From behind the party, the elementalist literally phased out of the solid rock and knelt down. "So, those patrols I distracted kinda of ran into some larger creature, some sort of giant tortoise. Yeah, it wasn't happy when I accidentally cracked one of its eggs but I was able to get out of there just at the bullywugs showed up."

Irzen appeared from the gloom and joined the others, "That was one heck of a nasty trick, Alyson, I like it!"

"Which trick?" Alyson whispered to Irzen.

"The one where you ran into the giant tortoise and left the Bullywugs to take the fall for it." Irzen smiled mischievously, "Nice one!"

"Ooo! It's so pretty!" The kurori became mesmerized by the huge crystal down below.

"What's that globe of light for?" Serna asked no one in particular, "Aside from giving off light down here."

"Globe?" Lazheros surveyed the entire area, "That crystal is pure magic, or at least created by magic. A rare form of elemental magic, perhaps?"

"Really?" Serna gasped, "Wow!"

Nathosot nodded, "It's been here for hundreds of years. It's kept our people safe from the outside, from down below, and we have never known any sort of conflict until a few weeks ago. Some stranger showed up, said he was an explorer looking for crystals. So, we showed him that one."

"You showed him too much," Irzen replied, "You need to take a tip or two from Dwarves about being secretive."

"Yeah but then things changed suddenly and there was the sound of hopping bullywugs coming down in droves." Gimble huffed.

Alyson spied a warped and twisted version of a gnome cackling from down below talking to a large individual in red garb. "There, I think that's the overseer, the large humanoid."

"Gimble, other than the way we came, is there any other way out of this chamber if we have to leave in a hurry?" The Shield Maiden asked the Gnome.

"There is but you're not gonna like it. The river that runs through the mine is the other way out that I know of. No one has ever needed to use it though." Gimble huffed quietly.

"We may not like it," Serna admitted to Gimble, "But we might just need it should things go from bad to worse."

Irzen looked at the others, "My Shadow Riders and I have encountered Changelings before and I have to tell you that they are a nasty piece of business if they infiltrate our ranks. I recommend that we team up in pairs. No one gets out of the sight of their partner. And we have a simple code word and safe word that only we know to differentiate ourselves from the Changeling should we get separated. I would recommend 'Apple' as our code word and 'Cobbler' as the safe word. If we get separated and run into each other, then we can use that code word and safe word to determine who is who and what is what. What do you guys think?"

"Someone has apple pie on the brain doesn't he?" Alyson looked at the swordsman.

"A hot apple pie and a cup of warm coffee would be nice right about now I admit," The Swordsman confessed, "But that code word and safe word might mean the difference between us rescuing these people and us ending up just like them."

"Simple but if it keeps the changeling at bay enough for us to help the gnomes." Lazheros made note of the entire area down below and started to draw a map on the ground.

"It will be worth it," Serna replied as she looked at Lazheros drawing, "Okay, Laz, what do you have there?"

Lazheros drew a rough sketch of the area below with the large crystal not quite in the center but more to the left. He then found two narrow rocks indicating who the main boss and the twisted gnome. "Over there and over there are where most of the gnomes are being forced to mine. Straight ahead and right below us. Oddly enough, perhaps splitting up would be a better idea here with one of Gimble's kin to partner with. That way, the overseer wouldn't be able to target all of us at any given time. Thoughts?"