Chapter 5

Nightal 16 1372 DR, Year of Wild Magic

After two days of no results, another attack had taken place, but instead of the attack coming from inside of Mithral Hall, the attack came from the outside the dwarven stronghold.

Shadimir and Elros arrived outside, finding the bodies of two dwarf guards, both of them stabbed to death. Then Shadimir saw their killer.

In the air, a dwarf sized skeleton weapon black armor rode on the back of a horse that appeared to be a zombie. Many pieces of skin were hanging off the horse's body, and the eye sockets were empty.

"The monster has been unleashed," The skeleton cried as pointed his sword forward and flew at Shadimir. The undead hunter stepped out of the way of the attack and waited for the skeleton warrior to land. Once the skeleton landed, Elros charged, and tackled the undead horse, throwing the skeleton off the horse's back.

Shadimir drew Gabriel and charged the armored skeleton. With one quick thrust, Gabriel was driven through the skeleton's armor and bones.

"The monster is unleashed," the skeleton howled in a high pitch voice," and you won't be able to stop it." In the next moment, the skeleton turned to dust, and the black armor fell to the cold ground.

Then Regis Rumblebelly came outside and looked at Shadimir. "Shadimir, I need you to come see this. Follow me to the palace."

"We found them like this earlier, in the library," Regis explained as he showed Shadimir Jepetto's' body, which appeared to be turned to stone. Next to Jepetto, Battle-hammer's body lay on the ground, also turned to stone.

Elros stood next to Shadimir, his eyes filled with sadness. Shadimir patted the snow tiger's head, then looked at Regis. "Those who have been turned to stone, can they be restored?"

Regis bit his lip. "We've been able to restore them, though it's a very slow process. I must be going now Shadimir, I have a meeting to attend to. I'll make sure our priests work on him as soon as possible."

'Thank you Regis," Shadimir said quietly as Regis left the room. The hunter stared at the bodies of his friends. He was confident that both Jepetto could be restored to flesh-or in Battle-hammer's case, metal. Seeing them like this, fueled Shadimir's desire to find the one who has been attacking the dwarves, and put an end to it.

The hunter sighed, then noticed Elros holding something in his teeth. The snow tiger dropped the object next to Shadimir's feet, and then the hunter realized that the object Elros had found, was Catti-brie's black book.

Shadimir picked up the book and looked at the cover. "The Half-Blood," he said as he read the cover. The hunter opened to the first page, and read the words that gave a basic description of the story. "A half-elf sorcerer that fights an evil wizard from the land of Palarona," Shadimir mused. "It sounds interesting.

He began thumbing through the book some more, but noticed that all the pages, but the first one, were blank. "That's odd, Shadimir whispered, drawing Elros's attention. "I wonder why the story isn't finished?" the hunter asked when he turned to the second page. After a moment of silence, words began to appear on the page.

The story is not finished, because the monster is not yet vanquished.

Shadimir stared at the book, confused at what he just saw. He walked over at a nearby table and grabbed a quill and an inkbottle. Could the book actually be talking to me, he wondered as he dipped the quill in the inkbottle. Then Shadimir wrote: Do you know anything about the monster attacking Mithral Hall? A second after Shadimir's writing sank into the page, more words appeared.

Yes. The monster is a terrible beast. It has the torso of a snake, and three heads. One a white goat that can turn anything to stone with its gaze. The other is a white dragon that can freeze anything. The final head is a lion, which can paralyze anything it bites.

"It's a chimera!" Shadimir said, looking at Elros. "It has three heads, though I've never heard of a chimera with a serpent's torso. Still, I'm going to destroy it. Question is, where am I going to find it?" After asking this question, more words appeared on the book's pages.

Find the Chamber and You will find the monster.

"The chamber has to be in the tunnels where those dwarves went," the hunter said with excitement in his voice. Shadimir tossed the book on the ground and left the room to tell King Bruenor what he had just learned. Elros then followed his master.

When Shadimir and Elros disappeared from the room, a mysterious figure emerged from the closet and grabbed the black book that the undead hunter had so carelessly left on the floor.

Shadimir would never get to talk to King Bruenor like he wanted. Mithral Hall's palace was in chaos, as guards, priests, and even the cooking staff were in a panic. Then Shadimir saw the bloody message on the wall.

Her bones will lie in the Chamber forever.

With Elros at his side, Shadimir searched the palace for anyone who could help him. After an hour of searching, Shadimir found Regis sitting in a wooden chair.

"The attacker has taken Catti-brie," the halfling whispered, his face full of despair.

Shadimir looked into Regis's eyes. "It will be all right Regis, I know where the Chamber is.

The halfling looked at the undead hunter with disbelief. "Are you sure?"

The hunter nodded. "Yes, but we have to tell Bruenor at once."

"Bruenor is already gone," Regis said, shaking his head. "He and the others went searching for this chamber hours ago They're most likely in the mines. He told me to stay here and wait for you."

Shadimir sighed, then looked at Regis. "Well, then it's going to be us three then."

Shadimir Deachron, Regis Rumblebelly, and Elros walked down the long and dark tunnel. Regis kept quiet as he held the torch, but he did let out a little shriek when he saw a trail of spiders moving past them.

After several more minutes of walking, they reached a large iron door. Shadimir noticed the drawings of snakes and spiders on the door's edges.

Come in...Let me rip you...Watch me rip her...Watch me kill you both...

"This is it," Shadimir said as the voice disappeared from his head. "I've been hearing it's voice inside my mind from time to time, though I'm not sure why."

Regis looked at Shadimir, confused at what the hunter had just said. Yet rather than pressing the subject, the halfling asked," Shall we open it?"

Shadimir walked up to the door and pressed it. The door let out a hissing noise as he slid down into the ground.

After whispering a pray, Shadimir, Elros, and Regis walked inside.