After a few minutes of having their lives threatened by the group of bullywugs, one of the gnomes was brave enough to peek up and see a group of children looking at them.

"Eh? Who are you lot? Never seen any of you 'ere before?" The male gnome in grays and brown garb addressed the shield maiden.

Then another popped his head up, "You dolt, the lass just told us who they are. Me, names Gimble. We thank you for the help squishing those bullywugs. They've been harassing my people for a long while ever since Venger learned that we have a mine filled with some kind of magic gem. We had left the gems alone and lived in peace for many decades until the overseer came."

"Master Gimble, it's a pleasure to meet you." The Shield Maiden extended her hand in friendship to the Gnome, "Here, let me help you to your feet. And, if you don't mind my asking, who or what is this overseer?"

In unison they all replied, "The overseer is GIANORMOUS!"

"So it's a giant." Alyson said nonchalantly.

"No. Worse." Gimble exclaimed, "It's some monstrous hybrid that Venger cooked up we think. Sometimes its HUGE and other times it looks like a person."

"Really?!" Serna asked in wide-eyed disbelief.

The other male gnome who asked who the children who they were eyed them suspiciously now, "Maybe the bossy kid is the overseer."

Gimble rolled his eyes, "No way. If the girl was the overseer, would her and her friends freed us?"

Another gnome got in Gimble's face, "I'm with Nathosot on this one! We can't trust these humans and ah....eeek...a drow!"

The rest panicked suddenly and collided with each other. Nathosot, Gimble, and the other gnome started punching each other in front of Serna and company.

Lazheros frowned but said nothing.

Caliaphy vanished from the commotion.

Irzen just rolled his eyes in pure consternation.

"Was it something I said?" The elementalist scratched her head.

"Maybe," The swordsman replied with a shrug.

"Let me handle this," The Shield Maiden replied before she turned to the fighting gnomes, "Calm down, all of you, please calm down! True, Irzen is a Drow but he's on our side. He's a friend. Now, can you tell us more about this overseer? And how many Bullywugs he has working for him?"

Well half of the gnomes stopped fighting, the others continued their brawl until they collided with a tree. With the fight finally done, Gimble brought up both hands, "Alright. Alright. You've made yer point, lass. The overseer is some kind of changeling and its got a lot of bullywugs working for it. Our village is nearby but our people are wary of strangers now because of what the overseer has done to them."

"And what did the overseer do to them?" Serna asked once more, "And does this overseer have a name?"

Nathosot pipped in, "Or worse feed those of us who can no longer work in the mine to the worm. A purple worm."

Lazheros's eyes widened, "What!"

Irzen listened quietly saying not a word.

"A purple worm?!" Serna asked in pure disbelief, "I've heard of earthworms but I've never heard of a PURPLE worm. What in the Realm is that?!"

"It's not as big as the tall folk say they can get but it's big enough to scare and force us to work in the mine." The third gnome said.

"Isn't a purple worm an underground/underdark creature, Irzen?" Alyson looked at the swordsman.

"Yes. It is." The Swordsman replied with a dismissive wave, "They're burrowers and they're easy to tame. My people use them to dig tunnels so we can travel beyond the confines of Naermon Nithren. We use those tunnels to trade with others, work with others, even attack others during times of war."

Irzen added with hunched shoulders, "Purple worms are big and slow. When you encounter one all you have to do is be mindful of three things: one, their size they can get quite big and squash you to death; two, their mouths they can get quite large and with their row upon row of serrated teeth they can grind, tear and rend you to death; and three their tail which they can use to sting you to death. If you can be mindful of those three things, then you'll be fine. Piece of cake."