The Rock Gnome village of Earthbury is a relatively secluded area that travelers very rarely visit, this is mostly in part due to Rock Gnomes desire for seclusion and partly because it's not the easiest place to get to if you're not a Gnome and don't have a way to use the 4 foot tall pathways that lead to the town square.

Nillian was always ready to cause a little bit of mischief with his friends to blow off some steam because not much really happened in their villages day to day lives and the "grind" as it were, was starting to take a toll the young thief so he brought his normal group of friends together for "The Big One" it was a little something that Nillan had been cooking up in his down time for a few months now and with his patience running thin for the day to day life of the town.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Said Nillan to his group of fellow law "benders".

"Where should i start, O maybe the tunnel stability, or the Dwarf warriors, o and lets not forget about the magical traps that those crafty old rock lovers!" Exclaimed Nillans good friend Jebbnep who liked to consider himself a magic practitioner but could barely start a fire on his best of days.

"O come on Jib don't be so hard Nillan when has his plan ever failed in the past?." Chimed in Zovart the "Massive" as his friends liked to tease him, he was the muscle of the group who boasted a height of just over 3 feet 8 inches.

"Alright, alright i concede let's here some more about this plan of your Nillian." Relented Jibbnep.

"Ok so like i was saying all we have to do is set up this disk in front of the caravan and once they get within 10 feet a massive army of illusionary troglodytes will come from holes in the sides of the tunnel demanding their cargo as payment for safe passage." Confidence dripping from every word as Nillan spoke.

Nillan directed their attention to the clearly magical plate of smooth metal with some glyphs on it that Jib could barely understand.

"I don't know Nillan that artifact looks way to dangerous, you should really be more careful with it, and where did you even find something like that?" Jibbnep asked cautiously.

"Let me worry about those things my source is trusted and there's absolutely no way this could trace back to us, so are you guys in?"

Zovart and Jebbnep with a little bit of help eventually agreed to the plan.

That following night the trio camped out in their ambush spot with everything in position all they had to do was wait.

"Alright Zovart you take first watch." Said Nillan.

"Nillan, Jeb get up quick!" Zovart harshly spoke in a rough whisper as he began shoving them awake, they noticed Zovart holding a finger to his lips.

"What's the deal?!" Jebbnep hissed.

"The dwarves are coming sooner than we thought so let's get going."

The trio quietly crept through the tunnels that Nillan had already been digging out the months prior prepping for this job.

Just as the lead group of dwarves got close enough to trigger the disk the trio crouched and tensed ready to spring into action. But there was a problem because there was always a problem at the most crucial of moments the disk didn't activate as Nillan was promised it would.

The dwarves steadily moving along without any sign of worry continued on getting closer and closer to the three's hiding place.

"Jeb you gotta blast the disk with some magic to active it before they get to close." Whispered Nillan.

"I don't know if i can..." Jebbnep said with a hint of panic in his voice.

"You have to otherwise we're doomed." Simply said Nillian as if this were just another day in town.

Jebbnep with worry plastered all over his face began focusing and doing hand motions that most casters did when they were casting. But as Jebbnep was nearing the end of his motions something startled the young caster and just as his spell completed the bolt of energy that should have been naked to the visible eye launched from his hands with a multi-hued ting like nothing Nillian or Zovart had ever seen their friend produce.

Instantly shouts of alarm went up as the magic sensitive of the Dwarven caravan began reading spells of their own to combat what ever was attacking them, but fast though Dwarves are they weren't fast enough as the ball of energy slammed into the disk something unexpected happened.

Instantly the runes that were etched into the disk projected outwards filling the tunnel in all the hues of a rainbow.

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Just as Jebbnep was starting to cry out in alarm at what he'd done Zovart grabbed his two companions and threw them back down the tunnel Nillian had excavated as the explosion rang out instantly blinding Nillian and Jeb as they watched their good friend disappear under the earth and stone. Zovart was gone and there was nothing they could do as the tunnels stability was starting to fail as a second explosion rang out this time more powerful than the first they scrambled out of the tunnels Nillan had dug into the main tunnel that was constructed by Dwarven hands.

The way the caravan should have been was blocked by dirt and rock but this didn't perturb Nillian as he led Jebbnep to the rubble they started to dig, if Zovart was going to die then the least Nillian and Jebbnep could do is get whatever they were after to help care for Zovarts family.

Hours passed as they dug and excavated the rubble soon it became clear that it wasn't going to be possible with just the two gnomes.

"Dammit!" Exclaimed Nillian as he smashed his fist into the blockage then sliding down with his back to the cave in nursing the new cuts he had given himself from the digging and now the punching.

"I knew this was a stupid idea Nillian." Jebbnep visibly freaking out, how were they going to explain this his magical residue was all over this place.

Just as Nillian glared up ready to lash out at his friend, something burst forth from the rubble at his back and took hold of his arms lashing him in place. Instead of yelling at his friend he began crying out for help.

But what Jebbnep saw was something absolutely terrifying mechanical constructs were lashing his friend in place but it didn't look like any spell Jebbnep had ever seen, because from Jebbnep’s perspective the tendrils of energy looked like they were going into his friend.

"I'll go get help." Jebbnep sprinted off with the screams of his friends torment pushing him along further.

Nillian quickly passed out from the pain.

When Nillian awoke he was greeted with a horrifying view Jebbnep and some older looking Gnome that Nillian vaguely remembered to be Jebbnep's teacher were dead with cuts and slashes all over their bodies, Nillian looked down to see he was holding his daggers and they were dripping with blood, he also noticed that the cuts on his knuckles from punching the cave in were gone and instead replaced by tiny gears and ticking devices he noticed that all of his wounds were replaced by the clockwork.

Nillian buried the body of Jebbnep and his mentor. Just as Nillian was finishing paying his respects he heard the clash and clang of armoured bodies coming from down the tunnel exit. So Nillian did what any self respecting rogue would do and hid at the entrance to the tunnels he had dug they were not fully collapsed.

Two dwarves in heavy body armor slowed to a walk as they neared the cave in.

"This is bad all right." Said one of the Dwarves.

"Yer tellin me the artifact that, that caravan was transporting had unknown potential what fool woulda been dumb enough to pull down the mountain on top of it?" replied the other Dwarf.

Nillian realising that what ever had made its way into his body and healed his wounds with clockwork was serious magic and he knew that the sooner these Dwarves reported back with the news the sooner the search for him would being.

Nillian crept out of his hole with the years of trainted stealth and dexterity as he drew his daggers from their scabbards behind his back he quickly and effortlessly slid the twin blades between the Dwarf on the rights neck through the gap between helm and chestplate.

Instantly the dwarf cried out as he crumbled to the floor, the other dwarf now on high alert as he drew his battle axe and charged Nillian with a Dwarven battle cry.

Nillian dropped and rolled past the charging dwarf as he stabbed for the Dwarves hamstrings and was met with the feeling of his blades cutting through tissue and biting into bone. The dwarf crying out in pain as he dropped to his knees his axe flailing toward Nillian was met with a lucky blow to the arm.

Nillian immediately went into shock as the battle axe had almost completely cut through his right arm only being stopped by the core of the bone. His right arm limp he rolled behind the dwarf and brought down his left dagger hard into the nape of the Dwarfs neck. The dwarf fell limply to ground with a meaty thud.

Nillian with his right arm unresponsive realised that there wasn't as much blood as he would expect from a blow of that magnitude he also realised that it was no longer bleeding out but on closer examination was being knitted back together but not with the flesh and bone you would expect but replaced by clockwork. With death no longer on the verge Nillian knew he couldn't return to his home he would have to make for the edge of civilization and head toward the city of Rolent to start a new life.