Year: 833 D.P. (20 years later)
Location: The city of Hupperdook in Wildemount.
The room was lit just enough so the pieces at the table didn't cast too much shadow when expected closely. The air inside had a faint metallic scent to it, but it wasn't distracting for a concentrated mind. The brown bound leather book at the table was opened at one of the last written pages, with several small notes sticking out of it marking different sections inside it. Each page was filled with small, precise sketches or various metal objects. All of them had small markings drawn with explanations, math formulas, and references to other pages with further descriptions.
Next to the book was a small stack of loose papers with math calculations all the way up and down the top page - some highlighted with circles or underlined several times. On top of them laid a bow compass - not as much to keep the papers down, but due to ease of access.
In front of it all sat a young, adult dragonborn in a chair, inspecting a small metal piece in his left hand. On his green scaled snout he had a pair of glasses with multiple lens sizes he could flip on for better view. The metal object he had been working on was a gear, with several cogs sticking out from it. He picked up a ruler, blew some of the metal dust off it, flipped another lens in front of his one eye, and started measuring the last cog he had filed. Mumbling each measurement to himself, while checking the result on his papers, he started nodding as everything seemed to be in order.
From outside the door to the rest of the shop, the door bell made a ring as the door opened. Not that it mattered a lot, since Yurgunn - his master - would be there to take care of the customer. It wasn't her who left? Adrex thought to himself, before dismissing the thought. She wouldn't leave the store just to him without telling him.
Keeping one ear open to sounds from the entrance of the shop, Adrex continued placing the newly-shaped gear on a metal pin in a rectangular cork plate. As the gear gently slided down on the pin, its cogs met two other gears' cogs, but with a tiny nudge to it, it fell into place, fitting itself between the other two gears.
Adrex closed his eyes, clenched his fist, waving it a bit in a silent victory salute. Oh, how he loved it when the calculations were right. He moved his hand to a small piece of string attached to a piece of led, place it in the slide at a wheel, and let the led piece hang free in the air. As soon as the weight of the led started to pull in the string, the small gears started to turn in synchronization, as a fine piece of music with several musicians. As the wheels spun with different speeds, a hook locked itself into a gear, to prevent it from gliding back, and at the same time pulling a spring more and more.
Adrex watched it stop, and as he stood up he could hear his master talking to the customer in the front - no need to worry about that any longer. He walked around the table, and gently pushed a small lever ever so slightly, before the spring snapped from what had locked it, pulling another string it had attached, releasing a set of other small wheels. Adrex closed his eyes with a broad smile on his face - the trap was ready.
A raised voice from his master called from the store:
"Adrex - could yeh' come for a moment?"
Ah, just in time, he thought to himself. She would be so proud of him when she'd see the new mechanism he implemented.
"Yup - coming", he replied. He grabbed a small cloth on his way towards the door, cleaning his fingers of metal dust. He shifted his attention towards the sound from the store, as a new voice could be heard from the other side.
"It's an odd name for a shop, you have here - 'Hammer and Scale'." The voice didn't belong to either gnomes or dwarfs who were their most frequent visitors. It sounded like a taller figure.
The customer continued: "I take you are 'Hammer'?" It had a sarcastic undertone to the question, not rude, but stating something that had to be said, even though it was dead obvious, to keep the conversation flowing.
"Ay" said Adrex' master. "My name is Yurgunn Hammerbrewer, shortened to 'Hammer', and this..." she said just as Adrex opened the door to the store. "-is my associate, Adrex Scalanduur, shortened to 'Scale'" she finished.
In the store stood a dark elf in an elegant, purple, silk robe, highly contrasted by his long, blond hair which slid down behind his ears to just below the shoulders. As he turned around, the robe revealed a leather armor with a chitinous insect-like pattern beneath it - something only soldiers would wear.
As his eyes met Adrex', the dark elf's sly smile dropped immediately - oh, how Adrex hated it. It had been twenty years since the event, and people still associated him with dragons, and of cause everyone could see he wasn't a dragon, but instead of associating him with Bahamut, they for some reason all thought 'that is Tiamat's doing'. And they would come with accusations of it being his, and his race', fault that the Chroma Conclave showed up - that the dragonborns had somehow prayed for it to happen. And when reminded Draconia was destroyed beyond salvation, they would say 'not in your plan, eh?'' or other likewise insults. And it all started with that look, followed by frowns, a step back, and then the 'bravest' of the lot would step up to insult him.
The dark elf glanced down to Adrex' cloth in his hands, and back up to his eyes, before the right side of his face gave another smile. "Ah" he responded with another hint of his previous sarcasm, as he looked back to the dwarf with nut-brown hair behind the counter. "That does make a lot more sense now."
Yurgunn's left eyebrow shot up, showing a great annoyance on her face, before replying: "Adrex' name is on the sign of the shop, because he's half' the business here." Her remark came without any tone that could hint anything but seriousness. "He has created more traps for rich snobs than anyone in Hupperdook, so yeh' can pack tha' arrogant tone right back up," she retorted before finishing "-mr. dark elf I've still haven't gotten the name of yet."
As a more pleasant smile showed on his face, he straightened him self. "Touché" he said, as he turned his head back towards Adrex, and gave a nod.
"- And please accept my apologize, mister Scale... anduur". The apology sounded sincere, but came off a bit half-hearted. "That wasn't very kind of me - I was merely surprised to see another tall indivi..." but he cut short when Yurgunn almost stepped on his toes.
"Listen up, crick" she said in a harsh tone poking his armor. "There are certain things we talk o'bout, and certain things we don't. And we're almost through the list of what we don't. But A' can inform yeh', tha' business is on the 'do'-list, so how 'bout we stick to tha' one, eh?".
The tension in the room was so thick you could carve in it. Adrex wasn't quite sure what she had meant with 'crick', but he was often surprised by her choice of words and accent, so this might be one of them.
The elf seem as if he had shrunken a head, as he took a step back, and made half a sweep of a bow. "Please, it was not my intension-" but before he could finish the sentence, Yurgunn cut him off:
"Then what was it?" she said as she started to walk around the counter, clearly frustrated by the situation.
From the elf's cloak, he drew out a small tube.
"I have visited some of these snobs you speak of" he said as he started to open the tube. "I have been trying to locate the best to contract, and most of those I visited named you two as the best at the job."
From the tube he pulled out a scroll which he handed to Yurgunn.
The dwarf hesitated for a short second before taken the scroll, slowly opening it, as the dark elf continued:
"My name is Morenfein Derret, and I work in a special department of the Ghor Dranas' military. We focus on removing thieves and burglars from..." he hesitated, choosing his word carefully. "... places they should not be" he finished with a smile.
"You two make traps which so far have had so much success, that the underground community of thieves have made a list of where your mechanisms are placed." He turned and walked two steps towards the window as he continued: "My colleagues and I have infiltrated some of these groups, and even though we could simply arrest them as soon as they enter buildings to rob, it has become almost a joy to watch these poor devils struggle getting past your systems." His voice indicated it was not just 'almost', but they were looking forward for these events. Morenfein's torso turned slightly as he looked back at them.
"You two have created something so hard to get past, that the best of thieves sees it as a victory to get past, and not just a victory to steal." He took a pause for a breath, and looked around in the shop, landing his eyes on a board with letters from customers - all of them praising their work preventing burglars from robbing their houses.
"But the thieves are getting crafty" he said, as he inspected some of the letters on the board. "We are no longer able to apprehend them before they vanish in thin air by some sort of magic." He looked up from the letters and back to Yurgunn, as she finished his monologue, reading from the scroll:
"You want us to build a ..." she squeezed her eyes together as she read. "... mobile trap, that can immobilize a target?" Her left eyebrow shot up again.
"Yes, but not just mobile" he said, now addressing the both of them. "It must be carried as easy as a sword or a bow, and it must be able to hit the distance like was it a crossbow."
The silence in the room was audible. Adrex broke it after a bit, as he put his tongue out to wet his lips, and started to scratch his chin.
"We made blowgun in the walls" he started, as he bounced he head from side to side to come up with a useful solution for this. "And we could extend the barrel, but they would not have the range you ask for..."
Morenfein didn't say anything, but just gave a little nod.
Yurgunn chipped in: "And crossbows are too large to handle, I guess?"
Again, just a nod.
Adrex had several ideas running through his head, which he almost discarded as fast as they got there.
Perhaps a crossbow could get a turn mechanism for the bow with the string, so it just looked like a long piece of wood until needed? Nah, that would be too slow.
"Why not just use wands with magic missiles?" Adrex asked at last.
Morenfein scratched himself on his nose bridge as he closed his eyes. "Yes, we considered that. But the sorceress and wizards at our disposal informed us that making these will be quite costly, and would take a few weeks... just to make one." He made a deep inhale before he continued: "And we would like a lot of them - something we can... mass-produce, so to speak."
He had a glimpse in his eyes telling Adrex that it wasn't just for burglars they needed this for, but lacking better knowledge he didn't inject.
"I know I ask a lot, and this might require some research" Morenfein said at last, and reached for something in his other side of the cloak. "So I brought some funds to get you started." He pulled out a bag the size of two fists, and placed it on the counter.
"It contains not gold, but platinum". He bid himself a bit in his underlip as he continued. "It will not be subtracted from the final payment listed in the assignment - consider it an investment we are willing to make."
The smile Adrex observed on Morenfein's face had several meanings; 'yes, we have a lot of money', 'do not mess with us', but most worrisome: 'we own you until this is done'.
The first he was used to - their service wasn't exactly cheap, and the people who bought it had more than they paid. The second wasn't unfamiliar to them either, since their clients came in with these large sums of money, and they really expected the service to be top notch. But they never had anyone come up and pay this much up front. Adrex had to swallow ones. They really wanted this mobile trap device, or whatever he was to call it, and they were dead serious about getting it from the partners.
He looked towards his mentor, who had picked up the pouch at the top, weighing it in her hand with a few, light shakes. As she started to nod she sat the it down at the table.
"Yeh' have yeh'self a deal, mr. Derret." she said as she put it back on the counter before continuing. "But as yeh' heard, we don't have it stash out in the back - this'll take some time to make." She placed her left arm on the table as she looked to the scroll next to the pouch. "If it should be tested for practical use, be mass-producible, and live up to those expectations..." she nodded her head a few times. "... I'd say we'll be need'n two months."
Morenfein's face looked like he cleaning his corner teeth with his tongue, before he slowly started nodding.
"Right - two months." He looked to Adrex, and back to Yurgunn. "May I make a further request?" he finally said.
Yurgunn crossed her arms, and tilted her her slightly to the left. "Go on..." she said with a tone indicating that he better not come up with another requirement to make this even harder.
"You make a demonstration for us at our place" he finally said.
Adrex couldn't see the issue here. Everything they had made so far for previous clients, had to be setup at the client's establishment.
"That is no problem, mr. Derret" he quickly said, raising his hand to shake. As soon as he did, the dark elf shifted his stance ever so slightly, but seeing the dragonborn's palm flexed open, he grabbed it lightly and shook it gently. Adrex wasn't certain, but he thought he saw something blue light up from the paper Yurgunn was holding in her hand.
"I look forward to it, mr. Scalanduur." He took a step back, and gave them a respectful bow, before he opened the front door and left.
That is a lot of money, Adrex thought to himself. As he turned to Yurgunn to share his excitement, she stared at him in disbelief. Adrex smile vanished instantly.
"What?" he asked, confused about her reaction.
"Yeh' have no idea what yeh' just agreed to, do yeh'?" she said without a change in her tone, pointing to his name which had appeared at the bottom of the paper.
Adrex didn't get it. Installing the gear on-premise was a pretty common way to treat customers, but something most definitely didn't sit well with his master.
"You think it's a bad thing he contracted us to do?" he asked a bit puzzled.
The dwarf kept her eyes locked at his for another few seconds, before she firmly walked to the door, locked it, and held up her right index finger. Her voice lulled like a song, falling from a high note, thought not annoyed: "Let's take it from the top, eh?"
She turned around, gestured to Adrex' chair to sit, and walked towards her own as she continued.
"In came a to-be client. He first asked me if this was the right place, and said he had a delicate, custom trap he wanted to have build. All'n all a standard client, and tha's when A' called for yeh'". Her tone where soft as she spoke, and nothing seemed unusual to Adrex thus far.
She pulled her chair out behind the counter, and continued a bit sharper: "Just before yeh' came, however, he asked 'bout the name of the place - did you hear that part?"
"Yes..." Adrex had had his attention to the conversation from here, and he was a bit unsure why it had transpired as it had. "He asked about the name - Hammer & Scale - and after he'd realized I was dragonborn, you were kinda up in his face?"
She dropped her palm down on the table with a slap.
"Oh, come on, Adri" - her name for him over the years, and went on frustrated: "Tha' arrogant prick was in the process of mockin' the shop's name, which happens to be named after us. Not only did he assume A' was 'Hammer' since A'm a dwarf, and yeh' to be 'Scale' since yeh' a dragonborn. As soon tha' racist bastard saw you entering, he immediately assumed wha'ever yeh' had in yeh' hand was somethin' endangering him."
She clearly didn't like him, and - yes - he had noticed the reaction in Morenfein's face, but her reaction still seemed a bit too aggressive, though she continued:
"We've had rich snobs in here before - yeh' remember that Galloway-guy we did the sleepin' dart trap for, right? He fuck'n mocked yeh' for being dragonborn!"
At some point Adrex had stopped counting stupid people they had met, who didn't understand the difference between evil, hoarding dragons, and dragonborns. That guy wasn't even the last to accuse him of things he, his family, or his race had ever done, but he had started ignore them, and let Yurgunn do the talking - she always had some sharp comebacks, so Adrex could only hope to accumulate some for later.
"Yeah, but this guy actually apologized-" Adrex started, before Yurgunn cut him off.
"He continued to mock both our physical appearances as an excuse, and that's where A' draw the line!" she said, point her finger down into the counter.
She drew her breath to calm herself down a bit.
"A've lived here in Hupperdook for the past 18 years, Adri'. This city consist mainly of gnomes, so most of 'em been callin' me 'big girl', and 'tally', and the elfs, humans, and other-" she held her hands up as quoting "- 'normal sized' living here all say 'shorty' to me. But new folk comin' into our shop, and starts pickin' on your height as well... A' ain't havin' it. It's our place, and thereby our rules."
At this point Adrex had kinda lost what was left of a good day. The mention of his height was really something he didn't feel like talking about. Compared to his parents, uncle, and brother, who all ranged between 6" to 6"5' feet tall, Adrex was but 5"5' himself, and it didn't seem like he would ever get higher - something which really bugged him.
His parents had said, that his egg had been mishandled when they fled by some of the authorities, and that might have done it, but that he shouldn't think too hard about it - he was 'way smarter than was taller'... whatever that meant. Those properties wasn't comparable.
But he hadn't picked up, that the elf had mentioned the height differences.
"Was that why you called him..." Adrex didn't remember the exact word she had used - Crit, crek?
Yurgunn raised her left eyebrow. "When A' called him 'crick'? Ay - tha' was why."
She squeezed her eye a bit, as a worried frown came across her forehead. "You know what a 'crick' is, right?"
Adrex thought he had heard it before, but he wasn't sure in what context. He leaned his head back a bit, as he looked up into nothing to recall it.
A horn sounded over the city of Hupperdook, signaling the work hours had passed, and the inns and taverns were opened.
She looked out the window.
"Yeh' in a hurry today?" she asked him. "Meet'n someone?"
That was borderline rhetorical, but a nice gesture - he might be, but unlike other young adults who could get alcohol in the bars, Adrex never really enjoyed his time between the noisy crowd of mostly halflings who all seemed to have it out for his tail as soon as he turned just the slightest. The conversations he had wasn't exactly inspiring either, since all the drunk people ever did was complain, and dance some wild dance tapping their boots, or stretching their leg as far in front of them as possible - which also ended up in someone complaining about his size and tail.
There were the twins of cause - the two female humans who worked with their father in his shop. One was pretty and... not so smart, while the other had a lot of knowledge in their common field of interest, but looked like she always slept with her face on a hard surface. They were friends, for sure, but their company was enjoyed in small doses.
Adrex inhaled, and sighed ever so slightly, looking towards the city as fireworks started to shoot into the air. Yurgunn took this as a pretty clear answer.
"Well, time for a hist'ry lesson then" she said, as she reached to a cabinet behind her, which among other things contained a few bottles for this time of the day.
"Boulderhead Bock or Hardroot Cider?" she asked him looking towards him with just one eye.
He wasn't fond of the alcohol itself, but the Boulderhead Bock wasn't like most of the thin beers served by the gnomes - it had volume, and tasted nice. And even though it made him a bit numb at the fingers, it was still one of the few beverages with alcohol he enjoyed.
Only forming the sound of the letter 'b', Yurgunn reach in for the Boulderhead Bock, and with a swift movement tossed it to him, which he caught with a little effort.
As she pulled out one for herself, she continued where she had ended.
"Crick" she started, as she wrinkled the cork from the bottle with a small 'pop'. "So, a long time ago when the Ashkeeper Peaks alone wasn't enough to hold back the Krynn empire towards the east, the ol' Julius Dominion had some wars with 'em. When the Dwendalian Empire took over the Julius Dominion about 200 years ago, there where some disputes between Dwendalian and Krynn soldiers as well. No matter which age you fought the Krynn, they have always been referred to as 'cricks', due to the sound their battle armor makes..."
She looked at Adrex, who had opened his beer with some difficulties, and sat with a face of confusion. Yurgunn took a swig, and clarified:
"Their armor are designed to make a noise of crickets when they move. It's some sort o' battle tactics, or what-not, and is associated with the chitinous... beetle-like armor, which our new client wore beneath his cloak."
She held a pause - it didn't seem to have a reaction on Adrex.
"He is from Xhorhas, most likely" she pushed.
Adrex finally took a good sip at his drink, still not catching onto what she was implying.
"Yeh' uncle, Donaar - he's in the council of the city, right?" she then tried.
Odd turn of topic, Adrex thought, but nodded while the bottle was still at his lips.
"Has he spoken 'bout how things are going lately east of the Ashkeeper Peaks?" she continued.
Adrex had to think back a bit. His uncle talked a lot - mostly about politics, and why someone always was in his way of creating a better world, so Adrex could name a few of the local politicians who were considered 'dumb, selfish, and small-minded', as his uncle Donaar so politely had called them over and over again. But not so much of what happened east of the mountains in Xhorhas.
He lowered his bottle as he swallowed, shacking his head.
Yurgunn tossed her bottle's cork to the trash bin. "It's shit, to say it without wrappin' it in."
Adrex raised his right eyebrow, pondering how severe it actually was. Before taking another mouthful he asked:
"And with 'shit', you mean...?"
Yurgunn sat her beer down, and said "It's so bad, that I've had to redirect the military recruiter who came here to somewhere else, while you made the business go around."
Adrex' train of thought caught up rather quickly to what that meant, spitting out what was left of liquid in his mouth over the counter. A military recruiter? This was bad!
Yurgunn's eyes calmly followed the fountain that sprayed over the counter and floor, as she casually picked up the cloth Adrex had come in with, handing it to him. She would have preferred to have kept that secret, but things were in motion, and with a binding contract she could at least tell the whole truth to him.
"So just to be clear - yeh' agreed to create a 'trap' for the Krynn Empire, which can neutralize a foe so fast the target can't even teleport out, and it must be as mobile as a bow." Her tone were flat, as she took another swig of her bottle.
Adrex' mind was racing. WHAT HAVE I DONE? I should never have agreed to this - this might have been the worst trade deal in history. This could be used against... against anyone.
As Adrex took the cloth and began running it over areas that could have been sprayed, his master took another swig - the conundrum of how to handle the situation had been firmly planted in Adrex' mind.
"But that's not all yeh' did, Adri'. Yeh' agreed to go - in person - and deliver it to him. And while yeh' were at it, yeh' need to give a presentation of it."
Adrex' mind had stopped working. What in Bahamut's name have I done? He stopped his cleaning and just sat down on the floor with his head in his hand, resting on his knees.
I can't give them this. Well, it's not giving - they'll pay money for it, but still! If I give this to the Krynns, and they invade the Dwendalian Empire, it could turn the tide to their side... Unless...
Adrex looked up at Yurgunn.
"We are two about this" he exclaimed. "If I build something, you know how it works..."
She sat her bottle down on the counter and swallowed. "True - go on."
"Well, If we sell it the Krynns, we could also sell it to the Dwendalians, right?" Adrex continue.
The eyes flared up in the dwarf's head, as she stared at him for a long second.
"Yeh' a genius, Adri'!" she exclaimed. "Did I teach you that - I don't know - maybe..." she said out loud to herself before she looked up at Adrex again.
"That's a lot of money, my dear friend! We could be more than just rich! We could-"
She stopped mid-sentence, pondering something.
"Could we live with that?" she finally asked, staring Adrex dead in the eyes. "Dependin' on what we come up with, could we live givin' the world this creation?"
There was worry to detect in her voice, as Adrex slowly nodded thoughtful.
"Well" he started. "It all stands and fall on what we invent, I guess. If we somehow create what has been specified, it will be extremely valuable to everyone who wants everyone else harmed. You could argue that's our line of business, but usually we try to keep someone out of something. This thing can be used actively to... well... depending on what it can do."
Yurgunn made her way to Adrex, and sat down next to him.
"Dependin' on what we make, sure." She took another swig as she leaned up against the, to her, huge dragonborn next to her, handing him her bottle.
"Yeh' know" she started, as Adrex took a sip. "If we sell the rights to make these with a cost per creation - tha' could be a lot of money" she said with a smile on her face.
Adrex glanced down towards her. It certainly could. If just every tenth soldier needed something like this. Oh yeah - this could be a gold mine without comparison.
He tapped the bottle a few times with a thoughtful face. "So... how do we make it?"