Prologue

The sounds of picks and hammers echoed throughout the walls of the mine. This mine was just one of an uncountable similar mines buried deep in the Jibalhadid Mountains. The hills were famously rich with iron, the life blood of insuring armies are well supplied with weapons and armor. Once word had gotten out of the rich veins that littered the mountains it wasn’t long until every mining company in the land poured into Alrradinia, bringing with them great wealth.

Alrradinia used to be a rarely visited country lying across the Haf Sea, inhabited primarily by the Alnaas, a tanned people fully accustomed to the harsh desert environment. There were no settlements larger than a few thousand people. The remoteness and sparse population also made it attractive to anyone trying to leave a life behind for whatever reasons they had.

Everything changed once the massive amount of iron was discovered within the Jibalhadid Mountains. Alrradinia became a place where someone could make their fortune. Almost overnight people of all sorts began to flock there. The port city of Minahit quickly became the largest city in the land. Trade ships came in by the dozens everyday with folks looking for work or trading companies setting up new routes. The population of Alrradinia ballooned faster than anyone could have imagined.

With all of the new businesses that came into the country work became easy to find. Mines need workers, security and caravans. Durindear Orehood was one such worker who was skilled enough to become a foreman. Hailing from Heiderge, a massive dwarven city under the Berge mountains on the mainland, he was naturally an experienced miner and his family line in particular was gifted at finding strong veins beneath the stones. Once the news of the iron in Alrrandina came to Heiderge he decided, like many did, to try and make a name for himself and to bring honor to the name Orehood for his family.

The family gift for mining seemed to have also come to Durindear, the mine he was foreman of always seemed to produce significantly more ore than most mines along those mountains.

Durindear mulled over his ledgers. They were filled with data tracking which sections of his mine were producing and what shipments were going and what to expect coming in. “I need to redirect tunnel three” he thought to himself, while buried in his numbers. He closed his eyes and slowly released a deep long breath. Durindear could picture, clearly, how tunnel three terminated. He saw the wall wrapping around and his men hollowing out the mountain all around them. He focused his mind harder, his intuition brought his sight to a yet untouched portion of the walls. Suddenly, with the sound of heavy booted steps that came up the stairs to his side that lead to the top of his over-watch platform, he is snapped back to reality.

Durindear already had known exactly whom was coming for him. Only one worker was large enough to make so much noise.

”Hello Urom,” Durindear called out without opening his eyes.

“Sorry to disturb you sir but the crew in tunnel two have come across something strange,” said Urom, cautiously.

“Strange how?” Durindear said, still concentrating. He hoped it was a new ore vein of a metal they weren’t expecting. Gold would be nice.

“Well they were digging and a surprisingly large chunk of the wall came off”, Urom replied.

He slowly opened his eyes and turned toward Urom. Before Durindear stood a massive half-­​orc. Urom wasn’t as large as you’d expect but working in the mines had kept his figure lean and strong. “That’s what their payed to make the wall do” replied Durindear annoyed.

“This was different than usual," stammered Urom." Despite being almost three times Durindear’s size, Urom had seen the dwarf’s fury in person before and he didn’t want that rage directed toward him."The men were hammering and digging when a huge slab of the wall just tore away. And they found something.” Urom said nervously.

“I don’t have time for this Urom. What do I need to know?” Durindear had quickly grown impatient when realizing his man was being slow with the truth.

“Of course sir.” Urom quickly replied. “Behind the earth we dug out there appears to be a worked wall with writing on it,” he finished.

This was indeed strange to Durindear, he did not know of any structures being found in the mountains before. A puzzled look came across his face. He understood that things were normally buried away like this for very good reasons. But he couldn’t make a proper assessment without seeing this anomaly first hand. “Ok Urom, take me to this wall and we’ll figure out what we’re dealing with,” said Durindear, although he didn’t know how much help he would be. He was worried about this unexpected discovery slowing him from meeting his deadlines.

As they walked, Durindear felt calmed by his surroundings. Torches and lamps ran along the dug pit walls and support beams. Their glow gave the mine a warm feel. Soft orange light encased everything in the mine. The clanging of picks produced a sound that made him feel at home. Durindear was never more at home then when deep within some hillside. He understood the stone.

He began to notice though, that his workers seemed distracted. Upon approaching the proper entrance of tunnel two he realized there was beginning to be more muttering between miners than the sound of metal to stone. Word of the discovery was working its way through his mine without a doubt. He needed his men to regain their focus.

“If any of you cause me to miss my quotas or time frame I will personally toss you into whatever pot of the Nine Hells we’ve found down here,” reassured Durindear. The sound of picks started to ring clear throughout the tunnel. The miners had been properly motivated now.

As they approached the end of the tunnel Durindear, could see a group of miner clumped together, too engaged with what they’ve found to notice his arrival. Durindear could hear their speculation and guesses at the meaning of the discovery. He couldn’t imagine what they could have found to completely enthrall his crew. Durindear began to grow nervous.

“Alright lads step aside” bellowed Durindear, “let’s see what you’ve found!”

Durindear startled the pre­occupied herd of miners. They split apart, allowing him clear access to the wall. He inquisitively approached the end of the tunnel and started to make out the symbols. Upon reaching the wall he came in close for a proper inspection of the runes and glyphs. Durindear studied the uncovered wall for several minutes and came to a single concrete conclusion. “I have no idea what this means,” he spoke aloud and was surrounded immediately by a dozen or so frustrated gasps of men whom were holding their breath. The fact that he could not make any conclusion of what his men had found only concerned him greater.

"What do you want us to do?" came from a voice in the crowd. But Durindear was far to occupied to notice.

With a perplexed look on his face he stated blankly at the wall, and let out a low grumble, barely audible by those around him. Dusting himself off, Durindear slowly stood up, bracing himself against the wall. "As much as I hate to say it," he groaned, " we need to contact the proper historians in Minahit and let some one a little more learned than I have a proper look over this place." Some men didn’t understand why Durindear hadn’t just ordered them to tear into the mountain further. Just because he always seemed to put the job first didn’t mean he didn’t know certain things required respect.

"I’ll assign some men to head into the port right away," Urom offered.

"That’ll do Urom, thank you," replied Durindear. He then shot out a hand and pointed at two men in the gathering. "You two, would you be so kind to fetch my personal digging equipment?" Without any discussion they snapped to and were off out of the crowd heading back down the tunnel.

Durindear quickly addressed the rest of the group, splitting them up and dispersing them to other sections of the mine. No reason to not work. After a few minutes of waiting the men he had tasked with collecting his things returned with the finest pick either man had ever held and a bag filled with other supplies for proper digging.

"Ah, I thank you greatly gentlemen," Durindear lauded upon seeing their return. "It’s been quite a while since I took real swings in a mine." Durindear pulled his pick from the hands of its courier and admired it as if it was his newly delivered child, which Durindear had none of. Upon a cursory inspection by anyone but Durindear, it appeared to be an ordinary, if obviously finely made, pickaxe. But for Durindear it was the pride of his family. The axe had been given to him by his father when he left Heiderge to help him on his way. In the head was etched his family seal. When he used such an honorable tool Durindear felt that he could swing it harder and for longer periods than with any other. Durindear directed the two men where they could continue working and turned to the wall.

"Your secrets will not remain hidden from me," he spoke at the obstruction as though it would just move aside, worried from the threat.

Repeatingly cleaving the wall made Durindear feel whole again. It was as if something Durindear hadn’t realized was missing came rushing back into him. He dug away and with every strike of his pick he felt reinvigorated and compelled to strike again. He fell blow after blow against the wall, exposing more of the hidden structure beneath it with every hit. It had been years since he had this kind of energy, and it started to draw attention.

None of the men had ever seen him pick up his tools, let alone actually use them. After a while a small crowd started to gather, to witness their foreman hard at work. They could not turn away. It was mesmerizing. When Durindear finally took a breath it came with a chorus of rowdy cheers and applause. The dwarf turned redder than most would have thought possible and let out a laugh like a roar.

"Alright you lot, get back to your tunnels!" Durindear waved off the crowd and sat down as they dispersed back into the depths of the mine. He thought for a moment he heard the word "amazing" in their mutterings as they continued on.

Durindear sat momentarily for a well deserved rest and he relished in the work he had done. After taking a long swig from his water jug to settle the dry dust now accumulated in his throat, Durindear never felt more alive. He took another long draw from his jug when something dark caught his eye. A hole. There appeared to be a small, impossibly dark, spot protruding from the edge of the yet to be removed wall.

Durindear sprang to his feet and charged the wall with his family pick and with a fury like he had never felt before and a renewed vigor ten fold, he began to rain blows upon the wall. With disregard for everything else around him Durindear tore into the wall like a wild beast.

Durindear slammed his pick into the wall over and over revealing a larger and larger hole with each hit. He worked tirelessly, paying no attention to how long he had been working, or the exhaustion starting to set into his muscles. After nearly an hour of work done with the force of will that would have caused most miners to collapse, and probably need medical attention, Durindear stood in front of a mostly exposed gateway. He had uncovered what was clearly an archway leading deeper into the mountain. The room exposed was so vast that not even Durindear, with his dwarven eyes which are made for such places, could see to the other end.

Durindear took a step back in disbelief. Upon looking up and around the now exposed archway it seemed fairly plain. He could tell that it was expertly cut from the natural wall. The edges were sharp and exact, the surfaces beautifully smoothed. He could not see any discerning markings, save for a singular large one etched into the keystone at the top of the opening. It was far too gone to the ravages of time though and had become indecipherable.

Durindear stood at the mouth of this vast structure and he could feel that a strange energy emanated from within. He suddenly grew cold and his breath appeared before him, not a common occurrence in the center of a mountain range that stretched through a desert. This room led to darkness, of this he was certain. What he was uncertain of was why he now stepped inside.

Next Chapter: Chapter 1 - Pint and Pony