The Death Tyrant
Kozaf led his men and Shadimir to the entrance of the Greywolf's Tomb. The entrance was an underground grey stone staircase that descended deeply into the earth.
Shadimir kept an eye on Karin, making sure his daughter and his friend were safe. Jepetto hadn't opened his eyes, but he continued to walk on his feet just fine, then he stole a glance from Dalla, who smiled at him. The undead hunter admired his daughter's courage. Don't worry Dalla, I will get you out of this soon, then we can go home, Shadimir vowed as he turned his head forward.
A few feet behind the group, Deidra watched them as they stood over the entrance to the tomb. She looked over at the woman in the black leather. This must be the monk Stephanie told me about, the halfling said to herself, brushing her dark hair back.
Shadimir had heard the name of Greywolf in his studies back in the High Palace. He remembered reading in a book titled Defenders of the High Forest, that Greywolf was an elven druidess with tremendous power who defended the High Forest from evil outsiders. In a great battle, she sacrificed herself to vanquish a powerful demon. It said in the book that Greywolf was buried in a small underground tomb. For six years, moon elves would visit her tomb, bringing gifts for her spirit. It is also said Greywolf's spirit still haunts her tomb.
This is how a great hero gets paid for her services for defending the forest, Shadimir thought as he looked down the stone steps that led down into the tomb. He hated the idea of Kozaf and his men pillaging Greywolf's tomb, more than he now hated Kozaf for kidnapping his daughter.
Kozaf looked over at Shadimir, telling him to go down the staircase first. The undead hunter glared in Kozaf's direction, then began to walk down the stone steps.
One of Kozaf's henchmen carried an ever burning torch, providing light for everyone to see. The bottom of the fifth teen foot stairway led the group into a long narrow hallway. The walls and floor of Greywolf's tomb were made of smooth stone with a tint of white color, with little elvish markings on the walls. The markings told of the great deeds Greywolf performed when was alive.
Shadimir led the group down the hallway, which eventually led up to a tall and wide stone door.
The hunter reached for the small door handle, then pulled it slowly. When he stepped inside the room, his eyes saw the tall marble made walls that extended seven feet up. The light in the room was provided by four glowing crystal orbs that sat on the white marble floor in each of the four corners of the room. There were also what appeared to be eight stone statues of men scattered around the room.
In the center of the room sat what appeared to be a mold encrusted green skinned beholder. It had only four of its eyestalks out of its normal ten, and a large hole near its mouth, exposing part of its jawbone.
The beholder looked in Shadimir's direction, causing the undead hunter to draw his mace with his left hand, and his sword Gabriel with his right hand. "Its a death tyrant," Shadimir shouted back to Kozaf. The hunter remembered learning about these undead beholders.
He looked to the door, expecting Kozaf and his men to come running in here to help him, but the moment his eyes turned away from the death tyrant, the door was slammed shut from the other side.
The death tyrant slowly hovered over to Shadimir, two of its eyestalks looking directly at him. The undead hunter saw two green rays of energy shoot from both eyestalks right at him. Both green rays shot into his chest, and Shadimir felt a strong burning feeling in his stomach as he was knocked to the floor.
Shadimir quickly stood back up and watched the death tyrant's eyestalks sway slowly as the undead beholder opened its massive jaw that contained very rotten and very sharp teeth.
The undead hunter thrusted Gabriel forward, digging it deeply into the tyrant's jaw, then with his left hand brought his mace forward bashing his blunt weapon against the death tyrant's side.
The death tyrant tried to close its mouth around the undead hunter's arm, but Shadimir quickly released his hold on Gabriel, letting the sword fall inside the tyrant's mouth. Determined to destroy this abomination and get his sword back, Shadimir brought his mace across the death tyrant's jaw. The disruption power the mace carried within itself, destroyed the death tyrant. All that was left was Gabriel laying in its ashes.
"Should we open the door and see what's left of him?" Kozaf said to his men as he stood with his hand on the handle. The men gave an anxious cheer while Karin crossed her arms and Dalla clenched her fists. Kozaf looked over at the little girl, seeing the same cold glare pf hatred in her eyes. The same glare her father had been giving him since they met.
Kozaf quickly opened the door. When he and his men walked inside the room, Kozaf expected to see a statue of the undead hunter, but only found him standing in a pile of ashes with a look of triumph on his face. "Where's the death tyrant you spoke of?" Kozaf asked curiously.
Shadimir looked at the mace he held in his hand, and answered," I destroyed him, now if you don't mind, I'm going to be taking my daughter and my friend home."
"Oh I do mind Shadimir," Kozaf said softly, bringing his halberd forward," You see, we still have to explore this tomb, and I'm not letting your friend or your daughter go until we finish exploring this tomb, and my men and I get our rewards."
The hunter was within two seconds of taking on Kozaf, his men, and even the monk, but his eyes wandered over to Dalla.
Wait for your chance to strike him, a beautiful distant voice said in Shadimir's mind. He saw the calm expression on Dalla's face and decided to keep his emotions in check.
"Lets move on then," Shadimir said coldly, taking the lead and walking to the door on the opposite side of where they stood.
Karin started to walk, then she heard a few rocks crumble by one of the statues from behind her. The monk looked over her shoulder and saw nobody there.
The monk looked at the taller henchmen named Bilof, and handed her Dalla. "Here, keep an eye on the girl."
Bilof looked at Karin confused as he gently took a hold of the girl. "Aren't you coming with us?"
Karin shook her head, keeping a hold of the sleeping deep gnome. "I want to have a look around here. I will keep the gnome with me while you go on ahead."
As soon as Bilof exited the room, Karin quickly threw the sleeping Jepetto to the ground, then reached on her belt, grapping her whip, letting it unravel on the floor. In one swift motion, the monk spun around, and snapped the long black tendril of her whip forward. The whip's line cracked against something hard that stood next to the statue.
Out of thin air, a silver rod dropped to the ground and Deidra wearing her leather armor, became visible.
"I thought I heard something walking behind us," Karin purred in a soft voice to the halfling," How fortunate that it would be a halfling."
"I'm here to help Shadimir, but I'm also going to avenge my friend after what you did to her," Deidra drew both of her daggers and sprang forward.