As I followed Ronar through the hallways of Grey Quarry, I noticed something significant. Before meeting Glonar and completing the quest, the looks directed at me had been hovering between distrustful and hostile, now, they were much more friendly and open. I considered it a curious quirk of the reputation-system, wondering if there was some sort of in-universe explanation for it.

When I realised that the hallways all looked pretty much the same, grey stone, with worked stone-doors leading off to different parts of the complex we were in, I decided to use a the time I spent padding after my dwarven companion to place the attribute-points I had gotten for levelling up. I considered for a bit, before going with the same distribution I had used before, four in strength and two in agility, endurance and vitality each, using up the points I had. I would have to consider some way to get more mana, depending on the amount of mana needed for future abilities but for now, that seemed like a good distribution.

Ultimately, I would either have to spread my points out or use equipment to make up for possible shortfalls, but, the question which was the better way would take some time to work out. Or maybe there were tricks I wasn’t aware of, allowing me to neglect certain attributes by making up for that in other ways. More research and some experimentation was required.

My musings on good attribute-distribution were cut off when we reached a hallway that looked different enough to catch my eyes, not so much because it was build different but because there were a few windows that replaced the light shed by glowing crystals with daylight.

Stopping Roknar with a short word, I started looking outside and, for a moment, I was confused by the perspective. It was almost as if I was looking out from some high-rise building, only one that was built in the mountains, looking out into what appeared to be a valley with some visible fields, surrounded by scraggy looking trees and some bushes. And, just from the figures I saw walking around, we had to be high up, they looked small, even considering that I was most likely looking at dwarves. Sadly, the thickness of the outer wall prevented me from getting a better look by limiting my perspective. Still, it was quite impressive that the outer wall was easily a meter and a half in thickness, all of it looking to be like solid rock.

Shaking my head in wonder, I gestured for Roknar to continue, noticing a sly grin on his face, as if he was looking forward to something. It was an expression I hadn’t seen on his face, so I was curious what had caused it.

He followed the hallway a little further before reaching a set of double-doors, guarded by more armoured dwarves and when he opened them, I understood the look on his face. As I stepped out, the view in front of me was simply breathtaking, much more than the little glimpse I had caught through the window.

The dwarves had build their city into a cliffside, or maybe calling it a quarry was just as accurate, a place where grey stones had been cut before. The quarry was curved and we were standing roughly halfway up the cliff, looking down a lot of stairs, And those stairs were quite impressive in their own right, with only a sturdy-looking bannister to prevent one from falling down the dozens of meters to their death, it was simply breathtaking. Not just from fear, it seemed the dwarves were using the different sets of stairs almost like roads, connecting different doors into the quarry with each other, spreading their city out all over the place.

The quarry had a sharp drop-off, where the mountain originally had been, before the rock had been harvested, and beyond that, the valley continued, the farms now easier to see and even the bushes and trees looking less scraggy. But, down on the ground, there are no buildings, merely a few roads and pathways between the fields and animal-pens, nothing that I would normally expect in a city. The whole of dwarven architecture is inside the cliff, making me shake my head in awe. Further to the left, maybe halfway down the valley and some distance away from the quarry itself, a small brook is flowing down the mountains, heading further down the valley from there.

“It’s quite the view, isn’t it?” Roknar asked softly from next to me. I hadn’t quite realised that I had walked out of the door and across the landing, standing at the bannister and looking out into the distance.

“Yes, it is awe-inspiring.” I answered, still a little spellbound.

“It is the lifeline of Grey Quarry and the reason for the name. You see, most people only ever see the main gates of the city, set on the other side of the mountain. This here, this is the dwarven lifeline, where we can get water, grow our crops and animals. If we ever need to close the main gates, the farms you see down there can sustain us, almost indefinitely.” he explained, sounding proud.

“I’m honoured to be shown this. It is impossible to climb the valley and attack you from behind?” I asked, surprised that I meant it. I would have to log out soon, or I might go native.

“For an army, yes. Individuals can make their way up, but it would be rather difficult, not just because of the terrain but also because we guard it quite well. But now, we are supposed to meet Kangur, the old grump is mostly down at the foot of the cliff.” Roknar stated before turning and starting to march down the cliff.

I followed him, careful where to step, slightly intimidated by the fact that, if I stumble, I might fall down the entire cliff. Sure, it would be the fastest way down, but somehow, I would rather not have my first death be something like that. Another part of me wondered if there was a way to change the games environment to add a slide into the cliffside, allowing me, or anyone who wanted to try it, to jump onto it and ride it down the cliff, maybe going from up top all the way down in some sort of spiral. We would just have to add some sort of soft landing spot and it would be just as awesome as going to a large waterpark, just ingame and, well, about two-hundred meters high, if I judged the cliff correctly.

Climbing down made me grateful for video-game bodies, normal walking didn’t consume stamina so I wasn’t feeling any fatigue from the stairs or any discomfort from the awkward steps I had to take to fit the steps that were sized for dwarves, not tall orcs.

When we finally made it down, the first thing I noticed was that there were quite a few dwarves that moved around slightly erratically, some moving perfectly normal, until suddenly stopping and turning, others seemed not quite used to their limbs. It was easy to guess what they were, other players, only that they had started as dwarves.

Following one of them with my eyes guided me to another Lesser Pillar of Creation and, before Roknar could show me where to go, I quickly jogged over, registering it to my shard and binding my respawn-point down here. Once that was done, I got back to him and followed him to Kangur, who sat on a bench near a quite large door, looking almost like a barn-door. It look me a second to realise that it was one, just made from stone and set into a mountain, but I had seen cattle in the valley, so it stood to reason that the dwarves had a barn as well.

“Greetings, Kangur. My teacher asks if you would take on this Orc as one of your pupils. She was called by the Irminsul and saved me from a harsh fate at the hand of the humans.” Roknar asked, sounding just as polite as he had with his teacher.

“Hrmpf” Kangur looked up, studying me for a moment, while I studied him in turn. The first thing I noticed was that he was clean shaven, his face looking more like old leather than living tissue, and completely bald. The only hair anywhere on his head were his bushy eyebrows, that had drawn together in a frown.

“I can at least look at her, there are quite a few of those called bustling about, what would change one more.” he grumbled, the lack of beard helping to hear him.

“I’ll tell you what I told all those newcomers, go and kill a dozen rats, those pests are scurrying around the barn and the cats don’t manage to kill them all. Maybe throwing you called at the problem will solve it.” he ordered and a quest appeared for me to accept or decline.

New Quest offered.

Pest Control I - Grey Quarry

Kangur, the Barbarian-Instructor in Grey Quarry ordered you to kill twelve rats in the barn.

Reward:

Experience

Lesser Sustenance Crystals Decline: No penalty Failure: Kangur will consider you unworthy to be trained.

I wasn’t quite sure how I could fail the quest, there seemed to be no time-limit on it, so I simply accepted and started looking around if there were more dwarves that might have quests for me.

“I will leave you to your tasks, Chrystal. We will certainly meet again.” Roknar told me. I wished him farewell and success with the problem around his neck, before he turned and walked back to the stairs.

With that, I was finally on my own in the game, no longer beholden to a partner or other trouble. And right on time, it was almost time to start making dinner, or my parents would be slightly annoyed.

After walking over to the lesser pillar of creation, clearly into the safe-zone projected by it, I initiated the logout process, causing my avatar to despawn.