Rune of Oldfyre

Chapter Thirty-Four: Land of the Lost

The morning came with an unpleasant smack to the face. I opened my eyes to find a spear point aimed at my face. I followed the spear back to its source. A tiny, reptilian, black hand.

Kobolds, what the hell are they doing here?

"Get up." It squeaked. I obeyed the spear, cautiously getting up. The rest of the party had a black scaled kobold threating them with a spear. Molly had about two dozen on him.

The little lizard freaks marched us down several corridors until we reached a crumbled hole in the wall, leading into a cve system within the mountain. A sign nailed to a stalactite read "Ur Land!". We were marched through the mountain into a large throne room. Sitting atop a throne of broken glass was a golden kobold, wearing a crown of twisted bone.

"Bring me the prisoners!" The gold one yelped out in a comically high pitched voice. The guards jabbed into our backs with the spearheads, pushing us towards the throne. "You're all probably wondering why I had you escorted her." He said.

"Kinda yeah." I said.

"I did not command that you speak!" He boomed. I was knocked to a knee by the blunt end of a spear.  I began the whispered chant of an ancient and powerful lightning spell, stopping one word from finish. "I have commanded that you be brought here for a choice!"

"What's the choice?" I asked, being knocked down on both knees.

"Speak only when commanded to!" He hissed. "You are trespassing on our land. You even defile it with your grotesque intimacy!"

"Grotesque!?" May called out, she was knocked violently to a knee as well. I angrily said the first syllable of the final word in the spell.

"You defile our land, you interrupt a royal declaration. Your crimes are truly innumerable!" He said.

"Two," I said, "Two 'crimes', not innumerable." I was hit in the side of my face by another smack. The smartass side of me enjoyed this thoroughly.

"However, I am a merciful king." He said, "I will give you a choice! Kill the Night Worm stalking these  caverns, and be treated to a celebration, or suffer execution!" I raised my hand. "Yes, you insolent peasant."

"You're giving us a choice of cake or death?" I asked.

"Yes." He answered, "Cake or Death?"

"I'll take cake please." I said.

The cavernous expanse in front of us stretched out into infinite darkness. Mt. Totallyharmless was, apparently, hollow. A jagged valley of stalagmites stretched beyond the rocky horizon. The place was incredibly dark. Even a ball of lightning barely lit a thousandth of this place, and we had to find a worm in all this.

The Kobolds essential told us that we’re looking for a worm. They then pushed us through a big iron door and shut it as quickly as possible.

“Thanks for the help!” I yelled at the door, shaking my fist. “I hate kobolds.”

“These are the only one’s you’ve met.” May said.

“They’re all pretty much like this.” Anya said.

“How do you know, that sounds a bit racist.” I told her.

“I’d rather not talk about it.” Anya said, reminding me that I know nothing of her life prior to Fraywood.

We began the search by yelling out for the worm. It didn’t work. We then tried to split up; Anya and Al went west, May south, and I north along with Molly. The passage that I followed stopped abruptly with a chamber containing a waterfall and a small pond. I investigated the shallow pond to find three skeletons. They were in some kind of large inflatable yellow raft.