-1Armin, Haldis and Wil ran down the tunnel, armor clanking loudly. The three rounded a corner and into a large round room filled with a score or more of gnolls, large hyena-like creatures wearing armor and carrying crude axes. They howled deafeningly and shook their axes and shields in the air. One large gnoll in the back yipped out commands, and the others charged forward towards the dwarves.
"Pick yer targets. Knock em down first, we can kill em later!" Armin bellowed as he plucked a hand axe from his weapons harness and hurled it at one of the gnolls, imbedding in its chest. He raised his massive battle axe and charged into the fray.
Haldis muttered a few words as she entered the room. Her axe began to glow slightly as she closed on the gnolls. She raised the glowing weapon and brought it down hard on the first gnoll, opening a huge gash in its chest, the wound literally smoking. She side-stepped the stumbling creature and moved on to the next one. She ducked the clumsy swing and brought her axe up, lopping the arm off at the elbow. The creature howled in pain as it fell, clutching at its stump. Haldis spun and stomped on the foot of a third gnoll, which dropped its axe to grab at the foot Haldis grinned through her beard and jammed the haft of her axe into its gut. When it doubled over, she rotated the axe up, imbedding the blade into its face, splitting its snout and dropping the creature.
Wilhemina grinned as she saw Haldis boost her weapon.
"Nifty, but check this out….an' hold yer ears!" she grinned as she moved towards the gnolls, mouthing a few words under her breath.
She reared back with her hammer and spoke a word of power, activating the runes etched into the head of the weapon. She brought the hammer down on the first gnoll, crushing the ribcage. As the head of the hammer made contact with the gnoll, a thundering boom rolled through the room, shaking the floor and sending the gnolls nearest to Wil to the ground. She laughed heartily and swung her hammer around, smashing the shoulder of another gnoll. Using the falling gnoll as a launching pad, she ran up the creature's body and leapt into the air, bringing her hammer down on the top of the head of a third, the thunder rumbling through the stone room.
Armin blinked and nearly lost his grip on his axe as the thunder rattled him inside his armor.
"What in the hells?" He glanced at Wil. "Warn a dwarf 'afore ye do something' that."
He grinned and thrust his axe forward into the stomach of a gnoll, the spear point imbedding deep into the creature. The red bearded dwarf winked at the dying gnoll and lifted the axe, gnoll and all, over his head and threw them at two other creatures dropping them into a pile of limbs, axes and fur. He quickly pulled a sword from his harness, just in time to block a downward slicing axe. He reached out and grabbed the attacking gnoll's axe arm and pulled it down towards his face, whereupon he head butted the creature, knocking it senseless. Armin turned as an axe glanced off his shoulder pauldron, and thrust his blade into the knee of the offending gnoll. Remaining in motion, he pulled a flail and mace from his weapons harness and advanced on the remaining gnolls, most of which were fleeing down the tunnel on the opposite side of the room.
"An' don't ye be comin' back." Armin taunted.
The three dwarves began to examine the gnolls that they had beaten, finishing off any living creatures, and searching the bodies of the slain. Unbeknownst to the stout warriors, one gnoll watched them, invisible, thanks to a ring worn on his left hand. He watched with hatred as the dwarves went about their business, slaying his warriors. The two female dwarves were too far away to take revenge upon, but the red bearded weapon heavy dwarf was close enough to kill with one shot. The gnoll leader suppressed a chuckle as he quietly lifted a crossbow to his shoulder, aiming the magical bolt at the dwarf. The red shield the dwarf wore on his back would not protect him from this bolt, the gnoll mused. Along with the ring, he had aquired quite a few magical odds and ends. There, he though. This is too easy. With a toothy grin, he squeezed the firing mechanism of the crossbow and fired the bolt. He became visible as the bolt hurtled towards the unaware dwarf. Haldis saw the gnoll become visible and tried to shout a warning, but was too late. The gnoll's grin faltered however, as the bolt slowed to a stop a few inches from hitting the shield. It turned and sped back to the gnoll, piercing it's forehead, killing it instantly. As it slumped to the ground, Wil and Haldis looked at Armin, who was busy wrenching his axe free from his gnoll projectile.
"What?" he asked.
Haldis and Whil shook their heads and pointed to the dead gnoll with a perplexed look in its vacant eyes.
The young red dragon chuckled to herself as she watched the smoke clear. The two dwarves were fools indeed, she thought, to have come after her horde alone. I must remember to chastise Malchion for letting vermin like that into my tunnels. Impatiently, she lowered her head and blew a gust of air from her nostrils, clearing the smoke that obstructed her view of her ill gotten gains. As the smoke cleared, she blinked. Was there someone still in the room with her? A figure seemed to be standing where the dwarves were moments before. Another gust of air and the rest of the smoke was blown away, revealing an unharmed dwarf, staring at the dragon.
"Not nice…nope nope." Rom sniffed. "Rom and da Klerk come to visit and you spits da fire, hurtin' da Klerk. Why you hurt da Klerk?
Klerk, Kryllanshillain thought. What is this dwarf talking about? And how did he survive my flame? The other dwarf perhaps, she mused. No matter. She stepped forward and lowered her head to be level with Rom.
"I do as I wish to intruders, as I always do." she rumbled
"Rom likes dragons, but Rom not like you, nope nope." Rom replied and reared back with his frying pan and smacked Kryllanshillain on the nose. She drew her head back sharply, more stunned than hurt.
"YOU DARE?!" She roared. "Now you die a painful death. I will scrape your insides from your skeleton one organ at a….."
"Yeah….you like Armin….talk to much." Rom replied as he ran forward. He managed only a few steps before he tripped over something on the ground. He fell forward, planting his helmeted face on the ground, conveniently avoiding the dragon's tail as it swiped across the area he was recently occupying.
"Woops!" He mumbled as he rolled to his feet, giggling. "Fall fall down go boom." came a voice from Rom's right. He turned towards the direction of the voice and blinked. There, apparently floating in mid-air, was Kendrac's head, complete with blond curls and giant grin. He pursed his lips. "Shhh….Klerk invisdable!"
Rom snickered and shook his head. "Not all….head floaty….Klerk funny."
Kryllanshillain tilted her head as she watched the dwarf and the head talk. Are they daft, or had they completely forgotten about me? She frowned at the thought. How dare they ignore me? I'll show them. She lifted a massive clawed leg and slammed it down on the ground, then started towards them. The force of the leg hitting the ground sent the two dwarves bouncing across the floor in different directions.
"Ow! Oof! Unk!" the two dwarves cursed and grunted as they were bounced about. Rom struggled to his feet and Kendrac's head rose up a bit. "Rum do what Rum do…Klerk cast da mighty spells!"
Rom nodded, his bucket helm shaking itself around the dwarf's head, blocking his view. With a battle cry, Rom charged the wall, running full force into it and knocking himself on his rear. Kendrac sighed.
"Silly Rum. Dragon that way!" He pointed at the dragon and started to cast a spell, which sounded less like a spellcasting, and more like a recipe for banana pudding.
A flash of light burst into being directly in front of the dragon's eyes. She roared, and Kendrac giggled. He skipped over to the prone Rom and knocked on his bucket helm.
"'lo? Anyone home?" He asked, grabbing for one of the pouches on Rom's belt. "Wake-y wake-y!"
Rom groaned and struggled to his feet. He pulled the bucket helm off of his head, dropping it on the ground. His thick wiry black beard popped up and out, smacking the now helm-less dwarf in the face. With a curse, he pushed the beard down, tucking it into his belt. He then kicked the helm.
"Hat defect..def….broke….Rom not see good." he grumbled. "Now Rom see to smash dragon."
With a huge grin, he charged towards the dragon, clucking like a rabid chicken. The dragon blinked rapidly, trying to get rid of the spots; She heard but did not see Rom as he closed. He swung his frying pan with all of his might, connecting with the her front knee. As the pan connected with her knee, her lower leg snapped forward suddenly. The taloned foot caught Rom, sending him flying backwards into the wall once more.
"Woopsie daisy" Rom giggled as he slid down the wall! "Not do that again!"
Rom shook his head and ran forward again, ducking under the snapping jaws of the dragon, head lowered. He ran completely underneath the dragon as she tried to turn to follow. As Rom and the dragon fought, Kendrac opened the pouch he took from his companion and reached inside. He rummaged around for a moment, then grinned.
"Ah-hah!" he exclaimed as he pulled out a live, squawking, flapping and crapping chicken. He held the fowl by wing tips, and began to cast another spell.
"I likes to JUMP! and I likes to STOMP
and sometimes I think I am a DUCK
but Rum has friends that only him sees,
and all they say is CLUCK CLUCK!"
As he finished the casting, he tossed the chicken into the air. With a flurry of feathers and clucks, the one terrified chicken became three score of chickens, all bent on attacking the dragon. White feathers flew as the chickens swarmed the red dragon, pecking and clawing and flapping around her face. She snapped at the birds, snaring some in her massive mouth. Frustrated by the birds, the dragon thrashed about violently. Her tail connected with Rom, knocking him down, and sending his iron skillet bouncing across the room. He scrambled back to his knees and to his feet, just in time to catch the tail as it came back towards him. He wrapped his arms around the appendage and held on for dear life as the tail thrashed about again.
"WEEEEEEEEE" Rom squealed as he was thrown about.
Kendrac launched himself into the throws of another spell, coating the floor of the cavern with grease. Unfortunately, the dragon's claws gave her the ability to remain standing and thrashing. The same could not be said for Kendrac, who immediately fell on his arse upon completing the spell.
"AWK!" He shrieked as he fell.
Kryllanshillain snarled as she turned herself around and around, chasing her tail, and the dwarf currently attached to it. She shook her head as she turned, trying to dislodge the chickens that still plagued her, cracking her head on the side of the wall and staggering her and sending her stumbling into the pile of coins and treasure that made up her horde. A horrendous crash and roar accompanied her as she landed on her side, scattering coins and gems everywhere.