The Battle of Death Mountain: Beta

[Tearen Wover]

One might normally think of a cave as a quiet, sullen place.

Such was not the case with the caves at the summit of Death Mountain. Walking around inside an active volcano is about the furthest thing one can get from peace and quiet, and the constant shuddering and cracking of the walls very much induced the feeling like the entire cave might collapse at any given moment. Strictly speaking, this was actually a good thing.

Still, as the five Primes and their Goron charges loped cautiously through the darkness, it was hard to feel optimistic about the situation. The feeling of having been 'consumed' for lack of a better term was pervasive in the thrumming blackness, and the rough stone walla emanated an oppressive, sticky warmth that made it hard to breath. 

The faster this was done with, the better. Ideally, Volvagia's horde would be too busy off fighting Gamma squad to spend time occupying these upper caverns, but one could never be too careful, especially when escorting bundles of high explosives through a mountain that was on fire.

Objective: Escort the Gorons through Volvagia's caverns and plant explosives at four key locations.

Volvagia's lair consists of 20 circuitous 'spaces', meaning they loop around. Explosives must be planted at spaces 5, 10, 15 and 20. All Primes and Gorons start at space 1.

Packs of dragons can randomly spawn on any space at the start of each round. If a dragon spawns on your space and you are unhidden, you will fight the dragons and take 5 damage. If multiple, unhidden Primes are on the same attacked space, they can distribute the damage among themselves

The Gorons always follow and take the same actions as the Prime that is 'leading' them, and they cannot be separated. They can switch leaders freely.

Primes can take three actions per round.

Move- Move one Space

Hide- %50 chance to conceal yourself to avoid detection.

Divert- Call attention to your space, immediately drawing all spawned dragons to your space.

Gorons also have a special action to plant their explosives.

If the Gorons are left vulnerable, or the Prime guarding them dies before all dragons on their space attack, the Gorons take 5 damage. As a group, they have 10 hp. If the Gorons all die, the squad has failed.


The Gorons start out following Nealaphh.

[Red-Hood]

Aside from the constant shifting , cracking and random small explosions from the volcano, it was quite, too quite for Red's liking. 

Where the hell is everyone?  Red thought nervously. He assumed Gamma squad would take the brunt of Volvagia's forces, but Red doubted all of the dragon's off spring and minions were out fighting the primes. At least he hoped some were left. Red wanted to fight, not to mention the large amount of Draconians would overwhelm Gamma. 

Red could feel sweat pour long from his face as he made his way through the tunnels. It was times like these he regretted wearing his helmet. The gorons followed Nealaphh obediently, each of which were carrying a bomb that they would have to plant.

Those strange rock men have to live Red thought. He would have to run ahead and make sure there was no opposition.

"I'm gonna go on ahead and make sure nothing is sneaking around, if one or two of you want to follow to you're welcome to it" Red slightly yelled to be heard over the volcano's constant noise. 

Drawing his guns , Red walked past Nealaphh and began to make his way deeper into the cave. 

Red snapped his attention ahead of him as he heard a noise that he didn't believe was from the mountain. Looking quickly around Red found a place in between two stalactites to hunker down behind. Trying to keep his breathing normal he waited.

I used 3 actions, 2 to move which puts me into space 3 and 1 to hide.

[Erik Vrell]

Erik crept quietly through the cavern, painfully aware of the heat and dragons that could bring an end at a moments notice. Small veins of lava trickled along the floor, a grim reminder of the fact that they were inside a volcano. The odd rock creatures seemed to be carrying some sort of flower, but Nealaphh had assured he group that the 'bomb flowers' were critical to the plan. 

A primal roar split the air, making Erik jump in surprise. The roar was followed by a chorus of snarls and growls. It appeared that Alpha and Gamma had met their adversaries. Erik had never heard a sound so full of power and rage as the volcanic wyrms roar. The psychic was quite concerned about the safety of the other squads, and was glad that he was picked for this mission.

Soon after Red-Hood left, Erik turned to the remainder of the squad.

"I'll run ahead a little, if you need help, I'll be just around the corner." The psychic took of into the cave, doing his best to stay hidden while moving along the magma lit cavern. The sound of his boots on the cave floor echoed across the cavern. Erik was worried his footsteps would alert the drakes and decided to wait for the rest off the squad. The psychic crouched down beside a boulder and waited for the others to catch up.

[Tearen Wover]

The undulating rumble of the caves was almost soothing to Nealaphh's primal sensibilities. For all purposes, the God-Mind envied Volvagia of its ability to destroy and rage without purview, at least up until this point. It reminded Nealaphh of a simpler time when it was not only able, but expected, to do such things. Still, if ever it was to get another chance at such revelry, Volvagia would have to die.

Such was life when two predators crossed paths.

Red Hood had slunk off into the darkness beyond the mouth of the cave to scout ahead, and considering that no gunshots had been heard echoing down the jagged corridor, the God-Mind assumed it was safe to proceed. The shadow turned to the Goron foreman, who had just finished jamming the first payload of bomb flowers into a critical fracture point.

Caves dug out by lava were much different from sedimentary caves, in that they were structurally simplistic. Whereas normal caverns could twist, turn and deviate with complete randomness, ancient lava tubes were almost perfectly circular. The fact that an almost perfect torus circuited the perimeter of the Death Mountain caldera was rather odd, in spite of this. 

"All set, Brother Nealaphh."

Let us proceed then.

As the troop proceeded down the rocky, black path, they passed Erik Vrell who was diligently watching over their passage. Nealaphh had to admire the psion's tenacity; no matter how hard he was beaten down, Vrell never seemed to hesitate putting himself in adverse situations.

After a short while longer, Nealaphh bade the Gorons to stop at another bend in the corridor. It could feel Red Hood nearby, watching the darkness ahead carefully. It would be in everyone's best interest to avoid charging headlong into the unknown, and though the timing of the entire assault had to be nearly flawless, Beta's mission was one of caution and calculation, not simple bravado.

[Ezrihel]

The young blonde stands with the group, putting off a regal but relaxed air. Sure, Demetri had sort of rushed this entire thing down on her head at the last moment while they had been inside the tavern. Sure they had just made a wickedly-mad dash across mystical Camelot, the blank canvas of the Nexus and even the parched steppes that made up this rugged landscape. Certainly, she had flown up a cliff wall and stood at the top, laughing playfully at Demetri for lacking the wings and grace that she had.

She had even sharply scoffed at the fact that IRIS, Demetri’s little pet AI, had called her a succubus and a human. She was no human! Her blood ran purple in her veins and she had wings and a grace unparalleled by any mortal being. Even amongst her people she was a deity of destruction and vindictive justice. No, she did not take kindly to being called a mere human. She had looked at the machine with pointed and visible distaste at that point and wandered to only herself how painful it would be for her to rip the AI from Demetri’s body. Of course, she wouldn’t act on her thoughts, and would simply hide the emotion and greet the leader of this whole sha-bang with respect before the teams parted ways.

That sound that rang out, a shrill chorus of a thousand disjointed cries, bought exciting memories back into her mind. The war, that crimson red and eggplant purple which painted everything on the field of battle, and even- aah, yes, even the forlorn cries of those vanquished beneath the edge of her blade. That somberly primal and dissonant song caused the fine transparent hairs on her arms and neck to seemingly prickle, feeling as though they were standing on end from the melody. It brought into her body that same kind of primal dissonance that urged her to fight, to feel the blood of her foes hot against her pale skin, hear the snap and pop of bones, to be powerful and to have control. It made her thirst for dominance over any who ever so dared stand in her way.

And now certainly, they were most positively here to get this job done. She had been briefed with all of the details on what needed to be done, and what squad she was assigned to. She had committed these instructions to her practically infallible memory. It was because of these small facts, along with the notion that she now had her trusted sword by her side, that she was more than confident to take on this situation.

Upon entering, she immediately noticed how hot the interior was. It was borderline uncomfortable, something that would only annoy her more so if her clothes managed to catch fire from the heat, but she doubted that it would unless she somehow happened to actually dip part of her clothes into the veins of lava. One could easily assume that the humidity was due to various gases clinging to the ceiling, floors and walls of the sticky dark cave.

She also noted that aside from the constant groaning of the volcano and their footsteps, the caves were strangely quiet. It only served to put her more on alert. Her body was tensed, poised and ready to dodge an oncoming attack should any foe try to surprise her. Extending her senses outwards, she could still feel nothing except her group. This action and fact, while it put her at ease for any sort of immediate danger, still made her feel uneasy. There was no way possible that this being, Volvagia, would leave any area unguarded, no, not in it’s own home. Then again, maybe she was attributing too many higher features to this great beast. She wasn’t even sure it could think above responding to threatening stimulus. The beast was after all, simply that, a beast. Nothing more, nothing less. It was likely that it didn't have any sense of strategy in the slightest.

She watches calmly as she walks alongside the group, though she would stay closer to Demetri’s position as she could trust him most clearly to help her fight if the need arose. She knew him the best out of all of the primes, including the young Erik Vrell. She could smell the sharp musky odor of sweat begin to come off of every human in the group, especially the red-helmeted man. She knew that he must be hot under that head cover. The pungent odor caused her to flare her nostrils before exhaling sharply, clearing the scent from her nose before she took another breath in.

With that same detached and somewhat uninterested calm, she watches as the red suited one runs ahead of the group, taking on the role of a combat ready scout and telling them that a few could join him if they wanted. Erik, the young and distasteful brat who she had met before, agreed and followed suit, though not going along the same path as Red. She could feel them, out there in that void called darkness, sitting and hiding, waiting and watching out for the rest of the group.

Soon though, the three remaining members of the group pause to allow one of the rock creatures to plant an explosive load in a structurally critical spot. Finishing its task, it looked up at the dark figure Nealaphh and stated its conclusion. Taking this in mind, the group moved forwards, down the ever curving corridor.

It was normal for a volcano’s caves to be perfectly circular, but even she had to admit that it was strange how neat and precise, yet rudimentary and flawed this tunnel was. She was unsure if this was yet another strange happenstance of nature’s architecture at work, or if this tunnel was something more. Maybe even constructed in some ancient far off time before she had arrived. Maybe it was just the will of the Smiling One that the cave be carved in such a way. Maybe the confusion over that simple fact bought him a sort of tyrannical pleasure. She didn’t know, nor did she feel too compelled to continue on her current train of thought.

Looking over at Demetri, she touched his right arm in a gentle fashion with her slender and pale left hand. This was less a movement of genuine concern and care for the man, and more to gauge his reaction to the setting they now found themselves in, though, what he would see it as, she couldn’t control. If he turned his head to look at her, she would look into his eyes, reading his face before blinking twice and tilting her head to the side in a seemingly curious manner. She need not say anything aloud, for she allowed her soft face to express it all for her. She raised the inner edge of each brow, giving a look of questioning and concern. With just her expression, she had asked ‘How are you feeling? Are you holding up so far?’

After observing him for nothing but a mere second more, she would again bring all of her focus to her surroundings. She hadn’t completely blanked them out while paying attention to Demetri, but she had split her attention to some minor amount. Not enough to allow a sneak attack from a foe on her level of skill, but enough to process his response. With a deathly amount of focus, she continued to follow Nealaphh, the strange being; her High Frequency O’katana resting in its black lacquered-wood sheath hanging on her left hip, but her right hand was gripping the hilt of the sword, ever ready to withdraw the sword and use lethal force. Her left hand would return to her side, also gripping the sheath of her blade. This small detail would allow her an easier time when drawing her sword as all she would have to do was push the handguard up with her thumb and into her awaiting right hand.

[Gwendolyn]

Revan let out a deep sigh as she rolled her shoulder, the heavy cloak that was draped over them creating a little resistance. The young sith had gotten very little sleep that night, due to the far off growls and rumbling of the volcano, combined with her own inner struggle to stay balanced. The force was a delicate thing, and yet it was strong in ways many cannot comprehend. The anger inside of her stemmed from dark sources and met the light that came from her past. She had spent the night finding the area between, the power that her first Master, Treya, described. It was hard work, filled with the ebbs and flows of temptation and serenity. But Revan was centered now, and she felt as if she could best any foe. 

Her Mandalorian mask glinted red in the dim light that the magma flows gave off. It created a hellish landscape. Even more so than the rest of this accursed land. The gorons were interesting creatures. One of a few different anomalies that were frequent in this land. There were so many things she wished to know, and after all of this dirty business was finished, she would get her answers. One way or another, she would find out why she was truly here. 

A loud roar, not unlike the shivers of the earth, tore through her. She grinned wickedly behind her mask, relishing in the primal rage that washed over her, and the serenity that pushed it back into its place. The dragon knew they were here. Not really a surprise at all, seeing as how they had a massive camp established on the exterior of its' home. It was a matter of when, not a matter of if. She understood this; any experienced tactician would. Volgavia's vanguard hid in this labyrinth of weathered stone, awaiting their time to die in the name of their lord. It was quite admirable, the way they followed with blind obedience, never questioning the motives behind their demise. 

Theirs not to make reply....
Theirs not to reason why....
Theirs but to do and die....

It was humbling, really, the drive these beasts gave. It set a remarkable example of how determination could be very powerful in the right mind. How emotions drove an individual to become so much more than themselves. She bowed her head and said a quick prayer, asking for forgiveness for the actions to be committed here today. They would destroy a way of life today. Revan wasn't overly religious, but moments like these really demanded a certain kind of respect.

She followed closely behind Nealaphh, silently resolving to keep these gorons safe for the sake of the mission. Everything rode on them, and on their team. They could not; would not, fail. It wasn't acceptable.

" Let's get this show on the road, why don't we?" she whispered to no one.

[Demetri Malius]

Demetri moved fast as he attempted to stick to the sides of the dwelling of the great Volvagia, scouting ahead of the others as IRIS fed him information.

"The headmaster has planted the first placement of explosives with the Gorons, it seems that there are no threats currently nearby. We should be safe."

Demetri nodded as he sprinted down the cavern before IRIS brought something else up.

"Creator, I also wish to bring some details to your attention, it appears that your growth for certain abilities of your is inhibited, but you have some reserved power that you can use. Perhaps we can limit one of your existing abilities in order to gain a new one?"

"Inhibited? Perhaps I haven't yet unlocked some inner potential then, what ability did ou have in mind?"

"Perhaps we can enhance your speed, along with my form, I can give you short boosts with small shots of Omnilium."

"That sounds quite helpful, but what would he limit of my other abilities?"

"I would limit your senses, not to null, but to shorten their distance, that way we still have much of our capability."

"That is understandable, allow us to test that, run it now."

IRIS gave a beep of acknowledgement as they ran ahead of the others. 

Calculating reroute of omnilium, diagnosing statistics, analyzing data, configuring boosts of speed, complete. Activating.

In a single moment, the wind rushed past the thief's face as he dashed forwards, a look of surprise on his face as he legs moved him faster than he ever thought possible. He nearly lost his breath as he pressed onward, feeling a rush of adrenaline and excitement at his new feature.

"Wonderful IRIS."

"Thanks, Creator!"

They then took a short break as they heard some roars up ahead, it seemed likely that there might be enemies, but Demetri didn't quite want to get too far ahead of the group, taking to the side of the tunnel and waiting.

[Demetri Malius]

gonna backtrack a bit to include Ezzy's post

As he saw the group nearing in the distance Demetri nodded to himself and pressed further on. His thoughts reminisced to the point before he took it upon himself to move ahead of the group due to his increased mobility. Ezzy had not been talkative after introduction, but she seemed to have a great interest in him still, or at least it seemed as she had stayed by his side for a few moments. Demetri could not help but feel that he may have been rude to leave her behind, but no matter. The task at hand was to scout out and make sure that every escaped from this cavern alive, and he would make sure of that.

"IRIS, any signs of enemies or disturbances.?"

"None that I can see, Creator. It... eerily empty in here."

"I agree, keep an eye out."

The duo then came upon what appeared to be the first site for placing the explosives, a tender pillar of the cavern that seemed to be quite sturdy. The thief could only have faith that the headmaster brought enough firepower for this. After clearing the area and being sure that there were no ambushes, Demetri began to move up further, deciding to keep one step ahead of the others, guaranteeing their safety. He wasn't one to be too risky, but a simple lead would do,and should he find trouble he would regroup. There wasn't much else to do but stay alert as the cavern sounded with echoes of the wind and the flapping of wings in the darkness ahead. Perhaps it was an ambush. Perhaps they were being ordered to stay back, or if they were lucky enough, maybe they were scared, but the thief doubted it. With such a  powerful prime on the side of those that rested on the mountain, why would they ever need to fear but from their leader?

[Red-Hood]

Hearing nothing off in the distance Red decided it was time to move forward. They had been lucky so far, gamma must be having one hell of  a time out there. The rumbling and roaring of the muffled echoes could still be heard this close to the entrance of the cave. Red's heart had stopped when he heard the beast Volvagia emerge to fight the threat that was alpha. The roar that had ensued from the serpent had vibrated him to his core. Initially regretful of not being able to fight alongside Thor he was glad he didn't have to fight that hellish dragon.

Red moved from his hiding spot, nodding at Nealaphh and the band of Gorons that followed him. Red ran on ahead still surprised that they still hadn't met any resistance. Red brushed the triggers of his guns anticipating that the farther they got they would undoubtedly be met with the denizens of Death mountain.

Red began to slow his hurried pace as he noticed the thief Demetri cautiously scouting the area. Looking behind them Red couldn't see the rest of their group.

"We better wait here Demetri, we don't want to get too far ahead. Still got to protect the Gorons. Strange how it's been so quite..." Red said beginning to ramble nervously. The thief merely nodded in his direction as he went back to his vigil. Sighing Red joined him, pointing his guns ahead in case the eerie desolation of the mountain came to a halt.

[Tearen Wover]

Still no threats within the ancient lava tubes.

Nealaphh momentarily accosted itself for thinking that particular string of words, as it was not a proper sentence. But then again, why should obey proper lexicon when it was just a figment of human arrogance? Surely, if the meaning was the same, what did the order of the words matter? Nealaphh shook its head ever-so-subtly, trying to quiet its thoughts and focus on the task at hand. The God-Mind did not question itself, at least, not from a standpoint of self-doubt. Vindication and determination defined what an Enigma was, and to falter against one's own psyche was to forfeit the right to command the universe.

Trickles of magma ran down the walls in small rivulets, hissing resentfully as they cooled on the floor. The light in these caves was no brighter than what a candle may provide, but the Gorons worked with precision and speed all the same. Nealaphh too had altered its eyes to be capable of seeing in the dark. When it had first arrived in the Omniverse, such delicate reformatting of its own bodily Omnilium had been beyond the God-Mind's ken, but during the weeks spent at Hogwarts, Nealaphh had ample opportunity to hone this skill.

After grafting the final bomb flower to the central pillar of this clearing, the Goron foreman nodded to Nealaphh with a characteristic grin.

"Ready to roll, Brother." he said in as quiet a voice as possible. For a Goron, this was still far from anything clandestine, but he did his best.

Soon. We must first ensure that the path ahead is clear.

[Erik Vrell]

Satisfied that no drakes would approach from the rear, Erik got up from his spot and made his way towards Nealaphh and the Gorons. Keeping Mageslayer drawn, just in case, Erik took of at a moderate pace into the cave. The psychic was relived that no young drakes had attacked the group yet, but Volvagias roars continued to grow louder, as did the agitated chittering of her brood. 

Erik soon caught up with Nealaphh. The rock creatures seemed to be placing a strange type of explosive at regular points in the cave, presumably to either blow up Volvagia, collapse the cave onto the wyrm, or possibly both.

Erik said nothing as he approached the god mind, and simply gave a nod to show that he was ready to continue.

[Red-Hood]

Red decided it was time to move on, he assumed that at this point Nealaphh and his group of Gorons would have planted the second bomb by now. Looking to his left he spotted a tunnel that appeared to lead onward. Red crouched and began moving through the tight area.

He began to hear growling, and the tapping of talons on the hard rocky floor. A he in the wall confirmed his suspicions. There were dragons here. Beta's luck had finally run out. 

Quietly Red moved on farther into the tunnel. Red stopped quickly  as he reached the end of his tunnel. Five humanoid dragons stood in his way. The lizard men looked towards the top of the cave as the battle outside rumbled on. Apparently they were to scared to defend their mistress. Filthy cowards Red though as he watched them stand there listening to cracking and shaking of the mountain. Red would have to fight his way out of this, with a smirk he prepared his attack.

[Demetri Malius]

Demetri was quick to follow the red-armored warrior as he slunk through the caverns, this time concealing his presence. As he pressed on behind the prime, IRIS alerted him to a nearby opening that seemed to lead safely through the next area. The thief stopped for a moment to try to call out for the other prime, but it was clear that they were much more confident in their strength as he continued to rush through, silently weaving around stalagmites and such, and already too far to call for without alerting the dragons lurking about. With a shrug the thief instead squeezed through the small opening, quickly making his way as the path led up and down, left and right. He was glad to still have a bit of his senses, as he was still able to detect the cavern throughout the adventure.

"Creator, there is some draconic presence ahead. The warrior appears to be settling in for an attack. How do you wish to proceed?"

The thief thought for a moment as he calculated the numbers in his mind. The same numbers IRIS had imediately done a hundred times over as she probed his intellect and strategy.

"I believe his skills are well purposed for this, there is an opening ahead back into the cavern, we will pick up where he left off and continue forward, he will be able to catch the dragons off-guard as well as have enough time for the others to arrive once the dragons recover from the attack. We must accomplish our task as quickly as possible, if we are caught in here when Volvagia returns, it will be hell to get out."

IRIS gave a soft glow, satisfied with her creator's answer as she scanned the area, Demetri making his way out of the pathway and back into the large cavern, the exit hidden above those below. He gave a smirk as he shot a chain on the edge of the exit, muffling the sound with his cloak before lowering himself below, Red-Hood and the other dragons behind him

[Red-Hood]

The strange lizard men were still around the corner, chittering, grunting and growling at one another as they communicated in there strange draconic language. 

"coi seems hesi brethren re wielgir" one of dragons said 

"batobot coi tiric, nomenes tomosha hofibai geou surely loreat. saeuth yth stayed zara." Another spoke up as it began a low gutteral laugh. The others began to laugh along as well.

Red decided it was time to attack, having the dragon's believe they were safe, they would never see him coming. Red motioned for Demetri to scoot back a ways as he pulled a flash bang from his belt. He shook it lightly to show the thief his plan. The man nodded as he quietly moved back into the small tunnel they had chose as their hiding place. Red rolled the explosive out into the open, it lightly tapped the foot of one of the dragons. Red almost burst with laughter as he saw it pick it up and examine it, showing it to its friends.

"svabol ui nomeno?" Red heard one of them say before the device exploded into an Illuminating light, effectively blinding the dragons. Red quickly rolled from the hole in the walls, knives in hand and began his attack. 

Red reached one and pulled his head back as he began to stab the dragon repeatedly. Blood sprayed the cavern wall and poured to the floor as he moved on to his next victim. Red merciless ripped the group of dragons apart one by one as he deftly maneuvered the group, the body of yet another dragon falling. Red stopped abruptly as he admired his work. Each of the dragon men had pained and surprised looks on their  lizard like maws. The blood of the dragons dripped from his two very sharp knives. 

The same strange grunting and growling language could be heard towards the opposite direction. With a smile Red sheathed one of his knives and pulled a gun out before heading in that direction.

Moving cautiously around the corner, Red had no time to hide before he was spotted.

"Munthrek!" The beast yelled before charging the vigilante. Red fired at the dragons, but to his dismay the bullets did minimal damage against their hard scales. The one who had yelled was apon Red. The beast raked down with it's large and sharp talons. The attack ripped open Red's chest piece. He screamed in agony as the talons pierced his soft flesh. Red brought his knife up words, stabbing the dragon in the soft flesh of its jaw. The dragon ceased moving as its body began to limply fall to the ground. Red extracted Hus knife from the dragon's throat  before rushing at the remaining few. The ferocity he attacked with left the remaining dragons in fear. Fear that was boldly displayed in their eyes, right before Red snuffed out their lives. 

Red fell to his knees as he breathed heavily, clutching his wounded chest. After a brief analysis of his wounds he determined that they were not fatal. He would live. Red kneeled there still, attempting to catch his breath. 

Damn that hurt he thought. Red began to laugh. He had killed dragons. Not just A dragon but several.  They were small and rather weak, unlike the large beast that Alpha was more than likely struggling to bring down. At any rate, Red Hood never thought he would be able to say he killed a dragon. The Omniverse never ceased to amaze him. At least now the least now the rest of beta would be able to move freely. Untill they ran into more dragons that is.

Zone 7 and 8 are clear. As a side note I used this websitewebsite for the dragon's language which I'll post in the OCC

[Erik Vrell]

Erik looked back briefly before continuing down be cave. The heat was starting to make aril feel nauseated and he hoped that he wouldn't have to endure it much longer. He took off sprinting down the passage. Occaisionally, the great drake would bellow, causing the very mountain to shake. This did nothing to help the feeling that the mountain might collapse in on the beta squad at any moment. Erik heard the sounds of a struggle up ahead and drew his sword just to be safe. 

When he turned the corner, he didn't see any drakes. No alive ones at least. Red hood stood there, covered in drake blood, holding two knives and panting. Erik stopped dead in his tracks at the sight. The vigilante noticed the shocked look on Erik's face and simply nodded in response. Erik continued ahead while Red hood caught his breath. He quickly caught up with Demetri and Nealaphh, along with a number of drake corpses. Erik nodded once more to show that he was still ready and willing to move forward. The psychic had Mageslayer in hand and was bouncing on the soles of his feet, all signs of nausea gone. An excited glint had appeared in his eye and he was struggling to contain a grin. The psychic seemed strangely exhilarated by the sight of the slain drakes and was apparently ready for more.

[Tearen Wover]

It seemed as though the events of the morning were finally coming to a head.

Upon discovering the first of any sort of resistance to their clandestine mission, Red Hood had eagerly dispatched over a dozen dragons all on his own, though not without significant personal injury. It struck Nealaphh as odd that someone could vacillate so quickly between careful, measured tactics and blood-enraptured rampages. Clearly there was some untouched depth within the scarlet vigilante's mind that might be well worth pursuing at a later time.

For now, Nealaphh had to focus on keeping a pack of clumsy, oversized rock men from alerting any more of the brood to their presence. It was fortunate that the Gorons knew how to deftly navigate the treacherous gullet of Death Mountain, but that certainly did not make them any less prone to stumbling and crashing to myriad stalactites and mounds of rubble. 

Fortunately, the way had largely been cleared for them, as Nealaphh and his indigenous charges came upon a clearing where Erik, Hood and Demetri were all catching their breath. The god-mind cast a slow glance around the bulging hallway at the silently leaking corpses of a dozen or more wyrmlings. Perhaps in a distant time or place, Nealaphh may have felt some vestige of guilt for the brutal slaughter but any such sentimentality had been purged in the name of progress.


Speaking of progress, the entire group flinched and streadied themselves as the entire mountain suddenly jolted with the force of a meteor impact. It seemed as though the Gigaton Hammer had been brought into play.

We need to move faster.

It was a simple command, and more than enough to roust the Primes from their moment's respite. To say that Nealaphh was worried would be to discredit its sense of self-confidence, but various concerns had begun to peck at the back of its mind like a querious hummingbird. As always, they would have to wait...