Hall of Infinite Doors
You don't think, you just act, sprinting forward through the wide tunnel. All around you the cave's violent shaking sends stalactites crashing to the ground, some much too close for comfort, but at the sound of an earsplitting CRACK, a quick glance back the way you came shows that there are worse things to fear than getting skewered by an errant spear of stone. In the place where you stood scarce moments ago, the floor splits in two, one end upheaving as the massive, rotating maw of an ancient Stonewyrm is thrust upward in a shower of rock, its high-pitched keening piercing you to your very bones. You have never seen even a small Stonewyrm at any point in your short life, nor has anyone else you know, but you are unable to properly appreciate the occasion as every instinct screams at you to RUN.
Your legs comply instantly, but you are a moment too long in tearing your gaze away and manage to trip on one of the many broken bits of stone that has fallen from the ceiling. Only after a desperate scramble the last few feet to the (relative) safety of the cavern beyond the Throat do you risk a terrified look behind you, catching a glimpse of the thrashing tail of the beast disappearing into the rubble as it burrows its way back into the floor. You're not sure what disturbed its slumber to begin with, but at the moment are too focused on getting as far away as possible to even think about it. Half running, half staggering, you continue forward in a blind panic.
After an indeterminable amount of time you notice that your knee is causing you a great deal of pain, and allow yourself to stop, panting for breath. Looking down, you see that your pantsleg is soaked in blood - you're unsure whether you busted your knee during your fall in the Throat, or at some other point during your flight, but you suppose the wound should be dealt with.
Gazing around, you take a moment to get your bearings. You believe you are well clear of the place you encountered the Wyrm now, but though the ground is once again still under your feet, it's slowly dawning on you that the shaking wasn't caused by the great beast's actions alone. Glaring evidence of the phenomenon in the form of collapsed tunnels and piles of rubble are all around you even here, and in the distance you hear humans shouting to one another and crying out in fear. Briefly you wonder if Master Beonard is safe back in his chambers, but determinedly force such thoughts from your mind, trying to focus on the situation at hand.
Bandaging your wounded leg you continue forth, albeit much more carefully and at a slower pace. After about an hour you reach the Great Bridge that spans the equally Great Chasm that divides the two halves of the Underkingdom, but here your progress is halted.
The Great Bridge no longer exists.
You stare for a long time in stunned silence. The bridge, a triumph of human engineering and ingenuity, was stretched across the chasm long before you were born, and had you ever given it thought you would have expected it to be there long after you were dead. The area on and around the bridge is usually bustling with merchants and buyers, but now all that is gone. Various humans wander about, most with expressions even more shocked than yours is, some openly weeping.
The scroll Beonard trusted you with delivering is still in your pack, but you wonder if it even matters now...and if it does, what are you to do about it?
Without the bridge, the only way to reach the capital is to descend one of the numerous ancient, crumbling staircases carved into the chasm's sides by the ancestors of the Pale Ones long ago, and then to traverse the treacherous, largely unknown lands below. You know very little about the Dwellers, those who live below, but what you do know makes the thought of proceeding rather terrifying. The spiderlings live there, as do the more savage remnants of your own race and the Pale Ones who still revel in the old ways. It is said that an order of dark mages, twisted entirely by their craft, reside down there, as well as an untold number of...other things, that you're even less eager to meet.
You remember the look in Beonard's eyes and know getting the news of the fallen star to the castle is terribly important to him...but for goodness sakes, you're only a goblin!
Your legs comply instantly, but you are a moment too long in tearing your gaze away and manage to trip on one of the many broken bits of stone that has fallen from the ceiling. Only after a desperate scramble the last few feet to the (relative) safety of the cavern beyond the Throat do you risk a terrified look behind you, catching a glimpse of the thrashing tail of the beast disappearing into the rubble as it burrows its way back into the floor. You're not sure what disturbed its slumber to begin with, but at the moment are too focused on getting as far away as possible to even think about it. Half running, half staggering, you continue forward in a blind panic.
After an indeterminable amount of time you notice that your knee is causing you a great deal of pain, and allow yourself to stop, panting for breath. Looking down, you see that your pantsleg is soaked in blood - you're unsure whether you busted your knee during your fall in the Throat, or at some other point during your flight, but you suppose the wound should be dealt with.
Gazing around, you take a moment to get your bearings. You believe you are well clear of the place you encountered the Wyrm now, but though the ground is once again still under your feet, it's slowly dawning on you that the shaking wasn't caused by the great beast's actions alone. Glaring evidence of the phenomenon in the form of collapsed tunnels and piles of rubble are all around you even here, and in the distance you hear humans shouting to one another and crying out in fear. Briefly you wonder if Master Beonard is safe back in his chambers, but determinedly force such thoughts from your mind, trying to focus on the situation at hand.
Bandaging your wounded leg you continue forth, albeit much more carefully and at a slower pace. After about an hour you reach the Great Bridge that spans the equally Great Chasm that divides the two halves of the Underkingdom, but here your progress is halted.
The Great Bridge no longer exists.
You stare for a long time in stunned silence. The bridge, a triumph of human engineering and ingenuity, was stretched across the chasm long before you were born, and had you ever given it thought you would have expected it to be there long after you were dead. The area on and around the bridge is usually bustling with merchants and buyers, but now all that is gone. Various humans wander about, most with expressions even more shocked than yours is, some openly weeping.
The scroll Beonard trusted you with delivering is still in your pack, but you wonder if it even matters now...and if it does, what are you to do about it?
Without the bridge, the only way to reach the capital is to descend one of the numerous ancient, crumbling staircases carved into the chasm's sides by the ancestors of the Pale Ones long ago, and then to traverse the treacherous, largely unknown lands below. You know very little about the Dwellers, those who live below, but what you do know makes the thought of proceeding rather terrifying. The spiderlings live there, as do the more savage remnants of your own race and the Pale Ones who still revel in the old ways. It is said that an order of dark mages, twisted entirely by their craft, reside down there, as well as an untold number of...other things, that you're even less eager to meet.
You remember the look in Beonard's eyes and know getting the news of the fallen star to the castle is terribly important to him...but for goodness sakes, you're only a goblin!