Muah ha ham question corner time.

Again though, no new questions from the last chapter.  Means that I'm doing good, or really bad.  

Well, here's some new for you guys.  Besides this chapter, there will be 1-2 more regular chapters and an epilogue for this prologue section, then the "real" story begins.  I'll try my best to get them all done today, but school's back tomorrow so we will see.  

Now, back to your feature presentation.

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--{Valgrim}--

After eating a hefty meal of Hydra meat, the group rested for an hour, allowing the magic users to rest a bit.  Also Brutus, who fell to the fatigue of raging.  Once they had gotten ready, the group inspected the cave.

While not under the Earth, it was clear they were in a cave, most likely in the nearby mountains of the area.  It was circular, with 1/4 of it water, which led out to the lake.  The half-circle beach was covered in bone for 2-5 ft, then was sandy until it hit stone.  There were 3 tunnels, exactly 90 degrees from one another.  Due to the time and battle that had occurred, it was no longer obvious which way the Hydras left.

The dark elves were clearly annoyed at this, but they couldn't complain because they had needed the rest.  "Any chance you have a tracking spell in that bag of tricks gnome?" Scald asked darkly.  

He shook his head, "My magic focus is on creation, not hunting.  Besides, I've run low on divine energy.  I need 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep and an hour to pray to restore it."

Scald grudgingly accepted this.  His magic was similar, he too would eventually need 6 hours sleep and an hour of meditation to renew his spells.  This was a drawback to magic users, though elves only needed 6 instead of 8 hours of rest.

Still, Valgrim looked thoughtfully at the tunnels.  His god did hold the stone and dirt as one of his domains.  Valgrim knelt in prayer, kissing his ring, which was the symbol of his god.  He began praying for a sign.

Divine intervention was a thing in this world, within limits of course.  Depending on the god and who was asking, things from minor miracles to temporary power boosts could possibly be granted to those who asked.  A god was limited to little things of course, no need for another god war like an era ago.  Valgrim's god was known for little favors to his people, the undergnomes, mostly because they suffered much hardship and asked little in return, preferring to accomplish what they need with their own power.

In this case, Valgrim prayed to his god for insight.  Annoyed, Saharra approached Valgrim, hand outstretched to shake him, but was stopped by Brutus.  He shook his head and motioned her to sit.  He offered ale to her, which she grudgingly accepted.  

She was then taken by surprise, this was high quality alcohol, drunk by the nobility!  Before she could drink too much though, Meridia and Scald jumped her, throwing the container back to Brutus, who caught it in surprise.  She tried fighting back, hand outstretched toward Brutus, complaining "I wasn't finished yet."

Scald, using his body to hold her down, said seriously, "Stay down you alcoholic, we need you sober."  Meridia nodded rapidly, holding Saharra's feet, "You....drink...too much."

Watching the scene in front of him, Brutus felt a chill, as if a million drops of alcohol cried out in pain.  Ale was meant to be appreciated, not chugged down to ensure drunkenness.  Of course, this was his personal creedo, he really liked his ale.  He quickly began drinking all 5 ale jugs to make sure Saharra wouldn't get waste any.

Back to Valgrim, he had spent the last 20 minutes praying, and was wondering if he had to sacrifice again, when he felt magic touch his mind.  Instantly, he knew where each tunnel went, and which ones had been used by Hydras.  He got up and turned to the group.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Okay guys, I know....Brutus you fool!"  he exclaimed, whacking Brutus on the head.  Brutus had apparently succeeded in drinking all the ale.  "You know the replenish spell only works when there is a drop left!  Now it won't work again till we fill it up to the brim again, you know how expensive the stuff you like is?!"  Valgrim began crying, watching the his future gold growing wings and flying away.  Saharra also cried because the booze was gone, and for some reason Dirrg was too.

"Sniff, why are you crying filthy dwarf, sniff?"

"(Waah) I an sensitive, sniff, I cry when me friends cry, tear."

Taking a few minutes to recover, Valgrim relayed to them the tunnel destinations.  The middle tunnel went back under the ground to the nest they had first found.  The left tunnel curved upwards and around to another nest.  The right tunnel went out to the forest.  Hydras had recently used the left and right tunnels.

"I can't tell which tunnel was more recent though." he apologized, "but a wide for forest sounds better than a confined nest when escaping."  The others nodded, following his logic.

They packed up, Valgrim excited to note at least one of Brutus's ale kegs was replenishing (kept secret from Saharra), and headed down the right tunnel.  It was much longer than they suspected, taking them a good 2 hours to travel through it.

When they emerged, the sun was a bit above the ground, signaling the morning of the surface.  Brutus bent over and sniffed the area.  It was unfortunate, but no Hydra's had been through this area in a few days.  

Valgrim sighed, 'Well, I can't be right all the time I guess."

Scald jerked his head to the left suddenly.  "I sense magical energy, that way." he pointed.

Having no better leads, the group leaded in the direction of the magic. Moving through some trees, they came upon the ruins of a small village.  It was clear something bad had happened to the inhabitants, for no building was whole.  Most of the houses had only one wall up still, rubble strewn over most of the ground.

They walked cautiously into town, for the magic was coming from within it.  Meridia soon spoke up, "...No bones.."  Valgrim looked at her surprised, then glanced around.  She was right, whatever had happened, there were no bones in the area at all.  Surprising, because the town was a decent size.  

They soon came to the biggest building, obviously the former inn.  Scald pointed, "Under that rubble pile there."  Brutus walked over and began lifting the rubble.  Dirrg walked over and joined him, lifting stone and wood.  Under the pile, a young Hydra lay dead.  Brutus sniffed it, "Sniff sniff, recent."

Valgrim sighed.  Now they knew what had happened to the town.  It had been the perfect spot for the new Hydra babies to hunt.  That bone beach probably held the bones of the townspeople, along with all the other prey.  It was clear the town had had some magic users, this youngling still radiated magic from it's death.  'They probably eat their dead' he thought.

Brutus had the same thought apparently, because he bent down and asked Valgrim if a Hydra farm existed.  It was an interesting idea he posed, raising Hydras, cutting a head for meat, feeding it other Hydra meat.  'Huh, wouldn't that be interesting.' Valgrim thought.

Anyways, the expedition had not gone well so far.  2 days in, and only one dead Hydra baby.  They needed to be more productive later.  

While he was considering this, he heard a hoot and holler from Dirrg.  Curious, he joined the others.  

"There be a strange hill eyond de town." he said, "Feels different some'ow."

Curious, the group set out to investigate this strange hill.