Adventure of crystalious 1

The retreat reaches the fork beneath the mountain. Iron doors stand open ahead, and distant chains scrape across stone while fresh torchlight shifts below.

Warden Maelis keeps Crystalious’s sister behind the three scouts, who form a guarded screen. Cryos watches the descending passage, his injured wing tucked tightly against his side.

A torch rises beyond the open doors, followed by another. Shadows pass across the threshold, and a heavy chain drags toward a lower vault.

A pained roar rolls up from the lower vault, deep enough to tremble through the iron doors. The torchlight beyond them flickers against the stone.

Crystalious’s sister grips Warden Maelis’s arm, her face tightening as another muffled impact answers from beneath the mountain. The chains below scrape faster.

Warden Maelis draws her sword and moves through the open doors. Cryos follows close despite his splinted wing, while the scouts lock the passage behind the rescued sister.

Crystalious descends through the open iron doors with Maelis and Cryos close behind. Torchlight reveals cages lining the lower vault, their bars etched with dull warding runes.

At the largest cage, a massive adult dragon crouches behind blackened iron. His scales are black as midnight, scattered with silver flecks like stars, and one foreleg bears a heavy chain.

Crystalious reaches the cage and stands before Lunaris, close enough to see frost clinging to the dragon’s silver-speckled muzzle. The great dragon lowers his head toward him.

Crystalious presses the hand bearing his blue flame tattoo against the blackened bars. Silver sigils flare beneath his palm, and the warding answers with a sharp, icy crack.

The cage door swings open. The release tears through Crystalious’s palm like a hot needle, reopening the silver mark and staining the iron with blood.

Lunaris rises from the cage, vast shoulders scraping the low ceiling. His chained foreleg remains tethered, but the open bars give him room to turn toward the vault.

Crystalious draws his sword and steps to Lunaris’s chained foreleg. He braces the blade against the thick iron link, keeping clear of the dragon’s shifting weight.

He strikes once, then again. The warded chain rings through the vault, silver sparks racing across its surface before the iron splits beneath the sword.

The broken chain falls across the stone. Lunaris pulls his freed foreleg beneath him, and the remaining cages shudder as his roar fills the vault.

Behind Lunaris, the other imprisoned dragons stir. Warding runes flicker along their bars as Maelis raises her sword and the scouts move toward the release mechanisms.

Crystalious charges with his sword drawn as Lunaris surges beside him and Cryos follows close, the vault shaking beneath their combined advance. Hunters rush from the lower passage to meet them.

His blade sweeps through the first hunter, a young adult human man with a lean build, close-cropped brown hair, and dark padded armor,’s guard, knocking the weapon aside and driving the figure back. A second hunter, a young adult human woman with a compact build, black hair braided close to her scalp, and dark leather armor, thrusts through the opening, forcing Crystalious to turn and parry.

Crystalious presses forward, but a hunter drops a runed chain across the passage. Lunaris catches it across his horns, and the sudden strain checks the dragon’s charge.

The formation splinters. Several hunters retreat behind the chain while others pull levers along the walls, and the lower cages begin sliding toward a sealed side vault.

Crystalious plants his marked hand against the runed chains. Blue flame and silver sigils flare together, and heat bites through his palm as the links convulse.

The chains split with a thunderous crack. Shattered links scatter across the stone, clearing the passage and releasing the pressure that held Lunaris at bay.

Smoke curls from Crystalious’s palm. The blue flame tattoo remains visible beneath the reddened skin, while the silver mark pulses sharply beside it.

Lunaris surges through the cleared passage, sweeping the fallen links aside with his freed foreleg. The hunters retreat as the cages stop sliding toward the sealed vault.

Crystalious charges through the broken hunter line beside Lunaris, sword driving weapons aside as Cryos guards his flank. The retreating hunters scatter before the dragons’ advance.

Lunaris sweeps aside the remaining chains while Crystalious cuts through the nearest warding bands. Blue fire and silver sigils race across the iron, and every lock springs open.

The imprisoned dragons and wardens surge from their cages. Maelis and the scouts guide them through the cleared passage as freed captives gather behind Lunaris’s broad protection.

Crystalious advances with Lunaris and Cryos, driving the remaining hunters from the vault and securing the freed captives. Behind them, the prison stands open and empty.