37.3

"Is it just me or is the end of the hall… darker." whispered Opal. The oppressive stillness and weight of stone holding her back from speaking aloud.

Rain narrowed his eyes at it. It was true, the hall was unnaturally dark, and despite his excellent night vision, he could only barely perceive that there was a stone throne at the end.

A voice came from the shadows, a dry husk of a voice.

"Unusually observant, but then you appear to not be a band of foolish levelers who have wandered once more into my domain. Curious. A Kobold, a Goblin, and a…"

The shadows suddenly drew together and a cloaked thing materialised upon the throne. Its pitch black clothes made from layered rags that writhed of their own accord. The creature was large, or rather the throne was large, yet it still sat comfortably upon it. Its hood was shadowed yet it was still possible to see seven humanoid skulls of various species packed inside, one even had horns. Squeezed amongst the skulls were smaller skulls, rat skulls, bird skulls, canine skulls, cat skulls. Each eye socket of every skull had an eerie green flame flickering in it.

"If I may ask, what exactly are you?" it said, "I know of most if not all monsters in this dungeon, and I have been here a very very long time, yet I have not seen one of your kind."

As the creature spoke the jaw bones of each skull shivered and trembled and the flames flickered and flared.

"An old species. I couldn't tell you what I am, I don't know myself," answered Rain warily.

"What a strange answer." A breeze seemed to lift and brush against its rags. It smelt like ancient death.

"You say you've been here a long time? Then you must know something of what happened to this city we stand in?"

The creature seemed to study Rain.

"This dead city has always been here for all the centuries that I have existed, it has always been, just as the rest of the dungeon has always been, these things just are. If that question is your only reason you have come to my domain then you are truly as foolish as all the levelers who came before. No matter, you shall make a fine addition to my collection, a body such as yours will be well suited."

Opal suddenly piped up. "It's not your domain!"

The 'eyes' of the creature looked above Rain and focused on the Goblin. "I have lived here longer than tens of generations of your kind. All you see is mine."

"Doesn't matter. Wolfie here's people built the place."

"An absurd claim."

"It's true! You're a squatter!"

The creature seemed to pause hearing this, a ripple of irritation crossed its pitch black rags.

"No, I am not."

"Yes you are! You're living in someone else's home without permission! You're a bum!"

The fire seemed to flare in its eyes. "Stop talking."

"Squatty squatter! How about building your own house instead of squatting all over the place!"

"Nonsense. I shall endeavour to flay your skin from your body before you become mine Goblin."

"Big talk coming from a lazy bum squatter squatting in other people's property because you're too cheap and lazy to build your own house. Squatty squatty bum bum, squatty squatty bum!"

"Shut up! Shut up! I command you to shut up!" shouted the creature, its eyes blazing in fury.

"Squ-

"ENOUGH!" it roared.

The creature abruptly stood from the stone throne, its 'hands' emerged from the sleeves of its cloak, each bone hand had at least twenty digits and were a mix of different creatures, claws and talons and fingers, even some small creatures' arms acting as fingers. The disturbing looking 'hands' roiled and twitched, the fingers clawing and twisting at the air. A scraping sound soon came from the empty entrances around the throne and a white thing rushed across the ground, a snake? snakes? No, it took Rain a moment to realise what he was looking at was not a pile of snakes but dozens of spinal columns twisting and writhing and slithering across the ground, coming together to twist into a larger boney length. Large black triangles were attached at various points on the spines and were dragged into the bone mass giving the effect of a thorny vine.

The 'snake' slithered up to the cloaked creature's feet then coiled upward into its hands where it formed into a thick staff. The black triangles, which on closer inspection appeared to be some kind of giant shark like teeth, arranged themselves so that the top quarter of the staff was studded with the things, the largest at the top, each tooth the size of a fist. A brutal looking spiked club.

"I would have liked to have avoided damaging you. Oh well."

The skulls grinned.

Its free hand came up and the many fingers made a beckoning motion at the darkness. After a moment the air was filled with a moaning and shuffling and Rain and Opal could only watch as figures stumbled from the doorways. They poured in, a veritable crowd of species, everything was present, monsters, levelers, Goblins, Kobolds, Humans, Elves, even to Rain's dismay, a huge Panthara.

As they came into the lighter part of the hall their rotted faces were revealed, haggard torn skin hung from shambling bodies, injuries in life having remained in undeath, missing eyes, torn open bellies, broken bones. The undead stared coldly at Rain, their dead hands gripping whatever weapon they had held in life, now rusted without a care.

"Behold." said the creature. "My collection."

The trio were surrounded by well over a hundred of the undead, the crowd only broken up by the massive pillars supporting the hall.

The Kobold squatted on the ground with his claws over his head, his eyes squeezed closed, letting out the occasional whimper.

Opal leant down and whispered in Rain's ear.

"Get close, it's our only hope."

"I know." said Rain, coming to the same conclusions as the Goblin.