I don't know how much time has passed; I was blindfolded, my hands were tied behind a wooden post, my feet were bound together, and I could feel my armor and weapons were removed. I wasn't alone as I could hear people muttering and moving around me; and I could hear Lanie and Crystal speak close by. With no way to escape with how exhausted I am, I decided the best course of action would be to speak.
"Hello!?" I called for anyone to hear. "Whoever you are, untie me and we'll leave without a struggle."
After some mumbling in a language I didn't understand, someone walked over and removed my blindfold; to my bewilderment, I was tied up in the middle of longhouse similar to the Tunu clan, but the occupants looked adapted to swamp environments instead of the tundra. They had tan skin, piercing green eyes, generally reminding me of the Timucua Native American tribe but draped themselves in cloaks covered in mud and vegetation for camouflage.
"Hello?" I asked, curious if they understood me. "Do you understand me?"
The man who removed my blindfold slapped me across the the face. "Silence!" He warned. "The elder give speech."
At least they understand what I'm saying. I was irritated from being slapped.
Sitting in a decorative throne, and carrying a large staff with an array of carvings and figures wrapped around it, was an elderly man with skin like a prune raisin who could barely open his eyes. The elderly man walked up to me, looked into my eyes than around me; next, he poked at my face for a minute before walking back to his chair.
Everyone in the longhouse focused as the elder spoke; whatever he said, he was loud and gestured to me and the girls.
"Can you interpret?" I asked the guy beside me.
"Elder say you are honorable man, we can trust not to tell outsiders of our home." The warrior told me. "Long Female is danger, and Short Female follow Long Female. We can not trust."
It seems they've been observing us for a while, and the elder judged me to trustworthy while the girls to be untrustworthy. "What will happen to them?"
"You can go, but they die." He explained.
"Wait!" I shouted, getting everyone's attention. "Please, don't harm them. They are trustworthy, I promise."
My shouting caused a commotion that made everyone start yelling at me, but they were soon silenced by the elder stomping his wooden staff. He squinted at me with deep frown, almost like he was judging the freshness of produce. With a great thump, he struck the ground with his staff with great force, creating a thunderous sound that caused my entire being to vibrate.
The elder announced something to the room, then pointed at the girls, then to me.
"What did he say that time?" I asked the same guy.
"Your friends live, but if they harm tribe, you all die." He gave me the gist of it.
"Thank you, Elder." I gave appreciation. "We are grateful, but we beg you to let us stay. Our friends are descending the dungeon now, and they should come for us in over a week. If you let us live here until then, we will leave with them and never say a word about this."
The elder stuck the ground twice, then pointed to the warrior beside me, who then dropped to his knees and begged for something in their language. The elder shook the room again and the warrior got back to his feet and untied me.
"I watch you. Friends arrive, you go." He told me. It looked like he was in charge of watching over us.
After our chaperone, an man a few years older than me with a curly ponytail, freed Crystal and Lanie, he told us his name was Nawa. He explained that our weapons would be unavailable until we all could prove ourselves trustworthy by helping the village. Leaving the longhouse, we came out to find we were on top of the plateau along with a village of about 100 people living on top of it.
"Incredible, how come we didn't see you all before?" I asked Nawa.
He looked at me angrily, then turned invisible for a moment before reappearing. "Our people can be unseen with magic, it a gift of the Cheraneura."
"Who's Cheraneura?" Lanie asked, on edge.
Kawa gestured all around him. "We Cheraneura, we people of this land."
"How did you all get here?" Crystal asked, her hands still restrained. "Are you humans, demi-humans, what are you?"
Sitting us down by the edge of the cliff, Kawa explained his people's history as best he could. Bizarrely, the Cheraneura are a race of humanoid monster that has the appearance of humans but can turn themselves, other people, and even objects invisible at will. They were created at least a hundred years ago when the 15th level was formed, and have been thriving here since; they formed their own language, culture, and learned more of the outside world through their brief observations and, if necessary, hunts of adventurers who they feel would be a danger to their people. According to Kawa, the cheranium they mine from this plateau is a radioactive mineral that can manipulate the flow of mana of what is surrounds, allowing the Cheraneura to build their village here without people noticing them.
Kawa finished his explanation and took us to our lodging; the Cheraneura found the girl's tent and built me a hammock nearby. With that, we joined the tribe for dinner and ate the monkeys we hunted, which tasted like meaty cabbage. After dinner, Kawa guided us inside the plateau to an underground spring of freshwater where the tribe collected their drinking water and built a runoff area for bathing. The sisters went to bath with the females while I joined Kawa on the male's side. Then, we went off to bed, for tomorrow we would begin our service as guests to the tribe.
As I lad awake in the hammock, the softest place I've had to sleep since entering the dungeon, I thought about Rana and how happy I was to be able to see her soon. Then I thought about how Crystal found out about me, and I became worried she would tell the others about my secret. There were a lot of thoughts going through my head, but I would work though them tomorrow, because now I had to chance to rest for a full night.
