Yrla'Ven

The Prodigy and Creator

  The young white-haired dwarfling was said to have had a smithing hammer in hand when birthed. A natural propensity to the artisanal craft of golemsmithing laid out a clear and profitable path into the future. From the age of only 14 she was deemed worthy of attending Ang’Verd’s prestigious golemsmithing guild and was taken in to study the craft. Although it was not unheard of, being able to see so clearly a true prodigal talent rise out of the sea of dwarflings was incredibly rare. Most of the time the selection of particularly talented dwarves are muddied by overbearing guardians that push their offspring to the top for the sake of familial prestige or wealth.   At the age of 16 she had learned all of what she could from the novice level of study and was working through the advanced study. During this time, she forged many lesser golems that surpassed the expectations of her mentors and peers alike. These lesser golems, although simple and relatively small proved invaluable to the miners guild. Each stamped with her seal and each happy to toil without rest. Although these golems could never be considered valuable outside of their assigned role as they lacked higher function of any kind.   That remained so until one of her larger creations behaved differently. When it first animated, it motions were slightly odd and didn't match the others. It's deeply pocked face seemed to look at Yrla’Ven with a sense of understanding that she had not felt with the other creations. This time, she had achieved something great. She had achieved a level of mastery that rivaled the skill of her tutors. It was a masterpiece; A roughneck golem that she would come to refer to as ‘Trouble’. Although the golem had a personality which included undesirable traits, the rapid emergence of a mischievous streak only went to show that Yrla’s expertise in the craft was unmatched by those of her age. Many golems take decades for even minor personality traits to display, if at all. Trouble wasn’t going to be added to the mindless automata drones to simply shift large goods around or rubble from one place to another though.   Over the next three years, she found herself torn between study, golem repair work and babysitting her prized creation. Although Trouble was a valuable asset when undertaking golem repair, it also proved capable when being assigned to bolster the city watch. Unfortunately however, occasionally in downtime, It also showed itself to be a capable miner. This would usually be a boon if it were not for the location being mined. The lower regions of the city along the zone borders between the outcasts and citizenry. Specifically, far too close to an old and failed goblin wall breach from decades prior. This location was off bounds for any form of mining or building activity for that matter. The area was kept intact to force a chokepoint should the goblins ever retry the breach. This unsanctioned mining didn’t go unnoticed by the city guard who often found the golem working away; Disruption of the border between the outcasts and citizenry was a punishable crime for a dwarf and the unsanctioned mining was even more staunchly chastised. It didn’t take long before the miners guild issued an order for the young dwarf to be pulled out of study in order to focus on repairing their faulty golem and keeping it in line.   One night after yet again discovering Trouble starting to walk towards the outcast district, Yrla grabbed its hand and dragged it back into her workshop in the midcity level. Upon returning, she sat the golem down on its spot on their corner of the bedroom on the cold marble floor.   “What kind of mess have you gotten us into…” She looked at the golem with a mixture of disappointment and sadness. “You’re supposed to be my best work. Why do you have to be so…” Yrla struggled to form the next word in her mouth before blurting it out “flawed.”   The golem solemnly sat, as ever, just absorbing the impact of her words.   “Why do you keep insisting on heading down that abandoned tunnel? Why that one? You could pick any little pocket of stone and just move it back and forth but you keep on going down there to that spot…” She moved her hands over to her tools without much of an idea as to how to tackle the issue her creation had manifested.   “My reputation is being tarnished because of you. Why couldn’t you be a content golem, or a playful one. Why did I end up with a rule breaker? For the sake of my reputation, I need to fix you.” She briefly winced at her own selfish words but the feeling passed across the dozens of deaf golem ears within her workshop and she quickly refocused her thoughts.   “What if… What if I didn’t get anything wrong… Could it be that it’s acting on some kind of base nature or… instinct?” The idea of a full sentient thought for golems wasn’t a new one but it was a baseless one. On many occasions, the mining guild workers had imposed personality traits on worker golem where there were none. It’s an understood fact amongst golemsmiths that if personality traits do emerge, they are limited and few. They understand the words of ancient dwarven runic speech but not much else. They carry out simple tasks until they are told to refrain or if they stray too far from the task at hand.   “Alright… Let’s set out after our rest and see what all the fuss about this little digging spot is eh?”   She barred the entrance door to her workshop before laying down on the bed. As tiredness came over her, she glanced back towards Trouble one last time before closing her eyes for the night.    

A Rude Awakening

  After a restful sleep, Yrla’s eyes slowly opened but she jolted awake with a shock of adrenaline. Her creation had quietly moved from its regular sitting spot and was now standing over her bed. The myriad of holes where you would otherwise expect a face were eerily peering directly down at her.   “I have to fix this. Whatever is going on with you, we have to fix it, change it or solve it.” She grabbed her travel satchel and the golem’s hand before opening the door and leaving for the city walls.   Her first course of action was to head out of the city in an attempt to work out where Trouble had been trying to dig to. Maybe she could find somewhere on the outer wall where that tunnel was leading. Maybe there had been a purpose to the odd behaviour. Ang’verd was a peaceful ironworks city and was placed decently away from the surface. No goblin raids had happened in years and the city gates were often open and allowed merchant dwarves from nearby cities and outposts to come and go. A small spattering of cityguard had been assigned to the entrance with a few other of her lower quality golem standing guard with them. In order to properly leave the city, she only had to note a destination, a purpose for travel and an expected return time. She signed the purpose and expected return time truthfully but struggled at pinpointing her choice of destination. From maps, she could see that a small reconnaissance outpost was located nearby to where she expected the small tunnel to be aiming toward, so she noted that down, along with the approximate coordinates. Once countersigned by the guard, Yrla, with purpose and determination, walked out of the safety of the city wall and into the darkness.      

Old Tunnels

  Trekking through long unmaintained tunnels and walkway systems took a lot of careful effort. Cartographers had good records of the routes but they couldn’t map every large ‘trip-able’ rock, ridge or nook. She took utmost care in each of her steps and Trouble followed closely behind and mimicked its creator’s movements.   “We have to be careful here” She said while glancing back at her creation. She had more frequently caught herself talking to her creation as if they would understand or respond. She thought to herself that she was on the verge of going crazy. Being cooped up in a small workshop surrounded by your own creations can do that to you. This small lapse of awareness of her surroundings to ironically warn her much tougher counterpart caused her to lean awkwardly onto an old vertical stone beam. The additional pressure caused a crack that splintered upwards towards the heavy needle beam it was supporting, causing it to fail and begin to fall. Before she had the time to fully react to her potential demise, a familiar rune-covered hand shot forward and stopped the beam in its place before shoring it up again.   “Thank… you… Ok, come on, let’s go” Yrla barely took a breath before telling herself that she needed to push ahead. Her reputation was at stake after all. “We’re almost there” She said slightly shakily and even she was uncertain if she was speaking to herself or her work.      

The Crossroads

  After a few more cautious hours, the pair reached the crossroads that had been marked as the spot outside of the city where the tunnel had been pointing.   “This must be it… The other side of the tunnel you were digging. So go on, show me then!” She exclaimed almost contrivedly.   Trouble animated more than usual. Yrla had not seen this kind of behaviour in her creation before and the surprise was clear on her face. Large chunks of the golem’s body began to twitch and a low, tense rumbling and it gave off a deep rumbling sound. The motions steadily grew and then, with intent, Trouble began marching rhythmically down the path and towards the abandoned outpost.   She spoke the runic words to have her golem to halt but she stood still in shock as Trouble outright ignored her command and continued to walk.   “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” She yelled at Trouble as if to expect a response.   She went to reach for the pack on her back to grab her study book on runic command words to see if another phrase would work. Before she could bring the pack round to her front to retrieve her book, the first barbed arrow had flown up the pathway and had struck her in the chest. Another set of arrows followed and amongst them one found its mark and slashed through the side of her neck. Trouble visibly twitched before turning back towards her. The intricate runes covering every inch of the golem began to glow a bright blue-white. The next volley was blocked when he flung his right arm into their path. Quickly, he moved to Yrla and scooped her up with his free arm as she was collapsing to the ground. He held her close to his body to keep her from the fresh hail of rusty barbs. Trouble, making sure to keep his body between Yrla and the danger, began to sprint downwards through the passage and towards the source of the danger.   The first goblin was mostly crushed underfoot by Trouble moving through them towards the second which was swiftly punched into a mist that stained the carved tunnel wall. Within the same punching motion, he clawed deep into the wall to break out a large chunk of bloody stone before launching it cleanly through the third and fourth. The last member of the marauding band had dropped their crude bow and was turning tail but before they could move to escape, Trouble had launched a second large fistful of rock which smeared them across the floor.   With the band dispatched, Trouble moved over to the clearing in front of the outpost’s entrance and softly let Yrla down to the ground. She was breathing and conscious but barely. His head made pained and frantic movements as he searched his mind for what to do next. Then, once again, an otherworldly echo emanated from his pocked face before his segments began to twitch and rumble. As soon as the twitching had begun, it had stopped and the runes covering his body had faded. After a brief moment of silence, Yrla looked up towards her creation to see it stand upright, rhythmically walk over to the entrance of the outpost, and take its position as a guard.   Yrla didn’t have a chance to think about the meaning of its actions before fading out of consciousness.    

This is a submission for my second Summer Camp - I hope you enjoy the world I am building!