Chương 26: Heart of the Mountain

They crept in through the entrance of the cavern, where it opened up into a giant chamber. Each of the adventurers' bodies were lit up by Goggs' illumination skill, and so they could perfectly see the features of this huge, hollow space that plunged into the heart of the mountain. But this luminescence might have been overkill, because there was already something else glowing here, and it lit the place with a dramatic crimson hue. Lava.

It seemed that a skilled hand had been at work in this chamber as well, mirroring what the party had found outside. Someone had been busy engineering this steaming, dripping, hissing place into some kind of artisanal factory. From the look of things, that architect had also managed to pipe magma from deeper in the mountain. The liquid stone had been channeled in by a series of canals, all of which led to a very elaborate looking forge against the far wall.

Near a pool of the bubbling magma, there was a giant anvil placed into a stone. A bath in which to cool newly formed weapons had been shaped across from it, cut into the floor. Above, a dripping stalactite kept it full of fresh water. Whatever quality equipment had been created here, all of it had apparently been pilfered. Even the tools you would expect to see at a smith's workstation were all missing. Elias bent down to get a closer look.

He could see that the channels in the rock had been cut with startling precision. That there was a rather sophisticated series of valves and pipes near the forge.

"He's controlling the heat. The flow rate is controlled by this valve here, see? It widens there and then the pressure of it forces it through this tube until—""If you say so," Goggs cut him off, clearly nervous. Elias looked even closer. There were levers that diverted the flow of magma to smaller forges set in the back. It was plumbing. Whoever had done this had created plumbing out of nothing. Magma plumbing, in fact.

"Fascinating. Incredible. Ingenious. It would have taken a brilliant mind to put all this together," Elias whispered. He was so awestruck that all thoughts of danger or caution left him as he gawked at the creative engineering of the forge. He would have never guessed such things were possible. The lava made burbling sounds in reply, as a patch of it blew out a bit of trapped steam.

"I think I'm going to like this person," Elias said.

"You are beginning to see why the loss of Bulvye was such a shame for Cinderleaf," replied Goggs.

"He was our world's best smith and craftsman. As this place gives ample evidence."

"Why did he choose to move up here, anyway?" Elias asked.

"A dispute with the Fireknights. A costly visit from the blightmaw. And perhaps there were other reasons all his own. If you ask me, I think a factor was his … let's just say his unique personality. I think he had a bit of a loner spirit. A rugged individualist type of guy."

"You don't say," Elias said, taking a stroll around the wonders of the cavern.

"How interesting." The more he explored, the more Elias found there were other, more mundane things here in this chamber as well. Things that told a story, and not an altogether happy one. For example, there was grim evidence that someone had found themselves under siege at this very spot. All around were fortifications in various stages of obliteration. There was also, in places, a patina of slime. It coated various rocks, was pooled here and there on the ground, and even dripped eerily from the ceiling in places.

"Gross," said Elias. He had accidentally placed his hand on the wrong rock. A rock which had squished under his palm with an unsettling sound. He drew it back and long strands of the foul smelling slime dripped from the tips of his fingers.

"What is this stuff?" Goggs stared at the slime heavily for a moment, but Elias' question went unanswered as they explored further. Eventually, near the forge, they found a makeshift campsite. Someone had tried to obscure it behind piles of slag. It was also clear that someone had stayed here, perhaps under duress, for an extended period of time. There were tally marks on the cave wall, near what looked like a makeshift bed with the remnants of foodstuff that were only just going bad.

A small fire had been built here more than once. Enough times, in fact, that the ring of rocks around the coals showed cracks from the heat exposure. Elias spotted something off to one side of the fire and bent down and retrieved it. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. He held it close to his face. It was some kind of brace or bracket that had been carefully formed.

"It looks like whoever was camping here never stopped working to the end," said Elias.

"The tallies mark six days," said Goggs, counting them carefully.

"He must have held out that long against them. Tough bastard. There is no way he would have spent six days idle."

"The tallies could also indicate six kills," said Elias, trying to put a positive spin on it. He could tell that Goggs was beginning to lose hope. Elias could only imagine just what took place here. But from the signs and clues he had uncovered, a brilliant craftsman had found himself slowly surrounded by something.

His dominion over his own forge had become less and less, as he took to barricading himself in a cave, and then, this small space surrounded by slag while he tried to wait out whatever was threatening him.

"You said he held out against them? Who is them?" asked the wizard, dipping a finger into the slime and peering at it through a squinted eye. But Goggs only shook his head, recasting a few buffs to make sure there was no lapse in coverage. He gripped the mace so hard that the whites of his knuckles could be seen, even in the dim light. Elias took a look at the rations that had been tossed to one side. Some kind of bread that was barely hard. He knocked it against a rock a few times, gauging its age.

"This food can't be more than a day or two old," Elias said, tossing Goggs the hunk of bread and turning over a crusty bowl with the toe of his shoe.

"So when he succumbed to … whoever they are … it wouldn't have been that long ago."

"And if the blacksmith did succumb … that is to say, if he was defeated, then where is the body?" asked the wizard. The whole time the heroes had been talking, Merlyn had been sniffing. FIrst he sniffed the forge, then the camp. Now, he was standing near a wall of the chamber. He suddenly let out a bark. Elias walked over.

"What is it boy?"

"Merlyn smell dwarf. Dwarf go this way," said the wolf. He pointed with his nose to what looked to Elias like an impenetrable stone wall. But closer inspection revealed a crack running up that wall. Elias had not noticed it before. It was well hidden in a dark crevice and easy to miss. What was even more interesting is how the crack widened enough at one point to fit through. But no one else had heard the wolf, apparently.

"He's a dwarf?" Elias asked, over his shoulder.

"Right," Goggs said, sounding surprised.

"Bulvye was a rather short and stocky fellow. Long beard … bit of an accent. The healer's attention had turned to the wolf now too. The beast was still pointing as Elias had seen some hunting dogs do, his right leg raised and the tip of his nose gesturing towards the crack. As the party approached, and the wall was lit up by their bodies, the crack seemed far bigger than it had from a distance.

In fact, it was actually a dark and forbidding branch of the cave that narrowly twisted deeper into the heart of the mountain.

"He's alive?" Elias asked Merlyn.

"Merlyn only smell dwarf body."

"Excuse me, but are you talking to your wolf?" the wizard asked.

"I find that quite peculiar. Not in a judgy way or anything, mind you."

"Druid stuff," Elias replied.

"But Merlyn seems sure that there is dwarf flesh, alive or dead, down this twisting path right here." Together, the party of four squeezed into the dark crack, which led to a walkway of sorts. As they moved forward, all of them trained their senses on what might be ahead. The twisting, narrow nature of the path seemed ripe for an ambush.

"What do you think troubles this place?" Elias asked Goggs, for what seemed like the tenth time. But he just wouldn't answer. At least not in words. Instead, the healer held his large mace out in front of him, as if expecting to be set upon at any moment.

"Nervous?" asked the wizard.

"Not nervous, prepared," Goggs said.

"There is not much difference, is there?"

"Quiet," Goggs said, listening. But there was nothing to hear aside from the faintest scuffling in the distance so light that it could be nothing more than another dripping rock, or maybe even the wind blowing in from the mouth of the cave. Though we are certainly getting too deep for that, Elias thought. They came to a passage so narrow that they had to line up single file in order to proceed. Even doing so, it became hard going, particularly for the tall wizard, who cracked his head against one of the rocks.

"Careful," said Elias, who had now taken the lead. The passage twisted and at one crook the walls were coated with the same slime as the first chamber. Merlyn stopped and sniffed the air.

"What's the matter, boy?"

"Dwarf close," he said.

"That's good. Let's hope he's alive."

"Dwarf and … something else," Merlyn said, beginning to growl. Just as Elias was about to respond, he felt the gravel beneath his feet shift. Shift, and then give way. He found himself tumbling down a steep embankment, his mind a whirlwind of vertigo. A few seconds later, after a painful landing, he saw that he had rolled his way to the sandy bottom of a chasm. His friends were still on the high ledge, looking down at him through a fracture in the cave wall. The same fracture through which he'd apparently fallen.

He quickly cast the regen spell on himself, and the scrapes he'd endured began to fade. Elias' body was still glowing, and he managed to get his bearings. He was in a small, sandy chamber maybe ten feet wide. Cramped, wet, and smelling strongly of something akin to charcoal. The only exit was a metal door at one end.

"Hello?" a heavily accented voice whispered. And that's when Elias realized he was not alone in this small pocket of stone. # Your quest has been updated: find out what happened to the metal smith in the mountains to the south. Updated quest objective: survive. #