[Ding!]

[Find Nebulae Arcana - New Quest Obtained]

[The Silent War - New Quest Obtained]

[Scaven Honour - A Known Face Obtained]

[Scavish: Basic Knowledge -II- Obtained]

[Lindley Stormfire - Human]

[Mage Level 1]

[Fighter Level 5]

[Alchemy Level 2]

Again, Lindley dreamed of the runic cavern.

As soon as his foot touched the floor of the cavern, the glowstones flares brighter, revealing the previous arcane runes.

In every direction, he could see great chambers of countless statues carved from the same ancient stone as the walls. He had seen this before. So, he knew where this path would eventually take him. It was the same pattern every time, but still he walked through the known chambers.

He followed the direction until he reached the place where the air felt thicker. Before him was a thick wall with a narrow crevice. Lindley squeezed through a passage in the stone wall and found himself staring at the dome of four symmetrically curved pillars of Palladium rocks containing the runic symbols of faded throbbing lights, joined together at the top, far above a small amber vortex.

Lindley waited for the voice he heard previously, but no sound came. He was staring at the pulsating energy when he heard the voice again, deep but fainter. "Hurry up."

Hurry up? How? What was he supposed to do? Lindley was looking around in panic when he caught sight of a pile of stone slabs at a corner of the cavern. There was something about the slabs that tugged the strings of his heart. It seemed everything had to do with this pile of stones.

Cautiously, he searched through the pile of stone slabs, but each one was blank. Again, he went through the stone pile, one slab at a time, searching for the thing he didn't know about, but it eluded him.

"Not there." The faint voice sounded in his mind. "You’re not looking in the right place."

“What am I looking for?” Lindley cried, waking himself up.

Groggily, he pushed himself to a sitting position. The blanket covering him slipped off his shoulder, awakening his body with a quick draft of cold. His hips and legs ached with little pains, and his arm was stiff from lying on it on the hard bed. A low fire burned in a hearth nearby, but even by its light, Lindley had trouble sorting out where he was. His sleep-fogged brain was slow to react to her new surroundings.

He took a breath, and the thick stench of forge fires entered his lungs, eclipsing the more subtle, sweet smoke coming from the hearth fire. With the smell, the events of the previous day came back to her in a rush.

He was miles beneath Overland, in the scaven city of Kulgagar.

The room he had been given contained a bed, a small stone table with a basin of water and a makeshift soft-leather clothes on it, and a fireplace. On the walls were empty hooks where weapons used to hang, and discolored patches of floor marked where other pieces of furniture had once rested. These phantoms gave the room an empty, cheerless aspect, broken only by the fire, which cast a golden glow over everything.

Lindley sat up and reached for the set of clothes. He’d been too tired the night before to change. After his time with the king, Dhokaz had escorted him to a large stone dwelling in one of the smaller caverns. Lindley hadn’t known it then, but it was the private residence of the Bhugvol family. Neither Gargdor nor Ogvigh had been at home when he arrived, so Dhokaz had led him to a room at the back of the house, which faced the cluster of forges in the back of the cavern.

“This is one of Igrehl’s rooms,” Dhokaz had explained. “Most of her things have already been moved to the house she and her brethren will share, and she’s been eating and sleeping at the forges while she finishes her wedding gift, so you’re welcome to it. These days, the house is empty. My father and brother are out on patrol for days at a time, and when I’m not with them, I’m at the temple. For the time being, it’ll be nice to have another voice in the house to make it lively again.”

Dhokaz was right. The large, empty house felt lonely and neglected.

Lindley lifted the water basin and set it before the fire. Whoever had left it for him—Dhokaz had said there was a pair of scaven assigned by the king, a husband and wife, who looked after the house and would see to his needs—had left a washcloth and soap as well. Lindley splashed cold water on his face and used the cloth and soap to clean the sweat and tunnel dust off his body. When he finished, he slipped quickly into the clothes provided by the scavens and sat close to the fire to warm himself. The clothes were not perfect but they would do nicely.

Would the king truly let him go if he did what was asked? Lindley wondered. Or was he only a guest here as long as the king got what he wanted from him? He would find out soon enough.

For now, his body was clean and with fresh clothes on her back, Lindley felt renewed. He must have slept off the last vestiges of the drow poison, for he detected no lingering weakness in his body.

Soon, he would have to embark on a perilous journey to find the Nebulae Arcana for the scaven king, but before then, Lindley was curious to see more of Kulgagar. The underground city, spread over several large caverns, bore the most intricate carved stonework Lindley had ever seen. Well, he hadn't seen many. But such beauty, all of it buried underground where most of humans would never see it.

After getting dressed, he heard movement and voices coming from the front of the house. The Bhugvol family chattered away at each other in Scavish. He couldn’t understand a word, but they sounded cheerful, more cheerful than they had on the journey to the city.

Time to see the Bughvol family, so he headed in the direction of their voices.

He entered the kitchen to see Igrehl and Ogvigh taking plates and cups from a shelf, while Gargdor stoked the kitchen fire. Ogvigh laughed at something his sister said. The boisterous sound echoed in the room, and Lindley marveled at how the humor transformed the scaven’s features. The hard lines at his eyes and lips softened. He stroked his beard excitedly, twirling the mahogany strands around his index finger. He and Igrehl laughed like a pair of mischievous children, and they looked and sounded so alike at this moment that Lindley, with a sudden insight, realized the two were likely twins.

Lindley would have been content to stand in the doorway for a long while, soaking up the scavens’ mirth and good cheer, but Gargdor looked up from the fire just then and saw him standing there.

“Up at last, are you?” he said, giving the fire another good poke. “We thought you’d sleep the day away.”