[Necromancing the Stone]

The cave was massive.  No one knew if it was natural, or the Red Wizards using it had augmented it with their magic.  All Uhzz knew was that it was home.  He didn’t pay much attention to the world around him.  Content to play with the rats and other creatures that wandered in.  Play mostly meant bashing whatever it was with a rock, but to him it was play.

The cave had an entry chamber, a MASSIVE chamber in the center, and then a myriad of smaller chambers shooting off and away from the large central chamber.  The Goreknuckle clan had been living in the cave for some time.  No one could remember if they had been captured, or came willingly, as most of the adults had been killed off long ago.  But Uhzz wasn’t one to ask to many questions.  He ran through the caverns he had access too and didn’t ponder the meaning of life over much.  He had grown accustomed to the jumble of machinery, chemicals, and apparatus from a thousand different experiments littering the cavern.  The Red Wizards came through and conducted what experiments they wished on the Gnolls of the Goreknuckle clan. The ones in the black and red armor would take a Gnoll out, often they would not return.  Often, the female Goreknuckle Gnolls would return pregnant.  

Uhzz had grown used to the sounds echoing from the main large chamber.  Massive chains rattling at all hours, roars of pain coming from the five dragons chained to the walls.  Uhzz was only allowed into the main chamber once a month.  The first time he went in, he thought he would go mad with fear as watched the massive ancient wyrms thrash about against their magically held chains.  There was a dragon for each of the colors of the Spectrum; Blue, Green, Red, White, and Black.  Muzzled as they were to prevent them from using their breath weapons, and warded against casting any magic, or shape shifting, they could still roar loudly, and speak the common tongue.  Generally it was a string of profanity and threats, but all of it went ignored by the Red Wizards working in the cave.

He was introduced to the massive black Dragon, and told it was his father.  The wizards had discovered that despite the great wyrms being evil to the core, they generally cared for their offspring, and little else.  They discovered by allowing the Dragons to visit with their lineage, they became  less rambunctious, and more cooperative.  Not by much…..but enough.  Uhzz didn’t learn much from his father.  Their visits were brief, and often painful.  But he learned to enjoy the time.

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The night was unusually quiet.  Uhzz had captured an exceptionally large rat, and was quite pleased with himself as he sucked the rat corpse dry and then shewed what little meat was on its bones.  He was in the middle of gnawing,, when his ears went up and forward.  He would swear he heard something.

There it was again.

The unmistakable click of metal rasping against the tumblers of a lock.  

Suddenly, the noise became LOUD.

All five chains for the dragons came undone at once, their muzzles unlocked and falling away at the same time.  Their was a long pause as the Thayan Knights keeping the peace, and the few Red Wizards and their apprentices were finishing up experiments looked at the now free Dragons and the Dragons stared back at them.  Then, the calm was gone.

He could hear the flames from the red dragon licking the stones of the cavern, and smell the ozone burning as the blue unleashed lightning on all in its path.  He could hear the screams as the other dragons went to work on their captors.  The Goreknuckle clan paid little head to the cacophony.  They had been beaten into sub,ission by their captors and were not at all sure if this was just another experiment.  

As quickly as it started, it was over.
 
The sounds of the earth practically tearing itself apart intermixed with the battle cries and death screams of a dozen Knights and Wizards, just went silent.  Uhzz sat near the door that separated the cave he loved in from the Dragons.  He heard the sound again.  The unmistakable rattle of a lock being picked.  When he swung the door open……..nothing was there.  Uhzz would swear he saw small bits of shadow moving though the cave, and leaving out into the night, but would never be able to identify any of his “saviors.”  After a few minutes, the first Goreknuckle Gnoll exited the cave, then another.  Soon the cave was empty of its last living citizens as they loped off into the night in disarray, not even considering remaining together.  They just extricated themselves from the problem and tried to get as far away as possible.