Chapter 6: Karak Azul part 1

Authors notes:

A bit about the usage of names:

when Michiko does not know the name of a character she will take a characteristic of that person and add ??? behind it. in the case of a dwarf that is simple she will just do Dwarf??? To describe that person until he or she introduces him/herself.

Sometimes there will be more than one unknown dwarf in that case numbers will be added to that Character (dwarf???1).

these “tags” will be reset after the end of the conversation so they can be used elsewhere

of course there are cases where a character is not important enough to get a name or they do not introduce themselves that means that most of the time that character will not return

lastly if you ever get confused with the many character look at the character list in The World thread

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

Year: 15-02-1712 (Imperial Calendar)

Location: planet Warhammer, Surroundings of Karak Azul

Michiko POV.

We are finaly getting close to Karak Azul. The journey was mostly quiet after the big greenskin attack. we avoided most of the greenskins and while we still had a few confrontations it was nothing on the level of the first attack. And now after more than four months of traveling we will finally arrive at the most southern Karak still held by dwarves, well officially at least our karak is still a lot more south but right now we have not come to make our karak public yet. We will do that when we want to get more immigrants and when we have enough defences to defend ourselves against a reasonable threat.

Anyway Karak Azul is our closest neighbouring karak that is still held by dwarves. But in the year -1500 of the imperial calendar something terrible happened a gigantic earthquake happened that was felt all over the planet. The earthquake cracked open a lot of the normally impenetrable dwarven holds. what made it even worse was that at that time the dwarven army’s where mostly depleted from the great war with the elves or the War of the Beard as it is called. While the dwarves where victorious against the elves they lost a lot of their military and with their holds cracked open they were very vulnerable and that is when the Time of Woes started.

While the dwarves where vulnerable the greenskins came. Smelling the weakness of their enemy the greenskins came in great numbers and to make it worse the Skaven also attacked. This resulted in the loss of a great number of Karak’s over the entire world. Some of those lost Karak’s have been recaptured by dwarves with sometimes help from humans of the empire but a lot then still remain lost till this day.

This also means that a lot of dwarven clans are still trying to reclaim the holds of their ancestors. This is to exterminate the evils that reside in those holds and to reclaim their homes and the resources within but a large part of the will to reclaim lost holds is because of dwarven honour and the steeling of grudges. The dwarves find honour and the keeping of grudges very important. They hold honour almost above all else if not everything and they can keep grudges till the end of time if they are not settled or somehow it is lost when one of the book(s) of grudges is lost in an attack.

This honour has made them very determined and they will (almost) never lie or betray anyone. But it has also made them very rugged and you must be careful to never offend a dwarf because they will hold a grudge. These grudges can be as minor as someone paying them a few coins less than the agreed amount or it can be as big as taking a dwarven hold. They take grudges so seriously that it is far from uncommon for a dwarf to take it upon himself to settle a grudge that has been written down by one of his or her far ancestors.

Well back to now, Yesterday we past the first of watchtowers that are placed around Karak Azul and today we will reach Karak itself. Of course I was not in my dragon form I transformed into my dwarven form a few days back when I was more or less safe from greenskins and far enough of the karak to not to be seen by the patrols. Because seriously their reaction would probably not be very good if a dragon came flying toward their karak all of a sudden, they would most likely try to kill me and I don’t really like that.

Right now I am sitting on the front of one of the wagons and we are riding through a valley towards the main gate. Karak Azul look kind of strange compared to what I have heard about a normal Karak. I can see that the above ground part of Karak Azul has been built mostly on a Plateau overlooking this pass and valley. On top of the plateau there are some kind of iron spires that I can see sticking out above the stone walls. It more or less looks like a fortress on a mountain but not something like a city where people live in but that can be deserving about dwarven holds, you can never see how big it is without going inside. Since as far as I know every dwarven karak has an extensive underground areas where most of the dwarfs live and work.

As we are coming up on the main gate we are greeted by the guards.

Guard commander: “Welcome travellers we were expecting you, the watchtowers signalled us yesterday that you were coming”

Endar walks up and they shake hands.

Endar: “Thank you for the welcome. It has been a few years since I last was here how are things in Karak Azul?”

Guard commander: “Like normal, every once in a while some idiot greenskins attack but most of the time they’re immediately detected by the watchtowers and dealt with. We have not have not had a major greenskin attack in the last few years but of course we are always vigilant”

Endar: “That is good”

Guard commander: “yes it is, if I may be so rude could you please tell me why you came from the south. I don’t wish to intrude in personal affairs but we rarely have travellers come here and they always come from the north, never from the south because to our knowledge nobody lives there. So we became very interested when the watchtowers reported a caravan coming from the south”

Endar: “Ah yes I understand, well we came from the south becouse a few years ago we went there to settle and we found a place to call home. It is still very small for now but we are steadily building and now we have come to sell some of the things we made and but some nessesatys”

The Guard commander then smiled happily and said

Guard commander: “That’s great, dwarves settling in the south again there are only a few dwarves that live in the southern mountains and most of them live in karak Azul with the exception of a few small settlements to the north of us. anyways I have been holding you all up for way to long, please go inside and enjoy your stay”

Endar: “Thank you”

We then started moving again and we go through the gate inside the walls surrounding the plateau. Looking around I can see that this area is mostly a fort, I can’t see any houses or workshops around here but I can see chimneys that come from within the mountain, a lot of defences and also something that is probably a gyrocopter hanger.

A gyrocopter is a very handy flying machine it is like a crude version of a helicopter. It is also one of the main reasons why I am scared of dwarven air defences because, while their cannons are very powerful, shooting down a flying target with them is almost impossible, normal rifles can’t really damage me while I am flying in the sky far above and the chance of hitting is also very low. But a gyrocopter squadron can easily surround a dragon with their numbers and shoot it to bits using powerful weapons. That is how they usually deal with dragons that attack from the air. “scary” I shiver a bit while imagining it

Anyways we keep on walking and we go down into the mountain itself. When we come into the main area I can see that it is by far not as big as the area in our karak. But that is to be expected since I have heard that hollow mountains are very, very rare and that almost all of the karak’s are normally started in a cave system and then expanded upon by the dwarf miners. But still it is not small and that is logical since about 40,000 dwarves live here.

Karak Azul also has a very powerful industry only second to the industry of the dwarven empire’s capital Karaz-a-Karak. The population of Karak Azul also most consists out of miners and blacksmiths. A lot of famous weapons were also made in Karak Azul since a lot of famous runesmiths live here.

When we reach an empty area Endar asks around to get permission to temporarily park here. After a brief moment he gets permission and we stop our wagons.

Endar: “Okay everyone I will be going around with Dern to look for a place we can stay for a month. You can stay here or can go look around for a while but make sure to return around six o’clock. Any questions?”

Everyone understands and most of the dwarves go get something out of the weapons or put their backpacks inside and walk of. Endar than walks towards me and Vanyra.

Endar: “So what do you want to do Michiko? You can come with me or do you want to look around”

Michiko: “I want look around”

I said happily and Endar smiled.

Endar: “I knew you would be excited to look around but I want you to take someone with you, Vanyra could you please keep an eye on Michiko?”

Vanyra: “of course it will be like a date with my little sister it will be fun”

Vanyra said smiling and Endar smiled back a bit awkwardly

Endar: “Okay I am counting on you”

Vanyra than dragged me off to the central area. While we were walking I am looking at the buildings and all the people that are around. It is all very new to me, I have seen how people and city’s looked in the twenty-first’s century but this is very different not counting the fact that the inhabitants are dwarves not human there culture is also very different. I can see houses and shops that are decorated with sculpting and have very good stonework. The style of building also seems very different, I have already seen some houses like these that have been built at home but seeing it in this scale and amount gives me a good impression of dwarven architecture. If I had to describe it in one word I word is would be “strong” because everything seems very well build all out of stone and it seems like It would probably last for century’s even without maintenances.

While I am looking around Vanyra is holding my hand and is smiling. While she already has seen a Karak before it seems like she enjoys looking at my expressions.

Vanyra: “Ah you are excited to see the city are you not?”

I smiled and nodded, how cant I be excited to see this? It is something entirely new, I can find new things I have never seen, I can find new interesting pepole and above all they probaly have a whole lot of books and new information. I can find things that will allow me to help everyone and I can problay find things that will make me stonger or give me a better understanding of the world.

Vanyra: “I get why you are excited, the first time I went to visit a Karak I was the same. You know I was born in the human empire in a mostly dwarven settlement and when I was seven years old it was the first time I visited a karak. I was also amazed since the only buildings or city’s I had seen where human build or only small dwarven houses but that all falls into nothing for me when I first visited a karak. sure human cities are impressive and have their own style but dwarven cities are far older, stronger and extensive. But I am not going to tell my own story right now since I want you to fully experience it yourself. So where shall we go first?”

Michiko: “I don’t know what to do first do you have an idea?”

Vanyra: “Hmm…. Ah I know something you will certainly like come with me”

She speeds up and sort of drags me along while she has a smile on her face like she just go a great idea, she asks something to a dwarf and then we change direction and keep running. After a while we slow down and we walk through a small gate. When we arrive ate the other side we are standing on a balcony and I almost can’t believe what I am seeing. A giant canyon with thousands of dwarves working all over the place.

The canyon has wide ledges at both sides and multiple levels with both sides being connected by bridges. There are suspended conveyor belts that transport ore in large steel buckets suspended on cables. I can see that the ore is transported to giant furnaces where it is smelted. There are also many mine entrances with many dwarves walking in and out with minecarts filled with ore, dumping it on the conveyer and returning to the mines. Many dwarven miners are working on the walls of the canyon itself too most standing on ledges but also a lot suspended in harness working on the canyon walls.

I could only stare in amazement, Grond was totally right when he told me that I would be amazed, it was no understatement when he said it was something I had to go and see it myself.

Michiko: “Wow”

I hear Vanyra chuckle behind me, while I am still hanging on the balustrade of the balcony.

Vanyra: “I knew it was a good idea to show you this. Do you want to look around some more or do you want to say here for a bit longer?”

Michiko: “Stay!... . . . . . . I mean I want to stay for a bit longer then we can go further”

Vanyra laughs and pets me on the head, we stay there for about half an hour more letting me look around some more. It is truly an amazing thing to see so many dwarves working together like a colony of worker ants. It might be a bit offensive to compare a dwarf to an ant but that is really the best comparison I can make. When we leave it is about five o’clock and we walk around in the central district some more looking at people and the shops. After a while we enter a tavern and Vanyra orders some food. We sit down a table and start to eat. It tastes quite good even if cooking is not really a specialty of dwarves and most of the time a lot of the food is imported dwarves can still cook quite well.

While we are eating some of the dwarves at the table next to us are quite loud. They seem to be friends exchanging story’s with each other.

Dwarf???: “So I have told my story so now it is your turn, Gomrund what story do you have to share?”

Gomrund: “well this is the story from when I was young, I was working as a member of a warrior group that was protecting caravans traveling through the Black mountains. when we had travelled for about a quarter of the journey we met a bunch of slayers. They told us that they were searching the mountains in this area because they had heard rumours about a very strong and dangerous monster terrorising travellers and small settlements in the area. After some talking we opted to travels together because it was quite likely that the monster would attack us if it really lived in this area so it would be safer to travel in a big group

We travelled together through the mountains and for about a month we did not have any real problems and it was quite peaceful with the exception of the usual few goblin attacks but one day we suddenly heard a roar and what we saw made us afraid. It was a young sun dragon, probably around a hundred years old but that was not what scared us. what scared us was that we could see that it was corrupted by the influence of chaos.

We set up in our formation and the slayers joined us….”

He then started to tell of the brutal and bloody battle to his friends who are called Heganbor and Logazor. About how he, his fellow warriors and the slayers fought the battle against the corrupted dragon. Hearing his story I became scared and I unconsciously hid behind Vanyra. Vanyra seeing my reaction slams her fist down on the table to get their attention.

Vanyra: “HE! Can’t you see that there are children in here, save your bloody tales for a more appropriate time and place!”

The dwarves look around and see me and some other children looking kind of scared or uncomfortable. They see there mistake and they stand up and to my surprise they honestly apologise.

Heganbor(Dwarf???): “We apologise we were so absorbed in our conversation that we did not notice that there where children around”

Gomrund approached me and Vanyra and I hid behind Vanyra who harshly looked at the dwarf. The dwarf than stopped and bowed down to the same eyelevel as me.

Gomrund: “I am sorry for scaring you, but don’t worry we lived and the evil dragon died in the end”

I then hid behind Vanyra even further and the dwarf looked at Vanyra like he did not understand what was wrong. Vanyra looked at him angrily.

Vanyra: “That was the absolutely worst comment you could have made just now….. (sigh) come on Michiko, let’s go”

Vanyra took my hand, we paid the owner for the meal and then left leaving behind a group of uncomprehending dwarves. We then started to walk in the direction where we left the wagons and while we are walking Vanyra began to talk.

Vanyra: “Those men where really rude, it is that that guy did not know that you are a dragon if he did I would have punched him. Anyway Michiko are you okay again?”

Michiko: “I’m alright”

Vanyra smiled and petted me on the head

Vanyra: “that’s good. That dwarf meant well and while his apology was not really smart I suppose I will have to forgive him (sigh) anyway Michiko do you realize that your personality is really strange sometimes? Most of the time you are like a child but when you have to fight or do something important, you can make a total 360 and become very focused and mature”

I look down and say:

Michiko: “Sorry”

Vanyra: “Don’t apologise, I think it is cute and I think everyone else feels the same”

When we arrived Endar told us where we are going to stay for the next month. He had rented a building where we could park the wagons and for the next month lastly he had hired a herder to take care of the mountain goats for us while we are staying here. While we are walking to our temporary home Endar asked me and Vanyra about how our day was. I told him about the visit to the mines and he was happy I had fun. Vanyra also told him about what happened in the inn and he was quite angry but he reacted rationally and understood that while they should not have talked about their story’s in the presence of children they did apologise. As for the comment at the end the dwarf did not know about me being a dragon so he could not really be blamed for that.

When we arrived at the building I could see that it was probably designed for large groups of merchants or travellers. It is more or less a square wall with a gate at the front, a courtyard in the middle and housing/living area surrounding that.

We parked the wagons in the courtyard and closed the gate. We went to the living area where I lit the hearth with a small fire breath. I could now finally transform back into dragon form because we could not be seen from the outside. I lay down in front of the hearth, stretch and relax. I don’t have anything against taking another form but being in dragon form is just a lot more comfortable.

After a while everyone sits down and Endar starts to go over the planning with everyone.

Endar: “Now we have arrived in Karak Azul the planning is to first take a day off tomorrow off so everybody can rest up from the journey a bit. After that the first and second week will mostly be spent selling and buying so we can get our necessities. The last two weeks we will look for dwarves who would want to immigrate to Karak. Any questions?.....

Okay about our stay here, this building has a kitchen, a large living area that can be converted to dining room, a small workshop and bedrooms. But there are no individual bedrooms so the fifteen men will be spread out over three rooms and the five women will be sharing one room

Okay that’s it for today have a nice evening everyone”

When Endar was done talking everyone started to do their own thing. Some start to read others play games or go talk with others. Around ten o’clock I stood up and went to the bedroom to meditate on the large pillow we took with us while traveling. After a few hours I went to sleep ending my first day in Karak Azul.

Year: 17-02-1712 (Imperial Calendar)

Location: planet Warhammer, Karak Azul

Michiko POV.

Since arriving in Karak Azul I have mostly rested up and meditated the first day and now the second day I was planning to explore and look around. Luckily I have more than enough time to do that because the only real job I have on this trip was being a lookout for the dwarves so now I can do what I want to.

Right now I am going around the central district looking around for interesting things. After asking around I find a book store and go inside. Looking around I can see a bookcases with books but not very many. I then feel a hand on my shoulder and I turn around.

Dwarf???: “Are you lost child?”

Michiko: “Ah no I came to look around for some books”

Dwarf???: “Oh that must mean you can read already that’s impressive, I’m Dimzad the owner of this store”

He sticks out his hand and i shake it

Michiko: “I’m Michiko”

Dimzad(Dwarf???): “That is a strange name but I assume it has a meaning or a reason behind it”

Michiko: “yes when I asked my parents they told me it was on an inscription next to me when they found me and they liked it so they made it my name”

Dimzad: “Oh that is interesting, okay so what kind of books are you looking for?”

Michiko: “I want to know more about the world so I was looking for some maps and other races. Secondly I want to learn more about magic because it seems interesting to learn about even if dwarfs can’t use it”

Dimzad: “Hmm I can help you with some maps and some books about other races but for books about magic… well I only have one book about magic and even that means you got lucky since bookstore most of the time have no books at all. Dwarfs can’t use magic there is no real market for those you see. You can look at in other bookstores and you will maybe find one or two books if you are lucky but your best shot is probably going to the library and look around there”

Michiko: “Oh thank you for the help”

Dimzad: “Don’t mind, now how much where you planning on spending for your books”

Michiko: “Well I have about 60 silver coins and 3 gold coins”

Dimzad: “Hmm that is kind of a problem, you see little miss books are quite expensive since even if they are printed on paper a dwarf must spend a long time on the copying of a book even a thin book can cost a dwarf multiple weeks on the copying of the book, which means that one book will take a lot of work and will in turn cost a lot. Even a small low quality book mostly costs 5 silver but the kinds of books you are asking for will cost around 50 silver pieces per book plus depending on the type of map and the amount of detail the cost could differ”

Michiko: “I thought that they copied books using a machine or magic?”

Dimzad: “Yes that would be amazing if it was so easy but such a machine does not exist and the magic of the elves although they can use it to copy books you also probably know our relation with the elves has not really been the best to put it lightly. So as long no machine is invented to print books they will continue to be this expensive and as for the elves… I don’t think that it will improve anytime soon. Lastly you probably don’t have enough money to access the magic books in the library because there are multiple levels with at each level more valuable books. For each level you have to pay a fee and the books you are looking for are probably at the seventh level which will mean you will have to pay seven pieces of gold”

I look down a bit disappointed

Dimzad: “Please don’t be sad. I know it is expensive but the price is quite reasonable since it is a onetime fee and then you will be able to visit for free for the rest of your life. so if you just keep saving you until you have enough you can visit whenever you want”

Michiko: “But I am only visiting and I do not have very long here and the next time I come here will probably be a few years later”

Dimzad puts his hand on his forehead and thinks for a while.

Dimzad: “you know what because you are such a cute kid and since I am impressed that you can read at such a young age I will give you a preferred customer discount. Which means you get ten percent off and I will still make a small profit so we will both be happy okay?”

I look up and do a small bow

Michiko: “Thank you a lot Dimzad I will make sure to remember your kindness”

Dimzad smiles and says

Dimzad: “Oh do away with the formality’s lets go look for some good books”

We then go look around the store. After we were done I had spent three gold and fifty silver leaving me with ten silver which is more than enough for buying of some fun or tasty things for the rest of the month. Of course if I really needed money I could ask Endar and he would probably give it to me but I don’t like doing that so I won’t do that as long as I really don’t have a choice.

The things I bought are one book about magic using yellow specs of light, a book about greenskins, one about the undead, two books on the dwarves and dwarven society and some maps of the world edge mountains, because while I do remember how the whole world looks from the view from the room where I talked with Tzeentch that “map” does not have any markers on it so I can’t find any karak’s or other settlements and that’s why I need those newer maps. But my “map” will be very useful for getting a basic understanding of the world’s landmasses and seas. I just need to add the markers to it and it will become better over time.

While walking around I see a blade being put on display. It looks very normal from the outside but I feel like that the blade has something special about it and so I walk closer to take a better look at it. Looking at it closely I can see the smoothed out hammer marks, the sharpness of the blade and inscribed runes that have a powerful feel to them. I walk inside the store to look at it from the other side.

After a while I look around the store and I see someone behind the counter staring at me. when we make eye contact I nod as a greeting and he smiles.

Dwarf-shop-clerk: “You have a good eye little miss, that is a very good sword the best I have I might add”

Michiko: “Would you know who made this sword by chance? It looks relatively new so it was probably made in this Karak Right?”

Dwarf-shop-clerk: “Oh that’s impressive, you are right on both of you questions. This blade has been made about half a year ago by one of the best runesmiths in Karak Azul. His name is Thorek Ironbrow and he is an up and coming Journeyman runesmith who I predict will in the future become the best runesmith of Karak Azul”

Michiko: “Thank you for the information, but I have to apologise I won’t be buying anything right now”

Dwarf-shop-clerk: “Don’t mind I was not expecting it from you and I also like talking about these kinds of things so don’t worry about it”

We greet each other and then I leave going back home.

After eating I sat down by the hearth and began reading the book about magic I bought.

Chamon: the Yellow Wind

Chamon is a manifestation of the Aethyric abstract and reality of logic, the desire to quantify, the desire and need to learn and instruct, and the wish to implement learning to practical or tangible ends. The Magic of Chamon is alchemy, the art and science of transmutation, creation and investigation. Known amongst the Wizards that study Chamon as the “Lore of Metal”, much of its spells are to do with change—rusting new metal to old, turning one metal into another, or enchanting it to become more effective.