Darkness. Everything around him was plunged into the dark. His mind was in a haze… He felt his armor's hardness through his clothes, and his head rested on something hard. One thing was certain: he did not wake up in his bed… But where was he?

Elemiah closed his eyes again - even though it was not really useful since he could not see a thing - and tried to get his thoughts in order. What was he doing here? He had been to the Stoneguard festival, watched the Crusaders’ parade, then met up with Konrad, his long standing friend…

- KONRAD!!!

He suddenly sat up straight despite his muscles aching from a long period of unconsciousness in his armor. Everything came back to him: the festival, then an explosion, the demons… The demon…

- I almost thought we’d have to abandon you.

The soldier heard an unknown voice coming from the darkness, somewhere over him. A woman’s voice. He focused for a moment, and the angelic halo that circled around his head softly lit up, enough to illuminate his surroundings without blinding him.

- Ah! Someone able to make light! We’ll finally be able to get going.

The voice was coming from a woman standing near him, and that was staring at him with her vertical pupils. Red skin, a pair of horns… She must probably be a Tiefling, half-breeds descending from devils. Elemiah noticed that her armor seemed of good quality - even though he could argue about using white as the main color for something that would inevitably be dirtied during a real fight. But if the long staff she was holding was a clue, she probably was a wizard: she would then rarely be on the front line, and her armor was there more as formal garments than as a real protection.

The Tiefling, named Séliss, was also observing her interlocutor. Even though he was sitting, he seemed gigantic compared to a normal human. He must be at least two meters tall. His luminous halo lighted his sharp-featured face’s outline and his blond hair. Séliss concluded from these first details that he must be an Aasimar, the Tiefling’s rare celestial counterpart. Even though those ones were even more unusual, she heard about Aasimars with halos that could produce light, like their angelic ancestors. She couldn’t repress a smile when she thought to herself it must weird out the stranger that the first thing he saw after his fall in the depth of the earth was his exact opposite. Solidly built, with such heavy armor livened up with a white and gold tabard, and a longsword strapped to his back, there was no doubt he was a soldier; or at least a swordsman who came to the frontier to test his luck.

- El? Is that you?

Elemiah recognized this voice… Surprised, he looked around him in search of its source: he was surrounded by rocks and dirt, and the ceiling was sealed by even more rocks. Here and there, he could see broken bricks, pieces of slabs, and festival stalls’ debris poking out from collapsed stones. And, not far from them, a familiar silhouette.

- Konrad? answered Elemiah after a short hesitation.

A new person entered in the halo’s light: a human, with long black hair kept in place by a leather headband. While the other two had elaborated outfits, he was wearing a plain outfit, with brown and black colors. His skin-tight top showed off his muscles built by years of training. His hands and forearms were protected by heavy leather gloves, made to parry blows and make up for his lack of protections.

No doubt, this big smile from ear to ear, those eyes twinkling with carelessness… This was Konrad. Elemiah felt a wave of relief wash over him as he met again with his friend, feeling shared by the latter as he extended his gloved hand to help him get back up.

- Nothing broken, El? asked Konrad.

- No, no, I’m alright…, answered Elemiah. Where are we? What happened?

Elemiah kept scanning his surroundings, and spotted other people sitting on rocks, where Konrad was coming from. Meanwhile, the latter was rubbing his temples, trying to figure out how to give a clear answer to the Aasimar. Séliss was however quicker to answer :

- Demons passed Kenabres’ protections, don’t know how, and attacked the city, she explained while pointing at the ceiling. We spoke about it with the others, and our conclusion is that we fell in the city’s undergrounds.

- If I ain’t mistaken, continued Konrad, we’re under Saint Clydwell’s Cathedral… But the hole is completely sealed, so we can’t go back this way. We’re gonna need another way out.

On those words, Konrad and Seliss went towards the other silhouettes, quickly followed by Elemiah.

- We were waiting for you before going, said the smiling young human. Seems like we weren’t the only ones ending up here…

They reached the other trapped survivors. A young man with blond spiky hair wearing a dark green cape that had been patched up at multiple spots was kneeling next to a woman with short brown hair, finishing tying a bandage around the latter’s leg. The man’s face was covered by an iron mask.

- There, this should do the trick until we find a healer. Do tell me if you feel the splint loosening up.

Nope. A woman. The voice coming from under the mask was definitely a woman’s voice. It was hard to see at first glance: the masked person was covered from head to toe with clothes and a leather and hide armor, and did not have any particularly feminine features. Konrad had a slight embarrassed smile. He knew him long enough to spot when he was confused, even when his face did not change very much. Apparently, he also thought Celia was a man…

Konrad quickly made the presentations. There were two other men in the group. One of them, Aravashnial, seemed to be an old elf with long white hair, wearing a robe and a blue-purple patchwork cloak made out of fabric and fur, and was wielding a long baton ended by crossed crescent moons. Most likely another wizard. His eyes were covered by a bandage that was already starting to get a slightly pink tint.

The woman that Celia was taking care of was a scout named Anevia. Her complete studded leather armor was opened on her right leg in order to expose her nasty wound and broken bones that the masked woman was trying to treat with she had at hand, crafting bandages and a splint from the festival’s debris.

Finally, the other man, Horgus Gwerm - a kenabrian merchant according to Konrad - had stood up when Elemiah approached and was watching him with an exasperated look, his frowned eyebrows forming creases on his almost bald forehead. His clothes, which were reminiscent of the archetypal noble outfit, from the gemstones adorned rings to the colored clothes,  were in a poor state and did nothing to embellish his embonpoint.

- Hmpff, finally awake! barked the nob with an annoyed and annoying voice. About time. Now, take me back to Kenabres!

Charming. Elemiah heard a light growl coming from the Tiefling and spotted the young wounded woman’s roll her eyes.

- We can go? then exclaimed the blind elf. Finally! Let’s go!

The old man sprung up, leaning on his staff, a big grin on his lips. He was about to stroll in the caverns’ darkness when Seliss caught him. Leaving a blind man wander all alone was clearly not a good idea. For her part, Celia helped her patient to get up and handed her a twisted stick to use as a makeshift crutch - probably what was left of a festival stand that survived the fall.

At this moment, Elemiah heard a sound. Like rolling and hit rocks. The soldier instinctively grabbed his sword’s handle and took a defensive pose, ready to unsheathe his weapon. Something had been attracted by the light. But, this time, it was not a humanoid silhouette. It was a big creature on four legs, as tall as a Halfling and thrice as large. The form stepped into the light, and in front of the group stood an enormous scaly animal, with a long neck ending in a small beaked head, and balanced by an even longer tail which ended with spikes. The monster’s back was adorned by two rows of large diamond-shaped plaques.

Elemiah was evidently not the only one that had spotted the creature. Horgus squealed in terror. Anevia flinched a bit. Konrad, him, seemed more surprised than worried about the creature. On their part, Seliss and Aravashnial did not seem to react to the beast’s presence; the former because she was not surprised, and the later because he could not see it.

Celia calmly approached the creature, as if it was nothing… before petting it like a tamer would pet their dog.

- What’s this thing!? hurled Horgus in an inquisitive tone.

- Oh! It’s Mali! simply responded Celia while keeping on cuddling the creature.

This did not really answer the question! Confusion further spread through the rest of the group. Seeing the others’ puzzled look, Seliss sighed.

- It’s a stegosaurus, she explained. Don’t worry, it’s an herbivore.