Chapter 15 - The True Threat (Part 4)
Lavren quickly laid claim to the robed kobold’s wand but within the pouch on his belt, Dulvarna found a parchment and a small silver key.
“The parchment says there is a door to the north,” said Dulvarna once she had examined it. “The writing is crude but the runes are Thorass and it is in the common tongue.”
“Door to north lead to big treasure,” said the capture kobold then, now disarmed. “Key will open, key will open.”
“Kobolds rarely lie to their captors,” said Kel. “They are usually too afraid of the consequences.” She looked pointedly at the kobold who scrambled back from her.
“Bind him anyway,” said Lavren, pulling a coil of rope from his belt.
“Do it,” said Dulvarna, though she disliked the idea.
The kobold shrieked and scrambled back from the elf but Lavren was quicker and soon he had the kobold’s hands and feet bound behind him. Together, they turned towards the north passage and made their way inside.
The key slotted into a carefully crafted and well hidden keyhole and when turned, the end of the passageway slid away into the left wall. Beyond, a long winding passage led the companions deeper and deeper into the earth. Eventually, the finely worked stone tunnels gave way to natural passages and then, at last, the passage opened into a large cavern. The air in the cavern was unnaturally cold and in the centre of the room was a large pool of frozen dark water. They looked around but saw no signs of life and the cavern itself was utterly quiet.
“Something comes,” said Thira. She had heard something beyond the pool, as though a claw scraped on rock. Thira moved to the right with her stave at the ready while the others looked around in confusion.
“I heard it too,” Said Kel, drawing her morningstar and starting towards the frozen pool. Even as she did so, there was a flurry of movement from the far end of the cavern as around a pillar came a creature from nightmare. It was a winged beast covered in scales of purest white. Its teeth were as long as daggers and its body was as long as a wagon, ending in a long, white tail. Along its back and along the tail were ridges and in its pale, blue eyes gleamed a fierce intelligence.
“What is it?” asked Kel, though she feared she knew the answer.
“It’s a dragon,” called Thira from the right. “A white dragon.” The dragon reared back and breathed frost at Kel and the dark elf, paralysed by fear, could do nothing but stand and watch.
Thira stepped around the pillar close to her and moved to the edge of the frozen pool, lowering her stave as she came. With a word, she loosed a shimmering arrow of green, glowing liquid that flew towards the dragon but the beast turned aside and the arrow burst against the wall in a spray of sizzling acid. Lavren darted along the south wall of the cavern and drew the wand he had taken from the kobold chieftain. He leveled the new wand and called forth fire from within the dragon, the spell that had failed him in the halls, thus far. Again the spell failed but succeeded in drawing the dragon’s attention. Slowly, the huge beast moved towards the elf.
Kel met the dragon before it ever got to Lavren and swung out with her morningstar to strike the dragon on the foreleg. It screeched and reared, turning towards her instead. Dulvarna and Erlmoor rushed forward to aid the drow but they could not possibly reach her in time. The dragon snapped at the drow and Kel simply ducked, leaving the white wyrm to snap at nothing but air. Thira launched a silver bolt at the dragon that struck the dragon beneath its wing while Lavren gestured with his wand and chanted in elven. The dragon screeched, though none could see what assailed the wyrm and it reeled around, retreating from the imaginary onslaught it faced.
Kel paused for breath and Dulvarna and Erlmoor surged past her. The warrior woman reached the dragon first, her blade weaving before her and then darting forward to tear at the dragon’s snout. She twisted around the side to strike at the dragon’s leg then but it had recovered from the nightmares that Lavren had conjured and skittered back so that she could not get past its mouth and claws. Erlmoor roared and spewed acid from his mouth but the wyrm darted back out of the way. The dragonborn chased it back, praying to Lathander as he went but his blade struck only the scales of the wyrm’s chest before he was driven away himself. The dragon lashed out with a claw and knocked the dragonborn reeling before roaring its own triumph. It would not be beaten in its own lair.
Thira circled back around the pillar next to her and picked her way across the cavern floor until she could see the dragon’s back. Leveling her stave, she uttered a phrase that called forth fire and unleashed flame against the wyrm. The dragon reared and twisted so that the flames barely touched its scales and then, as it came, down, it turned its neck to regard Thira with fierce eyes.
From the other side of the wyrm, Lavren called on the innate power of his wand to ignite witchfire within the dragon but once more the spell failed and the dragon remained unhurt. Kel charged back into the fray with her morningstar swinging out while Dulvarna and Erlmoor struck at the wyrm whenever they could. Dulvarna landed a mighty blow on the wyrm’s shoulder and as she did, Erlmoor came in at the beast from the other side. His blade slashed along the dragon’s neck and with a screech it turned around towards the dragonborn. Suddenly, the dragon reared back and with a roar, it breathed frost once again. Erlmoor stepped towards the dragon and evaded its breath but Dulvarna and Kel were seared by the terrible frost. Thira cried out, fearing for Lavren, and loosed a hail of silver bolts from her staff, each striking the dragon. The dragon roared its agony and breathed again, the terrible frost felling Dulvarna and Kel together while wounding Erlmoor. Lavren cried out and unleashed a wild hail of black bolts of energy, only one of which struck the dragon. The wyrm was struck a terrible blow, though, the black fire, searing one side of its face and drawing another screech of pain from its maw. Erlmoor struck at the dragon with a prayer on his lips and as his blade cut the wyrm’s flank, white light washed over him and spread to Kel and Dulvarna. Dulvarna opened her eyes while lying quite still and winked at Erlmoor. His heart sang and hope was reborn within him. There could be victory still, he decided, and boldly, he began to sing a hymn to the Morninglord.
Thira and Lavren loosed silver bolts and black flame at the dragon but it paid them no mind. The dragon called Szartharrax existed to serve Tiamat and would not be felled by mere treasure-seekers. He lashed out wildly with his claws but the dragonborn was quick and ducked under each blow. The paladin retreated before the dragon and held out its sword, unleashing blinding light from it that seared the dragon like flame. The wyrm screeched again and lunged forward blindly, over the bodies of the fallen. Something seared into the dragon’s back and Szartharrax knew that it was the accursed tiefling wizard with her equally accursed staff. The dragon cast around for the dragonborn but could not find the creature. He ducked instinctively as warlock flame seared close to his head and then suddenly, he knew his mistake. Pain seared his belly and hot blood flowed down his back legs. One of the fallen creatures was not dead and it had stabbed him! Szartharrax screeched again in pain and tried to turn to reach the creature.
Erlmoor slashed at the dragon’s nose but the frost breath still slowed him and his blow glanced off to the side. The dragon slashed a claw at his shoulder and sent him reeling away but as he moved, he felt the effects of the frost leaving him. He turned to his right and stopped there, blade in front of him, the dragon, small by the standards of its kind, snarling before him. With a roar, he charged, and as he did so, Thira and Lavren loosed their magic and Dulvarna charged at the dragon’s back. Szartharrax fell then, struck at almost the same moment by black eldritch flame, a silver bolt of arcane energy and the blades of a warrior woman and a dragonborn. The wyrm screeched one last time and slumped to the floor of the cavern, narrowly missing Kel’s fallen form.