“While we be gettin’ ourselves got together after the battle we see the orc and Hyacinth makin’ their way into the chamber that be containin’ another durned automaton again, or maybe the same one that somehow reconstructed itself. I told the two of them to mind themselves and maybe it wouldn’t attack and went back to have me conversation with the Drow.
“The Drow professed he be knowin’ nothin’ ’bout me family and clan and the plague that took them. I didn’t believe him and took at him with me dagger a bit, givin’ him a taste of its poison. He continued to say nothin’ so thinkin’ he was lookin’ to aid us, I patched him up and wondered what to do about him.
“That’s when his mouth got him back in trouble.
“The automaton did attack the orc and Hyacinth, and some others joined in to make quicker work this time around. Someone grabbed a piece of it thinkin’ that would keep it from puttin’ itself back together. Seemed to do the trick.
“Meanwhile, the Drow started yappin’ about his bitch matron and offerin’ things he couldn’t possibly follow through on to others in the party: riches and the like. No male Drow be havin’ the swing for that kind of promisin’, and then the gnome Zoltan started up with questions ’bout his own family, them bein’ held captive in the Underdark.
“I see what the Drow be doin’, findin’ out this personal information about the party and I be sure the promises he be makin’ to help free Zoltan’s kin were so much empty air.
“No, he be meanin’ to go back and use Zoltan’s family against the gnome.
“I grabbed me hammer and slammed the Drow in the head once and then twice. I reared back for a third blow with a whisper to Dumathoin on me lips to quiet his lies forever but Zoltan jumped in front and took the blow meant for the black skinned elf.
“‘I be havin’ enough of Drow lies!’ I said, but Zoltan remained convinced the Drow could help him.
“And he let him go.
“As the Drow be leavin’, I seen the truth: he smirked as he faded into the darkness.
“Zoltan, I pray to Dumathoin you and your kin don’t come to regret your foolish choice. My kin be gone, if not at the hands of Drow, then by their commands. Your kin be known to them now.
“We then be decidin’ to go to the tomb where I buried my kin, not knowin’ what we would find. The temple to Dumathoin be desecrated by the dark gnomes with ruins inscribed to their dark gods, and we took on some giant skeletons and a dark magician of some type who vanished when we be seemin’ to get the upper hand.
“We be seein’ more of him, I be bettin’.
“Then Raith showed up warnin’ of greater foes below. Seems he had been doin’ some excursionin’ on his own and come back to givr us the recon.
“My path be set, though. We be clearin’ out this mine, and then I be takin’ me fight to the Drow.”
