Lizzie walked down the corridor, idly trying to glare holes through the blob-like creature walking in front of her, the goblin bringing up the rear of their procession. There hadn’t really been a choice but to go with them, she’d heard about grues once, and didn’t like the thought of a personal encounter with one. So she had come along peacefully. The tunnel had gained a stonework floor, and further along there had been construction work to even out the walls and lay down brickworks. The creatures doing this work looked rather like Backstage imps to Lizzie, diminutive creatures with overlarge hands and eyes. So now Lizzie and her ‘escort’ were walking down a finished dungeon-like corridor, occasional rooms off to the sides. The goblin had long since set the burning torch in an empty wall holder in passing, more such torches burning at vaguely regular intervals.
Steered along by the goblin’s gruff manner, she eventually arrived at an enormous room, most of which was taken up by an equally enormous organic mass that appeared to have grown up out of the floor itself (or possibly grown down into it?). The mass glowed from within, large veins clearly visible in shadow. Lizzie just stared at it in disgust for a time, until the goblin gave her a hard shove from behind. Turning in anger, she was almost tempted to give her fire breath a try, just to incinerate this little maggot. But, that hard look in its eyes (and the iron blade in its hand) made her reconsider. So she let herself be led towards the cancer-like growth, and to the small bit of it that appeared animated.
Coming closer, Lizzie realized that it was human-like. At least, part of a human. Male, with only the arms, head, and part of his torso recognizable, the rest having been overtaken by the glowing flesh-mass. The body was set at about sitting height, and someone had set up a table in front of him, across which was a dizzying amount of stuff in that careful and calculated arrangement known as “Of course I know where everything is!” The centerpiece of which appeared to be a detailed map, across which were scattered a variety of chess-like pieces, which appeared to be moving across the map on their own…
“Keeper!” the goblin called out. “We have a prize for you…” The head looked up from the notes it’d been perusing to glare at the three of them, each in turn. Lizzie had to stifle a small gasp of recognition as she saw his face… His skin was sickly pale, hair stringy and slimy, eyes sunken, but it was clearly Zorlond. Those eyes… A dead stare mixed with naked annoyance at the intrusion, coupled with a clear impression of disdain. Like they were little more than a trio of pawns on a chessboard, and about as valued.
Recovering its composure, the goblin continued, “She looks to be quite the treat, eh? Are you pleased?”
Zorlond snorted. “Of course not, fool. Like all lesser things you can’t even begin to see beneath the surface.” Zorlond leveled his gaze on Lizzie. “This one isn’t meant for my collection. Vultus stabilitas!” Gesturing emphatically at Lizzie, she felt the magic spell hit her, practically setting her skin on fire with it’s intensity… And then it was done. Lizzie straightened up, looking over her scaled hand. Her body had been flipping back and forth wildly between her natural self and her dream self, like a switch that couldn’t stay in either position. Now it looked like a third position had been added. She still appeared to be a teenager, but her dragon nature had solidified, and at least appeared stable. Lizzie looked back to Zorlond, and noticed his arched eyebrow, a noticeably different glint in that steely eye now. He snorted again and looked away. “Perhaps she can be added later. The hopeless lot above are mustering one last attack upon us. Morons. Take her to the east gate; you three are on guard duty now.”
“Now just hold on one second!” Lizzie had had enough of being shoved around like this. And now that her shape had apparently stabilized, she had no reason to let it happen. “I don’t know what your problem is, Zorlond, but you’d better…”
Zorlond growled, a guttural noised full of sudden fury and contempt. Snatching up three of the pieces from the map, he practically threw them down again in a different spot…
Lizzie landed on her shoulder blades, her wings flaring in pain briefly from the impact. Sitting up slowly, she looked around. The room was decidedly different, Zorlond nowhere in sight. Nearby, the red blob struggled to straighten up while the goblin casually flipped itself upright. Leering, it told her, “You don’t tells the Keeper what to do, girlie. He tells you.”
“Like hell he does!” Lizzie got to her feet, anger burning within her. “I do what I choose, and that’s…”
The invisible blow sent her flying 20’ straight into a brick wall, and completely knocked the wind out of her. Coughing and gasping, she lay there, as the goblin, kindasyeplease, sidled over. Picking up a pebble from the floor, he pointedly set it down where she could easily see it. Then, casually cocking finger and thumb, flicked it across the room and into the wall. Lizzie watched, and then looked up into that grinning, gleefully evil face.
“You gots guard duty, girlie,” the goblin said. “Now gets up and guard.”
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Fri Sep 17 21:11:46 2004
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