HELLHOUNDS

DD2: Your ears prick as the hot air is pierced by otherworldly barking. A pack of hellhounds has started to hunt the halls of the furnace, the glow of their molten bones visible under their skin. What will you do to survive?

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Sound was different in the furnace. Stifling hot magma seemed to emit a consistent, brontidal groaning that was only further echoed by the cavernous surrounds. The earth bellowed and heaved as magma surged along rock in an all-consuming, lumbering gait and every now and then, crag and cliff gave way and plummeted into the furnace below.

With all manner of threats in the landscape alone, surely Tariq was going to get a clean run. With Terrence in tow, the pair set forth looking for answers and relics – their destination was a rocky outcrop with a lone ruined castle perched atop. Very few coursers dared visit It as it was not long off falling into the magma itself…but Tariq was persistent. There were tales of an old Mage who lived there long ago, one that had managed to pierce the veil and speak with the dead.

Tariq wished to know the secrets. Terrence was up for any excuse to step where seldom had. But today in particular, was destined to be a short lived venture. A guttural howl reached Tariq’s ears first, and sure enough, both were running as quick as they could to the surface. Gnashing teeth of ancient stone, magma lifeblood coursing through their veins and bones and deep fiery eyes were enough to prolong many a nightmare. With only one direction to go and the pack only increasing in number, Terrence was not quite sure how they were going to get out of this one unscathed with fiery fangs gnashing at their heels with spite. A misstep here would cause their end.

CrrrrrrrrrrACK.

As a part of the cavernous ceiling gave way and plunged towards the coursers, it managed to eradicate a part of the bridge and with it, most of the hounds. “What sheer bloody fate is this?!” Terrence shouted between frantic breaths. Tariq did not dare look back and instead shouted “Don’t question it, carry onward!” The magma claimed the hounds and bones and soon enough they would reform and rise once again, but for Tariq and Terrence, they made their way to the surface as quick as they could. They were not so sure they would find such luck the second time round.