LD II, prologue, Possibility 5: Neintesha: Ruins of Hukkengubber

THE RUINS of HUKKENGUBBER: ANCIENT CITY OF BEAR-GNOMES

During an intermission, at which _____ drinks down a few beers to refresh her voice, a storyteller gets up from the crowd to fill the moment. Her name is Nientesha, not unknown in the area.

She is half-elven it appears from her look. Elves are little to be found within at least 100 miles, especially this time of year, but here she is nevertheless.

She is apparently well-versed in the Telling of the Old Stories, for she tells this tale with a fierce passion and admirable technical skill.

"It's a story about an old race of bear-gnomes, gathered in a great system of burrows in the Deepwash mountains, where now only remote dwarves make civil homes. The gnomes lived there before the dwarves of course, before any dwarves walked the earth at all.

"The story goes on to tell of the gnomish city--Hukkengubber by name--and its wonders and its magic, but how it was accosted by legions of trolls, more terrible trolls than any that walk the earth today.

"The trolls laid the gnomish burrows to seige, and the gnomes were slowly forced out to look for food and other sustainance. Their magic was powerful, but the trolls picked them off one by one and began an era of feasting that ended in the extinction of the last of Hukkengubb.

"It is said, however, that the old gnomish city is still there, although the trolls are far more rare these days. The Elves from where I live tell further stories, of the riches and magic left behind by the gnomes, mighty as they were in the ways of magic.

"The Elves of my homeland predict great adventure and great reward in those ancient tunnels. A few of my people have gone to explore, and no one has come back.

"This is my story, may it enrich." [Common translation of official end of an Elven Story.]

Deepwash Mountains Act 1: The Four Bears Inn and Tavern