\n\t\t\t\t\tsandowThey wrote a great little story to go with it, I recommend giving it a read if you liked the image. :>
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Forks of lightning exploded from behind Equimm, illuminating the ancient caverns in a brief but glorious blue light. Bolts of electricity faded to mere sparks before leaving the room in dim light once again, multiple pairs of glowing red eyes denoting the goblin foe.
"Miserable accuracy! I'll show you how it's done, you walking pus bags!" shouted Equimm, quickly chanting an incantation as his hands flew about in specific sharp motions. Suddenly purple bolts spewed from said hands and darted toward the crimson eyes, meandering toward the targets in sudden turns yet always closing. Purple light momentarily exploded across the room with accompanied thuds and squeaks. Equimm looked around, searching for those eyes or a flicker of motion, before a broad smile bloomed across his face.
"Decades of arcane training are not outmatched by the miserable party tricks of malignant cabbage!" chuckled Equimm. Quietly muttering another incantation, a new light shined out from his staff; the room now illuminated once again. Averting his gaze from the staffs stinging radiance, he peeked around the arched room again for any signs of life. His flickering shadow was the only motion while dripping water provided a reprieve from silence.
In amongst the stonework lay various sleeping bags which circled old camp fires, some still bearing cooking pots. Various boxes and even chests were strewn around yet they had already been opened, some with their lids blown off. Motionless goblins lay in various poses, some practically flattened against the wall, several with limbs facing the wrong way while one dangled from a cooking pot, hooked to it by a foot. Picking up a rusty hatchet from the cold floor, Equimm crept toward one, as if trying to sneak up upon a spider. Reaching the blade forward he poked at the body a few times before moving onto the next one.
With the inspection complete, Equimm tossed the blade away, rubbing his hand against his blue cloak before yanking out a small bag from his belt. "Second time I've collected payment from here!" he said, rifling through the goblins. Coins of all sorts were dropped straight into the bag while any pouch was shaken a few times for a telltale metallic jingle, dropped in if seemingly containing wealth! Several large bags poked out from the wizard, all looking fit to burst.
Each flash of gold or fattened purse maintained his broad smile while his mind drifted into imagination. Instead of traipsing through the muggy caverns he'd be sitting in his office with gold stacked up to the ceiling. The stench of rot and goblin would be helpfully smothered by a bit Prestidigitation magic as he recounted his newfound wealth. Professors and students alike would gawk, their mouths hitting the carpeted floor as they witnessed Master Wizard Equimm Octavius Vebahn sitting down with enough money to purchase the academy itself! A shock of cold water hitting his slickened black hair woke him from rosy daydreams, the wizard still in the bowels of the old temple. Staff held forward he walked through the exit, head held high.
Moving up an obnoxious amount of stairs, Equimm came to an expansive room with a high ceiling, the only path being a narrow walkway in the middle. On that walkway lay various glyphs with coloured patterns around them, randomly reoccurring across the length of the path. Flanking this patterned path lay various golden statues in the form of stylized dragons, piles of ash laying between them.
Rifling through a bag he yanked out a tattered book and flipped through its yellowed pages, gazing past innumerable symbols, diagrams and pictures. Finally he got to two pages with a sprawling set of illustrations of the exact symbols which lay before him. This was it; the scrawling of a poor soul who originally bungled their way through this monster infested temple. All that was separating Equimm from glorious progress or an ignoble doom was trusting the old scribbling of some malnourished commoner! After a few minutes of rereading the pages he snapped the book shut, looking forward toward the dusty puzzle.
With a snort and a shrug he hurled the book into the air with a swing of his arms, watching it as best he could in the inadequate light. It soared above the statues before finally plunging down, landing upon the ground with a thud. A menacing glow emanated from the pair of draconic statues closest before both fired a blast of radiant light, reducing the book to a cinder and leaving a smell of smoke lingering in the air
Equimm pulled out a tiny vial from another pouch, tipping it onto the floor while chanting, an ethereal disc suddenly appearing right in front of him. Stepping upon the disc he floated above statues and walkway, a smug grin etched upon his face. Floating leisurely across, Equimm dusted off his robes and checked his fingernails while his mind wondered back to that glorious fortune. His arcane energies felt quite drained now with but a couple more spells left in him, however he was almost toward the end now.
Lowering back down to the floor, Equimm pushed himself up another flight of stairs, muttering about the terrible design of his ancient ruin in between rapid breaths. Once out he could find that simple minded horse and ensure it trundled back home with his precious treasures. He could sit on the cart, behind that chestnut coloured equine and relax; a heroes rest for a superior wizard.
Puffing and panting his way up the stairs, his eyes were forced into a squint from the natural light which flooded into the temple opening. With a relieved sigh he walked forward, when suddenly he felt an explosion of pain from his leg. Looking down there was a goblin, its dirtied needle like teeth sunk into his flesh, its hateful red eyes staring right up at him. "Get off you bastardly boil!" he shrieked, throwing his leg around. Awkwardly stumbling he flung his body into a spin, sending the goblin flying toward the temple entrance. With a fading hiss it flew into the stonework above the entrance before bouncing off into the darkness, going silent.
Equimm looked down at himself, nursing over the bite marks and the just as terrible rips into his fine leggings. Suddenly, there was a rumble, summoning the wizards attention toward the cave entrance where he saw various cracks spread across the stone above, as if it were broken glass. With a horrified gasp he saw carved stone tumble down and snuff out the light from the entrance, leaving Equimm with but his staffs light. 'Stupid goblin!', he screamed, stamping his injured leg upon the floor, fists clenched tightly.
Left with limited light the wizards situation dawned upon him; a massively enriched man now trapped within the ancient musty ruins he had so effortlessly conquered. He took deep breaths, just standing there while panic swelled in his mind. "There, there has to be some method! I am a master of the arcane. I have ways to get out," he whispered to himself, feeling as if a thousand monsters were eagerly watching over him in the darkness, ready to tear him to bloodied shreds. His brain scrabbled for a solution, Equimm pulling out his spellbook and reading through it before suddenly, an revelation blossomed in his mind! "That's it. Ohohoh, Equimm you've done it again!" he said with a click of his fingers.
Putting back his spellbook, he instead pulled out another book bearing a yellow and black cover. Gazing down he saw that familiar title; "Teleportation for Dummies: A-B". Equimm was unable to help but take a little bit of offence at the name. He flipped through the pages, quickly scanning them in a hunt for the relevant information, feeling like he had just enough power to vanish from this decrepit building. "...to teleport to a place or creature, simply think hard on it in your mind while casting this spell...," he muttered, his concentration briefly broke by a distant groan deeper within the temple.
A good amount of treasure had already been dumped next to that brainless draft horse, meaning that if he wanted all his gold safely transported back by sunset, he had to get back to it. "Think hard on it," he whispered again, flipping over to the page with the incantation itself. It had been but a few gold to rent the horse, a draft breed who was mundanely named Stefan. Simple minded but strong and able to pull a treasure stacked cart!
His mind fixated upon the draft horse but memory yielded little of him but that tremendously wide back end which was the lion's share of the view he had of the equine. Despite disgusted feelings he locked his thoughts on that while reading off the incantation, purple flames starting to dance and quiver around him. Muscle was all that horse had and that plodding rear was no exception, the tail at least ensuring some decency. His staff dropping with a clatter as he clenched his eyes, forcing his mind to focus on that equine.
Suddenly there a lurching feeling akin to being yanked through the air while he was plunged into utter darkness. For but a brief moment there was nothing, no sound, smell or light, as if he had simply ceased to exist; agony from his leg was absent and there was not even but a taste within his mouth. Suddenly senses exploded back to him, something suddenly shoving him flat upon the ground, tight confines surrounding his body while natural light flooded into his eyes once again, accompanied by warm summer air filling his nostrils.
He was back in the woodland where he made camp, with large tent and fuming campfire just a few metres away. Bird song filled the air and the rustle of trees was brought by a gentle wind. Nearby was the cart which was jam packed with bags of varying sizes along with a few patterned treasure chests. The view made sense but what was this horse tail doing right in front of it all? Looking downwards, he noticed he was a metres off of the ground with a pair of hind legs in full view.
It was then that the terrible reality of what had happened had dawned upon him, looking back up to see his outstretched hand still holding the book between his fingers, purple flames brilliantly glowing, even in the sunlight! Aforementioned hand lay against that thick horse hair, pushing through it in places! "Oh no," he quivered, his heart skipping a beat at the realization. He had gotten close to the horse, far too close in fact; focused thoughts ending up betraying him!
Shuffling within the confines of the equine he felt the book slide out between his fingers, his grasp just barely holding onto the cover which slipped away in a feeling that was almost as agonizing as that goblin bite! Despite a firm press of his fingers it slipped away and landed upon the ground with a soft thud. "No!" he cried, starting to breath heavily as his hand was left dangling out.
Pressure around his head suddenly built up as Equimm was clenched inward, the horse letting out a whinny. Despite efforts to push forward, the wizard could feel hot flesh push around the edges of his face, pulling him toward the darkened interior of the horse. Pink stringlike flesh was momentarily visible before clasping over him, squeezing him into the darkness with but his arm left out. "What did this oversized donkey thing it's doing!" cried Equimm.
Within the darkness was humid air, Equiimm making the mistake to breathe through his nose initially, forcing later gasps to go through his mouth. He felt himself squelched inward again with a wet slick of flesh, that terrible feeling of his arm moving back on top it all!
For Stefan it had been a relatively quiet day, the most pressing task being the transportation of a human and their cart. A strange fellow who went from happy to irate in but a second with no provocation! After stopping near a cave, he had been tied up and left within the woodland, the human only showing up again to dump various bags and boxes into the cart. Beyond that it was merely the stressful situation of being tied to a stump within a wild woodland, hardly a calming place to spend the day!
Now, suddenly there was a strange feeling within his body, a sensation of being filled in both his stomach and bowels. It was not something that could be expelled but maybe it was something that needed time to digest? Looking back at himself, Stefan couldn't see past his chestnut flank but he could see a book suddenly on the ground, his slender ears picking up shouting similar to that of the human!
It couldn't be them, could it? That human did have an odd air about them but such people usually wouldn't appear within ones bowels! The sensation of something thick within them caused him to clench again, to push it back in! The cries had become more muffled at this point, indistinct yet bearing an outraged tone!
Irritation aside, the sensation of something large feeling his belly was a delightful sensation, as if a day's grazing had been done in but a moment! His brown belly hung downward, wobbling a little with movement while behind that, Stefan could feel something pushing about under his tail; concerning but his efforts to engulf whatever it was back there were already delivering a modicum of relief.
Stefan looked toward the mouth of the cave and then the rope tying him to a stump, the horse knowing that it wouldn't take much effort to free himself. The sensations behind him were strange and slightly worrying but there came no obvious pain. Beyond that he would wait for the human to return, Stefan hoping that maybe they could help if they weren't enraged!
Hours passed and the sun sank, casting the sky in a gentle blue light, shadows growing tall within the woodland. The nuisance behind him had vanished, leaving that enjoyable plumpness which persisted on. The rope now loosened by quiet effort, Stefan suddenly felt quite vulnerable with that particular human seemingly warped away. It was bad to disobey but what if something happened to them in that cavern? What if they had a horrible accident? For the draft horse the choice was clear now.
Plodding away in the fading light his belly jiggled along with rear cheeks which were now freed from obstruction. If he had ingested that human , then they were surprisingly enjoyable! His belly seemed to be dutifully working away despite the amount of meat they had been! No one would know what he had (if directly) had done to that human and even if they did, who would believe a horse devouring a person? Who could truly believe that such a seemingly powerful magical being would teleport themselves into a horses arse? Such stories after all were the product of fantasy!