Can you imagine how someone would react when a wall that is right in front of it just disappears without a trace and without so much as a tremor or sound? Well, now I certainly can. It is quite comical even.

The gnome that is standing in the natural tunnel is just standing there, completely slack-jawed. The only indication that he didn't die from a heart attack is the rise and fall of his chest, indicating he's still breathing, and the twitching of his right eye and moustache. After some more furious twitching, the gnome snaps out of his surprise and takes a few steps forward.

He raises a hand towards the smooth wall of my dungeon and touches it, trailing his hand along the surface to feel its artificial smoothness. With a weary expression on his face and a muttered 'What the fuck?' he starts to investigate the immediate area of where my artificial tunnel meets the natural tunnel.

As the gnome tries to make sense of where this tunnel suddenly came from and how it was made, I make use of his investigation to try to learn more from it. From the looks of it, the gnome doesn't look all that strong. He has a lean quality to him that, despite his white moustache, beard and hair, makes him look younger than he probably is. Even though his muscles look lean, they also have an odd density to them, which to me feels like he might be stronger than he looks due to this density. The only way to know for sure would be to observe him closely when he does a feat of strength of some sort.

Or I could... incapacitate him and dissect him... Totally not freaky/crazy at all, noooooo.

Although, isn't that what biologists do? To understand how a creature functions, they murder gently and painlessly kill it and then cut it open, all the while naming various parts of its body. One could argue though that Da Vinci was also a biologist then because he had apparently an interesting habit of digging up fresh corpses and dissecting them to see how the human body works.

Let's keep it at just observing him, otherwise, I will have to create some scalpels, plyers and a bunch of other tools and I just can't be arsed at the moment. And I won't even be able to use all of those tools since I don't have arms.

Back to the gnome.

Let's get this ball rolling. I've been practising with my speech for a while now and I feel confident that I can communicate with this gnome. Provided we can understand each other language-wise. I wonder how I managed to communicate with the princess? Does everyone here speak the same language? surely not? Or was I given some sort of universal translator that doesn't show up on my stat screen? Something to ask WIKI after, I guess.

Ahem, here I go.

"Hello, there little man." I boom throughout that part of the tunnel. Startled, the gnome jumps up in freight and upon landing, accidentally places one of his feet down wrong. With another startled yell, he goes down and hits the floor shoulder first. For a couple of seconds, the gnome just lays there on the ground before letting out a moan.

Suddenly worried, I try to check him over but with no obvious and visible signs of injury, I can't ascertain if he's gravely injured or not. Thus I decide to speak up again, hoping that his reaction this time won't be as extreme as his earlier reaction.

"Hey, are you okay? That looked like a nasty fall. Are you gravely injured?"

Upon hearing my voice again, the gnome starts to stir and before long, he's sitting up. He's holding a hand to the shoulder that he fell on and is slowly moving his shoulder, most likely to check if anything bad happened to it.

Satisfied that everything is still working properly and that the pain is manageable, the gnome looks around again and speaks up.

"Hello, who's there? Where are you?"

" Oh, do you understand me? I certainly understand you."

"Yes yes, I understand you. Would you kindly answer my questions though?"

"Oh? Ah, yes. Let's see, my name is Aaron Lightblade, at your service. As for as where you are, well, quite frankly, you are inside me."

He looks puzzled and slightly scared.

"Inside you? How is this possible?"

"Ah, well, you see. I'm a dungeon although I'm told I'm a bit different from the norm. Compared to other dungeons, I'm much, much smarter and more aware than other dungeons of my size and age. You are currently standing in one of the tunnels I was digging to create my second floor."

As he hears this, two things happen quickly after another. First, his eyes become as big as saucers and immediately after that, his expression turns somewhat frightened. Seeing his frightened expression, I immediately try to reassure him of my peaceful intentions.

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"Oh, you don't need to worry little one. I have no intention to harm you, I just wanted someone to talk to and when I stumbled upon you, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to test my newly gained speech."

It takes a bit longer but eventually, he calms down enough to just sit down and have a chat with me.

"As I said earlier, my name is Aaron, might I inquire as to what your name is, little man?"

Looking slightly abashed now, he hastens to tell me his name as well.

"Ah, so so so sorry, where my manners. My name Gerald Bout and if you would be so kind to call me by name or by my race, gnome that is, that would be much appreciated."

"Ah, my apologies, sir gnome. Since I didn't know your name and was unsure of your race, I fell back to what was most descriptive and sadly enough in your case, that would, at first glance, be your stature."

"Apologies accepted."

"Would you mind if I asked you some questions? I have never encountered a gnome before you see. And I've always been a curious kind of person and thus have an insatiable desire to know more."

"Go ahead, I'd say although there might be questions that I can't or won't answer."

"That's fair. Let's start then. Do you live here in these mountains? And do you know of more sentient and sapient races that live here?"

"Hah, that's an easy one. You see, these mountains are populated by both gnomes and dwarves. Each has its own cities and villages, mind you. Even though we're on good footing with each other, we never really intermingle. The only Gnome you'll see in a dwarven city and vice versa is an emissary."

"Since you are here, does this mean there's a gnomish city or village nearby? Or are you some sort of explorer or prospector that's far from home maybe?"

"Oh no, I'm way too old to be a prospector or explorer. Those are professions for those that are still spry, more nimble and brave and bold whereas I'm old, slow and, allegedly, wise. I'm the village elder of a nearby village. At least, I was."

"What do you mean with, you were?"

A look of great regret and sadness passes over him as his shoulder slump forwards a bit.

"You can only be considered a village elder as long as you still have a village. The village I was elder off befell a great tragedy. Many of us died and those that survived had to flee. I gathered as many of the survivors as I could and fled with them deep into the tunnels that criss-cross these mountains. It is my and my peoples hope to find a proper area to start anew. It will be though, and we lost so much; especially our prized magical machines, but we'll manage somehow."

At the sound of magical machines, my proverbial ears perk up. Let's see, gnomes + magical machines + Looking for a new home = profit/opportunity. This almost sound like World of Warcraft where gnomes are the best engineers.

What if... I was to invite them to settle in my halls. I could offer them protection and adaptable living space and they could offer me their expertise and other things I haven't thought off.

"You know, I could help you out here, maybe."

"How's that, sir dungeon?"

"As you most likely know, I am capable of creating vast spaces and convenient structures in a short amount of time. Furthermore, I'm also capable of recreating resources the moment I've absorbed them once. And lastly, I'm capable of creating various kind of defenders to populate my halls. I'm offering to put all of this at your and your people's disposal.

I'm offering to create you and your people a living space in my dungeon where you can rebuild your village and that would be under my protection."

As I say this, the gnome at first looks hopeful but soon after, he starts to look conflicted.

"And what would you get out of this? what would you want or need in return? Our souls maybe? Because, as the leader of what remains of my people, I need to look after their safety and wellbeing."

"Oh, don't you worry. I have no need for your souls, wouldn't know what to do with them in the first place. As far as for your concerns towards the safety of your people, rest assured, I want your intellect and expertise. I would like my halls to be populated, to prove that dungeons are not just mindless killing machines and that they are capable of great and spectacular feats. Besides, I'm interested in science and thus, I think your people and I could work together to further this world's science."

The gnome elder looks hopefull again after my words and his eyes shine and sparkle with either unshed tears, excitement or maybe even both.

"That would be wonderful. Myself, I'm inclined to take you up on your offer but I'll have to relay your proposal to my people, see what they think about it. After all, I'm a village elder without a village now and thus can't make decisions in their stead anymore. So if you don't mind, and if you can wait a bit, I'll go to where the rest of my people are and tell them all about what happened, you and your proposal."

"Sure, go ahead. I will be right here, eagerly awaiting your answer. In the meantime, I will keep digging and building my second floor but I will leave this passage here open. As soon as you are back, just step inside my tunnel and give me a holler, I should be able to hear you just fine."

With a cheerful wave, the small, elderly gnome man saunters away, back into the dark of this mountain's tunnels.