Enter the gnome tunnels

Glaw barks at Dai and Madoc to make ready. You light your torches and slowly descend down the winding staircase. The air is very cool and the smell is earthy with a hint of decay. The staircase descends from one tier to the next with no door or places to explore beyond small the small landings. Your legs and back ache after a very long time and you realize you are sweating profusely. It takes you a moment longer to realize that you are sweating in part because it is so warm. The cool air has given way to the thick, humid atmosphere of a great depth.

At last you reach a floor that spreads beneath you, ancient stones and a huge, fractured door marked by gnome runes.The walls and floor are damp with humidity and lit by eerie glowing liches. Something has battered down the door, allowing you easy entry into the wide hall beyond. You tread carefully, mindful of traps or natural deadfalls created as the structure crumbles back into the earth. The hall narrows and you see more runes carved into the walls. The tunnel narrows and the ceiling is only a few inches taller than your head, although surely quite roomy for a gnome. At least you will not be ambushed by any giants.

You reach the intersection of another tunnel.

The way forward you can just faintly see a strange bluish light in the distance. It could just be some of the glowing lichens you saw earlier or it could be something more sinister.

To your left the tunnel curves into darkness, but you can just hear a clanking sound as if some machinery is at work in the distance.

To the right there is no sound or light, but the tunnel has an odd smoothness as though scoured clean of moisture and the lichens clinging to every surface.