CH 3: Descent into Darkness

[Breila]

"Yes, Master Burrfoot here is right." Goldmoon tells the Gully Dwarves.
"We can be your friends and help you to lead a nicer life, where you can decide for yourself what you want to do. But you need to help us defeat your masters first. You'd need to tell us all you know about them, and about this place."

[Jenara]

Turning Laurana drags Tanis past the Statue and to the other room, she gives Sturm a Salute and heads through the open door.. "What, are they?" She asks, wrinkling her nose slightly.

[JadedDM]

"Okay," says the lead gully dwarf, getting to his feet. The other Aghar do likewise, save for one who is way too busy picking his nose to notice what his companions are doing. "What want to know?" the leader asks.

Tanis sighs as Laurana leads him into the room. "Gully dwarves," he laments.

[Jenara]

"What wretched little creatures.." She comments, she had never seen anything like them before.

[Breila]

Goldmoon concentrates for a moment, then asks: "How many masters are there? And what do they look like?"

[JadedDM]

The lead gully dwarf explains. "Masters are tall, like you. And mean. They have sharp teeth and claws. And wings. Look like lizards. Very mean," he says, mimicking a scary, mean face. This causes a couple of the other Aghar to become frightened and run to the corner of the room.

"There are two masters," he says, holding up two fingers. "Not more than two."

[Breila]

"Thank you" Goldmoon says to the dwarf.
"Now, my second question: How much of this building do you know? Does it go down far?"

[Jenara]

"I wonder how many of them there are.. ?" Laurana asks quietly. "Surely there can't be lots of them living like this."

"Excuse me, how many of you are there here? Are there many?" Laurana asks politely, waiting for the creatures to answer Goldmoon.

(Two, not more than two.. Lol!)

[JadedDM]

"Stairs go down to city," the gully dwarf says. "City big," he adds, stretching out his arms, which are covered in scabs.

He then turns to Laurana. "There two of us. Not more than two," he says, holding up two fingers. Tanis sighs again, putting his hand on his forehead.

Flint snorts. "They're too stupid to count higher than two. Got doorknobs for brains. I wouldn't rely on any information they can give us."

[Jenara]

Laurana giggles despite herself. "Do you have a leader? Not the scary lizard men, one of your people?" she had learnt some diplomacy, her father schooling wasn't wasted.

[JadedDM]

"Highbulp Phudge the First is king of Aghar!" the gully dwarf announces. "Big shot! Lives down in city. Is smartest of all gully dwarves. You nice people. Me draw you map." The gully dwarf pulls out a soiled sheet of parchment and a nub of charcoal and, his tongue sticking out of his mouth, begins to sketch an incredibly crude drawing. "You visit Highbulp, he help you right straight!"

[Breila]

"And the masters, are they masters of Highbulp, too?" Goldmoon continues to ask, accepting the sketch. Is it of any use?

[JadedDM]

"Highbulp live in city, hide from masters. Masters not find, so not make work," the gully dwarf says. "We go to work now. Masters come looking if gone too long. Let's go, mates," he says, gesturing to the others. By this point, most of the group had become bored and started digging at the fresco again. At the command, though, they all get to their feet and follow their leader out the doors, and to the double doors to the east.

The map consists of a line that zigzags downward toward an 'X.' There are no landmarks or other features to explain how to reach the 'X,' thus making the map completely worthless.

[Breila]

Goldmoon looks at the map, then says drily to Flint: "I begin to understand why you think about these people the way you do."

Then, she looks at the rest of the group. "But at least we know that there are more draconians here. Let's hope the gully dwarfs don't tell them we've come."

[Jenara]

"Do you think we should follow them?" She asks the others, glancing over to the silent Knight.