“As you can see, the dwarven artisans of Deepwell were made of tuff stuff,” the guide said, chuckling at his own pun. “The rock here is called tuff, and despite its name it is quite soft–which is good for tunneling but bad for stability. This is why you see these support columns everyplace, brought in from the outside and made of harder stone.”
“What did the dwarves use Deepwell for?” a tourist asked from near the back. “Did they live down here?”
“Not most of the time,” the guide replied. “I know the legend is that the dwarves are born underground, but in reality they lived on the surface most of the time, since it’s the only place you can grow crops and they needed oxygen to breathe. No, the Takthian dwarves only retreated into the caves in times of war, but they kept them carefully stocked for just such a time.”
Another tourist, this one closer to the front: “Do any dwarves still live in Deepwell?”
“No,” the guide said. “All the dwarves were sent to Takth, and all the elves living in Takth were expelled here to Leizna, after the great Takth-Leizna war. We sent them home.”
“They lived here for 2000 years and carved these tunnels out over a hundred lifetimes; how is Takth their home?”
“No further questions,” the guide said. “Now, who wants to see the dwarven gravestones?”
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