Jared had made it. He could see the gate to the dwarven city of Dunfell peaking over the top of the wagon he was walking behind. It had been a long journey from his home town of Westmark in the Domain of Air. It had taken two months travel with three different caravans along with most of his savings. He really hoped he could get an apprenticeship here.

The caravan turned to setup camp outside the city. No one would be allowed to stay overnight in the city but there was a huge tavern and open field for those that could not afford the tavern. Jared ignored both and headed directly to the gate instead. When he got closer, he could make out the detailed stone carvings of rare creatures around the gate. The gates themselves were masterpieces of forged dwarven steel over two feet thick into two doors that span the twenty-foot-wide, fifteen-foot-tall doorway.

A group of ten guards, half in full plate with battle axes and the other half in chainmail carrying oversized crossbows. When Jared approached, one of the axe wielding guards addressed him.

“Who might you be and what be your purpose?”

“My name is Jared and I am here to apprentice myself to a dwarven craftsman.”

All the dwarves looked at Jared and then each other in stunned silence before exploding in laughter.

“Are you sure that’s what you be wanting? I think a career as a comedian would suit you better.” Which set the dwarves off in another round of laughter. Jared waited patiently for them to settle down. Their reaction was expected because it is well known that no dwarf would train a non-dwarf. It just isn’t done, but never the less that’s what he had to do. The dwarf leaned on his axe and spoke as if to a small child. “I see you seem to be serious, so maybe you don’t know dwarves only train dwarves?”

“I know.”

The dwarf scratched his beard puzzled. “If you know that then why are you here?”

This is the opening Jared was waiting for. “Because of this.” He said while sharing his ability with the dwarf. The dwarf was at a loss for words when seeing the ability description. The other dwarves started to ask suspiciously what is going on, but the dwarf I shared my ability with told them to shut up and then said. “You will come with me. This is not an invitation to hospitality, do you understand?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. I am going to take you to a council member and we will see what to do with you.”

The other dwarves are shock to say the least if their expressions are anything to go on. Jared follows his new guide into the gate, which is one hundred feet long. The ceiling is covered in hundreds of holes from as small as my fist to some that are two feet on a side. He can only imagine the death that could pour out of these orifices. His guide is silent, so he just keeps his eye open and inspects everything he sees, not that many of the things make sense. What is a Marlog wheel assembly anyway? After they exit the tunnel they are in a large circular room that is some seventy feet high. Jared realizes the polished granite walls have windows starting twenty feet above the ground up to the ceiling. They are evenly spaced at ten-foot intervals and all are shuttered by steel doors. His guide waits a minute while he takes it in chuckling at my being distracted by the huge room.

We enter in another gate on the far side of the room. It has even thicker gate doors that outside. These are easily four feet thick. After entering the gate Jared quickly become lost in the various halls, stairs, and chambers they walked through. All had polished granite walls, but none of the drawven carvings I expected.

Jared stops when he is led out into a cavern that is so large, cavern doesn’t do it justice. It must be over two miles across and a thousand feet high. He is amazed the mountain range can encompass it. There are seven large pillars supporting the ceiling and the top half of each gives off a fierce red light and warmth. His guide gives him some time to take it in before he walks down a path that joins a street between the buildings. Jared is amazed by the architecture and murals. This is what he had been expecting. Each street seemed to have a different theme. One included scenes of large battles of dwarfs with all manner of other creatures. Another showed dwarves mining different ores. A final one contained nature scenes including one building whose side depicted a cliff with actual water cascading down in a waterfall to a pool that feed in a stream that was intersected by small foot paths and narrow bridges.

They stopped momentarily in front of a three-story building. This one was different, being composed of a blue veined marble that was lit with more of the lanterns that emitted a red light like the seven pillars illuminating the cavern. Jared had heard that dwarves can see in the dark, so maybe this lighting was best for their eyes. It was certainly giving him a headache. It was bright enough to see things in general, but he found himself continually squinting and straining to see finer detail. His guide approached the large door that seemed to be made of solid silver and pulled a rope next to the door. Jared could hear a bell chime faintly from inside. They waited for nearly five minutes before the door opened. Inside a tall dwarf dressed in leather with matching black leather boots and leather belt adorned with the largest gold belt buckle Jared had ever seen. The guide quickly related my story and must have been able to share my ability description based on the shocked expression the new dwarf had. After a moment the dwarf spoke.

“Greetings I am Mal Talorn secretary to the council. Please come in Jared. Daniel thanks for escorting him here. I will take it from here.” Daniel nodded politely and turned without another word heading back the way we came. Jared walked in and Mal gestured for him to enter the large foyer. The floors were a deep, rich hard wood, and the walls were decorated with tapestries and several painting.

“This way please.” Mal said when he saw me lingering in the foyer taking it in.

Jared follows Mal down a long hallway, which has a thick woven carpet up the center, over the hard wood floors. The walls are covered in decorative patterns carved into the stone, but no murals this time. Finally, they come to a pair of oak doors with two guards who eye me while fingering their axes. Mal opens the door on the right and ushers Jared in. Jared nervously takes in the room Mal thrusts him into before closing the door. There are tier bench seats on the right and left that would easily handle several dozen people, even with the wide stature of the dwarves taken into account. The three dwarfs seated behind a raised desk makes him freeze in his tracks when they break off their conversation to all stare at time. There are two females and a male, which isn’t what he expected. He had always heard males run the clan affairs. All of them have long grey hair woven into complex braids. The male has a long beard that spills over his chest.

The female in the center is the first to speak. “Well, greetings Jared, come forward.” Jared approaches the podium positioned ten feet in front of the three. There are no seats, which would have been nice considering his shaking legs. It is comforting to grip the edge of the podium. He can’t believe he made it, but must remind himself that there is no guarantee he will be accepted. The female addresses him again. “I am Jessica Galis, to the right is Damon Fell, and on my left is Rachel Dorvin. We are the council of the Rockwell clan and need to ask you some questions before we proceed.”

“Indeed, can you explain the meaning of this?” Damon says in an angry voice when a blue window pops up in front of him with an only to familiar ability description.

Ability Name: Dwarven Prowess

Description: Allowing the user to learn the skills of a Dwarven Crafter.

Jared shrugs. “You know as much as I do. That’s all I have to go on. I thought I could unlock some of the skill by becoming a blacksmithing, but I didn’t learn any skills from it. My development seems to be blocked unless I can learn some of the skills of a Dwarven Crafter, which is why I travelled here.”

Damon huffed. “Are you telling me there is no more to the description?”

“That’s right.”

Rachel speaks up for the first time. “Would you allow me to examine your character stats to confirm that?” The other two look at her sharply before looking back at Jared. He nods yes. Asking to look at someone’s character stats is taboo and consider to be very offensive, but he really don’t have a choice. He needs them to believe him or he will get nowhere.

Rachel Dorvin has activated the skill Deep Delving; do you wish to resist? Yes or No.

Jared selects no and feels a tingling sensation for about five minutes while everyone patiently waits for Rachel to finish. She finally sighs and he feels the sensation disappear. “He is not hiding anything. He is exactly what he appears to be.”

“Well then we have a problem.” Damon says.

“Yes. I am sure you are aware we don’t train non-dwarves in dwarven skills?” Jessica asks.

They look like they are waiting for a response. “I know, but this is a unique situation isn’t it?”

“True, but that doesn’t mean we should train you. We have plenty of our own people that require training.”

Jared sighs. “I really don’t have anywhere else to turn to, so I am willing to enter a soul binding contract to reimburse your clan in labor for the training.”

He can tell Damon is against it, but he can’t tell what Jessica or Rachel is thinking.

Jessica picks up a small bell that was hidden by the edge of the desk and rings is once. Mal stirs from the seat he had taken behind me. “We will need to discuss this, so take him to a guest room. Jared you will be a guest, but you are limited to the guest quarters until we finish our discussion.”

Jared bows. “Thank you for taking the time to hear me out.”

Mal them leads Jared out the door and down another hall to a suite of rooms where I can spend my time while waiting. There is a nice bedroom, bath, living area, terrace. Food is brought to him and after eating he takes a quick bath. After that he collapses on the bed, exhausted. It has been a long day on top of a long trip. Hopefully they will accept him. It is a good sign that they were even willing to discuss it, but he doesn’t want to get his hopes up. Despite the turmoil he feels it don’t take long before he falls asleep.

It is three days before Jared is summoned before the council. It has been three boring days broken only by meals and nervous pacing. Mal takes him to the same council chamber and Jared find himself once more standing in front of the same podium. There is one new addition that stands to Damon’s right. A very surly dwarf that is staring at Jared with an angry expression.

Jessica interrupts Jared’s staring match with this new dwarf. “Thank you for your patience, while we discussed your situation. We have decided to test you with the same tests given to prospective crafters to determine their aptitude. Simon is going to administer the tests and if you pass all of them we will consider taking you on as an apprentice. However, the tests are not easy and are expensive. You will have to sign a soul bound contract to never reveal anything about the tests and to repay their costs.”

“Very well, I agree.” Jared says eagerly. This is everything he had hoped for.

Mal brings the contract from Jessica to the podium where he signs in his own blood. With that taken care of Simon gestures for me to follow him. We walk out and clear across the other side of the cavern. Simon doesn’t even look back at Jared to make sure he is following, so he must curtail his curiosity and focus on following Simon. They arrive at a large building with an open archway, which leads into a large atrium. Simon immediately turns to a door on the right that leads down a set of stairs to a solid steel door. He places his hand on the door, which glows and eerie green before clicking open. He pulls the door open, which is six inches thick. Jared wonders if that is to prevent someone from getting inside or to prevent something from getting out. When he crosses the threshold, he gets a notification.

You are entering the Dwarven Craftsmen Entrance Exam. Warning, this exam can only be taken once. Do you wish to take this exam? Yes or No.

This is what he hoped for. He selects Yes and takes in the large room.