“We have no quarrel with you!” I assured the dwarves.

“I am dwarf myself!” shouted Beldrak. “We can help you to find Durgeddin’s legacy!”

“We have no quarrel with you either, unless you come closer,” answered our adversary indifferently. “We need no help. And we are no dwarves. Leave now!”

“Not dwarves?” I whispered to Beldrak. “What are they then?”

“Duergars,” frowned the wizard. “They are dwarves for all intents and purposes. It’s just they also have some peculiar magical abilities. They think of themselves as the better, improved version of the Dwarven race. Bunch pretentious, smug assholes, if you ask me.”

Oh, well. It would have been too easy if they were Trueanvil’s kin, wouldn’t it?

“Look, my friend,” I said in my friendliest tone. “We have carved a bloody path in this maze to get this far. We massacred an ork tribe, a troglodyte tribe, killed gricks and sturges and went toe to toe with a fearsome roper. Surely, some mercenaries with these credentials would come handy, no? Is there no monster infestation that we could help with? Annoying neighbours maybe? Let us in, and we can discuss the details. I am certain we can work a deal out.”

The duergar snorted.

“You can say whatever you want, human, I wouldn’t know whether it’s the truth or just lies. But you are in luck. We do have a monster that needs to be dealt with.”

“Great! What is it?”

“A dragon.”

“Of course, it’s a blasted wyrm again,” cursed Beldrak in a low voice.

“Well. I am truly saddened that you have a problem of this magnitude. But as I said, I am certain we can work out an arrangement. Let us come in and discuss, like civilised…”

“There won’t be any discussion. We cover your eyes and lead you to the cavern of the dragon. If you kill her, you can keep her hoard, we even help you to carry it to the surface. That is our offer. Take it or leave it.”

“I am afraid these terms are in dire need of some refinement. I would really like to…”

“So, you are just cowards and liars as I suspected. We have nothing else to say. Leave now.”

“Bunch of pretentious, smug assholes alright,” muttered Jim. Then he continued louder. “Now listen here, you little shit. I am as placid a tiefling as any, but I am starting to lose my patience here. My friend Arnold politely asked some questions, and now he gets insulted for his trouble. That’s just rude as hell. Learn some fucking respect, midget!”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

If the duergar was disturbed by the sudden shift in tone, he did not show it.

“You are wasting your time and ours. Be on your way.”

“No, I don’t think so,” I answered. “I am now going to come in, look around, maybe find your chief and make some complaints about the treatment of guests. And if so much as a single hair on my head gets harmed, my friends here will happily burn you to crisp.”

I only took a step, when two javelins flew out of the shadows. One missed me, the other I swat away with my shield.

“Well,” said Beldrak. “Try not to kill them, lads! They are still dwarves after all.”

I had no time to answer, because one of the dueargars ran at me, screaming bloody murder. While it was running, it also started to swell, grow, and by the time we clashed the dwarf became a nine feet tall giant. One of the peculiar magical abilities, no doubt.

We clashed once, twice, then I opened a gushing wound on his thigh, and when he doubled over with pain, I smashed my shield into his face, knocking him prone. Before he could do anything else, I was on him, kicking his head again and again until he stopped moving. He was still alive, but he wasn’t going to thank me once he woke up.

I looked around to see how the others were doing. Beldrak was bleeding from a wound on his shoulder, but the enemy who caused it was running from his ire: it was a scrawny, lightly armoured duergar, with a belt that held at least five different daggers. Jim meanwhile was keeping the third duergar in check, a decently armed warrior that also grew into a giant. I sneaked up on the bastard while Jim kept him occupied, then whacked the fellow on the head with the pommel of Shatterspike. He instantly collapsed, but we soon saw that he still breathed. Duergars are a tough breed.

Beldrak had hurled mote of fire after mote of fire at the last standing duergar – so much for trying to not to kill them – but this enemy was luckier than his comrades, because he dodged the flames, and escaped through one of the exits on the eastern wall.

Great. Now the bastard will bring all of his blasted friends on us. But I didn’t have much time to curse our misfortune, because the dueargar that I knocked out first was already starting to come around. I took out my ropes and began to bind him up – now that he shrunk to his normal size again, I had enough bond to tie up ten of his ilk.

“Can he grow while being bound?” I asked Beldrak while I was tying the best knots I knew.

“The ropes are not the issue. As far as I know, they can only enlarge themselves once a day. The same goes for their invisibility.”

“They can become invisible?” perked up Jim. “And you didn’t feel like mentioning that before we picked a fight with them?”

“It’s not like you would listen to me,” Trueanvil shrugged. “Besides, if we want to find Durgeddin’s legacy, we will have to beat this bunch up sooner or later.”

This sounds worrying.

“How do you even fight with someone, who is invisible?” I asked.

“When they attack someone, they become visible,” answered the wizard. “That’s how the spell works usually. If they are the exception, well,” he shrugged again. “We will make a tactical retreat.”

“You mean run away,” frowned Jim. “Running from invisible pursuers still doesn’t sound good.”

Before Beldrak could dispel his worries, I let out my most blood-curdling battle cry and started to run in the trail of the duergar that got away. We had little time to waste, after all. I wanted to execute our proven tactic of defeating the enemy in detail, but that meant that we shouldn’t let them time to reorganise, invisibility or not.

I ran through a completely empty room, into a cavern that was cut in two by a stream. This maze was full of underground creeks.