Chapter 132: 49: Hollow Town

Danika was paying more attention to the winter landscape than to where they were going, so she followed Kit's hawk form down to the ledge before looking around and giving Kit a puzzled look.

Kit frowned at the cliff face and insisted, "It leads straight into the stone!" She transformed back into her human shape and patted the stone with her hands.

Danika considered the way the snow covered ledge that they stood on stretched along the curve of the cliff like a narrow road and asked, "What does your territory skill show?"

Kit blinked at her and stepped back and observed the area with her skill, and then said with surprise, "I think we're standing on a road, and there's a town beyond this cliff face?" She turned and looked down the ledge as it curved out of view, and then spun and looked upward. She pointed and said, "I think it connects farther up?"

Danika zipped along above the ledge until she could see the stone gates and then turned and zipped back to where Kit was wading after her through the snow. She told Kit, "There are huge stone gates higher up, maybe this is a dwarven town."

"I thought dwarves were metal workers? Why would stone gates make you think it's dwarves?" Kit questioned.

"Mostly because it's a fairly standard fantasy RPG view of them, and the elven territories are fairly classically elven," Danika admitted. "That and their capital city Nabataea is named after historic stoneworkers."

When they reached the gates, Kit stared up at them for a moment and then asked, "Do we knock?"

Danika looked at the runes carved on the gates and chuckled as she suggested, "Maybe they'll open when we say 'speak friend and enter'?"

The gates swung silently inward, and Danika almost fell out of the air in surprise. Kit laughed and stepped forward at an angle. She kicked her snow covered feet against the edge of the gate to shake most of the snow off before stepping onto the smooth stone that lay between the gates.

The stone passage that lead into the mountain darkened suddenly when they had both moved beyond the edge of the gates. Danika spun and saw that the gates were silently closing. She almost darted toward them, but glanced at Kit and stayed where she was.

Kit didn't panic as the passage became dark, she simply stopped and shifted into her cat form. "I can see in the dark in this shape as long as there's a little light," she explained.

Danika activated her dazzling and asked, "Am I bright enough this way?" The stone walls seemed to absorb her soft light to her own vision.

"Woah, that's so cool!" Kit exclaimed. "I can't wait to learn your shape, and yeah, it's plenty. I could see a little before you got brighter, but now it's pretty clear."

Kit trotted forward on her little cat feet with no sign of hesitation, even when they reached a place where the passageway branched. After a moment Danika realized that she was following her invisible thread to the merchant again.

The passageway brightened ahead of them, and a bit farther on became lit by light stones embedded in the ceiling, like Logical Heart had used in his first portable stone spaces. What looked like shop fronts began to line either side of the passage as they continued forward, and they soon reached the open area where the traveling merchant waited.

The merchant greeted his wife just as affectionately in her cat form as he did in her human form, and he even knelt to pet her. Kit leaned into his petting and mumbled, "Being a cat is great."

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Danika giggled and the merchant looked up and winked at her. She blushed and looked away. The open area around them looked like a fairly standard "Living Jade Empire" town square.

A fountain stood in the center, and the four sides each had a wide passageway in place of the usual street that opened off of them. Various elaborate entrances faced the square, and overhead the stone ceiling arched in carved patterns like something from a cathedral, with hundreds or thousands of imitation stars gleaming down. The fountain trickled cheerfully and was also brightly lit from below.

The place was oddly quiet though, and they had yet to see a dwarf. Danika zipped over and peered into one of the shop fronts. The shop had a few elaborately decorated shields hanging from its mostly empty hook lined walls. A small sign in what was presumably dwarvish hung on the door. The shop beside it had a sign that contained both dwarven runes and a word in the common tongue, "Closed."

Danika turned and zipped back to Kit and the traveling merchant, who was now cuddling her in his arms while he petted her. Kit looked smug and the merchant just smiled as cheerfully as usual.

Danika asked, "Should I wait until you log off or interrupt your public display of affection?"

The trace of Kit's menu shimmered into existence before her. "Oh, I only have five minutes left," Kit complained. "Do you mind?"

"No, carry on," Danika replied with amusement.

Kit closed her eyes and snuggled deeper into the traveling merchant's embrace. The merchant winked at ZipZing and said softly, "I'll be glad to assist you after my wife has to leave ZipZing."

Danika nodded and then zipped away and circled the underground town square slowly. She wondered if it was weird that the merchant had been able to extrapolate that Kit had to leave soon, or if he could simply see her alarm setting. All of the shops were closed except one.

Danika could see a very small dwarf hunched over something it was working on on the cluttered counter that divided the room in half. She eyed the shop door doubtfully. The handle was set a bit low for a human, but too high for a fairy dragon standing on the ground. She zipped up to it and tried pushing and pulling on it just in case it magically activated the door to open or something, but nothing happened.

She tried rapping on the door to get the dwarf's attention but it seemed oblivious. After a minute she summoned her light cantrip and sent the particles zipping through the glass and up to the dwarf. The dwarf jumped back in surprise as the particles moved between its face and its hands. As it finally looked up, Danika brought the light back to where she hovered in front of the door.

The dwarf's eyes widened as it caught sight of her and it hopped off of its stool and bustled around the counter to let her in. It spoke in dwarvish, and then seemed to realize that she couldn't understand it and said in the common tongue, "Welcome traveler. How can I help you?"

Danika surreptitiously examined the dwarf with her menu lens which would display more description information than the analyze target skill, while she answered, "I am curious about why the town seems empty and all the shops are closed?"

The dwarf was named Intri K. Cogborn, and was only level 47. The description read: "This dutiful boy is already a respectable craftsman. He has followed in his grandfather's footsteps and even improved upon a few of that noteworthy elder's designs."

"Oh, did you need something from one of the other shops?" the young Intri K. Cogborn questioned. "Everyone went down the mountain to attend the new Queen's birthday, and to gather supplies in preparation for the week of hearts."

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