01.04: Garkling Village

Note: Garklings are intelligent, humanoids with features reminiscent of pale salamanders. They are indigenous to the underrealm. They were here before the Godecho came, but because they track time by generations it is impossible to know how long ago that was.

Form: The garkling village is located in a smaller cavern in which the fungal forest has been cleared. There is a spring fed pond in the cavern as well.

Illumination: The garklings cultivate a blue-white bioluminescent fungus and the village is well lit by garkling standards (and only moderately gloomy by surface standards).

At First Glance: The garkling village is a collection of a dozen circular, fungal plank huts surrounding a much larger communal hut. The village is surrounded by a hedge of thorny fungal bushes with one entrance facing the passage into the cavern and a break in the wall adjacent to the pond where they raise sightless fish. Dog sized hoppers roam freely, raised by the garklings for their larva and ichor and kept as pets.

On Closer Inspection: Approximately thirty garklings live in the village. They are distrustful of outsiders but not outright hostile. They will trade for metal weapons and armor, offering food, hoppers or information in return. Their chief, a corpulent figure called Mulkov, lives in the communal hut with their garkling warrior consorts. A shaman called Gelth can provide healing and translation, knowing the common tongue from the upper world.

Secrets: The garklings live in fear of the Godecho and its monsters. Mostly they keep their heads down, but will assist those who find themselves trapped in the underrealm. If characters are friendly and helpful toward the garklings, Gelth with give them directions to Undertown (0X.xx) where more exiles from the upper world have gathered into a community of sorts.

Treasure: the garklings do not have much of worth, besides food and Gelth’s healing abilities. The chief and their warriors are armed with metal tipped spears and swords clearly from the surface world, however.

Connections: the only obvious entrance is the wide tunnel connecting the garkling village to the fungal forest (0x.03). However, a mile long submerged tunnel leads from the pond back to the lake (0X.01) and to the well in chamber 01.05.