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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Medriev" data-source="post: 4522337" data-attributes="member: 21864">Chapter 15 - The True Threat (Part 2)The hall where the drakes lay dead led on until it opened into a wide chamber with a 20-foot tall ceiling. Ahead was a 10-foot tall wall that left passages open to both right and left but that was all that the companions could note for suddenly, the sound of cracking timbers echoed through the hall. The floor shook, dust cascaded down from the ceiling, and something big and heavy hurtled towards them.From the shadows to the left swooped a pale white dragon-like creature with a birdlike beak filled with small needle-sharp teeth. It dived at Dulvarna with a shriek and then climbed away to swoop over the top of the wall in the centre of the room. A kobold appeared atop the central wall whirring a sling and with a flourish it hurled a stone at Dulvarna. It struck her shoulder with a loud crack and drove her back a step but though the pain was blinding, something else grabbed her attention then. From the right, a huge boulder, presumably the source of the shaking and rumbling, rolled down from a raised platform to the right. Lavren rushed into the room and darted right, crossing the boulder’s path even as it began to rumble towards the central raised wall.“More kobolds on a platform on the far side,” Lavren called back and then he uttered a phrase in elven that summoned purple rays from his wand that lanced towards the kobolds on the platform. One hit home and sent a kobold reeling while the other struck the stone behind the kobolds.     Thira darted forth next, following Lavren and lowering her staff to loose a silver bolt that struck the unwounded kobold on the far ledge. This kobold was dressed in rag-tag robes and a leather jerkin while he held a wand in his hand. The bolt struck him and sent him reeling back around the corner of the ledge so that he had some cover. Thira heard the rumbling boulder and made to leap aside but she was too slow and the huge stone struck her and knocked her to the floor. The boulder rolled on, struck the central structure and then turned right following subtle gradients in the floor. A sling stone skipped across the floor close to Thira and she turned her attention to the central structure where a second kobold had climbed atop the whirl and was even now, loading another stone into his sling.Dulvarna drew her sword and rushed around the central structure in the opposite direction to Lavren and Thira. She saw the ledge on the far wall and immediately saw the steps that led up to it. As a kobold turned his shield towards her, she started up the steps with her blade in her hands. With her blade held high, she rushed the kobold there as another turned its shield towards her and leveled its short sword. The first kobold stabbed out with its sword and she brought her heavy blade across to parry. She hoped that Erlmoor was behind her somewhere for she would soon need his aid.Kel darted right after Lavren and Thira but kept closer to the central structure. There had to be a way in, she reasoned, and she would find it. The doors were in the south wall of the central structure but barred from the inside so once again, Kel shoved her shoulder against the wood. With a crack, the doors burst open, the bar within hanging loose from a broken bracket. Two ladders led up to the walls within and she ran for the nearest one.Erlmoor drew his sword and followed Dulvarna, reaching the bottom of the stairs only a little behind her. The stairs were narrow and he saw no way to aid the warrior woman so he turned his attention back to the main chamber. He saw the drake swoop down into the central structure and, without knowing that Kel was within, wondered what it had seen. He looked back to Dulvarna parrying desperately and made up his mind. He would deal with the drake. Determinedly, and with one eye on the boulder rolling down from his left, he started towards the central structure.</blockquote>

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