Before the portal, Aria’s journal 07/31

[000Curiosity]

I’ve been invited to a, party of sorts by the FERRIS wheel inventor from the whole carnival debacle. I feel bad I never got his name earlier but his name Clement and he says that his FERRIS wheel is in the running for invention of the year by the Dwarven Engineering Society. Apparently every five years the DES holds a “convention” where handpicked craftspeople, makers, and inventors show off their latest and greatest inventions. It’s also kind of like a carnival in itself, although I shudder to think about carnivals again. Not only are there mechanical innovations but food, clothing, and household creations. To keep things exciting I guess where the convention is held is changed each time it’s held. Also apparently there’s a lot of drama between cities for who gets to host it. There’s a lot of money that can be made from the tourism these things bring. The city that’s holding it this year is Thamaldur.

Thamaldur is known as the city of steam, I’ve always wanted to go. It was super far away from
Silva lucis so I never thought I’d get to go. There are legends about this place, some say that over a thousand years ago, when the city was first being founded an elder red dragon came to take over the city. Its’ mighty wings were made of fire and could melt any metal they came in contact with. A battle broke out between the dragon and the high guard of the city. Hope was almost lost as the dragon was able to melt all of the dwarven armor and burnt the soldiers to a crisp. But a soldier by the name of Mughuri had been studying the beast, noting that the source of its magic came from its wings. Deep in the forges of the castle he made many fine fibers out of the material flodesbium and weaved them together into a large sheet. He then added sharp hooks to the sides of the sheet. Once it was ready he hid above the dragon on the palace walls, as soon as the dragon spread its’ wings preparing to finish off a group of soldiers he threw the sheet over the dragon. The hooks dug into the dragon’s side and it began to thrash about, attempting to throw off whatever was on its back but to no avail. The flodesbium prevented the dragon’s wings from being able to produce fire by covering them entirely and the flames were eventually smothered. With the dangerous fire magic gone the dragon had little power and the soldiers easily slayed the beast. Mughuri was praised for his ingenuity and craftsmanship, but he wasn’t done yet. He took the wings of the dragon and placed them in a great hearth. Above the hearth he placed a large cauldron of water and the steam that rose from it began to move, as if it had a mind of its own. It fluttered across the room and into some pipes, the wheel attached started to spin with no one needing to turn it. This is, supposedly, how Thamaldur began to create and harness magical steam.

Now I don’t know how much credit I would put into this story, no one has ever even seen the dragon wings that are in their great hearth. But all that aside I’m so excited to go!! The city is fueled by the magical steam, they have lights that never need to be tended by lantern-keepers, mechanical horses and they let you ride them around the city, and some of the craziest food machines I’ve ever seen. So while sugar has gone down in price in recent years it’s still a thing reserved for special occasion. But here there seems to almost be a surplus of it! They use it to make so many kinds of desserts that I’ve never even heard of! I’ve always wanted to try the fairy floss, it’s just sugar and some kind of flavoring that’s spun around at high temperatures until it comes out all stringy and airy.

It was super nice that Clement invited me. Honestly I thought he’d never want to see me again after what happened at the carnival.
I set out tonight for the Naistable Hillside, once I arrive there I have to go through the hills to the Beddingmeny mountain range where Thamaldur is. I’ve never been in such a big city before. I’m both nervous and excited. Once I get to the city Clement says to find him at the Convention center so that he can “give me the gift of a lifetime”. I’m really hoping it’s a horse. Or a kazoo. It’s probably neither of those things but I can wish. Okay I gotta start packing my stuff. The next time I’ll write here will be in the Naistable Hillside.

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