AshFyr

Garen knocked on the door when they arrived, but there was no answer and when he opened the door, the room was empty. “Where are they?” He asked. “I told her to stay here till I came back.” he said as he stormed out of the room upset and angry. They went back out into the tunnel and looked around and asked one of the dwarfs if they had seen her. He told them that they were hungry and went to look for something to eat and pointed them in the direction that they went. They were searching the tunnels for what seemed like hours when they ran into Rana. “What are you three doing so far out in the tunnels? It’s very easy to get lost if you don’t know where you are going and went around the wrong bend.” she said. Garen looked at Shaena with fear in his eyes and then turned towards Rana. “Kari and Scratt are missing! They went to look for something to eat and now we can’t find them.” he said as he looked into the darkness. “Come with me,” Rana said as she held her hand out to Garen. “We must quickly organize a search party, if they wander too far, we will never find them. We must come up with a plan,” ​Meanwhile, somewhere in the tunnels, Kari and Scratt were still wandering around in the dark, “I think we went the wrong way!” Kari said. “Is’ do not know where’s we’s at,” Scratt replied. Then, picking a stone up from the tunnel floor, Kari then went over and on the wall a large X she marked,“I think we are lost, we should turn around and walk back the way we came,” she said as she grabbed Scratt by the arm to turn him around. The two of them then started to go back the way they came, or hoping they were because the darkness and water droplets falling to the tunnel floor were the only sounds. They walked in complete darkness for what Kari seemed was hours and she was getting exhausted. “Scratt, I need to rest, please let’s stop?” she said as she slumped against the side of the tunnel. “A littles bit further, comes on,” he said as he helped her from the ground. They carried on for a little while longer when they heard rushing water coming from somewhere ahead, when they came upon a ravine with a river at the bottom with a small cave where they stopped to rest on the outcrop.        Back at the dwarf city, Rana was getting together a group of dwarfs while Vanarel was explaining the situation to Krogric. Garen was pacing the room as Shaena watched him. Not knowing what to say, she knelt down on her knees and, putting her hands together, prayed to Moradin,

Our friends are lost in the caves below,                                                 

Where they may be, we do not know,                                                    

Please guide them and keep them safe,                                                  

Till we can find them in that dreary place,                                              

Great Moradin, if you can hear my plea,                                                  

Watch over our friends for Garen and me,                                                 

We are not dwarfs, but in you we believe,                                              

Keep our friends safe and soon with them we will be, ​

Garen watched and listened as Shaena preyed and when she finished, he went over and held her in his arms. They held each other not noticing Rana there until she came and tugged on his shirt and then Garen reassured her to no one there will be no harm. Rana divided the search party into different groups with at least one person in each group that Kari knew. Garen was in one group with Shaena, Vanarel, Tuldrum and Themduc in the others. They all then took different tunnels, some that were well warn and others that were rough and crude, Shaena said goodbye to her mother and wished the others good luck and as she turned said she be back soon. Garen’s group which included Rana took one of the well warn tunnels that one of the other dwarfs said that the other two were headed in before he turned his head and spitted into a spittoon.                                                     

 Meanwhile, somewhere in the mountain, Kari and Scratt were sleeping when Kari was awakened by a strange scrapping sound coming from somewhere close. Not being able to see very well in the cave's darkness, she nudged Scratt in the side, waking him. “Don’t say anything, I think there is something outside the entrance but I can’t see anything cause it’s so dark and I can’t see past my nose. “Do nots worries, I will sees what it’s is,” Scratt whispered as he got up to look around the corner because with his big yellow eyes he could see very well in the dark. As he looked around the corner, he noticed a big black shape slithering around the crevice, and then he moved back next to Kari and whispered. “Wes should be very quiets, there is an enormous snake or something outside and on its back there’s a strange mark,” The two remained motionless and were scared the creature would find them, so they sat in silence for what seemed like hours. When they could hear nothing, Scratt looked around the edge of the crevice, the creature was gone and as Kari climbed down Scratt continued to scour, “I thinks it’s gone,” Scratt said. “Wes should bes going before it returns.” Once they climbed down from the outcropping, they turned and quickly went in the opposite direction the creature went. They just went around a turn from their hiding spot when the creature came up behind them hissing when Scratt realized the creature had their scent. “Kari,” Scratt called out. “Takes my hand and runs. Just stays with me and don’ts let go and we shoulds be alright,” Kari just looked at him, “Why Scratt?” she asked as she turned and looked behind them and froze with fright. Scratt could of ran and left her to her fate, but he came to like her very much so he turned and went back, grabbed her hand and began tugging her along, “Comes on Kari, snaps outs of its!” he screamed, “I’s knows that yous are brave and strong.” Scratt continued to drag Kari along when she finally came to her senses and ran along with him, tightly holding his hand. They kept on running, constantly looking behind their shoulder into the blackness when they came up on a dead end and franticly looked around. The creature came slithering around the bend when it sensed its prey and was about to strike when it suddenly stopped and raised its head, looking around.  It hissed and thrashed around as if something was attacking it from behind, while Kari and Scratt huddled in a corner trying to avoid the thrashing.                                               

Garen and Rana were heading towards the lower tunnels when they heard something moving around not too far ahead of them, “Did you hear that?” Rana asked as she pointed down the tunnel. “It sounds big whatever it is, so we should be careful, but then again, it could only be the wind.” Slowly they made their way down the tunnel through the darkness when they heard someone scream. Looking at each other they began running and getting closer to the noise up ahead, when they rounded the bend Garen wished it was a dream. Before them was the biggest creature that Garen had ever seen and it seemed to be chasing someone. It took up most of the tunnel and it had short black fur which resembled scales and two very short legs which meant that it couldn’t run. They couldn’t see the full creature but Rana said that it was a crested moler because of the mark on its back and that it was a tunnel maker. That’s when they heard Kari scream again and Garen knew it was his sister. That’s when Rala reached behind her back a pulled out her trusted battleaxe “The Head Breaker.” With her trusted weapon high above her head, Rana lunged at the creature and buried her weapon deep into the creature’s back. Garen was amazed at the agility of the small dwarf as she hacked away at the creature when she noticed Garen just staring at her and she screamed at him, “Snap out of it boy and help me attack.” as she plunged her axe into the molers back. “My bow is useless in this tunnel”, he replied. Rana pulled her sword from its sheath and tossed it to him and with sword in hand, Garen lunged at the creature, burying his sword in the creature’s hind limb.                                                   

Kari and Scratt had no idea what was going on behind the creature, just that it began thrashing violently and they huddled at the back of the crevice and watched as the creature crashed into the sides of the tunnel as the rocks fell around them. Suddenly the creature started burrowing through the floor causing more rocks and boulders to fall around them as they were slowly buried.                       

Garen and Rana gave chase as the creature made its escape when they heard a terrifying scream come from just ahead of the hole. Racing ahead, they came upon the crevice that Kari and Scratt were in when they noticed a hand sticking out through the rubble, “NO,” Garen screamed and the rocks started flying everywhere. Franticly Garen and Rana cleared the rocks as fast as they could grab them, when they came across Scratt laying across Kari protecting her from the falling rocks. Both of them were unconscious but were still alive and very weak, they had to get them back to the dwarven city if they were to survive and it was a race against the clocks. ​Scouts were sent out to inform the other search parties that they were found and what happened, Rana held Kari carefully in her arms as Garen carried Scratt and when they reached the city, they beckoned a healing dwarf. When Vanarel and the others arrived, they were given the details of what had happened in the tunnel and they all waited around, concerned for their friends’ safety. Lasnas, one of the healing dwarfs, came out if the infirmary and approached the group. “How are they? Will they be alright?” Garen asked anxiously. “The young girl will be fine, just a couple of nasty bumps on her head and some scrapes and bruises,” Lasnas said, “It was thanks to her goblin friend she wasn’t more severely injured, but she is now resting in her bed,” Garen sighed and smiled. “What of our goblin friend?” Shaena asked. “I heard of what he has done and he is in our debt,” “I’m sorry!” Lasnas said. “He is in awful shape and we are doing all we can to help him. It’s thanks to him that the girl is still alive. It is strange though, he should have been crushed along with the girl from the amount of rubble that fell on them, but he is fighting and were not ready to give up on him yet,” “Please do all you can! Would it be possible for me to see my sister?” Garen asked while trying to hold back the tears, “Yes, you may.” Lasnas replied. “But please, be silent, she is sedated and will not know that you are there. When Garen went in to see his sister, Shaena followed close behind while Lasnas went over to where Vanarel and Krogric were talking, “Excuse me, but I must speak with you in private.” She said, taking Krogric by the arm and towards his chambers they began walking. Navena noticed Vanarel and the other two whispering among themselves as they were leaving and wondered what they were up to, so she followed them to find out what was happening.                                                

She followed them to Krogric’s chamber and when they entered she rushed up to the door, putting her ear against the door and carefully listened to what they were saying. “This goblin is not what he seems.” Lasnas said. “What do you mean?” asked Vanarel. “With the amount of rock that fell upon them, according to Rana, they should have been crushed, but they are still alive.” Vanarel looked at Krogric for his reaction, there was none and then he looked towards Lasnas. “Scratt is barely alive, and the girl is in a coma,” he said. “so we will not know the entire story until he revives.” “Yes, I know,” Lasnas responded, furrowing her brow. “The thing is that no goblin should have survived that! Yet he is still alive with only a concussion and a few bruises and scrapes.” “Where did you come across him?” Krogric asked when Vanarel spoke up. “He was helping the young girl escape from a goblin party in the forest when I first came across her brother and with his help we escaped.” After Navena heard this, she threw the door open and barged into the room, “What is this all about?” Krogric scowled as she come into the room and stood in front of them. “I heard what you were talking about. My lord, it must have something to do with the magic tiara and the dragon’s gem.” Varanel looked confused, “Dagons gem! What is that?” Vanarel asked. “It’s the gem that is infused within the magic tiara and gives it all its power and the goblin queen must have used it on Scratt, or who he used to be.” Lasnas turned towards the door, “Well, we will not get an answer until he wakes up and we don’t know how long that will take, We will just have to wait and see,” she said. “I must speak with the others.” Vanarel remarked. “We have to get back to Taurmaline as quick as possible and inform my father of the activity that has taken place.” They all exited from Krogric’s chamber then and went back to where the others were, when they arrived the rest of the group were standing around Scratt and Kari while Shaena was consoling Garen on the other side of the room. When Vanarel and the others entered the room he said, “Come gather around. We must prepare to leave for the elven city of Taurmaline so get your thing ready for we will be leaving soon,”