Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Tracy Hickman & Margaret Weis

Author:Tracy Hickman & Margaret Weis [Hickman, Tracy & Weis, Margaret]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781439572412
Published: 1984-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

clan. The Bulps promptly moved in and, in later years, graciously allowed the

clans Slud and Giup to occupy the city as well.

Life was good in the ruined city-by gully dwarf standards, anyway. The outside

world left them alone (since the outside world hadn't the foggiest notion they

were there and wouldn't have cared if it did). The Bulps had no trouble

maintaining their dominance over the other clans, mostly because it was a Bulp

(Glunggu) with a scientific turn of mind (certain jealous members of the Slud

clan whispered that his mother had been a gnome) who developed the lift, putting

to use the two enormous iron pots used by the city's former residents for

rendering lard. The lift enabled the gully dwarves to extend their scavenging

activities to the jungle above the sunken city-greatly improving their standard

of living. Glunggu Bulp became a hero and was proclaimed Highbulp by unanimous

decision.

The chieftainship of the clans had remained in the Bulp family ever since.

The years passed and then, suddenly, the outside world took an interest in Xak

Tsaroth. The arrival of the dragon and the draconians put a sad crimp on the

gully dwarf lifestyle. The draconians had initially intended to wipe out the

filthy little nuisances, but the gully dwarves-led by the great Phudge-had

cringed and cowered and whimpered and wailed and prostrated themselves so

abjectly that the draconians were merciful and simply enslaved them.

So it was that the gully dwarves-for the first time in several hundred years of

living in Xak Tsaroth-were forced to work. The draconians repaired buildings,

put things into military order, and generally made life miserable for the gully

dwarves who had to cook and clean and repair things.

Needless to say, the great Phudge was not pleased with this state of affairs. He

spent long hours thinking up ways to remove the dragon. He knew the location of

the dragon's lair, of course, and had even discovered a secret route leading

there. He had actually sneaked in once, when the dragon was away. Phudge had

been awestruck by the vast amount of pretty rocks and shining coins gathered in

the huge underground room. The great Highbulp had traveled some in his wild

youth and he knew that folk in the outside world coveted these pretty rocks and

would give vast amounts of colorful and gaudy cloth (Phudge had a weakness for

fine clothes) in return. On the spot, the Highbulp drew up a map so he wouldn't

forget how to get back to the treasure. He even had the presence of mind to

swipe a few of the smaller rocks.

Phudge dreamed of this wealth for months afterwards, but he never found another

opportunity to return. This was due to two factors: one, the dragon never left

again and, two, Phudge couldn't make heads nor tails of his map.

If only the dragon would leave permanently, he thought, or if some hero would

come along and conveniently stick a sword into it! These were the Highbulp's

fondest dreams, and this was the state of affairs when the great Phudge heard

his guards proclaiming that an army was attacking.

Thus it came to pass that-when Bupu finally dragged the great Phudge out

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.