Convincing the two dwarves and the kobolds not to kill each other was no small feat. To be quite honest, Burgen really didn't care one way or the other but insisted, quite vehemently, that they wait until after he'd gotten the cobalt to see who could kill whom first. It was not an entirely popular decision, but arguing with the disgruntled half-giant was an even less popular choice.
It had taken far too long for Burgen's liking to get the rest of the kobolds and dwarven brothers back up onto the ledge. The half-giant lowered his rope for them to scurry up, but it took several minutes for the creatures to figure out that going up the rope all at once was not conducive to a successful climb.
Once they were all crowded against the cave entrance on the ledge, Burgen looked down amongst the chattering group at his feet. "Be quiet," he ordered.
"Sorry about that boss," Rungit replied, looking up at him. "It's just that these kobolds are pretty stupid. I was trying to ask them how far in the cobalt is but they keep babbling some nonsense about haunted tunnels."
"Typical kobolds," Farnus said, shaking his head, "Afraid of everything."
Granog scowled at the dwarf and shook his spear. "Granog afraid of nothing!" he growled viciously. The dwarves snickered to one another, looking quite smug. At that, the kobold became enraged and lunged outwards at the brothers violently.
Burgen sighed as he reached down, catching the kobold by the back of his neck mid attack. He gave the dwarves a withering look. "You can be replaced," he said before turning back towards the cave. He gave Granog a light toss towards the entrance. The kobold landed precariously on his feet and stumbled into the cave. "Lets go," Burgen ordered impatiently.
"Our apologies, boss," Rungit said as the trekked into the darkness. "It won't happen again."
"It had better not," the half giant replied. He squinted as his eyes adjusted to the dim light in the tunnel. They paused for a moment as Rungit and Farnus each lit a torch, illuminating the inside of the cavern. The ground beneath him sloped downward, and large stalactites hung from the cave's ceiling. Burgen had to hunch over to avoid running into them. It suddenly occurred to him that the kobolds could fit a great many places that he could not.
"Granog," he said after several minutes of descending into the mountain. The kobold leader held up his hand, and the rest of the creatures stopped. He looked back towards the half-giant.
"How big is the area the cobalt is located in?"
Granog gave Burgen a confused look.
"Will I be able to fit?" he said, a tad embarrassed.
The kobold gave him an appraising look, and seemed to be thinking deeply for a few moments before finally shrugging. "Could be yes, could be no." he said.
"That helps," Burgen replied dryly.
He continued to march through the caves, listening to the dwarves bickering with each other for what seemed like an eternity. Several times, the tunnel narrowed and shrank, often to the point where Burgen was forced to crawl on his hands and knees before then opening up again into wide and spacious caverns.
"For someplace that is supposed to be haunted, this is actually quite nice," Rungit observed while they passed through one such cavern.
"How much farther is it, Granog?" Burgen asked.
"Close," the kobold hissed, "very close."
At the edge of the cavern, three tunnels split off into different directions. Two of the tunnels were quite large. The half-giant would have no problem walking upright through them. The third, however, was significantly smaller. Burgen eyed it dubiously.
"It's that one isn't it?" he asked, pointing towards the small tunnel.
Granog nodded his head and started for it, the other kobolds following closely behind their leader. Just before entering, Granog turned back, his large eyes narrowing into a cautious squint. "Blue stone lies through here," he said and pointed towards the half-giant. "You go first."
Burgen knelt down and peered into the hole in the wall. He wasn't even sure he'd be able to fit all the way through. Cursing under his breath he lowered himself to the cavern floor and began to slide into the tunnel, holding his large club out in front of him.
"Don't worry boss," Rungit said in a comforting tone, "We're right behind you."
Burgen wondered silently if he could kick the dwarf from where he lay. He muttered to himself has he continued to inch he way into the tunnel. It seemed to be getting narrower and tighter the farther he went in. He removed his traveling pack, pushing it in front of him yet his back still scraped against the rock above. He couldn't see anything. The dwarves had the torches behind him and his large form was blocking the light from seeping through. With a grunt, he tried to pull himself farther into the tunnel. He did not budge.
He grumbled and tried again, this time harder. His shoulders rubbed painfully against the hard rocks around him, but again, he did not move. He cursed. He was stuck.
"You all right up there, boss?" he heard Rungit call out from behind him.
He gritted his teeth. "I'm stuck," he called back. He thought he heard laughing, he wasn't sure from whom.
"Do you want us to push?" Farnus asked.
Burgen exhaled slowly, letting all the air drain from his lungs. There was no way he was going to let them push. With a dreadful resolve, he took hold of the wall in front of him and pulled forward with all his strength. He felt the rough fabric of his tunic begin to tear away as he slowly slid forward until finally he felt openness.
He rubbed his shoulders as he dragged himself out of the tunnel and stood up in the cavern. Thin bits of light shone from out from the tunnel behind him, illuminating slivers of the cave. He could not see much, but it looked to be quite large.
One by one, the kobolds followed by the two dwarves emerged next to him. They slid through the small opening with ease and dusted themselves off as they took in their new surroundings. As the dwarves emerged from the tunnels the light from their torches poured into the cave.
They stood in a large cavern, probably the biggest they had been in yet. All over the walls small tunnels twisted off and ran deeper into the mountains. Some were large enough for the half-giant to fit through, but most were not. It was impossible to tell how far they went or if they even lead anywhere at all.
Granog looked around cautiously. "The blue stone be here," he said.
Burgen peered into the cavern. "I don't see anything."
Granog raced over to one of the holes, it led straight down into the ground. He pointed at it. "Here," he said, keeping his voice low.
The half-giant looked down at the hole. It was much too small for him to go in. "You weren't sure if I'd be able to fit in that? How much farther is it?"
The kobolds looked about the caves nervously. "Not so loud!" Granog warned. "They will hear you."
Burgen scowled down at the kobold. He did not have the patience for this. The two dwarves walked over and began to examine the hole. Farnus leaned over carefully, and flicked his torch forward sharply, sending several burning bits of reed falling down into the darkness.
After a moment, the dwarf's face brightened. "I can see the bottom," he said cheerfully.
"Good," the half-giant responded. He handed Rungit his traveling pack, "Fill this. And be quick about it."
"Sure thing, boss," the dwarf replied. After securing their rope to a large rock, the dwarves began to lower themselves in to the hole and out of sight. A few moments later, the rope stopped moving and the half-giant heard Rungit's excited voice echo up through the tunnel. "The little beast was right. It's everywhere down here. We'll get to work right away, boss."
Just then, Burgen heard a low moan from behind him. He looked back over his shoulder towards the kobolds. They stood huddled together, chattering fearfully in their native tongue to one another. "Was that one of you?" the half-giant asked.
"Granog told you!" he whispered harshly, "They will hear!"
The kobold looked as if it were about to say something else, but was cut short by another moan. The group took one look into the darkness behind them and then dashed back towards the tunnel they'd come from. Burgen started to protest, but realized he didn't really need them anymore anyway. If they wanted to leave, let them leave. One less thing he had to worry about.
The loud clanging of the dwarves' tools echoed up through the hole and into the cavern. Burgen turned around to peer back down at them when he heard the sound again. He looked up in the direction it came from. Towards the back of the cavern, he thought he saw movement in one of the shadowy tunnels. He snatched up the remaining torch, tightened his grip on his club and took a step forward to investigate.
Whatever it was in the shadows continued to stagger forward. It let out low, prolonged moans until it finally emerged into the light. Burgen narrowed his eyes at the creature standing across the cavern floor. It appeared to be human, or at least had been human at one point. Now strips of flesh hung off its body. Its eyes were sunken back into its head and most of the skin on its face appeared to have rotted away. It shuffled forward, keeping its dead eyes locked coldly on the half-giant. This must have been what Granog was talking about. He was not terribly surprised. They were near the border of the dead territory, after all.
Burgen shrugged and stalked towards the creature, readying his club. As he came near, it reeled back, as to attack him but with one quick, mighty strike the half-giant sent the ghoul crashing broken into the ground. Burgen glared down at the jumbled mess of flesh and bones before him and grinned. He had rather enjoyed that.
Then he heard more shuffling - this time from the opposite end of the cavern. He whirled around to see three more shapes emerging from the tunnels. He stomped over and quickly dispatched them in much the same fashion.
As he finished crushing the third walking corpse against the hard rocks he saw more shuffling out of the tunnels directly in front of him. Ten, maybe a dozen emerged into the light out of the large holes in the wall. They all staggered towards him, the same dead looks on their faces.
"How much more time are you going to need?" he shouted out to the dwarves.
"We're working as fast as we can boss," came Rungit's reply. "What's the rush?"
Burgen smashed the skull of one of the dead with a powerful blow from his club. "Just try to quicken it up a little," he said, whirling around to meet another of the ghouls. For several minutes Burgen fought the small crowd of dead, brutally crushing each of them into the hard, rocky floor until their disfigured corpses scattered about the ground were all that remained.
He panted and wiped a bit of sweat from his brow. That had actually been sort of fun. Burgen's amusement was short lived, however, as soon more of the dead began to stagger out of the tunnels. Lots more. Dozens of figures lurched forward now, streaming into the cavern from out of the darkness.
Burgen cursed and looked down into the dwarves' hole. "That cobalt had better be pristine," he shouted. Muttering, he set the torch down on the cavern floor, gripped his club tightly in both hands and waited. "I hate zombies."
Submitted by
Nocte
Date
5/1/05
Source
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes Web Lore
Notes
Thestra Lore
