Chapter 7: Karak Azul part 2

Authors notes:

I am sorry for missing a week, I now have school again and my writing time is seriously reduced

p.s. I added an character list to the bottom of the page of course this list is also always available in The World tread

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

Year: 20-02-1712 (Imperial Calendar)

Location: planet Warhammer, Karak Azul

Michiko POV.

The past few days I have mostly spent helping everyone out with selling our products. Vanyra told me that the weapons we made with Duregar using my fire breath are selling really well. We hid the signs that the blades, axes spears, etc. had been made using the breath of a dragon but the quality is still very high. A lot of dwarves where really interested and are paying high prices for the weapons.

Of course the things we made are nothing compared to what the master runesmiths make. But we can make a lot of very decent blades in the time that a master runesmith takes to make a true masterpiece and that makes our blades affordable for normal dwarves who can buy a very decent weapon for a reasonable price. In the end we might not make as much as a master runesmith but we still earn more than enough to buy the things we need.

The hides are also selling quite well, Karak Azul is mostly a mining and smithing city, and to come here to sell hides is normally not worth the reward because of the dangerous journey through the mountain range. But because we can transport the hides reasonably safely and the lack of other things we can sell, we decided to take them with us to sell them. For now the hides are selling quite well and it looks like we will be able to sell all of them before we have to leave.

Right now I am walking around Karak Azul on my way to the forge area. I am going there because I want to see the giant furnaces, the many blacksmiths and runesmiths. On my way there I have to go through the mining canyon, not using the same paths because everyone would get in the way of each other but I have to go down via massive stone stairs that have been carved into the canyon wall. The best way to describe them probably is to see the staircase as a decorated tunnel that is slowly going downward. With one of the sides of the tunnel open to the canyon where the rock above is supported by pillars and a stone balustrade between them to keep people from falling.

This really gives a great view of the canyon but the way down is really long and transporting things up and down the staircase would be very hard. That’s why they also built elevators for the many people who work in the mines and forges and also to transport things in and out of the canyon. But for the way down I decided to take the stairs and to come back up again I will take the elevator.

When I arrive at the level where the forges are I walk through a short tunnel until I arrive in a large open space. Looking around I see that I am more or less at the bottom of the canyon, there are a lot of dwarves walking around, in front of me I can see the large furnaces in the distance, to my right I see the canyon with many working dwarves dumping the ore on conveyor belts that transport to different furnaces, to my left I can see many buildings which are probably guilds, warehouses, smithies and workshops. The amount of buildings makes it look like a small city, out of a lot of the roofs sticks one or more smokestacks which are probably from the many forges.

Some of the buildings are very big and have many smokestacks and are probably factories with many blacksmith working in them, some of the buildings look like they are smithies that look like they are run by only one or two people. Walking around I can see that some of those smaller smithies are very high quality. Most of these smaller smithies are most likely owned and used by runesmiths. It would make sense since most runesmith are individualists.

After walking around for a while I arrive at a medium sized building that has multiple guards in front of it. I get curious and approach one of the guards.

Michiko: “Mister what is in this building that it needs so many guards?”

He looks down at with a stern face but when he sees me his expression becomes a bit softer.

Guard1: “well this is the forge of our lord and rune lord and we are guarding our lords most prized possession, his Anvil of Doom. Of course the chance that anyone would actually come to steal it is almost non- existent but still we have to stand guard because the value of one of the few remaining Anvils of Doom is too high to leave anything to chance”

What the guard tells me does not surprise me because I know about the Anvils of Doom. They are powerful artifacts made by extremely skilled rune lords in the golden age of the dwarves. They were forged long ago in the dwarven golden age in the fiery depths of Thunder Mountain called Karag Dorn by the dwarves was one of the massive volcanoes spread across the world Edge Mountains. This came to an end when the dragon Tyrennus attacked, there was a fierce battle which killed many skilled runesmiths including the powerful and skilled runelord Kurgaz who made the Anvils of Doom. In the battle Thunder Mountain split in two, the Karag was lost and the creation of the anvils was ended, as for the dragon Tyrennus it is suspected that he now has made his residence in the ruins of Karag Dorn killing all who dare to intrude in his lair.

The remaining Anvils of Doom are mostly owned by powerful rune lords who guard and use them. The protection of the Anvils of Doom is very important because besides there being no way to make new once to replace them that they are very powerful weapons that can be used to activate certain destructive runes which raises the combat power of the dwarven rase by a considerable amount. On top of the military importance the Anvils of Doom have a second function that is as important or even more so than the military use. This function is that Anvils of Doom can be used to create permanent runes which can’t be done on any regular anvil. The permanent runes are of great importance to the continuation of the dwarven race and while the creation of one permanent rune can take months to complete the power of them makes it all worth it in the long term. Sadly because of the lack of Anvils of Doom and the time it takes to produce them makes it so that the production of runes is almost entirely focused on warfare.

Michiko: “Mister could I please see the anvil? I am learning to become a runesmith but I have never seen an Anvil of Doom before”

Guard2: “Oh so young and already training to become a runesmith that is impressive little miss”

Guard1: “Captain what do you think can we show her?”

The captain crashes his head and thinks

Captain: “Hmm… well I don’t think it would be a problem but you have to go with her and make sure she keeps out of trouble”

Guard1: “Thank you captain, come on miss follow me”

I look at the captain

Michiko: “Thank you mister”

He waves it away with a little smile on his face before his serious expression returns and he goes back to guarding the entrance, I then turn around and follow the guard inside. The inside of the building looks very well built and is decorated with dwarven sculpting that seem to be depicting many stories. After walking through a door we arrive at a large room, the room has a large high quality forge in the back, some quenching baths on the right and on the left there are many hammers of different sizes but all high quality. But while looking around the circular room my eyes stop at an object in the center of the room.

The Anvil of Doom, while looking at it I feel a strange magical aura surrounding it and my instincts are also telling me that it is an object of great power. Looking at it I can see many runes engraved in it many of which I don’t understand at all. I than activate my magical vision and I can see the runes all light up. While looking at it I begin to understand why no new Anvils of Doom have been made. The meaning of many of the runes engrave on the anvil have been lost over the millennia. That means that while you can copy the runes as long as you don’t understand the meaning you cannot create a chant to empower them. On top of that while I am not an expert on Gromril while looking at the anvil I can tell that, that is not the regular kind.

It is clear that right now I have absolutely no chance at making an Anvil of Doom. It will

probably take decades if not centuries of research if I start from scratch, the only probable way of shortening that time is by going to Thunder mountain and explore the ruins of Karag Dorn hoping to find some information that has not been lost over the century’s that have passed since the destruction of Karag Dorn.

But that is for in the future since right now even if I knew how to do it I certainly don’t have the skills to forge an Anvil of Doom. On top of that the high possibility of a millennia old Dragon living in the ruins of Karag Dorn makes it very dangerous and I do not want to risk my life when I don’t have to. It will be a long time until I am anywhere close to his level so it will have to wait. The only thing I can do now is save everything I can see, sense, feel and what my instincts tell me about the Anvil so I can at least get a better understanding of it for now.

While I am studying the anvil from a distance the guard is smiling besides me but after a while we hear a fist slamming down on a Table or desk and the Guard and I turn to look at the door in the back of the room where the noise came from, then a loud voice.

???: “Thorek I am telling you this for the last time, I am not letting you try out that random rune you found on my anvil!! Now leave before I kick you out!”

We hear some angry grunts and then someone walking on the stone floor. The door opens and a large dwarf who looks the age of somewhere hundred and hundred and fifty. He walks toward the exit and glances at me while he walks past. We then see another far older dwarf come out of the door. He looks at Thorek and then he sees us, he walks toward us while looking angry.

???: “And what are you two doing here?! You are not going to tell me that this kid is coming to ask me permission to use my Anvil to make some crazy rune”

He says with a clearly irritated look on his face. The guard shifts one of his feet back a bit and for a second he looks a bit scared, but then he stands strait and faces the old dwarf.

Guard1: “No master rune lord this child is aspirating to become a runesmith and she asked us if she could see masters Anvil of Doom, not wanting to bother our Lord with such trivial things while he is attending to important business. But knowing our benevolent lord he would not mind such a trivial thing so we made the decision to show her our lords Anvil, from a respectable distance of course”

The angry look on the old dwarf/rune lords lessens and he nods as if he approves of what the guard said.

Rune Lord(???): “That is true, Child I hope seeing my anvil has inspired you to work harder at your quest to become a runesmith, but now I have to start working again so I have to ask you to leave for now, if you want to come look at my Anvil again then please make an appointment with my secretary and I am sure I will be able to find a gap in my schedule”

Michiko: “Thank you mister I will be sure to come by”

I then turn around with the guard and we start to walk away. The Guard really handled the situation well since that rune lord was looking really irritated. Seeing how it played out and that the old dwarf liked being talked to like that it seems he has a bit more pride than is good for him.

Guard1: “Sorry little miss, our lord has been in a bad mood the last few days. That runesmith Thorek has been trying to convince the lord to let him use his Anvil to test a Rune he found on during his journey. Our lord and mister Thorek have been arguing for several days about it now with both of them not wanting to budge (sigh). Anyway little miss I am sorry you only had such a short time to look at the anvil”

We arrive at the exit and I turn toward him

Michiko: “Do not worry about it mister while it was short I am happy I got the chance to look at an Anvil of Doom once and for that I thank you”

The guard smiles and we say our goodbyes. I then start to walk around again looking at the many buildings.

After looking around for a while I see a building with a sign in front. Of course this alone is nothing special but what interests me is the name on it.

-Thorek Ironbrow-

Runesmith

I walk inside and I look around. The front looks like a simple shop with a few items on display. Looking at them I can see that they all have been very well made, the sword that was being displayed in the shop I visited a few days ago.

Michiko: “Hello?! Is someone here?”

Thorek: “Yes, yes you do not have to shout”

A door in the back opens and I see the same dwarf that walked past me when I was by the anvil. He gets behind the counter and he looks at me.

Thorek: “Hey did I not see you at the runelords smithy?”

Michiko: “Yes I came to look at the Anvil of Doom. I am learning runesmithing but I had never seen one before so I was interested”

Thorek: “Oh I assumed that you were there to ask that old man’s to become his apprentice”

Michiko: “No right now I already have a teacher who is teaching me the basics of runesmithing. Unfortunately he is only a journeymen runesmith so he cannot teach me more than the basics but for now he is more than enough, later I will have to find a master who can teach me at higher levels”

Thorek: “That’s rare, journeymen usually don’t take students”

Michiko: “Yes but it is more because there is no other runesmith where I live and I do not want to live apart from my parents yet. Having the opportunity to look around here is only because I traveled with the caravan so we can buy the things we can’t make ourselves yet”

Thorek: “Did you come from the south perhaps? Is it true that a settlement has been built in the south?”

Michiko: “How did you know? We only arrived a few days ago”

Thorek: “Well that was easy a lot of people are talking about it, it would be a great thing if a Karak was founded in the south it would greatly help if there is another Dwarven bastion in the southern part of the World Edge Mountains. But that also explains why you are being taught by a Journeymen runesmith instead of a master. Not to be rude but what is it like to live in the south, in the past there where others who tried to settle in the south but most of them quickly returned because of the danger and sometimes they did not return at all”

Michiko: “I suppose it is alright, we do have problems with greenskins but our home is in a place they do not travel and now the first few years have passed since the creation of our Karak so we have heavily fortified it so we are relatively safe. Still life is quite harsh and our Karak is still far way from being an impenetrable fortress but everybody is positive that working together we can do it”

Thorek: “That is good to hear. So, now I have asked you a lot of questions now it is your turn what can I do for you?”

Michiko: “I came here because I saw one of your works being displayed in a shop and looking at it I saw it was special compared to other rune weapons I have seen. That blade is not enormously more powerful than other rune weapons the rune is still a regular rune but the blade itself looks different from other works I have seen. So I wanted to meet the runesmith who made the blade”

Thorek: “You noticed that? That’s impressive. The smithing techniques I use are a bit different than the techniques that are normally used, using them I can make the metal stronger than normal while still being a tiny bit flexible. After I discovered the technique I showed them to the College of Engineers and I expected them to be ecstatic, but….”

Michiko: “They said good job mister Thorek this will greatly help dwarven smithing but first we will have to test it for a two or three hundred years or so”

Thorek downcast expression changes to a small smile

Thorek: “Exactly, hearing you speak like that about them makes it seem like you have had the same happen to you”

Michiko: “Well no, but I have heard a lot about them and if it is half as bad as I fear then it would already be disastrous for my future plans if not handled properly”

Thorek raises an eyebrow

Thorek: “How so?”

Michiko: “Well let’s just say I have many ideas that I want to bring in to the world and the College of Engineers makes that very hard for me”

Ignoring the fact that if anybody under fifty would just be laughed at by them it would still take at least a hundred years of testing for them to fully acknowledge it and that simply takes far too long for my plans. I will have to find a way to make them shorten that time by a lot, make them acknowledge my invention by showing overwhelming results or find a way to work around them.

All of these will be very hard because the College of Engineers more or less has an monopoly on technology and the development of it and if anyone wants to invent something new they will have to get permission from them first. Because while you can do it without their blessing it will be very hard to find a sponsor. Another reason why it is so hard, is that inventing without their blessing is considered borderline dishonest meaning that if it goes wrong you will most likely lose your honor and your family’s/clans honor will also be tainted because of it making it very hard for anyone to become an inventor.

And if by any chance you invent something that works there is almost no chance that the College of Engineers will ever acknowledge it. Most of the time it will just be swept under the rug and if they do they will be very, very sour about it and put it through an extra-long testing period.

(sigh) it will be very hard to carry out any of my plans like this because while I myself do not really care what the College of Engineers thinks of me I do not want it to harm my family. And on top of the College of Engineers there is also the Order of Runesmiths which is even stricter since it is flat out illegals to create a new rune without being an official runesmith and then you still have the testing period of a few hundred years. Ugh I’m getting a headache just thinking about it.

While I am thinking Thorek I looking at me with a questioning expression.

Thorek: “Are you alright?”

Michiko: “I’m okay, I’m just getting a headache while thinking about the College of Engineers and the Order of Runesmiths”

Thorek: “I get what you mean they are far too strict, for example this past month I have been trying to get permission to use an Anvil of Doom to inscribe a rune I found in a lost dwarven settlement during my travels. Having found that I returned home to Karak Azul sure of myself that I would be acknowledged as a Master Runesmith by presenting this find. But first I have to find a Rune Lord who is willing to let me use his Anvil of Doom to inscribe it so I can present it to the Order. But it seems that it will take a while until I get permission to use an Anvil. Anyway what can I do for you I really enjoy talking with you but I have to go back to work”

Michiko: “Well I wanted to ask you if I could watch you work so I can learn from you”

Thorek thinks for a bit and then nods

Thorek: “That is okay as long as you promise to remain quiet when I ask you to”

Michiko: “Thank you”

I them go with him into the smithy.

Year: 13-03-1712 (Imperial Calendar)

Location: planet Warhammer, Karak Azul

Michiko POV.

It has been almost a month since we first arrived in Karak Azul. The past few weeks I have mostly spend with Thorek. It started with only watching him first but after a while he let me smith a bit now and then while he corrected me. Because of this my smithing has improved by a lot and Thorek and I have become good friends.

The others have finished their tasks and then started to help Endar to select some dwarfs to join us. They have mostly looked for people with a situation similar to us meaning dwarfs who have been driven away from their old home because of one reason or another. Of course they also looked for dwarfs with the skills we need like miners, stoneworkers, blacksmiths and warriors. They have now selected around sixty dwarfs who have passed the selection but now there is one last thing we need to do and that is finding out if they are okay with living with a dragon.

We are going to find out today, Endar has rented a large soundproof hall and has made all the dwarfs swear on their beards (or hair for the women) to keep silent about what they will see. This made a lot of the dwarfs suspicions but in the end almost all of the dwarfs swore they would and the rest was removed from the selection. This might seem a bit overboard but this made sure I was safe and I am really thankful for it, I will make sure to make it up to them.

Right now I am walking by the side of Endar toward the hall where we will receive everyone. I’m quite nervous right now since this will be the first time I will be showing my dragon form to anyone but my family, but today maybe we will get some new family members who will join us.

Endar: “Don’t be so nervous Michiko everything is going to be alright and if anyone wants to harm you I will personally punch him in the face”

Michiko: “(smile) Thank you dad but I think that will only make the situation worse so please be careful”

Endar: “Of course Michiko I will but I really mean it and I think the other feel the same”

We arrive at the hall, we go inside and wait for the others.

After about an hour everybody is here and Endar starts to speak.

Endar: “Hello everyone today we have something to show you and depending on your reaction we will determine if you can come with us to our new Karak. Before we start I want to remind everyone that you have sworn to keep silent about what happens here and if you do not want to do that than this is the last chance to back out an leave before we start”

He looks around the group of dwarfs and gives them a chance to leave, after a while it is clear nobody wants to leave so Endar continues.

Endar: “Okay close the doors. As I have told you all our karak is quite normal except for one thing, Michiko please come and show them”

Walking forward I look at the dwarfs in front of me and I can see that most of the dwarfs in front of me are looking at me with an expecting gaze or a look of confusion. Looking around the group I also see the three dwarfs I met with Vanyra on the first day and I stop walking. Vanyra who is also standing in the room follows my gaze and sees them she frowns but then looks at me and she very quietly says.

Vanyra: “Don’t worry if anything happens we will protect you”

It was so quiet that only I could hear it with my sharp hearing but seeing her reassuring smile I walk forward to the middle of the room and I start to transform to my dragon form. I can hear gasps and I can see some people look scared some confused but most remain calm but look very serious and I can feel a strong aura coming from the dwarfs in front of me.

Endar seeing that it will go wrong if he does not quickly explain what is going on steps in between the dwarfs and me.

Endar: “Everybody please calm down I swear on my beard that she is not dangerous, she is a very peaceful dragon not tainted by any influence of chaos”

The pressure lessens a little bit but is still very sharp there is a silence until an angry looking dwarf comes forward with his hand on his axe.

Angry-Dwarf: “What do you mean not dangerous! That is a Dragon it should be killed before it becomes to strong and starts to attack us!”

I can hear a few of the dwarfs agree with him but most of the dwarfs still wait to see where this is going. But a few seconds after the dwarf shouted around the room I can a silent killing intent coming up from the others behind me and focusing on the angry dwarf and his supporters. And Endar speaks with an voice filled with killing intent.

Endar: “I won’t allow you to speak like that to my daughter. If you do not like it you can leave that was the purpose of this gathering. But”

He then doubles his killing intent

Endar: “remember that you swore an oath to keep silent so if you speak of this I will hunt you down remember that”

The angry dwarf and his supporters also send the killing intent

Angry-Dwarf: “Oh I will but I will make another right here, if that beast ever strays of the path I will come kill it”

Then there is a short stare down before the angry dwarf and some others leave. After a while Endar starts to speak again.

Endar: “Everyone you are probably waiting for an explanation but first Michiko please show them you blessing”

I then activate the blessing and show them my right paw. As I activate the blessing an warm calming aura spreads through the room and the pressure is dispelled like snow before the sun. the reaction by the dwarfs is one of shock and I can hears murmuring by the crowd and I can see two dwarfs come forward, they are priests of the ancestor Gods Valaya and Gazul. Endar told me about them he selected the priest of Gazul because we need someone to take care of our dead and the priestess of Valaya is there because of my blessing.

Priestess???: “Please let us take a look at that”

They say while looking at Endar who nods. They come forward and I put my paw forward and they start to examine it. After a while they stop and nod to each other, the priestess of Valaya turns around an faces the group of dwarfs.

Priestess???: “This Dragon has been blessed by our Ancestor and Goddess and as an priestess of the church of Valaya I declare that any attack against this Dragon Michiko will be seen as an direct attack against the church of Valaya itself”

Priest???: “I as an priest of church of Gazul and ally of the church of Valaya declare the same”

Gasps go through the room and the priestess turns to Endar.

Priestess???: “We have to bring this dragon to the main church of Valaya as soon as possible”

Endar: “No I will not allow it as long as Michiko does not want it and you also know that taking a blessed person against their will is the same as going against the will you goddess”

That makes the priestess stop and she looks at him with wide open eyes and mouth before she regains he composure and turns toward me.

Priestess???: “Young dragon please tell us what would you want to do? Do you want to stay of do you want to come with me to the church. I promises you won’t be wanting for anything”

I them open my mouth and with a draconic powerful while a bit childlike voice I say.

Michiko: “I want to stay with my family and I want to protect them”

The Priestess closes her eyes and thinks for a while before speaking again.

Priestess???: “Then I will follow you but I hope that one day you will at least visit the main temple”

Endar, Vanyra, Dern and the others smile and the priestess turns toward Endar again

Priestess???: “From how you set up this meeting I guess that you want to keep her being a dragon and having a blessing secret for now as to not draw unwanted attention toward yourselves right?”

Endar: “Yes that is so but I assure you I would rather kill myself that let any harm befall her and you can take that as an oath if you want to”

Voices of agreement come from behind me and then The Priestess nods and Endar turns to the group of waiting dwarfs in front

Endar: “sorry for the intermission but now I will give an deeper explanation. Firstly Michiko here is not a wild dragon she is my adopted Daughter. My wife found her egg right after she had a miscarriage so we decided to raise her and since then we have lived together with Michiko and the other residence of Karak Drakk. Over the years Michiko has helped us more times than we can count and I can say with certainty that if she was not with us over the difficult period we had during the last years a lot of us would not be here today so I ask you to consider putting your trust in us.

I know that it is hard to decide right so I’m ending this meeting for now but if you want to join us toward a new life please come by and we will sign you up”

After that some more questions where asked and answered but nothing very interesting happened after that. After a while we went home and I went to bed, tired because of today’s happenings.

Year: 16-03-1712 (Imperial Calendar)

Location: planet Warhammer, Karak Azul

Michiko POV.

The past few days a lot of people signed up. First of which was the priestess and priest saying:

Priestess???: “We as followers of the ancestor gods have to follow and instruct you in the teachings of the gods”

To my surprise the three dwarfs from the bar also signed up and they apologized to me and where harshly lectured by Vanyra while Endar was looking at them and sending killing intent. In the end we had about fifty people who wanted to join us.

And today is the day we leave. Looking over the caravan I can see that we have a lot more wagons filled with the few possession the dwarves that go with us want to take with them and the wagons we had with us are filled with light crystals, seeds and other goods. I also put my books in them and now we are waiting for the last people to get ready.

While I am waiting I can see Thorek come toward me and I call out to him.

Michiko: “Thorek!”

Thorek: “Hey Michiko I heard you would be leaving today so I came to see you off”

Endar and Vanyra seeing me and Thorek come toward us.

Endar: “So you must be mister Thorek, I must thank you for taking care of my daughter”

Thorek: “Don’t worry about is it was fun speaking with such a like minded person. I’m kind of sad to see you go, please promise me to come by again the next time you are in Karak Azul”

Michiko: “I will”

I say smiling. We talk some more but then it is time to leave and we say our goodbyes and we start moving. When we go through the gate the guards wave us off telling us to have a safe journey.

Year: 10-08-1712 (Imperial Calendar)

Location: planet Warhammer, Surroundings of Dragon Peak mountain

Michiko POV.

The past few month have been slow traveling because of the many wagons (that broke down every now and then) but also been very peaceful which relieved many of dwarfs that where traveling with us because normally traveling through these mountain would be VERY dangerous. But because of my warnings and directions we avoided almost all conflict and I talked a lot with the new dwarfs.

In the beginning it went a bit rough because of their wariness but I gave them time and they opened up to me and on the colder night some of the children even slept under my wings while I used the red light specs to radiate heat.

when we were about halfway some of the kids even asked if they could fly with me on my back. So I asked their parents if they could and to my and the other kids great joy the parents agreed. They allowed the kids to fly around on my back with the parents behind them for safety but I was happy when they told me the really liked it.

I also talked a lot with the priest and priestess and I am happy to say they are a lot less stiff now and I also got their names. The priestess is called Alrika and the priest is called Grim and they told me a lot about their religions and their duty’s for example the church of Valaya helps with healing and the church of Gazul takes care of the dead. That is of course only a small part of what they do and I am simplifying it to the bare basics right now but moving on.

Today we are finally reaching Dragon peak mountain and I am flying ahead of the caravan. Because right now we are in familiar territory and relatively safe, the second reason is that I want to announce our arrival and the third reason is, I want to see Freda and everyone else because I have really missed them.

When I am only a kilometer away from Dragon peak Mountain I roar and speed up. Seeing the entrance I lower attitude and land in front of the cave. I can see the guards who came out to greet me while smiling. I transform to my half dragon form and greet them and ask them how it has been the past ten months, I have been away for ten months.

I then hear the sound of running coming from the cave and after a while I see a lot of dwarfs coming out with Freda in front. I run toward them and jump in Freda’s arms and we cry out of happiness.

Michiko: “I’m home mom I missed you”

Freda: “I missed you too”

We keep embracing each other for a while the other kids join in and the others just smile.

Norgrim: “I’m guessing the others are coming soon right?”

Michiko: “ah yes I came to warn you that they would arrive tonight together with fifty new dwarfs”

Freda: “Well that is a reason to celebrate everyone, Norgrim go and make sure we have enough places to sleep for the new residents, Largs check if we have enough food, Olka please go and coordinate the cooking. The rest of you please all go and help any one of them”

The dwarfs smile and everyone except of the guards leave to prepare for the party.

Michiko: “Wow mom really has become a leader”

Freda: “I had to while you and Endar where gone having fun mom had to work hard and make sure everything went right”

She says while frowning and I look down

Michiko: “Sorry”

She then smiles and pets my head.

Freda: “I’m just joking Michiko, come lets go inside and prepare for the rest”

I go inside with Freda and when I arrive in the main cave I see that they have not been sitting around all day in the past ten months. There are a lot more houses, and a large amount of the roads have been flattened out making walking a lot easier. I can also see that they have begun digging the channels and they started to build the walls for the higher housing level and Palace/fortress level.

When I am done with my quick look around I go and ask around where I can help. but I’m quickly asked to help by Largs to hunt because we do not have enough meat for the feast and the rest of the afternoon I hunt together with them.

In the evening Endar and the others arrive and I go and wait by the cave entrance.

Endar: “Hey Michiko we are finally here where are the others?”

Michiko: “They are waiting inside putting the last touches on the feast”

Dern: “Oh that sounds good I was hoping they would do that”

Michiko: “Everyone please come inside”

We then walks through the tunnel into the mountain. At the end of the tunnel we reach a massive door, I knock and the door opens. We walk inside and all the new dwarfs are speechless and just walk forward while looking up and around the cave. Everyone else laughs, when we left Karak Azul I asked everyone to stay silent about the cave to surprise them and it looks like it was a success. Smiling I walk toward Alrika.

Michiko: “And? Do you like it?”

She looks at me with a bit of anger but mostly amazement

Alrika: “You never mention Dragon peak mountain was an hollow mountain!”

In reaction to that I laugh some more and I say.

Michiko: “Come on just take the wagons inside and just leave them here for now. It is time for a party”

After a while we arrived at the plaza and we were greeted by the other dwarfs who were waiting with the feast. First many hugs and kisses where given. After a while everybody sat down and Endar stood up and spoke.

Endar: “Now we are all here together I want to express my happiness to all of you new and old family member, while our is journey now over we will still have hard work ahead but for tonight I want all of you to forget that, feast and be merry. That tonight feast may be one of many feasts that we will have in our new and old home”

We then started the feast and it did not end until deep into the night.

Character list:

Spoiler :

Karak Drakk residents:

Michiko: the main character

Endar: adoptive father of Michiko and King of Karak Drakk

Freda: wife of Endar, adoptive mother of Michiko and queen of Karak Drakk

Fimbur: old and wise dwarf and Loremaster

Norgrim: Endar’s assistant

Bronn: warrior leader

Largs: hunter/ scout leader

Dern: hunter/ scout

Duregar: leader of workers, Journeymen runesmithe

Olka: wife of Duregar

Thyk: son of Duregar and friend of Michiko

Vanyra: adopted daughter of Duregar and friend of Michiko

Grond: mining shift commanders

Alrika: Priestess of Valaya

Grim: Priest of Gazul

Heganbor: friend of Logazor and Gomrund

Logazor: friend of Gomrund and Heganbor

Gomrund: warrior, friend of Logazor and Heganbor

Karak Azul residents:

Dimzad: bookstore owner

Thorek Ironbrow: Runesmith

Chaos Gods:

Tzeentch: the Chaos God of Change, Evolution, Intrigue and Sorcery

Khorne: the chaos god of hate, rage and bloodshed

Dragons:

Tyrennus: Evil/chaotic, location unknown (please put the answer in the comments if you know because I do not know and I want to know because it could influence Michiko journey)

Dwarven Gods:

Dwarven Gods (and god like)

Grungni: ancestor god of Mining and Stoneworking

Valaya: ancestor goddess of Home and Healing

Grimnir: ancestor god of Warriors

Gazul: Lord of Underearth

Smednir: Shaper of Ore

Thungni: ancestor god of Runesmiths

Morgrim: ancestor god of Engineers