A/N: And here's the next chapter, Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Dungeons and Dragons. I only own my original ideas.

Chapter 16: Ashardalon's Shrine

I watched as my companions set up camp and after dinner the set watch, giving me this night off. I swiftly drifted off, tired from the day's battles. In my dreams, I saw the very ancient temple we were currently in, only in the distant past when it was still above ground.

I saw myself flying into the temple, seeing the grand columns sweeping past. Down I descended, into the lower level, past the shrines, and into a chamber where a large statue of a red dragon stood in the center, looking down on all who entered the chamber. Suddenly, I heard a voice.

"Find me, young one," said the voice, "I will show you the way to what you seek".

The next morning, we returned to rift and made our way up to the far end. Here, the rift ended in a small chamber which appeared to be abandoned. We carefully approached the door, and exited into a wide hall featuring more columns carved with the likenesses of dragons. I knew from my strange dream the previous night that the used to be much grander, as this was the living quarters for the higher ranking worshippers. There were six other doors in this area, I knew from what I'd seen that the north-east door was the one we wanted. I could hear the sounds of snoring coming from some of the other doors. I nodded towards the door that would lead us forwards, and watched as Lydratir moved to check the door. After a moment, he indicated that the room was clear. We passed through a small armory, and arrived into a gallery illuminated by glowing fungi. As we moved in, a Bugbear carrying a glaive which had been altered with a sickle blade entered from the northern door. It immediately snarled at us and moved in to attack.

Narcrath reacted quickly, stepping in and hit the bugbear with shocking grasp. Lydratir stepped around for a clear shot, and fired at our foe, the arrow striking true and piercing deep. I moved up, and swiped at bugbear with my claws but it dodged away. Charles moved around to opposite side of out foe from me, and swung his greatsword around finishing off our foe.

With the area clear, we continued north, passing by more ancient mosaics and reliefs, and soon entering the northern chamber. The large octagonal room was silent, filled with nothing but benign plants and fungi. We continued through the door to the southwest, and after passing down a hallway of granite blocks carved with images of dragons, though many were crumbled with age. We soon arrived in large shrine, with was home to a large marble statue of a red dragon, rearing up in a mighty roar. The eyes of the statue were empty, but a reddish glow was lingering there. As I stepped closer, the inky black shadows behind the statue suddenly shifted, and moved to attack.

'It defiles this place,' whispered the same voice from my dream, 'destroy it!'

I brought my claws down upon this shadowy creature and I struck, but it was like attacking mist. Charles moved up to join me, but the shadow simply dodged his attack. The shadow reached out to try and strike me, but it missed.

"Be careful," said Krisyra, "that thing can sap your strength!"

Narcrath summoned a chromatic orb, and fired it as a sphere of lightning. However, it passed through. Krisyra then summoned a small flame in her hand, and tossed it at our foe. The flames stuck the shadow, but it went through as well. However, our foe seemed to be weakening. Lydratir stepped up to attack with his shortsword, but it seemed to miss entirely. I took another swipe at the shadow, and this time I seemed to hit a bit more solidly. I watched as the shadow faded away, vanishing into nothingness.

With the area now clear, we searched the chamber more closely. Narcrath poked around at the stones behind statue, and uncovered a hidden compartment containing some coins and a couple of flasks. I however couldn't stop my eyes from being drawn upwards the meet the statue's. I stood facing it, the statue staring down at me. I felt like someone was looking over my shoulder for a moment, and then the sound of grinding stone brought my focus back. I saw that a compartment had opened at the base of the statue's neck, and there was something glittering from within. I pulled it out, revealing it to be an amulet featuring a flawless red-orange crystal, like flames frozen in place. It was beautiful, but I knew better than to trust it blindly.

"Narcrath," I said, "what do you make of this?"

He stepped over, and for a moment his eye glowed with a detection spell. after a moment, he handed it back.

"It seems to have some sort of power contained in it, but I can't tell quite what. It feels like a mixture of Evocation and Conjuration," said Narcrath, "It doesn't appear to be cursed though".

I nodded and slipped it around my neck. I settled into place, and fit perfectly. The stone felt pleasantly warm against my scales. Nothing else happened, but I got the sense I'd done what I was supposed to. We moved northwards into the next chamber, arriving in the remains of an ancient library. We quickly searched the room, Krisyra and Narcrath discovering a pair of spell scrolls, while I discovered a book bound in dragon scales. A quick check of the book revealed it was filled with ancient draconic lore. I'd have time to read it more closely later.

We continued along, heading down a set of stairs, and then emerging up another set of stairs on the other side. We continued south down the corridor, and I noticed the smell of decaying vegetation, ever present through this floor was growing stronger. We came to a door to the east, one of the only two other exits to this corridor. Lydratir stepped up to the door and examined it, and then delivered a solid kick to the area around the lock breaking it open. We stepped through into a small study. My companions looked through the various books in this room, most of which appeared to records of growth, precipitation, and harvests for the surrounding lands for about 12 years. One book with caught my eye had the title 'Treasures of the Fire Lords' written in Draconic. Just a I was about to open it, Narcrath stopped me.

"Careful there," said Narcarth, "looks like there's some sort of abjuration spell on this book. We might want to hold off opening it until we can determine what's been cast on it".

We also came across a few more spell scrolls, some gold and gems, and book with druidic sigils of the cover. We continued southwards, emerging into a chamber where the south wall had fallen away into a natural cavern. Beyond, we could see that the area was filled with vines and briars. As we continued south four goblins looked up from tend plants and sorting samples into containers and moved in to attack.

Narcrath inhaled deeply, and then breathed up a stream of lightning right at two of the goblins. However, they dodged away, only catching part if the blast. Krisyra summoned flame into her hand, and tossed it towards one of the damaged goblins, taking it down. I moved up, feeling my fire hot in my chest. I slashed at one of the goblins with my claws, cutting it down instantly.

The remaining goblins looked at me fearfully, and then shouted "Aid us, Protector of the Twilight Grove!"

There was a rustling of plants as four twig blights entered the room. One of the damaged goblins attempted to charge at me, but it tripped over the vines on the floor, leaving itself vulnerable. Charles attempted to strike one of the goblins with his greatsword, but it nimbly dodged. Lydratir readied his bow, and fired on one of the blights, swiftly taking it down. The goblin attempted the drive its scimitar into Charles, but the blade simply bounced off his armor. One of the blights skittered towards Lydratir and tired to attack him, but its claws couldn't find purchase on his armor. Another blight tried to attack Lydratir, but it too missed. The final blight moved up to attack Krisyra, but it failed to strike as well.

Narcrath stepped up to one of the blights around Lydratir, blasting it with a shocking grasp at taking it out. Krisyra whipped out her quarterstaff, and brought it down on the blight, smashing it to splinters. I turned to look at the goblin who'd tripped, and swung my tail down on top of it, finishing it off. Charles swung again at the goblin before him, swiftly taking it out. Lydratir in one fluid motion dropped his bow, drew his shortsword, and drove it into the remaining blight, taking it down.

As the dust settled, we could see down at the end of the cavern our goal, the black, twisted looking branches of some sort of tree. We were close now.

A/N: And there we go! Our heroes have nearly reached their destination, and collected some interesting items along the way. Next time, the Root of the Problem. See you then!