The gnome man ushered them into the outpost and guards began leading them along the edge of the fence wall. The caravan followed along until they reached a set of doors to a large cellar in the ground.

“Don’t be shy,” said the gnome. “Everyone get out here and help unload and bring all of the supplies in. I know you elves don’t like being underground very much so you will be living in the attached house above the cellar. You will however work down here daily so I hope it is good enough. My name is Sal. I hope to get to know you all soon enough.”

Guards, workers, and everyone else began unloading the boxes and supplies. The small stuff went in the cellar first and their personal items went in the attached house. The house was one of the larger buildings in the outpost they had seen. On the bottom floor were two bedrooms with an attached living room and basic kitchen though most of the stoves were immediately outside of the kitchen door. Going up the stairs were five more small rooms with space for the bed and a box for their personal belongings.

These rooms were designated for researchers and builders like Zoe with the guards situated elsewhere. Tomorrow half of the guards would return to the city under a contract of secrecy as they were not needed anymore at the outpost.

Zoe unpacked her things in one of the rooms on the upper floor. It did not have a window like the other upper floor rooms. Only the lower floor had windows though none had glass because of the cost required to transport or make them here.

Moving the larger boxes required some time to complete with several people working together to lift the largest ones. Down the stone steps was an open warehouse area for the items to be stored. The room had been opened up with tall ceilings and torches lined the walls. Scrape marks lined the walls indicated they had recently expanded the room and raised or in this case lowered the floor for the arrival of the golem. Gnome workers opened up boxes as they arrived.

The items were sorted into three piles. The first pile was the rune engraved metal. The second was magical materials. Most of which would be used in the creation of the golem. The final batch of items was all of the no-personal items brought for the use of the gnomes in their outpost. The items varied from tools, clothes, and a few books. The items were moved back upstairs while the golem items stayed in the cellar.

Sal had moved to the cellar once he had greeted Zoe and the other researchers who would stay in the main house. “Keep everything moving. I want everything ready for the morning. Randal go get the stand. We’ve got enough of the pieces to start putting things into place.”

Randall, another gnome, stood out from the rest of the workers in a green-tinged shirt instead of brown looked up from his work. “You got it, boss.” Leaving the unpacking to be finished by others he left the main cellar area and turned down a corridor in the underground. He made his way into an underground room attached to the cellar and found what he was looking for.

The only thing sitting in the room was an old armor stand-looking thing. It had at one point been one but had since been modified to fit the uses of the golem project. The metal had been bent and shaped to fit the golem as they assembled it.

Randall moved the stand into the main room. He pushed it closer to the center so that it would be easier for the workers to move around it. The gnomes carrying the golem pieces began making their way over to him and began dropping the pieces at the feet of the stand.

“What are you doing? No this is all wrong,” said Sal. “You go get the blueprint from my bag.” He said pointing to one of the gnomes closer to the stairs. “Make sure to keep the pieces in piles. Lower legs, upper legs, main body, upper and lower arms, and neck and head. I don’t want your incompetence delaying this project for hours.”

Under Sal’s watch, the metal golem pieces were slowly sorted and put into their piles. Once the pieces were together he had the larger pieces moved onto the stand. First, he had the chest piece set into place. It was one of the heaviest pieces, so it made the stand top-heavy, but it was stable for now.

Next, they began building outward in all five directions. The hips were connected in place along with the shoulder joints and the start of the neck. They had to be careful with the neck because it was one of the more complex multi-piece parts that were required to connect in a certain order to function properly. The appendages were easier until they got to the fingers.

The attachment of the fingers and The head required special material to finish. Within the hollow spaces of the golem, special ropes were placed. They functioned in a way that allowed the golem to direct mana into different parts of its body much like traditional blood vessels. Depending on the part of the golem the gnomes implemented different sizes of rope throughout the golem. The wiring for the golem had already been prepared before the golem’s arrival so all the gnomes had to do now was sort through the different sizes and lengths and match them to each individual part and connect the wiring internally when needed.

Each rope was made from a special tree vine native to the jungles deeper within the area the gnomes lived in. These trees hold special properties when in contact with mana. They sit within high mana concentrated areas, so they have adapted to channel and hold mana with greater efficiency than other plants.

Feeding the mana rope into the golem and attaching all of the rope took the gnomes the entire night to complete. The gnome crews worked in shifts through the night until Sal called for them to stop.

“Good job everybody. We’ll finish up when you’ve all had a nap and our guests wake up. It’s going to be an exciting day!”

-------

Kendra rolled out of bed and yawned as she got up. Next to her on the bed, lay her sister Aria was still sleeping. Some sunlight peeked through the curtain that hadn’t been drawn all the way. Kendra began preparing herself for the day. They would be called for a roll call soon for when the golem would be activated.

Aria was still tired and half-asleep when Kendra had gotten up. She had stayed up later than Kendra because she had volunteered to help the gnomes clear the local area of potentially harmful beasts.

When Kendra was ready she left the small house they had been given to stay in and walked towards the cellar they had been shown earlier. A few gnomes walked around in the early morning, and she passed the other guards and researchers walking about as well.

Near the fenced wall, some guards and gnomes worked together to pack up their stuff and organize the carts. These guards and a few others would leave the outpost soon and sell the gnome goods back in the elf cities. With fewer people in the carts, the caravan would be a little less guarded but would carry much more valuable items back with them.

Kendra waved at the gnome guard by the cellar, and they let her inside. She had not stepped inside the basement the night before because of all the workers and her exhaustion so she took some time to observe the room.

Along the walls were freshly lit torches and circling the room were many chairs. Some people already sat in some of the closest ones, but most of the people were centered around the nearly finished golem in the center. Kendra stared at its lifeless crystalline gem eyes and slim head contrasted with the bulky upper body.

“Hello, Kendra. I’m glad you could be here early,” said Sal who now had dark patched under his eyes from lack of sleep. “Please take a seat. I’ll have someone bring you some breakfast. It won’t take long.” He said as he led her to a seat in the second ring of seats.

Kendra followed him and allowed him to seat her and collected the plate of food brought over by another gnome. The breakfast meal was a simple grain and oatmeal mixture with some local spices mixed in.

People began funneling into the room. Aria found Kendra and sat next to her. Gnomes continued to deliver food to all of the newcomers coming in. Kendra turned her head and saw in the corner was the large vat from which they were served from.

Zoe stepped forward from her seat after finishing her meal and moved to speak with Sal. He was currently speaking with several mages next to the golem. When she got his attention they talked briefly before handing him a small circular smooth stone. Zoe returned to her seat as Sal began his introductory speech to the small crowd seated around him.

“Welcome everyone. Thanks for coming out here. I hope the food was to your liking. We will begin the activation process shortly, but before I begin I would like to explain the new advancements that have been made. You all need to know this now that we will start the training process that you have read about. In order to accelerate the learning process and remove unnecessary rune patterns for control functions, we have integrated a fractured dungeon core into the golem.” He paused for dramatic effect as whispers pulsed through the room. “ The core will serve as the intelligence, the power draw, and source. Once the training is complete we will get to see it fight the dragons of the dwarven mountains in payment for the use of their materials and time. Now without any more delays, we will begin.”

Sal turned and walked around to the back of the golem. He nodded to guards on either side of the cellar wall. They gripped their spears tighter ready for something to go wrong. Sal took out the stone. On one side was a rune. He matched it to the same one on the golem’s back and activated it with mana.

The golem’s runes glowed brightly. The five mages from earlier stepped forward and began pouring their pure mana into the creation. Each jet of power was tinged with one of the five elemental colors of the golem. Red for fire, green for nature, blue for water, brown for earth, and purple for lighting. All of the mana was eaten up by the golem. The sparkles of color grew in intensity and its eyes began to glow.

They continued to pour mana into the golem until they ran out. The golems glow in turn dimmed a bit. The watchers leaned in waiting for the golem to come to life.

Their wait wasn’t too long. As the exhausted mages stepped back the golem suddenly moved its head. With a simple tug, it moved its arms off the braces before following with its feet. With a stomp and a thud, it set its first foot on the cellar floor before falling over.