Chapter 31 Happenings

My Mind was traveling faster than my feet as I try to think of everything we need to accomplish before this war starts. If we can slow it down and buy ourselves more time, we may be able to even stop it from happening. But there needs to be an order of operations. First, we need to get out to Holden, not only to talk about some projects, but to figure out what sort of guard may be at the gate out. This may be the best way to get Dani out of the city and we will need to pay attention for that. I may have been furiously thinking, but before I could finish my to do list, we were already at the closest city gate from Holden's engineering compound.
With Just myself and Melfina, we were able to get through the gate with the crowd moving at a steady pace. All matter of foot traffic and carts were moving about, and while it wasn't a massive throng of people, it was steady enough. Clocking where the guards were, and how many were checking things, we moved out of the city to the compound. It was a good distance out, far enough that the exodus had spread out and we arrived alone.
A flash of light off metal catches my eyes, and I spot the Dragonborn I had seen here before. A bronze, I can see that she has numerous bits of what looks to be iron or steel attached to her head crest. Having seen other races do the same with hair, it comes off quite nicely for this particular individual. Wearing overalls and a sleeveless shirt, she is busy unloading a cart we had seen heading out of the gate before us. Since we aren't here to talk to them anyway, we head to Holden's office to see where he is.
Over the next ten days I would repeat the trip nearly every day, sometimes with different members of the group. I had told Holden the first day what projects I wanted to work on, and when he had wanted drawings made up I was forced to come back and explain them. Holden's mind was like a vice, and he was able to latch onto my ideas, and improve upon them, but always had something new to try out every day. Often talking to himself frantically for several minutes, he would dismiss me only to call me back as I made my way for the door. Eventually we made a deal that I would bring out some of my metal working tools, and he would help me with my projects. The trips out to meet with him served as an excellent time for reconnaissance, figuring out when the guard would be the busiest, and what they seemed to check for the most. It gave us enough time to make a plan, and gather the supplies needed.
On the fifth day of going to the compound, the Bronze Dragonborn introduced herself. She had just come out of the compounds dinning hall from what they called “family meal”, she was in the same overalls from before, with a different shirt on, once again with no sleeves. With a lightning quick smile, she told Rorin (who had come with me that day) and I that her name was Bellia Lightner. One of the engineers here, she had seen me coming and going, and figured it would be nice to meet. On the eighth day we ended up talking with her for a couple hours after meeting with Holden. Well, I talked with her. Marda had come along for some measurements, and to be the other scout at the gate. While I was talking with Bellia, Marda found some halflings to chat with. Bellia had been out here in the compound for sometime, finding that the city had never been all that welcoming, With the ability to get up in the middle of the night and continue work should inspiration hit, it was more suited for her.
On the eleventh day I stayed in the city, and while working on other things, we finalized our plan to get Dani out of town. She had clearly started to go a bit around the bend being cooped up for all this time. We had wanted to go sooner, but until I could work things out with Holden, I had no reason to bring out a whole wagon load of things. Dani would appear before us as various different people, sometimes with features that were still her own. Taking on different personas, she started confusing them, talking like a street urchin while looking like an old gentleman. We knew she needed to get out fast. So on the twelfth day from talking with Garnet, we enacted our plan.
The late morning sky looked like a turtle shell quilt. Clouds, gray and puffy, covered the sky in most places like giant squares of cloth. Rays of sunshine poked out between the seams, and lent little light, but no extra warmth. While not a frigid day, it was cool enough for the others to wear their cloaks close. We had all eaten a nervous breakfast together, spicy sausages and sweet rolls. I think it was meant to be something like the going away dinner for Mr. Corbin, but it didn't have the same feel. We had filled one of Rorin's covered wagons with supplies from my shop, and hidden Dani within, using some of her magic to cover her. Marda rode in the back while Melfina and I guided the horse in the front. Rorin was there as well, but with his own cart. Having purchased a cart full of cabbages, he then disguised himself as the same vendor, though maybe a bit shorter. He was to be our distraction. When we got the gate, the guards would have stopped us and made sure we weren't taking anything out we shouldn't. Rorin was supposed to run into someone, tip over his cart and cause a big fuss. The gate guards would hopefully want to clear the road quickly instead of looking over someone that was so obviously bland as I. When the plan went off, and cabbages spilled out, two guards did approach us, but when they looked at me, they paled slightly. I am not sure if it was the nerves, or the spicy sausages getting to me, but I could feel smoke rising from my nostrils. I guess they didn't want bother someone who may be having a bad day, and decide to breathe fire on those who bothered him. Waving us through, I only looked back once I felt we were a far enough distance. When I did look back, Marda mouthed the words, “She had a tail” at me. Apparently Dani had been just as nervous as I had.
Getting to Holden’s compound, Bellia was there to greet us, and before looking over he cart told us that Bridgette was here, along with Captain Velma. Looking a bit perplexed, Bellia asked, “do I want to know?”
Mouth open, I look to the others before answering. “No. No you probably don’t.”
With a shrug, she responds, “Fair enough. Are you going to stay for family meal?”
“Sure”. I respond. Mostly talking for myself, if the others don’t want to stay, I won’t make them. “Let me get this done first, then I’ll be back to eat.”
Waving her off, we moved to unload the cart in the privacy of Holden’s workshop. With Bridgette and Velma inside, like we were told, we quickly bid farewell to Dani, and wished them all a safe trip. With the plan of leaving for the other continent, if we ever see her again, it won't be a long time. Unless Garnet can get her tower back.
An odd feeling came over me. I had felt some special emotional attachment to her, and when we had come back to town just a couple weeks ago, I was ready to kill half the guard if need be to save her. They were complex emotions I would have liked to explore, but there was no time for that with her. But it meant that I was capable again of feeling them. With the knowledge that she would be safe and free once more, I set out with the ladies in tow to find a good meal.
We sat down to the family meal to something that had been once described to me. Spaghetti. Long strands of noodles, covered in a thick red tomato sauce, with large meatballs. Max and I had once tried long butter noodles. Without lips, it had been…messy. It had ended with me cutting the noodles into smaller, less slippery bites, and shoveling them directly from the plate into my mouth. Max had been laughing so hard he had a couple noodles coming out of his nose at the end of the night. The spaghetti was quite a bit messier, but Bellia showed me a trick she had figured out. Spinning her fork, she then snaked her tongue into the center of the noodle ball, replacing the fork. Curling the tongue back up, she was able to effectively eat the noodles with minimal effort. It only took me a few tries, and by the time the meal was up, I decided I should exercise my tongue a bit more if I wanted to try similar foods.
In the next few days I would find myself to be even busier. Holden and I agreed to get together a few times a week to work on my projects. At least three times a week I would make the trip out, and work for the day in the compound. At the end of those days I would find myself spending time with Bellia, sitting next to her at the Family meal, and maybe even walking with her after we ate. She didn’t like going into the city, so we would walk around the compound, talking of her family, both biological and the new family she had found here. One night I had expressed my frustrations with the coming war. After talking about it for a couple days, she introduced me to others who had expressed similar dissatisfied thoughts. Deciding that night to do something about it, a small group was formed.
While continuing to spend time with Bellia, and going to Holden’s, I was still working back at the shop. I had approached Vlad about a problem I wanted solved. I didn’t want anyone coming after the shop, with or without me there. Really, I didn’t want anyone going after Leona, but I didn’t want to say that in front of her. So I had requested of Vlad to Find a guard who had been with him for a long time, someone he knew that could be trustworthy. The next day I found an elderly Human man standing outside our front door, dressed in a guards outfit. Samiel Smith, as he was called, explained to me that Vlad had to him “ole’ Druss” would tell him stories, and provide all the water he could need if he just hung around the shop. It turned out that Sam had come from a family of blacksmiths himself, and could follow just about everything we worked on. He didn’t mind the noise, telling us it was quite soothing, he was exactly what I had wished for, and I told Vlad I would make his kid a shield for free when they came of age. Five is a good age for that right? Without the stress of having to constantly watch the shop, it freed me up to work on more things. And it brought a sense of normalcy back.
While I was working on projects for Rorin and Marda at Holden’s, I had things to work on here at the shop too. Leona was ready for the test for journeymen Smith, and I had every intention of getting her to that rank. I had a few things I wanted to use the Blue dragonscale armor for, and I suggested a project for her to work on. While I adjusted the dragonscale suit to be a breastplate for Marda, I had to pull off the sleeves and bottom few rows of scales. I had promised a buckler for Aurane, but I never said I had to make it. I gave Leona an idea for the buckler, and set her to it. A normal buckler is easy enough, but incorporating other material into it, adding to the functionality can be harder. Putting a dragonscale motif into the center steel, she then heated it, and brushed it with a brass bristle brush, adding a brass sheen to the otherwise steel scales. Taking some of the spare blue scales, she set them into the edge of the buckler making a blue border. The scales probably wouldn’t be enough to keep lightning from hurting the user, but the scales would catch a blade, keeping it from simply sliding off.
With the spare scale sleeves and leggings, I crafted an arm guard, similar to those I had seen arena fighters use. Layered rows of scales were placed to keep the guard flexible, but tough. I had enough to cover my arm, but not enough left over for use of anything more really. So I set the remaining material aside to be used as special decoration. With the new armor, I wanted to make sure it wouldn’t throw me off while I fought, so I went to the best place to spar with others in the city. The temple of Zits.
I had gone to the temple for a couple reasons. Yes, I wanted to make sure I was still fit for fighting, and try out the new armor, but I had learned that the more you know about your enemy, the less surprised you will be if you have to fight them. And I knew nothing of general Stoneskin. I didn’t know how she fought, what her style was, or any of her battle strategy. I had seen only two types of fighters that didn’t use armor, and as far as I could remember, I had never seen her in any. Fighters like that could have been the type to ignore all attacks, using speed and strength to pulverize opponents, or had trained to fight with a single style over years and years of practice. They didn't need armor as they had learned to dodge or blocks weapons with that single fighting style. Rorin reminded me of that.
It took several trips to the sparring fields before I was able to see her, and she fought just once. While many fights could happen at once, when a champion entered the field, most of the fighters would stop and watch. Bets were even placed in a good natured contest. On the second day I was there, I was one of those fighters, with a handful of groups watching. On the forth trip to the field, everyone stopped when the general picked up her giant hammer. It wasn’t a wave, slowly spreading out, but a sudden thing, like everyone could feel the tension in the air, the crackle of danger. A large ring of people formed around the center of the field, with four combatants facing off. The General faced three opponents, none of which I had come to know yet. When they all started moving, she was the fastest. It was concerning. I couldn't really see the action, being farther back in the crowd. When the fight was over, she had barely been touched, and her three opponents were handily defeated. After that day, I felt comfortable enough with the new addition to my armor I didn’t go back to the temple of zits.
With the absence of sparring in my schedule, I was able to spend more time on other things, including Bellia. We had grown quite close, and had started a small faction of people against the war. Almost a resistance, and I was able to pull in people from all sorts of groups. Holden’s compound was indeed an excellent place to start, although Holden himself didn’t want anything to do with it. Saying he didn’t want to deal with the organization or the people, he left it to us. Knowing that getting our information out to the masses was going to be very important, I brought in a few particular people. Bridgette was able to help, and with the undertow on our side, passing messages was a breeze. I had to bring Bellia to the Inn for that, which took some convincing. It was supposed to be under the disguise of a date, and it definitely ended that way. Bridgette had left our table saying her cook was feeling ill, but later told me I was making “goo goo eyes at Bellia across the table whenever she talked.” It may have been true, but either way, we then had the best communication network above the streets of Cherwood. Below, it was simply a matter of talking to Mallow the mighty. After just a few visits, we were able to bring the whole union into the web of the resistance.
I was able to bring a fair amount of the craftsmen who followed Daja, as they were already against the war anyway. It was still good to have a more public face of discontent inside the city. While the folks at the compound were all good people, not many of them came into the city for a whole lot, for good reasons. Many an unkind word was spoken when they came into town, so they tried not to as much as possible. Some of the craftsmen were like Holden, and they didn’t take a side, preferring to see what played out.
I tried bringing all the veterans from the black legion into the group, but not many of them were staying in town. I was told that many of them were leaving for Davenport, where something untold was happening. It was an outpost of the Legion, and I asked them to keep in touch with me while they were there. Few who were staying in town wanted to know what was happening. Some of those staying only wanted to drink their troubles away.
I had arranged for another surprise for Leona other than the advancement to journeyman. Asking Leona, Garfield and Max, we decided to officially adopt Leona, and make her the heir to our business. Having raised her for over fifteen years, and watching over her education and safety, I figured it was about time. She was an adult of course, but it was the principle of the thing. The official documentation was done the day after her promotion to Journeyman. I had wanted it to be the same day, but I may have missed the proper day to turn in the paperwork. There were a lot of things going on. One of those things was Bellia.
We had been spending quite a bit more time together, and once my projects were done, and I was back to regular work, I spent a good bit of a week with her. Not having the time to go for a little trip, we simply took a few days to relax together. It may have been the excitement of the resistance we were putting together, or the fact that I was literally the only other dragonborn in town, but she told me she wanted to have a child. We talked it over, and after the discussion, agreed that we could share custody of the child, and that if I had to go out of town for something, we had a good group of people to watch over any offspring. Having thought I would never have a family of my own, I was perhaps to caught up in the idea, but either way, it was happening.
It was about three months after we saved Dani, and ten days after the Adoption had come through that it Happened. I was just locking up after a long night at the forge, I was about to put all the lights out when there came a rapping at the door. Making sure my battle axe was within reach, I opened the door to look out, and there stood Bellia. In a state of utter exhaustion, she stood there, cloak wrapped around her. Wavering slightly, she stepped in, and from under her cloak she held out an egg.
“Wow. That’s really big.” It wasn’t the most profound thing I could have said, but it was the first thing that came to mind. I had been looking at this beautiful woman standing at my door, and she may have caught me off guard. While she had told me about the coming egg, I had been focused on the breastplate with built in girdle I was making that day.
With a look of derisiveness she pushes the egg slowly into my hands, “Yes. Yes it is. It is your turn now. Keep it warm, and safe for six months and then it should hatch.”
A small sound comes from behind me, and holding the egg, I turn to see Leona had come to see what the commotion was. With a curious trill coming from her throat, her eyes got huge when they spotted the egg. Grabbing a cloak off the wall, she came forward and grabbed the egg from me, wrapping it up and hugging it. A deep vibration seemed to come from her, and I realized she was purring! I hadn’t often witnessed her doing that, and the whole time she was muttering plans about a cradle that could be made to put close to the forge to keep warm. I turn back to Bellia, who apparently had been talking the whole time.
“-He can grow up to be an engineer, because while smithing is nice, it just isn’t as good as honest engineering work, and you can use your connections with the council to get him into the best schools, so getting his own firm will be no problem at all. Living in the city won’t be as hard for him, but we can save the money to have a nice mansion outside the walls where he can build whatever he wants. This is how my family did it, with the father watching over the egg at this stage, and it worked well enough for them, after all I turned out great.” I could see that the exhaustion had her rambling just a bit, and I offered her something to eat, or a place to rest. I couldn’t get much more out before she was setting off, saying she had to get back after missing a whole day of work. I wish she had told me, I would have gone out to support her or something. After a brief embrace, she went home, leaving me utterly flabbergasted as to what to do now, but I almost didn’t have to worry. Leona had already made a crude nest for the egg to rest in, covered in blankets.
The egg, or our egg I guess I should say, was only just bigger than my head, with a scaled pattern. Copper colored on top, it slowly blends into bronze, and finally a molten Gold on the bottom. Brass speckles dotted the top, with Bronze speckles on the bottom. A work of absolute beauty, I couldn’t help looking at it for some time, sitting there wrapped in the blankets and spare cloaks. It was an odd sensation, but one I would come to recognize. I had come to feel this way about Leona, with her being my daughter now, it was easy to recognize pride. Accomplishment. Not in myself, but in others. Watching someone you have taught succeed in life. And the anticipation of it happening again.
The others were just as active as I was. While Rorin and Aurane stayed in town, a month after we got Dani out Marda and Melfina told us they were leaving for Dawnsreach. The sanctum had sent word that it had prisoners there that may have some information we were seeking about the slavers calling themselves the undertow. We also had a lead from what seemed like years ago that the Crimson dragons were recruiting at a tavern there, but our travels had not taken us near the city. Now, with the possible war, and the potential information, Marda had the time and the reason to go. Melfina went with her, to make sure Marda wasn’t alone, and to help with any information gathering. Melfina was also trying to keep us appraised of what was happening while they were there, and whatever messages they couldn’t trust to any other conveyance, she would Send to me personally. Both Aurane and Rorin had become somewhat busy, so I had volunteered as the communication hub. At first the messages I received from Melfina were short, efficient and to the point, but gradually over time the tone changed. Like a person trying to learn another language, the messages became more conversational. While still a bit brusque, she was adapting to talking with people. She let us know that Marda had garnered a good deal of information from the prisoners of the Citrine Sanctum. With too much information to share, the only parts she wanted to share were the slavers were still operating here, and the highest person in the organization was known as Fletcher.
She would inform me of other events as well, and make sure everything was going well here in Cherwood. She would message me the happenings there, and I would do the same, making sure that they knew about Rorin and Aurane. As it turned out, a few days after the delivery of our egg, Marda was able to make contact with the Crimson Dragons at the tipsy tavern. That led to her working undercover, where she was sent after people who may be casters. With too much information to cover in short messages, and not trusting other means of communication, we are simply told that we will be filled in when they get back. In the meantime, Melfina was able to find some work Hunting Monsters and helping casters where they were found. Melfina never did say what monsters she hunted down, and with the way she talked, they were not all simply beasts.
We also tested out the Sanctum system, sending some messages through them, where Melfina would also send us abbreviated magical messages. We were given files of the prisoners kept there but the Citrine Sanctum, with names and occupations. Marda questioned a Human male named Able Dunlap, A half elf known as Husker, and a female gnome named Elza topaz, who just happened to be the sister of a witch hunter investigator. That immediately threw up some flags when I saw that. Maybe some of these casters the witch hunters were investigating , who would disappear anyway, ended up being slaves. Not something I would want to tackle alone, I let the real undertow know about that. Most of the messages Melfina sent were coming through just fine from the sanctum, but eventually we found that some material was being removed from them. We thought at first that some of the information was being removed to keep the individuals safe, and anonymous, but we could not find a reason why. While it was something to be aware of, it wasn't currently something that could get us killed, but it was something to keep in mind.
Nearly five months after they left for Dawnsreach, I got a message from Melfina saying that had been asked to come back to Cherwood. The Sanctum here had sent summons for them, as something had come up. It would be good to see them again, and I could properly talk to them again, filling them in using longer sentences. Having someone talking in my head and trying to fill them in had been problematic sometimes, trying to compile messages short enough on such short notice. There had also been the time Bellia and I were enjoying each other's company. Melfina had to send another message when I didn't respond to the first one, and I had told her to talk to me in the morning. That was a bit awkward.
After we got Dani free from the city, Aurane had almost gone into hiding. It took a couple weeks before I could see him again. I was of course busy with my own things, but he seemed to have thrown himself into his work. I had tried to go over to him after witnessing General Stoneskin's fight. When I got to his residence, I went in to find his desk piled high with papers. A somewhat disheveled looking Aurane sat behind the pile of planning papers, and legal documents. He couldn't tell me at the time, but I found out that a special position had be made for him, to be an ambassador for Cherwood for other cities. He not only had to finish all the projects he had be hired to do, but learn what his new position was going to mean. At the time he had simply told me that he was going to try promoting Kel and finding another employee to help with the work load.
As the weeks went on, he found that all his projects were caught up, and we were able to spend more time together. We were able to have party for both Kel and Leona, as they both had passed the test for journeyman, and the adoption. We all went out to the Babble Brook, where we stayed for most of the night, taking a break from our lives. Aurane told us that he didn't really like all the attention he had been getting with this new position he was going to have, but he grew to accept it. With what he was going to have to do, there would naturally be recognition for his abilities and skills. Kel lets us know that she has found her own apprentice, a Myconid names Cellia. Living underground, she had intimate knowledge of the sewer structure, and wanted to learn more. When I went to tell him that Melfina and Marda were on the way back from Dawnsreach, I found him packing. The general announcement of his position was going to be released soon, and he would have to start his tour, going to other cities.
Aurane of course helped with the Resistance faction we had started. As it was his temple that was being threatened, he was more than happy to help out. He helped out with the public face of the group, and there were even rumors going around of his miraculous abilities, which we all waved off as preposterous. It was decided that we didn't want to spread those tales. Thinking about the throngs of people who would either accuse him of heresy, or beg him to cure them of everything from ingrown nails to missing limbs. Yes, he could have done most of that, but he needed to work at some point, and there were temples for healing anyway. We first met Cellia at one of the subterranean meetings, a smaller Myconid, they would glow while underground. Telling us it was a gift she had, this glow, it was just a pale blue light, which helped tremendously when trying to see underground.
Rorin also became very busy, but he was doing something very different While he didn't run for office himself like he had threatened, he did fund one. Rose Nylund was the owner of a particularly good, and rather new distillery. A Human woman with shoulder length white hair and strong morals, she had a intimidating presence even at her five foot two inches. Her family had been in the area for a long while, and made some of the best moonshine in this part of the country. Having the chance to buy a winery, her father had jumped at the chance, and now made all variety of alcohol. Distilling whiskeys and gins, they would age them in wine casks, and add more flavoring after, proving to be a unique blend. Now owner of the company, Rose had approached Rorin, knowing he was going to be marrying to another family of dwarves. Wanting to expand trade, he found her to be an excellent businesswoman, and decided to put her in charge of the accounting guild, getting Lavender Thatcher out.
Pouring all his time into the campaign, and good fair chunk of money, he didn't want to be a visible part of the resistance movement. Mostly for the image of the candidate, as politics are a vicious thing, he didn't want to be seen, and we respected that. We figured that as he and I already knew each other, and were known to have been in the same group, it wouldn't hurt anything to visit. When I did visit, we would talk of how the movement was doing, and he slowly taught me to understand hidden codes, and better ways to communicate secretly. We remembered that the Slaving undertow had sent messages like that. With us looking into them again, it may come in handy there, and it helped the movement. When I suggested that to Bridgette, she told me they had been doing it the whole time. They had to make it simpler for me. Now that I could figure it out, they could go back to the normal messages. Oh.
With finished projects for Rorin, I went over to his estate late in the fifth month. When I had arranged the meet, Rorin had asked Aurane to come too, and once we found a good time for us all, we met. I had worked on two projects for Rorin, and had them both under my left arm. Aurane had revived his buckler at the party for Kel and Leona those few moths back, and this was long overdue for Rorin. A black walking cane polished till it gleamed had be made for him. With a cap of brass, with his house sigil on it, it wasn't like any ordinary cane. The middle wooden section had been carefully hollowed out with a long drill, and the brass cap held a trigger mechanism to fire a dart held in the cane. A powerful spring would launch the dart out of the bottom of the cane, and a variety of darts could be used. Some solid, some could be filled with liquids. A gentleman of Rorin's caliber would of course use a cane at formal events, and his while his knuckles were special, they may be out of place at such an event.
The second project had been what had taken so long. Rorin had a grappling hook that he could use, and it would fire out and latch onto something for him, but he would then have to coil it back up before using it again. We had found plans that would help with that situation, and with Holden's help, we had finally made it. Requiring a special spring be made, it linked onto the spool of rope, which would unwind, and put tension on the spring at the same time. The same trigger to release the rope would also release the spring. We needed something that was light enough not to weigh the user down, but strong enough to bring the rope back in. While it wasn't instantaneous, it was fast enough to be used multiple times a minute. Rorin was delighted with the final product, immediately trying to grab a sandwich from another room. After pulling a chair, and an end table, he managed to pull a slice of bread and mangled piece of cheese with it.
With the bread and bit of cheese forgotten, he told us why he wanted us to both be there. Asking both of us to be in his wedding party, he presented us personalized flasks, each filled with some top quality liquor from Miss Nylund. We both agreed of course, as I had all those moths ago, and he told us there had been many plans set for the wedding, and that he was going to retire from adventuring. He had to worry about the wedding, and his work, and would not be able to join us anymore. Sorry to see him go we promised to keep him appraised of what we were up to. I guess I will be sending letters to Rorin too.
Now, a couple days before Melfina and Marda are due back in town, the city has come out of lock down for the most part. The Normal amount of guards now roam around, keeping an eye out for trouble. The Myconids come above ground now, using parasols by day, but mostly coming out at dusk or night. My egg still has three months before it hatches, and questions buzz at the back of my mind. Should I still be going out into the world now that I will have two children to worry about. While Leona can take care of herself, that doesn't mean I won't stop worrying about her. We will just have to see what news Marda has for us. I will also be able to give her the project I finished.