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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 263828" data-attributes="member: 143">Thanks for the bump, Bludgeon.* * * * *Book V, Part 17“Ahhh…”“What’s wrong?” Cal asked.“Something… wrong,” Benzan said.  “It feels like my stomach wants to twist inside out.”“I told you not to eat all that food that the quaggoth offered,” the gnome remonstrated him.  “Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate their hospitality and all…”“It’s not that,” the tiefling protested.  “Something’s… just wrong.  It’s similar to what I felt before… in Elturel, under the nobleman’s house.”Cal’s eyebrows narrowed, although a hint of doubt remained at the tiefling’s revelation.  He remembered that encounter all too well, the clash with a dark cleric of Cyric and his summoned demon that had concluded with his own death.  While he was still troubled by memories of that time, he had since made peace with himself and the experience… though he had no desire to repeat it any time soon.“Let’s go get Dana…” the gnome began, but cut himself off when they spotted the cleric, along with Lok, moving into the small side-cave which the quaggoth had set aside for them. Since they had first been brought here the day before, Dana had been busy, helping the many quaggoth injured in the duergar ambush.  Apparently the group they’d fought had been just one of several, and at least forty quaggoth had been taken as captives by the retreating dwarves.  About that many had been injured, ranging from relatively minor slashes and punctures to the crippling hurts suffered by several in the ambush led by the dwarf psion.  Apparently the quaggoth culture offered a fairly simple and brutal solution to the problem of crippled members, for Dana had had to physically intervene to stop them from killing the one whose leg had been savaged by one of the dwarf warriors.  Fortunately Taktak had intervened on her behalf, and now the quaggoth was recovering, although he would likely limp for a while yet.  Now, however, Dana’s expression was troubled, and it was not due to anything having to do with their current hosts.  “What is it?” Cal asked.  “Something has happened,” she told them.  “I was helping one of the female quaggoth prepare a poultice, when I felt a dark presence.  It was like a shadow, something that briefly touched my soul and then crept on, leaving a chill in its wake.  I cannot explain it more clearly, I’m afraid.”“Benzan said he felt something similar,” Cal offered.  “I don’t like it one bit, especially given our proximity to the duergar outpost.”Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of a quaggoth messenger, who bid them accompany him to the central den where the quaggoths gathered as a community.  It wasn’t far, since most of the caves in the warren where the deep bears dwelled radiated off of that core chamber.  As they left the relative quiet of their quarters behind, the caverns around them began to take on the life of a busy, if currently subdued, community.  Female quaggoths carrying heavy burdens bustled about on private errands, typically giving the companions a wide berth once they spotted them.  The children, however, behaved in an opposite fashion, showing the curiosity that is a common trait of the young in virtually every species as they shadowed the four strangers.  And then there were the males, nearly all wearing the dark pigments and bearing the weapons of the warrior caste, their eyes weighing each of them as though testing them for weaknesses just in case their current friendship should turn sour.  They entered the central den, where about fifty quaggoths, mostly warrior males, had already gathered.  The distinctive form of Taktak was immediately visible within the half-circle of piled hides where the tribal leaders sat when they were engaged, as they were now, in a meeting.  The quaggoth barbarian saw them and gestured for them to approach, indicating a small cleared space within the arms of the half-ring of seated warriors.  The quaggoth elders were all large, muscular, and hale; the companions had already been witness to the fact that the culture of the deep bears did not tolerate weakness.  When they rested, Cal had regained his tongues spell, and had kept it at the ready for just such an occasion.  While Lok could understand most of what the quaggoths said through his knowledge of Undercommon, none of them wanted a misunderstanding to taint this encounter.   The interview, however, was brief and to the point, so much so that Cal’s spell was barely necessary.“You go to challenge the shadow dwarves?” Taktak asked, even as they seated themselves facing the assembled quorum.  “Yes,” Cal replied.  “We seek to free the urdunnir, goodly dwarves kept as slaves by the evil shadow dwarves.”A series of growls went through the assembled group of tribal leaders, a menacing sound until Cal realized that they were actually a form of nonverbal communication, sending meaning on a level more primal that the words that were translated by his spell.  The feelings of the quaggoths toward the duergar, however, was quite clear to all of them.  Finally, Taktak silenced the layers of noises by leaning forward, gathering the four outsiders together once again in a single encompassing stare.  “The stone-kin are not worry of quaggoth,” he said.  “But the shadow dwarves have pushed us once too many times, and they must be taught that quaggoth are not weaklings to be chained and enslaved.”  “We have seen no weakness since we have come here,” Cal offered.“You fight with great spirit,” the quaggoth said.  “Your enemy is our enemy, so I will join your raid, along with a full claw of our greatest warriors.  The others will remain behind to defend the tribe.”The quaggoth’s announcement was greeted by a cacophony of roars from the assembled warriors that, while deafening in the confines of the cavern, seemed to generally express approval for their leader’s plan.  “Whatever you said, it seems to have worked!  It looks like we have some new allies!” Benzan shouted over the din.“It would seem so!” Cal replied, although his words were lost in the continuing clamor.  Then there were quaggoths all around them, and the meeting, apparently adjourned, gave way to a confused welter of noise and fur and movement.</blockquote>

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