Footsteps echoed down the hall. The unmistakable ringing of metal on ground. The clinging of armour. The halls were empty, outside the occasional open door giving a view of the rooms. Glancing inside, the interior revealed what the rooms were for and who used them. Small tables, chairs, desks. Luxurious, but small. Whoever those rooms belonged to would barely reach up to a humans hip.
Suddenly, the paladin leading the group grabbed his shield tighter and raised it to his chest. The seven following him stopped and followed the gaze of the male into an open room. This room was different, it was bigger.
”…This must be the room of who owns this place.” Someone broke from the group, approaching the door. A moment later he was barely visible, stealthily moving his way to the door and looking inside. Coming back, he shook his head. “Nothing there, but whoever sleeping in that bed must be at least twice our size.” The group nodded and then went back to moving while in formation.
The Paladin lead, to each side two men fanned out a little. One side the rogue that had checked the room, holding tightly onto his knives. Behind him to the side a woman in a light garb and clenching her fist tightly around the luxurious bow she was holding, with one arrow at the ready on it. The other side a man holding tightly onto a spear, clad into an armour with a dragon motif, followed by someone wearing dark robes. Right behind the paladin two mages wielding wooden staffs and draped in light colour, healers, protected by the rest of the party. Finally, a large burly man wielding a great axe made up the rearguard.
The tension was high, they had to fight to get into the castle. But since they got into the more central portion, en route to the throne room, it had been suspiciously quiet. They had braced for heavy defenses, the bulk of the fighting to defend whoever would be in the throne room. But the emptiness of the halls was unnerving, as if they were being invited to advance deeper.
Finally reaching the end of the hall, they stood at the door. A brief pause and then they pushed them open.The doors revealed a huge throne room, which compared to the rest of the rooms they had seen was rather barren. The only thing of note was a dragon standing opposite to the entrance. Even from this distance, he was intimidatingly large and the small throne slightly behind him only looked comical compared to him. He moved slightly, the black scales glistening a bit in the light of the torches as he opened his wings, showing the crimson membranes and flapped once.
A gust of hot wind blew past the party and with a loud slam the doors closed behind them. A deep loud voice echoed through the room. “Those that have entered, abandon all hope.” The party immediately, as seasoned adventurers, took their positions. The paladin raised his shield and tightened the grip on his sword, the warrior stepped to the front holding his great axe ready. The dragoon stepped forward as well, his spear at the ready as the rogue vanished in the shadows. While at the back the casters and the bard spread out in a half moon.The speed in which they moved, made the dragon laugh. But there seemed not intent coming from him to attack.
His voice having turned smoother, with a light teasing tone, as he spoke again. “I take you are not here for an audience then.” He slowly walked forward, his yellow eyes flicking over the party. Staring at the paladin directly for a while. Halfway the room he stopped, a slow grin creeping over his face. “Well then, what brought you here? What brought you here? Stories of treasure? Maybe saving a lost friend? Or are it the rumours of power that resides here?” Silence followed, as the dragon intently studied each of them. Closer by, in the flickering light, the spiraling iris looked even more unnatural than it already is. With a sigh, he extended his hand. Fire spewed from his palm, part of it extending into a weapon from his hand, a spear. The rest of it wrapped around his body, forming an chest piece, vambraces and shin guards. “Well then, since you don’t seem to be very talkative, I’ll see if you are worthy of getting an audience.” His left foot slid back as he took a similar battle stance to the dragoon, who audibly cursed at the sight of this. “A dragon dragoon? You got to be fucking kidding me.”
As the trio raced forward to charge the dragon, various sparks, barriers and connections went over them as they buffed themselves for battle. The dragon grinned, waiting for them to advance till him
As the party launched their attacks, it was clear that the dragon was not targeting one specific. Yet he kept his attacks in the same pace as the dragoon. He poked and prodded in retaliation to each of the three around him and in the end caught the ninja in a stab as well, who so far had seemingly remained in stealth. He barely reacted to the variety of spells that were being thrown at him, nor the arrows, which most bounced of his armor. Seemingly useless.
“Not bad not bad, so lets take it up a notch. Absolute Powerforce!” Two red magic circles appeared, one around each of his wrists. He stabbed forward at the paladin, driving it into chest piece with enough force to impale him. With a twist of both hands, the tip of the spear exploded in a sea of fire. The paladin cried out in pain as in the background of the scene the two white mages were frantically casting healing spells to undo the immense damage. Slamming the spear down, the dragon dislodged it from the armor. Lowering himself through his knees, he launched himself into the air. Moments later coming crashing down on the Black mage spear driving into the ground. With an elegant backflip he jumped back, a soft laugh echoing through the room. “Wouldn’t want to leave you all out of the fun, now would I?” The dragon spoke with a triumphant grin. As the black mage was healed back up, the rest continued the relentless assault. The dragon responding in kind, though he kept still a relaxed pace. Seemingly not worried about it all.
”His armor, its absorbing at least a portion of the damage. Focus on attacking that!” The black mage spoke. “I don’t know what it is. But we need to destroy it.” With a reinvigorated party, now having a better plan, they launched their attacks at the armor specifically. The dragon’s laugh rolled and echoed over “Good, it seems at least someone has a brain here. Not that it will save you. Demon Meteor!” Three magic circles appeared on the ground, two under the area where the long ranged characters were standing and one under the dragon himself. The ceiling was lit up as three fireballs came crashing down from up there towards the circles. “Get out of the circles!” The party rushed into various directions. The dragon stood there laughing still as the fireball exploded around him and he was only visible as a shadow in the flames. Grinning madly as his eyes briefly flashed red, once he became visible again. “Don’t disappoint, I have high expectations of you all. Absolute Powerforce!” Before the flames around him had dispersed, he impaled the warrior on the spear and moment later the agonize scream of being burned came from the warrior.
Distracted by the attack on the warrior, the dragoon grabbed his chance. Launching himself up, he dove down at the dragon. Releasing energy inside and covering himself in flames, he slammed his spear between the dragon’s wings. For a moment nothing seemed to happen, everything was quiet as if even the room itself was holding its breath. The armor started to glow and with a violent burst, throwing the dragoon off the dragon’s back, it exploded. The vambraces and shin guards followed the chest piece and also went up in flames. The dragon immediately launched himself backwards, jumping well half across the room. There was an eagerness and excitement in his face, but it was not the battle crazed excitement that the party had seen many times on others.
Landing lightly on his feet, he took a firm stance on the ground. Slamming the bud of his spear on the ground, he looked straight ahead. As if he was looking beyond the scope of the party. “Manifest, my Burning Soul. Come forth, Ira, Invi” On each side of him a magic circle appeared, from it bright flames erupted. As the torrents calmed down, they started to reshape. And it didn’t take long till the dragon had two fire clones standing next to him. Standing just as tall next to him, perfect copies except for that they were made of a swirling mass of flames. Both roared out and launched themselves forward.
”Shit shit, Ella with me, I will keep him busy. The rest take care of those fire monsters.” The paladin rushed forward to attack the dragon, who was more than willing to engage the paladin with his spear. One of the white mages followed and solely focused on keeping the paladin healed. The dragons spear leaving a trace of fire in the air now with each swipe and stab.
The rest of the party focused on taking down the two fire dragons. Compared to the dragon that summoned them they were less calculated. Mindlessly attacking at what was hurting them the most. A loud hissing cry echoed through the room as finally one of the clones fell, the flamed dispersed.
”Crimson Hell Burning!” Several magic circles appeared on the floor and moments later it would explode into a pillar of flames. And as one pillar died down, a new one would burst up. The sequence repeating itself for a while, throwing the party into chaos as they ran to avoid being hit. Only once the pillars died down, the cries of the bard could be heard. She had been caught in a blast, the closest white mage ran over and started to heal. Getting more frantic with the moment as the cries of pain remained. “I can’t heal it, the burns aren’t going away.” Finally with a cry of pain, the bard managed to get herself back on her feet. “Stop, don’t wear yourself out. I… can manage. Lets get this bastard.” The rest of them made short work of the last clone now that it was alone. As they watched the flame dispersed, they took a breather.
”Hey guys, we should just surrender.” Ella’s voice rang clearly in the hall. With a shock the others turned to a completely unexpected scene. Both of their friends had their arms hanging by their sides useless, staring at the dragon. Their heads slightly moving from left to right as they followed the tail end that was swinging in front of them like a metronome. The dragon himself was casually leaning on his spear, his eyes glowing a bright red and chuckling softly. It seemed he finally noticed that the rest of the group was done with the two clones. He stopped swaying his tail and looked over. The red glow in his eyes dying down. The two party members suddenly regained consciousness. “You all have been very entertaining so far.” He slammed the tip of the spear into the ground. “But this is the end, you have been good. But not good enough.” Slamming his fists against each other, five magic circles formed. Two on each side and one below his own feet. “Again, manifest, my Burning Soul. Come forth, Luxur, Avari, Ace and Gula” The familiar flame pillars burst from the marked ground and four new fire clones formed. While the magic circle under the dragon grew, till it was encompassing the room. The dragon flashed a grin and jumped backwards, while the four clones floated to different points of the pentagram, in the middle of the circle.
“What… what is he doing?” The warrior spoke confused. The black mage pointed at the spear that was at the centre. “Quick, we need to destroy that. He is using it as a focus for a spell. And I don’t have to explain that its going to be absolute destruction.” The party let out a weary growl as they prepared to assault the spell focus.
”Fires of Hell, serve as fuel” One of the clones shrank until it was gone, the lines running from the circle to the centre started to beat a bright red. As the adventurers hacked away at the spear, desperately trying to break it. Two more of the clones were absorbed in a similar fashion into the circle. It was giving an eerie glow to the room and a sense of impending doom. The warrior was starting to growl in rage with each passing moment. “What is this thing made of?!” The question remained unanswered, sweat running down even the white mages their forehead as they were using all they could to contribute.
”Flames of Heaven, cleanse these grounds.” As the fourth and final clone shrank away, a shockwave of flames hit the party. A sudden sense of fatigue fell over them and an increased sense of alarm. “Oh no, he removed our magic and I can’t recast them.” The white mages kept trying to recast protective spells but they were unresponsive. The bard on the other hand looked fitter again, the burns that had pained her earlier were healed. Finally, the dragoon let out a roar of frustration. Blue streams of energy came from his body as he cried out. The streams combine into a dragon rivaling the other dragon’s size. It roared out once, flew up and then came crashing down into the spear. Which first started to crack, from the cracks a bright glow came shining through and finally it shattered.
”Crimson Hell The End!” The dragon roared out, following right after the spear shattered, the last lines of the pentagram glowing red now as well. Pulsing for a few moments as then the room was turned into a sea of flames. The eight adventures cried out in agonizing pain as their bodies were scorched for what seemed an eternity.
On the spell ending, the whole party collapsed. But the slow approaching footsteps of the dragon forced them back on their feet. They were beyond exhaustion, a fatigue that magic couldn’t easily heal had taken hold. All they could manage was stare as the dragon calmly walked up, unaffected by the combat so far. The uneasy feeling of them being played with up until now swept through the group.
”I commend your skills, you will be granted an audience. After one last thing.” The dragon spoke calmly and genuine. All of the heads had turned up. Expressions of exhaustion on all of them, unable to continue or resist whatever came next. The dragons eyes were glowing a bright red again. But this time, pushing through the red glow were the black spirals of his pupils, which started to rotated. Soon his eyes were nothing more but a swirl of black and red. “We ask only one thing, to listen. To listen very carefully to us. After all, you have been defeated. If you had won, you would have been able to take whatever you desired. As I am the victor, its only fair that I do the same thing. Makes sense doesn’t it?” A half-hearted agreeing grunt came from the group, this made the dragon chuckle. “Good now that we are on the same page, lay down your weapons at my feet. You won’t be needing them for now. Just desiring to hear more of our voices.” As the group put down their weapons, the dragon turned around. The throne was now occupied, by a kobold. Half hanging in it, with one leg resting over the arm. His chin resting on his hand, with the elbow resting on the other chair arm. A bright red scarf standing out as the only piece of clothing against the dark scales and black hair. A relaxed smile on his face.
“Do you wish to take it from here Boss?”
”Hmm, yes, I think they will make a good welcoming party for any future adventuring groups. Lead them to the chambers, Officer.”
”Of course Boss.” The dragon bowed a little and spun on his feet. With a loud, Follow, the party was lead into the depths of the ruling kobold’s lair