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Coming around
a wide bend, the corridor opens out into a huge cavern. The torchlight
can't reach to the other end of the chamber, but it doesn't need to,
because sitting upright, facing the entrance and ready to attack is the
dragon himself. Freki screams for his men to retreat and stands ready
to defend their withdrawl. The familiar greenish gas pours from the
mouth of RendGrave and quickly envelopes Freki. After several claws
attempt to rake him and his sword smoothly deflects the blows, Freki is
surprised to see the black-scaled beast retreat to the center of the
chamber. The dragon refuses to move any closer and shies away when
Freki tentatively steps into the cavern. The beast swings it's
monstrous tail toward Freki, but misses intentionally to crash into the
cave wall near the warrior. Rock shards and falling stones spray Freki,
who holds his ground and awaits a full assault. The dragon again
smashes into the wall with his tail, then throws a boulder at the same
spot. Freki is certain RendGrave is attempting to bring the ceiling in
on him.
Hearing battle at his rear and realizing RendGrave won't
face him directly, Freki turns and races after his men. He comes across
the remnants of his strike force battling the rejuvenated mini-trolls
and flying hands. Several of them had fallen to the surprise attack,
but the last were burning and hacking at the creatures, effectively
putting them out of commission for long enough to escape the tunnels.
They looked pleased to Freki running up the tunnel, then flinched as
one when the dragon came into sight behind him.
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The men rush
past the last of the trollish beasts and hurry to line up at the
hilltop. Freki stopped and held the dragon again at bay deftly blocking
crushing blows from the mighty talons and huge tail. RendGrave,
obviously burning with rage at the sight of a mere human casually
blocking his deadliest attacks as if waving no more than a feather,
stops suddenly and speaks the ancient tongue of wyrms. Behind the
massive beast, the walls of the tunnels shake releasing a thin cloud of
dust and hundreds of undead.
The line of norse atop the hill await their leader holding
hastily crafted wooden spears set to recieve a charge. They watch as he
runs up the hill followed by many more of the flying hands and small
trolls. Behind them marches a ghastly host of decomposing corpses
stumbling out of the cave. The miniature trollish line hit the waiting
norse warriors with such force the wooden spears cracked and
splintered. The warriors pitch the spears over the edge behind them
with their pinioned victims still attached. Behind that line stands a
huge troll, blacker than the dark night, that scurries back behind the
advancing zombies.
Freki and his strike force stand on the cliffedge until
the zombies are nearly upon them. They could all begin to smell the
rotted flesh when Freki ordered the jump. Rather than simply dropping
off the side to be caught by the short rope, the men now had long ropes
reaching to the ground and simply belayed down the steep hillside.
Without a command from the dragon that slowly followed out into the
night air, the undead walked right off the edge and fell at the feet of
the main force.
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