A million questions come to you in an instant. Not that it's hard, there's a lot about this situation that needs answering.
>What's her name
Let's start with an easy one. "Well then, enemy with a common cause, what's your name?" It's not like you can just keep calling her "dwarf" all night long.
The dwarf gives a single rude laugh. "As if I'd tell you. Names are for allies and friends, and you ain't either." Well that was a little rude. Clearly wherever this dwarf was raised, she wasn't taught proper manners.
The dwarf continues with her dismissal of your question, "You're Goblin. I'm Dwarf." She points to each of you in turn. "Keeps it simple."
Apparently you can call just keep calling her "Dwarf" all night long. Silly you, thinking that wasn't an option.
>why is she/her group here, what exactly is she hoping to accomplish
Now that you've properly introduced ourselves, in traditional dwarven fashion you're sure, time to gather some real information.
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Dwarf," you give a small bow. "Now that we're such darling friends, how about you tell me what brings you and your friends to this fine city?"
Dwarf doesn't respond at first, as if unsure if she should answer or not. You're about to give up and ask another question when she says "Suppose you need to know if you're going to help." You admit you're a little surprised that you're actually getting a straight answer for once.
"The morons running the Council seem to think now's a good time to invade your idiotic country," her voice changes into what you can only assume is a mockery of whomever she's talking about. "We've been waiting a long ass time and now's the time to strike, blah blah blah." She gives another curt laugh. "They're morons and they're going to get dwarves killed for no reason. Your stupid nation off five idiots has never successfully been invaded, let alone by dwarves, and there's nothing I can see that will change things now."
"You'll tell me your country is planning to invade but won't tell me your name?" You chuckle a bit at the situation. This girl's got to get her priorities straight. Nothing is more important than a glorious introduction, after all.
"I'm telling you because I want you to stop us. Maybe if we fail here, those idiots will pull their heads out of their asses and do something useful for once."
Well, that is interesting! Dwarf here is a traitor! "Stop you from doing... what, exactly?" You tilt your head as you ask her. Everyone knows tilting your head when asking questions makes the other person more likely to answer.
"Nice try, Goblin. I ain't telling you our mission. We still ain't friends." Clearly dwarves have some form of natural immunity to tilted heads. You'll have to remember that the next time you meet one. "Just rescue the girl. If you succeed, we fail and hopefully this stupid invasion will be cancelled." Interesting. Not terribly pertinent information, but interesting.
>Where is the girl? How do we get there from here?
Now's as good a time to inquire about Sam as any. "Well then, I suppose I'd better get to rescuing her! For both our sakes, yes? Your cause sounds almost as noble as mine, after all." You place your hand on your chin and tilt your head the other way. "Small problem, though. I'm afraid I still don't know where she is, or how to get there. Good thing I've got a dwarven guide to lead the way, then, isn't it, Dwarf?"
It's probably your imagination, but the slit on Dwarf's visor seems to narrow in anger. "She's that way." Dwarf points in the general direction the water in the chasm is flowing towards. "Our base is in the center of the sewers." So you picked the wrong direction to head initially. Why is that always how these situations seem to work?
"About time you got some useful information from her," Lucy is clearly not pleased with your interrogation thus far.
"Why Lucy, I'm wounded. You don't consider a dwarven invasion useful information?"
"Not unless it gets our hands on that sword any sooner," Lucy points out dryly. You admit defeat this time. Priorities, after all.
>How is she being held? What sort of resistance should we expect? Is there a way to sneak in undetected? If not how early will they know we're coming? What will they do with the girl when they realize we're trying to take her?
Moving right along, you need a plan of attack. Something tells you that you won't be able to just waltz right in, ask for the girl, and be on you merry way, after all. "So I just head that way until I find four angry dwarves waiting to kill anything that interferes with their mysterious plans? Sounds delightful, but I think it would be useful to know a little more than the general location I should head in."
"You want details? Fine." Your charming personality seem to have finally won her over! No one can resist your diplomatic tactics forever.
"The girl is in a stone cage on the far side of the base. There's no way of opening it without earth magic, so you'll have to figure out how to get her out on your own. There's two of us guarding her at all times. The other two are getting the ritual ready. I'm supposed to be scouting." Dwarf laughs. You're pretty sure you get the joke.
"All five of us are well versed in combat and magic. You'll get slaughtered if you make your fool presence known, and you're a moron if you think otherwise. There's tons of earth and stone down here, and that's our element in case you've forgotten.
"Since I'm scouting, they're not actively looking for any threats, so you might be able to sneak in. But if you're careless, they'll still detect you through the ground. That's how I found you. Lucky for you, I found you before you blundered in like a moron, alerting everyone to your presence and getting your fool self ground into pace by a boulder."
You wait for Dwarf to continue with her surprisingly out of character description of the situation, but she seems to be done. Guess that's all you're going to get for now. You try and piece together everything she's told you so far.
"So all I need to do is invade the camp without touching the ground, make my way to a cage I can't open, sneak past two to four angry dwarves who will kill me on sight, and then somehow get out with a little girl who no doubt will do nothing but slow me down," you recap. "Sounds simple enough."
"And you've got until midnight to do it," Dwarf adds. "That's when the girl's being sacrificed." Nothing like a time limit to keep you on your toes!
"This has officially become suicidal." Oh that Lucy, always looking on the bright side of things.
She's got a point, though. You and Lucy have never come across a job you couldn't accomplish before, but this is a teensy bit on the difficult side. It would probably be prudent to carefully consider your next move.
no subject
>What's her name
Let's start with an easy one. "Well then, enemy with a common cause, what's your name?" It's not like you can just keep calling her "dwarf" all night long.
The dwarf gives a single rude laugh. "As if I'd tell you. Names are for allies and friends, and you ain't either." Well that was a little rude. Clearly wherever this dwarf was raised, she wasn't taught proper manners.
The dwarf continues with her dismissal of your question, "You're Goblin. I'm Dwarf." She points to each of you in turn. "Keeps it simple."
Apparently you can call just keep calling her "Dwarf" all night long. Silly you, thinking that wasn't an option.
>why is she/her group here, what exactly is she hoping to accomplish
Now that you've properly introduced ourselves, in traditional dwarven fashion you're sure, time to gather some real information.
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Dwarf," you give a small bow. "Now that we're such darling friends, how about you tell me what brings you and your friends to this fine city?"
Dwarf doesn't respond at first, as if unsure if she should answer or not. You're about to give up and ask another question when she says "Suppose you need to know if you're going to help." You admit you're a little surprised that you're actually getting a straight answer for once.
"The morons running the Council seem to think now's a good time to invade your idiotic country," her voice changes into what you can only assume is a mockery of whomever she's talking about. "We've been waiting a long ass time and now's the time to strike, blah blah blah." She gives another curt laugh. "They're morons and they're going to get dwarves killed for no reason. Your stupid nation off five idiots has never successfully been invaded, let alone by dwarves, and there's nothing I can see that will change things now."
"You'll tell me your country is planning to invade but won't tell me your name?" You chuckle a bit at the situation. This girl's got to get her priorities straight. Nothing is more important than a glorious introduction, after all.
"I'm telling you because I want you to stop us. Maybe if we fail here, those idiots will pull their heads out of their asses and do something useful for once."
Well, that is interesting! Dwarf here is a traitor! "Stop you from doing... what, exactly?" You tilt your head as you ask her. Everyone knows tilting your head when asking questions makes the other person more likely to answer.
"Nice try, Goblin. I ain't telling you our mission. We still ain't friends." Clearly dwarves have some form of natural immunity to tilted heads. You'll have to remember that the next time you meet one. "Just rescue the girl. If you succeed, we fail and hopefully this stupid invasion will be cancelled." Interesting. Not terribly pertinent information, but interesting.
>Where is the girl? How do we get there from here?
Now's as good a time to inquire about Sam as any. "Well then, I suppose I'd better get to rescuing her! For both our sakes, yes? Your cause sounds almost as noble as mine, after all." You place your hand on your chin and tilt your head the other way. "Small problem, though. I'm afraid I still don't know where she is, or how to get there. Good thing I've got a dwarven guide to lead the way, then, isn't it, Dwarf?"
It's probably your imagination, but the slit on Dwarf's visor seems to narrow in anger. "She's that way." Dwarf points in the general direction the water in the chasm is flowing towards. "Our base is in the center of the sewers." So you picked the wrong direction to head initially. Why is that always how these situations seem to work?
"About time you got some useful information from her," Lucy is clearly not pleased with your interrogation thus far.
"Why Lucy, I'm wounded. You don't consider a dwarven invasion useful information?"
"Not unless it gets our hands on that sword any sooner," Lucy points out dryly. You admit defeat this time. Priorities, after all.
>How is she being held? What sort of resistance should we expect? Is there a way to sneak in undetected? If not how early will they know we're coming? What will they do with the girl when they realize we're trying to take her?
Moving right along, you need a plan of attack. Something tells you that you won't be able to just waltz right in, ask for the girl, and be on you merry way, after all. "So I just head that way until I find four angry dwarves waiting to kill anything that interferes with their mysterious plans? Sounds delightful, but I think it would be useful to know a little more than the general location I should head in."
"You want details? Fine." Your charming personality seem to have finally won her over! No one can resist your diplomatic tactics forever.
"The girl is in a stone cage on the far side of the base. There's no way of opening it without earth magic, so you'll have to figure out how to get her out on your own. There's two of us guarding her at all times. The other two are getting the ritual ready. I'm supposed to be scouting." Dwarf laughs. You're pretty sure you get the joke.
"All five of us are well versed in combat and magic. You'll get slaughtered if you make your fool presence known, and you're a moron if you think otherwise. There's tons of earth and stone down here, and that's our element in case you've forgotten.
"Since I'm scouting, they're not actively looking for any threats, so you might be able to sneak in. But if you're careless, they'll still detect you through the ground. That's how I found you. Lucky for you, I found you before you blundered in like a moron, alerting everyone to your presence and getting your fool self ground into pace by a boulder."
You wait for Dwarf to continue with her surprisingly out of character description of the situation, but she seems to be done. Guess that's all you're going to get for now. You try and piece together everything she's told you so far.
"So all I need to do is invade the camp without touching the ground, make my way to a cage I can't open, sneak past two to four angry dwarves who will kill me on sight, and then somehow get out with a little girl who no doubt will do nothing but slow me down," you recap. "Sounds simple enough."
"And you've got until midnight to do it," Dwarf adds. "That's when the girl's being sacrificed." Nothing like a time limit to keep you on your toes!
"This has officially become suicidal." Oh that Lucy, always looking on the bright side of things.
She's got a point, though. You and Lucy have never come across a job you couldn't accomplish before, but this is a teensy bit on the difficult side. It would probably be prudent to carefully consider your next move.