Jameson Trainyard(Under New Management).

Clive drove him and Aerin up to the chain-link gate of the trainyard. A few things he noticed that were already different than the last time he was here. The gate was actually locked. Before they didn't really lock it, they just closed it. The only thing they had to worry about were the occasional brats sneaking in to play, or teens looking for a spot to get drunk and fool around.

The other thing was that there were actual guards stationed out front. A couple burly dwarves watched the gate with plate helmets that covered their head save for their long and thick beards and dressed in blocky plate armor and were holding what looked to Clive like blunderbusses.

They leveled their scatterguns at Clive's car as it pulled forward and barked in a harsh and rough language that Clive didn't understand. Aerin fumbled for the door handle as Clive stomped on the brake, opening it and waving at the guards and called out in the same harsh tongue.

The two guards nodded while one unlocked the gate. While Clive couldn't see his face, he could swear the other guard was glaring at the vehicle. Clive sighed in relief as he was waved through. Though the blunderbusses weren't leveled at his car anymore, he did notice that they were far from placated as they didn't stop staring at the Nissan until it was well within the trainyard.

"Quite the security you guys have." Clive mentioned as he stepped out.

"O' course! We take security very seriously when it comes to company property!" Aerin stated as he got out and led Clive over to the old management building.

As the two entered the building, Clive was quickly surprised to see the place a buzz of activity as gnomes darted around the building as they logged and organized paperwork.

"I think this is the most excitement this place has ever gotten."

"I'll bet! Tha last owner sure left our scribes here a right mess ta sort through!" Aerin chuckled as he gestured to the gnomish scribes as they scribbled furiously as they worked, muttering and darting as they worked to get the railyard up to the banking clan's standards.

The fair-haired dwarf led Clive through the hustle and bustle of the building, avoiding tripping over any of the gnomish scribes as they zipped around. He led him to the manager's office and walked in, where Clive saw a gilded and bejeweled dwarf! Fair golden hair, fine robes that shined like it was weaved from pure gold, and a number of jewels and rings that were woven into his thick beard as well as along every one of the dwarf's burly fingers.

The dwarf rumbled as he discussed something with two others in that same tongue that Clive couldn't pin-point. Though it sounded like some of the same rumbling sounds Sloth makes. Though his were slow and drawn out rumbles, whereas the dwarves were more like harsh barks.

Does that mean that the dwarves could talk to Sloth, Clive thought as Aerin walked over to the fair dwarf and spoke to him in the same rough tongue. The bejeweled dwarf looked up at Clive and a rumble sounded from his chest.

"You are Cliven then?"

Clive nodded.

"That's right. Are you the new owner?"

"That I am. I am Ulrin. Son o' Alrin! Son o' Elrin! Head o' tha Olrin Bankin' Clan! And I desire yer services and expertise with regards ta tha trains." The Dwarf rumbled.

"Well, like I was telling Aerin here, my job was mainly to keep them held together long enough for them to do their job. Get from point A to point B and back again."

"And that is why I desire yer services. Ta not only get them runnin' again, but ta bring them up to dwarven standards o' quality!"

He wasn't sure what "dwarven standards" were, but if they were anything like in movies, books, or games then Clive might actually have to use his degree, for once.

"I'm not familiar with dwarven standards, but I'll give it my best shot regardless."

Ulrin rumbled and gave a single nod and gestured for Clive to follow him. Aerin, two other fair-haired dwarves, and a small gaggle of gnomes followed close behind as they scribbled down everything that was said. On their way, Clive could see rough shelter being built within the train yard. Simple tents and coverings were made to provide some comfort and shelter from the chill. Though he could see logs being brought down from nearby that were already being worked on to no doubt provide simple, but warmer, log huts.

Clive was led over to the trains, though on the way over, the dwarf asked about finances.

"We've noticed that metal coin isn't commonly used in yer world."

"Yeah, a lot of governments switched over to paper money decades ago. Some are even trying to go cashless."

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"Paper money?" One of the other fair dwarves asked.

Clive pulled out his wallet and yanked a couple of dollar bills out as well as the handful of change he still had, and handed them over to the curious dwarves. They were fascinated by the paper money but cocked a brow at the change.

"Not pure copper? Or silver?"

"No. The government wanted to both save costs and be less reliant on pure precious metal. So our pennies and other coins are pretty much just have a thin coat of copper and silver, while actually being made of cheaper metals."

"And this?" Ulrin asked as he held up a dollar bill.

"Basically a government issued banknote. As the government phased out using solid metal for non-interest-bearing Demand Notes during the Civil War, they switched to these paper bills that act as IOU's from the government. Most of people's cash wealth is credit that is held by banks or the government and people use these cards to withdraw or make purchases. Though some people still invest in silver and gold in case of a depression and the banks collapse." Clive said as he pulled his Debit Card out and showed the shiny plastic to the dwarves before putting it safely back in his wallet

While interested at the thought of a government using banknotes as currency and curious about the debit card, the rest got the dwarves in a prickly mood.

"Is it so common fer human bankin' ta collapse?"

"Well, I wouldn't say common. But it has happened more than once." Clive stated and the dwarves looked to one another and uttered some more in their harsh language. While Clive couldn't understand it, he got the sense it wasn't flattering.

Ulrin grumbled and the party continued to the trains as the others continued to mutter and what Clive assumed were curses in their tongue. They entered the train house and Clive felt a bit of nostalgia as he beheld the old Shays once more.

He could see the dwarves and others looking over the train engines but were doing little else. All around however were even more people as they huddled around for warmth and shelter. The place was packed from the amount of bodies and trains both.

Ulrin gestured to the trains.

"You know how they operate?"

"I do."

"And can you improve them?"

"Improve them how?"

Ulrin rumbled as he glanced at the engines and the cars that were used to haul coal or other freight.

"Can you make them more sturdy? Armored as well?"

"The cars I can. With the right materials. But overhauling an engine isn't simple or easy, and would take months, possibly years, worth of work, labor and money. It'd be better just to buy a whole new engine to fit what you're going for."

"Labor is no issue. Neither is funds. Is it possible?"

"Yeah, it is. Gonna be a bitch and a half to do. But it's possible."

"What about transport? Can you improve tha, cars you called them? Can you make it so you can move folk around?"

"Of course. That'll be a lot easier than building a whole new engine that's for sure." Clive stated as he walked along the length of one of the Shays as ideas formed as to the hows and whys.

"Excellent. Quinten here will fill out a contract o' employment fer you ta sign. In tha meantime, you will assist in gettin' these up and runnin' to resume operations." Ulrin stated as he gestured to a heavily bespectacled gnome.

"Which you will be compensated fer." Aerin stated."

"Sure. Just point me in the righ-"

Clive stopped when he heard a boom from nearby.

"What was that?"

The dwarves all sighed, and one of the other fair-haired dwarves spoke.

"An increasin'ly bad investment."

-----

BANG!

With that explosion came yet another failure as Dylan, with the timely assistance from Alban, hunkered down behind a thick sheet of metal that he and his brother hid behind to avoid it.

Dylan poked his head over the now blackened bit of metal and gazed at the scorched ground that once was his mana canister.

"Why isn't it working, Alban?"

His brother grunted as the door opened and one of the dwarf overseers marched in.

"What beneath tha stone is tha racket Diomede?!"

The gnome jumped up at the harsh bark.

"Well, the mana flow was flowing as usual, and the canister was holding the ambient mana in the air as usual, and the containment proce-"

"Speak Common, you cursed toadstool! What happened?!" The dwarf cursed.

"It uhm... exploded." Dylan simplified.

The overseer glanced above the gnome and watched the still smoking remains of the canister.

"How?"

"Well it could be many variables that contributed to the rapid and volitile-"

"COMMON!!!"

"I don't know." Dylan squeaked as he cowered before the looming dwarf.

Alban rumbled as he stood before the reddening dwarf. The overseer turned his anger towards the both of them.

"The only reason we tolerate tha two o' you here is because o' tha one contraption o' yers that actually works! Now yer tellin' me that not even that works?!"

Dylan nodded meekly as he shrunk further into Alban's shadow. The overseer scoffed as he glared at the two.

"Then I suggest you figure out how fast, or you and tha mute here can peddle yer tinker toys ta tha goblins and riff-raff on tha streets!"

With that the dwarf stormed out the door to the break house of the trainyard. The truth was that the Artificer's Guild was little more than a subsidiary of the dwarven banking clan. The only thing that they've been able to build, and not explode until now, was owned by the clan. The Mana Canister was used in places where a lack of trained and practiced mages made weaving ambient magic all but impossible. Able to suck up and contain the mana into a battery that could be used to fuel minor spells or enchantments.

It was a source of pride for Dylan and Alban. About the only thing they've had going for them really. After completion of the canister they were visited by the banking clan and were offered a great deal for production of it! The guild would receive the patronage of the clan in return for a significant portion of the profits. They even had many new recruits ready to sign up for the guild!

Until it became more and more obvious that the canister was more than likely going to be their one and only success. The prospective guild members dried up after just a couple months of explosive failures and lack of progress. The ones that did sign up rarely showed until their guild memberships expired.

When they crossed over with the rest, they were given the break house as a workshop. Which did little to ingratiate their already poor reputations with the rest of the company workers.

Now the only thing that they built, the only thing that they were actually being relied upon, wasn't working. The magic in this world was far more volatile than back in their world, as they found out more than a few times. The only thing that seemed to hold up were dwarven runes.

It could be because the runes were words of power that didn't activate until spoken with intent or inlaid where appropriate. The runes WERE the power and thus didn't require the mana around them to work like a normal spell.

Unlike the mana canister which very much DID require the ambient mana to work, that was its entire purpose and now it couldn't even do that. Another problem with this world was that they could only store so much of the volatile mana safely. Not enough to satisfy the clan. So they had been trying to make the canisters bigger, which had equally volatile results.

The mana of this world did NOT like to be used and messed with, it hated trying to be contained even more. The more that was stored, the more likely it was that the canister would explode as the mana became unstable.

Dylan sighed as he walked over to a broom while Alban retrieved the frost canister. Something the humans of this world invented that the two were beginning to regularly use.

"What will we do Alban? If we can't figure out how to get this to work, they'll not only withdraw their patronage, they'll toss us out! We'll be back on the streets!"

Alban grunted as he blasted the still smoking debris with frost, and Dylan swept up the now frosty ruins of their project. Once that was done, the two went right back to work. They NEEDED to get the canisters to work. Not only for their patrons in the banking clan, but for their own future financial wellbeing.