[Jean] Chapter 15: Capital of Drugan, Kherngolarr, Last City of Dwarves

[pringerbeam]

     "Huh...  Does alcohol even affect you Ren?"  Jean asked as he took a bite of the fresh kebab.  "I guess there is only one way to find out.  We'll need to see later if you can get drunk.  You might like it.  It's kinda like that feeling you get after slaying a bunch of demons but without the work involved."  He continued to munch on the food.  "Mara, huh?  Tastes great.  I don't suppose there is a feast planned for later?  I would love to sample all the cuisine that your people have to offer.  You know, there are lots of things that you could get from the surface.  Like wheat and barley for example, thing that you could use to make a greater variety of ale.  Never mind different kinds of bread and other foods.  On the flipside, if you produce a surplus of food, I think you could trade goods like these for a decent profit."  he said as he took another sip of ale.  "Of course, I'm not sure how easy luxuries and surplus food is to come by in a world at war.  In times of war farmer become soldiers and in times of peace soldiers become farmers."  He finished his ale and set the mug back down on the counter.  "So...  Onward to the ruins then?"  He asked as he took yet another bite of kebab.

[Throndir]

Ren nodded, but she didn't seem too enthused with the ale, though she kept trying to sip at it. You got the feeling she did it more to try to follow in your own footsteps more than anything else. You did, after all, chugged a lot of your own ale.

"A feast? Nothing's planned.. No one else really knows ah went up to git ye... A'm hoping when ye unlock th' door we cannot get passed in th' ruins, th' rest o' th' kingdom wid be more willing to open up. Mibbie we kin even uise that as leverage. A'm waantin' mah people to wirk togither with th' surface dwellers, rather than stay down 'ere while we wait for th' war above us to quiet."

"But if everything goes weel, aye! Let's have a feast! Besides, na doubt th' priests awready know ye'r down 'ere. They're a bit o' a thorn, bit thay will not go against th' royal family. Weel, if we kin convince father."

Lili shrugged. When you mentioned other foods from the surface, the dwarf princess nodded. "Some o' th' older dwarves know how 'twas like on th' surface. Tis something a'm waantin' mah future people to have too."


Location: Dwarven City
Date: Day 7 (Jean), Day 9 (Rosalie) - Time: 11:20 PM

Lili began to lead the way again, this time going to a central building. There were some dwarven guards at the entrance, with axes as large as Lili's strapped to their back, but they nodded as they let the three of you through. They had eyed you cautiously, but with a stern glance from Lili, none of them chose to go against the princess. Soon enough, you found yourself in a very large elevator. It was a cylindrical one, with a radius of about 40 ft. The doors that opened up to lead to it as well were just as large.

Like the first time in a dwarven elevator, the elevator moved slowly at first, but then quickly sped up suddenly. And like before, Ren quickly used her tentacles to keep you grounded.

"Ah wanted to ask afore... How come does that happens anyways? something aboot a hero?" Lili asked curiously, watching as you had begun to head straight towards the ceiling before Ren caught you.

[pringerbeam]

     "No just one of my various magical powers at work."  Said Jean absentmindedly as he watched the working of the elevator.  "I can alter the weight of various things.  Decreasing my own weight allows me to move unburdened and avoid attacks but decreasing it too much can have its own problems.  Here, let me show you."  He put a hand on the princess's shoulder and with a nod from Ren, signaling her to let go of him, flipped up and over to do a handstand on Lili's shoulder, making sure to keep a good grip on her dress to try and prevent himself from flying up to the ceiling.

Acrobatics, assuming its even needed with my bonus This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 1d20+32 : 19 + 32, total 51

[Throndir]

You did the handstand perfectly, and with a single grip on her clothing you managed to stay afloat. The princess had a slight blush on her cheeks when you neared, but she only stared wide-eyed as you proceeded with the acrobatic feat.

"That's amazing. Ah guess that's pairt o' bein' a hero... That won't be enough to impress our clerics though... Let's juist hope everything wirks out." She grinned.


Location: Deep Underground
Date: Day 7 (Jean), Day 9 (Rosalie) - Time: 11:30 PM

Reaching the bottom of the elevator took longer than the first elevator ride. But eventually, the elevator slowed. When it finally stopped, the large doors opened revealing an underground ruin that looked very much different than what was higher above. There were crystals embedded in the walls, along with tall spires that were obviously man-made. The spires had a different type of architecture than the dwarven city. Where above had an almost Victorian-era feel to it, these were different. The spires shot straight up, with lines decorating them in a straight pattern. There were also stacks of other shorter spires that were unique on their own with no clear purpose.

A couple of dwarves were already down here though. One of them with a large axe and wearing heavy armor approached. "Restricted area! Heid back tae th' toon." The dwarf quickly noticed Ren, and immediately had his axe out. He shortly saw Lili and you however, and he lowered his axe. "Princess... How come urr ye doon 'ere? 'n' wha ur they two? Outsiders?"

Restricted area! Head back to the city. Princess... Why are you down here? And who are those two? Outsiders?

"Aye they're mah guests." Lili responded quickly, hoping that would be enough.

"Guests or nae, they're nae allowed doon 'ere. Th' Heich Priest isnae aff tae lik' this at a'... " The dwarf eyed you and Ren. "Kin ye ken us? Speak, wha urr ye? "

Guests or not, they're not allowed down here. The High Priest isn't going to like this at all... Can you understand us? Speak, who are you?

[pringerbeam]

     "We're just some tourists.  Your princess said she wanted to show us the ruins."  Said Jean in response.  "My name is Jean and this is Ren, hero and companion respectively. We're perfectly harmless."  He stated with a with a gesture to himself and Ren.  ""No need to worry about us.  As you can see, we're unarmed.  I'm sure your priests don't need to be bothered."

[Throndir]

Bluff requested

[pringerbeam]

Bluff check

Rolled 1d20+14 : 16 + 14, total 30

[Throndir]

The dwarf nodded. "Surface-dwellers in th' toon aren't keeked upon tae favorably by oor priests 'n' mony o' oor folk. Ah masell dinnae mynd either wey, 'n' sin ye'r wi' th' princess, weel, ah jalouse if tis braw wi' her, it shuid be braw fur th' rest o' us. Carry oan... Dinnae titch anythin' ye'r nae suppose tae, though."

Surface-dwellers in the city aren't looked upon too favorably by our priests and many of our folk. I myself don't mind either way, and since you're with the princess, well, I guess if it's fine with her, it should be fine for the rest of us. Carry on... Don't touch anything you're not supposed to, though.

Soon enough the princess started making her way past the guard, as the two of you kept up pace with her. "Let's move quickly. Other than th' stop at th' stall, we made a bee-line straight to th' ruins... Many o' th' archaeologists 'ere happen tae be priests o' th' goddess. Th' earth goddess. 'n' a'd rather not run into th' high priest at least 'til we git to th' gate in th' ruins."

As the group went in further, there were plenty of other dwarves in the ruins. There were carts as well, but instead of being filled with ore, seemed to have various pieces of artifacts laid out in them. Almost every dwarf noticed the group's passing. It was quiet enough down here that you were able to make out their whispering. Many of them balked at the fact a human and a 'tentacle-creature' of some sort were with the princess. But with the stern glance from Lili at any approaching dwarf, along with her quick pace, no one else bothered to confront her. There were a couple who started to look back towards the elevator though, and even some making their way back.


Location: Deep Underground
Date: Day 7 (Jean), Day 9 (Rosalie) - Time: 12:00 PM

It was around half an hour of walking at the brisk pace, telling you that you had covered at least a mile or two. There were still plenty dwarves that you had run into. The further you went in, the wider the caverns became as well. Lili explained that there once were plenty of monsters down here, but their people have already cleared out these specific tunnels, making it safe for excavation. The ruins continued to stretch on through the journey, eventually it got to the point that it felt like everywhere you looked were a series of ruins and old buildings. There was an underground river and water systems down here as well, there were even a few fishermen who glanced your way when you approached. Eventually you had passed by a bridge that LIli mentioned was crafted by the dwarves themselves. Soon enough more and more bridges were appearing as you began to realize that the underground water system was actually quite vast.

Finally, in the distance, Lili pointed towards a ruined building. It was at a lower elevation, so much of the water ended up becoming waterfalls.

"Thare it's. Most o' th' ruins doon 'ere are destroyed 'n' beyond recognition, except fur this building. Magic o' some sort is keeping it in guid condition, even as th' water around it hud already weathered down th' other ruins. This one stays standin'." Lili said as she started her way towards it. There was a pathway downwards, along with a few short bridges that were more recently made. At the building itself, there was a couple of robed dwarves at the site, around either campfires, or simply in the ruins themselves looking at things.

[pringerbeam]

     "These ruins are quite expansive..."  Remarked Jean as they walked the path.  He looked down into the canals as they walked by trying to see if he could catch a glimpse of whatever the fishermen were trying to lure.   "This must have been quite the city."  He said as they approached the final building.  "Well whatever it is it looks important.  You said monsters used to live here before you cleared them out?  What about that building?"  He watched the robed dwarves near the building.  "Those don't happen to be some of the priests we need to keep an eye out for are they? "