We're Doing What

Arlen was stunned into silence. He'd seen violence, he's been a part of muggings and seen homeless people fight over food and various other things but never had he seen a strike shake the very earth beneath his feet.

Gunk walked up to the now dead creature and poked it a few times, confirming it's death. Tossing aside the broken remnants of his hammer he turned his attention to Arlen, who was still curled up on the floor clutching his fist. His face flashed with concern, and jogged up to him questioning, "Brother are you injured? What happened?"

"I uh, it swiped at me and hit my hand as I dodged it." Arlen said, lying out of embarrassment.

"Oh I see, if that's all Pop Pop will fix it, that's not bad for your first fight in the dwarf world!"

"Oh uh thanks," Arlen replied sheepishly as Gunk helped him to his feet.

"You can walk back?"

"Yeah, it's just my hand."

"Okay, although if you used wind magic you could get home sooner huh? I heard the wind moving and blowing from all the way back down the tunnel and knew it had to be you!"

"Is that what that was?"

"Of course! All elves are attuned with nature, I heard they can even summon animals!"

"Huh, dwarves can't do that?"

"No, dwarves talk with the earth and borrow it's might and resources, that's why I could punch a Coal Mole and not break my hand!"

"Haha yeah that'd be painful."

"Indeed it would. Let's go back to Mr. W, I'm sure he can fix your hand." With that they walked back out of the tunnel and back to the tavern, where Mr. W sat expectantly at the bar wiping down a glass.

"I can't believe you serve drinks in glasses this filthy. I thought I taught you better than this," He scolded.

Gunk peered down at his feet seemingly a little disappointed in himself before pointing to Arlen and saying, "He needs help."

Mr. W glanced at Arlen who presented his now thoroughly swollen hand and hopped down from his seat behind the counter. Meandering over while muttering too quiet to hear he spoke up saying, "How'd you do it?"

Arlen replied, "It, uh swiped at me and I dodged back but it hit my hand on the way back."

"Uh huh I'm sure it did, I bet you saw this lug nut punch the thing and thought you could do the same, am I wrong?" Mr. W retorted as he began bandaging his hand in wraps coated with a strange ointment.

"I- no, no you're not wrong."

"S'alright no need to be embarrassed. You don't have any real fighting experience so of course you'd just follow his lead. But if you're serious about helping us fight Tar you're gonna need to get stronger, are you willing to do that?"

Mr. W stopped bandaging for a moment and gazed directly into Arlen's eyes, his previous tough-love fatherly demeanor slipped away replaced by a gaze of hardened steel, the eyes of a general staring at an underperforming solider pierced Arlen's very soul. Admittedly Arlen wasn't previously fully on board with the "fight an evil dragon hybrid who wants to rule the world" idea, he just wanted to be taken care of for the time being. But now that he knew that his father was alive, and that Tar knew his father, he felt a need to find answers.

"I am," Arlen replied with what confidence he could muster under his harsh gaze.

Mr. W peered at him for a moment before shrugging and continuing his bandaging job, "Alright then, I know I said we'd help you get stronger but we can't, elves are the physically weakest of the 3 Races and even though being a mix makes you slightly stronger it's still not gonna stack up to Tar."

"So what do I do?"

"Gunk will escort you to the elven world where you'll look for Ivan Croc, tell him I sent you and he'll help train you in magic. Probably."

Gunk was absently staring at the ceiling but was brought to attention hearing his name said, and interjected, "I have to go to the elf world? What about my bar?"

"I'll watch it, I'm too old to travel that far, plus I don't wanna," Mr. W replied affirmatively.

"How are we going to get through the portal?" Arlen questioned.

"You're gonna break in. Gunk's strong enough you'll be fine, plus dwarves don't care as much about the pact as the other races. We aren't too strict of a people so you won't be prosecuted or anything like that, just strong arm your way in and when you get to the portal it'll have a blue and a green button, pick the green one and it'll take you there."

"Who's Ivan Croc?"

"He's an old war buddy, I'm guessing he'll help if you mention me but I don't know, what I do know is he's your best bet and as strong as they come. But one thing I forgot to mention," he said turning to Gunk, "You're gonna guide him through Cantrip Crevice to get there."

Gunk's face dropped and his eyes bared a slight hint of gloom, he spoke quietly, as if trying not to alert the very subject at hand, "Why would we go through there? Going alone is dangerous enough but Arlen isn't capable of fighting."

"You can handle it just fine, and you need to shake the rust off anyway. I know you haven't been training since Tar left, this'll be good for you two."

"What's 'Cantrip Crevice'?"

Gunk turned toward Arlen and began to explain, "It's a ravine filled with Somguids, they're big lizards who spit gas that'll make you sleepy and then they eat you alive. It's also connected to a volcano and the Coal Moles go there to solidify into Diamond Moles. It's the most dangerous place in the dwarven world."

"Mhm it's got a mess of other dangerous creatures too. But you'll be fine it's nothing Gunk can't handle, and if you're truly cut out for this you'll make it through. The best way to get stronger is to nearly die over and over again," Mr. W stated calmly while walking behind the bar's counter.

Mr. W returned with two bags, one the size of a regular duffel bag and the other a sizable backpack almost as tall as Arlen, "Here, I packed your bags, hammer's in there too for you Gunk along with food some clothes and bandages dipped in Life Tree sap, the same ones I wrapped around your hand. They'll heal any injury as long as it's not fatal and they'll fix your hand in about a day or two."

"Where'd you get clothes for me?"

"They were Tar's, and honestly they might not fit, he was a little taller than you." Mr. W said with a slight look of sadness seeping into his face. The two grabbed their bags and slung them over their shoulders, as Mr. W looked them up and down one last time, "Godspeed boys, and good luck," he said offhandedly casually meandering back to the bar counter.

The two walked out the door, Arlen following Gunk's lead, as they headed down the street toward where Arlen came in from. Peering at the cliff he saw and figured that it was the very edge of the dwarven world, as the cliff face went all the way up to the realms roof where the crystals were and seemed to stretch past to where his eyes could see.

Marveling at the expansive rock wall Arlen was eventually brought out of his daydream by a tap on his shoulder, where he spun around to find Tar standing directly behind him.