Entering Orestone City

So, the two continued to harvest rocks and crystals from the cave, with Kantuta gladly providing detailed bits of information about each element that she came across. Although some of the words that Kantuta used were foreign to him, Siquioce found himself calmed by the sweet, sincere voice of the elf. Motivated by her incessant passion, Siquioce was spurred to extract many materials, using his control over water to erode especially tough stones for easier collection. His discoveries were many, ranging from bland finds such as sandstone to materials on the more interesting side of the spectrum like zephyrite, a lightweight yet durable rock.

As time passed and Kantuta's hat filled with more stones, she said, "Okay Siquioce, I think that's enough." Displeased with the increased amount of weight on her head, she said to herself, "Y'know, maybe I should've just brought a backpack…."

Clearing his hands of dust, Siquioce replied, "Okay, good." he pulled out his map, "Looks like now we can go to that Orestone City that Yuchauzh was talking about."

"Oh, right, you did mention that." Kantuta groaned, "Fine. I'll go let him know…"

Backtracking through the chambers and tunnels that she had traversed through, Kantuta found Yuchauzh sleeping flat on the floor, his large arms wrapped around his trunk as if it were a teddy bear. "Hey lazybones," she called, "Get up. We're going to Orestone City."

Stretching his limbs, Yuchauzh set his log to the side and sat up, saying, "Finally. I was wonderin' when you two would be done." Using his trunk as leverage, the orc got up and continued, "Well, no time to waste. Let's go."

Rolling her eyes, Kantuta reluctantly followed behind Yuchauzh before deciding to overtake him, annoyed by his slower speed.

After meeting up with his friends, Siquioce, with the help of Kantuta, found the quarry's exit, traveling through it to end up in another stretch of grassy terrain. "Okay, Kantuta, where's that city, again?"

Pulling out the map, Kantuta answered, "If we travel northeast, we should come across it."

"Okay, understood. Now…" Siquioce pointed forward triumphantly, "Let's go!"

As her ally walked straight forward, Kantuta corrected, "Uh, Siquioce, northeast is that way." She pointed at an 120° angle.

Realizing his mistake, Siquioce chuckled nervously and responded, "Oh, sorry." He started clumsily marching off in that direction, "NOW let's go!"

Smirking at her friend's silliness, Kantuta shook her head in an amused manner before following after him, with Yuchauzh following suit.

As the trio grew closer to their destination, they noticed the grass beneath them growing shorter and paler, with the surroundings looking more and more lifeless the further they went. Eventually, the group came across a strangely industrialized area, where absolutely no flora of any kind was present.

Looking around at the tall, dark buildings, Kantuta said, "Wow, I can't believe I'm saying this, Yuchauzh, but I agree with you. This place is horrendous."

"Glad you see the light," Yuchauzh replied, "I've had my eye on this place for a while now. These loser residents are polluting the environment just by existing! With that bein' said, I don't remember it ever bein' this bad…"

As Yuchauzh was speaking, a crowd of grey-skinned dwarves in mining outfits came stomping past, moving in unison as they headed straight towards and through Siquioce and the others.

After being rudely shoved, Yuchauzh shouted at one of them, "Hey! Watch where you're going, punk!"

At this, one of the dwarves abruptly stopped in place, turning around almost robotically to look straight at Yuchauzh with dull, lifeless eyes. After remaining stationary for a few more long seconds, he immediately resumed his previous motion, picking up his pace to join the rest of his group.

Raising an eyebrow, Kantuta asked, "What's up with him?"

"Whatever it is, it don't matter." Yuchauzh growled, "What matters is finding this dump's base so we can demolish it."

Both Kantuta and Siquioce gasped in unison. "Demolish it?" asked the latter, "But why? Isn't that a little harsh?"

Yuchauzh shot Siquioce a look, "You know what else is harsh? This stupid city killing thousands of plants a day! We need to fight back, and we need to do it now. So, are you with me or not?"

Siquioce fell silent for a moment, twiddling his fingers as he pulled over the situation. "Okay," he said after a pause, "If you really think that it's necessary…we can do that."

Yuchauzh nodded, "Good. Let's go, then."

As her partners headed off, Kantuta objected, "Wait, seriously?! You're agreeing just like that?" Staring at the back of Siquioce's head, she sighed and conceded, "Okay, you're the boss…"

As the three adventurers made their way through the city and its zombie-like inhabitants, they were confronted by a teenage female goblin wearing a simple outfit of a white blouse and a black skirt. Compared to Orestone's citizens, the goblin's skin was much more vibrant, being a healthy shade of olive green.

Giving the group a suspicious look, the girl asked, "What're you lot doin' ere? Ain'tcha supposed t' be workin'?"

"Uh, no?" Kantuta answered, "We don't live in this place. We're just here for a visit."

The goblin gasped, her look of suspicion turning to one of surprise. "Wait a minute…" she pointed at each member of the party, "Quick, what's your favorite thing to do?"

"Huh?" inquired Kantuta, "What kind of question is that?"

The green-skinned girl huffed, "Just answer the damn question!"

Putting her hands up, Kantuta replied, "Okay, sheesh. Reading, I suppose."

The goblin pointed at Yuchauzh, "You?"

"Sleeping."

The goblin pointed at Siquioce, "And you?"

No response.

The girl's eyes narrowed, "Ey, you deaf? I said…" a look of realization crossed her face, "Ohh, I get it." She cleared her throat and repeated in Siquioce's tongue, "What's your favorite thing to do, Samanian?"

Putting on a surprised face, Siquioce answered, "Oh! Uh…swimming?"

The goblin breathed a sigh of relief before switching back to her normal language, "Oh, thank god, none of you said 'working'."

"Why is that a good thing?" Kantuta asked, "And how do you understand Siquioce?"

"It's a long story." The goblin looked around, "This place is too crowded. Follow me, I know a more secretive place."

Without skipping a beat, the girl darted off into an alleyway, leaving the others to stand there confused.

"So, um…" Kantuta asked, "Should we follow her?"

"I don't see why not." Siquioce answered, "She seems trustworthy."

Kantuta shrugged, "Okay, if you say so…"

With that, the trio headed off in the direction of the goblin, doing so with slight wariness.