Grim and Aura's roadtrip Grim here. Drakon asked us to write what happened after we split up. We headed back to the river and then followed the trail that led alongside it upstream. After two days we made it into the foothills where we would find the mostly dwarven village of Spirit Delve. It was like no other dwarven village I've ever heard of. It was built around a monastery founded by elephant-kin monks. The dwarves in question were all pacifists. It was still a mining village but all the dwarves would make were regular tools and trinkets. No weapons or armour. They also wore the same monk robes as the elephant-kin. The good thing was that like all dwarves they still liked their alcohol, so I was able to sell all the mead for a good price. The quality of the tools and everyday items made was exceptional as well. I picked up a ton of metal plates, cups, pots, pans and cutlery for the restaurant. And of course, a smaller set of each for myself with a big cauldron and tripod for on the road. I also spent a small fortune on some of the sharpest and most well-made chef's knives I had ever seen Aura's turn. For me, the village felt strange. Apart from the blacksmith forges, none of the usual boisterous noises were heard from the dwarves, the drinking kept to the evenings instead of going on at all times of the day. They all walked around quietly humming to themselves. None of the teasing, headbutting and small fights I was used to. It also smelled way better than any dwarven village I had ever been in. The dwarves all had shaved heads, and their beards were well-groomed and most had them in a single braid. There were a few people from other races around, and what looked like a small adventure guild as well. All the guards in town appeared to be adventurers getting quests to do patrols and anything else that dealt with violence like hunting and such. If we didn't have a time crunch we could hang around for a bit and make some easy money. I picked up a good amount of new tinkers tools for myself and decided to gift my father a new set of master-crafted tools as well. I was also able to get a good amount of just regular rods and sheet metal for cheap. And a good amount of copper wire as well. This meant that I could keep tinkering with the automatons on the way back. We met with the head of the village, which happened to be the abbot at the monastery. They had seen the smoke from the fire and were just about ready to send a caravan towards Timberdale to see if they were ok. We informed them of the fallen trees and such and they would need to bring people who could clear the road. They had a few druid type classes in the monastery so would ask them to come along and help out with the clearing and maybe even the replanting and growing of the forest. After spending the night in the village we headed down the main road. No need to backtrack along the river as there was a more direct road back. Again it was a few quiet days on the road. Both me and Grim worked on our own projects after making camp. Both of us finished multiple milestones and he was now level 5 and I made it to level 8. We were probably a bit ahead of Drakon as we both had been awakened for longer, and we had a much easier class to level. I have some surprises for Drakon lined up once I get them built, so not going to spoil them yet. It seemed that he had his surprise for us though as when we got back to town, he now had a sister. Grim here again. Holy manticoreballs. Drakon has a sister. And apparently so do I now. Which was cool as fuck. She was my height and almost as strong as me. And be both liked to tease Drakon it seemed. This was going to be so much fun.