Magnus had set his bed up, so the first rays of dawn would shine on his face. And as the light shone on his eyes—
"Huzzah!"
He shot up from the bed. Having slept in only a loincloth, he was ready to go about his day.
Having breakfast with the others inside the improvised canteen, everyone frowned seeing the jerky. Though it wasn't poisonous and was quite filling...
"Bleh..."
The reaction of the people eating it said everything that was needed. Another 10 minutes passed, and the people gathered had finished their meals.
The guards rotated, some of the dwarves went down to forge weapons and armor, and the only ones left were the two dwarven leaders and Magnus.
Sitting opposite of him, the two dwarves looked confused on why he told them to stay behind.
"Alright, I've got a question." Magnus opened, "Do we have a map with nearby orc strongholds?"
"There was one in the keep but it's probably dust by now. Even then, it was hundreds of years old so there's a good chance it would've been useless." Thorgin replied honestly.
"I see... Wait, Volund, didn't you say this keep was hundreds of years old? Were you two..." Magnus words trailed off.
The dwarves nodded their heads, sighing. A heavy silence enveloped the room.
"...Haaaaah. I really fucking hate orcs. Then, where would we get more people to join the stronghold?"
"Why would you want more? We can barely support ourselves on the jerky for... Maybe two weeks, if lucky. We still got a month until the first bull-caps will be ready for harvesting."
"Since it's just the three of us, I'll tell you bluntly. We don't have anyone who can deal with diseases right now, so if something happens, all of you might die."
"That's true... Then—"
Magnus cut off Thorgim, "So if an orc scout shows up, let me 'negotiate' with them, they might lead us to a camp with useful supplies or a doctor, maybe a priest even. And is there anything else worth noting?"
"Alright, we'll tell the guards. As for something worth noting... Something did happen."
"Hm?"
"One of the dwarves was attacked. He had gone down into the caverns to dispose of the bodies and encountered one of the river beasts. Luckily he survived and we drove off the creature."
"I see, then— I'm going fishing in the caves, I want to see what kind of oversized fish can pose a danger to humans."
"Be careful!" they warned in unison.
Seeing the two of them off, he headed towards the storage room he entered originally when infiltrating.
A now cleaner and tidier mining tunnel stretched before him, with an occasional torch on the walls.
Unlike before, most of the corpses had been buried or burnt, depending on if it was dwarven or orc. The few things that remained were rubble that had fallen from the ceiling, likely from the battle with the ogre.
The winding paths that stretched from the sides of the mining tunnel were numerous, many digging deep into the ground, forming a maze that was hard to navigate for anyone but the dwarves.
Yet he ignored them, moving towards the largest of the tunnels, the only one which was lit up with sparse torches.
'How nice of them but... It's still short as hell.'
Sighing, he began to crouch and made his way into the tunnel. The smooth sides indicated that this wasn't formed by dwarven pickaxes, but by nature itself.
A few minutes later, the cave began to slowly increase in size, the faint sounds of running water echoing in the distance.
The end of the tunnel entered his vision, a faint blue light shining from behind, the moldy scent replaced by a refreshing odor.
'Wonder what that smell is—'
He entered the cave and marveled at the sight stretching before him.
A large underground room, hundreds of meters wide, with beautiful glowing plants lining the walls and ceiling. Even more surprising was the water, crystal clear and seemingly flowing in a direction.
Wandering next to the shore as he looked for any traces of struggle, he found them after 30 minutes of searching.
Faint traces on the side of the water, as if something had been dragging itself on the ground.
For a split second, a smirk crept on his face, quickly concealed.
From the corner of his eyes he spotted something moving underwater, eyeing him. Pretending to be unaware, he kept following the trail all the way to the edge of the water.
One more step and he would step into water.
Splash!
A shape shot out of the water, blue in color.
'Hah!'
A backhand slap, and the 'fish' was sent skidding on the ground. Only then did Magnus get a good look at the attacker.
A serpentine lower body, as thick as his waist. A burly upper body, with webbed hands. And at the top of the body stood a head that seemed like a mix between snake and human.
Combing his memories, a name surfaced in his mind.
"Naga. Shouldn't you at least introduce yourself with your ambush failing?"
"Unworthy."
The naga's reply was followed by it charging towards Magnus, it's lower body leaving a trail on the ground.
The naga's sharp claws sliced towards Magnus —
Yet he simply grabbed the scaly hand, before twisting it ever so slightly. A pained screech, and the naga's wrist was dislocated, before being repeated on the other side.
"Feel like talking now?" Magnus gently pressed down on its head, ready to put it out of its misery.
"Talk! Talk!"
He slightly loosened his grip, allowing it to speak.
"Why the hell is a naga here? Shouldn't you be in the ocean and river dwelling folks?"
"... There's an ocean less than 15 kilometres from here. As for me, I just wandered upstream looking for something to hunt. Then—"
Feeling impatient, Magnus cut him off." Let's cut to the chase, why should I spare you?"
"Err... I can swear allegiance!"
"Not enough, anything else? Do you have useful Intel or treasures, or well, anything?"
"I can tell you where there's orc camp! I passed by one while swimming here!"
"Deal. Lead the way." Magnus shifted slightly, placing his hand on the Naga's neck to ensure he could kill him instantly for betrayal, if it happened.
"Now!? But there's hundreds of orcs!" The naga asked, surprised.
"Less talking, get to it, NOW!"
"Yes... Yes... Ah But we would need to go through the river, you can't breathe underwater, can you?"
"How long is the dive?"
"Only a minute before we find more caves where you can breathe."
"Great, I don't need to tell you what happens if you lied about that, right?" he squeezed his hand slightly, causing the naga to flinch.
"Yes..."