The cave is quite large, I imagine all these nagas are the product of the same litter, it is likely that they were placed here by the same beings that exterminated the dwarves who lived here, some sort of macabre joke, to come fleeing from extermination and run into extremely territorial animals, I must offer them something better than what they have, but for a half-snake creature it is difficult for me to give something superior to a huge cave where food arrives periodically.
None of them can attack me, one of the many abilities the elves bequeathed to me was to give all of their chimeras basic protection, it is obvious that these creatures exist as a means of entertainment for twisted and expired minds that in their long lives have given meaning to the pursuit of entertainment just for the sake of distraction. The poor ones look at me and the younger ones snort, trying to demonstrate that my intrusion is not at all welcome, inside the cave I can see why they do not want me to pass, all their eggs are in the center of the room.
The countless shells that make up the floor litter attest to the antiquity of their race, but to be so many eggs is rare to see so few copies, with a little effort I can see inside and still looks like an unfertilized egg ... in fact they seem to be in a stasis field, this poor race becomes more complicated to me the more I learn about it.
The stone floors, the thick walls, the high ceilings, the finishes are those of wealthy dwarves, this, though a place of refuge, has been carefully thought out over years, built with only the best materials, even the arrangement of things, there are small armories hidden behind the walls of the kitchen, of the bathrooms, I even found a knife compartment in the drinking fountain under the kitchen, but the nagas do not enter here, I see them slipping into the courtyard, using the holes in the cave that work and house one or two of them, a strange situation but it is a species that I had not seen except in books where they described their languages and their habitat, but there it was said that if they had males, which I do not see here.
The dwarves did not have a library, I do not expect to find one, they are rigorous about the records of their mines, their descendants, marriages, deaths, but no scribe made treaties of weapons or mines, both living most of the dwarves learned from others and kept specific techniques, so when I come to their library I immediately know that the elven hand was present here. Thousands of dwarven contracts, their trade agreements, their history and life are scattered on the floor, for one who was trained by a dwarf, I know this would cause fits of murderous rage, fully justified, from the lowest digger to my former weapons master, whose name I cannot pronounce to this day, the dwarven language is a mixture of idioms that my modified throat cannot pronounce, but in our mental communication it was something like "wise man", but here are elven books, hidden in thousands of years of history, I must find them.
The scents of this place are not so pungent, I guess there are many vents on this mountainside, however, I have been sensing a smell of desperation for a while, it is not a dialog for most, but among many species there are methods of communication based on olfactory variations, I want to think in languages of intention, of meaning, if that is true is it possible they want to tell me something, can it be a trap in this place? I can't waste much time, it's necessary to communicate with them.
The magic condensation stone should be used in the Alcazar, I brought the four we were able to recover, if I connect them in parallel, they can recharge their magic quickly, but it won't last more than one night, in the throne room, I begin to trace the runes, I don't want something that exhausts their magic before it recharges, so I'll put them in a serial variation, while one is used the rest recharges, they won't be used in really complicated enchantments, so it should be fine like this, a few strokes to communicate, the runes that limit the area to the cave, A few to slowly increase their intelligence, a +2 per night will be enough so that in a few days they can have intelligent communication, I place these stones and inject them with magic, they fill surprisingly easily, as soon as these begin to strengthen the field of understanding, I use my field inside the library to extract everything written with elven words or dwarven keywords, at the end rest in my hands three treatises on dwarven weaponry and two very thin tomes of rare enchantments, even under the previous kings there were limits to what they would invoke, these books don't have them.
Before I face the protective incantations that guard these books, a voice interrupts, it is the Nagas, they have a prayer.
-Save our men, they are in stone, we are the same as always, we were imprisoned here, we need partners to be different, we are alone, we are hungry but we are lonely... help!
That explains why they are so few, with the widening of the field I feel more than to see the eggs of the males, the male chromosome is contained by some eggs in petrified state, many meters inside the stone, there is also a laboratory where it should be the entrance of a mine that I do not see anywhere, it is worth investigating, but not being able to help the dwarf who comes, I only found some methods of weapons, without my strength will be very alone against the hordes of holy knights .... I will help you (I say to the Nagas) but I need a favor, it is about a being that will come looking for help, you will give it to him.
I don't wait for an answer, they are still not smart enough to give it, I just leave my gifts in the forge and start to open a passage from where the spring comes, when I have gone about twenty meters I close the passage behind me, I don't want any interruptions and I am sure that Chapatrueno doesn't want any of them to run away.