The expeditionary force continued down deeper into the underground highways, the occasional stop to water and feed the horses and the troops, after about another hour or so the group finally came to an off road that diverged to the left a clear stone archway carved into the solid rock wall that had so far stretched the length of the tunnel. A sign post carved in old dwarven reading Grûmthol.
"Alright, Everyone the dwarfs of Grûmthol are the Dûrhand clan, they are the clan of our quartermaster Brommir back in Frontier, so I suspect all of you recruits to behave and show the utmost respect." Commander Winterborne made her point clear, she knew none of the veterans would risk breaking any of the dwarven or clan laws let alone risk offending the people that provided their armor and weapons.
"Ugh the Dûrhand clan, of all the clans it had to be them." Dagan rolled her eyes as she slouched back against the running board of the wagon.
"But I thought you got along with old man Brommir." Lyra asked as she poked her head out of the wagon.
"Old Brommir isn't like his clan, and trust me I understand why he choice to leave, the Dûrhand clan are great forge masters nowhere near the level of my clan the Stoneheart's, but they are so traditional to a fault so much so that if I was born into their clan I wouldn't have been able to learn to weld and ax let alone been able to leave home, hell I bet if Old Brommir wasn't the quartermaster for a chapter of the Wardens they would have removed his name from the clan register." Dagan voice raised a little bit to show her annoyance with the people they were about to meet.
"Oh, wow so, are all dwarven clans like that?" Alaric asked as the wagon train started to move again.
"Alright, I guess I should give you guys a run down on my kin folk before we even talk to the Grûmshak's (stone brains). We dwarf's are all divided into clans except in a few cases when someone willing leaves a clan or is kicked out, most dwarfs born outside of a clan are called clanless and treated as outsiders, now the clans are divided into rank based on their contributions to the dwarven people, the clans that rank higher form the clan council who then vote on laws and trade agreements in the High Kings court." Dagan explained more about her people to the others.
The wagon train slowly moved along the much narrower pathway, a few of the wardens and recruits complaining about the tight quarters.
"Of course, everyone knows that we dwarfs are the only ones that can take raw Etherium and refine it into Mysticite which are music loving magic boy over here use in that fancy quarterstaff of his." Dagan punched Alaric in arm making him jerk forward slightly, she let out a slight chuckle as she did.
"Are we finally done with Dagan's short report of the history of the dwarven people." Sha'lara sighed leaning back titling her head back all the way to look at her friends at the front of the wagon, she kicked her feet as her legs hung off the back of the wagon. The whole group started to laugh.
Finally, the expeditionary force passed through another archway, into a great cavern wide in vast, the wagon train crossed over a bridge that was connected to a flattened ridge with many stone houses built on it, the bridge stretched over a deep chasm, Zarath tried to wrap his head around how the dwarfs built a bridge with no visible ground underneath it. Haru stopped unsure if she wanted to go forward, Zarath Dismounted and ran his hands along the bottom of her neck.
"Easy girl, we will go slow right after me." Zarath patted Haru gently as he took a step onto the bridge, Hura growled and then barked before slowly following behind her master. Tharon on the other side of the wagon leaned over the bridge and looked down.
"Wonder how far down it goes; anyone got a rock or something I can throw down." Tharon joked around in a semi-serious way looking to some of the other recruits. Dagan was the only one reaching for her weapon, her hand wrapping around the handle of her double-sized great ax.
"Something isn't right, a dwarven forge should never be this quite." Dagan's words caught her friend's attention, Tharon took a more serious stance moving closer to the wagon, Zarath moved himself and Hura closer to the wagon.
Lyra reached for her curved daggers on her hips and Sha'lara moved inside the wagon to grab her Felinar curved blades. "Alaric you have Storm wing circling like we talked about, right?" Lyra asked.
"Yeah, luckily these tunnels are large enough for her to fly in." Alaric kept the horses following behind the wagon in front of them, many of the veteran wardens picking up on the sudden change in the atmosphere.
Commander Winterborne slowed the march forward, at this point all the veterans had their hands on their weapons and even some of the recruits. The buildings slowly opened up into a courtyard the massive forge shop, which acted as the main hub of the entire town, large metal pipes leading to the main smokestack.
"A dwarven forge should never grow cold." Dagan's voice was tense with rage almost like it was her own clan's forge that had gone dark and cold, her grip tightening around the grip of her ax.
The wagon train came to a stop. The veteran wardens began to fan out in a semi-circle around the wagons, Emrik and commander Winterborne already knew something wasn't right here. This forge was always blazing, and the dwarves always welcomed the Wardens, Alaric let out two sharp whistles summoning Strom Wing down next to him as he climbed down from the wagon. All of the misfit squad gathered on the side of the wagon closest to the Forge shop. Sha'lara opened the flap of the wagons canvas facing the building, the group staying as covered and protected as possible.
"So, anyone know what to expect or is this just some sort of dwarven prank." Sha'lara kept one hand on the hilt of one of her blades, she could see the tension in Dagan's shoulders, the young dwarf warrior still staring at the dead forge.
"Tharon, you and Dagan check the giant forge, building place. Lyra grab your bow and you and Alaric take to the air in on Storm Wing." Zarath mounted Hura and guided the small horse sized dire wolf over to the wagon, Which Sha'lara quickly mounted sitting behind him in the saddle. "Me and Sha'lara will comb the streets on Hura, everyone report back to Emrick or commander Winterborne." Zarath gently patted Hura on the side and took off, informing commander Winterborne of the plan the misfit squad was employing.
Tharon and Dagan moved through the cold empty forge building, the place seemed untouched, tools lay about unfinished pieces of armor and ingots of various metals. Dagan placed one of her gauntleted hands against the cold pipe leading to the main forge.
"These forges have burned for hundreds of years to just let them go cold like this is an insult to the ancestors of any clan, I pray to the ancestors that the crafters did not come to any harm." Dagan looked on the verge of tears.
"Hey, I am sure the there is a good reason for all this maybe they are just celebrating some sort of clan holiday, or, or maybe one of these old pipes broke so the whole clan had to go fix it." Tharon hefted his spear over his shoulder as he approached Dagan placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Thank you, Tharon, but your terrible at this." Dagan and Tharon both let out light chuckles as they continued to search the building. Tharon offering Dagan one of the biscuits he snatched from the wagon before all this.
It was hard to tell time of day in this underground town, but only an hour had passed since the misfit squad had decided to search the cavern. Commander Winterborne agreed with Zarath that searching the town was a good idea, if they couldn't find the dwarfs of clan Dûrhand they could at least find out what happened, four of the five squads were divided up and sent to search the area for any signs of what happened. Commander Winterborne also mounted her griffon and joined Alaric and Lyra in an aerial survey of the cavern. Tharon and Dagan had searched the entire forge shop and found no evidence of anything as if all the dwarfs had just vanished.
Zarath and Sha'lara riding on Hura, quickly making another turn down another street, Hura bounding off the wall of a building as she picked up speed. Hura stopped sniffing at the ground, Zarath sniffed at the air his ears twitching using all of his wolfkin abilities to help Hura find any trace of the dwarfs, Sha'lara had one arm wrapped around Zarath waist as she rode behind him on Hura.
"Smell anything yet?" Sha'lara asked while scanning the area as best she could.
"No, it's weird there is no smell of blood, or blighted or anything its like everyone just disappeared, there isn't even a trace of smelting." Zarath dismounted Hura, checking the ground closer for any trace of smell or even footprints left on the rocky floor.
A distinct clicking sound suddenly caught Zarath, Sha'lara and Hura's ears, all three of their animal-like ears turning and twitching, Sha'lara dropped down from Hura's back drawing one of her curved golden blades wrapping her other hand around the second blades hilt. Hura dropped into a crouched position growling in the direction of the sound, Zarath grabbed the hilt of one of his silver longswords and slowly drew the blade, the sound of it scraping against the scabbard filled his ears. He drove the blade into the ground and slowly took his bow from his shoulder and grabbed an arrow from the quiver on his back.
Zarath slowly nocked the arrow and drew the string back, just as the bow's arms grew taught. Something burst out of the shadows between two buildings in front of them. Zarath quickly loosed the arrow the creature let out a sharp strange sound almost like a squawk as the arrow pierced its shoulder. The beast barreled into Zarath, knocking him down, Sha'lara was quick to react with a dancer's grace she spun, ducked and in one powerful upward jumping motion quickly cleaved the creature's head from its body landing with a cat like grace behind Zarath, giving him a coy little smirk as he stood up and grabbed his longsword.
Hura sniffed at the dead creature as its blackened blood spilled into a small pool underneath it. Zarath moved closer the fur on the back of his neck standing up as he knelt down next to the creatures head he and Sha'lara had both seen this before a blighted elf but clearly more corrupted by the blight than any they had encountered before or maybe some new mutation of the cursed creatures, its eyes completely white meaning it was blind, its ears once long and pointed now torn and shortened its teeth shaped into jagged razor like fangs.
"This isn't good." Zarath tossed the head aside and whistled for Hura to move away from the body. Just then both Zarath and Sha'lara sensed it the air grew cold, the sound of metal boots against stone filled the air, Zarath's white fur stood on end all over his body, his heckles raised. Sha'lara gray and black fur doing the same thing, Hura growling at the creature.
As Zarath and Sha'lara turned in the direction of the footsteps their blood ran cold, at least a dozen Blighted Knights stood before the two, black and rusted armor weapons looking like they were made from salvaged scrap metal, one of the blighted knights holding three leashes, more of the blighted elves pulling at them as they were trying to rush, Zarath and Sha'lara and at least two or three smaller blighted clearly corrupted dwarfs still wearing the stone like armor they had before being turned short axes in hands.
"Looks like we found out what happened to the dwarfs here." Zarath slowly reached for the quiver on his back, his fingers brushing against an arrow with different colored feathers than the rest.
"Just say when." Sha'lara's usual insulating tone towards Zarath had gone her small catlike fangs showing as her small muzzle pulled back into a sneer, Hura circled around the both of them in a semi-circle the dire wolf's claws and fangs ready to tear into anything that approached her master and Sha'lara.
"Now." Zarath quickly drew the red feathered arrow and spun backwards as he nocked it. Sha'lara, stepping in front of him using her free hand flung a dagger she had tucked in her belt loop at the closest of the blighted knights. Zarath drew back on the bow string aimed directly up and the caverns ceiling and fired. As the arrow made its way up some elven ruins that Alaric had etched into the shaft of the arrow glow a burning red and the arrow suddenly burst into a bright flare lighting up the entire cavern even more than it already was, everyone could see it.
The blighted knight the dagger Sha'lara had aimed for quickly knocked it away and grunted, the one holding the leashed of the blighted elves dropped his grip letting the three creatures surge forward. As they grew closer Zarath had already nocked another arrow and turned back to face them and quickly loosed, the arrow making a sickening wet thud as it pierced the eye of one of the blighted elves, it dropped dead Sha'lara and Hura both lunged forward, Sha'lara drew her second golden curved blade slicing the second blighted elf clean in half at the waistline while Hura pounced her giant maw completely swallowing the head and shoulders of the last blighted elf she bit down and shook it violently before tossing it to the side her fangs know dripping with the blighted black blood, luckily the wardens had given her a dose of the purified mixture that they take making the dire wolf immune to the corruption.
Enraged, the leader of the blighted knights let out an ear-piercing roar, the blighted dwarfs and all but three of the blighted knights rushed forward, Zarath fired off two more shots hitting the unprotected heads of the blighted dwarfs, he quickly slung his bow over his shoulder and drew both of his silver longswords. Suddenly Zarath, Sha'lara and Hura were in a fight for their lives. If they could get the chance to mount Hura and run or if they could hold until reinforcements arrived.
Back at the Forge shop in the center of the town, Tharon and Dagan as well as the few other wardens there saw the magic flare that Zarath had fired off.
"Dagan lets go the others are in trouble." Tharon quickly moved towards the exit of the forge as did Dagan only for both of then to stop when a pile of shields collapsed. A small dwarven child cowering underneath them.
"Go away!" the young dwarf girl screamed as she covered her head still trying to hide from the monsters that attacked her home. Dagan froze seeing the young girl, her hands gripped the hilt of her axe even tighter. Tharon moved slowly to approach the girl, putting his spear and shield down.
"Hey, hey its ok you don't need to be afraid and hide, my friend here may look scary, but she is a real softie once you get to know her." Tharon tried to hold back a laugh as Dagan snapped out of her daze and punched him in the back of the head.
"If the girl is scared of any of us it's the fat wolf man standing in front of her." Dagan approached the small girl squatting down to her level. "Hey there Lûrila (little gem) its ok look you have nothing to fear from your kin folk right."
The little girl slowly raised her face, still covered in tears. "What…what clan?" she asked.
"I am Dagan of the Stoneheart's you have my word as kin and a warrior we will not hurt you lûrila." Dagan reached her hand out to the little girl, just as she did a scream came from near the wagons, Tharon grabbed his spear and shield and rushed out to find their fellow wardens being attacked by blighted. One of the recruits was cut down by a blighted knight with a savage looking ax.
"Dagan, we need to go now!" Tharon blocked a blighted human using a rusted sword, jamming his spear into it and kicking it down the small staircase that led up to the forge shop, the fur on his neck standing up as he growled and bared his fangs, his plate armor kept most of his fur hidden but even his tail was bristling out. Dagan grabbed the small dwarf girl and hefted her onto one shoulder grabbing her axe and rushing out. The whole scene was pure chaos as wardens and blighted fought each other, one of the five wagons overturned and on fire.
Up above the chaos Commander Winterborne rode on her griffon, Alaric and Lyra riding on Stormwing. The whole town was now a battle ground groups of wardens who had spread out to find the dwarfs now being attacked by blighted creatures everywhere.
"Alaric, you two go and help Zarath and Sha'lara, I will return to the town center and prepare a defensive position." Commander Winterborne stated ordering her griffon to move before either one could respond.
Meanwhile Zarath and Sha'lara where slowly getting worn down, of their attackers the elves and dwarf blighted had been slain and of the dozen blighted knights they had managed to kill four, Hura still bouncing around unable to snap her jaws on any of the attackers due to their weapons and ability to think, Sha'lara had a cut along the side of her stomach the blood running down her fur and staining her leather armor. Zarath drove one of his swords through the front of one of the blighted knight's throats, a few small cuts along his face where its axe had gotten too close for comfort and a jagged broken blade protrude from his right thigh where a spear tip had broken off.
"Zarath look out." Sha'lara voice cut through the chaos of the battle, Zarath looked up to see the sword edge of another blighted knight swinging down in a savage arc, he jumped back to slowly the tip of the rusted bladed catching right above his left eye and down the side of his muzzled face. Hura lunged at her master's attacker catching her fangs between the knight's helmet and shoulder plate throwing it against a nearby wall. Moving in front of her master the giant dire wolf growled at the remaining blights knights, Sha'lara quickly decapitating the one in front of her and moving over to Zarath.
"I'm fine it missed my eye but it fucking hurts." Zarath growled baring his fangs. Sha'lara tore a piece of cloth from her undershirt wrapping it around his eye to keep the blood from getting in it, just as another blighted knight rushed forward, Hura getting ready to pounce.
"Lumithar!" the word shouted from nowhere, by Alaric's voice. A bolt of lightning striking the blighted knight dead where it stood its already corrupted flesh now burning inside its armor. Lyra dropped from the sky landing on the back of another knight, her curved knives digging into its back as her weight dragged her down its back. The closest knight went to strike at her only for Stormwing the griffon's talons to tear into its arms and lift it up off the ground, Alaric now standing beside Lyra as Stormwing dropped the knight from high above to its death.
Stormwing landed behind Alaric and Lyra her wings stretched out and letting out an ear-piercing screech, the blighted knights hesitated their numbers greatly diminished now, Lyra rushed over to Zarath. Alaric slowly moving back to his friends as well, now faced with two giant predator's, Hura the Barkkon and Stormwing the griffon as well as a magic caster and a fresh fighter the blighted knights knew attacking outright was suicide.
"Zarath are you alright?" Lyra asked as Sha'lara helped him up onto his feet, Lyra froze seeing the cloth over his eyes.
"Let me take care of that." Alaric raised his hand to cast another spell, Zarath quickly grabbed Alaric's wrist.
"Save your healing magic for when one of us is about to die or heal Sha'lara her wound is worse than mine." Zarath gently pushed himself off of Sha'lara and moved over to where Hura and Stormwing were.
That feeling he had when he was hunting all those months ago was coming back, his fingers and toes flexed as his claws came out, he bared his fangs, staring at the remaining three blighted knights, he took a step forward only for Sha'lara to grab his arm and pull back.
"We have to fall back Zarath, there is fighting all over the town right now." Sha'lara's voice cut through to him making him snap back to his scenes.
When Zarath looked back to the blighted knights more blighted creatures began to appear, making his anger grow more but he knew he had to fall back like Sha'lara said.
"Alright let's move." Zarath quickly mounted Hura, Sha'lara jumping up behind him, Alaric and Lyra mounted Stormwing and all of them took off back towards the town center. As they made their way back, they came across other wardens caught in battle helping those they could, leaving those that had already fallen in battle where they lay.
The town center was no better, the wagons had been moved into a tight circle, with archers firing from behind them, while fighters battled with blighted creatures and knights.
Tharon blocked one blighted knights' axe with his shield, shoving his spear through another one, several knicks had been made in his plate armor. Dagan swung her double-sided great axe in wild arcs cutting through two or three lightly armored blighted humans, a cut under her left eye and a black arrow sticking out of her right shoulder. Emrick, the half elf second in command of the chapter was moving quickly, cutting at tendons and taking every opening presented to him. Commander Winterborne showing what a true Sky Warden was, riding on the back of her griffon and dive bombing into large groups taking out several dozen blighted each time.
Quickly joining the fray to make it back to their friends, the group rushed forward, Hura using her claws and fangs to tear and slice any blighted creature that got in her way, Zarath firing arrow after arrow atop her while Sha'lara lashed out at any creatures on the sides with her golden blades.
From above Alaric joined Commander Winterborne, Stormwing dive bombing int large groups of blighted creatures, while Lyra held onto him tightly not wanting to fall off the griffon.
More and more blighted creatures continued to swarm in from the town streets, but luckily under the command of Commander Winterborne using the wagons to block entrance to the forge shop had given the wardens a defensive position with slightly elevated ground and the wagons preventing large numbers of blighted to rush them the few archers could provide cover for the frontline fighters, and the menders or healing mages the few that the wardens had could tend to the severely wounded. But still they needed a way out to get everyone out of this cavern and back to the surface.