Tor Korbel

Hello, my name is Pip. I cannot help having been born small. I did not choose to have been born a halfling. Nor did I choose to be born a girl. No, these were random chance as rolled by the gods. I am however, very grateful that the powers that be decided to give me the gift of magic. I am a mage.
I remember the first quest I ever went on. It was supposed to be so simple. Adventures never are, that I can promise you. My companions and I were tasked to go out and find some very rare flowers, star lace lilies. This was for some high up snotty  muck  of a Baron or whatever he was. 
We spent near two full days travelling deep into the wilder border lands. This stretch of land once being a small collection of minor holdings of Autumn March that gone rogue and independent when the last Marquis was lost and the Empire fell. It was typically cold, wet and dreary. As twilight began to fall we came across a group of dwarves. Warily we approached.
The dwarves were a small group of about fifty, each tattooed on the face with crystalline ink that would also glow in the dark. This ink would also show through makeup and any concealer no matter how thickly applied. This is how dwarves punish criminals that did not warrant a death sentence. They are then exiled for a number of years until they are allowed to return. Well this group decided to find their own place to live and remove the tattoos themselves since one of them used to be a magistrate.  They would then live in this old dwarf freehold they had come across Tor Korbel. This is where I was called on.
None of the dwarves could find the entrance, it having been overgrown for centuries. All they could find is what they called a skylight. A narrow shaft that was drilled into the earth to allow sunlight to fall deep inside. Naturally fate and chance decided that of everyone present that only I was small enough to climb down the shaft. 
Without being able to protest my brave companions bundled me up and lowered me down on a rope. Three hundred feet to leave the shaft and another twenty to reach the floor. There would be no rescue or escape if something were to happen. I untied myself and set forth to explore Tor Korbel.
I conjured a ball of light. A nice soft warm yellow pink to brighten this horrible place. Horrible for it was not only damp, mildewed and moldy, but also filled with bones. Bones of the dwarves that once lived here. Something had killed them, and then after gnawing on the bones arranged them in what can only be described as morbid art. It even appeared that their blood and other bodily fluids were used to make obscene paintings upon the walls. But most strange is that there were no skulls to be found. 
The architecture had once been lovely. There were fine corbels scalloped to look like sea shells. Flying buttresses carved to resemble falling water with  little fish swimming about. Fine mosaics and tiles covered the walls and floors that told the  history of Tor Korbel. From what I could tell the Tor Korbel had been governed by a line of hereditary knights. Looking around there were some signs that they gave it their all in a final battle.
There was a sound. It reminded me of a teacher drumming her nails across a desk, then it changed and sounded like nails on a black board.
The signs of battle appeared more often. Broken weapons, shattered armor and splintered shields strewn across the floor. There were signs of fire that were plainly  of arcane origin. I came into the great hall and here the darkness was so complete my poor little light was dimmed to a mere candle. 
A gust of foul wind extinguished my tiny light. I blinked in the darkness and heard a voice "Come little one let me see you better." A flame erupted that enshrouded a  tall man with skin of lapis lazuli and eyes of mother of pearl. "That is better" he said as all the ancient lamps sputtered to life illuminated the once proud hall.
I cringed "Who are  you?"
"I am Mephasma, perhaps you can  help me?"
"Help you? How?"
"I was sent here to destroy the dwarves with specific instructions to crush their skulls to dust. Four of the little rats scurried off and hid in the chapel to the side there" He waved his hand and dozens of chairs and tables. "I cannot enter. You can. Bring me the skulls."
"I don't know if I should be doing this."
The being smiled or smirked, I could not tell which. "Little one, bring me the four skulls and I will do four things for you. I will take you to the entrance, clear it away, and then remove the blockage outside the hides it. I will also save you from death one time. Then we will be even. I offer this, for, I am bored with this place. I have been trapped here for nearly two thousand years and want to leave."
I  looked down and my hands as I wrung them over and over again. "I have a friend, can you save her instead, she always gets into trouble. I run from trouble."
Did I hear a laugh or a snicker? "Your friend shall escape death once."
I stepped into the chapel and saw the remains of the four dwarves who died a slow death from lack of water and food. It was very hard to pull off the skulls. I felt disrespectful and wrong. I then stepped out full of fear and apprehension. I gave the skulls to Mephasma.
Mephasma gave a great sigh of relief. "At last!" He then crushed the skulls to dust and shook seemingly with glee. "Now for our bargain little one." He carried me along like a sack of potatoes. With a wave of his hand fallen stone moved showing me the old twisted gate. A further sound like an avalanche and rushing water. Then he put me down and grinned. "Your friend will be kept safe, but until then." He then took my coat and opened it with a talon and burned into the fabric a formula. "If you ever want to chat, this is how you can call upon me." He then vanished in a puff of acrid smoke.
I sat for a long time in the damp and mud until the others came. There were many claps given to me and even more words of praise. But I still felt soiled and foul as if I had done a great wrong. I only hope that Sasha does not hate me if she is ever saved by Mephasma.