"Okay boys and girls, everyone find your seats so we can begin."
Cow Girl smiled as the children assembled themselves into their seats, gathering their supplies as they readied for their lesson. With Cow Girl moving away from the farm and closer to Frontier Town, she decided to do something she had wanted to for a long time, she became a teacher there at the school. It was Goblin Slayer's older sister who had taught them and the other children so long ago, she always wanted to be a teacher and help others, but she had to put that on hold to aid her uncle. Now that she had children of her own, she personally wanted to help them grow so that when they became adults, they would be prepared for anything.
"Okay class, so today I want us to continue our practice of reading and writing letters and numbers." Cow Girl moved toward the large board and used chalk to begin writing out the letters and numbers. "So I want you to begin…yes in the back."
A young boy in the back raised his hand to ask a question, though there was a frown on his face.
"Why do we need to learn this stupid stuff? I'm going to be an adventurer when I get bigger, all I need to know if how to swing a sword!"
"Learning to use a sword is indeed a wise skill to learn, but how will you know what quest you're going to undertake?" Cow Girl gentle as ever smiled at the young impatient boy, in many ways he seemed like Goblin Slayer when he was younger.
"Wh, what do you mean?"
"When you go to the guild and you take on a quest, how do you it will be the right one? You want to go troll hunting but the sheet you grab is about rats, all because you couldn't read it. You go back and someone else has claimed the troll quest, it is a very common occurrence. Also, I imagine you'd want to get paid correctly, if you don't understand numbers your partners could cheat you out of your share."
The kids were all stunned by this, true many wanted to become adventurers like the heroes in town, but now they came to realize that there was much more to being an adventurer than just knowing how to use a weapon. The young boy was quick to sit back down and take up his pencil to begin writing down the letters up on the board, as were the rest of the students. Cow Girl smiled, in her mind she imagined how her fellow wives might have handled the same situation, and if he were here, he might make mention of their need to know such material less they end up dead on a quest.
"He would be the one to try and tell them practical information, but have it come across as threatening." Cow Girl chuckled then looked toward the front of the classroom and smirked at the seven empty seats before her. "And the usual troublemakers are missing once again. Let's see how long before they're caught."
xxxx
The young girl with red hair carefully check the side of the school building, none of the teachers were out and about which meant she and the others could go and play.
"Come on."
The small girl, with toy sword in hand quickly rushed away from the school followed by her six sisters. The young half-elf and half-demon were just as eager as their sister to rush ahead and play, the other four were not quite as talkative but would also follow their sisters. The young blonde girl with her long flowing blonde hair nervously looked around, worried they were going to be caught like last time.
"Shouldn't we head back?"
"Oh come on, you're not gonna be all timid like last time are you?" The Half-Elf turned to tease her sister.
"Yeah, we can read later! Right now we need to train our bodies otherwise our big sister is really going to get ahead of us." The half-demon was also eager as they stopped near the small stone wall by the school. "Besides, these ones also came along with us too."
"I am simply here to make sure you keep out of trouble." The small girl with pink hair and monotone voice looked toward her younger sister with red hair in particular.
"I'm here because I'm just waiting to see how long before we get caught." The taller girl with blonde hair in a ponytail and a sly smile.
"That goes for me too." Her other sister with light brown braided hair.
"Oh come on, we're not going to be caught this time." The young girl with red hair and a yellow ribbon looked toward her sisters, a confident smile on her face.
As the sisters continued to discuss their plans for play, they failed to notice a figure slowly walked toward them. Once he got closer, it was the young girl with pink hair and two different colored eyes who first noticed him, she was slightly surprised to see him there. The other sisters soon realized this as well and their faces showed more shock than their sister, the only one who had not noticed with the excitedly girl with red hair and a yellow ribbon.
"Our big sister is already an adventurer; she's off fighting and making a name for herself. If we're not careful, we'll end up falling behind her, so we need to improve ourselves as well!" The young girl eagerly raised her toy sword high but now noticed her sisters were looking up at something behind her.
"Is that so?"
It was a cold mechanical voice, one all the girls had heard for many years, normally this voice was one that the girls enjoyed hearing but now it was one that made them nervous. The young girl turned around and there she could see a figure in dirty leather armor, a small round shield attached to his left wrist, a medium length sword on his left side and flanged mace on his right side.
"Father."
"Should you not be in school?"
"Oh, well…classes ended early so we we're going to play." The young half-demon smiled, hoping her father would believe this.
"We skipped out of our studies. I'm sorry father." The girl with long blonde hair bowed her head.
"Don't tell him that, we're going to get in trouble." The half-elf shot her sister a mean look, surprised that she would so eagerly admit to their mischief.
"You should be attending to your studies. I did not always listen to what my sister would tell me and had to learn much on my own."
"But that made you a great adventurer father, we can do the same." The young red-hair girl smiled, hoping her father would see reason.
"My dear, you should really listen to what your father is saying."
The ghostly image of the Lich Queen appeared, floating beside Goblin Slayer smiling at the children below her.
"He is wanting you to be better than he was. You can learn your skills at a later time, but knowledge is true power."
"But all that stuff is easy, anyone can do it." The red-hair child made a bit of a pout as she looked toward her father and the Lich Queen.
"Easy? So you believe that anyone could these simple tasks?"
"Of course father, anyone can do it."
"Then it should not be a problem for you." Goblin Slayer reached down to pick up his rebellious daughter and carried her back toward the school. "You all, come along too."
The other sisters nodded and followed along with their father and sister, she herself pouting as she was carried over her father's shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Cow Girl eagerly took back her missing students, promising to make sure they were put to work for their little excursion. She and Goblin Slayer then thinking back to what was mentioned about the young Half-Dragon and wondered what she was up to at the moment.
xxxx
"Stupid idiots. They get themselves lost and now we have to go and save them." Wolf Brawler could not keep from grumbling as they moved down the pathway.
"I know, I know…and they're more than likely to take offense with us coming to save them." Half-Dragon Priestess was just as miserable about this favor they agreed to. "I promise, the next town we get to I'll get you some extra meat."
"If nothing else, the guy at the guild was nice enough to give us that small bounty for retrieving people and would mark it down on our records for future promotions." Harpy Scout mused as she walked along with her comrades through the forest.
"Hopefully we'll see them in passing and that will be the end of it, but we best be prepared to find their bodies." Half-Dragon Priestess sighed as she prepared for the worst-case scenario but still hoped for the best.
The girls had wished both Rabbitfolk Warrior and Tortle Master luck and good fortune on their questing before they continued on their way. There was part of them that hoped Rabbitfolk would join them as part of their party, but she had successfully found someone to work with and would likely find others.
"That said, who should join next…"
"Oh, thinking about recruiting?" Harpy Scout mused as she happily teased her friend. "Would this be for our party, as a future lover…or both?"
"Knock it off will you. There's no time for such foolishness." Half-Dragon Priestess turned her head away, mostly to hide the blush on her face.
"Finding someone like that wouldn't be such a bad thing." Wolf Brawler smiled, thankful to take her mind off the ungrateful trio they were to rescue.
This comment immediately drew the attention of both girls, there on Wolf Brawler's face they could see a small blush and needed to know more.
"There's a story there I'm guessing. So, you going to tell us now or later?" Harpy Scout had a sly smirk on her face as she moved closer towards Wolf Brawler.
"Oh stop teasing your elder you.."
"Come on, you can't say something like that and not continue." Half-Dragon Priestess was on the other side of Wolf Brawler, she too eager to hear this tail of romance.
"Fine…yes, there was someone I had my eye on. Back when I was your age, I was so eager for him to join my pack…I even went about licking him on the mouth." Wolf Brawler sighed uncomfortably as she said all of this, part of her wishing she could hide away from the embarrassment. "Unfortunately, he had eyes for someone else. We parted ways some time ago…he went off with her."
"That's so sad. I'm sorry for making you tell us that." Harpy Scout had a small frown on her face.
"Yes, I am truly sorry as well."
"Don't be sorry, it just wasn't meant to be at the time. I wish them both well, for now I can focus on be an adven…"
A loud roar could be heard echoing through the forest around them, each immediately reaching for their weapons as they stood back to back scanning the area around them. Specter growling as he kept close to Half-Dragon Priestess, his eyes looking around as his ears picked up on the noises of the forest. The girls suddenly heard the sound of weapons clashing as well as the grunts of two men in battle.
"Which way is it coming from?" Half-Dragon Daughter was looking around the area the sounds seemed to echo around them.
"This way!" Wolf Brawler turned toward a northeast direction as the roar of a massive beast could be heard once again.
The girls and the dire wolf rushed ahead toward the sounds of battle, perhaps it was the missing party dealing with an unknown monster. To their surprise, they found two unknown figures battling and near them was a massive beast with two large fangs circling the two of them. One figure had black skin and a canine-like face with twin ears sticking up through his short blue hair; upon his face covering his eyes was a golden visor, how he could see through it was anyone's guess. He was dressed in just a slightly baggy pair of pants, his feet bare and around his wrists were simple gold bracelets. In his hand was a red staff as long as he was tall and at the end of each side as a rounded steel tip.
The other figure was a human who resembled a wild barbarian, wearing simple trousers and brown leather boots, like the other figure he wore no shirt over his toned muscles but atop his head and running down his back was a worn pelt of some large animal. In his right hand he was armed with a good size stone ax and on his left hand was a leather gauntlet with animal claws on each fingertip. Tied to his waste was a large knife though it appeared to be made of bone rather than stone or steel, and around his neck was a simple string necklace with a large fang hanging from it. Nearby him, the girls could see the giant cat, even larger than Specter or Wolf, with two long fangs hanging down from the top of its jaw and a short, stubby tail; they could easily identify what it was.
"A saber cat, and a big one at that." Wolf Brawler remarked, awestruck by the size of the beast before them.
"What the hell is going on here?" Harpy Scout was at a loss for what she was seeing as the dog-faced individual fought against the wildman and the saber cat.
"Look!" Half-Dragon Priestess pointed toward the dog-faced warrior and noted the guild tags around his neck. "I don't know what started this confrontation, but he's an adventurer just like us. Let's get in there and separate them!"
They all charged forward with Harpy Scout firing a couple arrows towards the ground. The arrows hit near the two combatants feet and they quickly backed away as the girls rushed in. The large saber cat snarled and barred its fangs as Specter drew near, he himself also growling at the giant cat. Half-Dragon Priestess was quick to join her dire wolf while Wolf Brawler and Harpy Scot stood in front of the dog-faced figure, their attention focused on the confused Wildman.
"Enough. I don't know who started this fight or for what, but I'm telling you to stop this foolishness." Half-Dragon Priestess turned her attention toward the Wildman but kept an eye on the saber cat that would attempt to swipe its massive paw at Specter every time he got too close.
"Who you? Why you in forest?" The Wildman grunted as he took a couple steps back but kept his axe at the ready.
"He sounds just like the Rabbitfolk girl." Harpy Scout smirked then aimed her bow towards the large saber cat. "Priestess, you okay over there?"
"Specter and I have the situation well in hand thank you." Half-Dragon Priestess kept a good tight grip on her weapon while carefully eyeing the saber cat.
"What about you back there? You okay?" Wolf Brawler readied her fists for a fight and spared a glance back to what she thought was a dog-faced padfoot.
"Ah…Huntress." The dog-faced figure gasped as he looked down at Wolf Brawler then bowed his head. "I am fine thank you."
"Huntress?" Wolf Brawler was slightly taken aback by his name for her.
"I ask you question? Who you all?"
"As you can see by our guild tags, we are registered adventurers, and we saw you fighting with a fellow adventurer and felt the need to interrupt your battle." Half-Dragon Priestess was stern in her reply as she looked towards both figures. "Now why were the two of you fighting?"
"Adventurers? I not care about adventurers! Won't let you disturb forest! Fang and I will protect!"
The saber cat quickly moved to the side of the wildman and both moved forward toward the four adventurers and dire wolf. Harpy Scout saw this and remembered something her mother had said when confronted with a large predator. Harpy Scout suddenly unfurled her wings as wide as they would go and fluffed up her feathers; her comrades were not sure what she was doing but the moment she did this both the wildman and saber cat backed away a few steps.
"What are you doing?" Wolf Brawler eyed her companion suspiciously.
"Making myself look bigger than I am, an old trick my mother taught me when attacked by predators."
"I'm not sure that will really…"
"Careful Fang. Bird Girl bigger than thought." The wildman crouched low to the ground, he carefully eyed to large bird before him.
"Never mind, I stand corrected." Half-Dragon Priestess smiled then looked toward the wildman with a calm expression. "Listen to me carefully. We mean you no harm, but why are you fighting?"
"Dog Face there weird. Chase out of forest." The wildman was stern in his response, pointing a finger with his clawed gauntlet at the padfoot behind the girls.
"Dog Face? You mean the padfoot adventurer?" Wolf Brawler gestured with her left thumb at the adventurer behind her.
"Quite correct Noble Huntress. I am a Monk traveling through the forest, I was investigating a rumor of a strange being seen causing problems in the forest." The Padfoot Monk smiled, an obsidian tag present around his neck. "I was moving through the forest when I was suddenly attacked by this person and the saber cat."
"So you attacked him for no reason? No, you must be the strange figure causing problems in the forest!" Half-Dragon Priestess and Specter moved towards the wildman, both ready to attack if need be.
"I say we restrain him and take him back to the town." Harpy Scout, though getting tired of keeping her wings expanded, kept her arrow trained on him.
"I no attack people. I listen to animals of forest. They tell me of strange manbeast attacking."
"The animals told you?" Wolf Brawler was skeptical of what this man was saying.
"Listen."
Everyone was silent, they could see the wildman closing his eyes as he seemed to listen to the sounds of the forest. They themselves did the same; they could hear the tweeting of birds in the distance, the skittering of small animals along the ground and trees, and even the distance howls of wolves.
"They afraid. They say something big moving in forest." The wildman replied as he turned his head in the opposite direction of the others then brought his fingers to his mouth and whistled. "Talon!"
The others waited when they heard the screech of a large bird, through the trees a brown hawk could be seen flying towards them, the wildman held out his gloved arm and the bird perched itself upon it.
"Talon, what you see?"
The hawk screeched and caw at the wildman, the others surprised he could communicate with bird.
"Stupid fat bird. I not care about what you want eat!" The wildman fumed as the bird continued to screech and flap its wings. "I know you not called Fat Bird. But you only think of food. Now, what you see?"
The hawk once again began to screech, the wildman quietly listening as the bird continued to caw at him.
"Talon say there vultures feeding on dead deer. Not killed by animal, large feet." The wildman frowned as he turned his attention back towards the adventurers. "I thought Dog Face was strange figure. Not seen him before."
"I am not the one who attacked the deer. I too am looking for this strange figure who is causing trouble in your forest." Padfoot Monk bowed his head, hoping to ease the tension of the situation.
"You no stranger then. I sorry for attack. Then you three…you also look for strange manbeast?"
"That's one of the reasons. We came to look for other missing adventurers." Half-Dragon Priestess calmly put her weapon away to show that she would not be hostile. "We should work together to find this creature. Will you help us?"
"I will gladly accompany you all." Padfoot Monk smiled as he bowed his head toward the trio of women.
The other had put their weapons away as well as they waited for a response from the wildman, after a few moments, he tucked away his ax then reached over to pet the saber cat atop its head.
"We find manbeast and stop him. I Saber Rider. Name given by dwarves I save. This my brother Fang." Saber Rider smiled as he gave the saber cat a few good pets.
"Your brother? Don't you mean your pet or companion." Harpy Scout was a bit confused by how casual Saber Rider referred to the large cat.
"No, he brother. His mom save me and take care of me. So he and I brothers." Saber Rider smiled proudly as he referred to the saber car as his family. "Oh yeah, this one Talon. Good scout but like eat much. Let see…so you Bird Girl, you Dog Girl, you Lizard Girl and he Dog Face."
There was a pause from the others as they heard this before the girls angrily argued with Saber Rider's identification of them.
"I am a half-dragon, not a lizard!"
"I'm a Wolf Padfoot, not a dog! You can call me Brawler! Not Dog Girl!"
"I'm a harpy, at least call me Pretty Bird!"
"I not understand all yelling." Saber Rider scratched his head as the girls continued to argue. "No waste time. We find manbeast."
Despite their protests, Sabre Rider was ready to continue his search for this mysterious creature loose in the forest. Half-Dragon Priestess then took notice of Specter still growling as he moved toward Fang, who was also snarling and hissing at the dire wolf.
"Specter! Stop that!" Half-Dragon Priestess was stern as she tapped her hand on the dire wolf's snout.
"Hey, Fang! No eat big wolf!" Saber Rider slapped the saber cat along its backside. "We go now!"
Fang turned toward Saber Rider and gave a type of meow before turning to walk alongside Saber Rider, he himself raised his arm upward for Talon to fly overhead. Though still confused by all of this, the others quickly followed to join up with him, the five warriors, a dire wolf, a saber cat, and a hawk overhead.
"Hey Rider, I know we're probably going toward the body of the deer, but we need to try and find these three missing adventurers." Half-Dragon Priestess wanted to first focus on finding the missing people before trying to discover this monster. "They went to explore some ruins, uh…very old buildings. Are there any of those around here?"
"Ruins? Hmm. Yes, I know of ancient buildings. I show you."
xxxx
"A monk and barbarian have now joined the group as they set off in search of the missing adventurers." Illusion rolled the dice and smiled at the results. "They will find the missing adventurers but thankfully encounter no trouble."
"Damn it." Truth sat at the game with a scowl at the large game piece was now once again in play. "I thought this piece had been sealed away, how could this happen?"
"Those other adventurers have broken the seals that held him in place."
"It's been five years since the last major upset to the board with that damn Necromancer. Now we have another special token to worry about." Truth frowned as he looked to the token then to the five new adventurers Illusion was using for her new game. "They may have been lucky enough with this roll to avoid him, but they'll have to face him eventually…especially that one."
"This Warrior Priestess and her party shall be ready for the challenge when it comes. Don't forget, most have been trained by the champions from five years ago."
"Don't remind me. Damn unpredictable token and his influence."
Elsewhere Evil and Chaos were having their own discussion, one that might very well shake the foundations of the game once again.
"What of the token from five years ago, the Nec…"
"Shhh. Quiet fool. We don't need the others to know of our plans. When the time comes, we'll have our own champion that will be under our control." Chaos chuckled as he examined the demonic token in his hands but for the moment put it away. "What about your own Demon Lord and his or her resurrection?"
"It is too soon for me to act. I have agents which are already in place to spread his…or rather my malevolence."
"Excellent. Oh, what do you think about that token being unsealed?"
"He's an unpredictable one, but let him be, he only poses a true threat to dragons."
xxxx
"We close now. Can see stone covered by plants." Saber Rider pointed ahead towards the top of a nearby hill.
The girls marveled at the sight before them, giant stone work that was covered by vines and moss. Broken statues of forgotten heroes or perhaps even the gods themselves scattered around the site.
"Incredible. Look at the stones, massive in size and it seems that much of it is actually buried beneath the ground. Ruins from the Age of the Gods." Half-Dragon Priestess looked around awestruck by the sight before her. "How I wish my family could be here to see this with me."
"Makes you wonder what happened. What type of events caused this city to become like this? War? Plague?" Harpy Scout looked at one of the broken statues, the face on the stone completely worn away.
"Maybe if we had more time we could explore them, but we got to try and find those three idiots." Wolf Brawler paused as she sniffed the air and frowned. "I got their scent but…there's something else, something that makes my fur stand on end."
"I'll have to take your words for it. It is times like this that being blind is quite troublesome." Padfoot Kobold smiled as she looked around but soon he too was scrunching his nose. "You are quite right Huntress, there is an unusual but foul odor in the air."
"I keep telling you it's just Brawler…wait, so you're actually blind?" Wolf Brawler looked up toward the Padfoot Monk with a slight frown. "I'm surprised to see you fight so well."
"Even with my eyesight gone, my nose, ears and my staff can tell me much about my surroundings."
"Hey over here! Specter found something!" Half-Dragon Priestess moved by her dire wolf and discovered the set of stairs hidden behind some hanging vines. "Nicely done boy, this must be where the other group had gone down."
"Hey look at this." Wolf Brawler crouched down and ran her hand over deep impressions, her eyes widening as she came to a shocking realization. "These are footprints? Must be a giant."
"This giant is wearing boots. This might be that manbeast Rider mentioned." Harpy Scout mentioned as she looked down at the footprints seeing them lead off in the opposite direction.
"We need to check out the ruins, see if those adventurers are okay." Half-Dragon Priestess reached for her swordclaw; even with it in hand, she still could not shake the feeling of unease.
The group entered into the ruins, lanterns attached to their belts, in one row of three, a row of two and the animals bringing up the rear. In the front was Half-Dragon Priestess, Wolf Brawler and Saber Rider and behind them was Padfoot Monk and Harpy Scout. Carefully they moved through darkened ruins, thankfully any traps had already been taken care of as evident by the number of dead goblins all around them.
"Goblins. It appears they were killed a few days ago, the smell of rot is beginning to set in." Half-Dragon Priestess frowned as she moved past the goblin corpses.
"If there are goblins present, we may not find those others alive. You know goblins don't leave the men alive." Harpy Scout had a frowned as she covered her mouth to avoid the stench.
"I don't think its goblins, these goblins were killed by arrows and sword strikes. I think the goblins were killed by that trio of adventurers and then…something else came through afterwards." Half-Dragon Priestess looked at the ground and could see the same footprints present deep in the stone floor.
"Hmm. Green monsters. I hate them." Saber Rider frowned as he looked at the goblin bodies, kicking one of the bodies aside.
"Why do you hate the goblins?" Padfoot Monk paused as he looked toward his colleague with an inquisitive look.
"Long story. No want talk. Maybe later." Saber Rider shook his head as he continued onward with the others.
Onward and onward the group traveled through the ruins until they finally came upon a large chamber. They entered the chamber and were horrified to discover the three bodies of the adventurers scattered around the floor.
"Ancestors! What happened here?" Half-Dragon Priestess moved towards the body whose head appeared to have been crushed.
"This one…his neck is broken! Looks like he was hit with something." Wolf Brawler grimaced as she looked at the body of the Spellcaster.
"Priestess…Brawler…look at this one."
Half-Dragon Priestess and Wolf Brawler joined Harpy Scout and gasped at the sight of the Ranger's body; she lay nude upon the floor, her body covered in bruises, dirt and a filthy liquid.
"Ancestors…" Half-Dragon Priestess knelt down and reached up to close the young girl's eyes before bringing her hands together. "…guide these souls to find their gods. We shall have them buried so they are returned to earth to continue the cycle."
While the girls took care to cover up the Ranger's body, Saber Rider frowned as he looked over the room. He could hear the growling and snarling of Fang and Specter, thinking they were fighting again but then saw them reacting to broken shackles and chains that were lying upon the ground. He moved to pick up the shackles, carefully smelling them himself a confused expression present on his face.
"This smell. Not green monsters. Like human but…not human. I not like."
Padfoot Monk slowly walked around the room, he reached out with his free hand and ran it along the walls then paused. His fingertips could feel indentions in the stone, several of them; even if he couldn't see, he was able to determine these were runes carved into the rock.
"Friends over here! Runes!"
The other four heard the monk and moved to join him, as Wolf Brawler got closer her lantern illuminated drawings along the wall. She raised it higher and now everyone could see an image on the wall with the runes around it. It was a massive figure in bone armor and a helmet of bone atop his head, in his hand was a large war hammer, blood visible on one end of it and in the background was a dead dragon.
"Ancestors! Is that what was present in this room?" Half-Dragon Priestess was worried as she looked up at the mural, in particular the image of the dead dragon behind this figure. "Are you able to decipher the runes."
"Yes. I am able to read ancient text." Padfoot Monk continued to run his hand over the markings, his frown growing as he read the wall. "He is an adventurer whose true name has been lost to time, a warrior from the Age of the Gods. At one time, he was a great warrior who fought for his fellow adventurers, but…that was before the Great Calamity!"
"What is the Great Calamity?" Wolf Brawler arched her eyebrow, genuinely confused by this.
"I remember reading about from books in Guild. Probably more legend than truth, but the Great Calamity was a flight of evil dragons that descended upon the White City, the last bastion of hope before crossing into the dark lands." Half-Dragon Priestess frowned as she remembered spending hours reading through the books they had available.
"I guess it's a good thing your sister at the Guild had several of those books around for you to read. Almost reminds me of that story your brother told us about the Five Armies." Harpy Scout offered a small smile then looked back toward Padfoot Monk. "What happened next?"
"The kingdom engaged the monsters overhead, after several hours of battle and thousands of lives lost, there was only one Dark Dragon left. This warrior had watched his party devoured by the beast, so he repaid the favor by cutting the dragon's chest open and feeding on its heart."
"Giant man ate dragon heart? He must be strong."
"He slew the dragon, but in doing so was unwittingly cursed. The evil of the dragon had been consumed and now festered in him, this action brought to him unnaturally long life and a hunger for the flesh of dragons. For decades he slaughtered all in his path to continue his hunt for dragons, none could stand up to him, until a hero and his party subdued him. Charged by the Supreme God to pacify this monster, they captured him and bound him deep within this tomb. Here he would remain, buried far away from the light, doomed to spend the rest of his life in darkness…"
"Until these people accidently released him." Wolf Brawler spared a glance back to the bodies of the dead adventurers.
"What was this monster called?" Half-Dragon Priestess tried her best to not show fear, but the idea of this man or beast devouring dragon flesh was extremely worrying.
"The Dragon Executioner." Padfoot Monk ran his hand over the last of the runes then stepped back to join his comrades.
The five of them looked up at the mural once again, this giant of a man had been let loose upon the world once again and needed to be stopped. Half-Dragon Priestess tensed as she felt, or imagined, the eyes of the figure staring down at her. Sensing her unease Specter walked forward and brushed up along her side, she suddenly snapped back to reality and looked toward the whining dire wolf.
"Thanks boy. I'll be fine." Half-Dragon Priestess smiled weakly as she reached out to pet the dire wolf atop its head.
xxxx
He sat upon a large stone, tearing into the flesh of his most recent kill, the side of his mouth stained with blood. Near him was the body of an owlbear, its neck snapped and its right arm torn off the body, now in the hands of this giant.
"Not bad. Raw is always the best, you can still taste the last linger bits of life within it." The Dragon Executioner smiled as he continued to tear at the flesh of the owlbear, not caring about removing the fur. "Still…I hunger for some fresh dragon. They can't hide from me, too much time has passed, and I am so very hungry."
The Dragon Executioner chuckled as he looked up at the setting sun, soon it would be dark, and he was eager to see what foolish animal or monster would challenge him. While waiting for another dragon, he'd happily slaughter all that got in his way, he had waited this long so a little bit longer wouldn't hurt.
