"Well hello there lassie! I go by the name of Philonious."
The red headed dwarf shoved his hand towards my face after introducing himself. Putting my hand into his, I noticed that mine are slightly larger than his but not by much. Using his hand to help me get back to my feet, I use my free one to cancel my earth spikes beneath me.
Finally back on my feet, I slightly nod my head towards the dwarf in a way of greeting and then point to Sal.
"Ahh, that's Sal. Don't mind him, he's survived worse." Dismissing my apparent concern for the salamander that I was unaware of with a wave of his hand, the dwarf starts to walk towards the salamander.
"You see Sal may look small for a fire salamander, but I can assure you that he's just as tough as the bigger ones!" With the smile of a proud father, Philonious pets Sal's head.
Turning his attention back in my direction, "Hey Lassie, by any chance have you seen a group of people walking along this road? You see Sal here ran off a day or so ago and I've been chasing the bloody creature the whole time. So I've lost track of where they might be. The group I'm looking for have this symbol on them."
Bringing his left shoulder forward, I see a small red crest with the outline of a flame in front of a tornado with the same weird writing saying something below it.
With Philonious and Sal being the only non-hostile beings that I've encountered, I shake my head from side to side. Taking my response as a no, Philonious looks in the direction I just came from.
"Well I know we were heading towards the Forgetton Forest, would this be the path to get there lassie?" Turning back towards me, I raise my shoulders and hands up in the universal 'I don't know' position. Hopefully, that gesture means the same thing here that it means back home. Taking the hint, the dwarf looks around his surroundings once again. Finishing his search of any possible signs that could lead him towards the Forgotten Forest, I once again gain his full attention.
"Not much of talker are you lassie? Well doesn't matter..."
Walking towards the direction I was originally heading, the dwarf and fire salamander pass me. Watching him go, I noticed him briefly pause when there was no sound of me following behind him. Turning around, Philonious makes the come on gesture with his right hand. "Come on Lassie! We haven't got all day! Maybe there's a town up ahead, can't be out and about when the suns sets now can we!"
Following the dwarf and his pet, I continue my journey along this boring road. But now I have some company!
Three hours later the sky darkened as the suns set beyond the horizon.
"YAHOO!"
With a jump and a click of his heels the dwarf somehow managed to pull of with the large war hammer strapped to his back, broke the silence. With Sal looking at his owner like why am I stuck with this idiot, Philonious grabs bold of my hands. "Lookie here lassie!! A town!"
Releasing my hands, Philonious abandons us by running the rest of the way of the small incline that we were currently ascending. Philonious reaches the crescent before Sal and I do. But once I reach it, I see maybe another hours walk along the road a small to medium size village.
Now I don't know what classifies a village as medium or small here, but there are roughly over ten dozen structures enclosed behind a wall of stone. Some of the structures were one or two stories in height, while only three structures throughout the village were three stories tall. I'm thinking that the village chief or Lord of the area lives in one of them and the other two are some important organization's branch building.
Following Philonious down the incline, Sal broke ahead of us causing his owner to trip and tumble down the rest of the hill. A loud stream of curses and clicks from his metal clothing followed.