A few moments ago, just as the doors to the new kobold living area opened near the existing kobold village.

If it wasn’t for us looking at the entrance to the dungeon at the time, we would not have noticed when the doors silently lowered and raised itself into the floor and ceiling of the entrance. The elder, with a wave of her cane, told me to take my group of scouts and check out the living area the dungeon had made for us. As I crossed the threshold of the entranceway, I rubbed my foot over when the door had lowered itself into the floor to find no perceptible seam at all. I shook my head, hopefully this dungeon decided to give us something nice, despite its earlier displeasure.

There was an opening in the wall before us off to my left, it was wide enough for two ogres to walk in side by side, oddly there was a lit green circle on the right side of the door, touching it and tasting it didn’t do anything. A mystery for another time, I waved Cedrisss and Sseths past me as we entered the opening, a light breeze from within blowing in our faces. We entered a hall that immediately turned to the right, appearing to go as far as the other end of the main opening before turning left. On the wall just inside the opening to the left there was another lit green circle, a quick touch revealed nothing, and we continued down the hall. A few paces from the turn there was yet another lit green circle on the right wall, followed by another a few paces beyond it, immediately before the turn on the opposite wall.

This time Cedrisss was the one to check it over, but his investigation revealed no more than mine, that is to say nothing. Turning left, we saw yet another hall that reached all the way back to the other side of the main opening before turning right, with yet another pair of lit green circles. This time we passed by the lit circles and turned right to the opening, as we did, we all stopped in the opening in shock. I am fairly certain that all three of our jaws were slack, I know mine was. There was a large smooth path leading to the far end of the cavern that we found ourselves in, halfway down the path there was a pond with a continuous spray of water sprouting up from the center of it. At the far end of the path we could see an opening twice the width of the one we were standing in now, and between here and there, many, many structures, almost all of with had lit green circles by the doors that we could see. The ceiling was lit brighter than the dusk outside, but not by too much.

I turned to Cedrisss and Sseths telling them to wait here, I was going to go back and ask the elder to send in the rest of the scout teams, if it was just the three of us scouting this place, it would take days, at least. A short walk down the switchback hallway later and I could see the elder waiting where she had been when she sent the three of us inside. As I approached she queried me saying, “Ssylasss, is there a problem, did the dungeon uphold its end of the negotiation ?” As I came to a stop before her, I replied, “I do not know if the dungeon kept to its side of the negotiation, not yet, but I think we will need all of the scout teams to investigate, if we want this done before dusk tomorrow.” The elder gave an impatient thump of her cane before asking, “What do you mean by that Ssylasss?” So as to not provoke the elder further, I waved her towards the hall opening, and said, “I think it is best if you see for yourself.”

The elder grumbled a bit, but made her way to the hallway opening, I followed half a pace behind her on her right. The elder noted the additional green circles along the hall, and when she glanced at me questioningly, I shook my head indicating that I didn’t know what they were for, if indeed they were for anything at all. When we entered the cavern, the only immediate reaction that I noticed from the elder was a quick gasp, followed by two quick thumps of her cane. A few moments later, she turned to Cedrisss and commanded him to bring the rest of the scouts, and while he was at it, to bring the other elders so they can decide how to apportion the scouts.

It took Cedrisss a few moments to bring the others, in that time, the elder had started making her way down the main path towards the pond, and didn’t slow her pace as the other elders scurried to catch up. The other scout team leaders followed the rest of the elders, whereas their teams mostly stayed with Cedrisss and Sseths near the beginning of the path. The discussion regarding where the scouts should go didn’t take long, four groups of scouts were sent to each quarter of the cavern, four groups to investigate the four unique buildings surrounding the pond, one each, and a final group to investigate the grassy area beyond the opening at the far end of the main path. She asked my group to investigate the smallest of the four buildings surrounding the pond.

I waved Cedrisss and Sseths over to me as I made my way over to the building the elder wanted us to investigate. We met several paces from the single door on the side facing the main path, unlike the other buildings along the path, this one did not have a lit circle beside the doors, nor were there additional levels to the building, unlike the building just to the left of it. Before we approached the door, I sent Sseths and Cedrisss around the building to see if there were additional entrances, as it turns out, there were not. The outer and inner doors for this building were transparent and the outer door slid open to either side as the three of us got within a pace from the doors.

As the outer doors slid open we could all feel a fairly strong breeze blow from the opening, as we stood in the open doorway, the breeze continued to blow, despite there being no obvious passage for the wind to flow from, strange dungeon this is. After a moment the doors started to close on their own, until we walked into the short entryway. The outer doors still didn’t close, nor did the inner doors open, well, not until Sseths pulled his tail into the entryway too. Once all of our body parts were in the entryway, the outer doors closed, and then after a few moments the inner doors opened. The inner doors led to a hallway that was equally long on either side, there were benches along the outer wall on each side of the hallway, but most importantly we could taste the dungeons presence in the air, and it was thick. I kept Sseths with me as we continued to investigate this hallway, and I sent Cedrisss to go tell the elder that this was almost certainly the egg chamber that the dungeon provided for us.

Along the inner wall I had noticed that there were a set of windows looking into another room, each of the finger thick windows that looked into the egg storage space had small half finger width holes in them, and beside each of the windows was a single small door about chest high off the ground with a pair of red circles beside each door, and a small display set above the door. The doors themselves were like the ones that led into this building, in that they were transparent, it was unclear how our tribes eggs would go into room on the other side, hopefully the dungeon will be able to tell us, otherwise we will be storing our eggs in this viewing hall, which would waste the effort the dungeon made in making the room beyond.

Apparently the rest of the elders couldn’t wait for us to report back to them, and they all came to look over this strange dungeon egg chamber. It took a good several handfuls of breaths for them to cycle through the isolating doorway, although the head elder came in the first group. The deep breath and subtle tongue flicker she took as she entered, led to an almost immediate sigh of relief on her part. As she opened her eyes, she saw me off on the left half of the hallway and made her way over to me, making way for the others to follow her inside. She quickly saw the transparent doors with the red circles and the displays the dungeon had been using to talk with the human wizard, although the displays were currently dark and not showing anything.

She glanced at the windows and the chamber beyond, seeing the numerous perfectly regular individual egg nests, she then turned to me and asked, “Ssylasss, any idea how we are to get our eggs in there?” I responded somewhat uncertainly, “Through these doors, I assume, but I don’t know how to get them to open, the doors and the windows are very sturdy, a stone from Sseths sling was unable to scratch them.” A fairly loud snort issued from her nostrils, following which she took in the benches that lined the outer wall, she noted as I had before she arrived that there was enough space for our tails to comfortably fit behind the bench. She then had a quick discussion with the other elders, following which they agreed that our eggs should be temporarily be stored in the hall here until we can put them into the chamber properly. The head elder then led us all back out to the pond to await word from the other scout teams.

Once we all arrived back at the pond, we didn’t have to wait more than 50 breaths or so for the first of the other scout teams to report in. They had discovered a large multilevel work area with a large attached store house, complete with a large number of shelves for things. Interestingly a section of the store house appeared to be a weapon storage room of some kind, as the layout was different and meant for items to be placed upright as opposed to laying down. The scout team also reported that one of the work areas had basins with drains, and a metal spout that poured water into the basin when a knob next to the spout was twisted.

As that group finished up their report, then next group came back and reported that they had found an odd looking meeting hall. It was the squarish building directly across the path from the egg chamber building. It apparently had rows of chairs arranged on a curve going up a step per row, all facing a platform at the front, there was even a small stand off to one side of the platform. From the description of the chairs, it sounded very much like the chairs the dungeon had provided during the negotiations with it and the delving group of the other races.

A few breaths after the group finished their report on the meeting hall, a pair of scouts that had been investigating the structures that had the green circles next to the doors arrived together and started giving their own report. Apparently, each of the doors with green circles led to a dwelling that had space for a small family of kobolds, a sitting or working area, three sleeping areas, a toilet area, and a washing area. Additionally, every dwelling they had investigated so far appeared to be identical. Although so far, they only had investigated four dwellings, from the look of things that seemed a likely assumption.

The head elder took a quick look around the group that had gathered around her at the pond and said loud enough for all to hear, “So, we are waiting on the group that was investigating that building over there with the windows, as well as the group checking out the grassy area, before we make a final decision, yes?” To this, elder Ssessemals agreed, saying, “Provisionally, we could move everyone in now, but best to be safe and wait for the scouts reports.” I was never all that fond of elder Ssessemals, but he did seem to have a thought or two between his ear holes. It wasn’t too much longer before the scout leader that went to the investigate the grassy area came back out of the wide opening in the wall at the far end of the main path. Apparently most of the area beyond that opening was taken up by a grassy field, and the rest was taken up by several ogre sized family dwellings, that included a cooking area and a personal hot spring. Our ogre Klarg will be pleased, he hasn’t had a hot spring since we were forced out of our last village.

The final scout leader we were waiting on, Sselsdons came back, and said that the building was likely a dedicated cooking and dining building, inside there were three floors of tables with benches. On the first floor at the back of the floor there was what seemed to be a food preparation area with several strange devices, that they had not fully understood yet. They also found basins like the one the scout group had found in the work area, along with many bowls, spoons and several large pots. The also found a cold room with several large hooks attached to the ceiling and shelves long the opposite wall from the hooks, apparently the room was cold enough that meat could be frozen, like we sometimes do in winter to preserve it.

The head elder took a quick look around after Sselsdons finished giving his report, then asked, “Any objections to moving in?” A round of no’s from the other four elders, prompted a sharp nod from the head elder, following which she pointed her cane at the dwellings next to the egg incubation chamber and declared, “I and the four other elders will claim the dwellings on the ground floor next to the egg incubation chamber, the spare dwelling will go to the head scout Ssylasss, the other scout leaders will take the dwellings above, and the dwellings in the building next to it along the main path. The other villagers are to take dwellings along the main path first, and then the rows behind those as needed.”

The rest of the village soon entered the cavern, and their shock mirrored ours from when we had first seen it. Klarg’s caretakers led him over to the ogre dwelling area. We then soon heard joyful roars from Klarg, I later learned from one of the caretakers that he had discovered one of the personal hot springs, and quickly took advantage of it. I had tasked Sseths to retrieve Cedrisss and my packs, along with his own, so we could move in to our selected dwellings. I was in the opposite corner dwelling from the head elder, facing away from the main path. As I made my way over to my dwelling, I noticed a set of stairs along the side of the building, along with a small room beside the stairs. There will be plenty of time to investigate it later.

I pulled open the door to my dwelling, my pack over my shoulder, my spear at rest on the same shoulder. The first thing I noticed besides the lit green circle beside the door, was the silence. I don’t know how these walls or the doors were made, but they kept the sound of the hustle and bustle of the other villagers completely at bay. The sitting area had a circular table and four chairs placed around it, for now, I placed my pack on the table, and decided to look around. I couldn’t smell a hint of mana or the dungeon at all, anywhere in the dwelling, and I soon found a set of buttons, one set per room that controlled the lights in that room. I freely admit that I succumbed to the novelty and played with those buttons longer than I probably should have. I chose the room next to the sitting area to be my sleeping room, the bed, although lacking furs, was very comfortable, it was a going to be a struggle to get used to camping out if I had this to look forward to.

I had heard of the large basin from the other scouts, but the description didn’t do it justice, it was more like a personal customizable spring that you filled with water from the knobs by the spout above it. One knob controlled the flow of cold water, the other hot. I had just finished testing that ability when Cedrisss opened the door to my dwelling and said, “The head elder wanted you to know, after the last person entered the cavern, the doors in the switchback hallway closed. The other thing of note is that the circle next to the first door heading back out is now red, instead of green.” I waved Cedrisss to sit at the table, before I joined him myself, he had been talking to some of the other scout teams when the head elder had told him the news and then sent him to tell me.

A few of the villagers had panicked a little, when those doors closed, before the elders calmed them down, Cedrisss and I continued to talk for a little while, both of us noticing the quiet in the dwelling, and how we might actually have some trouble sleeping because we can’t hear anyone. I had a nightmarish thought, that I didn’t tell Cedrisss, and fortunately for me he left before it showed on my face, what if the dungeon decided to trap us all in our dwellings and kill us all one by one, no one would be able to hear our cries for help. I had a tough time getting to sleep after that thought, despite the comfortable bed, assuming I am still alive in the morning, I hope the wizard will be willing to help us ask the dungeon a few questions.

The following morning, a half candle mark after dawn at the longer term living area for the wizard translator and the others of his group.

Felipe and the others had left about a half candle mark ago, they had all enjoyed the opportunity for a hot shower, and civilized toilet facilities instead of having to rough it. Despite that momentary luxury, they still headed back out to Soria, they had to ensure that Ramirez didn’t go overboard sending reinforcements, now that it seems we wont need them. Rhys, Serena, and Alesandro were watching me cook breakfast in this dungeons kitchen, still fascinated by the fact there was no fire being used to heat the pot I was cooking in, even though this was the second time they had seen it.

Shortly after we had all finished breakfast, and I had cleaned the pot I had cooked in, we were surprised by a chime that came from a display that I hadn’t really paid attention to at the far end of the kitchen, the side deepest into the mountain. We all noticed some text on the display and Serena backed off a bit to let Alesandro perform the magic needed to translate the text, but even before he had finished, a hidden door slid open, showing a small room with four chairs in it. Although Alesandro faltered in surprise, he managed to finish his spell, and said, “Well, apparently I am asked to enter so I can start teaching the dungeon and some of the kobolds, the agreed upon language lessons, you all are apparently welcome to join me.” I had heard of some dwarven cities using lifts to take people and goods from one place to another, this would be my first time riding in one, assuming that is what it was.

We all decided to join Alesandro this time around, as we didn’t really have anything better to do with our time, at least not yet. As we sat, the door to the room slid closed by itself, and then we felt a smooth sideways motion, that pushed Alesandro and myself deeper into our seats, and apparently made Serena and Rhys a little queasy. In some ways it was much like riding in an enclosed coach, but much faster, as soon as the room got up to speed, it slowed itself back down again. When it came to a stop, the doors opened to a little room, with a window splitting a desk in two, four chair were set on either side of the table, two of chairs on the other side of the window were occupied. The dungeon had a pair of displays on the walls to the side of the desks, there was even some text on it from the dungeon waiting for Alesandro. It appeared Alesandro had his first kobold students, and an anxious dungeon just waiting to be enlightened.