Adrian: Baldur's Gate

"Hnnh," Kagain grunted. "This is odd."

"How so?" Adrian asked him.

"We've already left the mining area behind, and moved into habited areas."

"So?"

"So usually it's the other way--lived in areas above, while slowly mining more down below. The Throne be messin' with the design, I'm thinking."

"Well maybe they found a new vein to tap. Or maybe this mine wasn't typical."

Kagain shrugged. "It's still strange."

This little discussion reminded Adrian how little he really knew about Dwarves. He knew how they interacted with humans well enough, and the Dwarven-Elven bickering was legendary of course, but how they actually lived and died in their own domains was virtually unknown, save for the context gleaned from the interactions like that one.

He was right, though. They were already done with the mine proper, and were now in long, straight corridors that were used for storage and living-in. After dealing with a pair of somewhat better-armored warriors, they were again alone. Adrian didn't like it. Bound to be surprises down here.

They came to an intersection of corridors. One went straight on, while the other took a twisting, bending turn to the right, with various sharp-angled kinks.

Ambush, Adrian's instincts shouted.

"Safana," he said softly, and pointed. Safana nodded, and slipped into the shadows, creeping down the twisted coridor.

"I don't like this place," said Faldorn.

"O course ye don't," said Kagain, "For all that bein underground is natural."

Faldorn stared at him. "Surely even you can agree, Dwarf, that this is not a natural way to live below. Your yourself have said this place was changed."

"And even you can understand, mudsucker, that it's still a well-constructed mine that serves a useful purpose."

"An unnatural purpose," she insisted.

"Nature is not the wonderful thing you like to make it out to be," Adrian interjected. "Now be silent."

Faldorn glared, but held her tounge. Kagain grinned.

Safana came back. "More traps in that one corridor than in the entire theif guild of Luskan," she said. "And a room full of archers and warriors beyond, led by a mage. I'm lucky not to have been seen."

"We'll go around," said Adrian.

"Lost your nerve?" asked Edwin, sounding more surprised than anything else.

Adrian nevertheless turned and fixed him with one of those stares of his. "No, I want to find a way to fight them most advantageous to us, rather than the reverse. Come on."

The long corridor bent around the room Safana had glimpsed. A long straight shot took them down past it. There was a door, which Safana said was right in the middle of it. Adrian looked at it thoughtfully, then said "Not yet".

They moved on, encountering a pair of ghouls, which went down relatively easily, but then they came to a blind alley.

"Dead end," sighed Adrian.

"Nay," said Kagain, moving slowly forward, and rapping his knuckles on the wall facing right. "There be a hidden door here."

"He's right," said Safana. "I see it, too. Barely visible seams."

Kagain laughed. "Ye be skilled, girlie, if ye can see a Dwarf-door!"

"Of course I am," Safana agreed, stretching in her black leather. Adrian and Coran exchanged a weary glance.

Kagain pushed, and the door opened. He blinked at what he saw, then moved slowly forward.

"Gods...." said Coran.

It was a long low row of cells, a prison. In the middle squatted an old, scarred Dwarf, a thin, hollow-eyed human helping him to stand.

The old Dwarf looked at them. "Yer not with the Throne."

"Nay old timer," said Kagain. "What happened to ye?"

"My name is Yeslick," was the reply. "And once, long ago, I lived here."