Chapter 2: Inner exploration and goblin extermination

Authors notes: here is an extra-long chapter for you dear readers. This is a mostly informative chapter so I am sorry if you find a bit boring. But I want to ask everyone to please look at the blueprint I made, I spent a lot of time on them so please take a look. Anyway have fun reading

Lore note: Warhammer dates are different from our own for example a Warhammer year lasts 400 days, divided into twelve months of 32 or 33 days each, with six intercalary holidays. These holidays exist outside of the normal sequence of months and weekdays

Click HERE for more information.

lastly Many thanks to my proof reader Traluxbot101 he has, is and will be a great help.

Year: 03-10-1706 (Imperial Calendar)

Location: planet Warhammer, Dragon peak mountain

Michiko POV.

When we woke up in the morning we ate and after that Endar petted me for a bit and said something to me and Freda and then left. Freda than started doing chores around the house and I explored the house a bit.

While doing so I was thinking what I should do next? Well first I should get make a priority’s list and when I have accomplished those I can think up other things to do.

Priority list 03-10-1706

• Learn dwarven language:

This would just take time for me to analyse their language and to hear enough conversations to put words into context.

• Learn to read:

reading is good, most of the time fun and most impotently a great sores of new information that can help me in the future.

• Find out more about my current situation:

I need to know if there are any immediate treads and need to know more about this cave and its surroundings I know how the world looks because I have seen it form space but that data is old and it is not very detailed.

• Learn Magic

This is a fantasy world with magic in it of course I want to learn magic but I don’t think that I can lean from the dwarves because they are probably unable to use it and I have not seen any other species jet so I think it could take a while.

• Learn to fly

I am a dragon now of course I want to fly.

• Find out what the ability that Tzeentch gave me was

I think that because this is a fantasy world and he said that it had something to do with dark/ chaos energy and that is also used in magic I should try to meditate. might be a bit cliché but it is the best lead I have for now

• Find out how I can transform.

I asked Tzeentch for the ability to transform into other humanoid species

• Help the dwarves (at least the ones I live with)

I now have a new family, naturally I want to help them because they care for me so I should care for them, plus I have a strange feeling of attraction to them. It probably has something to do with instinct or imprinting but I don’t see what is wrong with it. I want to have a family.

Well that’s it for now. I think that I will try the meditation first so I walk toward the bedroom. since I can’t really sit in a meditative position I decided to just make myself comfortable to calm myself down so I could focus better that is the point of meditation as far as I know. So I lay down in the middle of the bed and curl up, close my eyes, focus and try to find anything unusual.

After about 10 minutes of just generally looking at different possibility’s I started to sense something and I start to focus on that feeling. A half an hour later I can sense the mysterious feeling a lot better and I start to think what it could be. After a while I come to the logical conclusion that it is some kind of chaos energy. But the strange thing is that there is more than one kind of energy, it feels like they are mostly the same but are also very different at the same time.

I then feel something happening in my eyes like something switched on. I open my eyes and I see specs of light floating around the room. Most of the lights are yellow in Colour but there are also a few that are other colours. I stand up slowly and I try to touch one with my claws and nothing happens.

I lay down again and think, these specs of light are obviously the energy’s I sensed and are probably forms of chaos energy that is used for magic. After thinking for a bit I decide to try and manipulate the some of the specs of light and I try to use that sense to influence the specs of light.

After about an hour I am able to move one spec of light slowly around the room. I then try to move it toward myself and when it touches me it flows into me, like it gets absorbed by my skin. I then get a painful feeling nothing unbearable but still very painful, I follow the light as it moves through my body and eventually it arrives at a weird thing in my body. Sensing my body I feel something weird I did not notice before, it is a small orb about the size of a marble. When the spec of light touches the orb it was absorbed and it felt like it was filling up a bit and it felt good so I started moving more specs of light toward me one by one.

The second one and those after did not cause any pain, probably because the first light spec was too big for the “energy channel”. I tested this by trying to absorb it at other spots and it gave the same effect as the first spec meaning it hurt a lot.

After about an hour the core (orb) was full and I saw that I accidentally absorbed a bit to many light specs so I was worried about what would happen. When the spec arrived at the core it went inside and the core let out something that quickly disappeared. I don’t really know what it was but it looks like it was not harmful to absorb light specs when the core was full.

Curious about the “overflow” that came form the core. I tried to absorb another light spec and this time when it reached the core I focussed to observe what would come out of the core. When it came out is sensed it was a different kind of energy than the specs of light but not chaos energy either, it was more refined and it felt different than the raw chaos energy.

I kept watching the refined chaos energy and I noticed that it disappeared in the area around the core. I looked if anything had changed but I could not find anything definitive so I tried a few more times. after the 20th try I felt like the core and the area around it where slowly getting stronger so I kept going. And after the 100th light the core could store a few more lights. I then had the idea to try and move the refined energy around my body to try and strengthen other parts of my body. So I kept experimenting on for the rest of the day.

The things I found out today are:

• There are all kind of light specs in this new world they are variations of chaos energy.

• I manipulate those light specs and with more training I can move more lights.

• I can absorb light specs and they go to my Core through some kind of channels.

• Channels expand when you force energy through that is bigger than the channel itself but that has a limit. If you force an amount of energy through the channel that is too big for it, it will break. Repairing the broken energy channels is possible but it takes massive amounts of refined chaos energy and a lot of time to do so.

• My core refines energy’s.

• Refined energy can strengthen parts of the body, this is very slow but the benefits over time will most likely be powerful.

• Refined energy can be converted to the different kinds of energy’s (light specs).

• Refined energy can be used for transformations but further experimentation is needed before I am going to attempt a full transformation.

In the evening I ate with Freda and Endar I was put in bath and we went to bed.

Year: 03-10-1706 (Imperial Calendar)

Location: planet Warhammer, Dragon peak mountain

Michiko POV.

The morning was like yesterday but today I mostly spend with Freda who when she was done with chores went around the cave with me. Half of the time I sat in Freda’s arms or on her head the other half I walked and ran around a bit.

We mostly walled around the huge cave I tried to measure the length and width of the cave. The cave was so big that it would not have been possible on earth. The width was more than 2200 meters and the length counting from the longest possible line was over 3250 meters long. Wow well the only thing I can say is that’s a fantasy world for you, well it its real so I can’t really say it’s a fantasy world even all the more I am amazed. As for the ceiling, well I could not really see it very well so making an educated guess it is probably between 3000 and 3500 meters high.

Moving on from the amazement, while walking around the cave with Freda we met a lot of dwarves that wanted pet me. It was strange but a good feeling and kind of relaxing so I did not stop them.

Later that day we also went outside the cave and when I looked around I saw a giant mountain range to the left and right of me, in front of me there were also mountains but I could see that it stopped in the distance and that there was probably a very large lake or a sea I could not really see it because it was too far away.

I also looked at the area with my energy vision and I saw a far lower amount of lights and the amount of different colours was about equal. So I came to the conclusion that the yellow lights must be attracted to something inside the mountain the other light colours are probably also attracted to certain things.

We then went back inside and then home. For the rest of the day I meditated and kept absorbing lights until it was time to eat. The rest of the day was the same as Yesterday.

Year: 13-10-1706 (Imperial Calendar)

Location: planet Warhammer, Dragon peak mountain

Michiko POV.

The past few days I have mostly spend, with Freda, exploring the cave, meditating and learning the dwarven language. I now have a basic understanding of the dwarven language and by listening to conversations I found out some things. For one that this is a relatively new Karak and that everyone living here was a refuge that was fleeing from the greenskins invasion and that they banded together and went to this mountain to make a new life. Because of this similarity of situations and understanding between everyone a strong bond was formed.

I also found out that there are tribes of goblins living relatively close to the mountain one especially the Skull Crag Goblin tribe which is a normal or a bit weaker goblin tribe. That does not mean that we can underestimate them because their worriers are still numbered in the hundreds. But luckily the don’t come very close to the mountain because of the legend of a gigantic dragon sweeping down from the sky and taking residents inside of this mountain. Thinking about the dragon it is probable Tzeentch had something to do with it.

Back to the present, today I am once again trying to fly. I have already tried it multiple times but every time I was not strong enough to get off the ground more than a meter or so before it became too much for my wings and muscles to bear. But the last few days I have send most of the refined energy to my wings and mussels that I need for flying. Today I am going to test if I am strong enough.

after a few try’s from the ground and after deciding I had enough strength I climbed on top of our home and I cry out for Freda.

When she sees me she becomes worried that I would fall off and she calls out to a few other dwarves. When they arrived they see me and they quickly grabbed a blanked and span it in front of me and motion for me to jump on it. I don’t like worrying them but this is a great stage.

And so I jump above the blanked and after falling for a meter I spread my wings and I fly. Flying for the first time feels amazing, in the old universe we made machines that could let us fly but nothing beats flying using your own wings.

As I look down is see the dwarves who all look shocked until they started to cheer. I flew around the cave for a few minutes before I start descending. As I descent I close in on Freda, slow myself down and land in Freda’s arms.

I look around and see that everyone is very happy and Freda is petting me. Well it is kind of to be expected that they would be happy because a dragons first flight is kind of like a baby’s first steps. After a few minutes I get up out of Freda’s arms and I start to fly around the cave while taking a break every few minutes.

About half an hour later I returned to Freda and I go to the bedroom for meditation. I now know that I am strong enough for flight but I need to work on my stamina and strength because right now suntanned flight for a few hours is out of the question and I am also not strong enough for flying in the winds in the case of a storm I would just be swept away. and so for the rest of the day I meditated.

Year: 02-11-1706 (Imperial Calendar)

Location: planet Warhammer, Dragon peak mountain

Michiko POV.

The past few weeks I have mostly been meditating and training my strength. I can now easily fly around the cave for an extended periods of time. I have also grown a bit, when I was Born I was around the size of a large kitten and now I am around the size of a small dog so it seems like dragons grow very slowly or there can be another cause like food or because my egg was created by Tzeentch. Well it does not really matter because my strength will increase either way with my meditation.

Today I am going to test my transformation ability. I have been wanting to do it ever since I was Born but it had to wait because I wanted to increase my strength first and I also needed to find a place to do it. I can’t go transform in front of the dwarves they would freak out. After looking around I found a small hole in the cave walls where I flew into and I found a space around 5 m2 where I could experiment undisturbed.

I fly into the hole and lay down on the floor and I image an elf and start my transformation. When it starts my body start to convulse with pain and I have to stop myself from screaming out of pain. About fifteen minutes of agony later it stops and I pass out.

Sometime later I wake up and my body feels differed. I ty to get up but I fail miserably and I fall on my wings. I then look at myself and see that I have the body of an elven baby but I still have my wings and my tail. After a while manage to get up and I crawl clumsily to a shiny piece of metal I took with me as an impromptu mirror.

When I look at it I see that the transformation stopped somewhere in the middle. I still have my wings, my tail, my draconic eyes, my tiny horns and scales on certain parts of my body. But my ears are long and pointy, my hair is also white it seems like certain traits also come over with the transformation but I am happy how it turned out. Hey my eyes just turned yellow, I heard Freda and Endar sometimes say that my eye Colour changes but this is the first time I see it, it looks good.

I then try to talk but the only sound that comes out of my mouth is some baby garbling. It looks like my vocal cords are not fully developed jet. I am kind of disappointed because it means I can’t talk to Freda and Endar yet.

Anyway I have to find out what happened mmm… ah! I check my energy core and I see it is empty. So that’s what stopped the transformation I ran out of chaos energy. Still I am kind of glad it stopped, it hurt so much if I did not keep my mouth closed shut I would have roared it out of pain. I really have to find a way to make transformation less painful because if I keep doing this I think I will lose my sanity.

Anyway I can’t leave this unfinished and even if I do it will just mean I will have to do it later so it’s better to just do it now. I sigh and I begin to meditate to fill my core to continue the experiment.

In the next few days I keep experimenting and I find out a lot of interesting things about the transformation ability. I hope I will never have to do such painful experiments again, ah.. who am I kidding there will probably be something even more painful later. But for now these are the things I found out:

• Transformation costs a LOT of refined chaos energy

• Transformation speed depends on the amount of refined chaos energy used. By transforming slower the efficiency of refined chaos energy increases

• Transformation HURTS A LOT!!! The faster you do it the more it hurts

• Transforming to a form multiple times increased refined chaos energy efficiency and reduces pain by a small amount every time

• Transforming in a new form for the first time takes time to get used to mussel movements so transforming in a new form does not mean you can immediately use it

• Transforming in a form you do not know the body structure of goes VERY WRONG!!! When I was experimenting I tried transforming my hand into a form I thought up. I got the skin right but the bones wrong and they were sticking out through the skin. You can’t image how painful it was!

• The age of my dragon body influences the age of my transformed body

• Traits from my dragon body come over with transformation, when I transform my hair is white and my eyes still change Colour

• I am never going to transform my core firstly because my instincts tell me it is a very bad idea and secondly I think it is just too dangerous even if the potential gains could be great it is far more likely I will destroy it, the risk is just not worth it.

• I need to be able to concentrate, if not then the transformation will go really slowly or it might even fail

• I can transform parts of my body independently

Year: 15-11-1706 (Imperial Calendar)

Location: planet Warhammer, Dragon peak mountain

Michiko POV.

I wake up in the morning and I eat together with Freda and Endar and I listen to their conversation. While I can’t talk jet I can now almost fully understand the dwarven language. It is nice to be able to understand what is going on and what they are talking about.

While we are eating Endar was talks about what is going on in and around the Karak. He said that he was working on a layout of the Karak, this interests me because a good setup makes it much easier to expand and even more important is that a good layout makes defending a lot easier. I think I will take a look at it later.

When he starts to talk about the goblin problem Freda flinches Endar sees it and he tells her they will have a meeting about it today and the quickly moves on to some other subject. I wonder what happened to Freda because every time somebody talks about the goblins she looks somewhere between frightened and enraged.

During the rest of the breakfast Endar talked about some random thing going on in the karak, the mining, the temporary forges, the smiting and the rune smiting. Rune smiting is very interesting it is a special way of making magic items only known by the dwarves. While other magically abele races can enchant their weapons it is a lot less powerful than rune smiting.

I would like to learn the art if possible it would be very useful skill to have. There is a novice rune smith in the Karak that had to flee with his family after his master was killed. While he is still a novice it would be useful to learn the basics from him if I can, but that is still a few years away.

We finished breakfast and Endar stood up and walked to the door. I walked up to him and I followed him.

Endar: “So you want to come with me for a change”

He said with a happy face while rubbing my head. While where walking Endar had multiple talks with other dwarves and the children mostly come up to me. I played with them before, there are about 12 children dwarves under 16 in the karak which was quite high actually seeing that dwarves normally live for centuries and sometimes even more than a millennium. So normally there are not very many children but most of the people that fled are from young families or craftsmen that can’t really fight.

We arrive at Endar workplace and for a while he reads the reports that came in. after about an hour he stands up and walks to the door.

Endar: “Come Michiko lets go to the meeting”

I follow and we move to a bigger room with a large table and some basic maps on the wall. In the room Norgrim, Duregar, Bronn, Fimbur and Largs are waiting to begin the meeting. I took place in the corner of the room laying down on a chair while the rest sat down at the table. They then start the meeting while I listen.

Endar: “First things first, Duregar how is the fortification of the cave entrances coming along?”

Duregar: “As for the entrances that need to stay open we have made temporary doors we have reinforced as best we can. I personally applied some runes to strengthen them as well, the doors are for now the best we can do until we get better resources and/or craftsmen. For the once that need to be closed, most of them have been blocked of and camouflaged and in two weeks everything should be done on that part”

Mm… this is good, with the fortifying or closing of the cave entrances we will stand a far better chance in the case of a goblin attack. We will need every advantage we can get to fight of the goblins if they come because they are many and we only have few warriors but for now let’s hope that they will not discovered our karak and attack.

Endar: “Good, what about the mining operation and the temporary blast furnaces”

Duregar: “We have excavated most of the surface ores from the cave wall and floors and we have started to dig down to find new veins of ore and dig down to Gromril level. Current prospects are good and we expect to find a lot but with current working speeds it will most likely take 5 years to reach and then I will take some time before mining operation can truly begin. As for the temporary blast furnaces 2 of 5 have been build and are working the other will take another month to complete”

If there is a large amount of Gromril and other ore’s it would be very good for the growth of our karak. Lots of ore means a lot of work for mines and (rune)smiths that in turn would mean a lot of produce what attracts merchants and increases the economy. That in turn attaches artisans, brewers and better workers. This means a larger population which draws warriors and farmers. In the end it would mean that our Karak would become very powerful and it is all started by the discovery of large amounts of ore.

Endar: “Okay please tell your men they are doing a good job. Next is the goblin problem, Largs have your hunters found out where the goblin Crag is located?”

Largs: “It has proven more difficult to find there Crag than we initially thought. It seems like the amount of goblins is bigger than we expected and the closer we get to one of the predicted crag locations the more goblins there are. So I can’t send my men in further without being found out and most likely killed. But we do know that there crag is somewhere in the north-west of Dragon peak mountain”

Endar: “I understand, I would have liked to know where the bastards lived because I want to chop them to pieces for attacking Freda and killing our unborn child!”

“They did what!” I screamed in my mind. I knew something happened to Freda that concerned the goblins! but attacking a pregnant women my adoptive mother no less! and making her miscarriage! I WILL RIP THEM TO SREDS AND EAT THEM ALIVE!

Never attack Innocents! That is one of my tree most basic and simple rules! And they broke it and they did not attack just anybody they attacked my new mother! While I do not know my new parents for long I have come to love them a lot. They selflessly take care of me and are good people.

I look up and I see that everyone is looking at me. I then see that the scales on my front paw are black as night and I that I am unconcernedly releasing a lot of killing intent. Oh no I need to calm down getting angry now won’t help I will one day get revenge on them but now is not the time.

I stop my killing intent and try to calm down, after a while my scales turn back to white again. It is them that the dwarves begin to move again.

Norgrim: “WHAT WAS THAT! All of a sudden Michiko’s eyes turned red, her scales when black and she released such killing intent”

Bronn: “That was a very strong killing intent and to think it came out of such a small dragon. But it did not seem like it was aimed at us we just felt its presence”

Endar: “Could it be that she understood me when I was talking about the goblin attack and that she became so angry for her sake?”

Oh no I wanted to remain under the radar for a while longer because I want to test some more things out and have a lot of time to meditate. I wanted to wait with revealing myself atlas until I can talk. Well for now let’s play dumb and act like I cannot understand them hopefully they buy it. While hoping that they stop guessing Fimbur comes to the rescue.

Fimbur: “Wait a bit everyone there is another possibility. I have heard that some dragons are very good at sensing emotion. So it could be that she was influenced by your anger to the goblins”

Endar: “Mm if that’s the case I have to thank Michiko for becoming angry for my sake”

Endar said while petting me.

Fuu.. disaster averted I will return the favour one day Fimbur. Also I will have to try out the sensing of emotions it would be handy but that’s for later. The dwarves return to the table and continue their discussion.

Endar: “Returning to the matter at hand. Does anyone have an estimate on the amount of goblins?”

Fimbur: “Seen the amount of goblins in the mountain there are probably between a 1000 and 1500 goblins warriors and another 500 training goblin warriors”

Bronn: “Yes that's probably a good estimate. Seeing the numbers of the goblins we can’t attack directly with the amount of men we have right now. It would be best if we just keep them away from the mountain and pick away at them slowly. But that will most likely not lower their numbers by much because there reproduction speed is so high”

Largs: “but it will rob them of their veteran warriors so if we keep doing it their strength will go down. And if we take out a boss it could mean that we will destabilize the hierarchy which will cause internal conflict”

Fimbur: “but for the plan to work we absolutely may not leave behind any evidence that could lead them to us because that would mean we will be attacked. Secondly if we do it too often the goblins will become suspicious. In turn they will probably become more careful and move in bigger groups”

Endar: “Bronn, Largs you heard Fimbur, can you do it?”

Bronn: “I am confident we can do it. If the hunters can find the bastards and alert us we will set up an ambush and we will be able to kill them with no casualties”

Largs: “We will be able to find them and we will lead you to the most experienced goblin warriors so you will have to take out least amount of goblins for the greatest effect. And taking out less goblins will keep the suspicions of the goblins low”

Endar: “Okay from now on we will take out a goblin patrol once a month. Does everyone agree?”

Everyone nodded

Endar: “Then let’s get to work”

They then start to discuss the details and I think about their plan while keeping half my attention on the discussion.

Looking at their entire plan I would say that it is an overall good plan with a limited amount do danger. The hardest part will probably be finding the goblin patrols and evading their ambushes. I suppose I could help them with that an eye in the sky really helps find unsuspecting goblins.

After a while they end the discussion and they start to leave. Endar signals me to come but I feign sleep and he sings, softly rubs my head and then leaves to do some inspection in the cave.

After they all left I stand up and walk toward Endar’s office and start to look around. I find some reports and I read them. Learning to read was quite easy after learning the spoken dwarven language, it was just connecting the characters to the spoken letters and with my special brain that was easily done.

Looking through the reports I make some small changes to Endar’s work that make it a lot better without him noticing. I then see a map of the cave on one of the tables, it looks like he was making a plan for the interior of the Karak. I look at it and I know I need to do it because it looks like none of the dwarves here have ever even hear of city planning. Because if we do it like this at first it will be alright but later we will have to break everything down and start all over again.

I then dip the tip of my nail in the ink and start drawing the blueprint. A Karak needs to have a lot of thing to be a successful and I am going to add some more thing I think will be useful to have. Like pluming for water I don’t know if the dwarves know of it but I will write a detailed explanation for it just in case. They don’t need electricity because they can use runes which are powered by the dwarves themselves.

For now I will just be designing the first level, for designing later floors I will need more information about the mountain.

Housing Level:

Spoiler :

Palace or X:

Spoiler :

Symbols meaning:

Spoiler :

X: A castle/palace

1. Royal family home

2. Royal square

3. Throne/ball room

4. Cannon towers

5. Boiling Hot spring

from here the water enters the channel and the pump house to be filtered and distributed over the city

6. Cold Waterfall from the ceiling

from here the water enters the channel and the pump house to be filtered and distributed over the city

7. Royal library

A library with multiple levels which you can access with the right level of clearance. This is also the place where the books of grudges are located

8. Hall of hero’s and administrative building

9. Warrior barracks

10. Gardens and “Nobel” housing

11. Training Grounds

12. Pillars to support overhead ceiling

G: A green area (trees grass flowers like a park)

P: A pillar of the Karak build for reinforcement and to serve as an elevator shaft

W: A small some greens and lake with fish for recreation

S: A hot spring, showering and washing area with some greens for beauty (the hot spring area comes in from the spring in the palace.

H1: Housing on the lower level

H2: Housing on the higher level

M: central area

• Shops

• Guilds

• Restaurants

• Ancestor shrines

K1: Killzone 1 the secondary main entrance defence line (just an area where they get shot at from all directions by cannons and other guns while trying to break the giant reinforced doors)

K2: Killzone 2 the first main entrance defence line (the name is kind of self-explanatory it is a zone where they get brutally slaughtered by cannon/ gun fire from all directions

T1: lower towers with a lot of cannons

T2: Higher and bigger towers with even more cannons

C: Walls with tunnels and cannons

B: The main entrance Bridge

Bleu: Water

Grey: Roads

Extra Information:

Spoiler :

Scale: 1 pixel = 0.5 meter

Heights of levels (not exact)

In the sealing there are a lot of lamps that replicate sunlight using runes that turn off during night time and then smaller once turn om to replicate stars

In the top of the cave there is an hanging platform with a spiral staircase to dragon cave this platform is only accessible by flying.

Main Pluming runs under the road and connects to the houses form their for easy access

K2’s floor can be flooded with boiling water from the hot spring

Roads run into the wall left and right for in case of future need expansion of living area

Multiple secret tunnels and maintenance tunnels have been added

The elevators (in the middle)

This is the top level for this elevator so the outside looks like a giant warehouse

C: cargo elevates can each carry a tank with room to spare

P: Elevators for people

Fuu… finally done I was busy for a few hours designing this. If they follow this plan future of the karak will be a lot better because of this foundation. Of course they can’t build this now because they just do not have enough manpower. But with this blueprint they can build it in stages and eventually the result will be amazing.

Now the only thing is that I need to leave this here for Endar who will probably try to figure out who made this. So now I need to hope he will not suspect me.

I leave Endar’s office and I return to the meeting room and sleep on the chair in the corner.

When Endar returns it is late, he wakes me and we go home. During dinner he told Freda about what happened during the meeting and she looked very happy when he told her that it was probably that I became angry for her sake. After dinner I was put in bathe and then we went to bed.

Year: 30-11-1706 (Imperial Calendar)

Location: planet Warhammer, north-west of Dragon peak mountain

Michiko POV.

The past two weeks went by with me mostly meditating, training, listening to talking dwarves and playing around with the children. I also learned to swim which was nice because that means I can play in the boiling hot spring, the heat is just right and it is great for relaxing and meditation.

Well of course it was not all peaceful, the blueprint I made caused quite a commotion. When Endar discovered it he was very surprised and he went around asking who made it. That drew even more people and they went over the blueprint together. they were all very interested in the design and after a few days everyone agreed that they would follow this plan.

But they were all still very curious about who could have made the map. After a few days some even thought that it was a gift from the ancestral gods which I found quite funny. Anyway while they did not know who made the blueprint the workers did begin at the first stage of the plan.

After the commotion around the blueprint somewhat calmed down the warrior and hunters started to prepare for the goblin extermination expedition. The warriors went over ambushing plans and the hunters started to gather information about the routes the goblins travelled. And so the days went on until today.

After waking up this morning and having breakfast we all go to the main entrance where the warrior and hunters are waiting. The dwarves that are staying behind wish them good luck and then they start to walk out of the cave.

While they are walking out I follow while staying out of sight and when we exit the cave and head in a north-west direction.

When we are about six hours away the dwarves stop and set up camp in a cave that is close to one of the goblin patrol routes. Well I can’t really call it a patrol route because goblins do normally not patrol here they just go around the mountain looking for prey or for the few travellers that roam these mountains.

When they have set up and they are sitting down to eat I come out and I jump on Endar’s lap.

Endar: “Michiko what are you doing here?!”

Bronn: “She probably walked out with us and then followed us from a distance or form the air”

Largs: “Damn we should have noticed”

Endar: “what do we do now?”

Largs: “I have an idea it might not be friendly but I think the best option would be to put her in a cage…”

He was not even done with sentence before I expediently jumped up and flew away. There I no way in hell anyone is going to put me in a cage.

When I jump and fly away the dwarves are stunned for a bit before they. Ender gives a few orders before he and some of the hunters go after me as fast as they can but compared to my flying speed they are slow and I have the terrain advantage as well. After about ten minutes I lose them.

Okay for now let’s fly around for a bit and look if I can find some goblins.

Year: 30-11-1706 (Imperial Calendar)

Location: planet Warhammer, north-west of Dragon peak mountain

Endar POV.

Damn we lost her.

Endar: “Okay everyone we have to return to camp we can’t catch up to her on this terrain let’s hope she can come back by herself”

We begin walking back to camp. What could have caused her to fly away like that normally when she lays down she sleeps for a while. Could it be that when Largs proposed to put her in a cage she understood? No that can’t be it must have been a coincidence while I do think that she is already quite smart I don’t think that she is that smart. Anyway we must now hope that she comes back to our camp or that she can fly’s back of her own.

We arrive at camp and I call the others to come. I can see that everyone is worried about her, Michiko has become a sort of mascot and encouragement for everyone in the Karak. She plays with the children, sometimes helps out with simple things and also cheers up people when they are sad. I feel like she really cares a lot about us and she too has become a very important “person” to all of us.

Right now I want to go around the mountain screaming her name to try and find and I can see that the others want to do the same. But we can’t it is too dangerous there are too many goblins in the area. When all the dwarves have gathered I start talking.

Endar: “We could not catch up to Michiko and she is now somewhere in this area but we can’t run around looking for her without thinking. We must remember that there are goblin patrols that run through this area. So what we will do for now is that the hunters will go and scout the area for goblins and will keep an eye out for Michiko. But it is unlikely that they will find her so our best bet is to wait here and hope she will return”

I wait a minute and look around the group. They all look worried but it looks like they understand.

Endar: “While I would want nothing more than go around screaming her name in the mountains hoping that she will come back we simply cannot do that. For now we are going to follow our initial plan and we will ambush one of the goblin patrol’s but we will leave some people here in case Michiko returns. Okay get started”

The dwarves return to their jobs, the warriors prepare for the ambush and the scouts pack their gear and after that they start to head out. I then return to my tent and start planning.

I hope Michiko is okay.

Year: 30-11-1706 (Imperial Calendar)

Location: planet Warhammer, north-west of Dragon peak mountain

Michiko POV.

It’s a few hours after I lost Endar and I have been flying around trying to find a group of goblins that is not too big not too small and in a more or less safe area relatively close to the camp site.

While flying I have seen more goblins the close I come to one of the supposed locations where the Crag could be located. But right now I do not come to close because that there is a chance that there is a goblin shaman that spots me. I have confidence I can get away when I get attacked by a goblin with a bow but being under attack by magic could be very dangerous for me. Mostly because I do not know how strong a goblin shamans is secondly I also don’t know if I can dodge his attacks or if my magic resistance is strong enough so I am not going to risk it.

Right now I am about 9 or 10 kilometres from the camp and am looking from a distance I find a group of goblins that is moving in the direction of the camp. The group has twenty men ten of whom are warriors and another ten are archers. One of the archers seems to be of higher rank and looks like he is quite strong compared to the rest of them.

This is a good find it is a good target for the first time that they do this ambush tactic. I run a short distance and I fly up to look if I can find a hunter that is close.

After about ten minutes I find Largs who is looking around with another dwarf. I fly over them and try to roar to get their attention. The roar is not very impressive it is too high and it is not very loud as well which makes me kind of disappointed a dragon should be able to make an earth shattering deep roar well I am still growing so I suppose that I something to look forward to.

My baby dragon roar aside, it did have the desired effect and they look up and see me.

Largs: “Michiko come down please and come back with us” (loud)

I fly a few circles around there heads and then I slowly fly in the direction where the goblin most likely are. Not knowing what to do Largs and the other dwarf just start to follow me.

I slowly fly forward while leading them in the direction of the goblins. After about ten minutes they are just following me probably wondering where I am leading them. Another fifteen minutes later I can see the goblin from the air. I land a few meter in front of Largs who is standing there with a questioning look on his face. He probably understood I was leading them somewhere but did not know what.

I then start to slowly sneak as quietly as possible in the direction of the goblins. Largs and the other dwarf do the same while a bit more clumsily, sneaking is not really a dwarf’s forte. We sneak of the side of a low ridge and I look over it and see the goblins. Largs does the same and looks astonished and he gives me a rub on the head. He them writes some things down and we sneak back down the ridge.

When we are some distance away Largs and the other dwarf sits down and I do de same while looking at him. He then pets me and begins to speak

Largs: “Good job Michiko, I guessed you were leading us somewhere but I did not expect this. This is a big help normally we would have had to search around the area for a few days but you led us directly to a goblin patrol. It is probably a lot easier from the air right”

I don’t really react to keep the fact that I do understand them secret and secondly because right now I am far too happy with the scratching he is doing under my chin.

???: “Largs, while she is certainly smart, even smart enough to lead us to the goblins, but I don’t think she understands what you are saying”

Largs: “I know Dern but I want to tell her anyway I will thank her again when she is old enough to understand”

Dern: “Okay Largs shall I go and report to Endar now while you follow the goblins or do you want me to do is?”

Largs: “Yes, I will write a message for Endar first and then please go report and take Michiko with you. Endar is probably very worried and she will probably be able to lead you back to me when you come back with the others”

Dern: “Alright I wish you luck and please be careful”

Dern than stands up shakes Largs hand and he motions me to come with him.

Dern: “Come Michiko we are going to your father”

I stand up and I run a bit and then jump up in the sky and start flying circles around Dern. he douse one last wave to Largs and then I slowly start to fly in the direction of camp while Dern is following me on the ground. And like this we make our way back to camp.

After about an hour we arrive at the camp and I land and walk in with Dern.

Dern: “Hello everyone I am back and I brought our cute princess back too”

Dern said with a smile and not long after Endar and the other dwarves come running toward us. When Endar reaches me he picks me u and hugs me, he must have been worried about me. I don’t like that but I had to do it there was no other way because they would not have allowed me fly on my own. Which I don’t blame them for, this is a dangerous place you would not let a small child here even if that child is a dragon but my situation is different but they don’t know that.

Endar: “I am so happy your back I was so worried Michiko, Thank you Dern I own you”

Dern: “You own me nothing Endar, Michiko came looking for us on her own and that’s not all she even led us to a goblin parole”

Endar: “what, she led you to a goblin parole so that’s why she left she wanted to help us, that’s amazing. But Dern what did you mean with princess I can see that she is cute but princess?”

Bronn: “Endar we all know why and I think you do too. When our karak becomes big enough we will need to choose a king and we all want that to be you so we might as well start calling Michiko princess now”

Bronn said with a smile

Endar: “we will see personally I don’t think that I am capable or worthy but for now let’s prepare the ambush so we can take them out when they are sleeping”

Endar then walks back to his tent with me in his arms. Before we reach the tent I can just hear Bronn mumble:

Bronn: “And that’s why you should be king…”

He and Dern then follow us to the tent. In the tent there is an improvised table with a basic map of the area on top of it. The map was made by the hunters and gives a rough idea where everything is there are a few mistakes in it but it is mostly correct from what I saw when I was flying around. Dern, Bronn and Endar stand around the table while I am still in Endar’s arms it looks like he won’t let me go for a while.

Dern begins to point out where we last saw the goblins and the predicted path. He then shows Largs report which has information about the goblins his opinion on the ambush. After about an hour they agree that they will attack at night when most of them are sleeping.

After the meeting was over Almost everyone then went to get some sleep before the night raid.

After about 6 hours of sleep it was around ten o clock in the evening and the warrior picked up their axes and armour and the hunters readied their bows. When everything was ready we started marching to the place where goblins most likely set up camp.

After about an hour we reach the place where the goblins most likely would be but they are not here so we have to look for them. I try to wriggle my way out of Endar’s embrace but to no avail. Dern seeing this tries to convince Endar that I would be safe in the air and help find the goblins. After a long time Endar finally let’s go and I fly up into the air.

Finding the goblins was not so hard after about ten minutes of looking around I see smoke close by and I do a fly over while high up in the air. It is the goblins, most of them are sleeping and two of the are sitting around a campfire while looking relaxed. They do not expect to be attacked because this is there hunting grounds the only thing they have to look out for at night are some nocturnal bears but with twenty goblins even if off guard they would hear it coming from a distance away and easily kill it.

I then spot Largs who is waving at me, I fly over him to let him know I saw him and then I fly in the direction of the other dwarves. I fly a few circles around them and then slowly fly in Largs direction.

Ten minutes later I descent and Largs is coming to meet us.

Largs: “Hey you guys finally got here. So it is a night raid then?”

He says with a smile.

Endar: “Sorry it was a bit hard to find you, and yes it is a night raid. Could you please give us some information on the terrain”

Largs: “I was expecting you would say that. The goblins have set up camp in a shallow valley with semi steep mountain sides. The valley is about 20 meters wide and is mostly filled with grass”

Endar: “okay we can set op archers at both sides of the valley and shoot the goblin tents with fire arrows. Now for the hard part we need to make Shure that no goblins escape”

Bronn: “what do you think of this we attack with three groups. Group one are the hunters led by Largs, group two are half the warriors led by me and we close of the north side of the valley and the third group led by Endar doing the same as mine but then at the south side of the valley. Group two and three then close on the goblin camp from their side of the valley as quietly as we can. When we are as close as we can get without losing the element of surprise we signal the hunters to let loose their fire arrows and we then come in from both sides to make a shield wall around their camp to cut off their escape”

Endar: “good plan does everyone agree? If not please speak up I want to take the best course of action and make sure we suffer no casualty’s”

Everybody nods and they put the plan in action while I watch from the top of the valley with the hunters. The warriors send their signal and the hunters light their arrows and fire the first volley quietly when Largs drops his arm. The arrows fly and it takes only a few seconds before they reach their target. It is silent for a second and then screaming comes from the tents that are on fire.

When the arrows where fired the warriors started to run. They run forward to close of any chance of escape. While this is happening the hunters keep firing arrows into the camp and I can see that they have a least killed 5 goblins and there are more lying dead in the tents.

When the warriors arrive and put up their shield wall, most of the goblins are already armed. Seven of them charge the shield wall together trying to breach it while the goblin archers have started to shoot arrow at the dwarves as well. And then one of the dwarves gets hit by an arrow in the arm, the arrow was fired by the special goblin archer I saw the first time I spotted them. The archer keeps firing and hits most of his arrow in the week parts of the armour and the shield wall begins to weaken.

I then grab a heavy rock with my claws and dive down like a dive-bomber when I am a meter away from the archer I release the rock and fly up. The rock hits him square on the head and he falls down dead. The other goblin archers look shocked for a second and then start to fire some arrows at me but I dodge them and quickly get out of range. The rest of the raid went smoothly the goblin archers got two hits in and the goblin warriors made some shallow cuts but they were killed one by one until they all died.

I flew back to the ground and land next to Endar who has an arrow staking out of his leg.

Endar: “Don’t ever do that again you almost gave me a heart attack. but none the less thank you Michiko if not for you we would have probably lost a few dwarves”

When he says this I turn my head a but sideways like I don’t understand what he is saying.

Bronn: “Damn right she saved us most of those goblins where weak but that archer was strong”

Largs and the others then come running down with the doctor who immediately starts to help the most severely wounded and gives orders to the hunters to help him.

Dern: “good job princess or what do you think of little miss guardian angel?”

Dern says with a smile

Endar: “I don’t understand what you have with those nicknames anyways”

Endar put up a loud voice and shouts.

Endar: “Every one of you has done a great job, we made some mistakes this time but despite that we didn’t suffer any casualty’s and that alone is worth a feast. Let us learn from our mistakes and become stronger because of it. What we are going to do now is let the doctor take care of our wounds and the people that are not busy right now will be under the command of Largs and will start to remove any evidence of the battle. After that’s done we will return to our tents sleep up and tomorrow we will return home”

After that I sat for a bit and looked at Largs group as if I was wondering what they were doing and then I started to collect arrows that where at hard to reach spots. We burned the bodies of the goblins so only ash remained we then shovel the ground to hide the burned grass and we took any valuables we could find and also the stuff we could not burn with us to camp.

Year: 31-11-1706 (Imperial Calendar)

Location: planet Warhammer, Dragon peak mountain

Michiko POV.

Today we woke up in the afternoon and we broke up our camp and we began the track home. The way home was a bit longer than the way there and that was mostly because of the wounded dwarves. While the doctor did a great job he still can’t fully heal them all because (rune)magic I very tiring so he only healed the worst wounds and we bandaged up the rest so it can heal naturally.

After walking for about eight hours with some breaks included we finally arrived at Dragon peak mountain. The dwarves really need to have some kind of mount that would make them a lot faster maybe mountain goats are a good choice? Most horses are too high and are not good with mountains terrain so mountain goats could be a good choice.

Anyway after the long trek we finally arrived at our home. The sentries had already spotted us and opened the gate. They help the dwarves up the mountainside and we go inside. We enter the main cave and we see that everyone is already waiting for us. When I spot Freda I fly toward her and land I her arms. I see her eyes are red she must have cried when I did not return at night, she was probably scared that she would lose another child. Feel kind of bad leaving her like that, I think I will stay by her side for the next few days.

Endar then joins us and embraces Freda with me between them. After a while they let go and we see that Norgrim and Fimbur are standing next to us.

Norgrim: “Sorry for interrupting but could you please tell us what happened you were supposed to be away for a week. But first I hear Michiko is gone and then you return the next day with multiple wounded dwarves”

Endar: “Okay but can we first sit down I am quite tired from the long trek and it would also be good if Largs and Bronn join us to”

We go and sit down on some benches and Bronn, Largs and Dern join us. Endar then begins to tell what happened and the others add something here and there. When they are done Norgrim speaks up.

Norgrim: “luckily you are al okay”

Endar: “yes we made a terrible mistake in underestimating them but especially that archer”

Dern: “Yes princess really saved us then right”

He says with a smile.

Endar: “Princess again, the king still has to be decided and I still don’t think I am the right person”

Dern: “whether you are going to be king or not I think princess is a good nickname for her and Michiko does not seem to mind”

Endar: “she does not even understand you! Ugh.. never mind do what you want”

Everyone then laugh. We then go and clean ourselves, the dwarves in a small bath they made where the cold and the hot water is mixed and I go in the boiling hot spring. In the evening we hold a feast to celebrate our success and our safe return.