Chapter 298. The Dragon’s Gullet.
I stepped from the portal and found myself outside a tall wooden palisade. There were dozens of other summoned beings around me, of all different species. An order was given out over a loudspeaker every few minutes, telling us to obey the attendants and to wait quietly for new orders. We all stood quietly in a roped-off area as I waited to see what I was supposed to be doing on this summoning.
Several goblins in colorful uniforms wandered around the crowd of summoned beings. They were unarmed save for a small dagger and a wand on their belts. I tried to follow my summoning link, but instead of one thread leading to my summoner, it was a spiderweb of links to every goblin around me as well as the crude brass speaker the announcements were coming from.
“Send the current group into the Dragon’s Gullet,” the speaker announced. I could see looks of concern that matched my own on the other summoned beings’ faces. I was forced to obey as one of the attendants lifted the rope and waved us through. A quick check showed that I had the Summoning Pass reward ready to use.
Being fed to a dragon was not on my list of fun things to do, but if it was a quick end, I’d save my escape option for a more sinister threat. We were led around the tall palisade, and toward a gate. The gate was open ad was oddly decorated with brightly colored images of various monsters, a blimp of some kind, and people sitting on a raft laughing as they approached a swirling vortex that would likely spell their doom.
“Where’s this lot going Kriznip?” An armed and armored goblin at the gate asked. A dozen of them were lazing about the gate, the first heavily armed people, other than the summoned beings, that I’d seen.
“They’re heading to the Dragon’s Gullet,” the goblin leading our group, who I assumed was Kriznip, answered.
“Did maintenance finally get the bugs worked on the containment field there?” the guard asked as he shuffled lazily out of the way and waved the group through.
“That’s what they’re going to find out for us. Don’t forget, Dunburk, management’s always willing to take volunteers to test things out if you’re tired of your current assignment,” the goblin attendant leading our group offered. The guard waved him off and the pair laughed at the suggestion.
Inside the gate, I wasn’t sure what to expect. From the well-constructed palisade, I figured this was a military camp of some kind. Instead, we walked down a cobblestone path lined with shops. I was able to catch some glimpses inside the buildings as we marched past.
The shops were mostly empty, though a few had small teams of goblins working inside them. It looked like they were building out counters and hauling in crates of goods. About half the shops had colorful signs to match the entrance, including offers of various foods at what were probably exorbitant prices.
We turned down another wide path, and passed more shops, as well as what looked like a small stage for performers. A bridge ahead led over a rapidly flowing river that was about twenty feet wide. As we crossed, one of the rafts I’d seen depicted at the entrance sailed under the bridge. The raft was filled with grim-faced summoned beings just like us. What was going on in this odd place?
The group was led toward a small hill about five-stories tall that had been carved to resemble a mountain peak. Groups of workers were slathering on white paint to make the tops look like they were covered in snow, as other workers placed plants and trees at various points. In front of the mountain was a corral that we were led toward, and I wondered if we were just cattle to be slaughtered in an attempt to curry the favor of whatever dragon might be lurking inside the small mountain.
“Queue up and get ready to board the mine carts when you’re told,” the goblin leading our group, Kriznip, ordered. Just like with all the other goblins, I had a faint summoner link to Kriznip, so I obeyed. There was just over a score of summoned beings, but we looked like a small party inside the huge corral that was designed to hold hundreds.
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Toward the front of the group, I could see that narrow railway tracks had been laid just outside the corral gate. The tracks headed toward the dark and ominous opening in the mountainside. In the other direction, the rails led around a bend and behind the mountain before they were cut off from view.
“Hey Jeff, how’s this contraption running today?” Kriznip asked a scrawny looking goblin in robes who held a glowing stone up to one eye like it was a spotting scope.
“Eh, seems okay so far. The boss wants us to keep cycling these things through to see if everything has been sorted out,” the oddly named goblin, Jeff, replied. If I had been allowed to speak, the first question I would ask was how a goblin ended up named Jeff, but sadly, I had no speaking permission, and goblin Jeff was probably a mystery that I would never solve.
“Where’s the cart at? Not to rush you, but I’ve got another group that I have to send to the Vortex River before I can break for lunch. I hear they’re serving a pint of ale with each lunch at the commissary today and I don’t want to miss out,” Kriznip asked.
“It’s on the final leg now. The cart’s empty and I’ve run it through empty a bunch of times now with no problems. Ah, here it is,” Jeff said as a line of a dozen rickety wooden mining carts rolled around the mountain and toward the corral.
“What are those bars in front of each cart?” Kriznip asked.
“A new safety device. The earlier volunteer test group showed a higher injury and death rate if we just let the passengers bounce around inside the carts. Oh, that reminds me,” Jeff said, turning his attention toward our group. “As you go through, make sure to raise your arms occasionally and test out the safety bars,” Jeff ordered us.
The carts slowed to a stop too soon, and were now just behind the corral opening, preventing us from boarding. After giving a goblin curse the system didn’t bother to translate, mana surged, and Jeff cast a spell over the carts. With a shuddering jolt, the carts crept forward, stopping at the right spot for us to board as Jeff waved his hands in a strange pattern to control the mine cart’s movement.
“How much juice do these things hold. I don’t think management can afford to have mages here pumping mana into them all day, every day. That’s going to be expensive,” Kriznip asked.
“We’re supposed to get a mana crystal system installed in the lead car before the end of the day. That way, the cheapskates running this operation can just have them charged once each day and not have to pay mages to pull a whole shift,” Jeff explained.
“Nice, okay, should I load them up?” Kriznip asked.
“Yeah, get them aboard,” Jeff demanded. We followed the goblin commands and filtered into the mining carts. I was stuffed into the front cart along with a diminutive gnome in mage robes. It struck me that these carts weren’t exactly set up to haul cargo, each one was just like a simple two seat amusement park ride.
A shiny, steel bar started to slowly lower into position as the last of the passengers were brought aboard. Sharp screams of pain were heard from behind me as something happened to a summoned being a few carts back. Jeff and Kriznip rushed over, and I could hear metallic banging and then a whiff of mana as Jeff cast some unknown spell.
“Dang, that’s one gone before the carts even started. What happened to the so-called safety bars?” Kriznip asked.
“That’s my bad, I didn’t realize that particular cart was set to accommodate the smallest passenger in the seat. It lowered into place to securely hold the halfling but broke the legs of the orc sitting next to him. I’ve reset them to match the largest passenger. We’ll see how many of the little ones we lose on the journey,” Jeff said.
The “safety” bar lowered again, stopping just before it touched my thigh. From the corner of my eye, I could see the gnome next to me looking down at the gap between the safety bar and his legs in fear. It would probably help to hold me in, but if our ride was a rough one, the gnome was in trouble.
“All right, a few commands for you on your journey. Like I mentioned before, try to raise your arms and move side to side occasionally on the ride. When you’re done, I’ll debrief the survivors on the experience. The main thing we want from you is whether or not, after the safety issues are worked out, if you think this ride would be fun experience for paying guests,” Jeff explained.
That cinched it, this whole place was some sort of weird goblin amusement park. Given the shoddy construction of the ride, and the obvious dangers to the passengers, I had to guess there were no regulations about customer and worker safety in whatever world we were in. With a nearly whiplash inducing lurch, the mine carts started forward.
The dark opening into the mountainside loomed and I wondered how many of us were going to survive the ride.