In the end it took us more than just one day or rather night to properly recover. Long enough to have a little excursion into goblin cosine with three meals a day. Surprisingly enough it wasn't as adventurous as I initially expected. It was a quite pleasing experience although I was pretty certain that the portions we received had to be double or more of what a goblin would usually have. In general their meals seemed to be a little light on meat or fish. In exchange there were a lot of vegetables though. And like back home ashroot made sure everyone would feel full. It probably was more sustainable that way.

By the third day we were ready, possibly even more than ready, to face whatever was waiting for us in this place. And, as Gib came to fetch me, I finally got a chance to see a little more of the city as well. I followed him, with a few more guards in turn following us at a discrete distance, as we made our way across bridges, through galleries and tunnel. We passed all kinds of shops including various eateries.

I might have felt right at home, except for two facts. On one hand everyone was so much shorter than me. While there was enough room for me to never worry about bumping my horns into anything it still felt strange. I took me a little while to realize that it was due to the goblin sized furniture. Tables, chairs and even the shelves on the walls, everything was fashioned to best suit the small people. That in turn meant that everything was at a slightly awkward size for someone of my stature. It probably was to be expected.

The other slightly weird thing was the nature of quite a few of these shops. There were just so many that catered to the needs of forgeborn. When there was an artist running a tattoo studio for goblins one could be certain that at most a few stalls further in the shopping street there would be one offering engraving services for forgeborn. Sure we had forgeborn back home but never so many in any one place that specialized shops like that would have popped up. Except maybe at the capital. I never had gotten a chance to look around there properly. As it was, it was a quite curious sight for sure.

It served well to demonstrate how familiar yet different these people were. It was a reminder that trying to run away would not serve any purpose either. I had no idea how to operate the gates and I wouldn't be able to hide anywhere either. Whereever I were to go I would stand out like a sore thumb. Has it been Gib's intention to provide a reminder like that? It was quite possible although he had been nothing but polite and respectful so far.

Well, I had no intention to cause any trouble anyway. Not on purpose anyway. I couldn't do much about the disruptions of these peoples' daily lives my presence alone already caused. Wherever we went, wherever we passed through my presence alone was enough to draw a crowd. And not even the presence of Gib and the other guards was enough to keep everyone at bay. Twice so far children had darted in to touch either me or my armor only to disappear back into the crowd just as fast afterwards. Even in a strange place like this the latter seemed to draw a lot of attention. I didn't mind anyway. Not in a bad way at least. Quite the opposite. The children's antics served to put my mind at ease.

After some time spent traversing the bridges and streets of this curious city we finally reached a place that wasn't quite as crowded as the rest, near the very heart of the cavern. Here a singles especially massive rock column reaching from the lake below us all the way up to the ceiling, stood a little aside. Only a single rock bridge connected it to the rest of the network. In a way it was a little like the one where our suite was. There was a major difference though. This one was not only bigger, it was studded with weapon emplacements all over as well. I could recognize some ballistae but there were other weapons I did not recognize at all. All the weapons I could see were manned though. And they were manned by especially attentive weapon crews. More than one pair of eyes followed me and my escort as we crossed that bridge. Some of the weapons were kept trained on me as well. No one was slacking of here. Not in the slightest.

Was this some kind of palace? Did goblins have royalty? I had no clue. After reaching the other end of the bridge we had to pass through a set of doors similar to those separating the cavern from the rest of the Deep Dark. Well, Gib had mentioned that someone wanted to see me. This place certainly suggested that whoever it was, it had to be someone of some importance. I straightened up and brushed my hands over my armor and my hair nervously. Was I presentable? Or did I look like some kind of savage from the surface to them?

Damn, maybe I should have asked Gash'zur to fix my hair? We even passed some shops where people got their hair cut or styled on the way here. I probably could have asked Gib to make a quick stop at one or another. Curse me for just staring at everything in wide eyed wonder! Well there was nothing I could do about it now. I could only straighten up and carry myself with all the dignity and pride I could muster. It would have to be enough. Maybe I could ask about getting a haircut on the way back though. I nodded to myself. Yes, I would ask Gib about it. Later. Right now we were headed for a set of stairs leading deeper into the rock under our feet.

The architecture in here was rather utilitarian. Sure, there were some runes craved into the walls. The same I had seen elsewhere, with glowing lichen growing in them, but that was it. There were no other ornaments. Maybe this wasn't a royal palace after all. Or at least it wasn't like any I knew anyway.

Those stairs seemed to stretch on forever. It took us quite some time to reach the bottom. Another gate awaited us here. Something was different this time though. From beyond the massive gate I could hear the sound of metal striking metal and all of a sudden something clicked in my mind. This wasn't like a royal palace! This was more like the treasury back in Bleak Peak!

Gib raised a hand to knock on the gate. Somehow his knocks sounded louder than they should have. As the gate started to open he turned to face me. “This is as far as we can accompany ye. This as far as we can go. Best of luck to ye.”

My heart skipped a beat at his proclamation but I could sense no ill intent. Still I swallowed hard as the gate opened further and heat, light and the sounds of a busy froge washed out and over us. Yes, this really was much more like the forges of the treasury than a palace. Finally as the gate had fully opened I stepped through and it started to close again behind me.