It was morning in the cave. Gina was able to feel the warm rays of sunshine fighting their way through the curtain of water, into her little world. She admired the sparkles as a couple of bats dodged the drops, finding one last bug before roosting in the ceiling. Gina softly brushed the soft moss, admiring the little flowers that were so delicate, but still strong enough to find root in the rocky ground.
A fox had made its way into her cave over the night, she tried to eat it, feeling a little peckish, but the fox just seemed annoyed and hurried out to hunt.
It was a wonderful morning!
Gina was happy knowing what she was even though not really having a purpose in life bothered her a little, but that would come with time. Even though she still felt a deep lack of energy she also felt more alive. She drifted into her work room to start planning her life out and was immediately startled by three small statue-liike wee folk staring intently into her line of sight.
"WHERE DID YOU COME FROM!" She shouted as loudly as a spirit with no lungs or voice could shout. What she didn't expect was the statues to answer her, and it threw her off when they did exactly that.
"You summoned us into this world dear master" All three said in unison with childlike voices.
Gina squeaked. She meant to scream, but years of her practicing being silent and alone kicked in, so she squeaked instead. The three exceptionally respectful figures continued to look at her with their tiny hands clasped in front of them, waiting for her to expand on her squeak.
Gina's mind went back to her day before. She was a dungeon; dungeons were supposed to have monsters... She focused on the wee folk again, they didn't seem to be going anywhere, so she cautiously went to her bookshelf and grabbed an empty book.
"Creature Summons" she said. The book shimmered and the title appeared, if she had lungs she would have let out a sigh of relief when it actually worked. She made the sound anyway, feeling the need to express herself. Opening the book she examined the listings.
Each creature had its own page, the name of the creature was on top of the page and a line (or in some cases several) dropped down towards the empty space below. She flipped through the pages. Slimes, Orc, Wee Folk, Lizardling, Skeleton, Zombies, Golems, Sprits, Whelp, Demons, couple of Plant pages, A bunch of empty animal pages, Fish had one entry... All had short descriptions, all were grayed out, except Wee Folk, fish, bugs and bats.
The Wee Folk page had 5 categories; all were colored in with bright colors. Gnome was written in a sharp obsidian, the short description labeled them as the wee folk of the earth, known to be crafty and crafty. Sylph was written in a unrestrained swirling silver, wee folk of the air, unhindered by obstacles or time. Nyad had forceful swoops and peaks of deep sparkling blue, wee folk of the water, holding on to memories and thought. Wisp had sharp peaks of multifaceted red, wee folk of fire, fueling past present and future. Finally, there was Dryad with tangled vines of emerald, wee folk of life, masters of growth and evolution.
There were no lines dropping down from the wee folk descriptions
At the bottom of the page there was a general note
"Strong in the elements, wee folk lend their character to their home. Not as strong as most monsters, but start out much more intelligent. They should not be a dungeons line of defense. Wee folk cannot evolve, but their skills and intelligence brings great support to the defenders of the dungeon. NOT RECOMMENDED FOR YOUR STARTER RACE"
Gina sighed. She would have been furious, but the small gray faces with their big obsidian eyes were still staring right at her, little hands folded in front like they were holding all their hopes and dreams right out in the open. It was hard to be furious when newborns who only wanted to help were staring intently at your soul, waiting for your slightest reaction.
Each of the little... well... they had to be gnomes. Each of the little gnomes was a dull gray color about 30cm tall (12 in), sturdy looking, on the lean side of something between a dwarf and a goblin.
They all had the same outfit. Little dark gray pants, brown shirts, simple buckled leather boots. There was fluffs of charcoal gray hair peeking out of leather newsboy caps. Each also wore a short leather apron full of pockets and loops, that dropped from their belts halfway to their knees, and they also each had a small leather backpack.
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Gina couldn't help but smile as she approached them, deciding if she wasn't getting monsters, she still had her helpers. It was time to brew some ale!
Gina carefully focused on the gnomes, using her appraise skill. Each one appeared to be level 1, with 5 points in Appraise, Chemistry, Reflex, Inginuity, Stonework and Stealth. For magic they had 5 points in Elementalist and Fabricationist along with 3 in Machinist under the Industrial branch. Each had 5 in all stats, meaning they could probably take down a small child (hopefully they wouldn't need to, or want to!) the exception being a 10 in Toughness.
Status Sheet:
Status Race Gnome Level 1 Age 1 Days Height 30cm Physical Health 200/200 Strength 5 Agility 5 Toughness 10 Mental Alertness 150/150 Intelligence 5 Deduction 5 Focus 5 Social Resolve 150/150 Influence 5 Slyness 5 Willpower 5 Racial Traits Stone Skin, TGH+ 3 Durable, TGH+ 2 Elementalist + 5 Earth Absorbtion
Magic Industrial Machinist 3 Chemist 0 Elementalist 5 Fabrication 5
Abilities Inginuity 5 Stonework 5 Reflex 5 Stealth 5 Chemistry 5 Appraise 5
Gina decided to embrace the happy accident that was her newly born triplets, and have them start on her mission to make ale. She really didn't know what else to do or what was expected from her as a dungeon master.
"Nice to meet you! You three are my first monster, and my three little helpers. Can you help me get some things I need from outside my home?" Gina tried her hardest to sound as welcoming as she knew how.
They thought for a minute.
Gnome A "We really want to help"
Gnome C" We really do"
Gnome B" But you see the thing is"
Gnome C "We can't leave unless you give us names!"
Gina didn't know why this mattered, but they seemed fairly confident in the rule. " Ok, then I will name you Shale..." She intended to go on, but Shale interrupted cheerily.
"Thank you mum!"
"It means a lot that you brought us into the family!"
"What can we get for you!"
Gina decided not to be confused with three identical gnomes all named shale, she wouldn't have been able to tell them apart anyway. " Ok, I need barley, do you think you can find it?" she asked hopefully, trying to stay positive.
Shale looked like they were about to cry.
"No mum"
"we know plenty about dirt and rocks"
"but nothing about no barley" *sniffle*
Gina felt horrible, like she just broke her favorite... well... her only mug. "Oh! no! please to be sad! I don't know what you can do yet, I am almost as new to this as you are! Barley is a seed that people use for food and drinks. if you see a field with tall yellow grasses there is a good chance the seeds will be helpful, if there is a fence around it or a house nearby then it is more likely to be what we need. Try to be safe, try to be sneaky, and don't let anyone follow you home."
Shale smiled, the bright beaming faces chasing away all pending tears. "Sure thing mum! We are FANTASTIC at being sneaky!" they said together and hopped of the table, landing expertly on the floor without damage.
Shale turned around as they were about to leave, the other two waited "Mum, what if we do run into a scuffle"
Gina hadn't considered that. "If it's something big, run and hide until it goes away. If it's something small..." she focused and 3 small flint daggers with bone handles formed out of a warm light on the floor. "Take these with you but try to avoid any scuffles."
Smiling with what gina hoped was complete understanding, Shale picked up the knives, each one giving a short bow in appreciation as they slipped them into a loop on their belt. They ducked low and slipped out into the bedroom and dashed down the hall, brushing along the wall of the long path, staying in the deepest shadow.