It took some careful tunneling down to reach the site of our new home. What we could see from above was the magma pool at the center, where the lava stream falls in, but there was a vast open dome underground beneath the pillars.
The pool drains out through a perfectly round hole in the dome’s wall forming a large canal of boiling lava that leads out into the unknown. The walls were riddled with smaller round holes all over, except near the center on the top. Between the walls and the lava there was enough land to build a medium city around the pool.
Although the prospect of being attacked from tunnels by all sides and pressed with our backs against a painful fiery death wasn’t particularly appealing, there was no better place for the new magmahold since Barlimn and Bronar had already decided that the new temple of Grimnirr would be at Karak Brodunk. It was the first time we saw Bronar being more insistent than our Runefather on a dificult and dangerous endeavor.
A public contest was held for ideas on the defensive measures of the hold, which was decided to be the first priority for the building process. My colleague, Tjurom Ghurtongue, won the contest with the craziest idea (an apparent pattern for the Ironhewers). His idea was to divert most of the lava flow coming down from the summit into the earth, before it reaches the dome, forming a magma layer covering the dome’s inner wall from top to bottom. That would solve three problems: It creates a barrier against outside intrusion, it creates a curtain flow of lava when it reaches the canal serving as a gate, and thin down the flow of lava dropping in the middle of the pool.
The lava stream hits with such force that we could witness the formation of molten rock waves crashing against our land! That’s too much fire hazard, even for the Fyreslayers! Slowing down the lava fall was the first order of business.
A series of structures would be built partially blocking its path after entering the earth. After slowed down, the flow will be diverted sideways by an upside-down funnel placed 50 meters above the dome’s inner wall. All the soil at that distance away from the dome was already being dug out to form a 50-meter-thick inner layer between the magma and the dome, reinforced on both sides by basalt tiles.
Two great hollowed pillars touching both the ground and the ceiling were also being built with the stones we were digging out to strengthen the dome’s structure and provide a way up to the summit of the beacon. In conjunction with all that, all the holes in the wall had to be sealed shut else the lava would find its way inside the dome right above our heads. A point was made that the lava would still follow the tunnels outward. It was an instant consensus that this is the good kind of problem: not ours.
Several round seals started being build to plug the holes. All the even numbered ones bear a sculpture of Grimnir’s imposing face, and all the odd numbered ones, a sculpture of Vulkatrix’s terrifying head. Yes, they were numbered so, if something goes wrong with any of those, we can easily identify which. It will also feel really cozy in here with our gods all around us watching us instead of potential threats inside opened tunnels.
As soon as all that work started, we had visitors. Our contractor was at our doorstep. Well, 200 meters from it actually, where they left us last time. Daronoloch was his name, but he wasn’t alone. Most of the fiercest looking warriors from his clan came with him (they actually pulled the menacing look off despite being Aelves). A new face was among them though. A teenage looking Aelf mounted on a wolf. He looked flabbergasted to see Barlimn and Lugwyr approaching to greet them. To be fair, they all did. They weren’t expecting to see two duardins calmly strolling from the beacon towards them under a rain of lava that, apparently, refused to touch them. Lugwyr made it seem easy. Just raise you forgekey high and walk like you own the land you’re stepping on! To whoever had the experiencing of trying to bend magma to your will, seeing him deflect all of that without a single glance up was nothing short of watching a masterpiece in the making.
They met at the edge of the dead maw talked for a very brief moment and started heading back to the beacon accompanied by our visitors. Barlimn was showing them the inside of the dome and rambling excitedly about our construction plans for our home. No one thought that strange. We all saw those aelves as the unknowing conveyance of Grimnirr’s will, leading us here as they did.
It was a monologue, since all the Ghurneth were having trouble grasping what they were witnessing and couldn’t hide their perplexity. I don’t think they were used to seeing that many stone structures going up at the same time. Much less around and mingled with that much lava.
It went like that until they reached the great hall (the only structure with a roof, where we all sleep for now). The real talk started inside. Our little wolf rider was called Tyrilendra, a pretty motivated young girl that hates to be treated as such. It was good fun teasing her about it. Daronoloch and his mates were happy to join in on the fun, but they often crossed the fine line into the more offensive side of the banter. When Barlimn called them out on that they explained the situation.
The Denkeepers sending Tyrilendra was an insult to their clan. They wouldn’t normally send a young inexperienced envoy to contact an invader with an invitation (they do make an effort to say “newcomer”, but “invader” is still naturally blurted out most of the time). Apparently, they didn’t quite believe our friend’s claim that a formidable family of Magmadroth riding duardins were actually moving into the heart of the Great Maw’s Gathering.
Officially, the girl’s mission was to invite us to the hunt. In truth, as they do not believe we actually exist, they felt safe enough to send her on a trip to confirm Daronoloch was lying and head back. She gains experience, they avoid the drama of blatantly ignoring him and his clan and, since they believe there is no real mission, her inexperience can’t cause any diplomatic incidents.
The aelf spoke as if the girl wasn’t right by his side and we couldn’t help but notice de growing disappointment and shame in her eyes as he went on. Barlimn interrupted Daronoloch and asked him why would the Denkeepers disrespect them like that.
He briefly explained how the ghurneth tribes are arranged, then proceeded to tell us their spiritual beast was the Dreadmaw. A rare occurrence, which made them a small clan. It also brought them a fair amount of unwarranted grief, since many irrationally associate the Dreadmaw with the sinkholes common in the steppes. Every Ghurneth has bad memories about the sinkholes and some of that pain is projected on their clan. It’s felt as a hardly disguised disdain and dirty looks, but it is enough to make them feel like pariahs in their own society.
Barlimn nodded, signaling comprehension. He then turned to us and gestured a command to make ready all the “diplomatic protocols”, which means all the fancy stuff we usually only bring out to receive the Lumineth and the Colegiate Arcane folks.
Slarrack and Wurghor entered the hall drawing the attention of the visitors. They sat on each side of the throne at the end of the hall where Barlimn was already waiting. We should do that more often. The Runefather between the two battle-hardened magmadroths formed an imposing sight!
Bronar patted Tyrilendra in the back and, with a reassuring smile on his face, remembered her she had a job to do. She quickly changed her expression to a stern visage and joined the hearthguard who escorted her through the hall. She delivered the message like a true diplomatic envoy.
The hunt we were invited to was nothing impressive. A week worth of common game in the region. That clearly sounded as another insult in our Ghurneth friends’ ears. Barlimn didn’t look displeased though. He stood up, ordered the Droth Breeders to capture the beasts alive by the end of the other day. He then ordered us to build a cart with a cage to transport the beasts to Packhome. Tyrilendra would go back with a good story to tell, a beast handler’s gift and her mission accomplished.
At first light on the other day our hunting party assembled. Our guest insisted in accompanying them and no protest came from anywhere. After they left, Barlimn and Daronoloch engaged in further diplomacy. The end result of it being that, whatever happened, the standing contract would be considered fulfilled after this. Their clan would then cease to be our contractors and become our allies (which doesn’t impede future contracts).
No one let it show, but we realized soon before their arrival that we would need them more than we realized. Our position is great for our defenses, but it’s a logistical nightmare. Additionally, Tjurom’s design for the lodge solved too many problems to be revised now but we found a major downside. The lava layer around will stop us from using any cave system around us for growing food. Not many edible things grow in the dome’s cozy but extreme heat. We won’t be completely dependent, but we will need to trade, especially for food.
Well into the negotiations a large tremor was felt. It dropped some rocks and dirt over us but no major damage was done to any structures. Everything was settled between us and our new allies when the hunting party came back.
The Droth Breeders had the beasts they set out to catch, but looked a bit shaken. Tyrilendra started a spirited talk about some “great awakening” of sorts, which riled all the locals up. Apparently, the tremor that scared us here was a way scarier event outside of the Great Maw’s Gathering. Everybody left in a hurry to go back to their own. The Denkeeper’s emissary did go back with everything we planned to give her though, so we were free to take on new contracts and Packhome would soon know it.
It took less time than we expected to see our little emissary again. This time she wasn’t alone though. A much more imposing Aelf overshadowed her mounted on a mighty Rhinox. Barlimn and Bronar went out there to receive them, but this time our visitors didn’t accompany them inside. They talked briefly right there. The new face introduced herself as Ashori. She then mostly kindly gestured acknowledging Tyrilendra’s every word. They made a formal apology and brought an invitation to the court of warlords.
After our leaders returned from the event, we had a very vague contract with Huntmaster Sylai that mentioned we joined the hunt for the Great Awakening. The most talked about subject though was Barlimn’s reaction when someone suggested he should discover which was his spiritual beast. The thought of someone even considering that our spiritual beast could be anything other than a Magmadroth never crossed his mind. He ended up taking the suggestion as a joke, laughed out loud and shrugged off the subject. That lead to a lot of baffled faces, some really angry ones and one of the most amusing desperation: Tyrilendra’s. Then we had to hear a reenacting of Bronars one hour speech about our spiritual link with magmadroths that defused that situation.
