The first thing Lineak noticed when the door opened was the oppressive humidity.  How could anything live in a place that was this wet and hot and nasty? It only took seconds for the weather to begin draining his energy and he could already tell he was in for a miserable experience on whatever world this was.  The next thing he noticed was how beautiful the countryside was.  Open rolling hills with a sea of green grass swaying with the light breeze that passed over it gorgeous.  The hunter in him wanted to traverse the hills taking them in in search of game trails, for animal scat, or for fresh kills.  He resisted the urge and instead just looked around the area taking it all in once more.

With a sigh he reached a hand into one of his pockets and pulled out a small scrap of paper the paper had only one word written on it, a word that meant nothing to Lineak.  It hadn't meant much of anything to folks out at the outpost either.  One lone trading vessel had recognized the word and had given him a ride.  Lineak looked behind him and groaned, there they went.  Stuck on a new miserable planet with no idea what he was looking for.  Still standing here staring around miserably wasn't going to help his situation he needed to get moving in some direction.  He sniffed the air and decided walking into the wind was the way to go as he'd hopefully have a chance to detect danger before it bit him in the ass.

He quickly did an inventory check shotgun check, revolver check, other revolver check, gems check.  If he needed anything else while he was here he hoped the gems in his possession would be enough to cover the cost.  He glanced again at the pristine hills.  Whatever this place was it looked as if it were even more backward than his homeworld was.  Something he never would have thought possible.  With a shrug he began walking taking his time and enjoying the scenery around him.

Up and down the hills he walked without too much of a change in scenery he could get used to a place this beautifull escecially if there wasn't anybody around trying to kill him.  He shook his head at the thought, there was always somebody trying to kill him he had found.  Heck, if not it was his job to kill them.  Not something he had intended to do with his life but being a mercenary was about the only way he had found off of the outpost.  He still wasn't one hundred percent certain what he was supposed to do on this planet but was fairly certain he'd be told somewhere and somehow.  That tended to be the nature of these hush hush operations.

A bit worn out from his travels he sat down with his back against a large rock and found himself unable to stop from drifting off to sleep.  The green hills and the lack of danger must have had a profound impact on his pyche as he began dreaming about his mom, dad, sister, and baby brother as he remembered them being just a few short weeks ago.  Dreams of the quiet farm life of going out hunting and of waking up in the mornings to milk the cows like sweet Cammie who used to try to lick his face.  Wait.  What? Lineak blinked his eyes rapidly trying to wake up as his face was continually bathed by a wet tongue.

Lineak reached out with one hand and tried pushing the creature licking him away and with the other hand he wiped drool off of his face.  He then looked to see what manner of creature had been licking him.  The creature was only a small dog who gave a small excited bark when Lineak looked its way before wiggling free from his hand and coming to try and lick him again.  Lineak laughed joyfully how he had missed these good times.  Still it was time to get going.  He stood up and began walking in the same direction he had been heading, the dog following.

Lineak topped the next hill and grinned at the sight in front of him.  Laid out before him was a pituresque small medieval town spread out in front of it were fields full of grain and in the surrounding hills he could see white dots moving sheep perhaps? He inhaled deeply and smelled the typical odors of any dwelling place but he also smelled sheep, goats, and cattle.  He inhaled once more straining to decipher other smells wood fires and roasting flesh he'd prefer fresh meat but it was something.  With a pep in his step he swaggered down the hill towards the village.

He was still roughly a mile from the village when he began to smell something else, something strange in the air.  He looked around searching for the cause of the oder but was unable to pinpoint it.  He kept thinking how odd it was as he scratched his head in puzzlement the small dog came up to his left leg and began licking his pants as it shivered and whined.  Lineak reached down to scratch behind the dog's ears curious as to the weird behaviour.  As he did he noticed a large shadow move over one of the hills.

He stared from the hill to tthe hills around not comprehending before looking towards the sky and gasping.  No, not no, hell no, hell to the no dragons were not supposed to be real.  A dragon, really? Here he was loving this wonderful planet and now a...a dragon had to ruin things?  The thought went through his mind moments before the dragon dove toward the village.  Lineak watched as arrows were lauched at the behemoth and shook his head.  If that was the best the town had to defend itself with they were in some real trouble.  Maybe that's why he was here? He sure hoped not.  He most assuradly was no  dragon slayer.

The diving dragon reached down and grabbed two sheep in each of its talons before flapping giant scaled wings and gaining height.  Lineak watched in awe as the majestic creature flew overhead and then was gone.  That strange scent was there again and this time Lineak felt he knew what it was that he had been smelling, it was fear.  He looked down at the dog by his side and the puddle of urine spreading out from underneath it helped to confirm his theory.

I don't want to do this, I don't want to do this, I don't want to do this the mantra repeated over and over in his mind.  Yet he waked toward the town and whatever awaited him inside of it.  As he entered the town he noticed wood and stone buildings smoke billowing from a few of the chimneys.  He noticed the dirt roads in town were free of litter although they did have rut marks in them from heavily laden carts passing through on a routine basis.  He also noticed the sheer number of eyes upon him as he entered.  It seemed as though the entire town turned out to stare at him, they might have.

He groaned what a fool I am bringing my weapoins into this town of all places and my clothes what was I thinking? How am I going to get myself out of this one?

As he looked around a man dressed in green breeches and a purple shirt with white ruffles came down to meet him.  The man reached up to adjust his feathered hat keeping it balanced perfectly upon his head.  The whole attire seemed out of place in this town Lineak thought to himself but waited patiently to see what the man would say, or do.

"Stranger it was you who called down that dragon upon us wasn't it? We should kill you where you stand and we still might.  Carefull what you say as you are surrounded by men who are waiting on my signal to strike you down."

Just what I need in my life, perfect.

"While I am new here I have nothing to do with that creature.  I am merely passing through.  Although I do have questions that you may be able to answer sir."

"You come here with your strange clothing and your strange words and have questions? Nay it is I who have questions for you! Where are you from and why are you here? If not you who brought that beast down upon us, and for what reason? We are a peacefull folk who wish nothing more than to be left to our own devices."

The questions were reasonable ones but not answers that Lineak could give answers to.  He reached into his pocked and grasped the scrap of paper that had been given to him by the man on the station. 

"Sir, this is the only answer I have for you.  I was given this and and I need to find out what it means."

The man grasped the paper and studied it for a moment before raising his arm in the air for a split second and running off in the opposite direction dropping the piece of paper in the process.  The man was mere yards away when a volley of arrows was loosed down towards Lineak.  Arrows streaming down from all sides was difficult to miss Lineak knew that some were going to hit regardless of what he did but he decided to try and make the most of the situation.  He ran towards a doorway attempting to dodge as many of the arrows as possible and was shocked when the door gave way bursting off of its hinges.

A yelp from outside caused Lineak to turn for a moment and anger whelled up within him.  The young pup who had woken him up lay in the street bearing a striking resemblance to a pin cushion.  Lineak could feel the strange sensation of growing and changing taking over his boy once more.  Something that it had not done on its own for some weeks now.  His body changed from that of a young man into a great towering bloodthirsty beast intent on vengeance.  He tore through the building he had entered, ran up stairs, jumped through the roof and began jumping from rooftop to rooftop finding, and killing, archers he found atop the builidings.

Teeth, claw, wrent flesh, blood, growls, screams, and then silence atop the rooftops.  After several intense minutes of bloodshed the bloodlust appeared to have worn off and Lineak's body began morphing back into its boyish figure.  He looked around at the carnage he had caused and cringed so many dead and for what reason? He wanted answers but wasn't sure if there was anyone alive in the town to answer them.  He searched the rooftop he was on and found a stairwell leading into the building below, a residence of some sort. 

Heading down the stairs he was attacked by a young blond haired woman.  The woman had grabbed a fire poker and was swinging it at him wildly as she screamed hysterically at him.

"You spawn of the devil they're going to kill me because of you.  Why did you have to bring that demon here to this town? Why did you have to kill all of the men? Now there's no way for me to lose my virginity I'm as good as dead you bastard."

Lineak grabbed hold of the poker with one hand and pushed the woman down onto the ground with the other.  He stared down at her curious as to what she was going on about.  Why would anyone kill her? And for that matter how was she still a virgin?  He blushed slightly as he truly looked her over.  She was shorter by quite a bit than his five feet eleven inches he supposed somewhere around five feet tall with flesh overfowing from the top of her blouse.  Her pale skin was red from the anger she felt and from her swinging the poker he guessed.

"Well go on do it!"

"Do what exactly? I'm confused?"

"I see the way you're looking at me.  You're going to rape and kill me aren't you?"

Rather than try to formulate a response Lineak turned his back to the woman and looked for a way out of the building.  Before finding it a thought came to him and he turned back around.

"Can you read?"

The woman glared at him a confused expression on her face, "Yes"

Lineak handed her the scrap of paper that had brought him to the town.

"Can you tell me what the word means and why I was attacked when I showed this to the man out on the street?"

The woman stared at him with her mouth agape for what seemed like a long, long time.

"You trully don't know do you?"

"What is it and what does it mean this Drakenhelm?

The woman laughed softly for a moment seeing the confusion on Lineak's face.  She paused for a moment studying him before responding.

"It is the name of this planet, surely you know that.  Don't you? Hmm apparently not.  This planet is full of dragons and dragonborn there are only a few scattered towns like ours left.  We came here years ago seeking refuge from our pasts and not knowing what we were getting ourselves into.  We've lived in peace with dragonkind for the past several years and now the day you arrive here we have a dragon attack our livestock.  You don't find that odd?  As for why the name of the planet had you attacked I'm guessing Magistrate Flynne doesn't like newcomers to a planet who don't even know where they are pompous fool that he is."

"I know nothing of dragons or dragonkind can you tell me what would make a dragon attack for no reason? Or why all of your men were so eager to try and kill me?"

"I cannot think of any reason offhand but that does not mean there isn't one.  Perhaps you will just have to try and find it yourself.  I wish you good luck with that as you've just finished depleting yourself of several sources of information.  Perhaps if you do find something I can help you find out what it means, but beyond that you're on your own."

That was better than nothing Lineak supposed and with a nod to the woman he once again turned his back to her and exited the residence.  When he did he found the streets lined with furious women with torches and pitchforks approaching towards him.  At the front of the mob the magistrate urged the crowd on.

"You saw wha that thing is, its a monster and a killer.  Look what it did to your men! We must attack and kill it or at least drive it far from us where it will never again return."

Lineak didn't even hesitate for a moment he lowered his shotgun pulling it in tight to his shoulder and fired the trigger.  The recoil hurt for sure but it was well worth it as a hole appeared in the center of the magistrate's chest.  Strangely the gaping hole did not bleed.  As the man's corpse fell to the ground Lineak looked around at the crowd.

"I am not your enemy I swear it to you.  I will find out for you why the dragon is here and I will deal with it.  You have my word."

Where that came from and why he said it he didn't know but it had quite the effect on the people as they began cheering.  Lineak hoped that mindset would last but knew better than to expect it to.  Why did it always seem like people were trying to kill him?

"All of you I need to investigate the town in order to find the reason for the dragon showing up.  But before I do I want the bodies of the dead brought out next to the magistrate is that understood?"

The people's demeanor changed instatntly becoming hostile once more.  Lineak shrugged picking up and carrying your loved ones bodies around th same day they were killed was hard on anyone.  They didn't have to like it, just had to do it.

Lineak's stomache turned as he looked at the aftermath of what the beast iside him was capable of doing.  Dismembered bodies, and lots of them, lined the street.  The townsfolk had unwillingly brought the bodies down into the street and now most watched from open windows to see what he would do with the corpses.  Slowly and methodically Lineak began going through clothing and belongings that each corpse had in their possession.  Several times he found small vials among the personal effects these he took and stowed away.  Among the other posessions he found a fair amount of large scales and large claws. Some of these were worn as necklaces and others were tucked away in pockets and some were even found hidden away in the men's socks.

When he had finished searching all but the magistrates body's he turned his attention to it.  As a hunter he had seen all sorts of wounds but this one was bizzare.  He was going to have to take some time and figure out why the wound was so strange, but at present there was a job to do.  He went through the dead man's belongings finding more of the same, strange vials, scales, claws, and a necklace made from large teeth.  He'd hunted before of course, but not for sport or for trophies, the thought these men were killing dragons for pleasure sickened him.  He wasn't sure if his assumption was correct or not so he decided to return to the woman who had offered her services even if it was in a limited capacity.

Much to his disappointment when he approached her dwelling place and knocked she greeted him wearing a red robe covering up the flesh that had made him blush a deeper red than her current robe. 

"So you've found something have you?"

"I believe so but I need your help to be sure.  I really don't know what I have here."

Lineak laid out what he had found on the men's remains  watching her face to see if it would reveal anything about what she thought.

The woman slowly went through the belongings taking her time looking at the different size, color, and shape of the scales.  She studied the claws also noting the different lengths and wear on them, before seeing the tooth necklace and gasping.  Without a word she went to the vials opening one and sniffed it briefly before replacing the stopper.

"You may find it hard to belive but I think somehow these men were slaughtering dragons.  How I'm not sure.  They certainly didn't do any damage to the one that stopped by today.  I'm guessing they are killing the young and dragonborn, half dragons if you will, by the size of the scales an claws.  The teeth all look they were pulled from different dragons, so many of them and all young.  Why would they do such a thing, and where?"

"That's not the only question I have.  If towns are as uncommon as you have made them out to be what has been transported in the carts through town? Either something heavy enough to cause the grooves in the streets or the sheer volume of carts needed to do so neither one makes much sense to me.  Have you seen what they load or unload, or where?"

The woman silently shook her head no and Lineak groaned.  So much to try and decipher and it was only the begining.  If dragons were being killed, and in large numbers, why weren't they fighting back? A single dragon stealing food wasn't quite enough payback for it.  So many things didn't make sense.  He absentmindedly scratched his head thinking over the situation.

"There have to be others involved in this, whatever this is.  I think I'm going to have a look around town the townspeople probably won't like it.  You might have to try and be carefull especially if they know you're helping me.  Oh, an by the way if you are helping me, the least you can do is let me have your name."

"My name is Wyne and I was in danger the moment that dragon arrived.  The fools here are very superstitous and without your arrival would have sacrificed me to the dragon.  Feel free to vex them."

"A pleasure."

With that simple phrase Lineak gathered his scattered evidence and went back out onto the road to see what else he could surmise of the situation.  Common sense told him to follow the tracks and see where they led, doing so led him through town with the tracks slowly diminishing in depth until they eventually faded into nothing.  With a sigh of frustration Lineak decided he would have to take his time and figure the situation out.  He leaned against a building and methodically went over the things he knew.

Whatever was in the cart went from one end of town to the other.  In what direction he wasn't sure just yet.  The weight of whatever was in the cart changed from nothing to excessive.  Either carts coming and going were very common place or the weight of said carts had to be immense.  None of the information helped really.  The next place to look was each place the cart tracks made it appear as if the weight had changed.  Perhaps something was onloaded or offloaded on or near those locations.

He decided it made sense to look further into the tracks and see what he could find.  He retraced his footseps to the first location where he assumed weight had been changed on a cart.  Doing so he mentally kicked himself for not actually taking the time to survey the area around the tracks the first time he followed them.  There was an obvious trail from just off of the tracks to a set of stairs ten yards to the east.  He looked even closer at the trail it looked like heavy objects were set, or thrown, from the cart and then transported by foot to the stairs.  He followed the trail to see where the stairs ended. 

The stairs wound around a small embankment befoe leading to a solid wood door.  No hinges on the outside meant the door opened inward, and no handle on the door meant it should open up easy.  Lineak pushed on the door expecting it to swing open but instead found himself violently thrown backwards into the stairs.  He stood and stared uncomprehending at the door what was this? A trap of some kind was obvious but he'd never heard of such a thing.  He approached the door and began slowly searching for trip wires or any other way the trap could have been set off eager to avoid the same fate.

With time his dillegence paid off as his tactile fingers found small engravings in the wood invisible to his naked eye.  How odd that was that he couldn't see they even with his heightened vision.  He shrugged filing that away with the rest of the weird things he'd encountered in this place.  He'd need to revisit this place when he had a plan in place to see just what the engravings said.  He didn't have a clue how he was going to figure that one out but he hoped Wyne might be able to help him.  If nothing else he'd be able to see her again, not a bad thing in the least.

Back up the stairs and retracing his path to her dwelling place took next to no time.  However, when he drew near to her reidence he could both see and hear a small crowd of youth surrounding it.  The obscenities being thrown around were almost enough to make Lineak blush.  The youngsters were also picking up and throwing through the open door anything they could get their hands on, or anything they had brought with them.  The sight infuriated Lineak who had to fight harder than he'd ever fought before to keep his anger in check.  The last thing he wanted was a bunch of children deaad at his hands.  He walked closer unobserved until he was less than twenty yards from the rear of the mob.

"Excuse me, can I help you all?"

The screaming and throwing stopped at once and an eerie quiet took over for a long moment.  The youth all turned around and stared at him before one, the bravest of the bunch, decided to confront him.

"You can bring our dad's back.  How about that?"

"I can't, and won't, do that."

"You can die like the scum you are."

"You can take that dragon you summoned and shove it straight up your..."

"You can slit that bitch Wyne's throat for us.  The whore can't be sacrificed now can she?"

"SILENCE!" Lineak roared.

"All of you go back to your homes and do it now.  If I catch any of you over here that will be painfull repercussions.  Do you understand?"

"What are you going to do, kill us too?"

"No, he's going to take our virginity away as well."

Lineak ducked an egg thrown his way before sprinting forward into the crowd bowlng bodies over as he did  He reached the most vocal of the bunch grabbing him by his earlobe.

"There are far more painfull things than death and I can unleash them upon all of you.  Now you whelps back to your homes now! Know this.  Wyne and her home are under my protection and if any of you lay foot anywhere near her home again I will act accordingly.  Am I understood?"

The small chorus of yes that came back didn't make Lineak feel confident that he'd been understood.  With a quick motion he picked up the boy whos ear he had held in his grasp and threw him over the heads of the others.  He hit the street with a loud thud groaning and holding his back.

"I said am I understood?"

"YES!"

"Then leave, NOW!"

The mob dissolved in seconds leaving the street free of anyone but Lineak.

"Wyne are you ok? Did any of them hurt you?"

Lineak peered inside the building disgusted by what he saw.  What had once been a fairly tidy dwelling place now smelled like manure and looked just as bad.  Eggs were splattered all over the floor and walls as was fresh manure.  Wyne poked her head out from a sideroom her face and hair visibly wet the robe worn earlier had vanished being replaced with a towel just a hair too small for her ample chest.

"I'm fine thank you.  I'm not sure what would have happened had you not shown up when you did.  I had no idea kids could get so out of hand."

"Out of hand? They're lucky they're not all dead.  Young punks."

"So why did you come back, did you find something?"

Wyne came closer the towel threatening to slip off her body.

"Or did you just miss seeing me?"

She reached out a hand grabbing his shirt and pulling him in to her but not before the towel fell to the ground.  She puckered her lips and looked up at him teasing her lips with the tip of her tongue.

"Well?"

Lineak's body responded the same way any teenagers would.  He tilted his head down preparing to kiss the delicous young woman when his other senses alterted him to the danger.  The woman who looked as if she had just stepped out of a bath smelled of blood and death.  Her skin pressed tightly up against him didn't offer any additional warmth other than an increased blood flow.  Even her breathing was off somehow as if it was unnatural for her to be doing so.

The woman reached up to wrap a hand around the back of his neck pulling him down to her.  As she did she inhaled deeply and Lineak could feel somewhere, something inside of him fighting not to be torn loose.  Her mouth a fraction of an inch from his own he managed to bring a hand to her throat and squeeze.  The small amount of force he thought he had used, was in fact more than enough to crush her larynx.  She fell lifeless to the floor.

"Wyne? Wyne where are you? Are you ok?"

Lineak ran through the small building searching frantically from room to room.  The last room he entered was the room where whatever it was had exited just minutes before.  Wyne's corpse lay on the floor.  Brown dried blood pooled from her slashed throat down a channel cut into the floor into an intricate design etched in the floor nearby.  A roar of rage and frustration tore loose from Lineak's throat what was going on in this town?

Without a friend in town and fearing himself outnumbered and possibly outmatched by whatever was going on in the town Lineak ran from the town ignoring the jeering coming from the windows overhead.  Whatever was going on in that town he no longer wanted any part of it, he just wanted off of this rock. 

He ran not knowing, or caring, what direction he was heading or how far he was traveling.  When exhaustion was on the verge of making him collapse he slowed his pace and tried taking in his surroundings.  Behind him and to either side more of the green fields.  In front of him the fields gave way to rocky ground and in the distance just visible at the very edge of his keen sight some sort of a tower.  He looked towards the sky and inhaled softly smelling the air.  Night was coming and with it rain.  He'd make for the shelter of the tower and hope it was nothing like the town.

Night had already fallen and with it the heavens had opened up before Lineak was able to see the tower he had been heading towards.  Still hundreds of yards away he cursed his bad luck.  A tower it was, or had been.  The dark spire rose about a hundred feet into the air and in the past would have stood even taller.  Approximately fifty feet in diameter it loomed over the landscape even if the stonework was cracked and falling into disrepair.  Whatever roof it had once had was long gone allowing rainwater to pour inside the structure.  Lineak cringed at the thought he'd hoped to stay dry tonight.  Some protection from the elements was better than none though and whatever this place was would keep him slightly dry he hoped.

Strange and bizarre drawings covered the smooth stones around the perimeter of the building and indeed up the circular wall to around eight feet high.  Lineak tried to look at them using the starlight available but the wind and the rain coming down quickly changed his mind.  He entered the ruin via the one door he had seen not entirely surprised to see all sorts of wreckage on the inside.  A soft blue glow illuminated the hallway that he was in and he chuckled to himself seeing it for what it really was.  This was a killway not a hallway.  Along both sides of the passageway stone had been hewn away in such a way that spears could be thrust through from both sides.  Up above Lineak guessed were trap doors in the floor where oil or other nasty substances could be poured down upon enemy trapped in the confines of the killway.

The hallway had a gradual turn to it making Lineak believe it followed the curve of the outside wall.  Keeping a mental talley of how far he'd gone he assumed he would be back at the entrance fairly soon.  Two short fast ninety degree turns proved his theory correct.  The passage now widened and along one side seats were carved into the rock along with weapon racks bored into the rock, storing places for spears. It was here that strange symbols began appearing embazened on the rocks some only appearing after Lineak walked near them others fading as he did.  The eerie quiet of the building building, the strange blue glow, and the symbols making Lineak very uncomfortable.  He kept walking on hoping to find somewhere he could bed for the night.

The passageway continued as before before hitting another two ninety degree angles.  After the second turn Lineak could see a circular staircase carved into the stone in the center of a large chamber.  The large circular chamber's walls were covered with dozens, maybe hundreds, of the glowing designs.  Some seemed to pulse, or even move, as he walked by.  Lineak was surprised to see one of the designs change form into recognizable words: Greetings werewolf.

The words almost made him run from the building, almost.  He would find out about them later he hoped.  Tonight, at this moment, it was time for sleeping.  He laid down on the stone floor with his weapons beside him and drifted off to sleep with strange, but oddly comforting, dreams racing through his mind.

Deep asleep Lineak heard a voice.

"They're coming for you."

The voice was almost enough to wake him but it was all part of the current dream, right?

"I said they're coming for you!"

Stupid dreams Lineak thougt I'm trying to sleep.

"WAKE UP THEY'RE UPON YOU!"

The forcefullness of the last voice finally woke Lineak in time to see figures clad in dark robes enterering the chamber.  All three held small wooden sticks in one hand the other hand waving weird patterns in the air.  As they did Lineak could see symbols fading from the walls.  Instinct more than anything else drove Lineak to grab his revolvers.  His hand wrappped around the pistol that had once belonged to Fang.  No site picture the words sprinted through his mind as he brough the pistol up.  How would a gunslinger use it? He pulled his index finger from the trigger instead using it to point alongside the barrell pulling the trigger with his middle finger.  The feeling was beyone unnatural it went against everything he had ever learned about firearms yet the gun fired and one of the figures fell.

The remaining two turned their attentions to Lineak and he felt the hair on the back of his neck rise.  He tried to pull the trigger again, and again, and again with no luck.  One of the figures laughed a high pitched wheezing laugh.  The other turned his stick towards Lineak and a bolt of lightning shot from the tip.  The lightning flew towards him with such incredible speed Lineak knew it was going to connect, and he was going to die.  Instead one of the symbols on the wall turned red in color and the bolt flew directly into it striking it with a loud popping sound.

Not sure how he was still alve Lineak dropped his pistol and drew his knife his body once again changing form into that of a werewolf.  The laughing stopped and both figures turned their backs to Lineak and tried running away.  The knife dropped useless from his clawed hands but Lineak didn't need it to butcher the two figures, or so he thought.  He ran towards them claws tearing at their cloaked forms only to have the cloaks fall empty to the floor.  He stared confused at the pile of clothing until his human body took control once more.  Kicking the clothing he discovered they had vanished with all of their other belongings.

Lineak turned back towards the chamber noticing blue on the inside of the barrell of his revolver.  That's odd he though.  He picked it up unloading it as he did.  Three of the bullets he unloaded were glowing a pale blue as well.  Each round glowing with a different strange patern.  He looked down the barrell of the .45 the entire barrell was full of strange glowing symbols.  The thought of the strange wound the shotgun had inficted came back to him and he reached for it, glowing.  There they were strange glowing symbols the entire length of the barrell different from the ones inside the revolver.  What was going on here?

As he tried to figure out what was going on a portion of the floor began to glow pale blue before changing and burning a fierce red.  A small hiss and the floor swung downward revealing a narrow hole and a ladder.  What have I got myself into this time was Lineak's last thought before he threw his feet into the hole and onto the ladder descending into the depths.

He had only gone donwn a few feet when another hiss closed the entrance to the shaft.  The pale light from more symbols lined the close confines of the narrow shaft helping alleviate some of the claustrophobia Lineak felt at being inside such a confined space.  Down, down, down the ladder went until fifty feet under the surface he felt stone under his feet.  He looked around his surroundings unsure of exactly what they were, or used to be.  It looked like this was part of a massive cave with huge drawings of winged creatures, dragons, lining the walls.  Pictures of these massive beasts sitting on piles of eggs, pictures of them astride massive piles of gold, and even pictures of them breathing clouds of various substances.

"Who are you and why are you showing me this place?"

His voice reverbrated in the empty cave the echo his only response.

"I'd like to help I really would.  I don't know who or what you are.  I don't know what I'm up against.  How do I help when I don't know anything about the situation?"

A creaking sound from far down the chamber caused Lineak to look in its direction.  A small portion of the cave wall swung inward exposing a small amount of sunlight.  The sunlight was soon blocked by the bulky figure of what Lineak could only guess was one of the dragonborn.  Tall and with muted green scales the figure advanced towards Lineak in a leisurely manner.

"Good morning I hope you slept well."

The greeting threw him off guard it wasn't as if he knew this dragonborn, he hadn't even seen their kind before.  It was a polite greeting though and he figured he should try to be polite as well.  Perhaps he'd learn something from the stranger, something that could help.

"Morning, and it was a rough night.  I'm Lineak and you are?"

"Shintz, you can call me Shintz.  I've got a feeling you and I are going to see quite a bit of each other over the next little while."

"Can you tell me why that is? Can you tell me what this place is? Can you tell me anything?"

"You've been deemed worthy to right a wrong and help restore the balance.  Or so I've been led to believe."

"Balance? What balance? How do I restore something that I know nothing about?"

"That's why I'm here.  To try and walk you through it, baby steps.  You know that town you were in is part of the problem, a large part of it.  I'd like no wipe its existance from the memory of all who live here after I burn it to the ground along with everybody in it."

"It's not exactly my favorite place either Shintz.  So what have they done that's so bad?"

"Aside from poisoning food and water stores, killing and enslaving dragonkind, and doing all kinds of horrible experiments? Oh nothing."

"So why didn't the dragons rise up and destroy the town? If they couldn't do it what makes you think I can?"

"They are using sophisticated magic spells to prevent live dragons from getting too close.  You aren't a dragon obviously and it isn't just the town that needs to be dealt with.  It is what they are doing, creating that needs to be dealt with."

"What exactly would that be?"

"They are trying to merge science and magic using a dragon's sould to blend the two together into an unnatural hybrid killing machine they can utilize at their whim to level anything in their path."

"Umkay.  Sounds like it's a task a little outside of what I can help with."

"You'll have help, I promise you."

"If you say so.  I hope you have a plan."

"Lineak you survived a night in the ruins of Selztark do you realise how rare that is? You probably don't.  In the last two hundred years there have been maybe a total of five people able to do so, including you.  Two of them were driven mad by the voices in their heads.  One climbed to the top of the tower and jumped off.  One ripped his own chest open and ate his own heart.  Then there's you.  Do I have a plan? You.  That's it.  You're special in a way that I can't understand or predict."

"Stop it you're going to make me blush.  Now tell me where and how do we strike first?"

"We do need intelligence on their actions.  I can tell you that they do have an outpost about twenty miles due west of here.  The terrain isn't very friendly its one of the reasons they use airships to traverse between there and the town."

"Airships.  The thought hadn't even crossed my mind with them still using carts over there."

"Don't be fooled by the low tech in town.  We are dealing with a huge magical and technological threat here.  Be on your guard at all tims."

"Twenty miles you say? Shouldn't take too long.  We should be there by nightfall if we get moving."

The terrain was much worse than Lineak had been led to believe.  Steep climbs, slippery rocks, and hungry bellies didn't help matters nor did the torrential downpour that seemed to follow them as they traversed the rocky expanse of land.  Night fell without any indication that they were drawing close to the enemy outpost.  Tired, hungry and sore from the hike Lineak looked for somewhere to rest for the night.  Shintz wasn't so eager to rest as he reached into a knapsack pulling from it big strange boxy glasses.  He adjusted the strange contraption and then raced off into the dark withough another word to Lineak.

With Shintz gone Lineak tried to put together a camp of sorts keeping in mind the enemy could be anywhere nearby.  He threw together a quick shelter utilizing a large outcropping of rock to help shield the sleeping area, and the fire, from the rain and from unwanted attention.  He gathered a meager amount of firewood as plantlife in the rocks wasn't all that plentiful and then with a sigh decided to call it a night.  He had just laid down when the scent came his way.  Something fresh, bloody, and amazingly delicious Shintz strolled into the improvised camp holding out a pair of rabbits to Lineak.

"Ate mine on the way back.  Go ahead  know you're hungry."

Not caring that eyes were upon him Lineak grasped the rabbits and began shoving them into his mouth devouring fat, skin, bone along with everything else.  The rabbits gone both men settled in for the night.  But not before creating a watch schedule so a warning could be called out in case of contact during the night.

The night passed by uneventfully both men greeted the rising sun with smiles before grabbing their belongings and once again heading west.

Trees, Lineak could see trees on the horizon.  It was funny how much he missed seeing those.  He scanned the open landscape between his position and the treeline before breaking into a brisk jog.  The trees would bring cover and concealment as well as ample food for however long they had to be doing surveillance on  the enemy positon. 

Something hit a rock next to Lineak before bouncing off.  A glint of light from inside the treeline told Lineak what it was and he cursed.  Sentries it had to be and they weren't asking questions.  He quickly dove to his right rolling as he did so.

"Shintz we got problems.  They've seen us."

Hearing nothing in return Lineak attempted to formulate a plan on how to get into the forest ahead without being forced full of holes.  It was fifty yards away and any man with a gun was extremely dangerout as that range.  Nobody could cover that distance without some kind of help, could they?  An extremely loud rumbling of earth caught Lineak's attention and he turned his attention back towards the tree line.  Thirty yards out into the open expanse small hills were being pushed up from underneath the surface.  Roughly fifteen yards in width and still growing in height they were currently ten feet tall.

That was exactly the miracle Lineak needede.  He sprinted forward keeping one of the new hills between the line of sight of him and his foe.  Reaching the top of the hill he could feel it continue to grow before finally stopping somewhere about ten yards above where it had started he assumed.  Now equipped with the high ground he scanned about for any signs of enemy momevent.  Minutes after he began he felt a tap on his shoulder he looked up to see Shintz in a kneeling position behind him.

"You're welcome."

"You did this? How?

"Earth magic has its uses.  That was one of them.  It is taxing to use it though.  I'm afraid I won't be able to utilize it for some time.  We'll have to use other means.  By that I mean you.  What are you doing sitting up here watching?"

"Watching."

Shintz reached down and smacked the back Lineak's head.  Before pointing to a small glimmer of light in the trees.

"He's there we'll flank him."

Both men took off down the hill sprinting Lineak forward and to the right, Shintz forward and to the left.  The occasional bullet whooshed by each as they ran without a single round impacting against flesh and bone.  Both men entered the treeline and began working their way towards the last known enemy position.  Shintz was the first to notice their terrible reading of the situation when he encountered an enemy pillbox.  The enemy position faced away from the woods and was enclosed on three sides.  The fourth side had a narrow slit from which protruded the muzzle of a maching gun.  Shintz gasped in horror before trying to manuver his way to the back, open end, of the pillbox.  He could just make out three bodies moving inside all clothed in black robes talking to one another in hushed tones.  Shintz took a moment to pull himself together before inhaling an enormous breath of fresh air.  He closed his eyes concentrating for a moment before exhaling deeply.  The dragonborne grinned wickedly knowing exactly what fate would befall the men in the enemy position.  A colorless odorless toxic gas had just been breethed their way and all three would be dead in minutes.

On the other edge of the woods Lineak moved swiftly through the foilage totally at home in this environment.  His heightened senses picked up the sounds of a roving patrol moving through the forest as well as the scent of cigarrete smoke from up ahead.  That was careless and that was going to cost the smoker.  He crept closer to the smoker seeing a young man aroud his age with a mammoth gun sittiing accross his lap smoke curling out from his mouth.  Lineak plunged his knife into the lad's neck and went on his merry way.  The patrol was a bit more difficult to take care of but it wasn't too horrible Lineak thought.  Moving quickly and quietly through the trees he tracked the trio of men and watched their habbits for a few mintues.  They didn't keep their back end covered probably wondering why they should with the base behind them.  Lineak chuckled at their naivete.  He moved in closer with his blade pulled already in hand.  Running quickly towards the men he slashed the achilles tendons of all three men before slitting  their throats.  A job well, and easily, done he thought.

If this sorry lot was the best this outpost had to offer this mission was going to be easy.

Neither man was ready for the forest to vanish completely leaving both men standing in an open field less than two hundred yards away from a fenced compound.  The compound bristled with guard towers, radio antenas, and a courtyard full of soldiers chomping at the bit for the opportunity to be unleashed.  Lineak knew Shintz wouldn't be able to hear him scream to run, he also knew it probably wouldn't even matter.  He expected a hail of bullets to come cut them down any second.  He turned and was going to begin running when he felt that familiar feeling of his body shifting forms.  It wasn't growing though, what was it doing?

From the watchtowers machineguns opened up cutting Shintz's body in half with a hail of bullets.  The men tasked with killing the other stranger watched as their first salvo passed overhead.  The man had shrunk of all things.  Shrunk and turned into a wolf? What kind of a creature was this? Dragons didn't turn into wolves and they alone were the enemy out here.

Alone and with a small army after him Lineak took the time to groan in frustration.  This seemed to be his life.  Over and over since his change it had come down to situations like this.  Here he was out of his element though trying to fight against magic of all things.  He couldn't do that, he'd had no experience doing it for starters.  He took a deep breath and then howled into the air before sprinting for the rocks.  The number of howls that replied back took Lineak's breath away.

East he would head east he thought.  He'd found some answers in the tower and it was easily defensible at least from a direct assault.  He would have time on his side and the enemy would have no idea what he was capable of.  There was also that voice that had awoken him the last time.  Perhaps the spirit of some long dead being? Some leftover magic from a bygone era? He wan't sure exactly but he knew that it had saved his life the last time.  Hopefully it would be willing to do the same thing once more.

He stayed in the form of a wolf moving with a quickness that he didn't have as a bidped stopping every now and then to sniff the air enjoying the vast differences in his senses in the different form.  It was incredible this sense of smell he didn't even have to worry about nightfall as he could follow his own scent trail or that of Shintz back to the tower.

The trip back took considerably less time and Lineak was grateful for it.  He sat on his haunches staring up at the tower willing himself to change back to human form for some time unsure how to do so.  When he had at last resigned himself to his fate in his current state he felt his body morphing once more to human form.  Odd that.  Incredibly strange really.  His clothing and weapons had gone through the change with him in fact, how he did not know.  Nor did he care.  The fact that they were still in his possession did make things much, much easier though.

Before entering the tower he began going through in his mind what he remembered of the floor plan of he first level.  The entryway, and in fact the entire first loop was a kill zone.  He didn't have the manpower to fill the vacant spots for lancers to thrust spears through the openings.

"You don't need them."

There it was that voice in his head again. 

"I will help you.  Trust me."

Well, that was why he had come back to this place to begin with.  A friend, even an unseen and unknown friend, was better than no friend at all.  Lineak took a deep breath and walked into the tower. 

"Your trip wires here and here.  Over here I will guide your claw.  Here on the floor.  In the hole, yes.  You are adept and so eager to learn, good."

The process took much longer than Lineak had anticipated but the entire first floor back until the stairway was trapped.  Now there was nothing to do but wait he supposed.  It shouldn't take the enemy too long to realize he'd come back here, should it?

"Up."

There it was again that voice in his head.  hopefully a sencond night in this place was survivable.  He climbed the stairs unsure of what he would find.  The stairs narrowed from a width where two men could easily ascend them walking next to each other to halfway up where Lineak had to turn sidewise in order to continue.  When he approached the top of the stairs he was confronted with a large steel door, closed.

"Hassska vitara gnementayna."

The words came into his mind and then out his lips, the door slid open silently.

The odd sponginess of the floor was something Lineak was not comfortable with in any way.  It gave him a slight bounce to every step throwing his normal gait off considerably.  It was only after a few steps that Lineak looked down at this feet and noticed the rising and falling of the floor happened in small sections, squares.  He put all of his weight down on an end of one section and bent down to feel around the base of an adjoining section.  The square was movable! It was approximatly two inches thick and one feet in length and width.  With a slight grunt Lineak wrenched it free and studied the pannel in front of him as well as the hole.  The bottom of the hole looked down onto the floor below with what looked like an enlarged set of chainmail holding the floor in place.  Odd he hadn't noticed holes in the ceiling from underneath not that many.  He picked up the piece of floor and turned it over.  The bottom had spongie circles that mushroomed down from the base.  Black in color they must fit through the mail in such a way that when pressed through it they obscured it.  It was remarkable.

"Draw."

He didn't really know what he was supposed to draw but like on the floor below he followed the voice's lead and began drawing strange designs.  Not only on the one floor pannel but over and over again on others.  As he did he looked around the second floor.  The center of the room held the steel door that had opened at his command.  Past that a hallway that opened into a variety of other smaller hallways attached to small rooms or so Lineak guessed by the doors.

He made his way in and out of the small rooms tracing small patterns on walls, floors and doors as he did.  The small rooms looked as if they had at one time been used for studies as ancient desks and chairs still remained standing.  The occasional paper littered the desks and floors of the rooms written in a language Lineak could not decipher.  He would occasionaly pick up one of the scraps and look at it.

"No.  Not that one.  Not that one either.  Yes, keep that one.  Yes.  Now you're wasting time."

The few scraps of paper the voice promted him to keep he placed in a pocket as he continued working his way through the rooms hopefully trapping them.  The final room housed yet another circular stairway this one wooden and ornate but without the luxury of handrails on either side.  Lineak looked at it and sighed before continuing his journey up the tower.

The third floor opened up into what may have been dormitories at one point in time and as on the floor below Lineak was tasked with drawing strange symbols over everything.  When he had finished the voice gave him surprising news. 

"You are done here.  I thank you.  You have done better than expected.  Take your leave of this place.  All will be well."

What the hell was going on? He had planned on fighting to the death in a desperate last stand in this ancient tower.  It looked as if that wasn't going to be part of the bargain.  What had he just spent the last sevral hours doing then? Where were the enemy troops that should have been following him? Nothing made sense.  Nothing had made sense since he landed on this planet.

Twenty miles west and hours earlier a large cargo vessel dropped down next to the outpost and begin offloading enormous carts filled with the carcasses of dragons and dragonborne.  Soldiers stood nearby waiting their turn they were on the hunt, hunting wolves no less.  That was different.  Half of the soldiers boarded the vessel for the short hop to their drop spot while a quarter of the force hed out on foot. 

In the rocks yellow eyes glared at the men approaching hungrily. 

The soldiers soon found just how miserable the terrain was and armor was soon discarded, with men tasked to dig caches.  When these were done the men continued plugging away in a wide formation meant to find the easiest most direct route to where that wolf had gone.  The first scream took the rest of the men by surprise as it was more of a gurgle after the intial attempt at a scream.  A soldier on the far northern flank had a grey wolf hiding in the rocks fly into him before ripping his throat out. 

Soldiers turned towards the noise instantly bringing firearms up to their shoulders and unleashing a wall of lead that hit nothing.  The wold had disapeared back into the rocks.  From the other flank rose another cry as another soldier faced a battle with a wolf.  This time finding himself unable to move as the wolf had severed his achilled tendon and was not approaching intent on the kill.  The rest of the solderiers turned towards their comrade intent on helping him when half a dozen wolves sprang from behind them.  Each targeting a different soldier and each latching onto throats just long enough to ensure a kill before vanishing into the rocks.  In under an hour the force had been dealt a horrific blow, and the wolves had been fed.

The transport filled with troops left the carts behind and rose into the air turning towards the east as the soldiers mentally and physically prepared themselves for the assault on Selztark.

Lineak went through the tower carefull to avoid his own trip wires and to avoid leaving behind any indicators that were indeed traps.  When he finally exited the tower he was unsure what, or where, he was headed.  Not back to the outpost that was for sure it would be far too dificult to deal with that on his own.  Back to town? He shuddered at that prospect.  Shintz had seemed concerned about it though.  Protected against dragons and all he supposed.  Maybe he should try and spy on the place for a short time just to find out what he could.  He ambled off in the direction of the town as the force in the town was being briefed on what exactly Lineak was, a werewolf.

The small army marched in the dead of night towards Selztark not knowing at one point they walked within half a mile of Lineak on his way back towards the town.  In the next few hours both parties reached their destinations.

"Ok all of you we know about this place.  There's guaranteed to be magic, old magic still here.  We've sent teams here over the last several years to eliminate the majority of the magical traps left behind but keep your eyes out.  Got it?

The soldiers walked walked into the death trap that Lineak armed with the "voice" had created for them.  The soldiers took their time moving slowly searching for things out of the ordinary.  Others, magicians, performed spells to bring magical traps to their attention in the hope they could then defuse them.  Both strategies proved inadequate. 

Phantom lancers stabbed with magical spears, magical arrows showered down from above, flames erupted from the floor below.  Men dropped dead, others fell wounded, the wounded were then trampled to death by the others behind them trying to run forward past the series of traps killing their companions.  The traps continued decimating the armies number as the remaining men worked their way around the firt floor and ascended the stairway to the second floor. 

The second floor was eerily devoid of traps.  The remaining men searched room to room before approaching the next staircase and ascending.  The last of the remaining men entered the third floor when laughter filled their minds followed by an unusual shaking sensation and an incredibly loud rumbling sound.  The men shouted obsenties and tried rushing back down the stairs but it was too late.  Selztark had ceased being a tower and was quickly becoming a tomb.  The painstaking process of drawing runes had paid off and Lineak wasn't there to see it.  The ground underneath the tower opened up just as the first three floors imploded.  Seconds after the implosion it was almost impossible to tell Selztark had ever stood tall over the stone landscape.