บท 869: It's gettin' hot in here...

The group make their way up the mountains until they finally reach some sort of plateau, clouds clung to it as they travelled over it, forming a blanket of fog... Strangely, it wasn't as cold as they were expecting, instead, a continual warmth was being emitted nearby. They couldn't send where it was coming from due to them having their vision obscured by the fog, but with some rather forceful spells, they were able to look around...

Barnock "Ooouhhh-..." he breathes out after being greeted with the view, before them was what could only be a humungous extinct volcano, the inside was hollowed out and had many ledges on its walls, all presumably used for the Dragons that nest here.

Obviously, most had already been killed by the group, the only thing remaining being the unhatched eggs and whelps still unable to fly.

Quennie "This isn't right..." she says after observing some eggs from afar. The eggs that were typically white with speckled black spots where no longer such, now instead looking green and sickly with red scales forming around them with red glows that seem to thrumb with strength whenever the inhabitant's heartbeats. "Something have happened with these Dragon eggs. They look completely different to how they usually should."

Tyrael nods, "I remember Diablo performing similar experiments on spider eggs, they're likely already corrupted, we need to purge them when we get the chance."

Mathias "That's great and all, but we have no idea where Diablo is, the map is useless here and the compass is spinning like crazy, Diablo is within 10 miles of us, but in this mountainous region that's quite a distance."

Selina "Isn't it obvious?" she wonders aloud, drawing everyone's attention to her. "Diablo's the big bad boss right? Where else would that be if not inside a volcano?" she says, pointing at the bottom of the Volcano's insides.

No magma was present, but the ground glowed with an eery red... Small gouts of flame seemed to burst to life randomly, but it shouldn't be too hot for the group. They were all exceptional humans, Nephalim, and whatever the God-Kings daughters were.

Barnock "I agree, Diablo seems like the kind of guy to squat in a volcano while torturing innocent creatures." he says, the others nodding in agreement.

With that the group started to clamber down into the volcano, each ledge seemed to lead to another, which was helpful as Tyrael and Quennie were not all that manoeuvrable. Barnock was able to leap great distances while Mathias and Selina could easily teleport to where they needed to go, even if the formers teleporting had limited range.

Occasionally they'd stop at some nearby egg clutches and smash them to makesure they'd not hatch and cause trouble. Next to the clutches there were usually caves nearby, caves that contained valuable objects depending on the depth of which they were located.

It seemed that the higher-ranked Dragons that owned more expensive and elaborate things lived deeper into the volcano, this made sense as they'd be closer to the heat source, something which apparently attracted the Dragons here.

There were some hazards that they had to avoid, some holes in the walls would occasionally release bursts of hot air or steam, while it'd not kill anyone, it would definitely give them a damn bad scolding.

They got deeper, and deeper, and deeper... Until they were only a few levels above the larger underground area at the bottom of the volcano, from above it didn't seem all that large, looking only to be a simple hole left at the bottom... Now however as the group gets a better loo, it looks more like a huge cavern, definitely not something they were expecting.

There wasn't anymore ledges to hop down onto, which forced them to drop 150 meters until they reached the ground. Selina used some cushioning charms to help the less able members of the group to get down there.

Once they set foot on the bottom level though sweat started to pour off of most of them...

Mathias "Ohh... I didn't think it'd be this hot down here."

Barnock shakes his head, the barbarian feeling relatively comfortable down here, "Buck up Mathias, it's a Volcano... You should be happy Diablo isn't hiding within an active one, we'd never be able to deal with him then."

Tyrael "Diablo isn't completely immune to heat, he'd likely last only a few weeks in actual magma, even with his recent power increase. The forces of nature are not to be trifled with." he explains.

Selina "You guys are wimps, my cold showers are this temperature." she says, causing the member to turn and look at the completely unperterbed-looking child.

Mathias "Wha-How? Do you have a magic for that?" he quickly asks, hoping she'd be able to apply it onto himself.

Selina shrugs, "I do, but those spells are more for burning-to-death levels of heat... Wasting my magic to stop you sweating would be a waste, plus its funny how desperate you are." she says while trying to stifle her giggles at his very red face.

Quennie "Sister you shouldn't mock them, not everyone has received our tolerance to heat."

...

Tyrael uses his robe to dab the sweat on his forehead, "We should continue onwards, the longer we stay the more the heat will affect us."

The group look around for a moment, the air rippling due to just how hot it is. The Cavern is pretty barron, aside from the occasional bursts of fire from the floor and walls, there only seemed to be one exit from this place aside from the one they'd used to enter.

The cave looked partially melted, as if whatever was contained within it was hotter than it currently already was...

Selina skips over lackadaisically, all the while remaining alert against whatever may be down here.