Adelia watched as Volodar stumbled back to the group. She asked, "Are you well, my lord?" His expression was easy to read although he did not respond. Gaulk eased the party back into normalcy as they reached the base of this underground greenery. A large gathering of adventurers set up camp as they pulled battle plans out on a makeshift table. Volodar walked nearby as he looked down at the paper.
A man in his fifties was examining the paper. His armor was high quality, and it was apparent that he saw combat frequently as a scar marred one of his eyes. It seemingly stretched off onto the edges of his face. This man spoke confidently as he pointed towards openings on the map, "Most of the primary tunnels have been searched so far. Adventurers who believe that they can take on a group of kobolds or goblins can take on those tunnels. There won't be much to kill, but there's no fear of death on those paths."
He moved his finger over to the larger openings, "Both of these paths are strange. It's a maze of different halls that seem to change over the course of time. At the far end of the tunnels are portals that lead to a pocket dimension. Creatures frequently come from the pocket dimension and run rampant through the halls. Prepare yourself for what may lie ahead."
Everyone dispersed back to their parties as the meeting came to an end. Gaulk slapped Volodar on the back, "Cheer up, Fulton. The main halls won't be that dangerous."
"If they aren't dangerous, we won't learn anything."
The walk through the main passageways didn't seem awful besides the damp nature of the rock walls. Moisture seeped into the stone and perpetually seemed to drain from the sides of the wall. Nokken whistled towards the other parties as he spoke, "Enemies ahead. Small."
Dog-like humanoids could be seen coming through the halls. These were the kobolds that the man must've been talking about. Creatures of that size and ability stood no chance against the adventurer's before them. They were quickly disposed of as Volodar examined the corpses. The bodies would be interesting to experiment on, but he relented as his identity's safety was paramount.
Passages of the cave seemed to wind and shift as they continued. It would feel as if the earth itself was shaking when the shift occurred. You would simply hold on to the sturdiest thing you could find and try to remain stable until it ended.
Three other adventuring parties found their way alongside the group. One was the party made of slaves and a master. Another contained the grizzled man with a plan and his cohort of companions. The last of the adventurers seemed to be a large group. It was mainly composed of a logistics team and prospectors that had adventurers along to guard their way.
Drake enjoyed the additional company from the surrounding groups as he would talk about safety in numbers. Volodar could only think about the previous fight between his skeletons and the men of the noble, Boar. Humans, that were well equipped, defeated them while maintaining minor losses. Quantity may be important, but the quality certainly played a role in that fight.
He would need to spend more time analyzing the processes that he used to reanimate the dead to bolster their combat abilities. They also lacked weapons and armor for most of them. That was something he would need to take into consideration as well. Shaking his head, Volodar responded, "I've seen quantity lose to quality. Keep that in mind."
Past all of the lights, a faint red tint could be seen cast along the walls of the cave. It didn't take long before a portal was before them. The room was massive as the portal appeared to be large enough for a mammoth to fit through.
Weird engravings and stone works propped it up as the portal oscillated with a dark red tint. It would go from red to orange and back again once more.
The gruff man looked towards this portal and nodded his head, "It's a bad color. Never trust a red portal, they'll look to kill you. This one is dull though, and it appears to only be on the cusp of being truly red."
He contemplated his position for a while, moving his hand back and forth along his chin. "We just killed some of the creatures from the portal. If we move with haste, we'll close the bastard and be back in a few hours." Adventurers gathered closer as they marched through this portal a few at a time. Volodar felt compelled to talk to his creations once more as he didn't know if his incantation would work inside the portal.
Volodar casted an incantation as he spoke to Hunter, "My creations are dead."
Hunter was silent for a moment, "I'm sorry, your grace."
"No," Volodar sighed, "it's a learning experience and I have gained much in their loss. We are going into the portal now. Make your way into the cave system undetected. The adventurer's seem to sleep at night with some of them taking watch. I will contact you if I should need your assistance."
"As you wish, my lord." The connection was disconnected as Volodar looked off towards the portal. It loomed over with energy sparking off it in every direction. Adelia stayed close to him as he reached his hand into the portal. A cold sensation ran through him as he stepped inside. Information of his surroundings flooded into his vision as he adapted to this new location.
The area was very hot as pools of lava were more than two hundred feet away from him. All of the adventurers immediately responded to the heat by loosening their collars and shirts, trying to expel the excess heat by the command of the gruff leader.
The sky above was blanketed in a red mist that hovered and sparkled above. Weird red flora and fauna seemed to be strewn across the landscape as small lizards would poke out of the holes. One of the adventurers got on their knees to find a lizard as their leader spoke.
"Keep your wits, adventurers," his voice booming as he spoke. "This dimension is hot; this will be a test of everyone's endurance."
Volodar could feel the moisture already building on his body as he looked around the world. It felt like they just kept walking through an area with little to no change in scenery. Air like this was heavy from the environment as people struggled to breath. Nothing jumped out as hostile on the trip as they proceeded through this crimson land. One of the adventurers stopped as he searched left and right. "Does anyone else hear that?"
Nokken looked towards Drake in disapproval. "Man's probably thirsty," Nokken said. The leader of the convoy looked towards the different pathways as he spoke to some advisors. It took a few minutes as the adventurers started to get antsy.
Red mist seemed to appear within three hundred feet around everyone and followed their movements. Volodar could hear the gruff man speaking with people nearby as they progressively raised their voices. Each one hoping that they could overpower the last one's opinion with noise. Apparently, the man's name was Tulvig as he argued with some of his members.
He mentioned that there was a core in this domain. Cores were responsible for holding the stability of the dimension and it needed to be taken care of. These objects of power were a power supply that strong mages craft.
Some would claim that cores are as powerful as artifacts in some ways. Depending on if it was broken or intact on arrival to Strosa, a large bonus would be added for the group who was responsible for retrieving it.
Back at the front of the group, there were two obvious paths that could've been taken at the moment. One was a bridge of red earth that was surrounded on either side by lava. The other path was a large flat area that stretched out farther than the mist would allow anyone to see.
Tulvig argued, "There is almost a perfect land bridge that stretches out as far as any of us can see. I've done these damn portals half a dozen times."
Another grabbed the bridge of their nose, "Tulvig. That's taking risks that aren't called for in this circumstance.
"Risks are always need in a scenario like this." Tulvig stressed, "Do you have the water they need? We can last for a few days, but not a damn week." He pointed towards the large group behind them as he pressured his point.
No more arguing was needed as they proceeded on the land bridge. It was only twenty-five feet of width between the lava pools as the group marched through. Once the land bridge was blocked by mist in either direction, large noises could be heard from beneath the lava.
The liquid heat bubbled up and popped as creatures rose from within. They were four legged creatures with orange, lizard skin. "Flame salamanders," some of the adventurers cried out as lava sprayed from their mouths towards the bridge.
Volodar instinctively grabbed Adelia and pulled her behind as he started an incantation. A red lance shot from his hand and through the mouth of a salamander. The salamander screeched as lava dropped within its mouth, and the lance pierced through to the other side.
Other adventurers weren't so lucky as the screams and smell of burning flesh could be sensed from all directions. Archers shot at the salamanders as the melee combatants tried to hurl javelins in their direction. Another lob of fire and soot came to rain onto Volodar as a blue sphere appeared to engulf the shot. Nokken used water magic to halt the projectile and slam it back into the lava.
The small group of salamanders perished as everyone took stock of what occurred. More hardened adventurers shrugged it off as others tried to treat the wounded. However, there was no time to mourn those who died as the heat was unbearable in this location.
Nokken was almost spent at this point as he had to keep rehydrating his pets and Drake. Both, Drake and Nokken handled this heat horribly. They appeared worse off than anyone else in the situation. Gaulk looked at them, "Y'all going to survive the night?"
Drake nodded, "I feel like I'm melting with this armor. We need to get out of here."
Adelia looked towards Volodar, "How about you, my lord?"
"I'm fine for now, hopefully they get going soon." The pathway progressed for what felt like hours as they marched through the hazardous terrain. Other salamanders would appear and were fought off in quick order. Nothing was as bad as that first ambush. It didn't take long before Volodar saw the mist before him break apart and wrapped behind the adventurers.
Pushing the adventurers onwards, the mist seemed to have a life of its own. There, a large stone structure with intricate engravings appeared. A perfect circular wall appeared as there was a large keep before them.
Adventurers exclaimed as they see the grand design of the structure. "That structure will have the core," Volodar stated. "It has been hours. Our best shot of getting the core is in that keep." The ground was dry, and cracks formed all along the floor. Rallied by the revelation of the keep, everyone paced themselves as they went towards the gate.
"This could've been home to a sizable notable back in Strosa," Drake mentioned.
Adelia nodded, "It must've been beautiful at one point." Volodar listened to these words as he examined the keep. Broken stonework, damaged portcullis and a tower that seemed to have been hit with heavy machinery.
He stared at it as he looked around the base of the structure. Small, red creatures that couldn't have been more than four to five feet tall paced outside. Their hands were ignited by flames as they pushed each other around.
Volodar pointed it out, "There are impish looking creatures over there." Nokken nodded his head, "Believe those are indeed imps or small demons." No time was wasted before everyone knew about the incoming threat as formations were made.
A fifth of the adventurers were already done by this point as exhaustion and casualties made it hard to continue. However, imps were no threat if everyone played their roles correctly.
"I will not use magic this fight," Nokken alerted the group, "I need it to hydrate my pets and the group."
Gaulk acknowledged Nokken as he attempted to get the last drop from his bottle of wine. "No drinks," Gaulk said in despair as he drew his flail, "These bastards make me parched just looking at them."
The adventurers rallied forth as they drove into the creatures. Lesser demons like these were tough as their exterior was like a leathery hide. Drake went to work as he started to heal the wounded. Adelia tried her best to replicate Drake's spells as she used life magic as well.
She could hear the war cries coming off from the men on the front lines. Many of the demons would use their claws to shred the armors of the people who fought back. Those who wore metal armor had it the worst as fatigue made many of them drop during the conflict.
Tulvig would slice into the demons one after another. He almost stood atop of their corpses as they piled in front of him. A barricade of flesh was formed from their bodies. It was obvious when a demon was slain as their flames would die out. The wicks on the ends of their tails would fade out alongside their claws as they returned to a charred, black color.
Four of the lesser demons found their way to the infirmary as a few of the adventurers peeled off to take care of them. One found his way past the interlopers as Volodar wrapped the creature with red, viscous strands of blood. It was bound to the floor as these colorful red vines wrapped around across its neck. Gaulk slammed his flail into the head of the creature, crushing it with a single blow.
Gaulk was covered in blood at this point as he drove into the front ranks of the demonic horde. He grabbed the bottle of wine once more and looked at it in disappointment. "Dammit all," he spoke solemnly, "the job's done. The bastards are all dead."
Volodar looked back as adventurers walked around, stabbing into the remaining demons. He couldn't help but to feel curious about reanimating these creatures. Would they keep their flames? It could be a supernatural phenomenon that always occurred for them. He could also speak to one, which would be interesting as well. Although, he didn't really know what to say if he succeeded in talking to it. His wandering mind snapped out of it as Gaulk walked in front.
Gaulk looked towards the gate as he sized up the keep before him, "We'll have to go in soon. Hopefully they've got something to drink."