You calmly draw your hunting knife, and walk over to him. You take his hand in yours, and say, "talk" the Goblin replies incredibly calmly, "what do you want to talk about?" You bend one of his finger until it breaks. Surprisingly, the Goblin doesn't react. You say in a much harsher voice, "Say 'what' again, I dare you. I freaking dare you." You break another finger while you say this. To you astonishment, the Goblin begins to laugh. "You are a fool human, I fear neither death nor pain. For I have seen true beauty! Ha ha ha!" While he was saying this, you break yet another finger, and scratch his arm with your knife. The Goblin opens his other hand, and inside is a small white gem with a pulsating glow. Gat gasps from behind you. "An elven star gem!? How on earth did you come by this? The elves never let anyone else lay eyes on them!" The Goblin laughs again, "I got it from the elf of course. He gave it to me as long as I swore to pull this lever a few moments after he entered." "WHICH ELF?" Gat shouts, while shaking him. "The rider of course."
Gat lets out a scream, and cuts the Goblin's head off. The head flies through the open window looking over the entrance. You walk over to the window and see the head hit the floor with a splat. Next, you see Gasmog, the Goblin dragon rider, and his water dragon as big as Jawrok, but not as big as Almar's Ice dragon. Gasmog has an arrow in his left arm, and his dragon has a large triple scratch on his neck, and one of his legs appeared to be frozen solid. Gasmog was fleeing as fast as he could Fleister was the first in pursuit, followed by Almar. You see Gasmog turn towards Fleister and shout, "IT WASN'T ME! IT WAS ALMAR! YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE ME! ALMAR IS RESPONSIBLE FOR GORLAG'S DEATH!"
Fleister hesitates for a moment, then continues the pursuit. It appeared he didn't believe Gasmog. Gat grabs you and holds you close to his face. He shouts at you, "Were you attacked by an Orc pack led by Raddok?" You say yes. Gat throws you to the ground in anger. "I was a fool. We have all been deceived. Almar told Raddok to kill a group of renegade humans, which I now so was you. When I arrived at the siege of Rendrak, I noticed that the Goblins were not particularly attacking the elven army annihilating them. They were solely intent on killing Fleister and Gorlag. This whole time, Almar has been trying to kill us." He mounts Grommok and flies him out of the window and into the entrance. Gasmog, Fleister, and Almar had already left the fortress. You quickly mount Fluffles and follow. What you see outside of the fortress is completely horrifying.
Gasmog's dragon was dead. One of it's wings was burnt down to the bones and the other one was in millions of shattered, icy pieces strewn in a trench across the ground that could only have been from the dragon crashing into the ground at full speed. There were scorch marks all over the dragon's body, but the killing blow must have been from Almar's dragon, as the head and neck was frozen solid. You look for Gasmog himself, and find a charred, burnt body not far from the dragon. You look up and see Fleister and Almar fighting. Almar must have gotten a surprise attack, because Almar's dragon had bitten Jawrok in the neck and was shaking his head all over the place. There was so much blood flying through the air that it became difficult to make out details, but suddenly, Jawrok's wings stop beating, and Almar releases the dragon to fall to it's doom. You and Gat were flying full speed towards Almar. To a bystander, the sight must have been pretty comical. Fluffles, the size of a house, and Grommok, the size of two houses next to each other, together charging a dragon larger than a human citadel. To Gat, however, the situation was not comical. His Orc rage was driving his every move. He was farther ahead of you, so you shout as loud as you can for him to join you and attack together. He must have heard you, because he wheels Grommok around, but the Ice dragon blasted a cone of freeze between you two, keeping you two separate. Almar then chased Gat away from you. Gat led Grommok to the only place where they might be safe, the small lake outside of the fortress. Grommok dives into the lake, but Almar and his dragon follow Grommok under the water and freeze the surface of the lake above him, denying him any chance of escaping. The whole surface of the lake is frozen before you can even reach Almar. Gat is trapped underwater, and you are alone.
You expect Almar to begin attacking you immediately, but instead, he starts talking. "You, you are the only one of them that recognized the honor and wisdom of the elves. You told me yourself back at the meeting in Rendrek. Surely you realize that by doing this, I am completing the prophecy.
Of the 5 races, one will shake.
And in that moment, the peace shall break.
(The Goblins were so easy to tempt, they were the ones who broke the peace. Once I was finished, I would kill them to get the star gems back.)
A rider of one race will take power,
And War will start within that hour.
(I have taken off the yoke that the other elves put upon themselves. I had to lock up the other three elf riders because they did not see my wisdom. But they will see when I am finished. The moment I tempted the Goblins, they mobilized an army.)
In order for the strife to finish,
That rider's power must diminish.
(Once I eliminate the resistance, I will return triumphantly, and become equal to my brethren. The war will be over.)
one rider of each remaining race will go.
Together, they will confront the foe.
(The foe is clearly the Goblins. They were the ones to start the fighting.)
And One final battle between these five,
determines if the world will die or thrive.
(That battle is already won. The world will thrive under the wisdom and direction of the elves. It never says that there cannot be two of us.)
I am glad that you see the sacrifice I had to make to reach this moment. Will you return with me to my brethren? Every Glory imaginable awaits you there!