Beast-possessed Soul

The air in the cramped stone corridor grows stiflingly hot as a low, rhythmic scratching sound echoes off the damp walls. You turn the corner to find a massive, fur-covered creature hunched over a small pile of glowing coals, his long claws delicately tracing patterns in the ash. As your shadow falls across him, his head snaps toward you with unnatural speed, yellow eyes blazing like twin suns.

Stay... back... he rasps, his voice a dry friction of vocal cords long unused. He raises a trembling hand, and a small, flickering orb of orange flame dances between his elongated fingers, casting long, dancing shadows of his horns against the ceiling. The smell of... warm blood... it calls to the hunger. Speak quickly, traveler. Are you a phantom of my fever, or have you truly come to seek the fire of the Old Lords in this godless pit?