6 – Crucible Forged
"The hotter the flames the purer the ingot." –old dwarven proverb
"This definitely be the place," Montaron remarked as he traced a finger against the jagged stone opening. "It looks like all natural-type caverns past this point. Hot too." The gap was short and narrow. It would be a tight fit for the armored members of the group.
This seemed to be the spot (or one of the spots,) where the kobolds had broken through into the mining complex from a nearby series of natural caves. From the black and wavy nature of the stone walls within it seemed the cavern had been carved by magma.
"Well?" Jaheira asked, her eyes on Montaron.
"Well what?" the halfling barked back. "Looks like a prime place for an ambush. I ain't sticking me neck out first."
"Pfft," Imoen rolled her lips. "I'll do it." Before anyone could object she knelt and wriggled through the gap, staying low to the ground and close to the walls of the cave as she silently slipped out of view.
After a few unnerving moments of silence Imoen appeared again and gestured for them to move forward. One by one they slipped into the cave. On the other side they chose a tunnel more or less at random and began to creep forward.
Soon sweat was trickling from their brows as the heat that radiated from the walls and floor grew more and more intense. Ashura's sight was eventually blotted out by nothing but red and a heartbeat later her infravision went out the way it would in daylight.
For about thirty paces they made their way through the darkness, guided only by the tourches that Imoen and Khalid carried. Then they turned a corner and came upon a red light glowing in the distance. As they drew closer the ground seemed to rumble beneath them, and the sound soon became a mix of grinding and gurgling.
It became clear what the source of the sound was when the tunnel opened into a massive chamber several hundred feet above a hellish glowing light. A magma-flow. The path ahead of them spanned the chamber along what seemed to be a natural bridge, and there was a tunnel at the far end.
They slowed almost to a halt, inching along the ground with Montaron in the lead. There would be no swimming back to the surface if one of those log-traps caught someone here. Montaron had only gone a few paces across the bridge when he stopped fully, his gloved hands fiddling with something on the ground. With a careful slash of his dagger the halfling severed a tripwire and pushed it aside. He crept another three paces then stopped again, frowning as he examined a second hidden bit of rope.
The creak of a bow echoed off the cavern walls and Montaron immediately leapt to his feet and scrambled backwards. An arrow struck and clattered against the dusty ground where the halfling had knelt a breath before. Backing up Montaron cringed and ducked as something white-hot and crackling flew by his head. The burning arrow struck the ground a finger-width from the tip of Imoen's boot and sent her hopping backwards as sparks flew. She backed towards the tunnel and knocked an arrow.
Ashura crouched a few paces behind and knocked an arrow of her own. It was hard to tell but the little lizards seemed to have cover at the end of the bridge. Nothing in view for a few beats, then there was movement at the lip of the opening and she let the bowstring go. The arrow missed broadly but sent the kobold ducking back into cover.
At the other side of the opening a second kobold popped out and sent another burning arrow hissing through the air. Ashura cringed as sparks and embers struck her leg but she managed to knock an arrow and hold steady. The little reptile had ducked back behind the rocks but the other archer had popped back into view, and she aimed for his head.
Her arrow missed dramatically but the kobold's didn't. It struck Imoen in the thigh, causing her own arrow to shoot wildly. Imoen let out of a scream of pain and the leg that was stuck went wobbly.
Ashura rushed forward and slipped am arm around Imoen's waist, dragging her friend back a couple of paces and into the shelter of the nearby tunnel. The cave walls around were pretty smooth and unlike the kobold's spot it offered relatively little cover. More arrows whistled past them as Imoen and Montaron both huddled against the walls. Xzar gasped as an arrow flew past his face. Meanwhile Ashura took another wild shot with her bow that arched far short and plunged towards the magma.
Gritting her teeth she threw her bow down and snatched her swords from her pack. "Fuck this," she growled, then charged across the bridge, leaping over the tripwire that Montaron had left behind. Two paces farther and she felt something under her boot click.
No choice; she kept running. There was a rush of air behind her as three crossbow bolts whistled across the bridge, one missing her hip by a finger-length. She bent forward and dashed the remaining six paces to the far tunnel, coming face to face with a red-scaled kobold that was lifting a bow and aiming a burning arrow point-blank. A slash from Ashura's left-hand sword sent the bow and arrow flying from the creature's hands and a slash from the right cut the kobold down.
There was a stabbing pain in her back and Ashura whirled around, facing a kobold with dull yellow scales that held an empty bow. It tried to turn and flee but a slash sent it flying off its feet and another opened its throat. Every twist and motion of her body sent spikes of agony through her left side, but there was no time to dwell on that.
The darkness before her was full of glowing red eyes.
The little creatures all rushed her at once now. Daggers stabbed at her thighs, claws gripped at her armor, all trying to overwhelm her and bring her down. Ashura kicked and slashed and whirled in a tangle of blood and steel and scales. There were yips and yelps of pain and some of the small reptilian bodies went still or fell back.
There was another jolt of stabbing pain in her side, near the arrow wound. A knife maybe. Her feet faltered and her knees hit the stone. With a deep intake of breath she tried to push herself back up and felt a weight on her upper back as claws dug in. Before she could react her breath left her as something tightly constricted against her neck.
Ashura could feel the kobold brace itself on her back and pull, using a bowstring as a makeshift garrote. Her sword fell from her left hand as she grabbed at the cord and tried to pull. No relief. She grappled and pulled at the creature's claws but the pressure didn't change.
There was an intense heat at Ashura's cheeks and her lunges burned as she wobbled fully to her feet. She turned and slammed the creature on her back against the cave wall. It shuddered but kept its grip. She felt a wave of pain that threatened to make her pass out as the arrow in her back got pushed in and worried by the motion.
Heedless of the pain she bent forward and reared back again. There was a crunching sound that she hoped was a bone breaking in the kobold but the pressure at her neck didn't lift. The pain at her side was excruciating. She lurched forward, hobbling from the wall. There had to be a-
Her sword! She still held a sword in her right hand. Bringing the blade close to her face, she tried to steady her hand as she struggled with the creature on her back. The edge of the weapon brushed against her face and then rubbed against the bowstring. The kobold tried to twist harder on Ashura's back and she rolled with it, her sword sawing up and down against the rope.
The bowstring squeezed stubbornly for a few more terrifying heartbeats. All of Ashura's breath was spent; her chest on fire. Then the string began to fray. A ragged breath entered Ashura's lungs as it snapped. The kobold lost its balance and rolled off her back, a claw still clinging to her shoulder. She snatched at the creature and managed to grab it by the neck.
With a sudden burst of fury Ashura lifted the creature, turned and hurled it. The kobold's arms, legs and tail all flailed at once as it went flying past the lip of the cavern and out into the stifling air over the magma pit.
With that Ashura's legs gave out again and she stumbled backwards. She flopped against the wall and sank down as she gulped breath after ragged breath, her vision blurred by tears.
No. Can't rest. Not now. Ashura shook herself and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. As her vision cleared she saw Khalid, Montaron and Jaheira standing in the cavern, their backs to her and their armor covered in blood. Tails and legs and arms were twitching as the last of the kobolds died.
Finding her fallen sword Ashura pushed herself unsteadily up and onto her feet. She kept herself braced against the wall as she continued to try and catch her breath. Imoen limped over through the archway, Xzar following close beside her.
"M-more!" Khalid shouted in alarm over the panting that echoed through the cavern. Ashura looked up in time to see the darkness again fill with glowing red eyes. How many of the little buggers where there?!
Jaheira and Khalid's shields locked as they faced the newcomers, and the kobolds fanned out. Over the crackle and roll of the great magma flow Ashura could hear Xzar humming close by. Despite the magma it suddenly felt like there was a chill in the air and an involuntary shiver ran down Ashura's spine.
Xzar stretched his spindly fingers out and trails of mist extended from their tips, sinking into the stone close to the row of dead kobolds. Sudden shudders went through three of the corpses, then with quick, jerking motions the little reptiles found their swords and daggers and slowly hobbled to their feet.
Order broke down in the column of glowing eyes on the far side of the room. They glanced around and looked at each other nervously; some backing away as three of their former companions lined up and began to trot towards them.
The living kobolds were still in shock when Jaheira and Khalid charged into their ranks, still shield to shield as they punched their way through the loose formation. Imoen sent an arrow flying and Ashura followed. She felt like she was dragging her body forward, sluggish from blood-loss, but when the kobold she faced squeaked and charged her with a sword swinging she had to react quickly. Their weapons locked.
The shock the undead kobolds caused did more damage than the three slow-moving creatures actually could. Xzar's new pets did manage to drag some of their former companions to the ground, clawing and stabbing, but the rest of the disorganized group fell to the swords, arrows and clubs of the living.
Somewhere in the melee Ashura had lost her left-hand weapon. Instead her hand was gripping the shoulder of a kobold, lifting it up and stabbing again and again until the creature was still and the forward motion and weight carried her to a far wall. When she reached it she leaned forward heavily and tried again to catch her breath. She slid down the wall a bit, leaving a trail of blood.
No more glowing eyes now. Even Xzar's undead creatures had slumped to the ground; either they were too damaged by the fight or the spell was spent. Hoarse breath followed breath. Still no more eyes appeared. No third wave. Thank Talos. Ashura slumped down further, all the way to the ground; limbs tangled with the dead kobold on her sword as she wavered in and out of consciousness.
"Shura! Shura! Can you hear me?" It was Imoen's voice.
Ashura managed a faint nod and her eyes fluttered a bit.
"This is gunna hurt a lot. Sorry. Then you need to drink this."
"Imoen, you're not making any sense," Ashura mumbled. She started to speak again, questions on her lips, but then there was yank and intense pain in her side. Turning her head back she let out a howl. "Ahh! Fuck! Loviatar's pimply assss that hurts!"
"Just shut up and drink this!" Imoen implored, pressing the lip of a glass bottle against Ashura's mouth. Trying to steady herself and her breathing Ashura gulped the liquid down. It was surprisingly sweet.
The stabbing pain at her side was replaced by an intense itch that made her shiver. She opened her eyes and blinked a few times, her hand clutching her side. It seemed like the arrow and stab wounds there had closed.
"Had to pull the arrowhead out and give you a healing potion," Imoen explained. "Jaheira said she used her last healing prayer on my leg. Sorry."
Ashura shook her head, beginning to collect herself and find her feet. Woah! Still a bit unsteady. "It's fine," she said. "Sorry to get chopped up like that."
"It's the way of battle lass," Montaron said. "Damn risky sometimes. Least there's a lot more of 'em dead than us." Ashura glanced around. Jaheira looked as haggard and tired as Ashura felt and Khalid's armor was pretty battered but they were all in one piece. And there seemed to be well over a dozen of the little reptile corpses on the ground. Wow.
About a hundred paces down a side passage they found a camp that the kobolds had been using. There was a crude wooden barricade (basically a sawhorse with some wooden shields attached,) at the narrowest point of the passage, then it opened up into a larger cave dominated by a pool that steamed and bubbled. No doubt it was heated by the magma below. There were beds of animal-hide and dried cave-moss spread out away from the pool, and a circle of stones surrounded the ashes of a firepit. A few barrels sat against a wall but a search revealed that they were empty. No kobolds seemed to remain and there was no sign of any back-passages unless they were under the water.
The party sat down among the beds. Ashura faced the tunnel and held her swords at the ready. "I'll need to rest to recover my spells," Jaheira stated. "This may be the best spot we could come upon."
"Unless they send patrols here regularly," Ashura grumbled. "But yeah. Sorry. We need all the spells we can get and this place seems defensible."
They settled in as best they could, Khalid fixing his eyes on the tunnel while Jaheira and Xzar spread their bedrolls out. Once it seemed safe Ashura pulled some of the linens out of her pack. Setting her helmet down she stood and then wriggled out of her armored tunic.
"Thinking of taking a dip?" Imoen asked. "The kobolds seem to have a nice little hotsprings here."
"Not a chance," Ashura said as she quickly wrapped some of the white cloth against her wounds and around her bare waist. "Bad enough I lost the chainmail, I'm not letting these things catch me without armor." With the bandages tight she quickly pulled the tunic back on, tying it as best she could with a bit of rope. It didn't cinch nearly as well as her old belt had.
They supped a little on dried fruit and nuts and then Jaheira and Xzar went to bed. Since the main point of resting here was to let those two recover their magic it was up to the others to stand guard. "I suppose I can take first shift," Ashura whispered, "but how exactly do we time that?"
"J-just guard until you f-feel exhausted," Khalid said, smiling slightly. "Then come wake me."
The little barricade seemed a good place to stand guard so Ashura paced about there, her swords set in loops of her rope belt. The magma was far enough away that her infravision worked again, but there was nothing but a dull red glow before her eyes. The kobolds would hopefully appear a bit brighter then the background heat. Or maybe cooler. She wasn't that sure what the body heat of a kobold actually was. The books always emphasized the "distant cousins of dragons" bit but she was pretty sure none of these things were close to breathing fire.
It was hard to tell time but it seemed like exhaustion came sooner rather than later. Ashura tried to fight it with fidgeting, pacing and trying to remember all she could about kobold lore but eventually she found her head nodding and decided to go rouse Khalid and turn in. Despite the aches all over her body and the hard stone floor she passed out as soon as she had the bedroll wrapped around her.
"Alarm! Alarm!" Imoen's shouts sent Ashura lurching up and out of her sleeping-roll. As she slipped on her helmet and hefted her swords the smell of burning wood hit her nostrils. No doubt more of those damn fire arrows.
Her first thought was to check on Xzar. She found him a few paces away standing over his bedroll, glancing around with bleary eyes. "You're okay?" she asked him, and he nodded.
As Ashura smiled with relief she caught sight of something behind the mage. A faintly glowing form crouched at the far wall, crawling forward and holding a long dagger. There was another creature creeping behind it, then another. Ashura grabbed Xzar by the shoulders and pushed him back, interposing herself.
Realizing that they'd been spotted two of the kobolds gave up on stealth and charged her, each moving in a separate direction. As they did the third kobold finished climbing from a crack in the wall that even Montaron wouldn't have been able to fit through. The opening was in a spot that had been covered by barrels when they first found the camp.
Of course the kobolds would have a secret backdoor. Of course the party would have missed it.
The first two reptiles were at either side of Ashura now and they attacked at once. They each had a long knife, she had two swords. They had planned to overwhelm her. She had trained to fight this way.
Keeping the kobolds at either side Ashura rushed the one on her right and hacked at the creature's wrist as the distance closed in a flash. The little lizard yelped and dropped its knife. By then Ashura had passed the wounded kobold and turned, keeping its body between her and the other attacker. To seal the deal she drove her left-hand sword into the kobold's back and turned with the second creature, using the squirming body of its companion as a shield. A few feint's later and she drove her right sword through the second kobold's eye.
There was a crackle in the air as a beam of inky blackness flew past Ashura. She followed its trail and saw the blast strike a fourth kobold that had crawled through the crack and dragged a bow along with it. The bow clattered to the floor as the creature bent over, fighting for breath, limbs limp as noodles.
Ashura rushed the creature and took it down completely with a couple of slashes. The other kobold was lying on its back nearby, arms curled up and deathly thin like it had been struck with one of Xzar's life-draining spells. Ashura gave it a stomp to the neck to make sure it was dead.
Two more steps and she was at the crack in the wall. No glow or sign of movement inside. She turned towards the tunnel at the other end of the cavern. Khalid and Jaheira were there, standing over a handful of small corpses and panting heavily as Montaron walked from body to body, kicking them with his toe. Behind them smoke rose from the smoldering barricade where several flaming arrows had struck.
"Where's Imoen?" Ashura asked as she jogged up to the two half-elves. They glanced about. Silence.
With growing horror Ashura looked around. No human body lay in sight, but there was no sign of her friend either. She turned to the tunnel and began to run.
"Ashura! Wait!" Jaheira's shout echoed off the walls but she ignored it. There, on the floor before her: heat tracks. Two pairs of kobold feet and a smear of dissipating red sliding along the floor between them. That must be from Imoen's body.
Please still be alive, Ashura thought, turning one corner and then another. There were countless side-passages but it didn't matter. She had a trail. She would catch them. There may be traps but it didn't matter either. If she had to follow them through the flames of Gehenna she would.
As Ashura's anger drove her forward a ghostly blue-white light bloomed from her left fist. When she whipped around a corner the kobolds came into sight, each holding one of Imoen's arms as they dragged her limp body along as fast as they could.
Ashura tossed her left sword down as her rage seemed to well up and take a physical form in the palm of her hand. The light grew and crackled as she flung it towards one of the fleeing kobolds. It struck the creature in the back, and for a brief moment there was a pale stream of light connecting her hand with its body.
The kobold slowed and stumbled, losing its grip on Imoen, and for a moment Ashura could feel the creature's pulse and body-heat. She could feel it all crossing the gap between her hand and its body. The half-healed injuries at her side closed completely and she felt a renewed strength fill her. At the same time she felt the kobold's heartbeat flutter…then cease.
The second reptile had let go of Imoen and yanked a sword from its belt. Ashura charged the creature before it could think to point the weapon at Imoen. Three slashes later she managed to slide her sword down along the edge of her enemy's and bury the edge of her blade into its skull. She gave the creature a hack to the neck for good measure and kicked it aside, then leaned down over Imoen.
There was a little blood on her friend's forehead but with a few shakes Imoen's eyes fluttered open and she squinted up at Ashura. A moment later she sat up, rubbing her head. Once Imoen had recovered a bit she managed to stand with Ashura's assistance. Together they turned and hobbled back towards the camp, the taller girl taking most of the weight.
From time to time Ashura stole glances at her hand. The glow was gone now but the question remained: what in the hells was that power?
Supposedly people whose ancestors were mystical creatures could sometimes perform minor magical feats. Some descendants of elemental beings could fly briefly or produce flames, and some with demonic ancestors could call upon magical darkness. Usually these people were described as having odd appearances. If the blood of genies is thick enough in you that you can levitate it's also likely to give you sky-blue skin and hair the color of clouds. Or so the books said. As far as Ashura knew she was simply a human of Damaran stock and there was nothing odd about her appearance beyond eyes that were a lighter shade of blue than most.
And the power had not been anything elemental. It seemed like she had pulled the life-force from that kobold. She was no expert on magic but that fact and the resemblance between what she had done and the spells Xzar often used led her to believe that she had worked some sort of necromancy. Death-magic. What kind of ancestor would have given her that?
She shook her head slightly. It was something to ponder but there were no answers to be found from staring at her hand. The tunnels snaked off in countless directions but by following her own footprints she managed to find the camp easily enough. Infravision sure came in handy.
As they walked past the smoldering barricade Jaheira looked up and gave them a pained smile.
"We cannot break camp yet," the druidess stated once they had settled in. "I need a little more time to fully regain the blessings of the Oak Father." Without explaining further she turned from them, sitting in a cross-legged pose and closing her eyes.
After Imoen declined a healing potion Ashura sat down and helped her friend wrap a few bandages around her brow while Xzar and Montaron returned to their bedrolls to catch whatever rest they could. Ashura couldn't imagine how they managed that. Adrenaline had her wide awake. For several tense hours (or perhaps it was only a single hour, so hard to tell down here,) they sat at the edge of the camp watching the darkness.
The tunnels had begun to gradually slope upwards and the heat that had blinded their infravision had long faded from the walls, though for Imoen and Xzar's sake they traveled by torchlight. Here and there the sound of dripping water echoed. The black rippling stone had disappeared and the new caverns they walked seemed to have been carved by water. It was hard to tell in this cold damp maze if they were on track to the layer of the kobolds, but the path they followed was one of the few that had not dead-ended yet.
Montaron and Imoen were hunched and in the lead, their eyes constantly sweeping along the floor. They had found a few tripwires several hours earlier near the kobold camp but from there it was lifeless catacombs. Ashura wondered if they had missed some hidden entrance, but this seemed as good a direction to go as any for now. She walked behind Khalid and Jaheira at the moment. The couple had their shields up and at the ready.
The distant sound of dripping gradually turned into a louder, distorted gurgle. A little further and it became clear that it was the sound of an underground stream. The tunnel narrowed until they almost had to go single-file – hemmed in by both the walls and low-hanging stalactites – as the flowing water finally became visible. The path they were on crossed a narrow, natural bridge: a pillar that had fallen across the fast-flowing creek ages ago.
They slowed their pace considerably as they approached. The water was rushing fast below the bridge and it was impossible to tell how deep the stream went. The surface of the bridge itself was a bit rounded at the edges but it seemed wide enough for one to cross easily. If they went two at a time they'd have to be more cautious. It was covered in the same sort of sandy dust as the rest of the cave floor and the dampness made it almost muddy.
Imoen and Montaron conferred with a glance and then began to inch along the surface of the bridge, nearly crawling. A few feet in Imoen gasped sharply and made a halting gesture, then pointed. Ashura craned her neck to see. Sure enough there was something protruding from the dust under the flicker of Imoen's torchlight. Something jagged, like teeth. With the end of her bow Imoen gave the floor a quick tap, and in response there was a loud metallic snap and something jumped out of the dust. A steel foot-trap.
Twangs echoed from the far side of the bridge. Suddenly flames lit the walls, arching towards Imoen and Montaron. Khalid and Jaheira had both lunged forward at the sound of the bowstrings and managed to impose their shields over the two scouts. Sparks and cinders flew as the arrows struck both shields, and Jaheira let out yelp and turned her head away as flames licked at her face.
At least the kobolds had become predictable.
"Hold!" Montaron snarled, tapping another spot on the bridge with the pommel of his sword and setting off another foot-trap. Then another. "Clear, I think!" he shouted and Khalid hurdled over him and charged the far side of the bridge.
Two more burning arrows arched through the darkness before Khalid could reach the tunnel beyond. One bounced off his shield but the other slipped past and hit him with enough force to twist his body. He howled in pain, bending over and gripping at the burning object that had sunk into his shoulder.
In answer to the flaming arrows a bolt of ethereal light arched through the cavern and struck one of the archers before it could duck back into cover. The small scaly creature yelped and sank to its knees. Ashura rushed towards the kobold but one of Imoen's arrows found its chest before her sword could. She didn't slow, seeking the second archer. It had broken cover and was hopping away now.
The familiar creak of a bow from somewhere down the tunnel forced Ashura to drop her pursuit and duck against the cave wall. An arrow whistled past her. A second clattered against the stone nearby a heartbeat later. She peaked around the bit of stone that was providing her some cover and saw the glow of three scaly little bodies, all retreating down the tunnel now.
A glance back and she saw that Khalid had ripped the burning arrow out and tossed it away. Jaheira was patting the flames out of his cloak.
Ashura crept backwards a few paces and hissed over her shoulder: "They retreated. At least a bit up the corridor."
Jaheira was chanting a healing prayer now, her hand softly glowing as she held onto Khalid's shoulder. Luckily his gauntlets had kept his hand from getting burned. As soon as the half-elf had caught his breath and risen to his feet they silently fell back into formation and pressed on.
The glowing footprints of the three kobolds led them on and on down a winding path. The creatures seemed to have never slowed. Even when they came to a wider chamber and braced for another ambush the three sets of prints went straight across to an adjoining tunnel. They had to slow their pursuit when Imoen and Montaron spotted something just ahead of the cavern entrance. It turned out to be three separate and carefully disguised sets of tripwire. And several pressure-plates. And some gauss-thin string at various points in the tunnel entrance that released rows of spikes when pulled.
"Sheesh," Imoen muttered. "How many traps can they fit in one spot?"
"It's not so bad," Montaron said with a shrug. "At least we haven't seen any runes in the floor. Bloody magic traps are the worst."
"How do you even disarm those?"
"Pinch of some alchemical powder on the rune," the halfling said, lifting a pouch from his belt and giving the girl a smile. "Ye'd best buy some next time you're in town if you want a true and proper spelunkin' and thievin' kit. Or learn the formula. Something about salt and lead and something else. It's easy enough, but the worst thing 'bout magic traps is that they're set by wizards. Means some spell-slinger could be round the corner."
Imoen nodded. "This passage seems like it was rather important to 'em."
"Aye," Montaron said, trudging forward once they'd made sure the last trap was disarmed. "Means we're on the right track. Whatever hole these yippers live in's up ahead."
Author's Note: I'm not sure if there actually is a low level spell in third edition D&D that raises undead creatures of goblin size or smaller, but if there isn't one there should be. Low level necromancers should at least be able to pester their enemies with reanimated rats and whatnot.