[Hookbill the Goomba]

"As we marched," Fáinu said, "a loud roar was heard, like a hurricane filled with fire. A Bright flame leaped up into the air. I flung myself on the ground, as the burn on m hand seemed to grow in agony. Then we saw it..."

The elf closed his eyes and placed one hand over his face, the memory was too clear, the sound still rung in his ear. That creature had been his bane and his blessing, but the tale was still too painful for him to fully recall in its entirety. Cree sighed as she too recalled the painful call of the Dragon as it flew overhead, its black wings spread apart like thunderclouds.

"I-" stuttered Fáinu, "I remember little else of what happened after that. We saw it fly over and my hand burned like the fires of a Balrog, I could have sworn that I saw the bandage burst into flame. I threw myself to the ground and covered my ears. It was due to some quick thinking on the part of Killi that saved us, for seeing my anguish; he firmly placed a hand over my mouth, as I was about to cry out.

"Fundin, the older of the two, dragged us all into a small cave and watched as the beast flew over and over. I think it knew we were there, that creature must have brought news back to it." Fáinu thumped the table with his fist; "so much could have been achieved otherwise." he sighed and drained his mug. "We waited till the monster returned to its hiding place before we moved again and my wound hurt less. Cree seemed strangely calm about the situation, yet ever; her hand was at her sword hilt.

"The day passed without another sound from the Dragon, yet still forth from the pit came black smog. We saw that it was beginning to descend and would soon fill all the valleys in the area, Fundin and Killi were little worried, Dwarves, after all, like the dark: 'Dark, for dark business' as Kilo often said. The land was becoming more treacherous, where the Dragon had obviously had some battles, sword remnants were scattered around and blood stained much of the rock. As we walked under twilight, we heard movement in the rocks above us, Cree saw, with here keen eyes, two figures stooping from a ledge. 'Goblins', she whispered to me. As swift as we could, we all drew our weapons and stood back to back.

"After hearing some screeches and laughter, there appeared two Goblins coming up the stairs and three more coming down from the rocks above. They came onto the ledge and laughed in their horrible voices that seemed to make our bones shiver. Cree and I backed up against a wall that was to the right of them and pointed our swords towards the Goblins. Killi and Fundin stood before us, axes in hand.

"'What have we here?' snarled the largest one who seemed to be the chief, 'some elves, and beads.' He spat at the Dwarves and laughed.

"'Looks that way chief,' said one of the other Goblins, 'shall we cut ‘em up for the dogs?'

"'Not yet, Malgrot!' cried the chief, 'We’ll have a bit of fun with them first!'

"'What do you want?” asked Fundin, 'We have done you no harm!'

"'Shut up!' cried Malgrot, 'I’ll stick a hole in your belly, Beard!'

"'Shut your mouth Malgrot!' cried the chief, 'Gelrop, Mogrol, take them to the dungeons! The boss will fry 'em up nice.'

"'Aye chief!' said Mogrol as he advanced upon us followed by his companion with filthy blades pointed towards the Dwarves. I struck first, with my sword, disarming Mogrol with relative ease, and then Fundin leapt up into the air before landing behind Gelrop and cutting off his arm.

"The two Goblins looked dumbfounded at their chief and Gelrop began to cry out in pain. Mogrol backed away as he saw blood drip off my blade and Cree pointing her sharp sword towards his neck.

"'You filthy maggots!' cried the chief, 'Lipnot, Malgrot, kill them!' the next two Goblins tried their luck and failed in a similar manor, but I refrained from removing limbs this time. The chief growled and howled as he drew a long and dirty blade from its scabbard and advanced towards us.

"'Stay back!' commanded Cree, 'I do not wish to slay thee, but if you force us into combat we will not be held responsible for you being marred.'

"'I shall slay you,' bellowed the chief; you filthy rats! Bring your little face to my blade.' Killi and Fundin swung their axes with grace as they had long been trained to in the peace of the world. Without too much trouble they managed to bring the chief to his knees.

"'Flee if you value your foul skin!' cried Cree as she held her blade to the Goblin’s neck, 'take your men and never assail any again!' the Goblins took flight with limping steps. But before they got too far, they all fell with arrows in their backs."