Unseen Academy

Prologue: -Hubert-

Who ever said: "candles fought away fear" was a dirty, filthy liar.

This was the main thought going through Hubert's mind as he and his party walked down the candle lit dungeon hall. Nothing felt right here. The stones felt ancient, the air stale...and whoever lit all the candles in the dungeon was a mystery but they sure knew how to do ominous lighting. Every candle seemed to be positioned in such a way that every shadow covered every corner of the hallway. The shapes of the shadows weren't strange - however none of it felt natural. Every place that Hubert stepped felt like it was hidden in shadows, yet at the same time it was just barely bright enough to see. The flickering flames still making the floor look like it was dancing despite the flames themselves not casting a shadow.

And yet...that was typical for every dungeon he had ever adventured in. Twas probably the reason why most folks avoided entering these mysterious places if they could.

Hubert was the shortest in the current party, being a halfling, and a temporary stand in for the otherwise human filled group - he had a standing height of just two foot seven. His brown hair was a stringy mess from having been in this dungeon so long, grey eyes showing an irritation - and tiredness. He wanted this little adventure over and done with, so he could bathe in the riches, and adoration that came with victory. Or...bathe at all, at this point. They had done a lot of fighting in this dungeon and he really didn't want to know all of the details of the things that he desperately wanted to get off of him at this point in time.

OR adoration in the form of being bathed.

He nodded to himself, that seemed to be the best idea.

The two females of the adventuring party walked just behind him. One a bard, Melody, was a human entertainer clad in some of the heaviest armor Hubert had ever seen. She had dark chocolatey brown hair, braided into a crown around her head; her eyes dark and her mocha skin- lined with creases, from laughter and worry, and the constant over exaggeration in her expressions that came with her profession. He probably would have found her highly attractive in her prime. Honestly he did still find her attractive, especially when he first saw her. However all she seemed to care about was continuing and spreading her deceased husband's legacy - it was all she seemed to talk about. He figured it was her way of trying to repent for never bearing him a child, no matter how annoying he personally found it, and her. Although admittedly he was quite jealous of the bardic magic she used, keeping her clean.

The other female was a druid, who was named Sulwyn. In contrast to Melody, she was so lightly armored that she was practically naked - which Hubert found strangely unsettling, for the circumstances. Though he supposed that she often relied on speed and animal based shapeshifting or somesort when it came to combat... and armor would probably get in the way of that. Her hair was dark and almost looked like a bush where it wasn't braided tight against her scalp - and she had both some of the darkest and lightest skin that he had ever seen on a single human. Born with a skin condition, she almost constantly looked like she was in a forest, with rays of light peering through the leaves, and leaving patterns on her skin. The human's from where she came from seemed to think she was marked to be a bride of one of their gods - Hubert didn't pretend to understand why a god would ever be interested in a human. Even if it was highly irritating that she was constantly nearly naked - yet wouldn't even give, well, anyone so much as a second glance.

Finally guarding the back of the party was a large knight who towered over the rest of the party. Dax...Runner...or something? If he recalled correctly - he was some hero from a family known for hunting for treasure in dungeons for more generations than anyone could even attempt to prove. Or so Hubert thought - to be honest he had ignored most of what the male had said if it wasn't currently battle or dungeon related. He did know that the man's armor must have cost him a pretty platinum, he wouldn't have been surprised if the man was one of those rich adventurers who had bought their way into a fancy title among his fellow humans, judging purely off the armor set alone.

Hubert himself was a rogue. As a halfling every human on the continent seemed to expect him to be, and as he grew up surrounded by these expectations...he didn't feel like fighting the stereotype. Granted now he was helping to justify the the blatant racism...but such a thing was a bit meaningless to him. As long as he got paid, he just didn't care enough, he'd live with it.

Large doors seemed to appear down the hall and Hubert got out his tools to open it quickly, this was the primary reason they had brought him after all. The doors had large gargoyles decorating it that he knew could easily be a trap. They also marked this as a boss room. So treasure and battle was bound to be behind the door. This would be the 12th boss the group had to fight in this dive so it would most likely be promising.

"This should be the last boss. The dungeon is reported to be only twelve years old." Melody announced to the group as Hubert worked.

Left unsaid was that they only had until sunset to grab as much loot as they could and get out of the dungeon. Thankfully most dungeons had hidden exits in the final boss room. Sadly they tended to be hard to find, unless you knew the right things to look for. This wasn't a huge deal for smaller dungeons, however, since this particular dungeon took them, more or less a week to get this far... Heading back the way they came was not really going to be a feasible option.

With a satisfying click the doors unlocked and start to swing open on their own. A large throne room surrounded by piles and piles of glittering gold items. Saldy most was probably just gilded but it sure did look impressive.

A large slimey violet worm-like creature looks down at them from where it had wrapped around the throne dais. At the end of its body was a giant mouth surrounded by long tentacles easily twice the size of a normal human. The entire body and tentacles, all were covered in large solid black eyes.

From behind Hubert, Melody started chanting while holding a holy symbol to the sky lord: an elven deity, and a massive lightning bolt flew from her and into the beasts head. The monstrous worm's head flee back while most of its humongous body remained still. Almost half of it's black eyes seem to close as it roarrd at the party. Melody droped to take a knee, panting.

Hubert quickly jumped behind some of the golden piles to hide from the beast and maybe fire off a few sneak attacks with his light crossbow - he wasn't much of a fighter, and he knew it.

A loud roar filled the room as a giant lizard creature bit into the monstrous worm.

Poor Sulwyn...that had to taste absolutely awful.
Hubert thought as he loaded a few bolts into his crossbow.

Dax danced into battle with a glaive in hand. His plate armor doing little to slow down the knight as he severed one of the tentacles from the beast. Hubert didn't get to see much after he fired off two bolts into the monstrosity of a worm, quickly ducking behind a large ornate cabinet as the abomination spewed acid in his direction. His old, golden cover quickly dissolving away from the attack.

When he was next able to look, the massive worm and the druid in her giant lizard form where wrestling on the ground while Melody's magic sent weaker lightning bolts than before, crackling through the air at the beast. Hubert laughs as he dodges another acid split and fires off another two bolts.

Until what seemed to be a massive shadow loomed over him. He looked up to see a violet colored tail headed his way. Curiously enough, the only thing that went through his mind as the the end of the humongous worm sped towards him was was:
Bollocks.