Lineak stared at the figure that Kaeda was talking with before sniffing the air.  His eyes and even his ears might betray him at times but never his sense of smell.  The old goblin was the one who had attacked them earlier with the variety of animals.  He had no idea why that was but knew it to be true.  For him to be this close and for the grumpy Kaeda to not only be talking with him but to be taking a gift from him as well seemed like a very, very bad idea.

"Hey you! You're the one who attacked us ealer.  Why should we believe a single word of what you're saying.  Why should we help you go into the depths? Is this just another way to try and kill us off?  Please say yes.  I'd like nothing more right now than to blow your damn head off."

The old goblin laughed for a moment before looking past Kaeda to the man on hands and knees.

"If I wanted you two dead you'd be dead.  What I want is somebody to be my successor wearing and utilizing the skull.  I needed to make sure he was worthy of it and have come to believe that he is.  The fact that he has such a loyal dog with him makes the decision that much easier."

Lineak glared at the goblin he was certain that he knew he was a werewolf, how he didn't know.  He did know that with the command of creatures that he'd witnessed earlier he didn't want to test just how far that power extended.

Loyal dog? Kaeda turned the phrase over in his mind.  It was a strange one for sure.  Lineak was a complete stranger to him how could he possibly be loyal to him? He disgarded the thought focussing on what the skull was attempting to tell him.

"Trust Ichael his only desire is to be reunited with the ancients in death."

"How and why are you going to help me? What are you? Who are you?"

"I am the one you seek.  I am the ancient of ancients and I offer you my years of wisdom and knowledge.  All you need do is ask and I will grant powers beyond your imagination.  I offer you these powers for no other reason than I crave contact with the living.  You shall be my contact until the day you die or pass me on to another."

"Give me a taste of the power you are offering let me see your power."

Kaeda felt his mind filled with strange words and archaic symbols, his hands moved on their own accord and he began an uncontrollable murmuring.

"Tell the wolf to touch the wall."

"What wolf? What wall?"

"The one behind you.  Do it!"

"Touch THE wall."

Kaeda looked lost in thought for a good while Lineak was begining to wonder about him when the goblin began chanting.  The soft chanting seemed to go on and on an on as Lineak looked around him wondering what exactly the goblin was attempting.  He noticed the wall to his right begining to look different but couldn't exactly put a finger on it, nor did he want to.

"Touch THE wall."

Hesitantly Lineak reached out a hand and placed it against the wall.  As he did stone deteriorated under his fingers and the wall disentegrated into a pile of rubble.

"What the hell was that!"

Lineak tried to peer past Kaeda directly into the old goblin's eyes.  If anybody knew what was going on it was the crusty old goblin who had given Kaeda the skull.  Lineak hoped everything was fine but with walls coming down for no reason something was going on.

The crumbling of the wall was the only sound for a second or two before Lineak cried out in alarm. Kaeda didn't even bother responding the skull was offering power, more power than he'd dreamed possible. The small display of power was enough for him to lean towards belief. Now all he had to do was get the other goblin to rest with the ancients below. That shouldn't be too difficult a feat, should it?

"Ichael, the skull speaks highly of you. I'll help you. I can't speak for Lineak back there. I fear he may be uneasy due to the strangeness of the skull and the new powers it offers me. Regardless I will assist you in your goal to join the ancestors."

The old goblin nodded before retreating back down the passage. Kaeda followed close behind. The old goblin seemed to know an aweful lot about the cave system down here and following him might not be such a bad thing. It might actually be a good thing. Pausing for a moment Kaeda called behind him.

"You are coming with us, right?"

There wasn't exactly another alternative that Lineak could see.  Of course he had to go with the two goblins.  How else was he going to get out of the cave systems? If there were another alternative he was open to it.

"Right behind you."

He followed the two goblins back to the tunnel entance and then watched as the old goblin made his choice of tunnels to follow.  Lineak called up to him questioningly.

"The other tunnel what is, or was, that"

"Stables."

As they hade just been in a sleeping quarters it made sense for the animals to have somewhere other than out in the open to rest.  Lineak wasn't sure what kind of creatures were stabled there but wasn't curious enough to ask.  In the end he didn't have to.

"Funny looking beasts not sure they're still around.  Look like somebody made a giant rabbit breed with a horse."

"Ka'fael and they are present. Stay the course and you may even find one."

The skull was full of all kinds of useful or maybe not so useful information.  Knowing there were large beasts still roaming around wasn't exactly new information.  It was useful though or it could be.  Giant horse rabbit monstrosities though that was a new one.  Kaeda thought about sharing the information but decided against it.  If Ichael hadn't said anything about their presence he wouldn't say a peep either.

The cave passage descended at a minute angle with any curves in the passage being extremely gradual.  Along the way Kaeda took the time to converse with Ichael about myriad number of subjects.  Or he tried to.

Lineak watched and tried not to laugh as Kaeda repeatedly would begin talking only to suddenly cease doing so for long stretches of time.  Cut off midsentence at times the goblin was becoming very eratic.  The older goblin looked back at Lineak and laughed at him.

"It's the skull talking to him.  It grants amazing knowledge when it wants to.  Right now with an empty slate I'm sure it is talking away.  Getting it to shut up is going to be the difficult part."

Lineak digested the informatin slowly.  A skull granted powers and knowledge.  A skull was talkative.  A skull.  Not breathing, not convered in flesh a skull.  Why the hell not?

"Do you miss it?"

"The power that comes with it? Yes, yes I think I do.  But it was never mine to keep.  You reach a certain age and it's time to pass it down."

A small barely perceptible sound made Lineak raise a finger cutting off the conversation.  Something was out there something making noise that was almost impossible to hear even to Lineak's heightened senses.

"One is coming now.  I can feel it.  They are not fearsome creatures, far from it in fact.  You should be able to use it to get down deeper faster.  I'll help you.  Have everyone stop moving and allow me to give you the words to the spells you need.  Trust me."

Kaeda did as the skull dictated telling the others to stop moving and then began to chant softly.  Ancient goblin words soon filled the tunnel before earth and stone began disappearing in front of the group and to the right.  As they all watched an incredibly strange creature poked its head out of the wall before approaching Kaeda.  The creature stood a good four feet tall slightly taller than Kaeda but did not look threatening in the least.  a large snout protruded from the head yet there was not a single canine tooth.  In addition the large floppy ears hanging down made the creature more laughable than fearsome.

Kaeda looked at Icheal, "Come on I'll help you get on.  We're going to get you down to the ancients quickly."

Icheal just nodded his head as if the entire situation was common place.  It made Kaeda wonder just what he and the skull had been through that seeing a creature he had never seen before pop through a wall right in front of him and then carrying him was so common place.

"Much.  He and I have been through much just as you and I shall."

Lineak could only shake his head in wonderment as the strange looking beast emerged from the wall.  He tried to look into the tunnel that it left behind it but was surprised to see that it backfilled the passage behind it.  Perhaps by doing so it kept it from being attacked from behind by predators? If that was the case it was a brilliant adaptation.  Without asking Lineak hoisted first one goblin and then the other onto the back of the creature.  Without a word man, beast, and goblins began moving farther and deeper into the depths.

As they did Lineak kept an eye out on the tunnel walls unsurprised to see more pictographs.  In addition to the pictographs there were soon torch holders and even a few rotten torches lining the walls.  This place was pretty amazing.  He lit a few of the torches watching them sizzle momentarily before going completly dead.  The added light showed a grim display.  The path they were walking on was littered with bones.  Ever the hunter Lineak picked up one of the bones to study it.  He couldn't recognize it right away it didn't quite look animal.  He could recognize that it had been gnawed on though.

Kaeda studied the pictographs with interest but was just as interested in what Lineak was doing.  He shook his head knowing what was coming next.  Rather than wait for the inevitable he decided to go ahead and chime in.  The old goblin looked at him and chuckled softly.

"You don't have to defend them you know.  Our culture and our history are what they are.  There is no changing it.  Don't try to defend them.  It is barbaric to eat your own but do you know why they do? I do.  Do you know why they bury us instead of eating those that can perform magic? I know that too."

Intrigued Kaeda leaned in to hear what the old one had to say.  He had been raised by the spirits of his ancestors and not once had they spoken of these strange, and gruesome things.  Only later had he heard the nasty things folks said about goblinkind.  Things he had later found out to be mostly true.

"I know almost nothing of our kind.  Tell me Ichael why?"

"They strip the flesh from eachother's bones to keep other predators away.  Without a scrap of meat on the bone predators are less inclined to attack in search of an easy meal.  Devouring your own is also said to grant longevity if you asked the skull how many goblins it has eaten over it's lifetime you would be amazed.  Amazed and possibly sickened by the answer."

It wasn't quite the answer that he had hoped to hear but Kaeda wasn't sure there was an answer he wasnted to hear.  Maybe that goblins didn't in fact eat each other? He was well past that though.  He had found that to be true long ago.

"As for us goblins bury their shamans because they want predators to find our remains."

"But why that sounds very, very foolish."

"Because we're superstitous and want predators to eat the magic that permeates our flesh and bones so they can be driven mad by it.  Not very rational is it?"

Kaeda had to agree with the last statement.  Not rational in the least.  Not that talking to an ancient skull was a very rational thing either.  He was learning very quickly that goblins were not the rational sort.

Lineak's heightened hearing allowed him to pick up the entirety of the hushed conversation behind him.  The majority of it he could have done without hearing.  He tried to put it out of his head concentrating on the path ahead.  Several hours had passed and the gradual decline seemed to be leveling out the cave ceiling seemed to be getting higher as well.  Soon the passage walls disappeared exposing a wide ledge of rock extending to the left and right.  Curious Lineak kept moving forward with the lit torch.  A hundred yards forward the ledge vanished into nothingness a dark deep chasm that appeared bottomless.  The light from the torch didn't pierce the darkness far enough to show what was on the other side of the chasm either.  Without even thinking about it the werewolf began pacing along the side of the chasm.  There had to be a way to go over it.

A short stroll later and Lineak whistled softy there was a way over but he wasn't sure about using it.  A single rope bridge with ancient wooden slats strung accross the bottom extended over the bottomless hole.  The bridge wasn't wide enough for the animal to pass over and Lineak wouldn't have trusted the bridge to hold the animal's weight anyways.  He was curious though what had the goblins done with the animals at this poin of their journey?  He continued his exploration of the ledge unsurprised to find remnants of small structures that may have housed the animals and a small garrison left to protect them.  His curiousity sated we walked back over to the bridge.

Kaeda jumped down and brushed past Lineak.  If anybody was going to see what was on the other side of the bridge he was going to do so first.  The first rung disappeared underfoot in a cloud of dust as the rotten wood gave way.  With a cry of alarm Kaeda began moving quicker running as fast as his short legs would take him.  In a few short seconds he began cursing he had been so damn eager to get accross he had forgotten any way to light the path ahead.

"Concentrate and listen to me.  You can make the bridge safe.  Use the earth on both sides of the bridge to reinforce it.  Repeat after me..."

Trusting the skull was no longer a concern to Kaeda who began repeating the incantation that was provided.  Still moving forward quickly he noted even though the rungs were disapearing there was still bridge underneath.  It was working!  The first sign of trouble came as an arrow tipped with flame came shooting through the dark towards the bridge.

Well, isn't that nice...Bridge building and flaming arrows...Thought Elizabeth as she walked up behind the lycanthrope. He didn't notice her as he watched his companion try to fix the bridge. Sighing, Elizabeth coughed.

"Hello there, what might your name be?" she asked the man, tapping him in the back with a rather sharp longsword. "Mine is Elizabeth, and I think that your buddy is in a bit of trouble..." she said, pointing out the oncoming arrow with her left hand.

Elizabeth had been following this group, watching as it grew through the dungeon. In fact, Elizabeth had had her eyes set on this little gold mine, but these people just decided to walk into it...rude. She had followed them, seeing the pictographs, and questioning both the skull and the goblin's sanity.

"We should probably take care of that," Elizabeth raised her sword, pointing the tip of it at the oncoming arrow. Tiny blue sparks danced in her eyes, arcs of electricity grew from the skin on her right arm, jumping between her barely visible scales. The electricity flowed from her arm to her hand, conducting into her blade. The charge grew, so great in fact that her blade itself began to glow. Then, in a deafening crack, a giant bolt of lightning jumped forth from her sword, flying out towards the arrow, shattering it on contact.

"Now, what do you think is over there?" She asked, walking out in front of the lycanthrope, stopping at the chasm's edge.

Kaeda was startled by the newcomer's presence but didn't spend too much time dwelling on it.  If he was going to survive the crossing he was going to needto continue casting his spell.  The arrow being obliterated was interesting but it would have been far better to find out who had fired the arrow, and why.  Once again plunged into darkness Kaeda cursed wildly beore common sense took over.  Not something, but SOMEBODY, had fired the arrow towards them.  It was a toss up if it had been meant to light the way or to burn the bridge down with them on it.

The goblin unsure of what exactly was waiting or him on the other side took a moments break from the spell to hiss back at this comrades, "Hurry up!"  The words had just exited his mouth when not one arrow but a volley of them flew towards the bridge. 

"Quickly! Hassga savnta vegran blynth granzcha assava!"

Kaeda repeated the strange words not knowing what the effect would be but innately knowing the skull would not lead him wrong.  As he reverted back to the previous spell he watched framents of the earthen bridge began launching themselves airborne in a wide pattern of destruction.  If he had military experience he might have heard the word chaffe, as it was he hadn't and he didn't.  In any case the earth performed well disrupting the arows' flight knocking them all off course.

Elizabeth was just slightly pissed. She would need to expand even more of her power.

"Damnit!" she grunted, whipping her sword around and plunging it into the caverns wall. Her entire body lit up in blue sparks, her eyes lighting up. She gripped the handle of her blade ever more greatly, then, twisting the blade in the stone, her power was released. Electric blue arcs travelled out from her blade, covering the cavern's wall.

The lightning travelled down, eventually revealing the group's hidden assailants. Elizabeth slumped to the floor, draining out so much of her power was a bad idea. A very bad idea...

Her breathing was harsh, she could barely keep her eyes open.

Things had happened quickly, very quickly.  First the stranger had appeared something Lineak wasn't sure he felt comfortable with as it seemed they were under attack from in front of them.  For the stranger to approach from the rear at the same time, the timing was off to say the least.  In response to the question he growled out a gruff, "Lineak." Not even bothering to find out her name.  If she lived through the oncoming assault he might take note of what her name was.

First one arrow and then a multitude of them fired and then dealt with.  Lineak groaned he was always getting shot at by something or somebody.  Not wasting any time he changed out of his human form to his wolf form.  He hadn't shown the others yet what he was capable of but it seemed like now was the time.  Crossing the bridge in wolf form took no time at all something he was gratefull for.  The chasm was far too deep for his liking.  On the other side his accute senses picked up stench not just stench but STENCH.  The smell of raw sewage of dead and dying beings permeated the air. 

He tried breathing shallow breaths for a moment but in that moment figures began decsending towards him and the others.  About thirty in number the figures were lare and grotesque.  Lineak couldn't tell if the brown coloration of their skin was filth or their natural coloration.  Standing over seven feet tall the hunking figures wore bone necklaces with bits of glass and stone interlaced and little else.  Simple loin cloths thankfully kept some things to the imagination not that Lineak wanted to imagine what lay under it.  Each figure appeared to be armed with some kind of a primitive weapon.  The fact they were primitive not mattering to the werewolf.  Thee were enough of them and they looked strong enough this could end badly.

In a moment he switched from wolf to werewolf form if these gus wanted a fight he'd give them one.  From behind him he heard the old goblin breathe out a single word, "Orcs." The word was tinged with fear and loathing there was a history here.  Not that anybody had time to dwell on it at the moment.

Elizabeth pushed herself up. 

Orcs...Bloody Orcs...she thought as she ripped her sword from the wall. Quickly rummaging through her bag, she pulled out a fist sized battery. 

"Ok, testing, please, oh please work" she mumbled to herself, sending a small spark of energy through the battery. Thankfully, it's floodgates opened, filling Elizabeth with some much needed energy. She had been storing as much as she could for months now. 

"Ok, I got about four more of those, gotta conserve energy" she wobbled for a bit, but soon righted herself. Elizabeth looked forwards at the thirty or so hulking masses, and she grinned. Shrugging off her coat, she unfurled her wings. Her tail came out from around her leg. Blue sparks danced in her eyes and along her scales. Her crimson hair began to rise on its own.

She rushed at the closest one, quickly jumping up to plunge her blade into its neck.

Seeing all of the figures illuminated gave Kaeda chills this was going to be more of a fight than he had bargainied for.  He stared at the werewolf for a moment unsure what to think.  For the entire time he had known Lineak he had never seen him as anything but a teenaged punk kid.  Now, well there was more to the kid than he had let on.  Good for him.  Hopefully it would help narrow the odds.
 
"I'll help you with that.  You need a defensive position, a wall.  Summon one you have everything you need."
 
Without question the goblin began casting a spell watching as earth and stone began moving to build a thin wall in a semi-circle around the bridge.  The wall only six inches thick started at a foot high and then began to grow taller untit it reached five feet.
 
"Enough.  Now arm yourself."

The girl / woman jumped into the fray and Lineak fought back a smile.  He'd been eager to deal death on more than one occasion himself.  This time he would see what Kaeda had been working on.  It looked like a simple wall just short of shoulder height.  That would make it difficult for the orcs to walk over at least.  It wouldn't hinder their strikes at all, or his.  That would work he guessed.  He jammed one claw through the eye of an orc who had gotten too close.  It would have to work for now.  Whatever else the goblin was cooking up needed to start working, NOW.

Chanting from behind him and it wasn't Kaeda it had to be the other one.  Lineak had forgotten that he also was a magic user.  It came back to him as the body he had disposed of got back on its feet and lurched towards its own kind weapon in hand.  Unsure of how many corpses the goblin duo could reanimate he decided to jump over the wall and add to the number of bodies they could choose from.

Dodge, claw, duck, slice and then repeat the werewolf went from one orc to the next slicing and dicing each one.  Whatever training they had it hadn't prepared them for anything like what they were dealing with here and now.

Elizabeth dashed forward, slicing her electrified blade through her enemies. How many had she taken care of now? 3? 10? She couldn't tell anymore, nothing but blood now rested in her vision. She ripped through another Orc, leaving its bloodied corpse lying on the floor.

She had already made it to the other side of their forces. Her vision gradually cleared as she turned around, catching sight of the lycanthrope. Her breath was immediately taken away. He was no longer a man, but a beast. He ripped through the Orcs, carving out chunks of meat and bone. His fur was dyed red. His claws flashing with a liquid shimmer.

Elizabeth looked around. The corpses were walking...

"Damnit! Necromancers!" She shouted, groaning in discomfort.

This one time Kaeda failed to listen to the skull instead falling back on what he had learned prior.  Corpses were weapons after all or they could be.  First one body and then more and more became reanimated.  Clubs smashed skulls as orcs fought orcs bodies flew as Lineak and the woman plowed through the others.  It looked like this fight was going to be over before it even got started. 

"Next to the wall and duck, NOW!"

Kaeda did as the skull ordered barely avoiding an orc leaping over the wall.  It lumbered towards the unsuspecting Icheal with an axe raised.  With no other option Kaeda leapt forwards with the earthen blade he had formed what seemed like ages ago now.  The blade piereced right behind the orc's left knee eliciting a scream of pain and rage.  It dropped to one knee and lashed out behind it with the axe.  The axe slid harmlessly through the air above the goblin who for once was thankfull for his short stature.  Moving as quikly as he could he stabbed the orc repeatedly in the left kidney before turning back to see how Icheal was faring.

The old goblin stared lifelessly at Kaeda.  A full foot of spear protruded through the dead goblin's torso.  With a sickenin thwump it was pulled free and Ichael fell to the ground an unmoving mass of blood and bone.  The orc who had killed him grinned down at Kaeda as it made its way towards him expecting an easy kill.  Once again the skull called to him filling him full of power and giving him the words needed. 

"This one will die slowly, I promise you that."

From the ground below the orc shafts of earth flew piercing it in numerous places.  The shafts splintered as they entered the body causing massive internal damage as they did so.  Unkown to Kaeda each of the shafts were glazed with a biological toxin common among cave spiders.  The toxin would cause the victim to rot from the inside out all the while feeling a horrible burning sensation tha would make most wish for death immedietly.  Death was far from instant though takin as long as a week for the toxin to affect a large individual to the point of death. 

The orcs screams began as soon as the earth pierced its flesh.  It fell to the ground unable to move, unable to speak, able only to scream in agony.  Kaeda watched the orc emotionlessly if he had to pee he would have peed on the creature just to spite it.  He did the next best thing spttin on its face before going to Icheal's body.

"I'm sorry.  We'll get you down to your ancestors.  No matter the cost."

"Yes, yes you will.  But first you need to finish up here."

The voice, Icheal's voice, surprised Kaeda momentarily.  After a second though he grinned.  It was unsurprising or a necromancer of all things to be talkin with the dead.  Hell he converesed with an ancient skull he was wearing didn't he?

The orcs didn't stand a change against the onslaught of Elizabeth and Lineak both.  Looking over at the wall it appeared as though even Kaeda had taken out an orc or two.  The few remaining orcs attempted to flee and Lineak found himself slowing.  It was one thing to take a life when your own depended on it.  It was something entirely different to kill for the sake of killing.  He watched the progress those fleeing made tracking their escape route as possible methods for going deeper into the caves.

The screams from behind him were barbaric, animalistic, and horrific.  Lineak turned to see what was causing such a ruckous and was unable to see anything.  With both Kaeda and Icheal out of sight he had to admit he was a bit worried.  He ran up and over the wall staring in shock at Kaeda holding Ichael'd body.  This wasn't meant to happen.  It was supposed to be a simple mission to get the goblin down to a graveyard in the depths nothing more.  How? Why? The answers wouldn't come and Lineak had to admit he didn't need them.  What he needed was to get the dead goblin down farther and burried and then to get the hell out of the cave.

He approached Kaeda placing a hand on the goblin's shoulder.  "I'm sorry.  We'll get him to his ancestors I promise."

Elizabeth watched as the flood of Orcs ran past her, going deeper into the cave. Then, wiping her blade of on the clothes of a nearby corpse, she returned it to its sheath.

"Are they dead? Are they all dead? Did you let any of those slimy bastards get away? I'll kill 'em I'll kill you for letting them get away."

"He knew he was dying.  Today was his day.  It is not yours.  You must bring him deeper and bury him with the others."

Kaeda looked up at Lineak for a moment.  "Thank you.  Any idea why those orcs attacked us?"

"Orcs are a natural enemy of goblinkind.  They probably took over an old goblin settlement.  Or it was a war party looking to take over an old abandoned settlement."

"Nevermind.  I don't think we've seen the last of the orcs.  We're going to have to stay alert.  Lineak? How are we going to move Icheal?"

Lineak was sure he already knew the answer.  He was going to have to carry the corpse of the fallen goblin.  While attempting to keep an eye out for orcs, while carrying a torch, while possibly fighting orcs, the list kept getting longer.  He knew better than to tell the goblin to carry his own kind even though he would have loved to.  Instead he reverently picked up the dead goblin placing it over his shoulders.  In that position he'd have the best range of motion for his other limbs, just in case.

Satisfied that the corpse wasn't going anywhere Lineak began moving in the direction he had seen the orcs leave.  As he suspected there were passageways rapidly descending nearby.  The werewolf chose the largest of the passages and began a crazy decline into the depths.  The steep decline was made even more difficult by the weight on his shoulders something he was tempted to remove every time he slipped.  He resisted the temptation throughout the passage though.  Once again a passage opened up this time florescent lights from the stones around lit up what had to have been goblin cave dwellings.  Honeycombed into the side of a bluff there were hundreds if not thousands of individual dwellings.  As awed by the sight as he was Lineak knew Kaeda would want to see it.