>>5335035>>5334706>>5334677>>5334658>>5334639>>5334621>>5334607>>5334600“Boss to the Bogbarri, perhaps, but not to me.”
The Bugbear Boss huffs softly in annoyance. You resist the to display your smugness. Did he expect you to rise to such bait? You grew up with the constant provocations of The Novice Fleshweaver. This mammal is a rank AMATEUT at aggravation, compared to the likes of her.
“Why do your dogs surround me, Bogbarri-Boss?” you ask.
This seems to surprise him slightly, but this male is almost Reptilian in his coolness; he only squints his eyes slightly, leaning forward.
“How do you know that?” he asks shrewdly, scratching noisily at his spiny chin.
Your casting of <See Invisibility> is almost worn off, but you nod towards them while you can see them, saying:
“I know many things, and have strong magic. I know you have four of your ‘bugbears’ positioned to cut off my leaving. I came here freely, without violence. This is not necessary.”
He laughs once, a short sound almost like a hacking cough.
“Not want you to hit and run again, collapse cave and flee. Like last time.”
“You bugbears invaded OUR territory,” you defend yourself.
“Abandoned for hundreds and hundreds of years,” the Bugbear Boss counters. “OURS as much as yours. We get there first.”
“At the same time, I think you’ll find,” you say, “and WE won the day.”
“That time, maybe,” he says. “This time… You think so?”
His smile is wicked, a terrible leer. You consider assuming your <Augmented Dragonshape> after all, but… No, no. This is more bluster. Bravado. He has no NEED to provoke or ambush you now… And if he did, you can’t say for certain that you’d survive.
“You speak the dwarf-language,” you note, ignoring his threats once more. “Have you had… Encounters with the,? Troubles, perhaps?”
The Bugbear Boss laughs, and shakes his head, holding up his paw-like hands in a massive shrug.
“Bogbarri have no problems with anyone,” he says amicably. “But yes, we sometimes kill them, eat them, take their things… When they are stragglers, when they go to deep, when we get hungry enough to climb to the surface some nights. Sometimes, they kill back.”
His grin returns, and he adds: “Not often they get a chance, to do the killing instead of being killed.”
“And yet,” you note, “the dwarves have established a large mining presence in the Bloodrise, and are taking treasure from the earth in great amounts. They have strong defences—towers, defenders. Fortresses. Do you know this?”
“Of course,” he says, seemingly almost offended. “Nothing that big happens that I do not know, lizard.”
“Then why are they still there?” you ask. “Do you not want their treasure?”
“Yes, yes,” he agrees. “But it is hard to get. YOUR treasure… Much easier.”
