Early in the morning Ezekiel and the others broke camp. Korlac and Liarra fed their mounts as Ezekiel summoned Scout for another day of travel. By the time the sun had fully crested the horizon they were on the road again, making their way slowly north to the Citadel, though still many days away.

"Drez, where did you learn that unarmed prowess you displayed back in Greencoast?" Ezekiel asked, trying to find a way to pass the time on the road.

"My what?" the water goblin replied, unsure of what the summoner meant.

"You know. What you did during the fight with the Church guards. Korlac, I understand. He's clearly a trained soldier, wears armor, and carries a large sword. Liarra has her potions and bombs, and I have my magic. But you, well I'll be honest, I thought you just scraped barnacles off the bottom of boats."

"Oh no, he does more than that. He used to fight in the cages," Korlac explained.

"I'm sorry, what?" Ezekiel asked.

"Cages. A few years ago, Greg ran fights in the dock warehouses. He'd have me fight as much as he could," Drez continued.

"Wait, I'm confused. I thought he had you cleaning ships," Ezekiel continued.

"I do that now, after Korlac earned my freedom," Drez explained.

"So you were a slave on those docks?!"

"Happens a lot. Same for me," Korlac said matter of factly.

"I'm sorry, but how have you not known any of this?" Liarra asked, slowing her horse down to trot parallel with Ezekiel.

"I've been away for a while," Ezekiel explained, not meeting her gaze.

"I thought you said you fought at The Fall," Liarra continued to probe.

"I did. We lost and I was gravely wounded. I had to retreat and recover."

"Uh huh, and how far away did you retreat, and for how long?"

Ezekiel kept riding, not immediately answering Liarra's question as he looked forward with concern growing on his face.

"Ezekiel, how long were you away?" Liarra insisted.

"Shhhhhhh," the summoner hissed, forcing Scout to halt with the other horses. It was only then that Liarra and the others realized how eerily quiet it was. The road was deathly still. In the distance, they saw the signs of a town and buildings, yet no movement around it.

"What's going on?" Liarra asked in a hush.

"We're entering into Ridgemoure," Ezekiel said, his eyes never wavering from the road.

"Liarra, I don't like this," Korlac said nervously. Drez tightened his grip on Liarra's waist, and even Onyx was pacing around nervously.

"What's wrong with Ridgemoure?" Drez asked in a squeaky voice.

"I don't know. Onyx and I encountered it on the way to Greencoast, but we could tell something was off, so we took a detour around it."

"Can we do the same?" Korlac asked.

"I thought time was of the essence," Liarra commented dryly.

"It is..." Ezekiel trailed off, his mind racing through their options. "Drez, when was the last time you heard from Ridgemoure in Greencoast?"

"I don't know, though the sheriff did mention that they hadn't had a shipment from there in over half a year."

"We should go through. No big deal, right? It's just a town," Korlac said, his horse neighing softly under him.

"Alright, then it's decided. We'll go through rather than lose a day going around. Just be careful."

The group proceeded down the road another half mile to the edge of the village, just as the sun set over the horizon. The wind rustled softly, the only sound aside from the hooves of their horses. The buildings all appeared run down, the wood rotting. Scorch marks could be seen here and there. The ground was dry and cracked, garden beds unkempt. The town square appearing utterly lifeless.

"What the hell happened here?" Liarra asked, looking around carefully.

"The Church, maybe?" Drez asked.

"Where is everyone? Where are all the people?" Korlac asked, his horse becoming skittish. The orc had to strain to keep the animal under control.

An eerie familiar feeling crept under Ezekiel's skin, causing the hairs on his neck to stand on end as panic surged through the back of his head. He could hear screaming on the battlefield, voices calling for help as rotting hands reached up through the ground, pulling soldiers under the dirt, their arms flailing wildly until they could no longer be seen.

"Ezekiel!"

Shaking his head, the summoner refocused himself on the present, pushing down the painful memories.

"You with us?" Liarra asked, concern evident on her face.

"I am. I just..."

Suddenly, Korlac's horse bucked wildly. It whinnied in fear and tried to bolt, but found itself restrained. Large, gnarled hands burst from the ground with blackened fingertips, holding the horse tightly by its legs. The clawing hands pulled down hard, dragging the bucking horse into the earth as dozens of more hands broke the surface and grabbed at the panicked beast.

"Get off the ground, now!" Liarra yelled as hands reached up under her own steed, pulling it down into the ground the same as Korlac's.

Dismounting in a panic, Ezekiel dismissed Scout with a wave of his hand just as he was also being grabbed and pulled into the dirt.

Dozens of grasping hands emerged from the road, forming a circle and reaching for the new arrivals.

"In there, quick!" Ezekiel called, pointing to a nearby building. Running together, everyone managed to dodge the grabbing hands, except for Ezekiel. Neither strong nor nimble, he found himself pulled into the dirt up to his knees. He could feel the strength of the fingers around his ankles and calves, pulling him down harder and harder. Through instinct and training, he uttered a quick spell.

"Yone Dorl Ren!"

Within the blink of an eye Ezekiel's body flattened, then folded in on itself, disappearing from where he’d sank waist deep into the ground. In the hole he left the dirt covered faces of creatures with white eyes and scraggly beards recoiled at being exposed to the surface, retreating back into the ground with only their hands reaching above.

Unfolding back into existence on the porch of the building, Ezekiel joined the others just as Liarra fell to the ground, the impact knocking the wind out of her. Korlac shouted, reaching out to her but missing her outstretched hand. As her body hit the ground, her legs, forearms, feet, and shoulders were all gripped by hands reaching from the ground, pulling her under.

"Korlac! Help me!" Liarra screamed with panic.

Leaping from the patio of the building, Korlac brought his falchion down in large sweeping swings, cutting hands off at the wrists. Onyx joined him, rending the hands apart with her vicious fangs. Drez and Ezekiel reached out, pulling Liarra onto the wooden walkway.

Once the three were on their feet, Onyx and Korlac rejoined them. After a while, all the hands retreated back under the ground, and the eerie silence returned.

"By the dead gods, what was that?" Liarra asked, her breathing ragged.

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"One of the ancient races. Those were dwarves." Ezekiel explained as he looked sorrowfully at the hole he had left.

"What's a dwarf?" Drez asked, his eyes locked on the ground.

Korlac stood and looked out at their surroundings as the others recovered from the ordeal. His eyes quickly locked on two forms on the wooden floor.

"Hey, are those two... dead?" the orc asked.

Ezekiel swung his head around and looked in the direction of Korlac's gaze, seeing the two figures in front of the fireplace. Both were dead, their bodies decayed and emaciated, holding each other.

"What happened to them?" Liarra chimed in.

Kneeling before the bodies, Ezekiel examined them and their immediate surroundings, trying to put the pieces together.

"Dead, for a few months now, if not more. They look to have starved."

Looking through one of the doors of the building, Korlac confirmed Zeke's findings. "No food anywhere, not even water. They just sat in here and died."

"Do you think the other buildings in town have dead bodies like this?" Drez asked.

"Probably. The dwarves were likely drawn here because of something the townsfolk were doing. They started pulling people underground, and everyone likely panicked and jumped into buildings or anything off the ground. Then they just stayed there. Couldn't call for help, couldn't run away, couldn't even jump on a horse and ride off," Ezekiel said, realizing they were now stuck in that very situation.

"Will lighting a fire aggravate them?" Liarra asked.

"No, that should be fine. We just need to avoid stepping on the ground. They won't leave the dirt, they're curse-bound to the earth, to never leave its confines."

"Great. Korlac, think you can get a fire going in there?" Liarra asked, pointing to the fireplace.

Nodding, the orc broke apart some of the rotting furniture, using it for fuel for the fire as Liarra started pulling out sleeping bags.

"Sorry, but I don't think your little cabin is such a good idea with them around, seeing as you conjure it from the ground and all."

"I was thinking the same thing." Ezekiel twirled the corner of his mustache as he ran through their options.

"I thought time was important?" Drez asked, confused as to why they were already setting up camp in the abandoned building.

"It is, but night has fallen, and that doesn't work in our favor. We won't see them as well, and we're already tired from a full day's travel. Plus, the rest of you don't even have horses anymore. We need to rethink our strategy."

About an hour later the fire was crackling as everyone settled down in front of it. They had removed the bodies in front of the hearth and placed them in another room. Drez was tasked with first watch, keeping a close eye on the ground outside the front door. Korlac was reviewing their supplies. Onyx lay on the ground next to Drez, her own eyes fixed on the dirt as well. Liarra worked on heating up some dried meat she had in a satchel as Ezekiel flipped through his grimoire, cursing under his breath with each page turn.

"What was that thing you did, when they had you in the ground?" Liarra asked.

"Dimensional fold. A useful spell for getting out of trouble. It's a short-range teleport," Ezekiel explained.

"Like what the grand inquisitor did?"

"Sort of. Her spell was cast from her staff, which has much longer range and doesn't require line of sight. However, a divine recall spell tied to an item like that staff is always bound to a specific location, meaning she can’t teleport anywhere else but to the Citadel. Mine, though quick to cast, can only send me a few hundred feet rather than miles, and I have to see where I'm going."

"Can you take others?" Liarra asked.

"I can, if they're touching me, though the more I take, the longer the spell takes to cast."

The fire crackled as a moment of silence passed between them before the alchemist continued.

"You were being serious, weren't you. Those are dwarves out there?" Liarra asked as she seasoned the meat with some salt and pepper from her backpack.

"It is, unfortunately. The cursed children of the earth," Ezekiel answered as his gaze remained locked on his book.

"So, it's not the first time you've seen this?"

"No, it's not."

"What happened to them?"

Sighing, Ezekiel closed his grimoire, realizing he wasn't going to be able to focus on it for the moment.

"It happened during the fall. We waged war across Terrial, trying to fight the rise of Tal'Dar, who fancied himself a god above all other gods. He was supported by several other deities of malintent, but the rebel forces had rallied under a unified banner to fight his ascension."

"Obviously that didn't work out," Liarra replied.

"No, it did not. While we were unified in a common goal, we were not unified in motivation. There was bickering amongst the elder races, old feuds and tensions... Tal'Dar took advantage of that and manipulated the conflict both in the heavens and in the mortal plane."

"Meaning?"

"He killed the gods of the elder races, thanks to unifying others under his banner."

"So it's true? He's the last and only god?!" Korlac asked in awe.

"No, he's... complicated," Ezekiel replied shortly.

"Okay, so the gods of the elder races were killed, but why did that matter?" Liarra asked, trying to keep the conversation on topic.

"In killing the gods of the elder races, Tal'Dar was able to invoke ancient and powerful magic to put a curse on the worshipers of those deities. When he killed Uriel, goddess of the high elves, he bound them to their ancient forests with a hunger for the flesh of any living creature that entered their domain. Then, they killed Tollarn, god the anvil and the dwarves. They were cursed, bound to the earth, to never leave its touch, and to only find nourishment from the bones of surface dwellers," Ezekiel explained as he stared into the fire.

"Great, well that's just great." Liarra snipped, standing up from the fire to look outside. Taking a hunk of the meat she was cooking, she threw it out the door and onto the ground, where a hand immediately shot out of the ground and dragged the meat under.

"So what's the plan?"

Sighing, Ezekiel stood up and joined her and the others to look out the door, the fire crackling behind them.

"I've been thinking about that. Conjuring a horse won't help. It'll just get dragged under as a normal horse would. The cabin does us no good, and the dimensional fold spell is helpful, but I'm not sure it'll get us far enough away from the dwarves.”

"What about that elemental you can summon?" Korlac asked.

"Bob? I've thought about that, but I'm not sure what he could do in this situation. It's too many hands for him to deal with, and he's just one Elemental. However, I do have another idea."

"Oh really, what's that?" Liarra asked.

"I'm not as worried about the fate of my summoned creatures. When they're summoned, I'm borrowing a sliver of their soul that returns to them even upon death. I can summon spark paws, very fast wolves from the Plane of Air, and have them run on the ground as a pack in a certain direction. That many feet on the ground, they're sure to attract most if not all the hands of the dwarves."

"What then? We just run and hope for the best?"

"I'll cast another spell on us, an infusion from the Plane of Air that will quicken us as well. We'll be able to move with great speed, even faster than the spark paws can move. Then we'll use dimensional fold to give us a head start."

"Great! Why not just do that if we'll move so fast?" Drez asked, excited by the plan.

"We need the distraction. The quicken spell is powerful, but short in duration. We'll get less than a minute to basically clear the area and hope we're beyond the detection of the dwarves. We need the distraction to give us as much time and a head start."

"So you summon something fast, have them run in one direction to attract the dwarves, then cast a spell on us to make us move even faster, then teleport us a short distance to give us a head start?" Korlac summarized.

Liarra chewed her lower lip, digesting the details of Ezekiel's plan.

"They detect vibrations on the ground?"

"Yes."

"And if there was something big and impactful on the ground, something loud and shook the earth a lot, what would that do to them?"

"It would likely disorient them, but not for long, though it could buy us some time. Why? Do you have something in mind?"

"From our last job, the cargo vessel Korlac and I disembarked from. I grabbed a few pouches of gunpowder, for personal use. I could rig something up to blast, creating a decent-sized explosion. If your quicken spell runs out, and assuming I get the timing right on the spell, it could buy us some extra time to keep running and hopefully get away," Liarra explained.

"I'm confused. So are we leaving tonight?" Drez asked again.

"No. I need time to prepare my spells and I imagine Liarra needs time to rig her explosion. We’ll need to wait until morning."

"Yeah, sleep soundly in a house with dead bodies as creepy grabbing hands wait outside for us." Korlac said, matching what the others were also thinking.

Everyone took to nervously settling in for the evening. Onyx never moved from her spot in front of the door, staring out the entrance at the ground, as the rest worked out a watch rotation. Ezekiel took first watch, reading his grimoire and studying his spells, followed by Drez, then Korlac, and finally Liarra, who spent the early hours working on the explosive device.

Once everyone was awake, they stowed their gear and preparing for the run their lives depended on that morning. Liarra kept fussing with the device she had created. It was filled with black powder with a twisted fuse. The surface of the device was covered in meat, which raised an eyebrow from Ezekiel.

"Trust me. I have an idea," Liarra said with a smirk.

"Alright, are we all ready to go?" Ezekiel asked, looking across the group. Everyone nodded. Onyx simply yawned, stretching her legs in response.

"Okay, step one..." Ezekiel waved his hands in unison with an incantation, summoning forth four spark paws. Their fur was a deep yellow and they moved around nervously, lightning sparking in their teeth.

Ezekiel spoke to them, using a language unfamiliar to anyone else. The wolves looked at him, their ears at attention as the summoner gave them instructions. Liarra paid particular attention, trying to make out what tongue he was speaking in. It sounded airy, full of long, heavy sighing and exaggerated breaths as part of the pronunciation.

Suddenly, the wolves started barking, pawing the ground while pacing around.

"They're ready to go," Ezekiel explained.

"Wait, so you can talk to them?"

"Yes. Most planar creatures are capable of speech, you just have to know their language."

"What do they speak?" Drez asked, tentatively petting one of the spark pups who leaned into the water goblin's hand, panting happily at the attention.

"Auriel, the tongue spoken in the Plane of Air. They're quite intelligent, and have said they'll try to get the dwarves to follow them for as long as possible. They were a little upset about having to actually run on the ground as opposed to flying, but said they can do it long enough to give us a head start."

One of the wolves looked at Liarra with a tilted head as she refused to pet it. Looking over, she saw two of the wolves hovering in the air in front of Korlac, licking his face as he was hugging both.

"Is this a petting zoo, or is this an escape?" she asked, trying to get the others to focus.

Both Drez and Korlac looked dejected at having to cease their activities with the wolves, but Ezekiel nodded his head in agreement with the alchemist.

"Time enough for that later. I'll give them word to run, then I'll cast a quicken spell and finally dimensional fold. Then, we run."

Picking up her bomb, Liarra grinned wickedly.

"But first... I throw this."