The two older kobolds sat in the forest, the elder wearing clothes that were drenched in blood on the right side of his body. The druid escaped his shock before his son and proceeded to get up, Ralk eagerly helping him get up. Raouks first order of business was making sure the boys were fine, and so he began walking over to them. His son followed close by until the moment he looked down at his hands which were still covered in his father's blood, causing him to stop abruptly. His thousand yard stare setting in as he mentally spiralled through the last fight, knowing full well how close he was to losing his father and his own life.

He knew just how lucky they were, how lucky they were to have Nogh along with them. Nogh the boy who survived the improbable and now in possession of an incredible power which had no control over. Losing his village hadn’t shaken nearly this much, maybe it was because he wasn’t there during the actual event and only saw the aftermath. He felt devastated at that thought, how is it that the lives of, so many affected him so little, even though they were villagers he’d known since he was little. Their loss, although sad, didn’t bring nearly as much terror as fearing the possible loss of his father.

“Dad… What was that spell?” Ralk asked, his voice slightly quivering.

Raouk looked at his son, studied his son’s face as it openly displayed his fear, seeing this, he ran back to him and hugged the man as tightly as he could.

“I haven’t the slightest clue… Absolutely no idea…” he responded, utterly puzzled at the mysterious power of the lantern.

“I thought I lost you dad… I… I don’t…” the man stuttered, holding back his tears as if he had regressed to the age of a child once again.

“Shhh, shhh shhhh… It’s okay, It takes more than a little owl bear to do your father in. Remember the blood of dragons runs through our veins, its power is unimaginable, it is much stronger than that of a simple creature like that one.” Raouk said softly, trying to reassure his son.

“Ancient magic is… Terrifying…” Ralk said as he returned the hug, his voice tinged with fear.

“Agreed.” Raouk responded softly.

“Come, let’s gather them up, along with some of that owlbears’ bones… They are bound to be useful.” Raouk said, doing his best to sound positive and cheer him up.

Raouk tasked himself with making sure the boys were okay, he examined the both of them, making sure they were unhurt, while Ralk gathered some bones for the future. As far the old druid could tell, the kids were physically alright and simply sleeping. Whatever ancient magic they’re bound to, it is extremely taxing on the user, not to mention extremely dangerous. Much more than he initially thought, Draks’ warning was more than warranted.

The boy slept restlessly, his dreams peppered with flames and gravestones, he could hear the screams, he could smell the smoke, taste it and felt himself choking on it, all the while he was standing in his family home. This nightmare proceeded as such until a mysterious green light flashed through the window of his home and a wave of green flames crashed into him, erasing everything around him.

He had instinctually closed his eyes when the flames crashed into him, when he realized that he couldn’t feel the heat of the flames he reopened them. And he found himself once again standing in the endless nothingness, it, however, was less empty than before. A small black dragon cub laid on the floor at his feet, it was snoozing peacefully. Nogh immediately recognized the cub as Perry and allowed his mind to wander for a few moments. That is, until he felt the pull again, looking over, he saw a lantern floating as it approached him.

After it closed, the distance, the lantern stopped and stayed afloat in the air in front of him, as if it was waiting for something. Prompting Nogh to approach the skull - shaped lantern, the flames within licked their glass prison that kept it trapped inside. As he was about to grab it, the door flew open, and the lantern was engulfed by the flames.

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The lantern is normally shaped into a humanoid skull, but with the flames engulfing it, the lantern appeared as a dragon skull. The two words inscribed on it were the only things that the flames avoided and couldn’t cover up. It remained this way for a while, it was as if the flames were trying to escape their prison, with no success, of course. The flames that had escaped were, shortly, violently sucked back into the prison that was the lantern and the words were darker than ever, as if it was endless darkness personified sucking in the surrounding light.

The hinges smacked the lanterns’ little door shut the moment the flames were back inside, and what was once a raging fire was no more than a tiny ember in the lantern once again.

Then Nogh went to grab its handle again, and as he was raising his arm to so. He saw that his arm was turning into smoke and dispersing and before the panic could set in, he found himself jumping awake in the clearing.

A brief look around confirmed his surroundings, as he was surrounded by the two older kobolds and Perry, who was still asleep next to him. His rude awakening was noticed by Raouk who promptly asked if he was okay.

Noghs’ last memory of the fight was the old man having his arm ripped off during the fight, and he right away jumped into a tight hug. He bawled his eyes out like the child he is, weeping from a sick combination of his fear, his joy, and his grief that his dreams won’t allow him to escape from.

Partway through the hug, he noticed something different, the hug was only returned by one arm, prompting him to open his eyes, seeing first hand the blood stained robe. Raouk was still missing an arm, he had hoped it wasn’t true, but reality was setting in, and his cries gained strength once again. And it didn’t cease until much, much later in the day.

As soon as Nogh managed to calm down, the group moved further away and made camp away from the devastated forest and decided to rest for the rest of the day. They’d continue their journey the next day, seeing as to how they’ve almost reached their destination anyway.

At sunrise, our group packed up and departed once again, albeit slower than their usual pace, Raouks’ bag had to be lightened and its contents were now shared between the rest of the party. While it helped the old man, the boys were now struggling because of the added weight of their luggage. They, however, didn’t voice their complaints as it would’ve been both futile and childish.

Along the way, they had to take more breaks than usual, and they also had to hide more often from the other travellers going the opposite direction. They were headed in the direction that our group came from, presumably to join up with the party of hunters in the owlbears’ territory. The kobolds didn’t envy them, as they’d find nothing but mangled corpses of their friends and family. But such was the way of life, it was a fickle, and cruel mistress.

The many added breaks along the way allowed them to march well into the night before setting camp to rest, having made more progress than expected. The party ate a more lavish meal than usual, Ralk assisted his father by cutting up his food, and not long after their supper, the party went to sleep.

The following day brought upon them a sight for sore eyes, the massive mountain chain of Jagged Peaks were now in clear view. They couldn’t see the Dwarven gates just yet, but they knew they were close, and the peaks in the distance brought hope. Hope in their future.

With their goal in sight, the group of kobolds gained a second wind and accelerated their pace, hoping to arrive before nightfall. They, however, still made sure not to be seen along the way, since they didn’t trust humans at all.

By the time they arrived to the gigantic gates, it was well past noon, and the line for entrance was backed up by at least 3 dozen carts and twice as many people. Although most were humans and elves, there were a few lizard men and dwarves peppered in. The road was lined by armoured dwarves all the way to the end of the of line to make sure public security was upheld. Although Ralk and Nogh were weary of the humans in particular, Raouk forcefully encouraged his younger companions to get in line. Of course, the dragon pup was hiding in a bag by now, they wouldn’t want to get caught sneaking a dragon inside.

The Kobolds walking out of the forest did raise a few eyebrows, both of the guards, and the humans at the back of the line. But they were mostly dismissed as they took their spot at the end of the line. Raouk then asked one of the guards if there were any special procedures to pass the gates, and he was assured that as long as you caused no trouble and gave an acceptable reason for entry, that they’d be fine.

The next few hours passed slowly as they idled waiting in line, advancing slowly but surely, there were a few that were turned rejected entry, who then cussed and swore at the guards as they passed them. But nothing major happened until the next group of people arrived at the end of the line.

It was a group of armoured elves, numbering around a dozen men and women. Initial distracted, they hadn’t noticed that the people in front of them were actually kobolds and not some sort of halfling or a similarly short species. But one of them had to eventually point out the elephant in the room, or in this case, the 3 kobolds in line.