The tunnel leading away from the dwarven chamber sloped downward in a long, gradual curve, its walls lined with rough-hewn stone, worn smooth by the passage of time. Shadows flickered in the glow of their torches, stretching and shifting with every step. The air grew heavier, thick with the scent of damp earth and mineral deposits, while the occasional gust of stale air carried the faintest whisper of something distant and unseen. A faint miasma of ammonia and rot wafted with each subtle draft.
The attack by the insectoid ankheg had left its mark, not just in blood and broken stone but in the lingering tension that gripped the group like an unseen hand. Every faint sound in the darkness, a distant drip of water striking rock, the skittering of unseen vermin, or the soft crumble of loose stones, sent jolts of unease through the party. Shoulders tensed, hands tightened around weapons, and wary eyes darted toward imagined threats lurking in the shadows.
Even those most accustomed to underground spaces found their nerves fraying under the weight of uncertainty. When a pebble dislodged and clattered down the sloping passage, someone started, inhaling sharply, only to exhale in relief as the noise echoed harmlessly into the dark. A nervous chuckle followed, then another, rippling through the group like a shared confession of their mutual anxiety. Soft laughter came quickly but never lasted long, swallowed by the oppressive quiet of the deep.
The descent stretched onward, their footfalls muffled against the stone, yet every step carried the unshakable awareness that something, or perhaps many things, could still be watching from the darkness ahead.
“These tunnels are horrible,” Lianna muttered, her hand resting on the back of Frostclaw, as the great cat tried to offer her comfort with his presence.
Ella nodded in agreement, she stooped and scooped up the smaller frame of Valkra in one arm as she sought the same reassurance from the little shadowmane.
“We’ve come to far too turn back without completing the floor at least. I think once it is cleared, we can rest easier before the descent to the next level and searching for the earthen core.” Xavier looked back at the two women; his eyes showed his concern for them though his face was resolute in his determination to continue.
They continued the downward slope, as they went the air continued to grow thicker with the scent of damp stone and something far more… old. Xavier continued at point; his grip tightened around the hilt of Vaeltheris as his boots crunched on a patch of loose gravel. The deeper they descended the more unnaturally smooth most of the tunnel grew, which drew stark contrast to the sections that bore huge, jagged furrows as if great claws gouged deep into the stone wall. The eerie quiet grew heavier and pressed down upon the group, its overbearing only broken by the occasional soft echo of water dripping or pebbles falling.
Another chill draft of air snaked upwards through the tunnel carrying a heavier aroma on it causing Xavier and Lianna to pause. The smell was not rot as originally thought, but something far more primal, something aberrant and out of place. The two exchanged looks as Lianna’s sharp eyes took in the details of the walls searching for signs of attack. Beside her, Frostclaw let out a low growl of warning, while Valkra pressed into Ella’s arms closer, the little cub’s ears twitched as if she was hearing something just out of range of the others.
“There is something unnatural about this place,” Lianna murmured, her grip tightening on her bow reflexively. “It is not just deep tunnels. Something down there is waiting.”
Xavier let out a slow exhale as he gave his agreement to her statement. “Then I suppose we should not keep it waiting for too much longer.”
It was not much longer before the passage widened to a vast underground ravine, the path turning to hug the edge of the sheer drop. The yawning chasm stretched beneath them, its depth near impossible to measure in the dim glow of bioluminescent fungi that clung to the walls. Soft shifting shadows rose from the pale blue and green hues of the pulsating fungal light.
As the group studied the new surroundings the air changed again, its presence seemingly thickening. Dust and pebbles rattled on the ground; their movement barely noticeable at first but it grew increasingly perceptible. The shifting was not random, it came in rhythmic deliberate pulses. Xavier sucked in breath through clenched teeth, a heartbeat.
Xavier then crouched and pressed one gloved hand against the cold stone. The rhythmic shifting wasn’t the earth itself. Something massive lurked below and its breathing was causing the disruption.
Lianna joined him, her fingers moved to trail over a fresh new grove gouged into the rock. It was deep, sharp and unmistakably deliberately made. “These are not erosion,” she whispered softly. “These are feeding marks.”
Her statement brought a sharp exhalation from Ella. “We are walking into its nest?”
The trio looked uneasily at each other but there was no other way forward. Rising they started their descent into the dark ravine following the narrow path down the cliffside. Eventually, the path along the ravine ended at a natural archway of stone. It was carved not only by time, but the claw marks indicated something much less patient was involved as well. Beyond the arch, a cavern stretched out opening into a vast expanse, its ceiling lost in the darkness that gathered above. The fungal glow that had been present in the ravine was much weaker here, it almost seemed as if nature recoiled from whatever lingered within.
Eyes adjusting to the dimmer light the group started to make out details from within the cavern. Bones littered the rough and uneven floor, some of them were old and they could actually watch as they crumbled to dust at the touch of the irregular breeze that rose through the deep dark, however, others were freshly marked with jagged breaks and tears showing their marrow seemingly freshly devoured. Scattered through the remains and bones were a collection of rusty weapons, shattered hafts, and torn cloth scraps indicative of long forgotten owners.
The momentary silence was broken by Frostclaw, his low rumbling growl was matched by his bristling fur. Valkra, having been set down by Ella during the decent, pressed closer to Xavier’s leg her small body fuzzed out and trembling as she stared into the cavern. The feline growl was answered by a faint and wet slithering sound that echoed through the vast open space. It didn’t move enough to indicate something moving so much as something stirring.
Ella peered around the archway as she scanned the darkness. The knuckles of hand whitened as she gripped her bow tight enough to make the leather wrap creak. “It is too quiet.”
Lianna shook her head, one hand on Frostclaw briefly to comfort the beast, her feline eyes catching movement that the others could not make out in the darkness, it vanishing as soon as she focused her attention on it. “No, it is not too quiet. It is watching us.”
Xavier gritted his teeth and dropping his torch reached back to draw the Emberstone sword in his other hand. “Then let’s go and make our greetings to it.”
As he took the first step a deep bone-rattling tremor shook the cavern, pebbles bouncing across the uneven floor as the ground swelled beneath their very feet. The fungal glow started to actually flicker and began to pulsate in slow uneven waves taking its lead from the presence of something immense and ancient starting to move.
The next tremor was not even remotely subtle. The earth buckled and cracked leading to the whole party needing to stagger backwards away from a massive chitinous shape that emerged from the shadows. It was led by long mandibles whose jagged edges resembled the teeth of a saw more than anything else. They were followed by a serpentine bulk of a body, plates of hardened stone similar to the stone wyrm they fought earlier but on a much larger scale, shifted with an unnatural grace. A low grinding sound filled the cavern, not a roar or the shifting of the body, but more of a deep intake of air. Something massive was tasting the new flavors that hung there, clearly aware of them now.
The cavern shuddered once more as the beast moved and fully emerged, unlike the wyrm this creature’s many-limbed form curled along the cavern walls as it turned its red glowing eyes on Xavier and his companions. It released a single slow shuddering exhale that filled the cavern.
Xavier shifted his stance taking more of a defensive posture and raising his blades before himself. “I think it knows we are here.” And with those words he triggered insight.
Name: Nul’Zarak, the Maw of the Deeps (Apex Predator of the Deep Caverns)
Disposition: Ravenous Hunger
A massive subterranean horror that has roamed the depths for centuries, Nul’Zarak is a fusion of wyrm and insectoid terror, its chitinous, stone-plated body perfectly adapted to the darkness. It relies on tremorsense rather than sight, lurking unseen before launching devastating ambushes. Its serrated mandibles can crush stone, while its gaping maw devours prey whole, trapping victims inside its crushing inner jaws. When cornered, it burrows through the cavern walls, using the environment as a weapon against its foes. Only those who understand the rhythm of the earth can hope to defeat this primeval beast.
Health: 650/650
Stamina: 500/500
Mana: 0/0
What he saw made his mouth go dry. The stonescale wyrm from before was a difficult fight, this would be a complete nightmare. He motioned for everyone to remain still as the abomination’s head stared in their direction. After a few moments it turned vanishing back into the inky darkness. The group moved carefully back up the ramp a short way into the chasm hoping that the narrow path and seemingly bottomless void would reduce the likelihood of the monster attacking immediately. After several agonizingly long minutes of nothing happening beyond the occasional tremor reminding them of the beast waiting for them below, they all breathed a collective sigh of relief then huddled together to plan.
Lianna moved to the edge of the ledge peering downwards to see if there was another way into the monster’s lair and keeping an eye out for further movement. Frostclaw remained near her, his great form tense and ready to pounce at a moment’s notice. Ella, with Valkra tense and unleashing soft yowls, held an arrow nocked to her bow though her eyes kept returning to Xavier for guidance. The soft shifting light of the fungi gave their shadows a wavering dance heightening the tension as they had to watch to make sure the shadows were theirs and not an attack.
Ella shuddered finally, “The beast did not even charge us. It just sat there watching, like it was inspecting us and found us lacking.”
Lianna nodded slowly. “It is clearly not afraid of us. It is just waiting for us to make a mistake and walk into its trap.”
Xavier gritted his teeth yet again. “Then we will not give it a chance to spring the trap. We need to make the first strike. When I examined it, I learned it has a lot of characteristics of both the stonescale wyrm and the ankhegs, with something else making it much more malevolent but I couldn’t identify what that was.”
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Ella sighed, “great so my arrows will be less than useless again.”
“No, do like we did with the wyrm,” Lianna suggested, “do not target it because of the scales but aim for the ceiling. Maybe we can bring some of the stalactites down upon it.”
“Exactly,” Xavier agreed. “I doubt we have much that can cut those scales.” He inspected Vaeltheris’ edge speculatively.
Lianna raised a finger, “Did you see how it moved? Its underbelly looked decidedly different when it reared up to look at us.”
“Yes, it seemed less armored there.” Ella concurred, “if we can get it to rise up again, force that weak spot to be exposed then we could attack there.”
“A good option,” Xavier agreed, “we’ll have to see if we can make it do that. Alright, so where do we fight it? Charge in, or try to lure it out here?”
“If we fight it here it is less likely to be able to burrow under us like the ankhegs and wyrm did.” Ella stated as she gestured towards the ledge drop-off.
“It still might be able to collapse the ground though, and if it does…” Lianna frowned as she continued to stare over the edge. “I doubt any of us would survive that fall and it likely would remain half burrowed into the wall so as to not fall itself.”
Xavier pondered for a moment an eyebrow raising as an idea struck him. “What if,” he started, “we use that against it. Maybe we could force it towards the edge instead of it pulling us down.”
Lianna shook her head with a doubtful look on her face. “I do not think we have the means to force it to do anything. More likely we would need to lure it somewhere and frankly I do not like the chances of survival being stuck between the ledge and that monstrosity.”
They all fell silent for a while chewing on different ideas before, one by one, they came to the same conclusion. They would have to enter the monster’s lair and fight it there.
“Alright,” Xavier broke the silence, “if we must enter there then I will go first. Ella, you try to knock more of the fungus loose from the walls and try to illuminate the cavern more. The shadows are not our friend with this creature as it doesn’t need to see us, but we need to see it. Lianna, you aid Ella but since your bow is the stronger also take shots of opportunity. Knock stalactites down when you can, aim for its underbelly when its exposed, basically make a nuisance of yourself as I hold its attention.” He looked to the two great cats that accompanied them. “Not sure if you two understand me but just do what you did before. Harass and distract but don’t let it hit you.” He knelt and scratched behind Valkra’s ears, “Especially you little one, I didn’t save you just to let some ugly bug have you for a snack.”
Everyone checked their gear to ensure they had what remaining potions they had close at hand, just in case they were required. Their weapons were hefted, bow strings tested, and arrows counted. Lianna went one step further and wrapped a couple arrowheads in cloth dipped in oil and shifted several larger vials from her pack to straps on her belt. When Xavier raised an eyebrow watching her motions she smiled grimly at him.
“Oil flasks, can be thrown and then lit either with a torch or one of these arrows.” She indicated one of her recently adjusted creations.
“You’ll have to show me how to do those later, I can see how they could come in handy,” he replied.
She nodded her assent then there was nothing else for the group to do to prepare. The time had come for them to either break the monster’s hold over this level of the deeps or fail horribly and likely fatally. They opted not to focus on the latter option as they took the remaining steps back to the lair.
As they walked Lianna took a deep breath, “We only get one shot at this. I doubt it will let us just run away.”
“Then we need to make this count,” Ella agreed. She rolled her shoulders slightly trying to relax some of the anxious tension building in them.
Grimly, Xavier spoke quietly. “Let’s finish clearing this level, the Earthen Ley Line waits below.”
As the archway came into sight once again, Xavier and his group felt it—the oppressive weight of the presence lurking below. The air hung thick with the acrid stench of Nul’Zarak, mingling with the fetid rot of its past victims. Every instinct screamed at them to turn back, but they had already chosen their battleground.
Before they even reached the opening, Ella and Lianna acted first, moving with silent precision according to what they had planned. Their hands moved in almost perfect unison, tossing their flaming torches forward, sending them skidding across the stone floor toward the archway. The moment the firelight touched the cavern; their bows were already drawn.
The two women unleashed a barrage of arrows that streaked through the air, striking the clusters of hanging bioluminescent fungi, causing them to rupture and collapse to the ground below. The glowing spores burst apart on impact, increasing the spread of the soft, flickering light across the battlefield.
The creeping shadows recoiled, the darkness losing its grip as more patches of the cavern were revealed. The faint glow spread across the grotesque remains strewn about the floor, illuminating further half-buried bones, shattered weapons, and broken stone formations.
Then came the answering response from within. A low, guttural tremor rolled through the earth beneath them, deep and resonant. It was not just movement, but a warning. The stone walls shuddered, dust and small fragments raining from above as something massive began shifting in the deep darkness of the cavern.
As before the still intact patches of fungus reacted to the presence of the creature, pulsing violently as they seemed to sense the impending doom that the creature presented. The small group spread carefully; weapons poised to react as a thunderous crack split the air.
From the depths of the chamber a massive form slithered forth, its gargantuan, chitinous limbs dragging its segmented body into the open. Nul’Zarak coiled its monstrous length around the stone formations, its glowing red eyes burning and slowly sweeping the room as it tasted the air with a slow, rumbling breath. Its mandibles twitched, dripping a sickly green viscous fluid that sizzled as it met stone. The beast did not charge. It watched. It measured. It calculated. It was intelligent in the way a predator is intelligent. It knew that fear and hesitation would serve it just as well as its fangs.
With sudden and terrifying speed, it struck. Moving in a manner that was wholly unnatural for something of its size, Nul’Zarak lunged, its mandibles snapped shut, clacking loudly as they crashed together in the location where Xavier had been standing just mere moments before, its body continuing forward and slamming into the wall. The impact shattered the stone and sent jagged rock shards flying through the air in all directions. Xavier continued his roll to the side feeling the tremor vibrating through his bones as he tightened his grip on his blades.
“Keep it in the light! Keep moving, don’t let it hit you,” he barked out to the women as he used one of the shattered columns to shove himself back to his feet. He needed have worried, however, Lianna and Ella were already in motion.
The two women repositioned quickly, circling around in opposite directions to locations along the sides of the cavern. Arrows streaked both towards the creature and into the stone formations over its head. Most of the arrows had no effect, shattering on the stone and chitin of the monster’s hide or clattering impotently against the stone formations overhead. One struck true however and the sharp dagger of heavy stone fell striking the creature below. That caused the effect they had been waiting for as the monstrosity reared up roaring in anger and pain. The faint glow of the spores spreading throughout the cavern revealed the target they had been looking and waiting for. Its underbelly was exposed and vulnerable.
“There it is!” Lianna shouted and knocked a fresh arrow and loosed it directly at the fleshy exposed segments that lined the creature’s underside.
Nul’Zarak let out raw furious shriek as the arrow struck true. Its mandibles parted wide as it twisted in violent pain. Its massive body crashed against several stone pillars, shattering them and sending stone debris flying in the process.
With another sudden movement that belied its size, the creature burrowed down immediately vanishing into the stone floor. The sound of battle cut off with an alarming instant silence. Several seconds passed, and then came the first tremor, then the second…
Xavier had a sudden odd sensation. He swore he could feel where the creature was moving through the stone. “It’s going to strike from beneath us,” he shouted, “scatter!”
True to the shouted warning, and the odd sensation Xavier had felt, the ground suddenly split apart right beneath where they had been standing. Large stone sections buckling and shattering as the beast erupted upwards. The resultant shockwave blasted out from the site and sent Xavier skidding across the stone as the sheer force of the eruption threatened to bring the whole cavern down. Boulders and stalactites rained from above and the party had to continue to dodge and scatter constantly to avoid, narrowly, being struck with the falling threats.
Lianna, highlighting her nature, leapt to the side and sent a flaming arrow streaking towards a large cluster of the bioluminescent growth still attached to the ceiling. The impact caught the fungi alight and it erupted spilling more of the glowing spore across the battlefield below, an action that further highlighted the monster’s movements as a decent amount of the cascading spores coated the back of its hulking form.
As Lianna’s arrow triggered the cascading spores, Ella yelled at the beast drawing its attention to her. “Over here buggy! You want me, then come and get me!”
Enraged the creature lunged towards the noise and retreating patter of the woman’s footprints. Its mandibles snapped out its hunger and anger, but its rage caused it to make a mistake. Its tender underbelly was exposed again.
Xavier roared out seeing the weak spot. “NOW!”
Lianna was moving before the word was fully out of his mouth. A quick succession of arrows left the ranger’s bow, each one aiming for the vulnerable segments. Nul’Zarak screeched out in its pain, the massive abominable form writhing and twisting violently. As the beast roiled in its suffering Xavier, throwing caution to the wind, lunged straight at the serpentine form of the monster. Though in pain, the creature was not without awareness, and it twisted trying to crush the man in its massive mandibles. Xavier was just able to twist Vaeltheris, wedging the blade’s length between the overwhelming force of the pincer attack and the blade flared, its magical nature allowing it to resist the devastation of the attack.
Xavier wrenched the blade sideways slowly forcing the maw open further and leaving a new exposure for the two archers. Both Ella and Lianna aimed shots, one flaming and the other plain, into the creature’s throat and the sharp projectiles pierced the delicate flesh. Each shot caused a new recoil from the abomination, its massive coils thrashed against the stone pillars fragments and sent cracks splintering across the ground. The newly spastic movements of the monster further destabilizing the glow of the fungi causing them to pulse erratically, the light flickering in chaotic patterns added to the jagged shadows thrown about the cavern.
Through the chaos, however, Xavier saw something else, opportunity. As Nul’Zarak reared upwards to avoid new searing pain within its mouth, the wounded length of its underbelly was exposed once again and Xavier charged towards the towering monstrosity, Vaeltheris flared in his grip as if revealing in the impending mortal strike.
Nul’Zarak had not became what it was through chance though, it sensed the movement below and lunged down towards the assaulting human, its gaping jaws widening further in an effort to swallow the offending morsel whole. Air reverberated within the beast, a deep sucking force filled with the stench of death and decay roiled out of the abyssal throat.
Xavier didn’t stop nor hesitate; he leapt into the descending path. Ella screamed in horror at what appeared to be a suicidal attack from the man she had become bound to. Lianna grimly bit her tongue bidding the human a peaceful rest as she drew back yet another arrow.
Xavier had other plans than his own death, at the last second, he angled Vaeltheris sideways, jamming the enchanted blade between the awesome mandibles yet again preventing them from slamming shut on his tender flesh. The Emberstone blade came upwards leaving a scorching path through the inside of the creature’s mouth.
The impact force of the monstrous bite sent tremors through Xavier’s arms and shoulders, its pressure intense and even causing strain on the wonderous blade. Nul’Zarak screeched in fury and pain determined to crush the offending obstacle, but Vaeltheris held, the enchanted blade flaring even brighter as it defied the weight of the beast’s behemoth strength.
Xavier gritted his teeth, his muscles straining as he fought to twist the blade, inch by excruciating inch the mandibles crept wider. Xavier could feel the raw primal power coiling beneath his digits, the visceral hunger that the beast embodied, ancient and endless, enough to claim countless lives and still be ravenous. “But not today,” Xavier thought to himself.
“Lianna, now!” Xavier cried out.
He had seen where Lianna had clamored atop a jagged rock formation, where she had already lined up her shot. The moment Xavier forced the maw open, she let her arrow fly. The shot streaked through the air, a trail of flame following behind it, piercing directly into the soft, exposed roof of Nul’Zarak’s mouth.
The impact was instantaneous and devastating. A wet, sickening crack shook the beast moments before a violent, convulsing tremor started through it. Nul’Zarak’s entire body seized, its mandibles shuddering as the arrow lodged deep inside, the burning tip searing flesh and nerve alike. A wave of horrific shrieking erupted from the beast, as its spasming form smashed wildly into the cavern walls, sending boulders crashing to the ground. Xavier wrenched Vaeltheris free just in time, vaulting backward as the beast reared back in its death throes.
Nul’Zarak convulsed, its body writhing in agony, the arrow buried deep within its skull sending shockwaves of pain through its form. Its massive bulk crashed against the cavern wall again and again, collapsing an entire section of stone, half-burying itself in the rubble. Until it unleashed a final, shuddering screech that echoed through the Deeps, the sound filled with raw hatred and fading hunger. Followed by encompassing silence, the air going still as if it itself recognized the passing of the fell beast. The only disturbances left were Xavier’s heavy breathing, the settling of dust, and the faint pulsing glow of the fungi that had survived the carnage.
Slowly, Xavier straightened, Vaeltheris still gripped tightly in his hands. It was over. The Maw of the Deeps had closed for the final time and would never open again.