Unknown Kin

Introduction

The Unknown Kin was a dwarven clan which lived somewhere north in the Long Neck. Nobody knew where they went, they only left their homes, resources and knowledge behind. And dangerous artefacts.

They left without a trace, not even their name is known to this date. In the following lines we follow the tale of Guran Zursh, a dwarven mage with his contractor Pederslen Lokare, a noble dwarf with a certain amount of curiosity.

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I thought it was a job like every job before. Consult some high-up-nose dwarf with whatever he wants to, collect my fee and do the next job.

But this one...this was different. Not in terms of contract, no. It was pretty easy. This guy, Pederslen Lokare, funded an entire mining operation, probably from his petty cash. He thought beneath those really dark rocks there might be an entire stash of gems or maybe a vein of gold.

But no. The drill broke through a wall nobody had seen or found beforehand. One of the mining assistants might now lose his job. Or not, because the drill opened the wall without resistance and drilled right through an entire stash of explosives.

You can imagine what happened to the drill, some of the dwarfs, and the rest of the wall.

"What are you doing?" Pederslen asked and shoved himself to my right side.

"Preparing." I muttered, looking through my spell books and my flasks, trying to decide what I need. My assistance was limited and my assistant got squashed by a rock the other week and I had no time to organise an equivalent replacement.

"For what?"

"For whatever lies behind this hole, ma dear Pederslen." He was really going on my nerves, his beard drenched in beard oil and the highly expensive Brass Dye. It smelled really good, but disturbed my concentration and showed me again, how low I was and how he holds my life in his hands.

"Do you except something behind the hole?"

"You don't?" I asked him directly, pointing at the hole which we could see through the opening in the tent. "Your miners opened a wall where no wall should be, ya? Your miners detonated an entire stash of something explosive. And maybe, whatever lies and lives in there, might be a little bit upset about the disturbance."

"If something is living there." he said in a tone that indicated whatever he sees is nothing more than an ant under his boot.

"Exactly. So, my noble friend, when in this cave something decides to bite you and gnaws away your arm from your body, then I want to be prepared either to blast it to pieces or to rescue whatever is left from you. I am not your guard, I am a mage."

"I am not your friend, Guran." he hissed with the tone of a man who normally gets whatever he wants.

"And I am not one of your servants." I packed three of my books, with hooks and everything a respectable mage needs and filled one bag with my standard mixtures, the other bag holds blank paper, ink and quill, coal sticks, a knife for eating, oil and some crystals which emitted a faint blue light. One of my pricier possessions. And last but not least a few more bags, folded and ready to be filled with whatever might strike our fancy.

"You know I can buy your entire family?"

"I know that. Sorry, but you asked for my opinion and you pay me for my services. If you are not satifsfied with my answers to your questions, we might not get along. So, to answer your question: I prepared for everything living behind this wall up to the size of a Troll. I prepared for blood poisoning, for a rock avalanche and magical traps.

I prepared for cold and hot environments, darkness, blinding light, runic inscriptions, test samples of water, insects, artefacts and holes in the ground. I do have some medical stuff with me, but if one of us breaks his leg, we are in trouble. Are you satisfied with this answer?"

"I am, but you address me with Sir, Sir Lokare, Master or Master Lokare. Not friend, not with my first name or any other shenanigans your small brain might come up with. Are we clear, Mage?" He said that in a voice as cold as ice. He could buy my entire family, enslave them, ship them away or force them to work in his mines and other nasty things, but I couldn't resist.

"Yes Sir, Master Lokare, Sir!"

He groaned, his feisty fingers playing with the shiny rings. He had two rings per finger which was an unusual amount for a normal dwarf, but for nobility? Well... he won't work a normal day in his life, of that I am sure. The fine leather shoes, the high quality robe in the colour of a sapphire, his gold chains around neck and shoulders and the Mithril chainmail were another indicator of that.

It was this moment I wanted him to explode, the spell in my mind, but I could resist. For the moment. His pay was way above my normal fee and I doubt that he would know anything about reasonable prices.

"Let us begin."

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The hole was large. The edges were sharp, blown away by whatever explosives were stored away behind it. Dust had settled in, so we probably won't need our masks. Most of the mining assistants had cleared the hole of the rubble so we only needed to go through while trying not to stumble.

Someone had managed to drill some smaller holes into the sides of the gaping opening and attached torches to it. Good idea, it could be that some other storage of explosives was nearby so we would go out with a loud bang. My favourite death.

I hold up my dimmable lamp so we could see something. At first I only saw the ruins of what was presumably some kind of a large warehouse. I could smell the faint smell of a mixture I was using myself and could see the rests of a lab or at least something in this direction.

"I think I know what happened." I turned around to Pederslen who looked like he stepped into some poo. He was not used to dirtier environments then his own closet, which made me happy inside. "Your drill hitted a lab or the house of a curious mind and destroyed a flask with an impact-sensitive mixture. No warehouse of explosives, just a lab."

"Oh, just the lab of a mad dwarf with impact-sensitive ... whatever that means." growled the noble dwarf, tried to clean his blue robe and made it worse with every movement of his hand. "Is it over?"

"In this house? Yes, probably. One can't never be sure. Maybe there is a basement full of corrosive liquids, the same mixture which blew up the house or maybe some entrails of innocent children in preservating liquids in large glasses."

The dwarf in front of me turned a bit pale around the nose. His beard was short - for a dwarf at least - and had some really interesting beads in it. I wanted some of that. Maybe they were custom made, but even then I could do with a cheap replica. Not fully made out of gold, an alloy would suffice as well.

"Are you fucking with me, mate?" His voice turned into some kind of fire. He had a spine, aha.

"No, Sir. Saw it once myself. Not a good way to start the day, really."

"Go forth, we have no time."

We have all time in the world, mate, I thought, looked around and as I saw that the rest of the walls would hold - at least for the next few days - I stepped carefully out of the remains of what was a doorframe.

"Can't you conjure up light?" demanded the noble behind me and I sighed.

"Yes, Sir, but it would cost me a huge amount of energy and we might be defenseless if something is going to happen. I fear, my lamp is the only source of light right now." That wasn't the truth, but what did this nosey child know about the veil and the energy behind it?

Right, nothing.

I held up my lamp, but couldn't see... wait. I smelled oil. Not the normal oil we put in lamps, no, it was this slow-burning oil of... could it be?

I turned left, a barked "Oi!" behind me. But he wanted light, maybe I could fulfill his dream and aaaah, there it was. The blue-shimmering oil of the Stonekin, our ancestors and actual the biggest clan of all.

"Gotcha, mate!" I shouted, muttered a small spell. The orange flame from my fingertip did a small Whoosh and ignited the rest of what remained of the blue oil. The flames which emerged were blue as well and easy on the eyes.

"Oh." I heard from the noble arse behind me as the flames followed the small channel, rising higher and higher, making sharp turnes and finally igniting giant braziers, hanging from walls and the ceiling dozens of meters above us.

"That is not costing much energy." I grinned at him and pointed at the braziers. "Old tech, so to speak. The Stonekin created that oil, you should be familiar with it."

"Indeed I am." The dwarf looked around. "We are in a city."

"We are, yes." I looked around and was flabbergasted by what I was seeing. We stood in a city, that was correct. But it was unlike any human, elvish or dwarven city I stood in the last couple decades. It was built into the sides of a huge sinkhole, I would say, the houses cuddling with small roads, huge rocks and stalactites, all built in a way that they looked like naturally formed.

"Is this...dwarvish?" asked Pederslen sheepishly, looking around with wide open eyes and probably calculating what was more worth: an entire new - or old - city or the gems or gold he hoped he would find.

"It isn't elvish or human. And the buildings are not tall enough. We were lucky not to stumble into...whatever lies in this hole." I carefully shoved myself to the edge and looked down. What I saw was dark as a trolls arsehole and a small red dot way beyond. Maybe magma? Whatever it was, was deep below us. Really fucking deep.

"Those are runes." Pederslen walked to a stone which marked something since it was covered in ancient runes and it had arrows engraved into it, pointing in three directions.

"It's in Ancient Dwarvish..."

"Oh, what does it say?"

"It says... 'office of taxation to your left'."

"Really?"

"No, you bloody idiot, what makes you think I can read Ancient Dwarvish? Just because I can tell when something is a language doesn't mean I can read it. I know what Illembic Elven looks like too, but I can't read that, can I? You daft git."

"But...but you are a Scholar? A mage even?"

"So? Does that make every Scholar all-knowing? Do I look like Kamhandur to you?"

"No?"

"Damn right, I don't. I do not have his wit, his shiny copper skin or his memory and wisdom. I am me so shut it and get to work!"

"Wait- if you don't know languages, why are you here?"

"I'M HERE IN CASE THERE'S WEIRD MAGIC STUFF, YOU IMBECILE! YOU HIRED ME!"

"I THOUGHT YOU KNEW WEIRD MAGIC LANGUAGES!"

I groaned, rubbed my forehead which starts to throb. "I do know languages, but there is only one language of magic and those are the runic ones, aye? Did you walked straight into a workshop and dumped yourself into his dye? Can't you think straight for one second?"

"Choose your next words carefully, Guran, they might be your last words in freedom." His voice was ragged after all the unnecessary screaming at each other. What a big softie and not in a good way. Fucking nobility. Eventually I will be nobility of my own, but before this day might emerge out of the darkness I will destroy him and his entire fucked up family.

I took a deep breath and looked around, my arm pointing in different directions. "We... you and your miners found a city. A city built by an unknown dwarven clan. A city so old not even my school knew about them."

"This is good?" Greed twinkeled in his eyes and I was so, so, so close to throw him of the ridge and into what appeared to be a sleeping volcano.

"Depends." I turned off my lamp so I wouldn't waste any drop of my precious high quality oil, looking around. I didn't lie as I said I could read magical languages which was only the normal runic alphabet, but whatever script the dwarves down here were using, I couldn't make any sense of it. Which was really unusual, since every clan had only small differences in script and dialect, but an entire different language? This was confusing and it stirred something in my mind; something besides my normal curiosity.

Following the path upwards with my eyes I saw a building. It was large, had huge pillars and two generic stone statues of a dwarven warrior, each at one side of the entrance. It looked like an official building or a temple, I wasn't sure.

Without noticing Pederslen I took the path upwards, away from him, his greedy eyes and grin and the gaping hole of the probably sleeping volcano. I didn't smell any sulfur or something like that, but that might not mean anything.

"Hey, where are you going? Guran? Wait on me, you dumb slob of a mage!"

Eh, fuck you, really. I could conjure up some fire or maybe a bit of wind to throw you off-balance and then I get charged for murder. You lucky bastard.

"We are here, aren't we?" I yelled back over my shoulder. "There is something up ahead and it looks like a temple or a palast. Maybe the house of an official. It could give us some clues why this city is so tidy and utterly lifeless."

"Why is this important?" The noble dwarf was already breathing harder and it was not a steep walk, not in the slightest. "You think there might be something valuable in it? Like coins, gold or gems? Maybe some metal?"

"Right...well, depending on your definition of 'valuable' we might find something. It could be valuable to you or to me or the other scholars. Maybe we find a lot of dust and huge pile of corpses, who knows? Would be interesting to see a mass grave, aye?"

"You have a morbid sense of humour, you know that, right?"

"Of course. That might be the reason you hired me. Crooked people in our crooked minds." I grinned and added "Sir".

"What? I am not crooked in any way!" he exclaimed loudly, his voice echoing through the empty streets. No wagons, no rubble, no...anything. Just dust and that was only a really thin layer. The buildings looked like they were cleaned and abandoned for whatever reason. The air was clean - besides the dust - and I could breathe really well and it was fresh. As if there was a vent where the air got changed and not preserved the city in an airless space.

Fascinating.

The heavy breathing noble Pederslen at my side we reached the giant doors of what I thought was a temple. Runes in the script of the Ancient Dwarvish were carved into the two sides of the double-door and the pillars holding it. Even the statues had the same script written around their basis. The door was closed. No, not closed.

Sealed.

"Oh. Hm." I got closer to the door and found the obligatory sigil to release the seal. It was not that I could...

"So you can read weird magic language!" shouted the furious Pederslen and stepped closer. I was ready to defend myself with a nice little spell which might call his beard non-existent, in that moment both of the doors started to glow in a faint green light and opened, creaking and cracking, dust swirled a bit around the edges, light coming out of what lied behind the doors.

"I can read runic language, you... Sir." I resented from insulting him further, but it was a close call. "No, it was an universal sign which every scholar and mage can read. Shall we enter, Master?"

"You go first." he said with a small movement of his eyes to the now gaping entrance. He feared what might lie behind those doors.

Coward. A dwarf knows now shame, no retreat and no fear. He was nobility through and through, with every cowardish drop he could muster. And it was a lot, if one would ask me.

I sighed and took a look into the chamber behind the doors. To me - our - surprise the room was not dark. It was well lit with crystals and shimmering artefacts, hanging in iron hooks or lying on iron beds like an altar. It was a huge collection of swords, crystals, crowns, jewelry and...pillars?

"Oh, that is valuable!", the greedy Pederslen cried out and jumped right to action, gathering what I might could clamb with his soft hands, but I managed to get him at the back of his blue robe.

"We should go!" My eyes flickered over the runic inscriptions I could read and every drop of warmth left my body. It was like a freezing storm in here.

"Why?" Pederslen freed himself with more force then I anticipated and he stood in front of a pillar with a sword beside it. "That is the greatest found I had made to day. That is so valuable, that I could buy myself off my family. It is..."

"IT IS A FUCKING PRISON, YOU DUMB SLUMP OF A MORON!" I shouted at the flabbergasted noble, grabbed him at the front of his chainmail and pulled. "We should never have come here. Run, you fat sack of gold!"

"What are you calling me?" He didn't even flinched and that was kinda impressive, when the runes were inactive. But they weren't and so I couldn't think about more than a fast "Run, you imbecel!" and fired up all six of my defensive spells around us. Runes appeared out of thin air, glowing around us, forming different kinds of shields. Some reactive, some moving and bending and some so strong and unmoving, that they could hold off a barrage of trebuchet projectiles.

I hope it was enough. I pulled from the outerdimensional energy as much as I could and fired my fastest and strongest offensive spells in the rough direction of the temple, hopefully holding off whatever might now come out of it.

The spells hitted. Something. The cacophony of crackling energy, bursting rocks and loud growling behind me - I hoped that was the collapsing temple - alarmed the miners at the giant hole in the wall.

"Outta way!" I shouted and with a jump I was surprised I could do I landed on the other side of the wall and hoped that it was enough.

For me it was. As I turned around Pederslen Lokare, my contractor, jumped the last meters - that he even could jump was a surprise to me - and got stuck in midair.

"What?" he muttered, then small lines of energy connected to his body, his fingers, toes, arms, legs and head. He was so confused, couldn't understand what was happening to him. But I could. I saw the runes and brought up every spell which was a barrier or something like that and closed the hole behind a shimmering layer of light.

Not a moment too late. The chief miner screamed and wanted to get rid of the layers of light. Someone wanted to shake me, but I only could say words like "I couldn't help him" and "It is better that way" as the energy lines tore the dwarf appart, limb by limb. Blood spluttered to the ground, the screaming didn't stop for a while. Me and the miners watched, helpless and shocked.

I knew what was happening.

We never should have come here.