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King Pandez sat in the tiger's tent as he waited for Nizzbit to return, the rest of his knights out with the other lizardfolk in attempt to help their tribe out. Though he knew that he was hot on Alkali's trail he wasn't one to risk his own men in the middle of an aberration breach. He had also been sure; however, that the ferret wasn't crazy enough to risk it either, but from what he learned from Nizzbit and the tribe they had done just that a day ago. It meant that Pandez had a hard choice, either risk his men on a potentially suicidal mission or to stand down and potentially lose the power of Ka'Le to his rival.

When the tent flap opened the panda looked up to see the tiger monk, only to find someone completely different enter instead. "Serina!" King Pandez said as the vulpine pushed her hood back. "How did you manage to get here so quickly? You didn't use..."

"The resources that I use to aid you and this kingdom are none of your concern," Serina replied with a smirk as she sat down opposite him. "Anyway, the reason that such haste was required is that my seers just informed me that the rift scourge that was in the area just disappeared completely."

"Disappeared completely..." Pandez repeated before he sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "I can't believe he actually did it, and got rid of them to boot. Now that the way is clear there's nothing that will stop him from reaching Ka'Le, and with a day head start we'll never reach him in time."

Serina just sat back in the chair and continued to smirk. "Not necessarily," Serina replied. "They have one person translating their map, I had all the resources of the Arcanum University, and what we found could certainly help."

A few minutes later Pandez came out of the tent and gathered his men as well as the lizardfolk in the middle of the encampment. "First of all I have some good news for your tribe," he announced. "The aberrations that have plagued your land have ceased and you will be able to return to your home if you would like. Secondly, for my knights we have new information that is going to aid us in catching up with those who we are pursuing. I need everyone to get ready as soon as possible so we can move out."

There was a loud cheer from both groups of people and King Pandez stepped down from his makeshift stage and moved back inside. Serina already had the map spread out on the table and showed Pandez what she had been talking about. Thought it was still a perilous road, it gave him hope that they could still succeed in thwarting the necromancer ferret from his plans.

"So we have another problem that we need to discuss," Serina said as they finalized their route into the city itself. "We need to discuss what is happening with the rift and why it was there in the first place. Normally such voids shouldn't be so easily closed, yet with one group they not only scrubbed it from this plane, but also those who were summoned by it."

"I am concerned as well," Pandez replied with a sigh. "But Alkali is a powerful necromancer, the demon Draggor is quite the warlock, and Xander the Blue is an accomplished bard, are you sure that he didn't find the means to do this?"

The vixen mage shook her head and sat back down in the chair. "We have to consider the possibility that our quest had not gone unnoticed here King Pandez," Serina said. "You know that he is watching this kingdom carefully, waiting for a chance to try and take it out from under you. A powerful magic and a quest that the King himself decided to undertake would certainly fit the bill. Perhaps you should leave this to your knights and head back into the capital, this teleport spell has a limited recall that I can use to take you back with me."

Pandez looked down as he processed what Serina was saying. What she spoke of was some sort of ancient creature made of darkness and blue flame that had made contact with him several times in his dreams concerning his kingdom, something that he would never do as long as he still breathed. That of course meant that such a creature would look to do just that, though it would never do anything that would spark a war that the royal panda could use to muster forces against it. Plus with it being such an entity that it would likely outlive him, its best move was patience... though from the look of the rift it was possible that its patience had finally run out.

"If it's true that he has something to do with this then it's all the more reason I get there first," King Pandez explained defiantly as he pressed his hand against the table. "I don't care whether I'm racing against one person or a thousand gods, I will get that power first so that this kingdom will flourish..."

Once they had finished with their planning Serina rolled up the map and put it back into her pack that she slung on her back. "Whoa wait, where you you think you're going?" Pandez asked as she started towards his knights that had prepared to leave.

"With you of course," Serina replied. "Just because the power of Ka'Le was a naturalistic energy that is more suited for your new druid friends it doesn't meant that an arcanist like myself can't learn a thing or two. Besides, it is rather clear that you need my help, and with you so close to the finish line it wouldn't make sense for me to rush off back to the university while you get to go off and do another big adventure."

Pandez just shook his head at Serina's insistence. Even though he was the king he could never control the mage, and it was true that he could certainly use the help in what came ahead. The vixen was more than content to travel by his side once again as they set forth. The lizardfolk weren't far behind him, though they knew that their paths would soon part as they moved towards the home stretch of their journey...

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"Are you sure that this is the right way?" Alkali asked Draggor as the demon studied the map once more, his eyeridges furrowed in concentration as the rest of the group stared up at the massive stone cliff that blocked their path. "Because it seems to me that this might be the end of the line. Not that I don't trust you, it's just... you know... there's a mountain in front of us and no city."

"The map is very specific in this instance," Draggor replied. "We're almost on top of it, we just have to go a little bit further and from what it says we'll literally be inside the city."

"That little bit further is currently a few miles up a mountain," Zen said as he looked up at the snowy peak. "It seems like a poor place to put a city, there's no way that they'd be able to sustain a large population up there even if they were a magically advanced civilization of some sort."

As Draggor told them all to hush and continued to ponder over the map the rest of the group set up a small, temporary camp site so that they could prepare for their final push. Once they had gotten rid of the aberrations that had plagued the old outpost city they found their journey up until this point to be far easier, though they all knew that they had also just done the same for their pursuers. They could almost sense King Pandez right behind them, which made their current predicament all the more stressful. As the warlock tried to work out where to go next Xander and Alkali attempted to see if there was some sort of magical trick to open the stone and allow them to pass while Zen wandered off on his own to see if they could find another way up the mountain itself.

"You know," Draggor said as he sat back against the stone and looked up at the stone. "From the very real possibility that the city is inside this mountain, we could just go through the infernal realm and appear on the other side. I could stand to visit my patron for a bit while we try and find out way inside this place."

"You're forgetting the fact that no one else here are demonspawn," Alkali spoke up from reading his tome. "I don't think anyone in the group would have a good time down there."

"Well I'm about seventy percent sure that Serathin is a demon," Draggor responded, prompting the rogue to shout a hey from his spot. "In any case it might be the only way in, I can't find any clue that tells us how to get in via the map, and unless someone else can figure it out, it's either that or we sit here and wait for King Pandez to catch up to us."

Everyone just looked at each other as they contemplated what they were supposed to do next until they heard a shout from further along the perimeter of the mountain. Everyone immediately drew their swords and ran towards the barbarian's call, but when they got there they found he was not in the peril they thought. In fact he was jumping up and down rather excitedly as he motioned and shouted from them to come closer, the fox next to a riverbank that he began to walk down while the others caught up. When they got there they saw why Zen was so excited in the first place, the river seemed to flow into the mountain itself down a fairly steep decline before it disappeared into the darkness.

"Zen, I can't believe it," Xander said as he peered into the cave. "How did you find something like this?"

"I'm a barbarian, I go where I want," Zen replied simply. "Now are we just going to stand around here and admire my greatness or are we going to go in there and find this thing!"

The others agreed and slowly progressed down the slick stone that bordered the river that ran into the cave. When the light from the surface grew too dim to illuminate their path Draggor summoned several colorful orbs of light for the front while Serathin pulled out his magical torch to expel the darkness behind them. With the shelf of stone being as narrow as it was they had to progress down single file, making sure to keep one another stable on the wet stone as they ventured further in.

"This stone... it doesn't feel like it was eroded by the river," Xander said as he ran his scaled hand along the wall. "I'd say it was manmade but it doesn't feel that way, either. It's almost like someone burrowed their way into the stone itself to make this cave, and whatever did it smoothed out the walls along the way."

"Are you saying that we might be heading straight into some monster's lair instead of a possible entrance into Ka'Le?" Alkali asked disapprovingly as his eyes darted towards the barbarian fox.

"Possibly," Xander replied. "It has to go somewhere, though, otherwise this cave would have flooded with all the water pouring into it. Still, might not be a bad idea to go into the rest of this weapons out."

The others agreed and everyone drew their blades and other weapons as they continued to push their way deeper down into the darkness. By this point their only light source now was the magical light they carried with them, illuminating the wall on one side and the river on the other as the cave continued on. Finally Alkali, who had led the group in the front, stopped when the light that hovered above their path no longer illuminated any stone that could go beneath their feet. When he looked around he found that the entire cave opened up and when he felt along the side of the wall, he felt something soft and on a hunch told the others to stifle their lights.

As soon as they did and their eyes adjusted to the darkness they all looked forward in sheer awe. The river that ran next to them dumped its contents into a huge lake that spanned across the cavern they had just breached, the photosensitive moss and other lichen glowing now that they were in complete darkness once again to bathe the whole area in a soft, blue glow. Spires of stone jutted up from the bottom and top of the cavern, but what caught all their eyes were the man-made structures that were carved into the rock itself. Most of it was at least partially destroyed, but with a little shimmying from the cave to a nearby ledge, they found a bridge that would carry them over the expanse of water and deeper into the cavern.

"This is incredible..." Xander said as he mentally wrote down the details of the area for later stories. "Do you think... this is Ka'Le?"

"Maybe it's part of it," Draggor replied. "A city as big as what Ka'Le was rumored to be would possibly have a subterranean level in order to do things like harness water and things like that. What I don't get is if this was the path we were supposed to take, then why wasn't it marked on the map?"

The others just shrugged as they continued forward, their attention still towards any dangers that they may come across as they walked. As they moved further into the cavern they still hadn't seen anything, but did come across a stench that grew stronger the further they moved in. Below them the water that had come into the large lake had been sectioned off and was fetid, as though something rotten was in it. In the dim glow of the bioluminescent fungi that lined the ceiling they tried to look down at what might cause such a shift but saw nothing, and no one wished to venture down to investigate.

When they reached a particularly large carved out stone platform a sudden movement caused them all to stop and remain still. Whatever it was continued to shift slightly, but they couldn't tell if it had seen their presence or not. The creature or object was right between them and the way to the other side of the cavern, which meant that they either had to pass it or circle back and try to find another way across. After a hushed argument between the five they decided to send out the rogue first, the hybrid frowning as he was unceremoniously pushed out of their hiding spot and towards the mysterious thing on the platform.

Serathin swallowed hard as he slowly walked forward, keeping to the safety of the shadows as he did so. When it shifted around again the sabrewolf stopped and immediately pressed his back to the side of a stone pillar that lined the plateau. Everyone's breath caught in their throat as the black blob shifted, then seemed to settle down once more. The rogue breathed a silent sigh of relief and jumped from shadow to shadow until he reached the other side of the large stone floor and urged everyone else to do the same.

Unlike their shadowy companion, though, the others had a harder time staying silent as they tried to trace the same path he did. More than once they stopped when a louder than normal boot hitting the ground or clang of armor against the rock caused it to stir. Despite their loudness both Draggor and Xander joined Serathin at the stone stairs that led further up the cavern, which only left the armored ferret and the ungraceful fox to arrive there. They continued to slowly walk until a loud snort from the creature caused Zen to step back and brace himself, unaware that Alkali had been right behind him as he stepped on the ferret's foot and caused him to drop his sword.

The loud clang of metal against stone caused everyone that had already crossed to either cover their mouths or shake their heads before the creature began to stir. It was clear that whatever it was had awoken and Alkali and Zen just looked at each other as they silently debated whether to stay still or to make a run for it. When it completely unfurled; however, their fear turned to curiosity as they finally got a look at what they had been sneaking around this entire time.

"Look Xander, it's your cousin," Alkali joked as the young dragon flapped its wings and looked at them with a cocked head. "He's... kinda cute in a way, you think you can talk to it?"

Xander took a cautious step forward and looked the dragon up and down, the dragon doing the same to him before the bard shook his head. "This is just a baby," he explained. "And even if he was old enough to talk, it's unlikely that they would know any language. Unlike the other dragons that live close to cities I think these are feral; still highly intelligent, but without the added layer of learning society from other civilizations."

"This thing is adorable!" Zen said as he walked over and scratched the black scales under its chin, which despite being just a baby, the fox had to stand on his tiptoes to do as everyone shouted at him not to. "Look, this isn't the first time that I've come toe to toe with a dragon, remind me when we're done with this to tell you about the time I defeated three dragons at once using only a log, my loincloth, and four wheels of cheese that had spoiled the night before."

The others frowned but said nothing as the fox continued to play with the dragon, which let out happy little chirps as everyone else slowly approached it. "Well, cute as it may be there's no way that this little thing managed to create the cave that we walked down," Xander said. "Though acid would do the trick, I doubt this little guy could even breathe it at this stage in its life. So the dragon that likely made this whole area and raised this little guy was-"

"Its mother," the draconic sabrewolf interrupted.

"Yes, that would be it." Xander replied with a slight huff. "I was just about to get to that."

"No, I mean its mother is here!" Serathin shouted as he pointed down to the very large black dragon head that had risen up from the depths of the lake itself, its eyes staring straight at them in pure malice as it opened its mouth. "Run!"

Everyone scrambled from the edge of the nest as acid sprayed out of its mouth towards them. Serathin ducked behind one of the columns and Draggor casted a shield to protect themselves, but as the others ran several droplets of the caustic substance began to eat away at their clothes, armor, and their flesh as the smell of dissolving stone filled the air. The baby dragon continued to chirp happily as the five ran up the stairs while the gigantic dragon continued to rise up out of the water. The roar it let loose shook the very stone beneath them and reverberated to their core as it began to swim towards them.

"I don't think we can beat that!" Zen said as they frantically ran.

"You think?!" Alkali shouted back. "Just keep running!"

"What if this path doesn't lead anywhere?" Xander yelled.

"Well we'll probably have about a minute to lament at our mistake!" Alkali said angrily. The dragon continued to track their movements as they ran across a particularly large stone that bridged several stalagmites together. When it got into range it took its mighty tail and slapped it against the stone pillar that held up one end while its head smashed against the other. Though it caused the two supports to crumble the walkway they stood on continued to hold, though now only on one pillar in the middle that caused the whole thing to wobble back and forth like a giant seesaw.

When they tried to get to the other side the dragon took its huge paw and tried to claw at them, but hit the stone first and caused it to spin around. Everyone began to slide towards the edge as the dragon chased them around, its back bumping up against the opposite side and causing them to fall backwards. When they were able to steady themselves once again they saw that the dragon had managed to knock them all the way around to the beginning of the platform as it stretched out its neck to try to eat them. With several more stalagmites underneath the dragon; however, it seemed to be unable to move further, but with its reach if they tried to run back across the tilted rock once again it would easily be able to pick them off one by one.

"I have an idea!" Zen shouted as he went to Serathin's bag and took out a long length of rope, then tied one end to himself and the other to the sabrewolf. "Hope you got a lot of strength behind those wings!"

"I can help with that," Alkali said before his hand began to glow. "Now hold still, you might feel a slight burning sensation."

"You know what, I think I'm fine-" Serathin started to say before the hand was placed on him and the green energy transferred to him. The hybrid's eyes widened before every muscle in his body thickened and spikes grew out from his body. When the energy left the altered sabrewolf looked at himself with a feral grin. "Nevermind, now I'm fine."

"Well hurry up then," Alkali said before he shooed him off. "That spell only lasts a few minutes."

Serathin nodded and flew up into the air, the dragon snapping at him as he quickly flew out to the limit of the rope that was tied around him. At the same time the fox ran to the opposite side of the stone and grabbed onto the edge as hard as he could. The second the line went taut the stone started to shift, rotating them back around to the other side of the cavern. As the other end passed towards the dragon it reached up and pushed against it, causing Serathin to nearly get pulled out of the sky as it realized what they were doing and began to try and push them closer to its maw.

"Hey Xander," Draggor said as he looked back at the baby dragon that had followed them all the way up to the top of the stairs. "You think you got one more sleep song left in you?"

"Well, yeah," Xander replied in confusion. "But there is no way a simple spell like that is going to take down a dragon like that." The demon shook his head and pointed towards the child, which caused the bard to let out an ahhh of realization. "Yeah, I think I can make that work."

As Serathin and Zen played a dangerous tug-of-war with the huge dragon Xander began to orate a tale to the baby dragon. Though it couldn't understand what the blue dragon was saying, the words themselves were told in a way that caused its eyes to droop and for it to let out a loud yawn. Despite the roars of the dragon and the shouts of the others Xander managed to get the baby to go to sleep, it curled back into a ball and before long its eyes closed in magically induced slumber.

"Alright, the baby is asleep," Xander said as he looked at Draggor. "Now what?"

"We give the mother something else to focus on," Draggor replied as he aimed a fireball at the already weakened base of the stairs. The stone exploded on impact with the magic and the stairway they had just walked on a few minutes ago began to crumble with the baby dragon still on it. The giant dragon, its focus momentarily distracted by the explosion, let out a loud roar as it suddenly let go of their stone platform and pushed its way around the stalagmites to save its child. The three suddenly fell over as the straining draconic sabrewolf was suddenly able to move forward again and rotated the rock so that they were on the other side.

Once they had gotten to the next platform they saw a light at the end of the cavern that caused them all to let out a cry of celebration, only to be cut short when they heard a massive roar behind them. They all turned to see the bigger dragon nestle its still-sleeping baby in its nest before its head snapped around and looked straight at them with a gaze of pure malevolence. "Well, now you made her angry," Alkali said before they all began to run once more.

The five of them sprinted towards the light at the end of the cavern as the dragon charged them again, creating a huge wave from the lake below. The cave ahead was just large enough to fit them and appeared to be a carved doorway, though at that moment they would have settled for a hole in the stone. As they grew close it appeared they were going to beat the larger creature to the end, something that wasn't lost on the dragon as it stopped and took in a huge lungful of air.

"She's gonna blow!" Serathin shouted as he jumped into the nearest shadow and reappeared ahead of them, ushering them inside. Draggor was next, followed by Xander and Zen as the dragon let loose a huge cloud of acidic vapor that rushed straight towards them. On the other side of the doorway was a stone door, one that they started to close as Alkali ran to join the others with the cloud bearing down on him like a tornado. As soon as they saw the ferret dive in they closed the door behind him, then immediately backed away as wisps of the acidic substance settled around where it had leaked in before it closed.

"Alkali!" Xander shouted as the necromancer writhed around as his clothes smoldered from where the acid breath had covered them. With the help of the others they managed to remove the affected cloak and Draggor emptied several flasks of water and other natural substances to try and dilute it. Despite the exposure the ferret seemed to escape the encounter with only some minor burns, though they proved painful as the necromancer grimaced as the blue dragon quickly applied a poultice to heal the wound.

"You're one lucky ferret," Zen commented as he helped the others carry their injured party member away from the door where they could still hear the black-scaled feral dragon roar and howl in fury. "Most I know would be partially melted getting hit with a breath like that."

"Luckily I do have acid resistance," Alkali explained. "When you're around the undead as much as I am you find that a surprising amount of them either bleed acid, spit acid, or explode into acid... just generally a lot of acid."

Once the rest of the group checked themselves for injuries that could be treated, Serathin nearly falling over as the energy that Alkali had imbued him with wore off, they looked around to try and get a bearing on their surroundings. The door they had just used as a shield against the dragon was intricately carved with a number of strange symbols on them, ones that Xander was quick to point out were similar to those on the map. "Well there's no way we can go back the way we came," Draggor said, all of them feeling the walls vibrate from the echo of the dragon's roar before he turned his light to the tunnel on the other side. "Looks like we press forward for better or worse."