, I gagged as it dripped into my eyes and mouth. The open maw froze and the creature collapsed atop me with a wheezing gasp.

Shoving it off, I scrambled to my feet, searching for my blade. Vera was still tossing kobolds around like sacks of grain, and a few well placed stomps had taken several out of the fight already, littering the space around her. Catching a glimpse of steel, I leapt over a corpse and tugged desperately on my sword, as more of the creatures took notice. I braced a foot on the body of the kobold, finally tugging it free right as another arrived, raising the blade above my head as the creature swung its own stone knife. Before it could land the blow, I slashed downward, slicing its hand clean off. With a howl, the kobold stumbled back, clutching the stump. Behind it Vera surged, crushing a head in her hand as she batted another kobold aside. Glancing over at me facing another, she raised her hand and threw the dead creature in her hand like a stone, bashing into the one facing me and tumbling through the air. Long limbs entangling, the two creatures tumbled, crashing into the stone outcropping in the center of the wide room. In a moment that seemed to stretch out for an eternity, nearly every member of the fight still standing watched as the glowstone sitting atop the plinth rocked perilously, then tumbled down from its perch. My eyes widened, then shut tight as I turned away just before the stone impacted the ground. With a flash, the stone ruptured with an ear splitting crack. There was an breath of silence before the trapped gasses ignited with the fumes of the sewer and the roar of the explosion instantly eclipsed all other sound as I was thrown off my feet and catapulted into a nest at the other end of the room, smashing into a heap in a mess of fur, bone and refuse.

I coughed, feeling something wet on my lips as I rolled to the side, ears ringing in the utter silence. The movement caused the stone beneath me to shift in response. I felt a deep judder within the earth, then the sound of crumbling stone as the entire room began to shake. I gripped the edge of the nest, trying to stand as I caught a glimpse of Vera across the wide floor, covered in the burning remains of kobolds. She met my eyes as I stood shakily, shouting something indecipherable and waving me closer urgently. My head lolled and I blinked blearily, taking a step towards her, when the stone beneath me shifted again. I looked down, trying to piece what was happening together. The ground lurched, and I barely caught myself from falling, looking back up at Vera in terror as I tried to leap forward.

My foot met only empty air.

Stone tumbled from beneath me, and I screamed, falling. Rock rained down around me as Vera vanished from sight and the cavern collapsed around us both. Stone bit into my side and back as the ground rose up to meet me at a sharp angle, rock bouncing around me as I tumbled down the side of a steep cliff, into an abyss of darkness. I screamed, covering my head and trying to tuck into as small a shape as possible as I was thrown into empty space again before slamming back into the ground with a wet thud. Huge stones continued to rain around me, slamming together with momentous clashes of sound that rumbled like the end of the world. When they finally stopped, I opened my eyes, adrenaline coursing through my veins. Looking up, I could barely make out the slope I’d fallen down in the dark of the cave.

Strewn everywhere along the slope were the shadows of boulders bigger even than Vera, and beyond that only darkness. Everything was painful. I drug myself to a sitting position, running my hands over myself, making sure all my parts were still attached. I was covered in cuts and scrapes, and I had a pretty decent lump forming on the back of my head. The tender area below my armor and labored breathing indicated a possible broken rib. I tried to take in a deep lungful of air, but constricted in pain, grunting out a whimper. I settled for shallow breaths, leaning back against a nearby boulder. I glanced up again, willing the light of a lantern to peek out at the top of the cliff, but was met with only darkness, and silence.

Bracing myself, I did the only thing I could think of. I called for help. “Vera!” I clenched, agony ripping through me as my chest constricted, rebelling against me. I huffed for a moment, then tried again, louder. “VERA!” The pain made me want to pass out, and it was much longer before I could calm my breathing again, tears running down my face, from pain or fear, probably both. A sob wracked me, terror at the thought of being left down here to die shaking me to my very soul.

“VERA!” I shouted once more, with no sounds answering the gasping plea. My calls were loud, pounding in my ears, but maybe she couldn’t even hear me. Maybe she wasn’t even there to listen. Stone had collapsed under me, but what if she was trapped up there, buried beneath hundreds of tons of stone and street above? My labored breathing was the only sound in the darkness, and as I lay there, terror gripping my heart, I silently prayed. I prayed to Llyr the savior, to Aio for a glint of light in the darkness, and to any other god that might still be listening to the mortal plane to save me.

I heard only silence.

And after an hour of screaming, followed by attacks of debilitating agony, my battered body gave in, and responded in the only effective manner it could. I slept.