The Forgotten Race

Frosty Wrath and Razor Wind both take turns monitoring their gathering place for three days when she is on watch as she notices they are gathering outside the gates and sees how they move together and thinks, 'They are very well organized for strange creatures, I wonder if they have any intelligence.' She waits for a few more hours as a large line forms up outside the gates and some of the shiny variations start to head towards the front, breaking down into four groups with two on either side of the line. She notices the same thing with the rear of the line as movement catches her attention, she sees a large group of ponies gathering alongside the line when a loud voice makes her look to the front. Her eyes widen in surprise as she discovers these creatures have intelligence and thinks, 'Okay, so these creatures do have intelligence, but I wonder what their abilities are.' She continues to watch and follow their path secretly, nearly attacking her mate when he lands next to her. She narrows her eyes at him and softly says, "Don't startle me like that, I found out that these creatures are organized, can speak, and are intelligent. I am waiting to find out if they have any abilities, they also have ponies with them for some reason."

Razor Wind lands next to her quietly, then chuckles softly and whispers, "Why are you so jumpy tonight dear, is there anything unusual about them?"

She sighs and returns to watching them move towards the west saying, "I don't know why, but I feel like I should be careful around these creatures."

He watches them continue through the field and says, "Okay then, let's follow them and find out where they are going and why."

Asulfur stops the column when they stand before the mountain to be their new home and turns around to face them and raises his voice to say, "Here is where we will make our new home for all of our fellow dwarves yet to arrive from Erebor, so let's get started on building it. Masons! You are to work together to come up with a design for the entrance gate, I recommend that it have platforms for ranged weaponry. Miners! Begin clearing the area of trees and rocks up to 900 yards away from the mountain, dump the cleared rock into a pile where the masons decide the tailings will be deposited."

Gemil looks at the others and says, "Oh there will most definitely be platforms, we do not want to be unprepared for any attack if they exist here as well. The fire drake called Smaug was bad enough, however, I can tell you all right now that this spot won't work, there is no nearly flat side to carve into. Even if we did want to use this spot, we would have to spend a lot of time moving rock. That is just too much work, so let's go look at the point where these two ranges come together and see how that looks."

The masons spend a few hours looking at different places on the mountain when they locate one that would work very nicely, then head back to report their findings. Once they reach the expedition, they ask the miners to chop down trees to build scaffolding and start to work on coming up with a design for the entrance.

Hours pass by as the masons settle on the design for the front gate with the ground level having two boxes placed between three gates with outer portcullises on each of them to allow entry into the mountain, yet resist any invading force. Just above the gate lies three flat platforms, connected together with a place for archers to stand. The levels above consist mostly of archer paths, with a carving of a dwarf head halfway up the wall. Wearing a helmet and a crown sitting just above its eyes, having a balcony carved into the flat spot of the helm above it with the tips of the crown resting just above the flat surface to serve as railing. Several other archer paths sit above the king's balcony with four flat platforms spaced evenly at the very top under the overhanging ledge of the mountain. In front of the wall on either side of the gates stand two armored dwarven guardian sentries with winged helmets looking forward to keeping watch over the entrance behind them, both their hands rest upon the pommel of their hammers as the head of the hammer rests on the ground.

Frosty Wrath watches with awe as the dwarves start on their tasks. She stays there for several hours to observe what they are doing to the mountain, eager to see what it will look like when they are finished. Scaffolding gets higher and higher, built from the trees around the mountain as a pile slowly forms a distance away, containing the unused bits of the trees.

Three weeks pass by as he forces his mate to take turns monitoring the progress these dwarves are making with the mountain as more and more rock is moved away. Razor Wind is amazed at what the dwarves have created by themselves, he hears his mate approach him from behind and says, "They seem to be done with the outside, now they are going further in. How much work do they have planned for this mountain?"

She continues to watch as rock continues to be brought out and dumped between the two ridges and says, "I think they are making the mountain their home, they seem to be shaping the stone to their satisfaction. I am glad that we are watching from this far away island, I only hope they don't notice us. Apparently, they are not fond of us dragons, but I am so very curious as to what it will look like when they are done."

Asulfur looks at the interior of the mountain, wishing that they had the metal to make doors for the front entrance saying, "This interior looks nice with this mountain being mostly white granite, we will have to keep working on the interior until the living quarters are finished." He assists the dwarves to carve the living quarters of the city out of the mountain for a few weeks before finishing the last dwelling, moving to start working on the dining area next.

Gesi consults with the masons on where the smoke vents should be placed on the mountain saying, "They should stay pretty close to the top of the mountain because smoke rises! The ones for Erebor aren't properly placed and smoke lingers around the forges."

Gemil rubs his head in frustration and sighs saying, "Alright, alright. We will build flues for the smoke, we will have to make chutes for the rain or snow that falls down the vent."

She then nods and chuckles saying, "Don't forget the chimneys that will have to be hauled up to the top with bars to prevent any creature from crawling down through them."

He shakes his head and says, "You're such a stickler when it comes to details cousin, leave me be so I can draw this new idea up."

Gesi smiles and exits the to-be large dining hall, seeing Shelly pulling a wagon loaded with some rock. She walks over to her and says, "Enjoying watching us turn the inside of a mountain into a home kiddo?"

Shelly stops and nods her head saying, "It is indeed very interesting to watch, but why do dwarves like to live under mountains?"

She chuckles and sighs saying, "That is a very good and simple question, it is because we dwarves feel safe underground. We also enjoy digging into rock and discovering what treasures we can find, be it precious gems or metals that we can craft and forge into great weapons. Dwarves are among the most skilled craftsman among men or elves, so if you are fortunate to ever get special items from a dwarf craftsman, be sure to pass it down through your family."

Asulfur continues to help them work on the cooking area for a couple of weeks before deciding that it is time to find a place for the King's residence and his throne, walking into the dining hall to find Gemil and says, "Gemil, where are you?"

Gemil walks up to him with a heavy sigh saying, "What can I do you for sir?"

He smiles and says, "It is time to find a place for the king's residence as well as where to build his throne."

They continue to work on refining the design for the king's throne after finishing the king's residence, deciding to make a separate large room with a set of long stairs leading up to the platform where the throne rests. Having a carved-out space on the platform's floor for the king to choose which metal to pour for the throne to sit upon.

Asulfur looks at the finished plan and says, "This will have to do for now Gemil, start working on the armory and the barracks for single dwarves. I am going to gather a few dwarves and return to the camp and inform Banil of the progress, continue working with the other masons on the interior design of the new city."

The elder dwarf with long silver hair looks at Asulfur with tired eyes and nods his head saying, "I think you should pick a name for this place, sir. It would not be wise to leave it without giving it a good name."

He nods his head and thinks on it for several moments when he overhears one of the pony's comment on how cool the carving's hammers are and says, "I think we should call this place Hammerdeep."

Gemil smiles and says, "That is a good-sounding name sir, I will write it down and have a stone marker crafted to lead visitors here once we have proper gates constructed."

Asulfur then takes his leave and gathers his soldiers to return to the base camp, ordering Gesi to say behind and protect the dwarves within the mountain. With his men behind him, he begins his journey back saying, "Alright warriors, time for us to report back to Dark Watch."