A/N: And here's the next chapter! Our heroes encounter the leader of the Orcs within these tunnels.

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

Chapter 22: Great Ulfe

Once we were ready, we continued through the nearby door. We emerged into a large hall, which was home to a grand staircase. A moment later, I heard the buzzing sound of insect wings, and four stirges flew out to attack us.

Lydratir reacted the fastest, whipping out his bow and firing at one of the stirges. The arrow struck it easily, taking it out. Another of the stirges dived at Krisyra, but she dodged out of the way. Another of the stirges attempted to attack me, but my scales deflected the attack. Charles stepped up to attack the stirge near Krisyra, but it swooped out of the way. I took a swipe with my tail at the stirge which had attempted to attack me, and easily sent it flying into the wall. Krisyra took a swing with her staff, which was glowing with energy. However, the strige dodged once again. The fourth stirge flew down towards me, but simply bounced off hide. Narcrath stepped over to me, and brought his staff down upon the stirge that that came after me. Lydratir move over towards Krisyra, and swiftly took out the last stirge with his shortsword.

With the area clear, we searched the room, finding the entrance to a passage leading deeper down. As well, we noticed there was some sort of mechanism at the far end of the room. As I stepped closer, I spotted a set of tubes set into the walls. I also noticed the odor of a flammable compound.

"Nothing but a trap over here," I said.

We left the trap alone, and exited this large room to the west. We soon found ourselves back at the junction we'd come across earlier. We made our way north, coming to another split in the path, with the cave becoming a corridor of worked stone to the east and west. We decided to search the east chamber first. As soon as we entered, the four orcs in the room took notice of us. They quickly paired up and charged towards us.

The first pair made their way towards Krisyra, while the other moved towards Narcrath. One of the orcs struck her with the flat of its axe in an attempt of knock her off balance, but she stood firm. The second orc seemed enraged by its companion's failure, and brought its greataxe down on Krisyra with immense force. Krisyra stumbled back a bit from the force, and looked to be in bad shape. I saw a flash of realization in Narcrath's eyes, as he began the incantation of a standard Reduce spell. I'd long gotten past my aversion to people using this sort of spell, as it was a normal part of many mages repertoire. I saw the magic wrap around both the orcs charging towards him, and they swiftly shrank to half their original size. I moved up towards the orcs who'd attacked Krisyra, and took a swipe with my claws, striking my target. The first of the shrunken orcs reached Narcrath, and attempted to trip him, but, it's reduced strength caused it to fail. Charles moved to attack the other orc of the pair I was now facing, and managed to find a gap in its armor. Lydratir moved around the combat, and finished off the orc Charles had wounded. The other reduced orc attempted to attack Narcrath this its greataxe, but the weapon simply bounced off. Krisyra was still breathing hard, as her breath turned into a animalistic snarl. She quickly shifted into the form of a dire wolf, and leapt at the orc in front of me. However, the orc simply dodged away.

The orc right in front of me snarled in rage at the loss of its ally, turned its dodge into a deft spin and brought its axe down upon me with the same rage that had nearly taken out Krisyra. I gritted my teeth as the greataxe severely injured me, just barely holding back a roar. Narcrath glanced at me with worry, and then struck at one of the orcs targeting him with a Shocking Grasp. I recovered from the knockback of the orcs attack, and tore into it with my claws. taking it down. One of the orcs attacking Narcrath attempted to trip him again, but again failed. Charles moved over to the orcs troubling Narcrath, taking out the one he'd already damaged. Krisyra-wolf bounded forwards towards the remaining orc and pounced on it, biting it savagely and knocking it prone. Lydratir stepped over to the prone, shrunken orc, and finished it off with his short sword.

With the area clear, Krisyra (returned to normal) and I sat down to attend to our respective wounds. Meanwhile, our companions searched the room, finding a decent bit of gold and a few precious stones. Once we were ready, we set out again to explore to the west. We soon came to a short set of stairs leading to a blood-stained, iron-bound door to the south, with looked rather heavy. Charles looked it over, braced himself, and then shoved open the door. Beyond the door was a small chamber, covered in poorly cure animal hides and illuminated by smoking torches. Let's not even talk about the smell. Out from the shadows stepped a hulking creature, about 10 feet in height. In one hand, it held a massive greataxe. In the other, it held the chains restraining two, rather large wolves.

"You?" boomed the Ogre, "you think to challenge the great Ulfe? Vak! Thrag! At them!"

With that, the Ogre dropped the chains, and all three of our foes charged forwards. I reacted quickly, unleashing my fiery breath upon our foes. The dire wolves swiftly dodged the worst of my flames, but Ulfe took the full blast. I felt the air around me heat up, and readied for what might come. Krisyra quickly summoned a small flame and lobbed it at one of the dire wolves, further damaging it. Lydratir took aim at one of the dire wolves, and the wolf snarled as the arrow pierced its hide. Narcrath summoned a chromatic orb, and fired at one of the dire wolves, and was damaged further by the ball lightning. The more damaged of the two dire wolves leapt at Charles, its teeth finding purchase as it knocked Charles prone. The other dire wolf took advantage of its ally's attack, and attacked Charles as well, and it looked like he was in bad shape. Charles shook his attackers off, and retaliated with his greatsword, nearly taking out one of the dire wolves. Ulfe the ogre roared in rage, and brought his massive axe down upon Narcrath. I watched with horror as my friend was felled in a single blow. (1)

"Your servants will make a nice belt, Dragon," said Ulfe.

I felt the boundless fury my kind were known for race through me, and a charged Ulfe with a roar, tearing into him with my claws. While Ulfe was focused on me, Krisyra dashed in and poured a pulse of healing magic into Narcrath, causing him to regain consciousness. Lydratir kept his aim steady, and fired upon the same dire wolf as he had before, taking it down. Narcrath got back of his feet, and unleashed a shocking grasp into Ulfe's back. The remaining dire wolf snapped at Charles again, but he was ready and knocked it aside with a swipe of his greatsword. Ulfe's face twisted into a cruel grin, and he took a swing at me with his greataxe, but not nearly as hard as he had Narcrath. As he did, the lingering heat around me coalesced, searing my foe.

I continued my assault, tearing into my foe with my claws once more. Krisyra summoned up another small flame, and cast it towards the dire wolf, damaging it further. Narcrath also continued with it assault against Ulfe, blasting him once more with a shocking grasp. The dire wolf tried once more to attack Charles, who one more was ready and knocked it away once more with his greatsword, leaving the dire wolf in bad shape. Ulfe brought his axe around in an attempt to wound me further, but this time the axe glanced off my scales. I saw the like his pet, he too was in bad shape. I thought about offering him mercy, but I could see in his eyes that he would never accept. He would fight to the last.

I slashed at him once more with my claws, and I could see him stumble back from the force, yet I still say the will to fight on in his eyes. Krisyra drew out her scimitar, and finished off the badly wounded dire wolf. Lydratir stepped over next to me drew his shortsword with a flourish, and finished off Ulfe.

With the area clear, we all took a deep breath as these dangerous foes had fallen. We searched the room, coming across a good-sized pile of gold and silver a flask of potion, and a finely crafted rapier which Lydratir immediately took an interest in. With everything collected, we retreated to the bunk room we'd come across to the east, knowing we needed time to lick our wounds before moving on.

A/N: And there we go! Next time, the adventurers continue deeper into the caverns beneath the Stone Tooth. See you then!

Footnotes: (1) Ulfe got a critical hit here. However, Valignatirisk also got a critical hit, so the luck balanced out here.