I had to blink my eyes for a few times, trying to make sense of what was around me and where I was. There was no feeling of weight, no up or down, just a strange, featureless void, the only indication of existence was a feeling of blowing wind. For a second, I was seriously weirded out, not knowing what to make of things, until I realised where I was. I was in a loading screen and apparently, the developers liked to make fun of players. Luckily, I was only in there for a few seconds, before getting pushed forward by the wind.

A flash of light blinded me, causing another round of disorientation, and when I could see again, I was standing in a stone room, the ceiling barely above my head and all around me, dwarves were reacting to my sudden appearance by drawing their weapons. A moment later, Roknar stumbled into me from behind, causing me to turn and steady him, just seeing the grey vortex fade from existence.

“Are you alright?” I asked him, while keeping an eye on the dwarves around us. With his appearance, they looked less hostile but still rather wary.

“Yes, I’m alright, thank you. Come, I need to introduce you to my master, or things might get… problematic.” he said, gesturing for me to follow him. Most of the dwarves around us stayed where they were but two of them, both clad in heavy armour and each carrying a shield and battle-axe followed us, walking behind me, reminiscent of guards escorting a prisoner. Hopefully, I hadn’t jumped from the pan to land in the fire.

Looking around, I was a little disappointed, normally, dwarves were renowned for their monumentous, massive architecture, but here, it was far more utilitarian, the ceiling just high enough to stand but I would have been able to reach it with my hand without trouble. It was held up by quite a few pillars that interrupted the hall we were in every few meters, making me feel a little closed in. In addition to that, there were no gold decorations in sight, merely smooth, grey stone, illuminated by glowing crystals. When we reached the exit of the hall we had appeared in, I suppressed a sigh of relief, there was one of the Lesser Pillars of Creation, what the game called its spawn-points, allowing me to bind myself as we walked by. I would rather spawn in the Dwarven enclave, compared to the human city where I had murdered a bunch of people.

We didn’t have to go far, just through a few, mostly empty, hallways until we reached a solid looking stone door. The way didn’t gave me a lot of time to ponder, but I could pierce together some of the reason for the slightly wary and hostile response I had gotten. One, I was wearing the armour of a human legionnaire, granted, I was an Orc, yet, I didn’t know if any Orcs served in the human army. Another was that I doubted that it was common knowledge that the dwarves had some sort of teleport-network spread throughout the land, even into their cities of their enemies. At least unless I was willing to think that it was coincidence for plot-reasons that I just happened to start in a city with such a stone. Sure, it likely was, the scenario I had played had been specifically put together to be played after all, but I doubted that the developers would make it so obvious.

Before I could think of more potentially problematic things, the door swung open and Roknar and I entered, while the guards waited outside.

We were awaited by an old dwarf, the long, white beard reaching down to his chest but at least, he wasn’t dressed in a bathrobe, instead wearing pants and a tunic. He looked at Roknar for a moment, his eyes filled with confusion that turned to anger when he noticed the collar, before flickering to me in a short inspection. Focusing on him merely told me that his level was denoted by a skull, something I had seen a few times already.

“Greetings, Roknar. You are back very early, I didn’t think you would return to the Halls of Stone until you finished your Journey of Discovery.” he greeted Roknar in a friendly, yet stern, voice before looking at me.

“And with such…” he paused for a second before continuing, “interesting company. You will have to tell me all about that and about that piece of jewelry adorning your neck.” he finished, his voice dripping with hatred when mentioning the collars we both still wore.

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“Greetings, Teacher. Things didn’t quite go as planned and I was captured, to be used as a slave in the arena of Stormhelm. I met this Orc in captivity, she was called by the Irminsul, and she decided that fighting and dying for the Glory of Kallendra was not such a nice idea. Despite being one of the Called, she reacted in typical Orc-fashion, by killing her captors and setting the place on fire, luckily only after freeing me. But given that we were smack in a human city, I guided her underground, before using the Hidden Stone Road to leave.” Roknar quickly explained, not going into details, causing his teacher to nod.

“You forgot your manners, boy. Introduce your companion, please.” the old dwarf scolded, but he looked far more merry now. There was even a smile on his face, something I had rarely seen on Roknar.

“Of course, Teacher. Teacher, this is Chrystal, an Orc Barbarian who was Called by the Irminsul. Chrystal, this is Sorcerer Glonar, my teacher and one of the leaders of Grey Quarry, the town we are in.” he said, and I gave an approximation of a polite bow, not quite knowing how to correctly respond.

“And Chrystal, Thank you. Without you, I would likely be looking at a brutal death in the arena.” Roknar finished and a blue window appeared.

Quest completed!

Leave the Arena - Escape

You joined together with one of your fellow captives, the dwarven Sorcerer Roknar, and together, you managed to escape the Arena and the City of Stormhelm. While the events in Stormhelm will have consequences, you are now in friendly territory and safe.

Rewards::

2000 Experience Points

Reputation with the Dwarves of Grey Quarry raised to Friendly

Reputation with The Gathering increased

Belt of Dwarven Friendship

The EXP instantly went to my bar, a soft chime going off in my head, and I saw that I hadn’t just reached level three, I had reached level four, with a few EXP left over, the quest had given that much EXP. But, give that I had spent a few hours of real-life time on it, that was quite reasonable. I made a note to distribute the ten points later.

“I thank you as well. Few Dwarves are suited to walk the Path of the Elements, losing Roknar would have been regrettable. Here, take this from me.” Glonar added, walking over to a chest, taking something out of it, before walking over to me. It looked like a Belt-Buckle, embossed with a golden hammer. Focusing on it, as I took it, opened a window that told me it was the Belt of Dwarven Friendship, even if Belt-Buckle would have been a better name for it. I could use it to modify any Belt I wanted, giving it a scaling bonus to Endurance, in addition to reducing the effect of poisons, especially Alcohol, on the wearer. It also noted that a craftsman could take the belt apart to regain the buckle, making me smile. This would serve me well, a magic item that wouldn’t be replaced in a few hours of playtime. The alcohol-resistance was a fun flavour, but otherwise it was a very useful item. I just needed an actual belt to use it on.

“Roknar, why don’t you introduce your friend to Kangur, he trains a few dwarves in the art of using their rage in a fight. I think your friend would fit in well with them. Afterwards, return to me and we can talk about getting rid of your collar, I’m afraid that it’ll be a little more difficult.” Glonar suggested, causing Roknar to turn.

I hesitated for a moment, before deciding that I would just go with it, hoping that the game wouldn’t screw me over too hard.

“Concerning the collars, I was able to liberate this from my late owner, right before he became late.” I said with a smirk, while taking the control rod from my inventory, presenting it to Glonar. He looked at it, distaste apparent on his face, before nodding.

“Yes, that helps and thank you, for trusting me.” he raised the rod, almost as if about to give me a command and I tensed a litte.

“Release!” his voice cracked with authority and there was a strange rumbling noise in the air before the collar around my neck started to crack apart, falling to the floor in chunks, looking less like solid metal and more like a porcelain mug that had been thrown at rock. In his hand, the rod suffered a similar fate, the runes glowing shining with the same, eerie light i had seen before, until it, too, crumbled.

“I see, that is how they do it.” Glonar mumbled into his beard before looking up.

“Take your friend to Kangur, Roknar, and then come back. I think I can rig something to free you from your collar, but it will take some time.” Glonar said, obviously dismissing us. Meanwhile my hand was feeling around my neck, partially happy to be rid of the collar that had taken up an equipment-slot while slightly regretful that I couldn’t keep it, to be word at my pleasure. But it would likely look strange to the inhabitants of the world to keep such a thing, even if it was to remind myself where I had started.

Next to me, Roknar turned and I followed him, again.