The Way Ahead

“You speak English?” Edwin blurted out, followed promptly by him choking over his own words and descending into a coughing fit. Smallbeard- Thrandin?- said something in Dwarven, and the librarian stroked the tip of his silver beard.

“Lost stranger, native language of… English, you said?” the last part was directed at Edwin, who managed to pause his coughing long enough to nod.

“Can I get some water?” he croaked out, “Sorry, I haven’t talked much lately.”

“Certainly. Thrandin, would you fetch a tankard of water for our guest here? He shall need his voice at full capacity. And a mug for myself. Much obliged.” He dismissed Thrandin- Edwin made sure to update his Almanac tag for him, no way he would remember that name otherwise- and turned back to face Edwin, motioning at a stone chair with some very comfortable-looking cushions on it, “Please, take a seat. I do foresee a very long conversation ahead of us.”

Relieved, Edwin sank into his chair, his legs in bliss upon finally being given a break. He was about to speak when a knock on the door yielded Thoro-Thrandin, Almanac already proving itself useful, bearing a metal cup filled with water and a black stone tankard full of some steaming liquid. Edwin gratefully accepted the metal mug as it was offered, and drank deeply, sputtering for a moment but recovering, “Sorry. I haven’t been able to get a solid drink in… I don’t know how long.”

“Truly? Sounds like a fascinating tale. First must come introductions, however. I am Rashin, the resident diplomat of Clan Blackstone, and you are?” Rashin- who Edwin took the chance to Identify as a ‘First Inheritor of the Blackstone Tapestry’- prompted.

“Edwin. Edwin Maxlin. How can you understand me, if you didn’t even know what English is? Is it a Skill?”

“Very astute of you. Indeed, I have the Polyglot skill, which enables myself to make myself understood by and to understand all languages. Very useful when examining the Records, and similarly excellent to have when, to provide a random example, a strange human speaking a strange language is found by a trader on the side of the road.” Rashin’s eyes sparkled like pale emeralds, “May I inquire as to what has brought you to the hallowed Blackstone halls?”

“Well…” Edwin hesitated, not really sure how much to divulge, “I woke up further down the mountain a few days ago, sort of wandered around for a little while, fled up the mountain in the battle a couple days ago, got stuck in a blizzard, then found the road leading to here. I was found on the road and brought up here…. Wherever ‘here’ is, anyway.” He shrugged.

“Interesting. So you don’t remember how you got here? Do you have any other holes in your memory?” Rashin sipped his drink, though Edwin had still yet to see the dwarf’s mouth. Did the drink go through his beard, or how did that work? Did he even have a mouth? Even Smallb Thorodan’s comparatively tiny beard still utterly hid the lower half of his face. How might that… oh wait, Rashin was waiting for an answer.

“Not really. I remember working one day, and then the next thing I knew I found myself in the middle of the woods.”

“Did you get any Paths that might help you know what happened?”

“World Traveler.”

“Truly? Were you teleported? You must have come a long way. I suppose you must have, I had never heard of this ‘English’ you speak prior to today. What continent did you come from?”

“Um, well, ah…” Edwin stumbled over his words before finally admitting, “I also got the ‘Realm Traveler’ path.”

“You came from a completely different world, then? Interesting, interesting. There are some who arrive upon Joriah from other worlds on occasion, though never many. It truly is fortuitous that you arrived here. Did you know of the existence of Clan Blackstone before today?”

“..No? How could’ve I?”

“I must ask. Do you intend to bring any harm upon Clan Blackstone as a whole or to any of its members?”

What kind of question was that? “No? Do you have a skill that lets you tell the truth from lies, by any chance?”

Rashin didn’t respond, though there might have been a smile buried underneath all that hair. Well, assuming he had a mouth, anyway. The possibly-mouthless dwarf took another sip of his drink before continuing, “Well. With such matters thusly dealt with, please, allow me to extend the hospitality of Clan Blackstone unto you. We can speak more of your experiences in the morning. For now, allow us to grant you cleaner clothes, a meal, and a bed. I presume all of those have been in short supply for you as of late?” Edwin mutely nodded, “Marvelous! Please, wait here, I shall make the appropriate arrangements.”

It didn’t feel like very long, but Rashin’s return did snap Edwin out from a doze, so it might have actually been quite a while. He chugged the rest of his water in one go and plodded along as Thrandin led him to a fairly spacious room, with a bunk inset into the wall, a stone table bearing some bread, cheese, and meats, and a large basin filled with steaming water and human-sized clothing sitting on the ledge. Thrandin, after ushering Edwin inside, turned and left, closing the door behind him.

Edwin tried the door- it wasn’t locked, fortunately, though he admittedly didn’t know what he could do if it was- and followed it up by devouring all the food on the table. He paid no mind to pacing himself, which he knew he’d regret, but it was the first amount of substantial food he’d had in so long.

Level Up!

Nutrition Level 3→5

Survival Level 9→10

Ooh. Perfect. That put Edwin at just above 60 skill points, and as he peeled off his mud-encrusted clothes, balefully eying the many, many holes poked into them, he dropped them all into his Skilled Arcanist path. As he sank into the steaming bathwater, he looked over his influx of notifications.

You may evolve your Basic Mana Manipulation skill into the Mana Infusion skill!

Accept Evolution? Y/N

Done!

…

Calculating Rewards…

Class Change!

Outsider Novice → Outsider Apprentice

You have completed the Skilled Arcanist path!

You have grasped the endless possibilities which magic makes available to you. Following this path will make you a force to be reckoned with as your skills grow in surprising and potent ways. With your every action now filled with the power of the arcane, all manner of possibilities lie within your grasp.

For continuing along a magical Path, your mana has increased!

Mana 4 → 5

For continuing along a magical Path, your mana has increased!

Mana 3 → 4

For continuing along a magical Path, your mana has increased!

Mana 2 → 3

For continuing along a magical Path, your mana has increased!

Mana 1 → 2

Huh. Did that increase every… 12 skill points? Might be worth putting points into Paths even before he could complete them, if that were the case. Mana Infusion sounded really interesting, and he couldn’t wait to try it out.

Mana Infusion

Is it magical? No? Well, why not?

Imbue magic into an object or skill

Density increases with level.

Imbue magic into an object or skill? That would be worth trying out. He tried using it, pushing magic into his bath, and felt a faint trickle of mana flow into the water. It wasn’t immediate, though the water did seem to become more relaxing the more mana infused it. Eventually, it seemed to hit some sort of cap, but it was still quite comfortable.

Level Up!

Mana Infusion Level 1→2

Eventually, Edwin started nodding off, but he caught himself before he fully fell asleep in the bath. With an absolutely titanic expenditure of will, he dragged himself out of the bath, toweled off and dressed in clean clothes (a plain, but clean, well made and comfortable cotton shirt and pants), and collapsed onto his bed.

He was asleep before his head even hit the pillow.

Level Up!

Sleeping Level 8→9

It was heavenly, sleeping in a real bed. Though Edwin was somewhat confused when he first woke up as to where he was, that was a small matter compared to what had to have been the best sleep of his life. He felt so well-rested it was amazing. Though the magical crystals embedded in the walls gave no indication of what time it was, it felt like morning and he was up and ready to go! He stretched and ventured out of his room. The blank hallways gave no indication of where to go, and he hadn’t been paying close enough attention last night to remember.

A few minutes of confused wandering later, one of the dwarves (a Skilled Blacksmith) he passed seemed to recognize him and waved him over. Up stairs, down stairs, through long hallways- were they trying to get him turned around? This was a maze!- and past many rooms, mostly with closed doors, others still open, allowing him to see a mix of bedrooms, larger halls, a few smithies, and a few half-filled with all kinds of weapons and armor. Eventually, he found himself back in Rashin’s room, who welcomed him back in and beckoned him to sit.

“I trust you have slept well, Edwin? And you upgraded your class! Marvelous. What skill did you get, may I ask?”

“I slept well enough, thank you” Edwin was offered a cup of something hot in a stone mug, which he accepted. It smelled a bit like tea. Tasted like it too, though his efforts to try it scalded his tongue. “I got Mana Infusion.”

“Ah! Marvelous. Well done. Magical skills are hard to come by yet are endlessly useful. So, tell me more of your story, if you wouldn’t mind? I am something of a scholar myself, and am always curious as to the tale of those who hail from distant lands.”

Well… there probably wasn’t any harm in it, and Rashin was clearly trustworthy enough to be open with some details. After a bit of consideration, Edwin shrugged and regaled most of his experiences since landing in Joriah, though he kept quiet as to the details about his Paths and skills on a hunch. It took a few hours, and other than a bit of disbelief and some amusement as Edwin reached his fight against the bus-sized Stonehide bear, Rashin merely sat back and occasionally prompted Edwin to continue his tale.

As Edwin reached telling about the fight between the two mages, Rashin flinched, “My deepest apologies regarding that. Xares, the neighboring emperor, attempted to make forays into the Highpeaks. I am not aware of the full details regarding what he was attempting to achieve, but King Shoroshal drove him off. They would have been the individuals you saw.”

Edwin paused, trying to digest that piece of information, “And the Highpeaks are this mountain range? Are there other dwarven famili-err, Clans, living here?”

Rashin raised his hand and tilted his head in a manner which Edwin couldn’t quite interpret, “Ah, naturally. You wouldn’t know. Indeed, the Highpeaks are where you stand now. Most of the inside is carved out, as is only right, but the Highpeak Kingdoms are the strongest dwarven nation on Joriah. Our borders stretch as far as the Second Deep and to every peak. There are over a hundred clans, each functioning akin to a surface city, and we, the Blackstones, alongside the Skyseekers, Woodcarvers, and Highpoint clans, function as the border cities.”

“I see. And the names?”

“Named for our founders. We are the Inheritors of the True Wielder of Blackstone’s legacy, for instance, hence the nature of our halls.”

Interesting. So this stone is magical in some way? Or is it the other way around, that their founder was really good at working whatever this is? Or is it just… hm, well I’m not sure why concrete wouldn’t be known to dwarves. It was known to the Romans, after all. A magically-advanced race with affinity towards stone would probably have no problems figuring it out.

“Blackstone? Is that like concrete, then?”

“Concrete?” Rashin suddenly seemed very interested, which made Edwin feel taken aback for a moment before he relaxed again, “Is that something from your homeland?”

“Yeah. It’s sort of like liquid stone, they use it to make all sorts of things. Buildings, roads, foundations, you name it. Super common.”

“Truly? Do you know how to make it?”

“Uhhh… it was water, sand, uhhhh…. Cement, and was there something else?” Edwin rapped on his forehead with his knuckles, racking his brain for the appropriate information, “I can’t remember.”

“Would you be capable of determining what goes into it, then?”

“Well… probably? It wasn’t something I spent that much time looking into- there were some really cool variants that were in development from what I remember, like self-healing or porous versions, but while my area of study does- did- overlap slightly with concrete development, it wasn’t much of an interest of mine. I might be able to make something similar, though? Why do you ask?”

“Oh, no reason.”

Edwin eyed the dwarven scholar, “You don’t have some super-secret monopoly over Blackstone, do you, and you’d have to kill me to preserve the secret about how it's made, do you?”

Rashin laughed, a hearty, full-body chuckle, “No, no. Nothing of the sort at all! Regardless, you are a guest under our full hospitality aegis. So long as you are under our roof and do not move to act against us, Clan Blackstone shall do you no harm.”

Seemed like there were some fairly large and obvious loopholes in that statment, but… okay? He was probably just being paranoid. So far, they had been perfectly kind and quite reasonable. This would be a perfect place for him to recover, learn a bit more about the world, and figure out his plans for the future.

What could go wrong?