I am thoroughly pleased with the reception of the previous chapter. I was somewhat concerned that there might be too much detail in these chapters, but you've all proven my fears as completely unfounded. I thank you all! and Please, R&R, and enjoy the next chapter! ~F
Chapter Fifty Four
Blackrock Depths
Nobu'tan barely needed to set foot toward the next section of the mines, which was filled with more dwarves, as well as a large elemental of dark stone that moved of its own volition. The warriors of his Fel Centaur, along with Teg'Ramm and his ogre brother took to the front, the ogre magi using their abilities to draw rank and file soldiers and their hounds to the waiting grasp of their magic user, slaughtering them just out of sight of the rest of the Dark Iron forces.
Meanwhile, Aisha Feltalon and her four fellow Fel Veela had run out of patience, and charged ahead, encountering and attacking the massive earth elemental, and while they seemed to have a bit of difficulty, they were handling it themselves while Nobu'tan and the others cleared the rest of the large chamber.
Even as the elemental crumbled to dust, leaving a small cache of items, which Nobu'tan quick appraised as magical and distributed to his forces, before they turned to address the many passages that led off from the round chamber. Aside from the one they entered from, there were five different directions for them to go, but with so many warlocks, Nobu'tan refused to leave any rout unexplored.
A fleet of conjured eyes of Kil'rogg were sent out in all directions, exploring the routes for the ones they ought to take next.
Luckily for them, it seemed that one of the passages led back to where Lucius had gone, aside from a small locked door that they could ignore for the time being, but Nobu'tan had demons sent there as guards to make sure dwarves did not try to sneak out through it. Three other passages all led to the same section of a sort-of prison block, while the last led off onto another area altogether.
Choosing to make sure they had no option for being flanked, Nobu'tan directed his forces toward the three passages of the prison block, having portions of them go through each of the three passages, clearing out room after room, freeing and taking what prisoners there were and slaughtering the guards ruthlessly.
Nobu'tan meanwhile, took a portion and went into the middle passage, which seemed to be the main contingent of guards and supplies, which were liberated for the Horde, and only at the end of the passage did Nobu'tan come upon his first surprise.
Along with the dwarves of the Dark Iron there were several people of various other races, all clothed in purple and speaking with a human female, which seemed to be their leader. Even as Nobu'tan signaled for his forces to attack, the woman pointed at them and yelled, "For the Hour of Twilight, attack Twilight Hammer!"
It made no sense to Nobu'tan. He knew the Twilight Hammer Clan, ruled by the infamous Cho'Gall, ogre mage servant of Gul'dan, but they were an orc and ogre clan of the Horde, not some grouping of all races and species that went about as they would.
The indignity of the falsehood before his face filled Nobu'tan with rage. "Eliminate these pretenders!" he roared, hurling a bolt of chaos at the offending human female, who raised a shield, just barely managing to protect herself from the worst of the attack, but still sending the fool flying backward as her allies ran to engage Nobu'tan's forces.
It might have been a fair fight, if not for the rest of his twenty warriors converging from the rear entrance to the chamber, and flanking the Dark Iron dwarves and their strange allies. After that it was a simple matter to route them all, and Nobu'tan fumed over the symbols on the various strange creatures as his force took anything of value and spread out the magical items among themselves.
The hammer symbol was clear as day upon their robes and other items, and it infuriated Nobu'tan to learn of what had occurred. "What has happened to this world while I was gone…" Nobu'tan muttered to himself, dark thoughts taking him to far distant places and older times.
"My Lord," Teg'Ramm said, approaching from behind where Nobu'tan stood. "We must move on."
Tearing his eyes from the symbol and his mind from its brooding, Nobu'tan closed his eyes, "Yes," he said slowly, returning to the present, "Yes, we have to look to the future, bring the prisoners that we freed to me, I will speak to them now."
"Yes Master," the ogre mage replied, signaling for the three freed prisoners of the Dark Iron dwarves to be brought forward.
Turning his gaze upon them, Nobu'tan could tell the hatred that surged through the human that was among them. The dwarf was cautious and the final prisoner, an orc, seemed the most comfortable, yet Nobu'tan could tell that this orc was no ally of Rend and his Horde.
"Speak," Nobu'tan commanded, "who are you all, and how did you come to be here?"
The three prisoners looked between each other as Nobu'tan repeated the command in the orc and human languages, before the orc was the first to step forward, "I am Commander Gor'shak, of the Kargath Expeditionary Forces, on orders from the Warchief to gather intelligence on the Dark Irons and their plans."
The name Kargath was somewhat familiar to Nobu'tan, but he suspected that the Warchief that the orc represented was not Rend Blackhand, but another. "Who leads the Horde then?" Nobu'tan asked, knowing that the question would cause the other orc to be confused, but that was fine. He wasn't sure still whether to allow these to live.
"Warchief Thrall of course, who else would be the leader of Orgrimmar?" Gor'shak replied, confused.
"I see," Nobu'tan, turning to the human and the dwarf, "and you?" he said, switching to the common of the Alliance.
The human glared back, but spoke regardless, "Marshal Windsor, of Stormwind, and that's all you'll get out of me green-skinned monster, my mission is for the ears of the King of Stormwind alone."
Nobu'tan didn't reply to the taunts or the anger, merely raised a hand and drew the life essence from the rebellious human, making him fall to the ground screaming. Only when he had fallen silent and lay there quivering did he turn to the dwarf, "and finally you." He said, encouraging the dwarf to speak.
Of the three, the Dwarf had the most to say. Kharan Mighthammer, as his name was, had been the captain of an elite guard for Moria Bronzebeard, daughter of the King of Ironforge, who had been on her way to Lakeshire on a relief mission and to reinforce their alliance between Humans and Dwarves, before they were waylaid by Dark Irons.
The last that the dwarf knew about the princess was that she was under a spell of the Dark Iron Emperor, and stood by his side in the deepest halls of the mountain.
Only once he understood all that this implied, Nobu'tan had his forces take the orc commander with them, as he had far more questions for him regarding this other Horde, and ordered the dwarf and human killed.
Returning quickly to the large central area, Nobu'tan knew that there was only one direction left for them to go, aside from the door that he had being watched. If they needed to backtrack to the door, then so be it.
More elementals lay in the final passage, which dead ended aside from a doorway to a side chamber. Once they were eliminated, Nobu'tan sent an eye into the room, which seemed to be some sort of arena ring, but all gates from it were locked.
"I sense that it must be a trap," Draco said, looking ahead at the entrance to the arena, "but it also appears that we lack any other choice for the time being."
"I agree," Nobu'tan said as he cancelled the spell, his vision returning rather jarringly to his body.
They started forward into the arena. As they expected, the portcullis that covered the doorway they entered slammed shut behind them, even as a dwarf in robes appeared at the far side of the arena in a flash of flames.
"Intruders!" the dwarf shouted, "you have been judged by this people, and found guilty of seeking to kill our Emperor!"
From above, where there were gathered a multitude of Dark Iron Dwarves, yells and oaths of vengeance were hurled down at them.
The dwarf in the arena with them continued, "I, High Justice Grimstone, have passed judgment, and deemed that you are worthy of death! Release the beasts!" he commanded, before pointing at the small gates around the ring, whose gates flashed with sparks and flew upward, unleashing a torrent of overgrown bats, scorpions, disgusting looking worms, and sentient looking slimes that rushed them from all sides.
The forces of the Stormreavers fanned out, countering the mad rush of the beasts and agitated creatures, finding them simple foes to slaughter, and Nobu'tan almost wondered if that was truly the best that the Dark iron Dwarves had to throw at them.
The masses overhead were shouting and screaming for their deaths, angry that their precious execution was not going as they had planned, and High Justice Grimstone peered over the side of the arena, "Do not count yourselves lucky, fools, as this was only the begging of what we have in store." Another blast of fire opened the remaining cages, and six much larger creatures appeared.
The orc and two-headed ogre that emerged from one side halted in their charge up to fight them, spotting their equally mixed group and the fellows that were members of the Stormreavers, but the others, consisting of a massive spider, as well as another spider-like creature, and finally a werewolf of a sort kept charging, meeting the weapons of the assorted force of Nobu'tan head on.
Aisha Feltalon was first to leap at their foes, screeching as flames leapt from her clawed hands, scorching the fur of the werewolf and spearheading their advance to separating the three creatures from each other, eliminating them one at a time while they had little opportunity to support their attacks.
The crowd hated them, and roared for their blood, but the work of their priest and shaman was more than enough to cover any wounds that they received, and Grimstone appeared yet again. "Enough of this!" he bellowed, silencing the crowd, which seemed to be holding their collective breath in anticipation, "Theldren, deal with these meddlers!" the dwarf yelled, to a din of cheering and screaming as the last door of the arena opened, admitting a Dark Iron Dwarf in heavy armor, surrounded by eight other companions of mixed races.
Those of Gringotts hissed in fury as they spotted that one indeed was a goblin, similar to them but leaner and more wild-appearing. "I crush weaklings like you every day! Bring it on!" the dwarf taunted boastfully, charging at them with his allies in tow.
Four out of the group stopped short, channeling magic to attempt to support their frontline forces, and Nobu'tan conjured a shield of shadows to block the hailstorm of ice that spewed forth from what looked like a walking corpse of some human female, as well as a sphere of fire that a strange, pig-like creature had hurled at him.
Battle was joined, the dwarf, a gnome ally of his, as well as a centaur wielding a bow and commanding the loyalty of a hyena charged the front, with another dog-like creature followed closely, trying to flank anyone that got separated from the rest of them.
Locked in a duel of will with the two casters, Nobu'tan was unable to do much in the way of assist or even looking toward the rest of the battle, as he traded Arcane and Fel magic with the ice and fire of his two opponents.
These mages had been fighting together for a long time, he could tell, as their movements and tactics showed that they would be at a disadvantage separated, and his preyed upon that as much as he could, shielding the attacks of one to allow him time to be on the offensive against the other. Several demons leapt out of portals at his command, hounding the pig creature while he turned upon the corpse, unleashing the power of Fel flames to melt and nullify her icy magic, before Nobu'tan cause an eruption of fire to consume her from beneath the stone floor.
It seemed that even in death, this one could feel pain, if her screams as she burned alive were anything to judge by. The pig creature became enraged, flinging molten boulders in all directions, even as a strange, blueish troll stayed in the far back and kept the pig fighting with healing magic.
Channeling his demonic power through his body, Nobu'tan gave in to the rage and transformed into his demonic form, leaping through the air at the troll, catching the gangly creature hard in the chest with a hoof before it could dodge out of the way. The troll was pinned to the stone floor, ribcage probably crushed from the weight of Nobu'tan's new form as he turned, deflecting a hastily cast spell from the pig humanoid, and casually tossing powerful chaotic magic from his hands at the creature, sending it running, squealing in fear.
That was when the totem appeared in his vision, and Nobu'tan staggered as the blunt force of the massive lump of carved wood connected with his horned head. A minotaur, clad in shamanistic robes and wielding the massive tree trunk-like weapon, raised it again, but Nobu'tan saw it coming and caught the weapon in a clawed hand, Felflame scorching the wood where he touched the relic.
With his strength magnified by the transformation, he hurled the massive creature backward, knocking it over and giving him time to spew flames at the troll, ending its pitiful life. Bolts of lightning from the minotaur, as well as fire from the pig man behind him were speeding toward his position as Nobu'tan leaped high into the air, almost clearing the lip of the ring where Grimstone and the spectators were gathered, and landing heavily behind the lines of the Stormreavers, allowing the metamorphosis to fade and resting a moment from the spell of dizziness that overcame him from the blunt trauma of the totem striking him.
The goblin priest rushed to his side, small claw planted gently to his head, and a flash of healing light reducing the swelling that would have come in an instant. Nobu'tan nodded his thanks, before turning to oversee the remainder of the battle.
The goblin was surrounded by those of Gringotts, and it seemed that all sense of combat had devolved to a mass of ear pulling and wrestling as they attempted to capture their Azerothian counterpart without killing him. Meanwhile, the centaur and its canine companion had been felled by a volley of arrows.
The dwarf was still valiantly fighting with both Teg'Ramm and Aisha, while demons had already torn both the gnome and the walking corpse limb from limb, but Nobu'tan was focused on the massive minotaur, seeking revenge for the insulting blow he had received. The creature had thrown down several totems into the ground, enhancing the abilities of its allies, but Nobu'tan smirked as the Fel built up within him. The shamanistic creature had no chance of seeing the bolts of deadly energy coming for it until it was too late, its fur being charred black as the demonic magic engulfed it.
The beast flew back into the stone wall with a sickening crunching sound, and slid to the ground with a blood trail on the wall, moving no more and head hanging at an odd angle. Next to fall was the dog-like creature wielding daggers, as it attempted to flank Teg'Ramm, only to meet the
Other ogre mage who had been imprisoned by the dwarves, whom had stood aside from the current battle, acting now by bringing his staff down and skewered the creature through the middle, lifting it bodily from the ground and throwing it violently to the ground, where it snarled and whimpered as it bled out.
The pig man was Nobu'tan next target, and a pair of demons erupted from his summons, charging the mage with axes raised, and the creature had only time to squeal in fear before it was violent hewn apart by the Fel axes of the soldier demons, leaving the dwarf alone with Aisha at last.
The dwarves above were screaming in horror at the bloodbath, but the dwarf warrior only roared in anger and rage, spinning like mad as he attempted to wield his own axe like a tornado, cleaving demons as they tried to rush him, but Aisha flew into the air on her wing-like arms, razor talons swiping at the dwarf's head, sending a spurt of blood as she gouged one of the short man's eyes out.
He screamed in pain and rage, even as Teg'Ramm followed up the diving attack with a powerful overhand strike, smashing the dwarf into the ground with his mace-like club of steel, visibly breaking the man's back and leaving him in a ruined heap on the stone ground.
The dwarves above, along with Grimstone, fled in all direction, knowing that their fighters had been finished, and while the goblins of their group started to interrogate their own that they had captured, Nobu'tan turned to the orc and ogre that had joined them in the heat of battle, playing parts both obvious and subtle in the subsequent battle with the gladiators.
"I am Gorosh, great warlock," the orc said, kneeling before Nobu'tan, "and he is Ok'thor, and we were once slaves of the Dark Irons, but we will gladly serve you in exchange for our freedom from this mountain."
"I will gladly accept you allegiance, Gorosh, and yours Ok'thor," Nobu'tan said, smirking as the ogre mage bowed respectfully to him as well. Gratitude could be just as great a means of enslavement as any fetter or bond. "We seek to eliminate the Dark Iron presence in the mountain, and their Emperor, so that the Horde can claim the mountain once more for their fortress."
The orc took his daggers, and laid them at the feet of the orc-raised human, "I will serve you, in life and in death, for your rescue of my life in this prison. But tell me, what are you called great Lord," the orc asked, looking pleadingly up at Nobu'tan.
"Nobu'tan, chieftain of the Stormreaver clan of the Horde!" the warlock replied, revealing the symbol upon his tabard, and noticing that far in the back, Gor'shak was looking rather uncomfortable with the pronouncement. Perhaps that orc was realizing just what he had gotten involved in and was reconsidering his position, but it was far too late for that now.
"Come, we must push on while we have the upper hand." Nobu'tan said after a moment, and turned to where Teg'Ramm and the other ogre mage that came from earth had forcefully raised the last gate blocking their path, allowing them to move on ahead.
"Wherever you lead, I will follow, Lord Nobu'tan," Gorosh replied, taking up his weapons and rising to his feet.
Nobu'tan smirked as he turned to proceed. It was good to have those ready and willing to throw their lives away for you.
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Voldemort was incensed that he now had to follow Lucius' commands, but still, as he plunged ahead to slaughter another group of dwarves, he had a feeling that he would still be massively out of place were he in charge of this group. The mountain was a strange and almost illogical network of tunnels and hallways, and he wouldn't have had Lucius' patience to work with the goblins to keep them moving in an orderly fashion.
The battle with the massive golems and their dwarven constructors had gone rather wild toward the end, when the largest of the constructs had rushed at them, sweeping allies aside and nearly sending Voldemort himself plunging into a seeming endless chasm. True, he would have survived, the jeweled scepter in his hand would see to that, but it would have been most irritating to try and get back to the group afterward.
The former Dark Lord took great pleasure in slowly slaughtering the chief of these architects, one Fineous Darkvire, and raising his stunted corpse as a servant to lead the way before them. Voldemort was growing ever more comfortable with his new set of dark magic and skills, and it was almost second nature to him now to channel power through his scepter, or even fight with the sword he had taken from an enemy some while ago. The plate armor he was given helped protect his corpse-like body from any hindering wounds, but it seemed a bit bulky for him. In due time he would see about what options he had on improving it to fit him better, but for now it served its purpose.
That case was proven yet again as another foolish dwarf rushed at him, as the group moved toward what seemed to be a heavily defended area of the mountain, overlooking the great black anvil that they had previous cleared. The dwarf's iron weapon shattered on the enchanted armor that Voldemort wore, and the Dark Lord took the advantage to place a cold hand on the short creature, channeling dark magic through the body and causing it to seize up and wither before him.
As they pressed toward the newest section, Voldemort took the opportunity to observe what lay ahead, and immediately decided that he had gone with the better group. The next chamber's walls were lined with vaults, while the ceiling was supported by four stone statues of dwarves. A dwarf mage stood alone with a hound in the room, as a final defense for clearly the wealth of the mountain, gripping a staff that shone with Arcane magic.
"You shall go no further, invaders!" the dwarf demanded, already conjuring frost magic in his free hand, "Verek, attack!" he ordered, and the hound leapt forward.
Moving with incredible speed, after a quick enchantment, Voldemort imposed himself before the charging canine, and swing sword and scepter, taking out the dog's legs and slashing its neck viciously, and it collapsed to the ground, heaving for breath as it bled out.
The Dark Lord stalked forward, a grin splitting his dead lips as he gaze down at the last defender of this place. Voldemort was excited because he could sense the magic of this place, and the strength of something that lay within these vaults, something beyond worth that was powerful.
The icy blasts did little to faze him as he approached, already cold as death, and closed distance with the mage. The staff was easily parried as it swung at him, and the short dwarf sword that he had taken was planted in the dwarf's body, before Voldemort moved on, allowing his allies to finish off the fatally wounded foe.
A quick inspection told him that all the vaults were locked and sealed with magic, but he wasn't about to wait and see if they could locate the key, or keys, and stretched out his hand, the other grasping the scepter tightly. Pulses of dark magic expanded outward, corroding the dark metal of the vaults until they crumbled, laying bear the gold and chests of jewels that lay within.
Just then, an alarm blared out, and another dwarf came into sight behind them, carrying a large mace, just as the four statues sprang to life. "You will not plunder our vaults, thieves!" the dwarf yelled, and Voldemort had to dodge as one of the statues tried to crush him under a massive hand.
Those at the rear of their force dealt with the dwarf, and Voldemort, along with an ogre mage and Lucius turned their attention on the statues. Lucius called forth several demons to aide them, while he ogre collided bodily with one of the golems, wrestling with the animated stone.
Voldemort beckoned to the dark magic he was gifted in, calling upon the rot and decay of time, and blasted two more of the statues with the vile magic. Slowly they started to crumble, as though time advanced hundreds of years for them, before finally collapsing into powder. Many of his other abilities were useless against such inanimate objects, so Voldemort turned and fired several powerful spells back at the dwarf, relishing the screams as they connected with their intended target.
Wrenching at the life force that he sensed, Voldemort forcefully dragged the small humanoid toward him, through the weapons and fists of his allies, and Voldemort seized a sword that the guard of the vaults had dropped, ready to do battle with the mace that the other wielded.
Metal on metal rang out as they battled, Voldemort relishing the opportunity to learn more martial skills as he weaved around the smaller person, slashing and stabbing while the unwieldy mace-user tried to strike him. The other golems crumbled in due time, and Voldemort saw that the others were waiting for him to finish playing with the creature so they could move on, and caught another attack from the mace with his weapon, deftly disarming the dwarf by throwing the mace aside with a flick of his sword.
Dropping the sword momentarily, he sent coils of death magic from his now free hand at the dwarf, causing the very life essence within the diminutive person to rupture, leeching it back into the corpse that served as the Dark Lord's vessel.
The dwarf met a painful and slow end, and a large chest clattered to the ground as he fell, only to be quickly opened by Voldemort upon his recovery of his new blade. The thing that he sensed of great power lay within.
Aside from several pieces of armor and a wand that radiated light, there was a smoking, blood red gem that glistened with suppressed power. Voldemort took this item, along with a small ring and a pair of plate mail bracers. But the gem he inspected closely, realizing very slowly the power that this item had.
While there were enchantments upon it, they were not the source of the power that he sensed. There was something else afoot here, a dire obsession that seemed to permeate from the mountain toward this gem, which seemed to almost pulse like a heartbeat within.
One of the goblins noticed what he held, and gasped in awe. "The heart of the mountain," the creature said, and Voldemort turned to look at him, seeking answers.
Another spoke however, explaining the question that Voldemort had, but that Lucius had vocalized. "Every mountain has one gem, found deep in its core that it valuable above all other things within it, that gathers power from the earth itself and beats like a literal heart. These gems have great power, although not many know how to access it. They are called the hearts of the mountain, and both dwarves and goblins alike recognize their value and importance."
"But what can be done with it?" Lucius persisted, and the goblin looked at him, as though Lucius himself had very little understanding.
"Contrary to what you might believe," mage Goblin said, offering a hand for the jewel, which Voldemort what very resistant to simply hand over, but the goblin waiting until the Death Knight consented, and the little green creature pulled it close and examined it with a critical eye, "Quite a lot can be done with this one gem. But that will need to be something we focus on when we are free, and not engaged with sacking this mountain."
Eagerly, Voldemort took back the Heart of the Mountain, placing it into his robes close to his chest, and they took their leave of the Vault, turning back toward the their errand of claiming the lowest regions of the mountain.
The next area that they approached, the sounds of battle were already in full swing, which increased their haste to reach the location, which appeared to be some sort of dormitory for the soldiers of the dwarves.
Rushing ahead of the others, the Dark Lord was in time to catch a dwarf as they attempted to stab another of Nobu'tan's party in the back with a longsword. A clawed hand from Voldemort and a blast of necromantic power shattered the stunted creature and sent it sprawling to the ground, even as the pair of groups reunited.
"So, one long loop then?" Nobu'tan said as he approached Voldemort and Lucius, who nodded in response.
"Good, there was one place we didn't investigate yet, which has to lead on ahead deeper into the city, and we liberated some allies…" the warlock explained, gesturing at another orc, ogre and goblin in their train.
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Teg'Ramm was pleased that the entirety of their force was reunited, as he had worried about the loyalty of the new Death Knight, formerly the human named Voldemort. From a culture where the strongest ruled and you had to be on constant lookout for usurpers and those who'd challenge you, the ogre mage could tell at a glance that this one wanted to take Nobu'tan's place, magical binding to the warlock's life or not.
The honor of his oath drove Teg'Ramm, and he felt extremely uneasy when the rotting corpse was not near at hand to watch over and keep away from growing too near his lord. But for the time being the dead wizard was indeed useful, even as they slowly made their way toward the second level of the arena where they had fought so many of the Iron Dwarves' minions, and located a sight that seemed to once more enrage Nobu'tan.
More of the strangely clad people of many races, all gathered around one in particular, a large bovine creature that stood on two legs, channel fire in his hands and chanting to himself. "Vengeance for the Horde! Attack!" Nobu'tan cried, dashing several steps ahead and throwing powerful bolts of demonic and chaos magic at the assembled creatures, which scattered in a panic at the sudden onslaught.
Teg'Ramm could tell that these pathetic people would not be a match for their numbers nor their skill, but for the sake of their place in the Horde he obeyed, lumbering forward in a steady charge as he rammed one of the nearest creature, a gangly-looking thing with tusks and overly long arms, sending it sprawling to the stone floor, before the ogre stamped hard on the creatures neck, snapping it instantly.
All around, the bloodbath was nearing completion, as these fools had not the strength to withstand them for even a moment. Nobu'tan himself took personal action by grasping the horns of the dying leader and demanding answers of him in the orcish language, which Teg'Ramm was still in the process of learning, but from what he could tell, the bovine was not giving answers, so close to its own death.
In fact, the creature seemed to be pleased with its method of demise, ranting about some form of madness and that the end was near. The humans of their company just shook their heads at the inane ramblings, as though it was something they were familiar with from their culture, but for the ogre it was unknown.
Nobu'tan eventually kicked the creature away after it had died, and stormed toward the next chamber angrily, imps scampering to keep up with their master as he went. They entered into the upper part of the arena, which was devoid of all the spectators that had once jeered and screamed at them, which was a nice change of pace to not have to fight through one room at the least, but Teg'Ramm knew better than to lower his guard.
Hogwarts had taught that lesson to him painfully, even as he unconsciously felt the massive scar across his chest. It was a painful reminder of all the foolishness of his early days as a servant of Nobu'tan, and something that he would constantly have to live with. The pain from the scar, and the shame of his weakness that allowed it to happen served that purpose well.
The group of forty-three spilled into the next room with a vengeance, slaughtering the hapless guards that awaited them, and discovering that they had found the other side of the locked door they first encountered, as well as a massive devise that seemed to be a lock of some sort.
The goblins took their time to examine it, peering at it this way and that, getting on all fours to see beneath it, or carefully climbing to see what lay above.
"It is a winch to control the stone gate," one finally declared, gesturing out the small windows, where one could see the massive stone gate that Lucius had reported his group going through during their side of the scouring.
"We may as well close it, if only to prevent dwarves from escaping," Nobu'tan said, gesturing for the goblins to do so, which they obeyed with relish. It was clear to anyone that the deaths of these dwarves pleased the goblins greatly.
The locking mechanism was soon disengaged, and the winch was freely spinning, accompanied by a loud grinding noise as the gate slid shut, sealing the passage completely from passage. From his vantage point over the heads of his allies, Teg'Ramm could see the dwarves moving through the top part of the now sealed gates. "It seems," he stated, pointing to attract the attention of the others, "that closing that gate was the only way to proceed regardless."
Nobu'tan looked, before turning and quickly conjuring an eye of Kil'rogg, sending it through the corridors they had passed, telling them the route that they must take through the twisted corridors to reach the passage over the wall. "It is just as Teg'Ramm spotted," he affirmed, sending an affirmative nod to the ogre mage, which Teg'Ramm appreciated. "We will find that direction leading directly to their garrison, which will aid us in eliminated the majority of their resistance."
Without further debate, the massive force of the Stormreaver Clan set off, skirting toward a side corridor that otherwise would have been easily missed should they have not been looking for it, catching several Dark Iron Dwarves as they tried to establish barricades, and eliminating them in a hailstorm of projectiles both mundane and magical.
The resistance seemed to increase once they were on the other side, and it was just as Nobu'tan had seen. They had entered a heavily fortified garrison, and the soldiers were rallying to try and push them back. Not that they had much of a chance with all of the warlocks summoning demons to spearhead their charge into the main part of the garrison, backed up by the stampeding hooves of the Fel Centaur.
The floors ran quite red with the blood of the grim, grey-skinned dwarves, and even their General, who had valiantly put up a struggle and called for many more of their warriors to back up his defense, had fallen to their weapons and magic.
The fools who remained had fled once more, attempting the same strategy of retreating further into their mountain kingdom to try and escape or find another place of refuge to defend themselves from the might of the Stormreavers, but it was a futile effort.
Although, Teg'Ramm thought for a moment that they possibly would have trouble with the next section of the underground kingdom, when he spotted the many partially completed golems, and the architects working diligently to get them up and functional. The great stone automatons were particularly annoying, as they were heavily resistance to the majority of their magical support, which forced them to rely on the physical arms, which were few in number.
But through strategic chokepoints and careful planning, Nobu'tan saw them through it, funneling the golems into the narrow entryway to their chamber, and allowing the clan to focus them down one by one, until a literal wall of rubble prevented the dwarves from trying to advance upon them.
Then with a swift spell from their goblin shaman, the mound of gravel and stone became a weapon of their own, washing backwards like a rocky wave and trapping many of the dwarves as they attempted to flee once more, only for them to fall at the blades and talons of the Fel Veela as they pounced on the ensnared foes.
The tide of stone and dirt also served another purpose, as it hindered the movement of the largest golem that they had encountered yet, which stormed out of the rearmost room, fire pouring from one of its arms as it swung about madly trying to crush them all. During the ensuing chaos, a dwarf tried to escape out of the same room, and slink toward the right side and further into the mountain, but a well place blast of flame from Teg stopped him as Ramm took charge of fighting the golem, working in tandem with several of other ogres to seize it bodily and start to rip the enchanted stone apart.
Nobu'tan stepped forward when they had it armless and pinned to the ground, unleashing a torrent of demonic fire onto the golem's head, slowly melting even the magical stone into a worthless lump. Meanwhile their goblin allies had confronted the dwarf, which turned out to be the lead creator of these Dark Iron golems. The dwarf must not have been much of a fighter, as he was quickly slain, leaving yet another room free of the presence of these despicable dwarves.
As they were dividing the items of worth from this dwarf, Teg'Ramm was surprised that Nobu'tan turned to him and offered a magical ring that was taken from the body. "It will turn the attacks of your foes against them, to an extent," the warlock explained, and the ogre mage took it gladly, touched that he would be considered worthy for such an item, even when his hide and physical bulk was typically enough to see him through most of these skirmishes.
From on ahead, the next major building had the sounds of laughter and merriment echoing from within it, which puzzled many of them as they approached. "They have time yet to drink and be at ease when their mountain is half occupied by their enemies, and even more so when they themselves are being attacked?" Nobu'tan questioned aloud.
"Dwarves are not known for their sense of reason when it comes to when isn't a good time for strong drink," one of the goblins said scornfully with a shrug.
Teg'Ramm, among others, could tell that the goblins were looking forward to reshaping this mountain in their own image once the dwarves were eliminated, and their cruelty and vicious nature were showing in their haste and desire to wipe it clean of its former inhabitants.
"Well, so long as they are intoxicated and unawares, we ought to slay them all…" Nobu'tan said casually, gesturing for the stealthiest of their comrades to take the lead, and pinpoint specific targets to eliminate before the full fledged bar brawl started.
Aisha Feltalon gladly took her most cunning Veela forward, along with a few of the goblins, to scout ahead and make these assassinations, leaving the rest of them waiting for a few minutes while they did their work.
Soon enough, the single was sent, and in the midst of the dwarves' drinking, the attack began.
