The first thing I did after settling in was visit Dipshit and meet his family. At first Dipshit was actually upset with me, the goblin I had sent had apparently informed him that I was not using the saddle that he had put so much work into crafting for me. But clearly he was not one to hold a grudge, because he had another gift for me. He had worked with the goblins to create something that would ensure that I make use of the original gift; a clockwork horse.
This early prototype was very experimental. It required constant recharging, and winding the heavy duty springs took an incredible amount of force. I don’t know if anyone would really be interested in hearing the specifics, but in case you are; I would have to strike the lever winding the spring about 10-15 times to reset it once, which would get me around 150-200 metres. The spring mechanism in it could store the energy of around 5 cranks, requiring a total of 50-75 strikes, and would then propel me somewhere between 750 metres and 1km. It was kind of a novelty, although I have to admit it was fast, at least twice as fast as my highest foot speed.
I stayed in town for a while to lick my wounds, and prepare to avenge Lady Darkrose. The next thing I did was start assembling a portable anvil. It had to be of good quality, but also light enough to carry around with me. My father helped design an exquisite concept, it would utilise several different metals at specific depths to provide all the properties of a regular anvil while keeping its weight as low as possible. Unfortunately we did not have all of the required metals available so we had to settle on an inferior build.
Finally when my first portable anvil was completed, I mounted it to my mechanical steed and tried it out. Then I had a sense of emotional deja vu when yet again, nothing happened. I was about to give up when it struck me; this was not a workshop. Every previous time I had accessed the private pocket of spacetime, I used anvils that were located within well established, functional workshops. Just as I Was about to put yet another project on hold. My father told me that I should return to the knights order, and to request deployment to the dwarven mountain island located due north of Denisea. He told me that they would be able to help me utilise the gift he had given me on my 19th birthday. So that’s what I did. On the day I left town, he gave me a letter and told me to give it to the dwarven royal representatives.
I removed my failed project from my horse and placed it in my workshop, and I retrieved the saddle Dipshit had made for me. Then I prepared my metallic mare with the saddle and jumped on. Once on the road I made pretty good time, considering I had to stop and smash the hell out of a giant leaver every few minutes. I guess Dash saw me struggling, because he began assisting in resetting the stiff mechanism when the spring would run out of energy. Again I considered placing the saddle on Dash but it would have required modifications, plus it just didn’t feel appropriate somehow. It only took me about a day to reach the capitol anyway, and charging the horse was great training. Then I dealt with my knightly duties, and we held a ceremony to honour Lady Darkrose. I was granted a tour of duty to the dwarven mountains, and I was off again.
Before setting sail to the north I visited my workshop and stored my horse within. The voyage was long, but boring; until we reached the Dwarven kingdom. The closer we got the colder it became, and I found out that Dash hates the cold. Then the oceanic mountain range finally crested on the horizon, it appeared as if it would only take perhaps an hour to make landfall, but it took nearly a day. Suffice it to say; the mountain was unbelievably enormous. As we approached the sheer cliff side the ocean swells rose dozens of feet up the salty cliffs, and dropped all the way back down again every 10 or 15 seconds. Sailing around the western cape revealed signal fires, which led us to a landmark I had always wished to see with my own eyes.
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Sitting embedded within the cliff face was the entrance to the dwarven kingdom under the mountain. Quite honestly it was an indescribable sight. Our ship made its way beyond the steadily increasing flow of ice pans drifting down from the north sea. Then as we entered, the sea itself changed shape. Even under the mountain, our ship still felt like it was in an ocean. As we switched to manual propulsion (mana power) within the chamber we coasted past gigantic statues featuring the previous dwarven kings. Our vessel carried us deeper into the artificial chasm and the sunlight began to fade. But before we were met with complete darkness we saw lights in the distance, and finally arrived at the harbour under the mountain.
We docked at the Shipyard and we were once again met by the natives, only this time they had beards in leu of green skin. They told us that the human mages informed them of our pending arrival. They were rather persistent that our presence was not required, but I told them that I needed to deliver a letter to the crown’s guard. They spoke to one another in the dwarven language and finally welcomed us in to their subterranean city.
We were escorted past the battlements, around the largest metal door I had ever seen, and guided into a booth hanging from some kind of a cable system. One of the dwarfs entered the transport device with Dash, myself, and a few of the other humans present. Then he threw a leaver and we began to descend. We were carried down and across a waterway containing the most remarkable waterwheel that seemed to draw an unlimited supply of raw energy from the sea flowing across it. Every stone-face appeared as if it had been delicately honed to perfection. As we got deeper we began to feel the warmth of the ever-forge; it is said that the dwarves command the heart of a volcano, and that they use it to power their foundries.
The automated ride stopped at a platform containing many other carriages. “Get on the third gondola lad.” Said the dwarf who had operated the previous contraption. And before I could confirm his command, he obnoxiously shoved everyone else off of his carriage onto the platform, threw the switch the other way, and he was gone.
After a moment of stupefaction we cautiously made our way onto the third gondola and I apprehensively threw the switch, and we were off again. We arrived at what looked like some kind of an administration building, so we made our way inside. Inside, the administrator waved us over to his service counter. He began to speak in dwarven, I’d like to add that whatever he said seemed very friendly but it was goddamn gibberish. I asked if he spoke English (the same thing as common fyi) and he looked at me with confusion. So I asked if he spoke elven using said dialect and still, nothing. So I finally asked if he spoke uncommon in the same manner as before and finally his eyes lit up. The friendly fellow seemed to begin a sentence before bursting into laughter. I guess something about a half-elf knight, on behalf of the human kingdom, was speaking a language that most considered primitive. Or maybe it was my accent, or perhaps Dipshit taught me the wrong words. Regardless, in my confusion and perhaps due to my wild imagination I too burst into laughter.
We finally managed to communicate just enough to realise that neither of us were very fluent in uncommon, I think we spoke two different dialects. Anyway, we managed to agree that we were not going to be able to communicate well enough for the required situation. The dwarf walked to some kind of control panel behind the counter, quickly scribbled a note, stuck it into some kind of tube, shoved it into a pipe, and finally threw another leaver. He told us that he sent for an emissary.
After a while a female dwarf showed up, she greeted us in dwarven and then laughed, then greeted us in common. She called herself Beth, so I introduced myself and my party. Then I gave the letter that my father had given me to her. She began to read the letter and then looked at me with an almost silly looking grin on her face, then she spoke to the dwarven admin in her native tongue. Next she told the stray humans who had been standing around the whole time to go with the other dwarf, and he would lead them to their accommodations.
When that had all been dealt with, Beth told me that she was going to grant me an audience with the king of the dwarves.