[Game Thread] Aside (2): the Forge (KM, Legion, SG)

[Diapadion]

The door to the forge creaks open, and Elgren steps into the single room building. Myrgami is just starting to peel away Wen Li's filthy undergarments. He stops when he sees Elgren enter, but soon returns to his task.

"What are you doing here? We have no need for any added assistance."

The building within is similar to the other lodge, but the fireplace is built much more solidly: the structure of it takes up an entire wall. The wind whistles though small cracks in the walls, there are no furs here to buffer the interior from the elements. The room would probably be quite chilly if not for the formidable fire crackling in the hearth. A crooked nosed pygmy, thin by dwarven standards, is in front of the blaze, stoking the coals under a large cauldron. The dwarf's beardless face turns to look at the newcomer, snorts, and turns back to the task at hand.

Wen Li's naked form is quickly wrapped in the furs by Myrgami once the final layer has been removed. "D'ye have the water ready yet, Dlorkin?"

The other dwarf barks back, "Not yet, it'll be a few minutes longer. That water wasn't exactly warm."

Hakka enters, and all eyes land on him for a while. Dlorkin speaks this time. "Ah another visitor to my forge. Are all o'ye wanting to be taking baths?" The thin dwarf looses a couple of cackles before withdrawing into silence.

Myrgami picks up the Dlorkin's threads. "What are you both doing here? There is no reason for you to be concerned. If you have something to say, out with it." He kneels on the floor, to more gently cradle holds Wen Li in his arms.

[SystolicGyre]

Hakka breathes in deep when he steps fully in to the forge. He looks around, head slowly weaving.

He eyes the thin dwarf, then speaks bluntly, "Does it burn through the night?"

[Diapadion]

Dlorkin eyes the lizardman back, scrunching the folds of skin between right eye and nostril.

"It can, though usually we just leave the coals to to smolder overnight and add more fuel in the morning. Its too much trouble to completely restart a fire like this."

[SystolicGyre]

"Good enough."

The lizardman removes his ridiculous coat and piles it in the corner, then makes himself comfortable.

[Diapadion]

"Give it here, already." Myrgami growls at Dlorkin.

The skinnier dwarf scowls at him, but pulls on a pair of thick leather gauntlets, heaves the cauldron from the coals, and trundles toward Myrgami. The pot's steaming contents are dumped into the barrel, and stirred for a few moments by Dlorkin. Then the dwarf goes back to the fire and sets the cauldron to the side. Dlorkin gives Hakka a mildly nonplussed look before pulling on a thick coat and heading for the door. A few words are left behind for the lizardman, "I'll trust you to keep the embers alive."

Myrgami tests the water in the barrel with a sausage-like finger and nods. He lifts his bundle and eases the light body out of the furs, into the water. He gestures for Elgren to come nearer, when the elf complies, he speaks softly, but Hakka can make it out from his roost by the fire.

"Turgbern will not help you, he has too much to lose and little to gain. I am not so satisfied with this place as he is. If you truly intend to escape this place, I will assist you however I can. But do not ask me twice. I can only be effective if I am in your shadow, out of the open."

The dwarf then turns back to his charge, furrowing his brow. "The girl is in shock, from either the cold or the trauma of your arrival. She will manage either way, but she much be looked after if her mind is to be fully preserved from the demons who would prey on weak minds."

[Granfalegion]

The elf nods slowly, darkly, recognizing the dwarf's own furtive skill. Here were hands that worked, and a mind that burned. One who did his job and asked the necessary. He came swiftly to the barrel's edge "She'll keep." Elgren looked down through the spreading steaming waters at the naked form before him, peering through an expression not yet cold neither compassionate. Little man, you are small.

Hold...

"Demons are a savage lot... I will stay with you. Sleep would not come so easily, I think." He looks back over his shoulder for a moment, and with a relished smugness, "And someone will have to stoke those fires once he forgets himself in the heat," fully expecting a contented, if cautionary, hiss. He turns back to continue in the accustomed hushed tones, "A shadow sees much, but it must follow closely to go unnoticed. What is it that you do here?"

But the door swings open once more, the cacophonic menagerie spills in, and the base warmth of the room snuffs out along with its demeanor. "Then in the shadows it will stay."