Chapter 20: Kalthor
The demon's lair deepened, its sulfurous stench thickening as the party pressed through twisting tunnels, the glowing fungi casting sickly green shadows.
Leon's heart hammered, the Crimson Thorn secure in his satchel, its faint pulse a reminder of progress in curing Terya's curse.
One of three done.
Terya's muffled coughs echoed off the cave walls, blood flecking her lips, the web-like mark on her cheek pulsing violently.
Saria led with her sword drawn, her black ponytail swaying, her fiery aura flickering in the dim light.
Tila's shortbow was notched, her eyes darting nervously, while Boren's spear gleamed, his scowl fiercer than ever.
The air crackled with tension, the weight of the cursed kobold and the lair's master looming ahead.
The tunnel opened into a vast chamber, its ceiling lost in darkness, stalactites dripping with moisture.
A crude altar stood at the center, littered with bones and glowing runes, and the stench of charred flesh hit like a wall.
A low, guttural laugh rumbled through the chamber, and the ground shook as a hulking figure emerged from the shadows—a horned, red-skinned ogre, Kalthor, its eyes blazing like coals.
Towering over ten feet, its muscular frame rippled with power, a flaming whip coiled in one massive hand.