The Danger Gang Meet The Wintergarden Royal Family

After resting the rest of the night, the Danger Gang is ready to get out of town. Prince Gavril Rodamir offers them some horses at a discounted price and a writ offering them safe passage through Bulgaria, written in Bulgar, Greek, and an illustration. They thank him for the kindness he extended them and ride out to the East, sticking to the road.

They right past several ruined cities, farm houses and the like, successfully avoiding trouble. So that's nice. Soon after nightfall, they set up camp in a small copse of trees. During last watch, all of a sudden a Purple Worm bursts through the ground, bearing seven dwarves on its back. The dwarves are clad in green and white, a color combo unfamiliar to Ahkrem. There is much fighting. The dwarves didn't count on Martialis being able to whip up a couple of big old bugs of his own, which he promptly does. The dwarves get beaten up while the bugs keep the worm busy. Karl decides he wants to get a piece of that big guy once the dwarves seem largely under control, but he gets promptly stung for his trouble. The dwarves, sensing an opportunity to build bridges with these ass-kickers, pulls a vial from his bag. Marty shoes him off and hits Karl with a Neutralize Poison. Barry polishes off the worm and the dwarves agree to a parlay. The one in charge introduces himself as Prince Lauren VI of Wintergarden. It seems Brunnel of Domdaniel got a pinpoint on our location from a Moor named Hal (coincidence). He's leading one of three teams of dwarves sent to reclaim the shadow for King Cavecricket, who claims that Alan the Korrigan stole it from him. Unfortunately, he doesn't know much about the other teams other than one is traveling on the surface and the other is traveling by air. The gang tries to set him straight. They tell him about the Dryad queen. Lauren does admit that what the gang is telling him makes some sense. He agrees that they shall part as friends. Everybody shakes hands. Marty even trades a couple of giant beetles for some of their Neutralize Poison potions, so that they don't have to walk all the way back to Bhijimin. Everybody is friends forever. The gang decides that they're already up, they might as well get riding.