He was waiting in the next room, near the bottom of the long staircase. They passed under an archway carved with demon skulls and saw the beast: an immense ogre, nearly twice Aldred's height and four times his bulk. A ridge of hair rose from his scaly scalp and was dyed, though not just one color, but alternating stripes of black and white. A spiked bracer with a fist shaped like a long terrible scythe covered his right arm. A huge spiked ball attached to a chain hung from his left hand, and it had the appearance of being able to demolish a castle wall. The creature smiled, exposing sharp metal teeth. Behind him crouched a company of goblins with their glossy green skin, clutching metal shields emblazoned with the Skull emblem. Scabs, boils, and pockmarks marked their ugly faces, which smiled repulsively. Some wore spiked collars around their necks, others metal rings that pinched the skin of their torsos. They had red eyes devoid of pupils, and Elysia wondered if this was t

As if he were in a trance, Frey led them down long corridors that descended into the depths below the ancient city, and entered an area of ​​wide low tunnels, flanked by statues with disfigured faces.“The green-skinned ones have been around here,” Elysia commented to Jules Gascoigne, whom she had by her side. Goblins were easy to identify due to their repulsive smell.“Yes, but not recently. Those statues were broken long ago. Look at the lichens that grow in the broken areas. I don't like how they shimmer."“There is something evil in this place; I can sense it” Zauber stated as he tugged on one sleeve of his robe and looked around nervously. "I sense an oppressive presence in the air."Elysia wondered if she could sense it as well, or the sensation of it was only due to her being receptive to the warnings of her sixth sense. They turned a corner and headed down a path flanked by massive stone arches, between which strange

Since we were short of money, we decided to return to the Kingdom of Lothal and look for some paid work. The return from the fortress-city of the Five Peaks had not been easy. The weather was atrocious, the landscape was inhospitable, and my companion was in an even more irrational mood than usual. Whereas we had traveled into the gloomy mountains in comfort and safety relative to being part of a large caravan protected by armed men, on the way back we had no help or means of transportation other than our own legs. . The people of the few villages we entered were wary of two armed strangers, and the provisions they sold us were expensive and of dubious quality.Perhaps it was unreasonable of me to expect a reprieve in the seemingly endless chain of adventures when we returned to the realm, since the dark hero and I seemed predestined to permanently encounter envoys of the Dark Powers. Still, I would hardly have believed the extent of his sinister influence had I not witnessed it with

The land was greener since they had come out of the mountains. The warm golden sun bathed the vast pastures of the plains in soft late-afternoon light. Here and there clumps of purple heather bloomed, and among the grass were little red flowers. Before them, perhaps a league away, a huge gray castle loomed above the plains, perched on the craggy crest of a hill. Beneath herself, Elysia could see the walls of a city and the smoke rising lazily from numerous chimneys.She felt more relaxed and she reckoned they would reach the city before night fell. Saliva filled her mouth at the thought of cooked beef and fresh bread. She was really sick of the dwarves' field rations they had picked up at the fortress-city of the five peaks: hard biscuits and strips of dried meat. Tonight, for the first time in weeks, she could rest easy under a safe roof and enjoy the company of civilized people; she would even have a chance to drink a little beer before retiring to bed. The tension began to

Elysia was lying on a pile of rubbish and her whole body ached. She had a loose tooth, and something wet ran down the back of her neck; she hoped it wasn't her own blood. A plump black rat stood on a mound of moldy food and looked at her. The moonlight made her red eyes glow like malevolent stars.She tried to move a hand, and when she succeeded she put it on the ground to brace herself on the earth and prepare for the monumental task of getting up. Something soft flattened under her palm. She shook her head, and little silver lights darted past her field of vision. The effort of her movement was too much for her, so he lay on his back, in the middle of the garbage pile, which seemed to him like a soft and warm bed.She opened her eyes again and thought that she must have blacked out on her, though she had no idea how much time had passed. The moon was higher than before. Her eerie light lit up the street unevenly. The mist had begun to lift, and in the distance the ni