Chapter 10

After a rigorous month of traveling from the lion capital. i look out to the ocean. This scene is something i may never see again. As the forest nears its end along with what seems like the ground, the forest abruptly ends into what is obviously a cliff face. Looking over the cliff you can see the wide ocean, gloriously the clouds are separated allowing the setting sun to shine over the horizon. The view was absolutely breathtaking. Unfortunately for me however, the clouds that are currently separated are, in fact, coming together, in what appears to be a large cumulonimbus cloud. With a lack of meteorology knowledge, i assume that thunder and lighting will bear down upon me.

I look along and over the cliff side looking for some type of civilization or at minimum some type of shelter. Recalling a history lesson, this location reminds me of the location that the dragons live. In hope that i find what you can call their “capital city”. The city is in a large “inlet”. The inlet is similar to san francisco’s in california. Only bigger. Much much bigger. *

With i lack of any knowledge of where i am i can take what i know about the city and try to infer where i am. The only thing i know about the city’s location is that it lays embedded in the southern cliff face. The city itself made primarily of wood. Due to its location in a large crescent in the cliff side, the city is primarily travel through by bridges making the entire city feel as if it is floating. Why they did that i am told, was so that the dragons in the city felt more at home. It was designed to make them feel as if they are flying all the time. I can only hope the city is as magical as i was told.

Checking my internal compass, looking out on this cliff side i am looking south, meaning this is actually the north cliff face. Squinting my eyes i can barely see the outline of what seems to be another cliff face. The shocked expression on my face says it all. That is a giant inlet. I can barely see it from my vantage point **

With that information i can finally guess where a different port city might be. I have been told that a smaller city, that primarily receives the dwarven shipments and boats is on the northern cliff face. Unlike the capital city this city is a normal port city and is grounded. While the port city is much smaller than the capital, these are the most important cities the dragon country has. As i am trying to head into the dragon country anway i plan to head to the capital eventually. However sense i am on the northern cliff face i will try to head to the smaller city and from there, maybe i can start my life over again…

Collecting myself and take in a final view of the sunset, and once more, a final view of the clear impending danger that is the clouds.

In a self mocking tone i say “well i won't get anywhere by just admiring a pretty view.”

I start to walk along the cliff face looking for a potential way down. i simply cannot understand why a port city would be located right next to an enormous cliff face, determined to separate the city from the rest of the world...

I suppose i can ask when i get there...

As the sun sets i change my priority from looking for a way down to looking for a comfortable place to sleep.

-returning to the desolate place that is the “wailing rocks”-

A small dwarf wearing a red tunic and protective leather pants walks through a small cavern, only to turn upon reaching his destination: the west forges. This small dwarf it the very same dwarf that requested magical tools weeks ago. He begins his long walk through the west forge, the forge that primarily deals with creating magical items. The dwarf is annoyed, and anxiety riveted due to the fact the magical tools have not arrived yet, and by the fact the magical anomaly the -“rift”- as he has taken to calling it, has also not disappeared.

All around the dwarf is the ringing of metal with similar, if not identical, smithies. They contain at least one dwarf and one forge.The small dwarf looks around for the smithie 34, which is manned by a good friend of his. This friend also happens to be the one leading the creation of the tools for his research team.

Locating the smithie the dwarf briskly walks over and hammers the door with his muscular fist twice.

“ Ye dam oaf, where is m’tools!” the dwarf yells, only to enter the smithie roughly.

Following proper dwarven custom, the dwarf which WAS manning the forge picks up a small spare hammer by his side and throws the hammer as hard as he can at the entering dwarf.

“ Ye dam bastard cant ye see i am working ‘ere?” the dwarf yells back, whilst he slightly tidys himself up.

The entering dwarf naturally flexes his pex as hard as he can, and the hammer thrown at him casually bounces off him. With a simple reflexive grab, the dwarf quickly takes the hammer before it drops to the floor, only to throw it again. Instead of throwing it at the smithy dwarf, he throws it at a small metal plate in the corner of the room. After the hammer nails the plate in the center, which added another small dent, the smaller dwarf smiles contently.

“Thahrduw how are ye do’in me good friend!” the smaller dwarf in a normal (which was still pretty loud) voice responds.

“Bah you been ‘ere everyday Tsahnizh! Why d’ye still ask me that!” the dwarf named Thahrduw cracks a smile and opens his arms wide intending to hug his good friend.

“Ye know’t better than i, good friend! Its custom to test yer battle strength and then to exchange pleasantries afterward!” the dwarf named Tsahnizh*** says laughing while hugging his friend.

Yes, the surprising greeting custom of the dwarfs goes as follows: first you state your business. Then the host must test your strength, originally through a short skirmish, but this instead turned into how well you could withstand or resist a hammer being thrown at you. Almost all of the dwarfs liked this a bit better, as it was fast, and the distance the hammer bounced would show their strength of muscle. Later on though, the dwarfs had disliked how it would always leave a mess when there was a multitude of guests. So instead they also turned into a type of fun game for dwarfs, instead of just letting the hammer drop, the guest would throw it at a target to show their accuracy of their throw, then the hammer fall into a bucket which was easy for the host to collect. After the show or test of strength was done they would exchange names and pleasantries. While most races found this a bit barbaric, the dwarfs just found it fun as well as customary or traditional. Granted, there is several exceptions to this custom, such as the dwarven king

“Aye aye, tools are sitt’n right there on de the table, i was waiting for me apprentice to send em to ye. Probably still hasn’t woken yet.” the dwarf thahrduw grumbles.

“ Glorious! I say! Glorious… i will take great care of them, i will make sure my pleasure with them reaches the king!” says Tsahnizh.

The dwarf picks up his new magic tools, one looks like a simple thermometer, this will be used to measure magic density and quality. The next tool he inspects is what can only be called a magnifying glass, only this one magnifies magic, and will have a type of appraisal effect. The final piece of magic equipment, is a wondrous invention. A magical compass. Its effects vary greatly but the most important part is that it recognizes a certain signature that is inputted into it and that can be used to locate the item.****

With these tools tsahnizh plans to locate the source of the magic “rift” and to identify what it does...