As the Carriage drove along the cold, hard stone of the Under Roads, several conversations were going to pass the time. A dragonborn was teaching an elf to drive the cart, an illusion mage was torturing a poor scribe, and several people were arguing over how a cleric was being stupid with her Commune spell.

Eventually, they heard a loud roar in the distance, and the orc paladin walking with the carriage roared back enthusiastically, wanting a challenge. The others were preparing for combat as well, while a few people stayed back with the carriage to make sure it didn't get destroyed in the coming fight. The paladins took the front, orc and dragonborn fuming for a good fight, while the mages and ranger stood back, ready to deliver terrifyingly strong spells.

As the enemies grew near, the horde came in from several angles, armored undead elves and dwarves rushing in from the sides as an Ogre charged from the front. The paladins moved in to attack the ogre, while the mages dealt with the hordes of undead from the sides, casting fireballs and lightning bolts. With brutal efficiency and some critical strikes, the orc paladin was able to almost single-handedly slay the orc without taking any damage, roaring whilst he tore the ogre's head off. The mages, on the other hand, were quiet quickly overwhelmed by a hidden enemy casting a devastating spell into their midst, taking down the scribe in a single blow while injuring their cleric and ranger badly as well, allowing the few remaining undead to charge into their midst and deal some devastating blows.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The paladins were able to come quickly back to the rescue, and while the remaining enemies were mopped up quite quickly, the scribe was both severely injured, and poisoned with a lethal dose of darkspawn blood. The group surrounded the downed and dying scribe, using countless spells of healing and restoration, and in the end, they were able to meekly destroy the poison and save his life. The poor scribe, frail and unprotected has seen death in his face not quite so close before, has come through the endeavor more or less safe, yet the close call wasn't the first in his adventure, and surely won't be his last.

The group was able to gather their bearings, with a little fighting between those in the fight and the ones who stayed near the cart, yet the near death of the scribe has sombered the fighting, and the exhausted group, except the orc paladin who went unscathed whilst charging through countless enemies, decided to take a rest there, the nearby enemies destroyed in the fight.

As the group slept, the lowly scribe had a dream, not the first one of it's kind either, but a simple return to a chaotic landscape of floating debris and thunderstorms, the view changing with every blink. and in front of the scribe stood a demon, a powerful one with an offer, one a scribe would want.

Knowledge, in exchange for vitality.

Power, for frailty.

With the recent brush with death, losing vitality was something he was averse to, yet with each passing day, he wondered what knowledge he could gain, could take back to his college in a victorious return to continue his studies and become a high magister.

The demon asked for his answer, and the scribe, unsure, said nothing. The demon saw the indecision and bade him ponder on his offer, and left the mage to his sleep.

The scribe woke up.