Beers and Beards: A Cozy Dwarf Tale

Chapter 8: The Firmament (2)

I walked with Doc Opal up the rise and looked down over the cavern. We were located fairly high and close to the outer edge, and behind us I could see the side of the cavern reaching up into the ‘sky’ above us. Great pillars dotted the landscape here and there and a faint purple glow emanated from the centre of the cavern where the city stood. In all of my time here in the camp I’d never really had a moment to just… stand and stare, and I did so now. I think I really love my new home here. It’s… beautiful in a way that’s hard to describe. Imagine the milky way, the kind you see on a moonless night in the wilderness, but just a bare few hundred meters above you. Faint spores filled the air as well, slightly sparkling. The effect was magical.

Doc Opal let me marvel for a while before catching my attention and pointing down towards the city. I could make out dozens if not hundreds of carriages making their way in and out of the main gates. We were too far away to make out any real details, but it was certainly bustling!

“That there is the city of Minnova, we are one of many cities in the caverns of Crack. Our population is only matched by the capital city of Kinshasa.”

“Soo, I’ve been wondering what that means. Why Crack?” I turned a distracted ear her way, my eyes still taking in the wonders of the cavern stretching out below us. Were those some giant mushrooms off to the right of the city walls?

“The Great Crack is a massive rent in the continent of Illovia. It was formed Aeons ago by a war between the first race, the Dragons, and the Gods.”

“A war? With the Gods? How did that work?” I was paying full attention now.

“Poorly.” Opal said with a grimace.

“What happened?”

“In their arrogance, the dragons were smote down from the sky. Their descent to Erd created the Great Crack. Dragons are now mere shadows of their former selves; their children are masters of magic, but nothing like they once were. They are a long-lived race, but none from that time still exist.”

We sat in silence for a moment, as I looked down on the beauty of the place. A few structures set seemingly at random in the cavern below denoted the location of other small settlements and mining camps. I could barely make out a few wagons traveling between them. I wonder what happened to Whistlemop?

“What about that shadowy place? Is it beyond our borders? I must never go there?” I pointed to the mushrooms I had spotted earlier. There was a massive grove of them, and I could see some actual trees poking out as well. I could see a lot of people on the outer edge of the grove, but the area gave off a fairly forbidding feeling. It also sloped downwards, like it was going deeper into the Erd. The trees looked to be…… yew maybe? They had that middling tall but broad look that I would associate with a yew or monkeypod.

“Where? No.” Opal laughed. “That’s what I wanted to show you. It’s the breadbasket of Minnova, Green Tree Dungeon.”

“I’ve heard that mentioned before. What’s a dungeon?”

“They are places of strong Mana that the Gods used as lynchpins to create the world. All of the Fundamental Elements are strong there, as are the Fundamentals of Life. What we call monsters are amalgamations of life and the elements that are born spontaneously in those places. People are drawn to dungeons for riches, for Blessings, for Milestones, and to keep the monster populations down.”

“You mentioned that before, what are the Fundamentals of Life? Are they Gods too?” I continued to watch the ‘dungeon’. Was it anything like a fantasy dungeon, with bosses and mazes and whatnot?

“Indeed.” Opal answered, before she recited another verse.

“ Solen of light brings all chaos to bear

Lunara of night brings the order we share

Midna of spirit gives thought to our whims,

Barck gives us spark to grant life to our limbs.”

While she spoke, there was a commotion down near the dungeon. I swear it was my imagination but I think I heard... roaring? It was really hard to see clearly from this far away though.

In short, Solen was chaos, which was also light and Lunara was order which was dark. I argued with Opal about that for a bit. It offended my fantasy sensibilities that the God of Chaos was also the God of Light and Freedom, and the Goddess of Order and Night was also the Goddess of Law. I figured chaos and dark are bad, and law and order are good, so order should be light. It can’t be a good fantasy pantheon without a good ol’ God of light-smiting right? Opal disagreed.

“Chaos is not inherently evil, although pure chaos can be seen as such. If any God has a portfolio that could be described as ‘evil’ it would be Yearn of Nether, though she is also Yearn of Love.”

“So why is Chaos light and Order dark then?”

“It is because light is the culmination of freedom. Nothing can truly contain light, and it goes where it wills. Darkness is the still water of creation, an ever-present thing that fills our lives without thinking about it. Law is much the same.”

“I never thought about it that way.” I glanced back at the dungeon. Was that…. mushroom the size of an elephant moving? I think it was! “Ahhhh!!!” I shouted.

“What?!” Opal whirled to peer in the direction I was looking.

“There’s a giant mushroom thing!” As I watched, the mushroom waded into the small crowd outside the dungeon. I could see tiny figures being tossed like ragdolls. Then there was a flash of light and a *Boom* that we could hear all the way to where we were. An enormous fireball lit up the side of the mushroom and it reared back, smoking (omg, magic). There was another flash of light and the top half of the mushroom fell off, bisected by something. The mushroom continued to struggle, but it was quickly swarmed over by little dots.

“A mushfolk.” Said Opal. “A big one. They are one of the primary monsters on the outer edge of Green Tree. You can’t see it from here, but the dungeon goes deep into the ground. There’s an entirely different world down there, with enough Aether to form lakes and a sky.”

“Are there lots of monsters like that?” I shivered. That thing had to have weighed several tons.

“Not really, no. Most mushfolk are quite small, and are mostly dangerous in large groups. The real danger is when you get deeper into the dungeon. That’s when some of the more vicious creatures begin to appear.”

“Like killer cabbages and peashooters?”

“Among others. I’m glad to see Balin wasn’t completely remiss in your education.” In the distance, smoke was rising from the fallen Mushfolk, and it had little dots swarming over it. Opal frowned. “Large mushfolk like that are rare. They’re a defensive response when adventurers have taken too many materials from the dungeon. I suspect the council will limit expeditions for a while.””

“Is that bad?”

“We get most of our fruits and vegetables from the dungeon. We may need to start importing goods from the human lands or other dungeons, and Titled Porters are expensive.” She noticed my mouth opening and cut me off. “A Porter is a Title that grants the ability to carry large numbers of goods without them spoiling.”

“So, what do the Blessings of Solen and Lunara give?” I asked, bringing us back to our original conversation. There didn’t seem to be much left to see down by the dungeon.

“Solen’s blessing grants [Dark Sight] and [Sense Danger] - ”

“Wait, I though Solen was light, why does he let you see through darkness.” I interrupted. Opal tutted.

“He grants your eyes an inner light, now stop interrupting and listen.”

“Yes mom.”

“I’m not your mother Peter, I refuse to believe you are that addled. Where was I… Lunara’s blessing grants [Sense Weakness] and [Sense Motive].”

“Those sound neat. Now how about Midna and Barck?”

“I have Barck’s blessing myself.” Opal smiled. “I received it after several years of apprenticeship to another Doctor. Barck is the God of life and living things. The grass, the harvest, your body, that mushfolk. All of them contain the ‘Spark’. He is also the God of innovation, because to live is to grow and change. His Blessings grant [Regeneration] and [Good Luck].”

“So he’s the one responsible for food and technology?” At last! Someone to blame for the shitty beer! That’s right Barck, you heard me! I don’t care if it’s blasphemy, as the God of Innovation you should be ashamed! For a brief moment, in my mind’s eye I could see an old dwarf with a straw hat bend his head in shame as Opal continued.

“Sort of. You see, after the Gods made everything in Erd they stopped creating new things; they let us mortals shape the world.”

“Why is that?”

“Erd was a gift to us, the children of creation. The Gods gave us many gifts; from life, to thought, to Blessings and Titles. However, the Gods say that the most important gift they ever gave us was choice. Whenever you receive a Blessing, you always have a choice to receive it or not, and whenever you receive a Milestone, Specialization, or Title there are always a few choices.”

“So… Barck didn’t invent apple pie, but he made apples and people made it into pie?”

“That’s about right.” Opal agreed. Ok Barck, maybe you’re off the hook. Looks like it’s the dwarves’ hidebound traditionalism that’s limiting their beer technology. Down below us, bits and pieces of the mushfolk were being taken away, and there was what looked like a brightly coloured procession coming from the city. I pointed at it.

“What’s that?”

Opal peered down. “It looks like the Lord of Minnova has come to see the event. Likely to determine if there’s a need to lock down the dungeon for a while.”

We talked a bit about the Lord, and I was unsurprised to learn that Dwarves have a feudal society with a King and everything. However, it’s a bit complicated since there’s an actual GOD of law. A lot of the abuses that cropped up back on Earth simply don’t happen here. A truly corrupt noble will never be able to hold onto a Blessing of Law, and will be unable to compete with a lord that can. Additionally, there are titled Paladins whose whole gig is to find those that abuse the law and smite them with holy darkness (yay, smiting!). I can only imagine a dwarf with a whip, in goth leather with black eye shadow and spiky plate mail, spanking someone while shouting ‘Repent Harder!’. Heh. We watched the procession approach the group by the mushfolk and then there was a general milling about. I turned back to Opal.

“You mentioned Midna?”

“Yes, she’s the goddess of spirit. Spirit moves the spark.”

“So, is that something like minds and thought?”

“Exactly. Many animals have spirit, as do all the mortal races. Few plants do, and fewer beings of matter or aether.”

“Hold on, beings of matter?”

“Yes, such as golems or summons (omg, magic). ” Now there’s some sweet fantasy! I wonder if I’ll be able to summon when I learn magic? Because I’m learning it, magic. If I get to choose, then I’m turning all the Gods down until I get Archis’s Blessing. I’m giving you all the middle finger with my soul right now Gods! Except you Archie, Blessing please. I was distracted, and barely caught the end of what Opal was saying.

“- Her blessings grant [Soulsight] and [Truespeech].”

“What? Who, where? Why [Truespeech]?”

“As I said,” Opal sighed, “Midna is the Goddess of Spirit and Communication, and it is by her gift of thought that the races created writing and words.”

“Do the different races have different writing then?”

“Yes, though gnomish is mostly a dead language now, and the beastfolk largely speak the human tongue.”

“Why is that? Assimilation?”

Opal paused and looked at me askance. “Every time I think you are a fool you reveal deeper intelligence and learning. I’m surprised you even know that word, and I grow curiouser and curiouser about your past. You are correct. The gnomes have been living with the dwarves for so long that they have chosen to adopt our language as their own. The beastfolk are often enslaved by the humans, and their language only lives on in their own far-flung tribes.”

“Ugh, slavery is a thing? I thought Solen was the God of Freedom?”

“There cannot be freedom without bondage and vice versa.”

Your intelligence has increased by 1! New intelligence is 11!

Nice!

We finished off by talking about Titles and where people learned magic. Eventually Opal looked at her pocket watch and made noises about going soon. As we were making our way down the ridge, a Dwarf from the camp came running up to us. I didn’t know his name but I recognized him as a fellow member of the chain gang.

“Doctor!” He shouted, panting as he ran up to us.

“What is it?” Opal came to attention, her gaze growing professional.

“Grim needs ya right away. You too Pete, all ‘ands down to tha mine!”

“What’s wrong?” I asked, as we began running.

“There’s been an accident, a rockslide. Balin’s been trapped!”

I ran harder.