The sound of a raven's disgruntled cawing caught her attention, which was followed quickly by a sinister chuckling, a sound that was not entirely humanoid. Leaving the hall to stand beside Elyan, Sigurn could just barely make out the sight of a drastically bobbing head in the heavy smog now seeping through the ghost town. It was the approximate size and shape of a human head, but instead of a human face it appeared to be wearing a grotesque wooden painted mask. The head continued to bob, at first appearing as his as the second story windows of the buildings, before dropping low to the ground and swaying in a wide arch from side to side like a snake's would.
And then the head was followed by a neck... A very long neck indeed, at least the length of a giraffe with the elasticity of a snake's body. The neck was followed by a body like that of a spiny centipede with clawed furred legs with spider-like and lion shape. "What manner of beast is this..." She wondered aloud as she watched the sides of the beast's body suck in a deep breath, before exhaling through gaping gills the noxious gas that laid heavy across the town.
"I was wondering if you would wake, Sigurn. We have been waiting for you." An echoing, sinister voice, still not entirely human, seemed to come from behind the mask. Soon other demon like beasts skittered and crawled from the edges of the buildings, coming in and out of their vision through the billowing smoggy fumes. Sigurn counted nearly four other beasts, though it was clear the one addressing them was either the strongest or the most clever among them. "Come to destroy the tree, have you?"
It was then that Sigurn recalled what her parents had told her of their meeting... They had just recently vanquished a murderous tribe of trolls from the mountains, and on their return they had come across a town of dwarves. They became drunk off of the dwarves' superior beer and whiskey and had lain beneath the great tree of the town to create Sigurn. She turned her eyes towards the city center, and only now did she notice the great cavernous hole where the tree had been.
The scathing sound of chuckling returned. "Not quite all woken up yet, eh Princess?" The beast teased, "The witch came for the tree way back when, before you two had your great meeting. She plucked it right out of the ground and took it away and made that fateful cup for you. Then left us with the order to guard this spot if you should ever come to visit. And now you have, and now both you and the witch have returned! What fun! Watching sleeping dwarves is not as entertaining as it looks."
Sigurn growled under her breath and took a menacing step forward. "And what of the tree? What became of it after the Witch stole it from this place?"
"Who knows?"
"And what keeps the dwarves sleeping?"
"Why me, of course."
Sigurn ran a finger over the blade of her axe, as if entirely distracted by it. "Then you have no purpose to serve me. And..." She looked up quickly, grinning wickedly. "Which means your head had been attached to that ungodly neck for far too long already!" Hefting her axe back mightily, she flung it so that it landed deep into the body of the beast. The other four beasts descended upon them at once and Sigurn took off at a run towards the still living boss beast.
"Take care to stay alive, alright Wolf?" She hollered back at Elyan as she threw herself upon the mighty beast's back, jerking her axe from its body and rolling lightly back onto her feet as it threw her. She swung her axe into one of the three other beasts passing by towards Elyan, taking its ugly pig-like head clean from its body.
