#chibibiscuit

    “Six. Four orcs, two human.” Nathan ducked back behind the curve of the bend, thankful he trimmed his normal armor to a breastplate, leaving scale armor to cover the rest of his limbs.

    “Do they know we’re coming?”

    “I don’t think so. They’re playing cards. This isn’t what I expected.”

Changing his bastard sword from one hand to the other, he turned to his assembled company.

    “That few?” said Minerva, her hand fidgeting with her mace in thought. She also opted for a breastplate, but leather armor otherwise. This was all covered by her white tabard, spattered in blood, but still held the icon of her deity. Clerics were always a necessity, even if you couldn’t pronounce the name of their patron.

    “Seems well and right to me.” said Otho, the rogue. He was leaning back against the wall of the tunnel, checking his crossbow as casually as if he were asking for another bottle of port. He was the best they could do. He was hired easily enough, he was the only of his kind to take up the advertisement on the tavern job board. He looked bored, despite the trouble they all went through just to get to this point.

    “Oh! Then that’ll make the job so much easier!” Jelenneth said.

    Jel was a strange sort. She was tiefling, a race that Nathan never normally associated himself with, and he had a feeling that Minerva felt much the same. Her horns seemingly swept back as they poked through her long, unbound hair. A long, thick tail emerging from the small of her back. She was very unique, though. She smiled, a lot actually. Her attitude far more carefree than what he had seen of others of her kind. She wore clothes that gave her more of an appearance of an entertainer than a druid as she claimed to be. She was the most eager of the responses to their call for heroes. Despite all that he had known of her race, Nathan felt like having someone like her might actually turn out to be a good thing in the end, and that was when his eyes turned to the man behind her.

    Jorin, their hireling wizard, their true power against the master of this underworld, simply stood. Staff in hand, he leaned upon it with a nonchalance of someone simply shifting his weight. He was old, Nathan knew this by the beard, and wore no armor whatsoever, other than what protection his long robes and pointed hat could defend against. He simply smiled, as if happy to be along for the ride. Maybe it was whatever secrets or powers that men like him kept the world blissfully unaware of, or perhaps it was that Jel was with him. They must have had some kind of past together, for when Jel had brought him to their table at the inn, she spoke wonders of the wizard. To all of this, Jorin simply watched her, and smiled warmly.

    Nathan and Minerva accepted his terms swiftly, finding it far more advantageous and less of a hassle trying to interview whatever wizard schools were nearby and find a suitable candidate that didn’t require a laundry list of strange requests.

    “Ok, so what’s the plan?” Minerva said.

    “Right,” Nathan said, clearing his head. “ So from what I see, word hasn’t traveled down this far of our arrival. We still have the element of surprise.”

    “Unless it’s a trap.” Otho added.

    “I don’t think they’d be that relaxed, even if it was a trap.” Jel said “ Why would there only be six of them if this is the big door the big prize is behind?”

    “You think a dragon needs an army to guard it’s hoard?” Otho’s eyes looked to Jel’s

    “ Listen,” Nathan said, trying to maintain order. “ We can still surprise them, they wouldn’t know how far along we were anyway, so maybe they thought it was safe now. Doesn’t matter. We need to get past.”

    “You and I can provide cover.” Minerva said, raising her shield on her left arm.

    “Right. So from there, we advance. Otho, you and Jel fire at them until we can close the gap. Jorin?”

    The old wizard looked from the bend in the tunnel and to meet Nathan’s gaze.

    “Oh, excuse me a moment.” Jorin said as he casually made his way through the group and toward the bend.

    Nathan was about to stop him, but one glance out of the corner of the wizard’s eye caused him to stall. They all watched, dumbfounded as the wizard simply kept walking, and turned the corner. Correction, everyone but Jel. She clapped her hands with glee and ran up to the bend after the old man.

    “Wha- … “ Nathan said, looking to Minerva, who looked right back at him.

    As one, they all ran to the bend now, watching as Jorin and Jel walked casually toward the guards. They were noticed shortly after, as they all grabbed for weapons, and started walking to them. Jorin stopped, apparently waiting for them. The shouts and taunts of their approaching enemies did little to peterb him. Nathan felt something beneath the sounds of approaching combat, a small, whispering sound. He watched as Jorin reached out with one hand, palm upward, and slowly raised it in the air.

    All six guards began to rise into the air in concert with his hand, looking to each other in stupefaction, then soon began to flail at the air fruitlessly. Upward they rose, shouting curses as closer to the vaulted ceiling they came. With a nod of satisfaction, Jorin turned to Jel, then to the others.

    “This way if you please. Stay close, though. Wouldn’t want you going up there to join them.”

    Jorin began to walk along a circular pathway around a perimeter that only he seemed able to see. Everyone else stuck close behind, adding a little comedy as they seemed to be so close as to resemble a multi legged insect than a hardy band of adventurers.

    They stood before the massive door now, the angry shouts of the guards now far up and beyond their worries. The gate was impressive, massive wooden timbers reinforced by sturdy iron bracing. A large lock sat at their height.

    Otho cracked his knuckles and grinned wolfishly before taking out a set of lock picks, only to be sorely disappointed as Minerva walked forward, braced herself, and pushed at the door open with her shoulder. The metal hinges creaked loudly, echoing in the hall they stood and the space beyond, the smell of ozone and mildew assaulting their noses. Minerva turned to Otho, shrugged, and stepped in.

    Weapons at the ready, the party entered the final chamber. Minerva and Nathan at the lead, with Otho right behind them with his crossbow, and Jel with her scimitar. Jorin casually walked behind them, his staff clicking slightly louder than their boots, ringing out around the vast, cavernous lair. Their way was clear, a long, stone floor with the ruins of columns lining either side. Beyond that the floor dropped out on either side, disappearing into the gloom of the darkness below. This may have been a place of some note in a prior time, but it’s true purpose would never be known. What was known was that at the end of this room, where an altar of worship would be, a very different idol laid.

    The dragon was massive. Far larger than any the company had ever seen. It slept peacefully upon the hoard of treasure beneath it. At the back edges of the hoard stood crystals of great size, lending a glow to the room as well as the treasure with its refracted light from places no one could pinpoint. It was a long walk toward the other end of the great hall, and the party came close to one another, their voices shifted to careful whispers.

    “Ok, we made it… now what?” Minerva said.

    “We slay the dragon.” Nathan said matter of factly.

    “Slay it? You know there’s only five of us, right?” Otho said.

    “What did you think we were going to do?”

    “Rob it! Not try and slay it!”

    “That’s why we brought the wizard. He’ll be doing the heavy lifting, we just have to protect him so he can do what he does, right?”

    They all looked to where they thought the wizard was, only realizing that he was gone. Jel, too, was taken by surprise, and looked up to see Jorin walking just as calmly toward the slumbering dragon as he was with the guards earlier.

    “He’s almost at the dragon!” Jel said, trying to keep her voice down.

    “We have to put a leash on that man…” Minerva said with a grunt of disapproval.

    Jorin ascended the steps approaching the hoard, his gaze first upon the dragon, then the treasure. His eyes darted among the various trinkets and gold scattered beneath and around the beast, a frown hidden beneath his beard. Now dangerously close to the dragon, he raised his staff as it to prod the nose of the beast.

    “No!” Nathan yelled from across the hall, seeing the madness unfold before him.

    With that outburst, the dragon’s eyes groggily opened, grunting as if woken up from a particularly pleasant dream about burning villages or kidnapping princessesses, or whatever it is dragons dream of. Seeing an old wizard near his head was one thing he did not expect, and he rose up to better take in the scene unfolding around him. He was not happy with what he saw. Snarling, flames licked from its mouth and he glared down at Jorin.

    He would have gobbled the man up in one bite if it weren’t for the crossbow bolt that lodged itself near his eye.

    Roaring in pain, his attention shifted to where the attack came from, seeing a very nervous rogue, but was drawn to the three other figures quickly running at him. They all bellowed a loud warcry as they charged, which amused the dragon. The dragon drew in a deep breath, preparing to roast the intruders with its breath, but this time a large explosion ignited near his other eye, causing the breath to get caught and cough out the deadly gouts of flame skyward.

    “I’m still here!” Jorin called from the ground once again, only now he held a jewel within his hand. His face twisted into a wicked grin.

    “Now for a little fun.” the wizard said as he pointed the stone toward his allies.

    The trio of charging heroes continued to run to the wizard’s aid, all plans by now having been cast to the wind. Nathan noticed that Jorin was pointing at them, having distracted the dragon’s attention back toward him. He doubled his efforts. They all heard the wizard’s voice now, chanting, the stone in his hand glowing dangerously bright. So bright, in fact, that Nathan failed to notice the fungus he had just slipped on and rather unheroically fell on his face. Jel, the closest to him,  down to help him up. By then, the chanting had reached its crescendo.

    A beam of purple light fired toward the pair, Miranda whipping around to watch the beam pass her by. Jorin, having only now turned to watch his work, realized his miscalculation.

    “Oh dear.”

    Jel looked up in time to receive the full blast of the spell, bathing the cavern in its fluorescence. She watched as the floor, and her comrades began to get smaller and smaller before her eyes, until her horns connected hard with the roof of the cavern. Shouting in pain, she knelt forward, but still felt the room get smaller and smaller around her. The others disappearing beneath her, and Jorin, the hoard, and the dragon himself were now quite small compared to her. She felt her back and sides penned in, and could even feel her tail touching near the entrance.

    Her tail!

    Thinking quickly, she felt that her tail had enough room to move, and soon she had it wrapped around the now very surprised dragon, hefting him into the air, restrained and dumbfounded.

    “Well that wasn’t what I had planned… but this worked out marvelously!” Jorin said from the daius, examining the stone in his hand with excitement.

    “What happened to me?!” Jel said, looking to the wizard no bigger than her thumb.

    “I was going to cast an ‘Enlarge Person’ spell on our dear Nathan. The power of this stone would magnify the spell and make him large enough to take on the dragon, but I didn’t know it would have an even more effective use on you!”

    “Nathan… where is..” she blinked, her face changed to a mask of shock as she peered down to the floor, scanning the ground. Minerva and Nathan stood, gawking at her, from between her knees. Otho came running up, having narrowly avoided a giant boot coming his way, and joined them, unable to believe what just happened.

    “Well, now that’s in order, all we need to do now is simply put the treasure into your pockets and get out of here.” Jorin said with a grin.

    “That’s fine and all,” Jel said, looking back to Jorin, but raised a finger to prod the tiny man. “ but how am I going to get out like this?”

    “One thing at a time, my dear Jel. Let’s get to work on this treasure before our dragon friend finds a way to escape.”

    Jorin pocketed the stone and gestured to the three other adventurers.

    “Come along, we can’t be all day.”

    With their help, Jel was able to scoop large handfuls of the treasure into her hands, placing it into her pockets, while the others gathered the smaller amounts and made sure nothing was left. The gate opened behind Jel, and the guards entered, but seeing that all they saw was the backside and bootsoles of a very large tiefling, they carefully closed the door and sought more gainful employment elsewhere, far elsewhere. Jel turned her attention back to Jorin, her eyes expectant.

    “Well?”

    “At this point, all you need to do is stand up.”

    “What?!”

    “Your strength increased as your size increased. Given your size, I am quite sure we could punch through the ceiling and be out of this in no time. Though I think that we may need someplace to travel with you, in case the cave collapses…”   

    “Wait, did you say ‘collapses’?!” Othrim said

    “Not at all!”

    “Here,” Jel said, lowering her hand to the ground. “I’ll put you all in another pocket, I promise I’ll be gentle.”

    The smile she gave wasn’t much of a comfort, but it was far better odds than standing at her feet. After tucking them carefully into an empty pocket, she pressed her shoulders against the roof of the cavern. She took a deep breath and pressed upward. Feeling the ceiling give some under her strength. She pressed again, harder, trying to move her way to a kneel, nothing was coming. Her concentration elsewhere, the dragon felt the giant tiefling’s tail slacken and he was able to slither out. Given the situation, he decided that it would be better to collect a new hoard. He opened his wings and flew into the darkness over the side of the floor.

    She felt the ceiling giving way, but she felt no closer to her goal than she was before. The thought of being buried alive briefly frightened her, but it also increased her resolve to get her comrades -her new friends- to safety. Gritting her teeth, she dug deeply into her reserves of strength, and gave a loud yell as she felt the ceiling part above her, and her head surging upwards through the earth.

    A lone farmer was tending to his field. Summer had already come, and he was tending to the crops, checking for crows or any other parasite looking for a free meal. The ground began to shake. A low rumble at first, but growing in intensity. Part of the ground began to shift before him, and he fell backward, witnessing the sight of a massive, horned, purple-blue head sprouting from the ground, taking in a large gasp of air. He was speechless as he watched the head look around, then down at him, a slight blush on its cheeks.