Questions were asked by everyone as they tried to figure out how to enter the keep. A steely, black portcullis that refused to break or budge. Gaulk grabbed a few of the stronger adventurers as they formed a unit. Together, all of them tried to heave the gate upwards. Creaks and moaned were the only rewards they acquired for their efforts. Each try had no impact as it never moved an inch during their pushes. Tulvig took out his blade as he told the others to step back. Narrowing his movements and taking a stance, he lashed out with a powerful strike as red light could be seen emanating from his sword.

The metal resounded as he made a small incision into the exterior of the gate. A small incision like this would need to be hit one time after another as it only scratched the surface. “I don’t know about this one. We may need a different way in,” Tulvig said.

Voices from the adventurers threw out different ideas, “What if we climb?”

Tulvig spotted how far they would have to climb before answering, “Go ahead and try if you feel confident enough. Maybe there’s a way to open the gate from the interior.” Some of the more daring adventurers placed on appropriate gear as they used boots with spikes in them. Equipped with picks to pierce into the mortar of the keep. Volodar looked at the group as he shook his head.

“If someone tried to scale my tower like this,” he started, “they would be disappointed. Going through the front door was much easier.”

Drake seemed surprised, “You have a tower?” Volodar realized his mistake only after the fact as he waved his hand.

“Just a minor one, a gift from an old friend.”

“My lord is confused due to the heat,” Adelia added. “He had a tower alongside the college of mages from Zaiford.”

“Oh,” Drake said suspiciously as he looked towards Volodar. He examined him for a minute and placed a hand to his head, “He seems to be doing alright. Just sit for a bit and you’ll be fine. We’re all getting cooked here.”

The climbing adventurers were sixty percent of the way to the top as noises reached out from their location. Screams could be heard seconds later as a few large, bat creatures swooped down and swiped them off the walls. Mages and archers from down below responded quickly as they shot back at the creatures. Elemental magic was useless as it became obvious what they were made from. Their outward appearance was that of stone as they continued to grab onto the survivors. Some were simply thrown towards the floor as people ran from the collision site. Others would be slammed against the wall they were climbing.

Tulvig called out, “Bring them down here!”

“Jump,” Volodar yelled, “I’ll catch you!” Only three of the adventurers jumped as Volodar rushed an incantation. His blood vines wrapped around the falling bodies as he gently placed them on the floor. Blood trickling out from his nose at a decent pace.

Adelia held onto him as she pulled him behind the frontline. She placed her hands near his face, “Hold still, my lord.” It didn’t take long before the bleeding stopped as Volodar wiped away the excess. The stone bats made their descent as Tulvig’s blade crashed into one. Stone chunks scattered as the creature turned to ash in many parts. Ashes from the slain would remain glowing on the edges for a moment before all color was snuffed out.

Gaulk pointed out that the man crushed stone with a blade as he laughed it off. He did his own part by using his flail to swipe the legs off of the bats. They would make pitiful attempts to snatch the adventurers below, but they were prepared for the movements. It didn’t take long before they contemplated going up the wall once more. Volodar shook his head as he spoke to Adelia, “I’m going to message the others to go into the portal. They shouldn’t be affected by this heat.”

Adelia breathed heavily due to the heat, “This doesn’t look good for us.” Volodar made his way peeling from the group to send the message. Upon his arrival back, he could see Tulvig repeatedly using different weapons as he did his strike upon the gate. Adelia filled Volodar in on the details, “Tulvig said that this would tire him out. However, no one wanted to go up the walls again.” Each blow that he made against the portcullis would dull a weapon instantly as he would grab the next and go on. Prospectors were more than willing to use their main weapons as ammo. Most of them couldn’t even hold a sword the right way, anyhow.

It took a half an hour as he continuously struck the gate. He finally slashed through it, providing a small gap that people could squeeze between. Everyone went in one by one as the bright, red light from outside was useless in here. Soft, blue lights accommodated the new location. No noise could be heard as it was eerily quiet in the halls. Only the sounds of their feet were consistent throughout the location. Three different hallways stood before them as they proceeded down the halls.

“This is more like the other portals I went to,” Gaulk mentioned, “At least it’s close quarters combat for now.” Many of the lesser demons could be heard scurrying around the castle. An unnerving feeling was present as the adventuring group split off into three parties. Within corridors like this, knowing your ally’s skillset was the difference between life and death. The three groups mirrored how they started: prospectors, Tulvig’s group, and Gaulk’s group. Volodar went down the right hall with his allies as Nokken stopped the group.

Nokken mentioned, “I must recall my beasts as they couldn’t fit through the gate.” Chalk was scraped along the ground as he quickly outlined an area. It flashed green as tendrils sprouted in a circle and receded once more. His pets appeared within as he deconstructed the rune. Volodar watched in curiosity as he thought about Hunter and Doppel. Magic that wasn’t of a spatial element that allowed for instant transport. Nokken seemed pleased with his companions’ return, “That’s better.”

He used his bird as a scout as they made their way through the halls. Nokken looked up ahead as he halted the group, “Something’s ahead.” Everyone paced themselves slowly as they approached the location. Demons were across the ground slain as blood covered the walls of the room. Drake clutched at his divine pendant as he walked through the room. Nothing appeared to be in the room as they searched it. Nokken ran his hand across the stone floor and looked towards the group, “It may have been the other parties. There are signs that they proceeded through here.”

Drake felt relieved as they continued with the trail now leading towards the other party. Thankfully, the hall that they were in had minimal demons within as Gaulk handled them well enough on his own. Before long, a giant chamber seemed to open before them. It was a grand amphitheater with no roof above. Drake exclaimed, “How is this possible?”

Gaulk just shrugged his shoulder as he moved passed, “It’s a portal. You’ll never get used to the shit they throw at you.” A weird scene was spotted as Gaulk squinted his eyes. He saw the adventurers all gathered around something. There were also sizable, red creatures that started to surround the adventurers. They were humanoid in nature as Gaulk shook his head, “We need to get there, now!”

He sprinted with his flail towards the location much faster than the others. Only kept up with by the wolf of Nokken as they charged the large creature. The conflict already was underway as adventurers were sent flying in quantities with every swing of the creature.

Using his incantation, Volodar once more spoke with his creations. “Hunter, we’re going to need you both in the next fifteen minutes.” He disconnected the line as soon as his words completed. Not a moment passed by idle as he shot blood bullets towards the humanoids. In turn, the figure sprinted at Volodar as it dragged a large, metallic club behind it. The creature was least nine feet tall as it winded its arms upwards for a swing. Volodar tried to rush an incantation as blood started to wrap around its body. It was too late as the swing crashed down and metal could be heard upon metal. Drake stepped in the way as he drew his shield above his head.

Stolen story; please report.

He called out, “Cast your spells, Fulton! This creature is a jotun, aim for its throat.”

Volodar watched as his blood whip wrapped repeatedly around the creature. There, he tried to clear his mind and focus on how fleshy the neck of this creature was. He flicked his wrist as a blood lance shot forth from his hand and through the neck of the creature. It fell over as Volodar started to feel the exhaustion from using this much blood magic. As his vision cleared, he saw an especially large jotun fighting Tulvig. It bellowed out in a strange language as it laughed towards it’s opponent. This certainly was the leader of the jotuns in this area. He stood at twelve feet tall as he crashed his flaming maul into Tulvig. The leader of that adventurer’s party looked like a toy as he was casted a dozen feet back flying through the air.

There were about a eighteen jotuns left and the adventurers barely doubled that number. Volodar could piece together who died in the conflict as he saw the slave owner perished long ago. Many of the prospectors fell as well as only the most fierce adventurers could hold their ground against these creatures. They did manage to kill a few of the jotuns, but this was absolutely unsustainable at this rate.

Adelia grabbed the cuff of Volodar, “Lord, I believe we need your nec-“ She caught herself as she just looked into his eyes, “I don’t know of another way out.”

Volodar didn’t feel as lightheaded as he did during the fight with the goblinoids. He watched as Drake attempted to heal the wounds of Tulvig. Volodar gave a sigh as the corners of his mouth slowly raised, “I wanted to see what they would turn out to be as well this whole time.” Walking over to the corpse of the jotuns, he channeled his mana into them. Dark energies wrapped around the creatures as he could feel portions of his mana depleting. Four jotuns started to twitch and shudder as they rose to their feet. They wielded their previous weapons as Volodar issued the order to slaughter the jotuns.

Some of the adventurers found safety through using the allied jotuns as meat shields as they retreated to recover. Confusion seemed to take hold over the remaining survivors as they struggled to fight back against the jotuns. The leader of the jotuns screamed in disgust as he rushed another group of adventurers. It was agonizing to witness as each blow that the jotun made would result in the immediate death of the person who was struck. Those with shields were able to be struck two to three times if they were lucky.

Volodar continued to follow his jotuns, raising the fallen jotuns to his side. The leader of the jotuns roared into the sky for his battle cry. Less than a dozen of the other adventurers remained at this point. Nokken’s pet dire wolf was bloody at the jaws growling at the large jotun. It had taken on a jotun on its own, thrashing the neck of the creature before it stopped moving and Gaulk positioned himself to strike if the opportunity arose. Tulvig had barely gotten up at this point as blood poured for the top of his head.

He watched as the jotuns got up one by one and the enemies were overrun by their once allies. Tulvig commanded the remaining adventurers, “Buy time for the necromancer!” Volodar tried his best as he could feel that mana was drained at a constant rate. Mana sickness was certainly setting in as he could feel a loss of balance. Just a few more, Volodar thought as he kept pushing forward.

“My lord,” Adelia called out, “be careful. The big one is looking at you!” Thundering with each step, the jotun ran in his direction. It whipped his maul back as he prepared to slam down. Nokken’s dire wolf grabbed ahold of the man’s leg as Tulvig attacked his other leg. Drake attempted to get in the way of the jotun, but his armor weighed him down too much. The fatigue struck him as he marched his way over towards the jotun.

Raising the last of the jotuns, he slowly looked towards the sky. His head felt like it was spinning at this point as he weakly gave the orders to stop the jotun. The large jotun swung his maul hitting the head of an undead jotun that was nearby, causing it to collapse instantly. However, he was swarmed by too many of the undead as they simply grabbed the creature by his extravagant, black, and red armor. Insatiable undead pinned him to the floor, seeking vengeance for their comrade’s death. An unknown language bellowed as the noise stopped moments later.

“That man,” one of the adventurers paused, “fucking necromancers. I fucking hate necromancers.” He laughed as he said this, tears floating up to his eyes.

Volodar fell to his knees as he started to dry heave, but nothing happened. He took a minute to compose himself as Adelia tended to him. She teared up as she clasped her hands around one his own, “You were wonderful, my lord.” He scanned his new jotun minions as he stood up with the help of Adelia.

Volodar expected a cold reception from most of the adventurers as he prepared for another conflict to occur. Gaulk looked at Volodar and spoke plainly, “My boy was a spirit speaker, huh? You owe me a damn drink for this experience. Why would you hide that from a dwarf? Should’ve just told me, would’ve saved me a lot of heartache.”

Nokken didn’t say anything as he tended to his dire wolf. Drake walked up to Volodar and looked him in the eyes for a moment before walking towards Nokken. He assisted in the healing process of his animals. So be it, Volodar thought as he slowly walked to the dead jotun leader. He asked Adelia, “Any of the fallen mages have vials to restore my mana?”

“I will search, my lord.”

Five minutes or so passed before Adelia brought him tiny green vials of mana. He drank them as the bitter taste made him squint his eyes shut. The sound of the adventurers seemed to pick up as Volodar looked behind. Hunter and Doppel were trying to talk to the adventurers as they held blades in their direction. Adelia walked over to clear the situation up before they walked back to Volodar.

Hunter spoke as the both of them knelt, “I’m sorry we couldn’t make it for the fight.”

“No,” Volodar stated, “It’s fine. I gave an unreasonable request to think that you guys would’ve trekked that distance so quickly.”

The large corpse was quite noticeable as Hunter scanned it, “It’s powerful, my lord. Will it join our ranks as an ally?”

Volodar looked at it for a moment before answering, “Yes, Yes it will. I believe that a wight is good. Whereas your ghoulish form makes you swift, his will make him strong.” He glanced over to Doppel as he examined the work on his body. Another idea popped into his head at that moment. “No,” Volodar backtracked his statement, “I will enhance Doppel using the body of this creature.” He placed his hand upon the creature as he channeled a spell. A spherical shadow held within his palms as the creature looked to become gaunt as if it was skin tight.

Doppel’s voice echoed, “I will be honored to serve you better.” Volodar placed the dark mass within Doppel as he seemed to absorb the energy.

“It may take a few hours for your body to accommodate the power of this creature.” Volodar’s voice trailed off as he looked towards the weapon and armor that his creature used. They seemed to shrink with the body, which is an indicator that they were magical items. “Take these items Doppel. You can wear the armor as it should fit to your form. As for the weapon, just hold onto it for now. Use whatever you’re comfortable with.”

Tulvig walked over to Volodar as he looked between the surrounding undead. “The adventurers aren’t going to say it, but you saved our lives today. I need you to do me one favor though.”

“What is it?”

“Don’t use your magic on the deceased adventurers.”

“Master Volodar isn’t like that,” Adelia retaliated.

Gaulk said, “Volodar? Yep, that’s more of a necromantic name than Fulton.” He seemingly grumbled as he moved away. He was waving his arms and speaking to himself.

Tulvig sighed as he continued, “We also lack the manpower to return with the bodies. The assistance of your undead would be appreciated in this regard.”

“I won’t harm the bodies and I’ll make sure that they get back safely to the camp outside of the cave.” Tulvig shook the hand of Volodar for that statement as he gathered what little they had left. On the far side of the amphitheater, there was a seat that seemed to accommodate the leader of the jotuns. Next to the arm of the chair, a small glowing orb rested in a holder. Doppel grabbed the orb as he offered it to Volodar.

Inside of the orb was a mesmerizing sight as it showed the realm that they were in. Red mist, cracked floors, and a keep were all visible when looking into it. The energies within this are immense, Volodar thought. It was possible that it could be channeled for spatial magic or something similar, perhaps.

Tulvig once again spoke up, “Volodar, would you mind handing that over to us?”

Volodar looked at the orb and back towards Tulvig, “Why would I do that?”

“If we had the orb, we could pay for the expenses of this trip. Funerals could be had for the dead and their families would not be left wanting from this excursion. It’s the least that they’re owed.”

Volodar remained silent for a moment as he weighed the pros and cons of giving up such an artifact. Adelia looked towards him and agreed. “Well,” Volodar said, “I view the jotuns and the advancement of my magical prowess as the reward from this journey. You can have the orb, on the condition that I will be paid a fair portion of the bounty from Strosa.”

He grabbed the hand of Volodar as he spoke, “Deal.”