The group of Heretics walk towards the mountain with large plumes of smoke billowing from the top like a volcano.
Lina leads the charge with Nari beside her as they walk to the entrance being a massive stone gate with 2 statues standing guard.
Ashen speeds his gait and takes the lead saying,
”Careful, those are golems, they won’t attack us without reason but don’t attack them either, that would kill us all.”
Lina gulps as she sees the eyes of the massive statues move and follow them as they walk past to the large stone gate which is already open.
Nari grips Lina’s leg in nervousness as they enter the everlasting city of stone and earth, Neverfall the city of dwarves far more advanced than any other civilization.
As they enter the city they get blasted by a wave of heat almost unbearable for them. Plumes of smoke billowing from countless forges within that are more numerous than actual houses.
Ashen looks up seeing the insides of the mountain lined with steel and structures sort of like beams of a church as smoke rises through the mountain to the hole at the top.
Lina looks towards the taverns, forges, and countless other stone buildings as well as many openings in the mountain where mines stretch into infinite darkness from decades of mining.
The group after getting a little used to the heat as well as the grand city before them that could even withstand a Giant, venture forth into the city.
Ashen as the only one who has been here before, speaks to explain their plan though has to keep their true value of their items secret from Nari as he says,
”We need to find someone skilled enough to make flexible gear from bones, and also crazy enough to look past our… situations.”
Ashen looks to Nari’s illegal slave collar, Lina the runaway Saint, and Ashen the sole returner.
Lina agrees as they follow the sound of dwarves partying to ask for a blacksmith.
They end up making it to a large tavern filled with tons of dwarves and a few visitors from other nations including some Harpies, Humans, though mostly dwarves fill these halls as they cheer with big mugs of ale.
The group sees a dwarf wearing enchanted armor that seems well made and decides to start their journey there.
Lina takes the lead as the only relatively normal one of the group and says,
”Excuse me, we are looking for someone to craft us some gear using materials we found.”
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The dwarf after finishing a chug of ale, sets it down with a thud and burp saying,
”Aye lad, we are open to any job as long as ye got the coin for it, or materials which would give us a valiant challenge in the forges.”
Lina smiles and sits across from the man, she reaches into her pack and deciding against pulling out dragon bones here, pulls out some Orc ones instead and sets them on the table.
The dwarf at the name of Daryl picks one up to inspect it, he then sets it down and says to Lina,
”Orc bones, from an undead by the looks of the decay. Not as good as fresh orc bones free of rot, got anything else?”
Lina furrows her brow in frustration and reaches into her pack to pull out dragon bones but Ashen grabs her arm stopping her, he says to Daryl,
”Can you work with these bones or not? We don’t need the best gear just stuff to survive.”
Daryl leans back in the wooden chair, it creaks under his weight as he says smugly,
”No dwarf worth their hammers would work with such shabby stuff, unless you have enough coin to back it up?”
Lina is next to speak,
”We have 24 gold coins total, we need a full set of gear for 3 people.”
Daryl bursts out in laughter then the other dwarves follow suit around the room. The laughter is uncomfortable for the Heretics as they wait impatiently for it to end.
When it finally does, Daryl wiping a tear from his eye says,
”24 gold coins for 3 entire sets of gear? Custom made using materials difficult to work with yet not very tough, ye have got to be the best jesters around. The going price for a single set of gear would alone be 70 gold coins.”
Lina slams her hands down on the table, normally she would be more calm but it’s already been long enough for the Paladins to have regrouped, she as well as her friends don’t have the time or strength to gather more money. Lina shouts over the loud dwarves,
”70 gold coins is a rip off! How about just 3 sets of weapons for 24 gold coins?”
Daryl acts more serious as he says,
”Better, yeah sure I could do 3 sets of weapons for 24 gold coins.”
Lina is happy and about to accept the deal when Ashen cuts in saying,
”We will pass, is there any other dwarves we could negotiate with? We don’t need the best so would a less skilled blacksmith be cheaper?”
Daryl smiles as he looks to Ashen, Daryl chuckles and says,
”While that’s true, bones are tough materials to work with, there isn’t a blacksmith willing to be payed so little for so much.”
Ashen steps forward and says again,
”It doesn’t matter, any blacksmith you could point us to would be helpful.”
Daryl starts saying there is no one before he freezes, he smiles and laughs to himself before saying,
”Actually there is a blacksmith who could help you out, follow me.”
Daryl stands and starts walking out the tavern. As the heretics turn to follow him, they notice the other dwarves around the room laughing and shouting.
Daryl leads them down many streets to a quieter tavern where only one patron sits, yet the room is littered with jugs of ale and the smell of horrid and overwhelming.
Daryl chuckles as he pushes his way to the dwarf with a beer belly. Daryl places a hand on his shoulder and says in a mocking tone,
”Hey Bram, since you’ve got nothing better to do, how about you deal with these adventurers for me?”
The dwarf now known as Bram, swings a fist at Daryl with drunken rage, Daryl doesn’t flinch to the weak punch before smacking Bram across the face with a punch that knocks him across the floor.
Lina looks to the dwarf sprawled across the floor, overweight with a beer belly, hasn’t bathed in ages, and seems pathetic.
Daryl looks towards the group and says,
”This loser’s name is Bram, he was once a skilled artisan but that time has long since passed. He isn’t worth his salt so you ca try talking with him about your puny gold.”
Lina looks from the fallen drunkard to the smug blacksmith thinking,
”This isn’t going to go well.”
