The tinking tapping of their pickaxes is all the dwarves have known for a year. Ever since they were captured by Kobolds. Fed slop from the ceiling, they waste away their days gathering gold from under the hill.
A presence from behind. The dwarves cower in fear. “We’ll have more gold next time!”
But it is not their cruel masters they see. It’s a human, Theron, bearing a shield and a sword. Behind him, a dwarf, Warthog, enters holding a flaming bottle of ale. These newcomers bring liberation and fresh drink. Brothers of the mountain reunited. The old armory equips the new companions. They stay to avenge their own captures. To destroy the evil presence in the hill.
Uniting with their tracker Rosie, the band of now 6 + the hound consider their next moves. Entering the final passage on this level of the cave, the band descends into a dark corridoor.
Halfway down the hound stops moving. Senses something ahead. The band moves on, puzzled at the dogs fear. But the source of it is soon revealed.
The chamber it inhabits is small, but the beast fills it almost completely. Coiled around a raised stone plinth, the body of a gargantuan snake. It sleeps soundly, guardian of the book resting on the plinth. Theron leaps bravely, obtaining a spell that can transform oneself into a living jelly. But he makes an error, his footing is incorrect. He trods upon the beast. Two heads raise up where there should be one.
The fight is fast and fierce. The new dwarven allies prove capable with their weapons. The beast is decapitated. Both heads. The band returns triumphant to the entrance way, meaning to finally brave the dragons island.
But there’s a presence at the mouth of the cave. Another human walks under the hill. It is Zobin, the deceased. His eyes, sunken and hollow. His face, gaunt. Back from the dead, but not as alive as before.
Theron looses a bolt, convinced of demonic intrusion. Zobin, hardier than before, weathers the blow, and unhinges his jaw. An unbearable screech erupts from his throat. There is foul magic in it, and it is too much. One of the dwarves drops dead. Fearing further retaliation, the band holds fast. Zobin crosses the room and places his hand upon the stone wall. The stones form bends, liquifying into a sludge. Zobin pushes through the wall, and is gone.
An investigation of the wall reveals nothing. Whatever magic permeates the rock, it is of the creature, not the structure. The band decides to head up the stairs to meet the dragon.
But the Zobin-Thing has other plans. It exits the wall, intercepting the bands path. Warthog calls for the attack. Clutching the magic tome, he turns into slime. He forms a bubble around the zobin-things head to drown out the scream. The others run to attack, but the slime is not enough. Theron falls prey to the death scream. Warthog, now slime, escapes the creatures head before it returns to the stone, never to be seen again.
The loss of another comrade. The band has trepidation about the plan to contact the dragon. Fleeing is considered, but quashed. They head to the dragon.
The dragon sleeps on its meager hoard. Smaller than it should be for a dragon. This blue dragon, the king of nothing. It wears an iron collar. He, too, has a master. Taking a risk, Warthog rouses the dragon.
It speaks of kobolds and the ogre that leads them. It speaks of an alternate dimension accessed through stone. A realm where time passes differently to the mortal world. It promises its service to those that would steal the ogres key and set it free. The band has a new mission.
Journeying past the dragons island, the band comes into a confrontation with kobolds hiding behind waste high walls. Two flaming flasks negotiate the battle terrain in the bands favour, but only temporarily. The kobolds fall, but Rosie’s hound is taken out by a kobolds blade. Rosie herself falls into Warthog’s fire and immolates. Once the dust settles, the band is left with only 3 dwarves remaining.
Three dwarves to set the dragon free. To find out about the demonic presence in the cavern. Atop the precipice of mystery, the dwarves journey onwards.