The next watch was hard on me. Sure, the hot bath had been relaxing but it had been a little tiring as well. That really shouldn't have come as a surprise but in the heat of the moment I simply had failed to account for that effect. In the end staying properly awake and watchful had been a chore. More than just a little. I had expected for it to be a little easier as we were resting in a place that wasn't almost entirely silent this time. In the end the constant blubbering and gurgling of the wells and the lapping of the waves hadn't really been helpful either.

Once again I measured the passage of time by silently retelling the adventures of Doo'rie the dour sheep. At times I was left wondering though, if I might be able to make up my own set of rhymed stories to keep track of time. I was pretty certain that I would eventually end up putting myself to sleep with Doo'rie's adventures if I were left to go through them again and again without any alternatives. I would need something else to mix it up a little!

I'd have to ask Gash'zur. She probably knew some alternatives and we would have plenty of time trekking through the underground for her to teach me. Yes, actually, that sounded like a nice idea! I'd ask her tomorrow, or whatever I should call the time after our current watch rotation. I had pretty much lost any sense for the passage of time already anyway. It was the same for my sense of direction and distance. We had gotten turned around so often down here that, as far as I could tell, we could in theory still be pretty much somewhere under the dwarven city. At least in that regard Gash'zur reassured me though that we had indeed made good distance.

Finally I reached the end of Doo'rie's story once again which signaled the end of my watch as well. I was tempted to wake my companion right away but took some time to look around and take stock of our surroundings one last time. Maybe the place should have been intimidating but somehow the wells and the crystals and the warmth and twilight they provided were rather endearing. I would have rather been somewhere on the surface, sleeping under the open air but this place wasn't too bad either, considering the circumstances.

At long last I woke the giantess. It took a little more effort this time around. She probably was feeling the cumulative effects of the heat and humidity as well. Either that or she wasn't quite immune to exhaustion in general either. Well, never mind. After a little stretching and taking a few steps she geared up to take over watch duty and I could finally settle in to get a little sleep. As I drifted off another thought came to me. It was the lack of proper sleep we were feeling more than anything. Sure, we got some, but not nearly enough. Not in the long run anyway.

We needed to find a secure place where both of us could catch up on all the sleep we were missing. Before I could say anything exhaustion claimed its toll and I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep once more. I had no way of telling how long I slept but judging by the way I still ached it hadn't been nearly long enough. That we slept pretty much on bare rock didn't really help either. Well, there was nothing I could do about it.

At first I was slow to wake up when Gash'zur prodded me. That changed as she kept prodding. As I sat up, eyes wide, I became aware why she was so insistent. We weren't alone in the cavern with its hot springs anymore. It wasn't just some creature either. The noise that reached my ears was unmistakable for someone who had spent months in one army camp or another. It was the clinking of armor. There was no mistaking it and it was coming closer. I didn't waste any time looking for the source and slipped into my own armor first instead.

Gash'zur helped me, fastening what needed fastening to make sure the scale mail wouldn't hinder my movements should we have to fight. Still I felt woefully under prepared. I had my armor. I had my shield and a knife. That was it. Gash'zur wasn't in a better position either. Not by much at least. With baited breath we waited. At least our position was somewhat defensible. At least unless ranged weapons were brought to bear on us. No, even then I could have covered the giantess with my body. My armor and my shield would be able to take most projectiles. At least for a while. Eventually I would get pummeled and bruised to the point where I would fail.

Whoever was coming seemed to know where we where. They didn't appear to be in a hurry either. Judging by the sound they were making their way around the outer edge of the cavern, probably to avoid the deepest pools. They, whoever they were, outnumbered us as well. That much became obvious long before we got to see the first sign of them.

I could have lit up the place with magic but I decided against it. In a realm where twilight or outright darkness reigned, an action like that could have been taken for a hostile act. Although I was afraid that we would soon have to fight for our lives again I was still hoping that we might resolve things peacefully. I swallowed hard. “Let's hope its not ghouls.”

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Yes, the idea of being swarmed by the unquiet dead didn't really appeal to me. If it was a group of those fiends they could overwhelm us with numbers alone, especially considering that we weren't in the best state to begin with.

Gash'zur nodded and grunted in agreement, grabbing her weapon a little tighter.

When the approaching group finally came into sight I was left speechless for a moment. Not because they were somehow utterly strange or extraordinary. They simply were not at all what I expected. A quick glance at the giantess at my side suggested that she was about as baffled as I was.

It was a group of dwarves. Except they were not. Well, they were not like the few dwarves I had gotten to know up close anyway. At a first glance their armor might have looked similar but that similarity was superficial at best. It ended completely with the helmets or rather the lack of those. None of the group here wore any at all. They apparently were not afraid to show their faces. The skin colors were strange as well. They ranged from a curious dark green mottled with slightly brighter spots to a dark brown. Hair and beards were thick and lush like I expected but they were all of much darker shades than any I had seen so far.

And then there were the ears and noses. Both were much more prominent. to say the least, than I was used to. It was Gash'zur who finally summed up the strangeness in a single word. “Goblins?”

I blinked, looked at her and then at the group approaching apparently without a care again. I had only very vague memories about creatures going by that name. I sidled a little closer to the giantess. “Goblins and dwarves are related?”

She nodded. “It was when the Devourer first started corrupting their ancestors, that some wouldn't have any more of that nonsense and since they couldn't talk sense into the rest of their kin they just up and left. They stayed at Bleak Peak for a while but it wasn't to their liking either for some reason. One day they they just disappeared.”

I looked at the group again, as it came to a stop. Well, some of them were goblins. Others only looked like they were. For the briefest of moments I was confused then things clicked. “Oh! Some of them are Forgeborn!” They were forgeborn created in the likeness of goblins to be precise.

My companion nodded. “Their ancestors were the ones who first taught our ancestors the secrets of creating them.”

The group came to a stop a little ways away. Only one of them came a little closer. A young man with curiously mottled skin, neatly trimmed beard and hair, big, slightly pointed ears and very prominent nose. He cleared his throat and started speaking with a very dated accent, each word obviously carefully chosen. “Ladies! The city of Hearth Forge welcomes ye. If ye were to please accompany us it would greatly please me.”

I looked over at Gash'zur once more but she could only shrug. In the end the decision was up to me. I took a deep breath and sheathed my knife.

Gash'zur followed my example.

I tried to emulate his pattern of speech best I could as I answered. “If ye were to guide us, it would greatly please us to accept yer invitation.”

I must have said the right thing judging by his beaming smile.