A Short Scene in a Dwarven Ruin

I thought I might as well share a snippet of the backstory of one of my D&D characters. At the time of the campaign he's in, he's a 343 year old gnomish wizard, but during this story, he's only in his early forties. I wrote a few of these mainly to practice writing, but also to establish just how the character turned out like he did. This is one of my favorite ones. Fifth edition, if anyone's curious.

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It was mind numbing sometimes, the waiting. There were few things Eniros disliked more. Research engaged his mind. Combat, his reflexes. But waiting was dull. Still, there was nothing to do about it. He was useless for now, standing quietly in the dim torchlight.

Beside him were most of his party, silent as him, though perhaps more patient. Holding the torch was Valion. The tall, blonde elf stood attentive, watching the stone corridor ahead of him unblinkingly, the light reflecting off the steel of his armor.

Thorst, meanwhile, looked back, ensuring no one came from behind. He leaned against his hammer, his thick, brown beard less than a foot from touching the ground. He was old, but not yet graying. The wrinkles around his nose looked almost out of place. Tied to his hammer was a much smaller hammer of gold, his holy symbol of Mith.

That left Natlie. She could barely see beyond the torchlight, and looked nearly as bored as Eniros felt. She sat against the carved stone wall, her foot lightly tapping to some unheard beat. A lute rested on her lap, unplayed for fear of making too much noise. Her hair had an unusual appearance, looking simultaneously red and brown. Eniros sometimes wondered if she enhanced it with magic. She was the youngest of the group, barely past her teens, but her skills were exceptional.

With nothing else to do, Eniros turned to the walls. They were certainly dwarven in origin, as Thorst had confirmed, but there were no markings to tell of their purpose. The place had no recorded history. No books spoke of it. This was surprising, as it was vast. Already, they had needed to stop twice for sleep.

At the same time, it was rather young, as dwarven ruins go. By the wear on the stonework, it couldn’t be more than three or four hundred years old. What would lead its makers to abandon it was difficult to guess.

Eniros’s thoughts were – thankfully – interrupted by the return of Ariana. She stepped carefully into the torchlight, each movement planned and precise. Natlie leapt quietly to her feet, a grin spreading across her face. Valion gave her a quick look before she could speak.

“So?” he said, turning back to Ariana.

“No traps for the next three hundred feet. Large chamber at the end. Three branching halls. Three to five gricks in the chamber.”

“Three to five?”

“Three I can confirm. Best to prepare for five, though.”

Valion nodded. “Good. Everyone ready?” There was a series affirmative noises as everyone positioned themselves. “Then lets move.”

With Valion at the head, the group began the trek down the corridor. Ariana fell in next to Eniros. With most people, Eniros would assume this was purely by chance, but not Ariana. He looked up at her.

“What is it?” he asked, not wanting to wait for her to decide to speak.

“Your magic rock,” she replied. She held out a small polished stone, waiting for Eniros to take it.

He looked at it, considering. It was a useful thing, changing its purpose as he desired, but he couldn’t see how it would help him here. At the moment, it was what granted Ariana her enhanced sight, and that would be far more help in the long run than quicker feet or tougher skin.

“Keep it, for now,” Eniros said. “You need it more than I do.” Ariana shrugged, then stepped away, separate from the rest.

The path was just as Ariana had said: clear of traps, and rather long. The walls remained annoyingly blank. But at least they were moving. Moving was easier than waiting.

It was only a few minutes later that Eniros could see the entrance to the chamber Ariana had described. Valion stopped and turned to the group.

“Alright,” he whispered, “we have between three and five gricks to face. I’ll draw their attention. Thorst, keep me alive. Stick to magic and enchanted weapons. Stay away from the tentacles. They have numbers, so we focus our attacks to take them out one by one. We want to limit how often they can attack. Hit hard and hit fast, but don’t waste anything too strong. There might be something worse later, and we want to be as fresh as possible just in case. I’ll throw the torch in first to keep my hands free. Everyone ready?” The group collectively nodded. “Then lets go.”

Valion turned back and charged toward the opening. When he was about five yards back, he lobbed the torch underhand into the chamber. The rest of the group followed after him, Eniros and Thorst taking the rear.

The room itself was decently sized, but not overwhelmingly so. It seemed to be about fifty feet on each side, with a ceiling nearly fifteen feet up. There was little inside, as it seemed primarily an intersection between hallways, but there were plenty of bones. The torch was well thrown, as it landed directly in the center, lighting most of the room.

As soon as Valion reached the center, the gricks were on him. Three of them, each attempting to lash out with their tentacles. He sidestepped one, and his armor caught the second. The third caught his leg, and the disgusting creature pulled itself toward him, biting him with its beak. He grunted slightly, then swung at it with his greatsword, severing its tentacle.

Eniros prepared to blast it with a firebolt, aiming his wand, but stopped, when he saw it was already dead. Ariana knelt next to it, pulling a slightly shimmering dagger out of its head. Eniros blinked. He hadn’t even seen her move.

It didn’t matter much, of course. A spell meant for one could easily go to another. The firebolt shot out of his wand, slamming into another of the gricks beside Valion. It squawked with pain, but was far from dead. Still, this was going well. An easy fight for the group.

But of course it wasn’t that simple. Just as Eniros thought it, a fourth grick emerged from a corner. This one was bigger than the others, and moved more quickly. It went straight for Ariana, its tail lashing out. She dodged, but barely, apparently surprised by it. It attacked again, this time with a tentacle. It struck an exposed part of Ariana’s arm, clearly hurting her, but it couldn’t get a grip, as she spun away from it.

The sound of a lute interrupted the chaos. Natlie, standing just outside the room, had begun to play. The tune was fast paced, but beautiful, and it took only a few seconds before the entire fight conformed to it. Thorst charged in with his hammer and struck one of the smaller gricks at the same moment a major chord was played. The gricks also attacked in time with the music, but missed Valion, just as the tune pulled back. This was why Natlie was useful. Her songs could subtly control an entire battlefield as it moved with her rhythm.

Of course, it was more than that. A few words sung in a strange language, and Valion’s leg stopped bleeding. The music was enough to influence the fight, but it would be hard for her to keep it up without a bit of magic.

But even with the song, the larger grick was strong. While Valion struck one of the small gricks, bringing it to the edge of death, the large one charged after a fleeing Ariana. It landed a strike with its tail across her face. Blood began to drip from her arm where it had caught her before.

It attacked again, slashing at her side with a tentacle. She stepped quickly and easily away from the strike, but not enough to stop it from wrapping around her. It tugged her in close, and the grick bit her hard on the leg. She let out a small noise – a bad sign.

The large one would be a major problem. Eniros stepped around to the side, mentally thumbing through his spellbook. Blight. One of his best attack spells. It would be more useful against plants, and as he thought about it, he wasn’t sure why he had bothered to prepare it, but it would deal a deadly first strike. He aimed his wand, muttered the incantation, and let it loose. Immediately the larger grick screeched in pain, black vein-like lines appearing all along its body. When the effect stopped spreading it looked hurt. Very hurt. But not dead.

It turned to face Eniros.

As it began its new pursuit, Eniros barely noticed Valion slay a second grick, or Thorst rush over to Ariana to heal her. All he noticed was the song. It picked up pace, and his feet matched it. It told of danger, and he leapt to the side. It told of hopelessness, and he was caught. There was pain on his left side as he was pulled backward toward an open beak.

But the song had more to say. Lyrics, now, as a wave of magical force struck the tentacle binding him, severing it. The beak snapped shut on air, and Eniros spun. Magic Missile, he thought, and three glowing darts shot from his left hand into the large monster before him. It squawked for a moment, then a sword pierced through its head, and it fell.

Valion stood over the corpse, and offered his hand to Eniros, helping him up.

“Well,” he said, “that was a bit more than I expected. I assume the large one was more skilled with stealth?”

Ariana nodded, rubbing her arm where a cut had just been healed. “They know how to hide in stone. I did not anticipate an alpha.”

“It was fun though,” Natlie added. “Way more interesting than just regular gricks.”

“Maybe for you.” Valion looked at his leg. “You weren’t hit.” He looked around at the group. “Everyone alright?”

Ariana nodded. Eniros looked down at his side. No blood. “I’ll bruise tomorrow, but the Mage Armor stopped it from being too bad.”

“Looks like our young thief here took the worst of it,” said Thorst, patting her hard on the back. “But I’ve got her patched up fine.” Ariana’s face was blank as always, but something about her stance told Eniros she wasn’t too pleased with that.

“Good,” said Valion. “Now we just have to decide which way to go. Eniros. Thorst. Have a look above the paths. See if there’s anything we can learn from them. Once you decide, we’ll have Ariana scout it out. Everyone clear?” The group nodded.