"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."

Caliaphy appeared and gasped, "Eeeeew! I don't wanna become worm food! Nope! Nope! Nope!"

"No one does." Irzen replied with a sigh, "Just do as I say and you should be fine."

"What is with you and names, lass?" Gimble shook his head. "We don't its name and we don't want to know its name. We just want it to go away and leave our people alone."

"Names have power." Serna replied honestly, "If we know the name of this changeling that's your overseer, it might help us to get rid of it faster."

Lazheros let out a big sigh, "Serna, try rewording your questions to them and perhaps you'll getting a better answer, hmm."

The Shield Maiden nodded in agreement.

"In other words, we'll have to be like the Scooby Doo gang of the Realm except we don't have a hound to sniff out the bad guys." Alyson added.

Lazheros gave Alyson an odd look silently, ~What exactly are you implying?~

"Scooby Doo Gang?" Serna scratched her head, "Oh-kay! Gimble, my friends and I will be more than happy to get rid of him for you. But you have to help us identify him. Let me ask you this question: Have you ever seen the overseer? And if you have, could you point it out to us if we asked you to do it?"

"Fine." Gimble crossed his arms, "I'll show you but you ain't gonna like it."

"You're probably right," Irzen admitted, "But we've got a job to do and you've got friends and family that needs saving."

"So please lead on," The Shield Maiden encouraged The Gnome.

The elementalist smirked back to the bronze man, ~ nothing.~

Nathosot motioned the group to be quiet and follow them towards the mine about one hundred yards away. Pointing out the sentries pacing back and forth. "If yer smart about it, you can all get past them without them seeing us. We don't want to knock'em out, otherwise the overseer will suspect something and let the worm out."

Irzen studied the pace at which the sentries marched back and forth before he turned to Serna and whispered, "It's a standard half-step march. We should be able to sneak past them easily enough. But I would recommend a distraction--just to be sure they get out of our way and STAY out of our way."

Serna turned towards the others, "Anyone up for causing a distraction?"

"I'll do it." Alyson raised her hand volunteering.

"What?" Lazheros looked at her suddenly, "No, out of the question!"

"I'm quite capable of causing a distraction. For once I can actually put those skills of sneaking around to good use. I was trained by an assassin and my parents are two master thieves, so why not. Serna, this is your call."

"Go for it!" Serna replied simply, "And if something goes wrong, we've got your back."

The Shield Maiden turned towards The Cleric and suggested, "You know, Lazheros, you need to stop worrying and let Alyson be Alyson. You'll be a lot happier if you do."