Qinfaren walks into a heated room illuminated by braziers of glowing hot coals. An arrow slit, an iron lever, and a heavy iron winch are visible on the west wall.

A floor-to-ceiling iron cage in the middle of the room contains an elevator shaft with chains running up and down away from it. The chains are in constant motion, and loud mechanical noises are heard from higher up the shaft and farther down. A double door is embedded in the middle of the east wall. Air enters the room through a row of four arrow slits in the south wall.

Qinfaren heads to the double doors on the east wall and listens or any noise on the other side. If he doesn't hear any, he'll open the doors to see what's on the other side.

Perception: 24  

Leading the way, Qinfaren notices small, misty clouds forming in the corner of the room.

"Have you found anything?" Bjorn asks as he enters the room behind Qinfaren.

Qinfaren points over to where he's seen the small clouds forming. 

"I think we've got one who's turned invisible here," Qinfaren says. He takes a step towards where the misty clouds were forming. "How about you turn visible again and we have a bit of a talk?"

As Qinfaren's request, a duergar man suddenly appears in the corner of the room. The small clouds continuing to form from his mouth.

"Looks like you are right," Bjorn remarks to Qinfaren.

The duergar doesn't look frightened to be alone in the room with five strangers.

Qinfaren Insight - 18  to see whether this one looks hostile or not

I'll take that to mean Qinfaren hasn't paid enough attention to Duergar body language to know.

"Can you tell us where that dragon was going and if it can be stopped?" Qinfaren asks the duergar, deciding maybe being direct will surprise the duergar into answering.

As far as Qinfaren can tell, the duergar does not look hostile.

The duergar shrugs, "The dragon is being sent to destroy Ten Towns. I don't know enough to know if it can be stopped. But you might be able to stop Xardorok."

"We were afraid of that," Qinfaren says. But then he looks back at the duergar. "Do you know where Xardorok is?"

While waiting for an answer he remembers something else to ask "Are there sled dogs here in the fortress? Some that one of Xardorok's kids brought?"

The duergar shakes his head, "I haven't seen or heard anything about dogs. But I am not the only one who works in this guard post. You are lucky that I was the one on duty when you arrived. Hopefully, they weren't taken to the giant lizard pens.

As for Xardorok, he is probably somewhere down on the lower level."

"You don't seem very bothered that we're here," Qinfaren says to the duergar. "Do you disagree with what Xardorok is doing?"

     "Seriously.  What exactly are you guarding and from who?" Bàn adds.  "I expected you were going to attack us but, unless you're distracting us while reinforcements arrive, you don't seem all that put out by our presence..."

The duergar shakes his head, "My allegiance is to Grandolpha Muzgardt, not Xardorok. I was the open the gates by using the lever and winch over there."

"You let us in," Qinfaren says with a nod. "Thank you for that. As long as Muzgardt doesn't plan to also destroy the Ten Towns it looks like we might be on the same side here."

Qinfaren looks out into the hallway.

"Is there more than one way down to the lower levels to look for Xardorok? A way that maybe isn't very well guarded?"

     “How many support Muzgardt around here?” Bàn asks.  “Any chance our small band could grow?”

"You will find some amongst these walls that are loyal to Grandolpha Muzgardt, and you may cross paths with her. She is not far from here," the duergar replies. "Well, one route would be to take the elevator over there."

The duergar points to the shaft near the middle of the room.

"However, if someone is there waiting on the elevator, you would be trapped. There is a second elevator which also goes between all three levels. On the other hand, I suppose you could try descending the central shaft. There's no elevator though, so you'd likely have to climb down."

"Why does Grandolpha Muzgardt not agree with Xardorok?" Qinfaren asks.

The duergar sighs, "Xardorok desires the grand dame as his fourth wife. He invited her here to give the dragon as a gift to her."

     "So... the murdering of Xardorok... Not a problem then?" Bàn asks, a bit eager to keep moving...