Dwizzle nearly flops over in shock.
"WHAT? WAS IT EVIL? I THINK IT ATTACKED SINCE I'M VERY BADLY HURT."
Dwizzle tries sticking a finger in his ear while grabbing his holy symbol with his other.
Younger crystal dragons are very haughty. Their innate magical abilities lend them to be quite arrogant and they believe themselves to be invincible to non-dragons.
Even knowing this, you think that this dragon might be outside of your capabilities to take down as it seemed a bit advanced for a juvenile crystal dragon.
"It's a crystal dragon! They're good! Hogan, I thought you would have noticed the lack of evil on it! They just like crystals and glass and gems and such! And this is a strong one, even if he is young." Seherab berates his companions. "Quick, drop your weapons and offer it something. Do you have any gems, glass, something shiny for it to add to its hoard! Start talking nice, Dwizzle!"
Dwizzle holds a free hand up, waving it around, although he's not quite sure if the dragon can see or hear him while submerged.
"Wait, wait, wait, WAAAAA-AAAIIITT, little dragon buddy, pal, buddy-pal!!"
He repeats this for some time, hoping to catch the creature as it emerges.
A pair of eyes emerge from the rocky floor as the dragon's head burrows out slightly. You see it glaring at you, but it doesn't attack.
Ankhef will put his shield down and raise his hands in peace.
"Good dragon, I believe we deserved that for our insolence. Might we have the honor of parlaying with you now?"
"He started it." Hogan grumbles stowing his hammer.
The eyes appear to nod, but the creature remains nearly entirely under the cave floor. She warily watches Hogan, but you believe that she is listening.
Teos sits cross-legged on the floor, and begins rubbing his temples - clearly still having a headache from the sound blast.
We ask about crystal for dead pointing thing? the monk signs, anxious to conclude business with the beast quickly.
"Have you been beset by undead recently? We are investigating the matter. In fact, we came to this place to examine the compass-device above. We were hoping to track the undead menace to its source. Perhaps we can help each other, as I am sure it is unpleasant for you to have so many zombies and skeletons running amok."
The mouth raises up above the ground for a moment as the dragon blurts out. "Gems! Lots of gems for compass device!" she yells before diving back below the ground, leaving her eyes as the only possible targets once more.
You can tell that she is still on edge and eyeing you warily, but perhaps there is hope for a deal to be struck.
"What kind of gems? Where can we get them?"
The dragon peeks its mouth out and the shrill voice replies. "Don't know! Bring me gems and I give you stuff for gems! Gems are best!" it calls out before returning back under the ground.
Ankhef looks at his allies and shrugs.
Teos points back up to the surface, and then finger signs.
S-H-I-N-Y B-A-U-B-L-E. Store above; has gems? he questions hesitantly.
Dwizzle throws his arms up.
"Gems! Lamb! I see what we are now... we're some sort of Dwarven Delivery Service!"
Smiling, but truly showing equal parts enthusiasm and frustration at once again being tasked with fetching material items from the market for a strange being, Dwizzle motions for the group to back up.
"Let's see what we can find up top. We'll be back, little dragon. Next time I promise I won't talk about mounting your, uh... well, anything, if you promise not to big-boom us if we're coming back with lots of shinies!"
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"Hmmm..."
Dwizzle rubs his chin as he observes the dragon's current trove, taking note to discuss his observations once he and the others are a safe distance away.
"It is a clever plan, Dwizzle, but I think this dragon knows its gems. Those are genuine emeralds, rubies, and sapphires in its nest. I don't know if we have enough gems; we probably sold them all. Let's go buy some in the market and come back to it as quickly as possible. Dwarven Delivery Service indeed!"
The dragon's mouth comes up from the ground. "I give you discount for gems! Bring me nine big emeralds and I give you shiny piece for the thing on the roof that you were looking at." it states.
Seherab thinks that the value of those gems would be 900 GP. Additionally, you think the dragon might sell you some of the magic items at a discount if you pay in gems.
To buy gems!
Dwizzle's eyes linger on the platinum dwarf statue for a moment, but he eventually shakes his head.
"Nope! Doesn't look like it was carved by a dwarf, so will need to pass on it today."
"Well, I do say - I think you liberated the best gems from our local markets, Mister Dragon, sir! Now, on the matter of the shiny roof-thing..."
The eyes look quizzically at the gnome. "You not get shiny piece without gems!" it says loudly.
Teos produces the gold necessary for the gems. It's unclear why the austere monk is carrying around so much of the group's gold, but he readily and faithfully doles out the required amounts.
The dragon eagerly climbs out of the ground and takes the gems, eyeing them over as she nudges for a wire wrapped crystal towards you. "Take this! It came from the thing on the roof!" she mentions.
"Bring more gems and I find more stuff you want!" it says excitedly.
Seherab thanks the dragon and climbs up onto the roof to see if the compass can be reassembled.
Once up there and out of earshot of the dragon, he says, "You know, that's not a bad proposition, what the dragon just said. If we need more pieces that we can't find, like at that first compass, maybe he can help us find them. He'll be more efficient at it than us and we can keep exploring while he searches."
Dwizzle bobs his head in agreement.
"Absolutely! I've always wanted to have a dragon at my, errr, our side for our endeavors!"
Dwizzle extends out a hand.
"Partners then, dragon? I, err, ummm... don't suppose you have a name?"
The dragon offers her name and gladly places her large claw on Dwizzle head and shakes him a bit. "We can partner as long as I get the shinies!" she says happily. "What do you do?" she asks.
---
As Dwizzle tends to their relationship with the dragon, Seherab moves up to the roof and slaps into the wire-wrapped crystal. The machine hums and a bright line arcs out from the elegaic compass across the Necropolis. He notes down the direction and the major landmarks that it passes, though that seems to be all that happens when one of these is activated.
The dragon's claw around Dwizzle begins to shake harder as the other two dwarves seem to not be paying attention. "What is it that you do, small one?!" it says in annoyance at its question not being answered. "I, Shardizhad, must know in order to help you tiny ones!" it bellows.
Seherab, finishing marking down the flare from the compass, rejoins his party to find the gnome being shaken about by the dragon, but its clear that Dwizzle is unharmed.
Teos, suddenly in a panic at the threat to little Dwizzle, does his best to pantomime cracking the heads of the monsters and action to render aid to the needy.
After some vaguely aggressive looking flailing, he looks to his companions to clarify the matter.
The dragon, intrigued by the dwarf, lets go of Dwizzle and follows Teos actions with rapt attention. "Hmm... can you not speak, little one? It looks like you are one of those food-makers! You make the food by smashing it together and then give it to people? That sounds delicious. What is your specialty, tiny one?" the Medium-sized dragon asks of Teos.
"We punish evil and we help the innocent. He does not speak in words and I can't translate for him."
"Hey.... augh!! My head!!"
Dwizzle struggles to evade the small dragon's grasp as the claws tighten a little too much for comfort.
"Sure, sure, shinies... Hogan, help! Tell him we'll do it... we... augh, are.. protectors of the city... really? my ear??"
"As he says, we are protectors of the city. We need you to put him down. We agree to your terms."
Seherab stands confused for a moment at the strange progression things have taken while he was away. "No, not food preparation," Seherab confirms. He makes a few hand-signs to Teos to stop his pantomime, as it is only confusing the dragon. "My fellow dwarf Teos there has taken a vow of silence, but some of us have learned the Dwarven Sign Language to speak with him silently," he explains.
"Hogan here has the right explanation though. We're helping protect the city from this undead uprising. We're trying to find the source and stop it, as it is getting out of control already. The sooner we find the rest of these compass pieces, the better."
"So why does your tiniest dwarfling want my help?" she asks, still uncertain about why they are now partners.
Teos wipes his brow, glad that the topic has moved away from food... at least as it relates to dragons.
Ankhef finally speaks again "Oh great and mighty dragon. Even the smallest Dwarfling can see your goodness and graduate. Surely you must count any that fight against the undead uprising as your allies and partners, even when they are as unworthy as ourselves. Can you share with us any knowledge you might have regarding other pieces similar to the one you already blessed us with?"
The dragon shrugs. "That is the only thing I've found like that." the dragon mentions, but she seems pleased with your praise. "But, I can tell you that the Gulla Market is overrun with undead at the moment. Perhaps you can find out something there or at least put down a lot of your enemies." she offers. "Plus, if you clear it out, then I can hunt for any left behind shinies!" she adds gleefully.
Ankhef nods and motions for his companions to join him in heading to the Market.
"That is fine." Hogan says following Ankhef.
Dwizzle nods as Ankhef diplomatically posits their agreement to the dragon.
"Well then! Time for heroic dwarf-derrings at the Gulla Market! And perhaps... another snack!"
"The Gulla Market, huh? Thank you for the advice. We will head there right away." Seherab notes.
As you make your way to the Market, you see another name on the map given to you by Sebti: Ghoul Market. Supposedly, there is an elegaic compass here Windward Wends Oil Company.
As you creep through the necropolis, you spy the market, but you also see legions of shuffling undead littering the streets. The keen eyed Seherab spies the Oil Company's sign in the distance, but the ghouls loitering the market stand in your way.
Anhkef looks to his companions "Any thoughts on getting around them? That looks like a lot of ghouls."
"Indeed brother. We can't hide from them and there are too many to go through."