Kidnapped to Another World

Kidnapped to Another World - Dreamweaver Chapter 43

Dreamweaver chapter 43

Day 1 since entering the gnomes' warren...

The gnomes have been good to us, though everyone sees this as a temporary arrangement. They made sure we knew this was temporary several times.

But once again it somehow came down to money. We weren't staying here for free it seems. It was going to cost us. That made me sick until I realized it might just work...

I had to haggle it out with the gnome elder again today and was grateful that I'd already learned from Fox Girl some of the money system and range for certain prices though I was far from being an expert. We'd both had to think about some of the issues over night too.

They've agreed to 'discount' us for helping them work in their caverns mining ore and mushrooms. I also found they have an underground lake deep further down, which they grow and harvest a special type of moss from to make food. That must be why their food also tastes so bad too. They also use the moss for ensuring there is enough oxygen too of all things. Of course helping them mine and farm is rent not something we get the benefits for. But at least it's safe here.

But if we stayed would we be serfs? It was unsaid and neither of us wanted to bring it up yet.

This activity was one of the most baffling things of all that I learned.

We also learned they made and used special kinds of weird little lamps that they carried around which had hives of glowy bugs inside of glass globes that contained them. The glowy bugs also were fed some types of plants that were grown in the farms, and then kept thriving in the hive lamps similar to a more stable carriable version of a beehive, except for they were some kind of special glowy fire flies.

The gnomes farm underground. It sounds totally unbelievable but it's true. If we hadn't busted through their ceiling then we'd have never found them. They also seemed to think it was cheaper in the long run to help us rather than kill us for breaking in their warren.

That gave me the chills, because it meant they'd considered that as an option too. They were heavily armed at least for the gnome elders and their guards. A lot of the men were also always armed too with weapons that were also double duty as mining or farming implements.

That raised questions about why even though their cave system was supposedly safe.

Back to farming...I didn't know that a lot of types of lichen and moss on rocks and things are edible. That doesn't mean they taste good however.

The gnomes also made sure we had a proper education and that we wouldn't wreck stuff in the farm area or clear out the wrong type of 'weeds'. I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that there are underground types of weeds too.

They drilled it into our heads as a group what types of mushrooms to keep, which can be edible and which are not, and to be extremely careful since an underground ecosystem is a tricky balance for their farming activities.

It was like a field trip to a medieval factory in a way with us being its new applicants.

The lesson went as follows...

Usage of moss and lichens;

-Some types of both can be used for wound dressings.

-dried miss is very flammable