Ka-BOOM!
Killum was knocked back a dozen feet by the blast. Asha landed atop him. The impact knocked all of the air out of his lungs, forcing him to all fours gasping desperately.
"Sorry," she said with a strained voice. "Oh wow, that hurt."
The others quickly helped them to stand. Killum took a little longer to recover his breath, so Asha and Rand went to see if the barrier was down. He joined them a moment later.
"I don't see anything," Rand said.
The battle-mage moved closer, peering through the lingering dust. There was no sign of any glowing rocks. The barrier was gone, and the cave's ceiling lost about a foot of rock where the barrier had been.
"I think you cleared the booby-trap."
A dragon's roar thundered through the cave. Killum almost pissed himself. He and Asha shared a wide-eyed look, before Tiana raced past them.
"Run!" the thief shouted.
Tiana stopped in the middle of the chamber. Killum and the others joined her as they heard the dragon charging up the tunnel. He looked deep into each tunnel off that chamber, and they all had glowing booby-traps. Except one.
Pointing to the far right tunnel, "That one. Follow me."
The battle-mage took off running. Tiana was fast on his heels, with Asha, Rand, and Fergus following. He ran as fast as he could and still see magical booby-traps in time. There were a few, but nothing that blocked their passage.
He rounded a sharp corner and burst out into a vast chamber. They all skidded to a stop and gawked. Killum's mind went blank for a second. He'd never seen anything like it before, whether in a game or in real life.
The vast chamber was well-lit with glowing globes embedded in the wall about halfway up. The floor of the cavern reflected the light back in silver, gold, and every color of the rainbow. There had to be as much gemstones and jewelry as coins. He saw stacks of gold bars. Silver bars. Open chests overflowing with gems and jewelry. There were even life-sized statuary cast in silver and gold.
Rand was the first to speak. "Now that's a dragon's hoard to write home about!"
"We could buy an entire kingdom with this treasure," Fergus whispered.
The dwarf moved first. He dumped his coin purse, and started stuffing it with gold coins and gemstones. Tiana, Fergus, and Asha quickly joined him. Killum pulled his purse free, but something shiny caught his eye. It was way in back, above a shelf in the cavern that looked like where the dragon would curl up and sleep. The silvery globe glowed with the brightest magic he'd ever seen. It was hard to believe that glow couldn't be seen with the naked eye.
"What is that?" he whispered, walking toward it. The floor shifted under his booted feet. Coins and jewelry didn't make the firmest foundation, but that silvery globe called to him. As he drew closer, Killum realized it wasn't a silver globe, but a helmet. A silver Corinthian helmet like the ancient Greek Hoplites wore, with a bright red horsehair crest from front to back. A pair of dragons, one of each side, was worked into the metal. "Wow. Such power."
He could almost feel magic as he approached. Once he reached the dragon's bed, within a dozen feet of the helmet, he slightly shifted the way he looked at the helmet. A dark red script appeared above it.
Dragon's Lair Helm. A Bound Object. Control the dragon Gyevikxus.
"Is that how men can ride dragons?" he wondered aloud. "This dragon must've escaped, taking the helmet that controlled him to ensure he would remain free."
The dragon burst into the chamber with a roar. He stopped to spew fire in all directions.
Dragon (Lvl 66). Neutral.
"Thieves! This is my treasure," Gyevikxus shouted. "All thieves must die! I will devour you all, find your respawn sites, and devour all of you four more times!"
"Well now, that's just rude," Rand said. The dwarven warrior lifted his battle-axe in both hands, grinned, and taunted, "Tonight I will stride out of here in dragon-scale armor!"
Asha threw a thunderbolt at the dragon. Ka-boom! But Gyevikxus slapped it aside as if it was nothing. Checking with his magical sight, Killum discovered the dragon was pulsing with dark, crimson magic. They were doomed if Asha's thunderbolts couldn't hurt him.
"You caught me with my defenses down once, sorceress," the dragon growled, eyes narrowing at her. "Never again."
Fergus starting shooting arrows at the dragon's eyes. Gyevikxus shielded his face with a wing, while sweeping the other out to smash aside Asha, Rand, and Tiana. Then the monster looked at Killum and froze.
"Get away from there, human! I will chew you for an hour before I let you die!"
Can he really keep me alive like that?
Ignoring the others, Gyevikxus rushed towards Killum. The battle-mage cast his spells of Temporary Blindness and Disorientation in quick succession, but neither fazed the dragon. He didn't need Farsee to see what the beast intended. Killum then hit him with Gatecrasher.
That slammed Gyevikxus backwards across the chamber to smash into the stone wall, and it rattled the ground as well. Dust fell in streamers from above and the treasure shifted, with mini-landslides occurring all around. Asha led Rand, Fergus, and Tiana in an attack before the dragon could recover. Her thunderbolts made the dragon cry out in pain, and writhe in agony, but then his tail swept their feet away.
Killum wasn't even sure the tail swipe was on purpose, but it did the job. All four of his friends looked dazed, lying on their backs or on all fours. Gyevikxus recovered a lot faster, and rolled to all four feet. His head dropped almost to the ground as a low, menacing growl rumbled out and shook the very air.
The battle-mage couldn't use Gatecrasher again. The cooldown period wasn't over. His lightning ring was pathetic compared to Asha's thunderbolts, and fireballs wouldn't hurt a fire-breather. Then his eyes fell upon the Dragon's Lair Helm.
"Come to daddy," he said, racing over to the helmet.
Gyevikxus was too intent on killing his friends to notice. Killum picked up the helmet, turned to face the dragon, and placed it upon his head. Magical warmth flowed down into his body, making him feel just a little giddy.
Congratulations! You have won Dragon's Lair Helm!
This is a Bound Object. The Dragon Gyevikxus is yours to command. He will serve you loyally and obediently. This helm is also Gyevikxus' lair, and he will enter or leave whenever you speak his name.
"Gyevikxus," Killum said.
The dragon seemed to turn into a mist, which was immediately sucked into the helmet. In the blink of an eye the threat was gone. The silence was deafening.
"How the hell did you do that?" Fergus demanded.