Azshara, a beautiful region in northeastern Kalimdor. The region was cast in an eternal autumn with trees of varying shades of red and gold. The grass matched the color scheme of the trees. Within this region rested the ruins of Zin-Azshari, the capitol of the Night Elven empire ten thousand years ago before the land was shattered into the continents of today. Ancient night elven ruins littered the landscape today with naga forces occupying the ruins of their old home.
Today, the region known as Azshara was a large bay area with two peninsulas in the northern and southern parts of the region closing in around the Bay of Storms.
It was on an island off the tip of the southern peninsula where Zoias found herself after sensing a group of water elementals through the earth. What interested her was the fact that one of them was particularly powerful, not as powerful as Neptulon, but still stood out from others of their kind.
The reason for the elementalist’s visit in this region had to do with trying to earn the favor of Neptulon by aiding him in his war against the other elemental lords.
The elementals in the area were shocked by her sudden appearance and prepared to attack. However, what she said next gave them pause. “I wish to parley with your leader.”
The elemental guards looked at each other for a moment, as much as she could tell since they were bulbous masses of water with bracers, before they glared at her. “You bear the mark of the Stonemother, trespasser. Why should we believe that this isn’t a trap set up by her?” one demanded.
“My quest is not limited to the power of the Stonemother, but all four. I earned the Stonemother’s favor through a bargain. And now, I come to earn the favor of the Tidehunter.”
“I shall speak with the mortal,” spoke a voice behind the guards. The two moved aside to reveal a large deep blue water elemental who was shaped differently than his brethren. Instead of a bulbous shape, this one had a more defined shape than the others. His torso appeared to display watery muscles along with properly developed arms and hands. His shoulders appeared as if he wore a spiky mantle made of water along with a helm that appeared as a faceguard of six fangs curving toward the center with a crest that appeared like the head of a hammerhead shark. His form showed no signs of bindings, it was all pure water.
The large elemental moved closer to Zoias and fixed a scrutinous glare at her. “I am Duke Hydraxis, emissary of Neptulon. You come seeking the favor of my lord? Unless you are willing to make our enemies your enemies then there shall be no bargain.”
“Greetings your grace, I do seek to make war on both Ragnaros and Al’akir, for as I have claimed a piece of Therazane’s essence through a bargain we made, I am aware that I must claim the essence of your other two enemies by slaying them. I am here to take an important step toward earning the favor of your lord.”
Hydraxis stared at the human for a few moments before he made his decision. “If you seek a piece of my master’s power, then you shall prove your intentions. In a place on the eastern landmass is a place called Blackrock Mountain. There, Ragnaros slumbers.”
With a motion of his hand, one of his guards brought a crate filled with glass vials filled with a blue fluid that matched the duke’s color. “The Firelord rests safely in his lair until his majordomo summons him. The majordomo himself is safe from attack by a series of warding runes located throughout the Molten Core where the Firelord’s minions reside. These vials will extinguish the runes and make the majordomo vulnerable. Force him to summon his master and defeat both of them. Elementals are bound to the elemental planes and are banished back to their realms upon their demise. You will not be able to obtain Ragnaros’ essence unless you defeat him in the Firelands.”
Zoias knew that she would not be able to try her hand at defeating the Firelord on his home turf without her sister’s permission so she would have to settle on assisting Neptulon with his war against the elementals for the time being. She placed the vials in a special pocket in the ground that would appear whenever she summoned it. The vials were enclosed in the pocket and sunk into the ground.
“I’ll be back with news from the Core,” Zoias said. She then vanished into the ground.
The now large group composed of races from the Alliance and the Horde made all the preparations they could. Stella’s conjured food and water to keep their strength going. She used the best cooling enchantments she knew on everyone with Farra’jin setting his water totem to provide additional resistance to the intense heat they would be experiencing.
Sophia performed some warm up exercises and did her best to loosen up her muscles for the coming battles.
As they entered the chamber where Jaqueline encountered the ghost of Franclorn Forgewright, Thanatas went into lecture mode to make sure everyone knew what to expect. “I doubt this will be the only time we will be facing foes as powerful as Ragnaros so I will explain what to expect in places like the one we are heading into.
“Places like the Molten Core and Blackwing Lair are filled with enemies that would take more than a handful of people to take down and the leaders of such places are extremely powerful. We will need to work together in order to prevail. The leaders will have a number of tricks up their sleeves to disrupt our teamwork and wipe us out. If we are to survive we can’t let that happen. I will do my best to offer tactical assistance.”
Jaqueline raised an eyebrow at the death knight. “Ya know, ya sound like ya know exactly what to expect in these places. Why is that?”
“Do you really want to look a gift horse in the mouth, Jaqueline?” Thanatas deadpanned.
The warrior wanted to retort, but she also knew that Thanatas had a point. Given that they were going into a place where mortals like them could be crushed like ants, they needed all the help they could get. “Ah suppose not, still don’t know if ah can trust ya though.”
They soon arrived at the ledge a few feet above the magma. The elf from before was still there waiting for any travelers to pass by so he could tell them about the rift. While he saw the large group coming, he also spotted Stella among them, telling him that this group was about to begin an assault on the Molten Core. He then moved aside and let the mage do her work.
Stella pulled out the gem she found near the Molten Core’s entrance. She turned to everyone who were all looking at her. “Is everyone ready?” Everyone nodded. She then channeled her magic into the gem which fired into an empty space before a spatial rift opened.
Everyone proceeded one by one into the rift.
The party emerged in a volcanic tunnel. Already they could feel the intense heat more than ever, even when they were near the magma it didn’t feel as hot. They were ever grateful that Stella’s enchantments were holding.
“So this is the Molten Core?” Lokosh asked.
“Yes, Ragnaros keeps his strongest soldiers from the Firelands here,” Thanatas answered. “He employs many fire elementals as well as volcanic earth elementals. We will also encounter more giants made of glowing volcanic rock and the favored beasts of Ragnaros, core hounds.”
“Core hounds?” everyone asked in unison.
“Giant two-headed canines who are elementals with flesh. We will be facing a lot of them here.”
Everyone nervously gulped before taking their fighting positions. Lokosh got his shield ready while Flutashe shifted into her bear form, an ability that Groun was slightly jealous of but quickly crushed that feeling. Groun and Bella prepared their healing spells as they were certain that they would need them. Everyone else prepared to unleash their fury upon whoever came after them.
As they moved around the corner toward the main chamber, they saw their first enemies: two molten giants. Neither one looked any weaker than the one they encountered in Shadowforge City.
Once the two noticed the intruders and charged forward, Lokosh and Flutashe each held the attention of one giant while everyone else used their abilities to bring the giants down. Against such colossal beings, the warrior and druid focused on dodging their stomps and arm swings since there was no way to block attacks from creatures ten times their size.
The attackers found that the giants were not going down easily. Jaqueline hacked into their ankles repeatedly but their molten rock exterior was very durable. Shadow attacks from Talia and Surprise were having an effect on the giants but they continued to endure.
While everyone else was busy fighting the giants, Sophia and Thanatas were hanging back as usual while discussing the battle out of earshot of the others. “These guys seem a lot tougher than anything they’ve encountered before,” Sophia remarked.
“That’s raids for you,” Thanatas explained. “Monsters and bosses are much more powerful than anything you would find outside the area. This is why these enemies would require a small army to face normally. It’s how they are going to be able to face enemies that would normally be nearly impossible for mere mortals to face.”
“So are they going to require our help here?”
“Definitely!”
At the time, the giants were beginning to wear down and their ankles had deep gashes thanks to attacks from Lokosh, Jaqueline and Flutashe. The giants winced every time they moved their legs while their bodies were starting to lose chunks of rock from the bombardment of spells. Stella’s ice breath and spells made their movements sluggish and parts of their body brittle while lances of ice conjured by the mage shattered chunks off their rocky bodies.
The party suddenly saw Sophia and Thanatas leap toward the heads of the giants before readying their blades for a strike each that removed their heads. The giants toppled afterward.
The party took a small break to catch their breath. As they began drinking from one of Stella’s conjured water bottles, Jaqueline gave the cousins a look. “‘Bout time you two did something to help out. Ah was beginnin’ to wonder if you two were gonna carry yer weight.”
Seeing as they were at the point of doing raids in their adventures, Thanatas figured that now would be the time to come clean about that. “The reason we hold back most of the time is for the sake of your own development as adventurers. If we became more involved in your battles, you wouldn’t have grown as much as you have.”
Jaqueline narrowed her eyes on the two. “Sounds like an excuse ta me.”
“I believe a demonstration is in order.” She pointed to two more molten giants on the other side of a bridge that was guarded by several large fire and lava rock elementals. “Me and Sophia will quickly eliminate two opponents that took all of you so much effort to take down. You may want to be ready to face those elementals in the way.”
As the party got ready for whatever the two cousins were planning, Lokosh got the attention of the elementals. Thanatas gave a few quick warnings about the elementals, “Those firelords can weaken you with a flame that prevents you from casting spells. If they create smaller fire elementals, kill them quickly or they will divide and eventually overwhelm you with numbers. The lava earth elementals lack an attention span so they could attack anyone at any time.”
While the party members faced two firelords and one lava annihilator, as they were known as, Thanatas and Sophia quickly moved to engage the giants behind the elementals.
Thanatas created a sphere of highly condensed frost magic from her mouth and launched it at one of the giants. On impact the sphere froze the giant solid. She then created a number of illusory swords in the likeness of her own and launched them at the frozen mass. Striking key points, the blades caused the giant’s body to fall apart and dim as the magma in its body cooled.
Sophia levitated herself before rushing the other giant and delivering a heavy kick to its chest, sending the massive creature flying into the back wall and leaving a dent in it. She then created a sphere of condensed psionic power in her palm and pressed it into the giant’s chest. As the energies surged through the creature, its body changed from red and black to blue and black. The giant glowed brighter until it was almost blinding. This lasted for a moment before the giant exploded.
While the others saw the performance, the elementals didn’t pay attention to it and focused on them. This forced the party to focus on their enemies.
As Thanatas forewarned, the annihilator attacked whomever it pleased, forcing Jaqueline to exchange one sword for her shield to defend herself from the elemental’s heavy attacks. Talia would call on her demons to defend her, Bella had her light spells to protect her, Farra’jin would call an earth elemental to combat it, Stella would freeze it and hurl icicles at it to keep it away from her until it picked someone else to mess with, Groun would summon roots what could survive in volcanic environments to bind it until it broke free and went after someone else, and Mena would use her uncanny sense to dodge the elemental’s attacks until it got bored.
When the elemental wasn’t focusing on them, the party focused on the firelords. To ensure that Thanatas’ warning didn’t come to pass, they bombarded any spawn that the larger fire elemental created with spells and attacks until it vanished. Occasionally, a party member would suffer a strange fiery attack that left them feeling enervated and cut off from their magic while suffering excruciating pain. Thankfully, Talia’s felhound smelled the magical affliction and used its tendrils to suck it out of their bodies, leaving the victim energized and able to use their magic again.
This went on for a few minutes before Thanatas moved in and unleashed a wave of intense cold that overpowered one firelord’s heat, allowing Talia and Surprise to finish it off with their shadow spells. Sophia delivered a heavy punch to the volcanic rock elemental that left deep cracks in the boulder that made up its torso which Groun took advantage of by burrowing roots into the cracks to wedge the elemental’s body apart. With two of the three elementals down, the party assaulted the remaining firelord with everything they had until it faded away and left its bindings behind.
With the immediate threat taken care of, the party could address the matter of Thanatas and Sophia’s overwhelming power. However, Sophia was the one to begin that conversation, “Can you imagine if I punched VanCleef like that? He would have ended up a bloody smear on the wall if I kicked him as hard as I kicked that giant.”
“So you’ve been holding back for the purpose of us getting combat experience?” Bella asked.
“That and teamwork experience, you especially need that to handle the challenges you will face down here.”
“Okay…ah suppose that would explain why you were hangin’ back most of the time…” Jaqueline ventured. “...but that brings up another question; why us?”
“Yes, I would like to know that too,” Bella agreed. “I am guessing that it has something to do with Stella, since you joined us shortly after we met.”
“And what was that strange power you used against that giant?” Mena asked. “I think it’s safe to say that you’re no ordinary rogue.”
Sophia shook her head, “This isn’t just about Stella, I was as surprised about her nature as a dracthyr as you were. All five of you were destined to meet. However, that’s all the information that I’m allowed to divulge about that at this time. Just know that me and Thanatas mean you no ill intent and that we wish to see all five of you fulfill your destinies, whatever they may be.
“As for my powers…” Sophia sighed in resignation. “You’re right, I’m no ordinary rogue. If I were to be classified as a class it would be a dark templar. To describe a dark templar, I would be a warrior with psychic powers with the stealth and assassination skills of a rogue.
“And what about Violetta?” Mena asked. “You didn’t mention anything about her not meaning any harm to us.”
Violetta manifested again and pouted with an eye roll, “Look, I really do need your help with dealing with the Old Gods. I need their power to control my own void powers. Without you as a vessel I would get paralyzed by the overwhelming voices in my head. I still intend on upholding my end of the bargain for each Old God I devour. Also, my mother over there…” she pointed to Thanatas, “...is leading this mission and her orders are absolute for Sophia and I. Therefore, I am not allowed to harm you in any way as long as she says so.”
Thanatas crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “Put all the pressure on me, why don’t you?” she sarcastically stated. As Violetta vanished, she continued, “Anyway, forget about her for now. She just likes to sew chaos and mistrust which is what we don’t need right now. Let’s keep going.”
They didn’t get far before they ran into a patrolling lava earth elemental, or rather it ran into them as it immediately performed a full body charge at the group which sent everyone flying backward. Farra’jin and Flutashe nearly flew off the edge and into the magma below but Mena saved the troll by yanking him back to her with her Leap of Faith spell while Flutashe quickly shifted into a bird and rode the thermal current back to her friends.
Meanwhile, Lokosh was keeping the elemental, a lava surger as Thanatas called it, busy while everyone else focused their fire on it. It took about a minute to shatter the elemental.
“Those lava surgers love to move at fast speeds,” Thanatas explained. “The best way to tell a lava surger from a lava annihilator is the fact that the surgers hate staying in one place for long.”
The party continued forward after the brief lecture from the death knight. As they moved, they faced another firelord and a lava annihilator. They continued along the wide volcanic walkway over the magma lake.
That was when they had their first encounter with a beast out of a nightmare.
The beast was easily three times their size. His flesh looked like it was made of molten lava. The massive canine had two heads with razor-sharp teeth and a pair of tusks with a horn on both foreheads. He also had a stubby tail and his back was lit with flames. On his forelegs were a pair of ornate steel-colored manacles and a pair of spiked shoulder guards on his upper forelegs. Each head was wearing a spiked steel-colored collar with a broken chain. The metals that composed his armor were unknown as their bodies radiated intense heat that would melt some metals. The lava-like drool that came out of his mouth looked like it could melt armor and weapons.
“Ladies and gentlemen, a core hound,” Thanatas announced. “These guys breathe fire and the ancient ones can inflict a number of magical afflictions.”
The howl of the two-headed beast reverberated throughout the cavern. Lokosh acted quickly to gain his attention by slamming his shield into its left head, angering him. The warrior jumped backward to avoid the fanged maw of the left head while the right head made his own failed attempt at a bite. Stella worked to immobilize the beast by unleashing ice at his feet using her frost magic. Thanatas reinforced that magic with her own to make sure the core hound didn’t try to break free.
Switching to her dragon form, Stella unleashed a beam of mana at the core hound which caused him to roar in pain as it struck the snout of the right head. Sophia fired her own beam of psionic power which would have pushed the core hound back if his feet weren’t frozen.
Now truly angered, the core hound unleashed a strange howl that placed a dark aura around everyone. Stella quickly detected that she was afflicted with a curse and quickly cast a countercurse on herself. She then warned everyone about the curse which Groun reacted with his own anti-curse remedy, assisting the dragon-mage with removing curses.
Suddenly, Flutashe moved in between Lokosh and the core hound. She was still in her elf form. “Stop!” she screamed. The core hound began to inhale to unleash a flame breath but paused when he laid eyes on the druid’s eyes. Its primal instincts told him to stand down. His instincts warred with his loyalty to Ragnaros. While he would have disregarded a stare from anyone else, there was something otherworldly about the night elf’s eyes.
To everyone’s surprise, the core hound relaxed and whimpered. Thanatas had a feeling about what just happened and tested it by freeing the molten canine from his icy bonds. The Alliance group kept up their stances while the Horde group tried to protest the death knight’s actions but were shut down when Sophia, who telepathically received her cousin’s intentions, shot them a menacing aura.
Freed from his bonds, the core hound tried to move up to lick Flutashe, but the druid held up a hand. “You know that you can’t do that with creatures of flesh, but a small nuzzle will do.” The core hound did just that, leaving everyone with stunned expressions.
Back at Sphere, the observers were watching the events unfold with different reactions. Lyra and Sweetie were cooing at the situation, Midnight and Sarah had impassive expressions, and Twilight was lost in nostalgia as she remembered her old animal-loving friend who had a way with dangerous beasts.
Once Flutashe was finished defusing the situation, the core hound jumped off the walkway and into the lava where he paddled away.
They soon pressed on, dealing with more firelords and both types of volcanic elementals. They also ended up facing another pair of molten giants.
Thanatas soon led the party across a bridge onto a small island inhabited by more elementals and a core hound who Flutashe kindly made leave. Another bridge took the party into a smaller cavern. While they had to smash more lava surgers while being careful that one of them didn’t send them flying into the magma, the cavern they entered was teeming with flamekin. As soon as they entered the cavern, they were swarmed by the imp-like creatures. Thankfully, they were still frail but they were still dangerous in large numbers.
In an effort to mow down the flamekin, Jaqueline used a technique that she learned from a dwarf who like to wield two heavy weapons. Keeping her blades pointed outward and making sure she was surrounded by the flamekin, she started spinning around while crouching low to meet the demons’ low stature. The flamekin weren’t the smartest people in the world so they continued running toward her while her spinning technique started cutting and slicing the flamekin. Some of the more unlucky ones ended up decapitated by the whirling storm of blades. Of course, the warrior could only keep it up for a few seconds without getting dizzy. By then though, at least twenty flamekin were felled.
Others used their area-affecting attacks as well. Some burned in Bella’s consecrated ground, some were chilled by Stella’s magic and ice breath, some burned under Surprise’s shadow magic, some were simply crushed by Groun’s roots. The rest were obliterated by Sophia’s psionic blasts.
Eventually the flamekin were wiped out and they proceeded deeper into the cavern.
This was where the true challenge of the Molten Core began.
Within the cavern were several packs of smaller core hounds. Thanatas assured them that they were juveniles and lacked any tricky spells that the older ones had, except for the ability to rekindle the flames of their kin and revive them. This meant that they had to focus on killing them all at around the same time.
…Or would if Flutashe didn’t start befriending them.
They also spotted a dark gray flamewaker wandering the cavern along with four other reddish-yellow flamewakers. They didn’t notice the party yet but they would soon once they returned.
“That guy is going to be your first major challenge in this place,” Thanatas whispered. “The gray one is Lucifron, one of the more powerful flamewakers in Ragnaros’ army. By himself he isn’t too challenging as long as you make sure his magical afflictions and curses don’t become an issue.”
Glad to be forewarned about what Lucifron was capable of, the party made preparations for their upcoming fight with the first of Ragnaros’ lieutenants.
As the flamewaker and his entourage slithered away, Flutashe got the attention of one of the packs and quickly got to work befriending them. As they moved to bite her, they paused as they sensed an invisible aura coming from the druid. As the hounds were still young and kept to their pack mentality until they reached maturity, their instincts were tricked into believing that she was the pack alpha.
Another pack witnessed what was happening and moved to attack but fell to Flutashe’s alpha charm all the same.
Lucifron eventually returned from further in the cavern. He and his four lackeys began slithering after the group once they were spotted by the flamewakers. “Mortal insects have found their way into the Molten Core! Slay them!”
Almost immediately the flamewaker guards attempted to use dark magic to take control of Farra’jin, Talia, Jaqueline and Mena. Talia’s felhound quickly purged the affliction from its master and worked on the others.
However, for the one who tried to control Mena, they made a grave mistake. In their attempt to control her mind, Violetta turned the tables and took control of his mind instead. The other flamewakers were taken by surprise when one of their own was slashing at them with his spear. Believing he suddenly turned traitor since it seemed inconceivable for one of their own to be under the effects of a mind control spell from a mere mortal, the others tried to control him which made things much worse as Violetta’s influence spread to them, resulting in all four of them being controlled by the eldritch horror.
Meanwhile, Lucifron was busy fighting Lokosh. He kept the flamewaker leader far away from the others so his spells wouldn’t cause problems for the others. He often placed a magical affliction that threatened to crush his heart if the spell was allowed to run its course but Talia’s felhound was dutifully consuming the magic on him. He attempted to strike down the demon with his sword but the strike was suddenly blocked by a spear from one of his flamewaker guards.
Lucifron was momentarily caught off guard when he realized that he was being attacked by his own guards. “You dare strike down a servant of Ragnaros!? I shall crush all of you for this betrayal!”
His situation was made worse when the nearby core hounds moved in to attack him as well, following the will of their new alpha. The beasts tore lacerations in Lucifron’s flesh.
In retaliation, Lucifron desperately cast his deadly magical affliction on everyone around him. The party managed to dispel the affliction from themselves through their various means while allowing the spell to run its course against the flamewaker guards who eventually succumbed to it. The core hounds also succumbed to the spell all at once. However, Talia and Farra’jin cast their fire spells on one of the core hounds and reignited his flames. The juvenile beast ignited the others in turn before they resumed tearing into the flamewaker leader’s flesh.
With all of his spells being dealt with in a timely manner, Lucifron found that he was fighting a battle of attrition, one that he was losing as his attackers were dealing heavy damage to his body. He soon succumbed to his wounds and collapsed, his essence returning to the Firelands.
Once more the party took a break from the ordeal and each took some conjured food and water from Stella to keep their stamina up. The core hounds laid down around Flutashe.
“So what else can we expect in this place, aside from Ragnaros?” Lokosh asked.
“You mean the leaders of Ragnaros’ forces here?” Thanatas assumed. “Including Lucifron, there are four other flamewaker leaders here and most of them will have an entourage of lesser flamewakers. At the end of the cavern we’re in is where Magmadar, the progenitor of all core hounds resides. You will know him when you see him. There are also his top lieutenants, Garr and Geddon, Ragnaros never conducts an invasion without them. Finally, there’s the most powerful molten giant in this place, Golemagg the Incinerator. He sets himself apart in the fact that he has two tame core hounds at his side.”
“And why are we bothering to kill the mutt in the first place?” Talia asked. “Unless there is a good reason for doing so, why not head directly to Ragnaros?”
“If you can swim in magma, be my guest. Thanatas facetiously stated. “For those of us who are not so inclined, Ragnaros is sleeping under the magma and only his majordomo can wake him. However, he is in a place we can’t get to right now and the only way to flush him out is to extinguish the runes that are being guarded by the other leaders, except Lucifron.”
“So we be up against five flamewaker leaders, three elemental lieutenants, one colossal core hound and de ruler of de fire elementals.” Farra’jin summarized.
“Well, four flamewakers now since we killed one of them,” Thanatas corrected.
With that knowledge, the party moved deeper into the cavern while Flutashe exerted her dominance over more packs of core hounds. It wasn’t long before they reached the back of the cavern and witnessed the largest core hound they had seen so far. This one was much larger than the first core hound they killed, almost dwarfing the first one.
Magmadar spotted the group and growled at the party, ready to strike if they came near. His form moved over the glowing metal plate on the floor.
Flutashe moved forward and tried to stare down Magmadar. Unfortunately, that only resulted in her jumping back to avoid a glob of magma being spat at her. His bark echoed through the caverns.
“He says that my trick won’t work on him,” Flutashe said sadly. “It seems that his loyalty to Ragnaros is too great to influence him.”
Bella took a step back in shock, “You can understand these beasts?!”
“Yes, I’ve had this ability to commune with animals since as long as I can remember. Though it won’t be helpful here since Magmadar is completely faithful to his master.”
“We need to take Magmadar out anyway to get access to that rune on the floor,” Thanatas said.
With battle unavoidable, everyone prepared their weapons and assumed their fighting stances. Magmadar saw this and roared in defiance. As he ran toward the party, he spat globs of magma at them, forcing everyone to move away.
Just like with the first core hound, Lokosh and Flutashe had to keep the massive two-headed dog busy while dodging his bites. Both mouths were large enough to swallow them whole if they weren’t careful. They quickly learned that they needed to make sure the beast was not facing the others as he breathed fire in their direction. They also had to avoid being stepped on by his massive paws.
Things became more dangerous for the duo when Magmadar became frustrated that his prey wasn’t standing still and greatly intensified his efforts by going into a frenzy. At that point, Lokosh and Flutashe were barely avoiding his attacks while his teeth were starting to leave scratches on the druid’s hide. Sophia countered this by sending psychic waves to the twin heads in order to soothe his rage. The effect worked but the beast didn’t like what the templar did.
Unexpectedly, Magmadar turned away from Flutashe and Lokosh and ran after Sophia, likely to prevent her from soothing his frenzies again. He tried going into a frenzy again but her speed surprised him as she quickly moved under the right head and jumped up to deliver a strong uppercut to the right head’s jaw. This threw Magmadar off balance momentarily.
Stella and Thanatas capitalized on this by breathing frost on the left head and freezing it solid.
Before they could go further, the right head recovered and breathed fire on the left head, freeing it from the ice. It then unleashed a horrifying roar which placed a psychic compulsion to flee in terror on everyone except Sophia whose mind was strong enough to resist it and Mena who was mentally protected by Violetta. The templar then extended her psychic influence to break the fearful compulsion on them.
Magmadar began spitting magma all over the room to limit the movement of the party. Stella countered this by cooling the areas of magma spit with her ice magic before she struck him with a magical disintegration beam from her mouth which tore into the beast’s right neck a little.
The beam succeeded in opening a wound in his neck that Thanatas could take advantage of by creating a phantom blade and infusing it with one of her deadly diseases, one she designed to work on fire elementals. While Sophia kept Magmadar busy, the death knight launched the blade into the opening in the beast’s thick hide. Magmadar roared in pain before setting his eyes on Thanatas.
However, as Magmadar approached the death knight, a chill started to take over his body and his movements began to slow. His molten body’s interior was beginning to cool rapidly and he began to shiver uncontrollably. He was no longer paying attention to his prey and worried more about whatever foreign substance was affecting his body.
It wasn’t long before the flames on his back began to die down and his molten glow began to dim. His breathing became ragged.
With his final breath, Magmadar gave one last grunt before his body turned black like a reactor shutting down.
“He said ‘Well fought, I return to my home in the Firelands’.” Flutashe translated.
With the canine behemoth defeated, the party headed to the rune on the floor that Magmadar was guarding.
“So do we just break it?” Talia asked.
Thanatas shook her head. “Nah, this thing has a failsafe where if the plate is broken the rune will embed itself elsewhere and we would be searching high and low for it.”
“Any suggestions?” Bella asked.
“I believe we should leave it be and move on.”
“Huh?!” everyone else exclaimed in unison.
“Don’t worry about the runes, I have a feeling that they will be extinguished as we go.”
Sophia had a feeling that her cousin was talking about a certain someone but said nothing as she helped convince the others to ignore the rune and move on.
Once they left the cavern through the way they came in, an earthen spike burst from the ground next to the rune. The spike receded to reveal a certain strangely dressed elementalist.
Zoias hummed a tune in her head as she regarded the rune next to her. She then summoned her earthen pocket which spat out a vial which she caught. She then popped open the cork and poured the contents of the special liquid onto the rune. Steam billowed from the metal plate before the flaming rune dimmed and became extinguished.
With the first of seven runes put out, Zoias took a moment to observe the party’s progress through the rocks as she eagerly awaited for the next rune to be left unguarded.