The mobile city stopped moving around for long enough that Mel could drag himself away. His cloak had slowly morphed into a strange suit. It became air tight, with a strange tubing in several places. Probably trying to figure out a way to keep him safe from the sound. Oddly enough he couldn’t hear the scuttling of the metal crab creatures. He shrugged, moving forward. Maybe they went to sleep at the same time as the massive city.

Either way, he was going to head a different direction. That massive thing was cool and all, but there was no way he was going back there. Not only was he terrified of it, there was no chance of him getting near it. All those crab golem things would destroy him. TC agreed by the way it flew around him over and over. It kept opening it’s beak to chirp before reconsidering. Weird.

Mel got as far away from the mobile fortress as he could before collapsing again. Something was wrong with him. He kept tripping and he couldn’t look straight ahead without getting off path. If he didn’t watch carefully he would stumble into the stone walls. He sat right outside of an ornate stone hallway, likely the entrance to the actual dwarven settlement. Mel just laid down.

His head was bleeding from somewhere, but he couldn’t find the source. His ears ached from the sound of the collison. He felt at them and realized that they were the source. His ears dripped blood. Agony radiated, his head felt like a bell that had been rung too many times. TC laid down next to him, and rubbed it’s small head against his cheek. He loved the tiny bird. They hadn’t known each other long, but TC was the best.

When he realized someone was looking at him, there was a brief moment of disconnect. For a brief second he was absolutely certain that the dwarf was just looking at his cloak. But that faded, and the man extended a hand. Mel grasped it, and he was pulled easily upright.

“You go too close to the forge golem?” The dwarf asked. Mel looked over his clothes. He wore simple reddish pants and a grey shirt. He seemed prepared to take on an army. A spear hung on his back, with two large hammers on his belt. Both were like bricks of metal attached to very long handles. Definitely not smithing hammers, which were much smaller.

“If you can call that thing a golem.” He said, curious how he could hear the dwarf. “Uh, I’m pretty sure im deaf.”

“Yeah and I can’t speak a lick of Regal.” The dwarf said, leaving the method of communication obscured. Fair enough.

“My name is Melphis Hargold, thank you for your assistance.” He said, trying to stop the world from spinning again. Everything still felt off and bad.

“Call me Tony.” Tony said, pulling out a small bottle. He plucked a purple orb out and handed it to Mel. “It specifically fixes eardrums. Trust me man, I have no clue how it works either. I asked the doctor I got it from, but he adamantly refused to explain.”

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Mel considered the pain he was in versus the concept of taking a pill from a stranger. He took it after a moment, and within moments the pain was gone. He still couldn’t hear, but that might be the fact that threads had literally entrapped every part of him. The front of his cloak had turned transparent for him to see through.

“Why are you here?” Tony asked. He seemed a bit suspicious. He wasn’t an expert of body language, but the way he left his hands near his weapons made him seem defensive.

“Curiosity mostly. What about you? Thought this place was abandoned for some sort of horrible taboo violation or something.” Hopefully he didn’t take it as aggressive. Mel didn’t want to get into another fight. And he would probably lose. Dwarves may not level, but they had their own powers.

“I’m about to become an adult. So I need something powerful to bond to, at least if I want to be somebody. That massive golem city? If I can convince it to accept me as it’s master, I would be a legend.” He said with grit. Almost like he dared Mel to disagree with him. To call it impossible.

What a fool. “There is literally no way I can let you do something like that without assisting you in any way possible.”

Tony glanced at him, before shrugging. “You want to help? That’s… Alright I guess. How though?” The dwarf stood about a foot and a half shorter than Mel, but as he stared Mel felt like he was the smaller one. Too many people were making him feel small these days. Well, he would just have to get better, he supposed.

“Uh, I could uh. Stab the little crabs? If you gave me a spear or something. My cloak should keep me safe from the normal sized crabs, and uh I’m pretty nimble.” He argued. The dwarf looked down at him, which was quite the feat for someone who was actually looking up.

“Sure, I’ll give you a spear and you’ll fight off that army for me. Great idea. Why didn’t I think of that.”

“Okay, yeah I don’t really want to fight them either. Maybe try peace? Just run through them, hop on the city while it sleeps, then find out how to talk to it.”

The dwarf actually seemed to consider the absurd plan before nodding. “That’s mostly what I’ve been thinking. And having someone watch my back would help. No one in my town even considered it possible. My Carver told me I should just bond with an old artifact he had sitting in his workshop.”

“So what was your plan for today? Recon, or were you going to go for it?” Mel asked. He wasn’t sure he could stomach going back there immediately after that trauma, but the idea of getting to get on the thing was far too appealing. He was probably going to get himself killed doing something like this.

“Just checking on it. I’ve been trying to keep track of it’s timing, but it seems dependent on how close it is to leylines. So I have to map out it’s movements. Next week should have a two day rest period, which will be the best time to go. At least for the next five months. After that it will probably circle back away from most leylines and have to sleep for three days.”

“Alright then. Well, uh, it’s asleep. If you're gonna check on it, I’ll just stay here. Still feels kinda horrible.”

Tony nodded, then walked off. Mel laid down and rested. If he was going to go back there, he was going to do it at a hundred percent. Legions. Maybe he should reconsider. TC seemed more than happy with everything, tweeting happily. Ugh. Should he go to explore a magical city that walked around on legs, or should he back out and take the safer route?

It was a pretty big dilemma, but one thing was certain. His class definitely rewarded him going to dangerous places.

Traveler Class Level Up! Traveler Level Six.