After another couple of fun-filled minutes of walking up and down the seemingly endless stairs on the cliff-face of Grey Quarry, I reached the landing from where I had looked out over the valley below with Roknar, just a few hours before. Now that I had explored it a little, I was able to see the places where I had been, the various fields, the well where I had drawn water and, in the distance, the brook that led to the slope where the wolves dwelled. I had to admit, it was an incredibly sight, simple yet beautiful. It made me wonder if there was some way to fly in the game, allowing me to take in the amazing sights from above. At the same time, I wondered if the valley was specifically crafted to be viewed from above.

As I stood there, just enjoying the view, a familiar voice hailed me.

“Greetings, Chrystal, long time no see.” Venja jokingly greeted me.

“Greetings, Venja, Menja. Are you on the way to meet Glonar as well?” I asked, realising that in the time I had visited Kangur and Grethra, they had visited their quest-givers, likely their trainers, and were now on the same errand as I was.

“Yes, we are. Want to join us again?” Menja asked and when I nodded, I was invited back into the party.

“So, what happens next? I mean, did you play this part in the Beta?” I asked, turning away from the sight below and towards the door into the mountain.

“We didn’t play as dwarves, during the beta, we played as Cat-Folk.” Venja told me, dashing my hopes of having a guide who actually knew where the relevant quests were.

“But I can make a few guesses.” Menja added, before continuing, “After the first quest-area for the Cat-Folk, there was a bit of an introduction into the background and the lore of the race and their conflict. For the Cat-Folk, the conflict was with the elves and there were hints that the Cat-Folk used to be elves but a long time ago, there was some sort of schism and those that are now Cat-Folk were banished from elven society, driven into the Heart of the Forest where they were warped by magic, or something along those lines.” Menja explained, while Venja nodded in turn.

“Sounds interesting. Any idea what’ll happen with the dwarves? I mean, I only know what was in the short blurbs during character-creation, that they appeared on the surface some hundred-fifty years ago and quickly made a name as expert stonemasons.” I asked, curious what the dwarven background was. Hopefully it wasn’t the normal, ancient race, born from the stones themselves, stuff that was used so often.

“No, not really. Just that Dwarves and Gnomes hate each other with a passion, even worse than the conflict normally depicted between Dwarves and Elves.” Venja answered. Their pair-act was starting to give me a headache, constantly switching off who answered, but it seemed impolite to ask them to knock it off, so I had to suffer.

During our conversation, we had made our way through the hallways and were about to knock on Glonar’s door when it opened and Gareth left the room, giving us a nod in passing before hurrying on.

Together, we entered the room and Glonar looked up, his gaze roaming over us for a moment.

“Ah, there you are, good. Please, close the door.” he asked and Menja, who had entered last, turned to do just that. Once the door was closed, a second door opened and Roknar walked into the room, the collar around his neck gone and looking much better.

“Chrystal, there you are. As you can see, the Collar is gone and I need to thank you again, for getting me out of there.” Roknar said, giving me a light bow before standing behind Glonar.

“And I have to thank you, too, Chrystal.” Glonar added before turning to Menja and Venja.

“Menja, Venja, good that you are here. Your Teachers down in the Valley reported that you have surpassed their expectations and solved a great many problems down in the Valley. Sadly, I need to ask you for more help, as our main-forces are needed on the other side of the mountain, defending the mountain-gate.” Glonar began, slowly pacing back and forth.

“You see, there are for ways to enter Grey Quarry. Through the Valley that you already know, but it is nigh impossible to actually get into the valley. The mountains around us are treacherous and deadly, so trying to attack from there, would be suicidal. Then, there are the Ways of Stone, Chrystal, you already travelled on them, but only someone trained in the art of opening them can make use of them. In addition, they only allow individuals to walk them, one at a time.” Glonar continued, stopping his pacing for a moment.

“Those ways are secure, however, the other two are not. The mountain-gate, where the bulk of our forces is needed is the main entrance into our city and if there ever is an invasion, it’ll be from there. And then there is the Deep Gate, an entrance into the old mines that we used before we dwarves left the Depths and started to seek our fortune on the surface and the shallow mines.” he stopped and let out a long-drawn sigh.

“The Deep Gate is the problem, you see, not all dwarves were happy to leave the Depths, some saw it as betrayal on our Creator, they wanted nothing to do with those who wanted to venture out. They called us Fallen or Betrayers, or all kind of nasty slurs, trying to kill or capture us whenever they could and I think one of their groups is currently in the Depths, near the Deep Gate. I want you to go and meet with Afrena, she’s the commander of the troops guarding the Deep Gate, she will be able to tell you more. Please, head down there, investigate the problem and, if you can, solve it. We need to be able to sleep soundly, secure in the knowledge that our homes are secure.” Glonar finished and the quest to meet him was completed, giving me an even thousand EXP, bringing me to level seven, and a new quest-window opened, tasking me to meet with the mentioned Captain Afrena.

Now, I only needed to know where the Deep Gate was, other than, somewhere within the mountain, and I could go, check it out. At least I would be able, some time in the future, it was almost time for me to log out, at least for some time. Sure, I was on vacation, but I didn’t want to spend all my time ingame.

“Sorcerer Glonar, I certainly will do as you ask, but I need to know, where is the Deep Gate. I barely know my way around the living areas of Grey Quarry, never mind the more obscure areas, such as the Deep Gate. Just a moment ago, I had no idea such a thing even existed.” I asked, politely.

“Ah, yes, that is true. Come, let me give you a map, that way you can find your way easily.” Glonar answered, before starting to rummage through his desk. A moment later, he came up with a large parchment, but from what I could see, it was totally blank. Not much of a map.

But then, he showed me that the world we were in was one of magic, he placed his hands above the parchment and they took a grey glow, similar to the one I had seen when Roknar had used his magic. The glow spread from his hands, inundating the parchment, and after about ten seconds, the glow faded and I could see lines on the parchment before he rolled it up and handed it to me.

“Here, there you go. It’s a magical map that shows you a map of Grey Quarry and your position, as long as you would be on it. You can touch it to follow a path or, if you look for something specific, you can touch it at the top and say what you are looking for. That way, it will draw a path between your current position and whatever you are looking for. You can even draw paths between you and points on the map, you just have to touch them.” Glonar explained, sounding very proud of himself. And I had to give it to him, the map was impressive, a magical navigation system, it would certainly be useful. My only gripe was that I only got it now, and not earlier, but hey, better late than never.

Next to me, Venja and Menja looked rather flabbergasted and quickly repeated my request, getting maps on their own.

“Is there anything else?” Glonar asked and I knew a dismissal when I heard one. We said our farewells to him before opening the door and leaving, one after the other.

“What was that all about?” Menja asked, once we were out of Glonar’s office. “I mean, why did they thank you?” he clarified, when I didn’t answer instantly.

“Well, I told you that I had a special background and that I teamed up with a dwarf to get out of there. That dwarf was Roknar, nothing more to it.” I explained, before going a little more into detail, explaining that both of us had been enslaved and that our walk-out was actually escaping from slavery. Both of them had a good laugh, before telling me that I should take a look at the forums, there would be some information on things I had asked them about. Sadly, they had to log off, to take care of their baby but they would see me around.

A quick glance at the clock told me that I’d have to get up as well, if I wanted to have breakfast with my parents.

Curious what it would be like, I pulled the pillar shard, focusing on using it and, after about ten seconds, I was asked to chose the Lesser Pillar to which I wanted to travel. While it would have been funny to jump to the one in Stormhelm, I selected the one in the Valley of Grey Quarry, before being enveloped by the nothingness of the loading screen.

Moments later, I was at the pillar and triggered the log-out, planning to take that look into the forum, just as they had suggested.