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[Argonnek]

Taking the sane route, you decide to run like hell away from the bird-thing and escape. You come up to the wall you woke up next to, but the way up is a sheer cliff! Thinking quickly, you decide to set a quick trap for the beast. You set your lamp down and run toward a nearby treeshroom, hiding behind it. You wait for a moment, and the bird-man thing comes into range of your tree. Stepping back, you charge into the shroom and it falls over, breaking the neck of the monster and making a disgusting squelch.

After you rest for a few moments, you examine the base of the treeshroom. Apparently, the mud only goes down about ten inches before hitting solid rock. The root systems of the plants and fungi here are incredibly shallow. Something about that strikes you as illogical, but you just killed a giant bird twisted into the shape of a human by crushing it with a mushroom the size of an oak. There is no logic anymore.

As if to drive this point home, you hear the clanking of metal boots in the distance.

[AntiAntiMatter]

Hide, remain silent, scan their auras, watch them closely, determine whether or not you should reveal yourself to them.

[Urist McCheeseMaker]

Seems like we're trapped in this cavern. Also, metal means they're equipped, so they're sentient. Unless we're expecting metal monstrosities here.. but that's just nonsense, right? That just doesn't happen. It doesn't. Right?
... Right?

They're also probably more used to these environments. Scientists don't wear that much metal, and nobody else would come in here. These people -live- down here. They will hunt you down if you look like a threat. Take the diplomatic route.

[quip]

Seems like we're trapped in this cavern. Also, metal means they're equipped, so they're sentient. Unless we're expecting metal monstrosities here.. but that's just nonsense, right? That just doesn't happen. It doesn't. Right?
... Right?

They're also probably more used to these environments. Scientists don't wear that much metal, and nobody else would come in here. These people -live- down here. They will hunt you down if you look like a threat. Take the diplomatic route.

... So we just have to hope their not Dwarves?

[Argonnek]

clank clank clank.
The metal boots are near.
clank clank clank.
You are starting to feel fear.
Clank Clank Clank.
You're not sure what to do.
Clank Clank Clank.
You hide before they see you.

You clamor on top of a short treeshroom and lie down, hoping they won't look up.

Two short, bulky individuals covered in full plate armor run over to the beast that you felled. They have an exchange in a language you don't recognize, then one of them shouts "BOMREK!!"
You are stunned for a moment by the noise of the echoes, and fall off of the mushroom. You thud onto the ground-without hitting your head, thankfully-and both of the soldiers point crossbows at you.
One of them speaks a command, "Savot."
Huh? What does that mean?
"SAVOT!" he yells.
You decide that you should at least be able to run when they start firing, so you stand.
They seem to calm down. Maybe savot means stand?

Another individual, this time without armor, appears. He is bearded, with a dirt-brown headband and arms covered in blood. His hands are covered in warts, which you remember as being an affliction common among butchers.
One of the soldiers points to the monster you killed, "Lokast a fer." The butcher nods and walks over to it.
What happened next you can barely believe. The butcher not only moved the log off of the body, he grabs the monster by one limb and starts dragging it at incredible speed into the darkness.

The soldiers now focus their full attention on you. They seem to be sizing you up for some reason.


For the purposes of clarity, I have made the decision that, in dwarven, "a" is "the," "o" is "or," and "t" is "but." Otherwise, it's just the regular text found in the language_DWARVEN.txt. Also, they structure their sentences like an english-speaker.

[AntiAntiMatter]

Surrender.

[Urist McCheeseMaker]

Surrender and befriend them. Show them that you mean no harm.

[quip]

... They are Dwarves, aren't they, DF dwaves.
We are screwed.

[Argonnek]

... They are Dwarves, aren't they, DF dwaves.
We are screwed.

DF dwarves are only as evil as the one controlling them.


You stand for several minutes, waiting for them to do something. Eventually, one of them tilts his head to the side, and a moment later you hear a noise in the distance. You have no idea if it was a voice or not, but apparently your captors do. They point at you, then at the source of the noise. You start walking, and they follow you at a distance. The journey becomes very difficult for you as you leave the safety of your lamp's light, but the dwarves hardly seem to notice. You stumble constantly, and more than once nearly lose your life to a pit. And yet they keep walking and walking, only halting to pick you up or stop you from falling.

After walking for what seemed like days, you spot a strange dim light in the distance. As you approach, you see that it is emanating from a reddish moss on the wall. You don't see any more in the distance, so you deviate from your route and collect some in your hand. It looks and feels like blood, but it glows, and you can see a short distance away with it.
They pull you roughly back onto the route, and you continue to walk.

You continue your death march through the chilly caverns, your way lit by the moss you smeared on your forehead long ago. Was it so long ago? A week? A day? Ten minutes? You can't tell anymore. There is only the endless parade of pits, lakes, stalagmites, stalactites, and columns. You lost all interest in the amazing natural beauty of the caves sometime after your twentieth fall. You really wish you had a wristwatch right now.
After countless steps, you see a bright light in the distance, and the cave suddenly gets much hotter than it was before. The wind picks up, and all moisture disappears from the air.
You crest the slope you were walking up, and in the distance see a structure that by all means should be impossible.

A massive, sprawling city made of completely black stone, situated above an ocean of magma. There are no second stories, it all rests on one level. The entrance corridor stood several yards away from the shore, with only a single black stone drawbridge spanning the gap. In the distance, there stood many columns of a beautiful blue substance that you don't have a name for. You look farther, and see that the magma sea is endless. It stretches farther than the horizon, and you can see the curvature of the earth.
You stand, dumbfounded, for a very long tome. You captors are joking and laughing behind you in their strange language. You can't help but think that you are the subject of their ridicule.
They notice you and the march starts up again, bringing you closer to the fortress.

[AntiAntiMatter]

Go with them. Examine your surroundings closely.

[quip]

Scan our surroundings for dangerous creatures, other than the dwarves of course.

[Urist McCheeseMaker]

Work on figuring out a way to communicate. Body language, drawing in the mud, learn some words, if we're smart enough to do that safely.. Also, figure out what these little guys like. Whatever they are, they have a huge fricking city here. They're your best chance of survival.

(Yes. Survival and dwarves. Yes.)

[Argonnek]

Drawing closer to the city, you start to get very thirsty from the extremely hot, dry air. You look back at the soldiers, stop, and make a drinking motion with your hands. They look at each other, then one of them hands you a flask. Finally! A drink!
You look inside, and see that the flask is about half full. You take a small swig, and the alcohol hits you like buckshot. You stagger and go into a coughing fit. Your stomach ties itself into knots, and you become very, very dizzy all of a sudden. The world begins to spin, and you just barely avoid blacking out completely.
When your cough dies down, you notice that both dwarves are laughing their asses off, holding their sides and doubling over at the comedy of your reaction.
You reseal the flask and throw it at the nearest dwarf.* It plinks off of his helmet and falls to the floor. He snatches it up, puts it in his armor, and starts laughing all over again. In your inebriated state, you slump to the floor and wait until they stop laughing.


*random.org gave a roll of 19 there. Had it been a perfect twenty, It would have decapitated him and we would be in some serious shit.
Ladies, Gentlemen, we came very close to dying just now.

[Fniff]

Drink more of the strange liquid. And then more. AND THEN SOME MOOOOOOOOOOORE.

Also, start humming random themes. You saw that in a movie once, great way to communicate with dwarves or whatever they were in that movie.

[AntiAntiMatter]

Wonder how their anatomy works. You're pretty sure your liver would melt if you drank that on a regular basis.