The Dwarven City of Khaldaruhm

A rather gruff looking donkey approached the gates of Khaldaruhm, Grandma sitting on its back. She wore a white robe that was remarkably clean considering she had just been traveling on the dusty road that had brought her to this city. Through her travels, she had heard mention of this city and was immediately intrigued.

The dwarves were known for many things that interested Grandma, but their fine craftsmanship was what she was truly after. Perhaps there would be old books and ancient texts as well, but Grandma wasn’t going to put in much faith towards the dwarves when it came to such things, not without proof at least.

Looking for a guard or dwarven official, Grandma would approach them, wearing her usual grandmotherly smile.

“Where might an old traveler such as myself find this cities marketplace?”

The guards in this city certainly seemed more friendly than most Grandma had visited. If everyone in this city was even half as happy as the guard here, this trip would certainly be quite enjoyable. The donkey Grandma rode seemed quite appreciative of the carrot that the guard offered, chomping down on it happily.

“Thank you for the information master guardsdwarf, it is much appreciated. I shall certainly head down there now to check out these tents you speak of. I can’t think of any other questions at the moment, but if I do have any more, I certainly know who can answer them.”

Bidding the guard farewell, Grandma spurs her donkey in the direction that the guard had indicated the tents were at. As she approached the marketplace, several of the rings on Grandma’s hands began to glitter with a magical light. Although she intended to take part in trade with merchants or a trading guild if this city had one, markets like this often had hidden treasures in them.

Although she kept an eye out on the various people around her, most of Grandma’s attention was on the various objects in the tents. Going from tent to tent, Grandma searched for anything with a hint of magic on it while also keeping her eyes peeled for old books. This type of searching always brought Grandma a great deal of pleasure and was one of her favorite activities to perform in a city when she first entered it.

Grandma hadn’t expected the wide variety of races in the dwarven city, expecting to see mostly just dwarves or other humans. This must be a very popular trading hub to draw so many various races to it. A very promising sign considering that was her primary reason for coming here.

Purchasing some of the artifacts that looked to have the most promise, Grandma would place them in the donkey’s saddle bag, although it was clearly enchanted in some way. Regardless of how much she placed in it, it wasn’t filling up at all. After buying a dozen or so of the most interesting artifacts she found, Grandma decided to enter one of the bookshops.

Opening the door to the bookshop, Grandma hobbled inside, leaning heavily on her cane as she looked around at the layout of the store.

“Could an old woman receive a bit of help finding some books?”

The dwarven store keeper appeared to be quite old, that was a good sign. Generally, the older the storekeeper, the better in Grandma’s experience. This dwarf would hopefully be able to understand her request better than the typical bookshop clerk.

“Well, you see, I’m a traveler and a collector. I very much like to collect books on a variety of obscure subjects. In general, I’m looking for the books you only have one copy of and that one copy is the first copy you’ve ever seen. I’ve collected a lot of books in my travels, so finding new ones is often a challenge, but I can generally find at least a few in shops like this. Do you think you have any books in here that would fit that description?”

While Grandma talked to the shopkeeper, she idly looked around the bookstore, glancing at the various books and manuscripts on display.

In the time since he had left the border mountains of the Meridian Asger had seen many new things. However, life had plodded on more or less the same wherever he went. This was the first dwarven city Asger would visit and he was actually a little excited. This was no vacation however, Asger was here on business. He stopped at the gate, "Greetings friend, I have traveled long to visit the magnificent city of City of Khaldaruhm. I am afraid the journey has taken much coinage. Could you point me in the direction of the cheaper taverns?"

Enchanted tablets? That was a rather strange sounding trend. At the sound of a pickaxe, Grandma raised an eyebrow, wondering what the dwarf was exactly doing back there. Had he sealed these books and tomes away behind wood and stone so that the only way in was to simply break through with force? If that was the case, she had to give it to him, he was certainly meticulous when it came to storing away these objects safely.

“Stuff that makes normal people go a little crazy? That does sound like something right up my alley. I’ll take any books like that, but if you have old ones on obscure subjects, I’ll take them as well. No need to worry about the cost, I am willing to compensate you handsomely for these.”

Reaching into one of her robes hidden pockets, Grandma extracted two drawstring bags. One of them was a bit smaller than the other, the larger one clinking as she set it on a nearby countertop. Opening the larger bag revealed a significant amount of gold coins while opening the smaller bag revealed the glint of various precious stones.

“I think this is most likely enough, but if you have anything outlandishly expensive… Well, let’s just say I can procure more money without much trouble. Of course, I will want to take a look over these before I purchase them.”

Although some would consider it a bad idea to show a shopkeeper so much money before asking them for a price, Grandma considered herself a good enough judge of the value of ancient texts and other artifacts to avoid getting scammed. She also wanted to make sure the store owner knew she was serious or lest he might hold some stuff back on her.

Grandma shuffled forward and opened the cabinet, taking various books off the shelf with a gentle hand. The dwarf would be able to tell by the way she handled the books she was quite accustomed to treating ancient texts with the care they required. She also appeared to be able to read each of the books, even the ones in elvish, muttering various things under her breath as she looked the collection over.

“This is certainly a treasure trove you have here. I mustn’t take any charity from you, although I thank you for the offer of such a generous deal. My conscious demands I throw in a bit more in terms of value to make this a fair deal. Most of these books are ones I’ve never seen before. Getting books that I’ve never seen before if far harder than you’d imagine it to be, therefore, I shall reward you accordingly.”

Reaching into her pockets once more, Grandma pulls out three thin cylindrical objects, made out of some kind of wood. Runes covered all sides of them and two marks were engraved into the objects, resulting in each object having being split into three equally long sections.

“I’m unsure if you will actually use these magical devices, but I offer them to you regardless and you could sell them for a great deal of money if you so desired. They are capable of teleporting whoever uses them to Isra and then back to whatever location they initially teleported from. To use them, first you break off the section with red colored runes, that will take you to Isra. Then, when you want to leave Isra, break the other two sections apart from each other and you will be brought back to wherever you first teleported from. You might not be the type to travel, but I can promise you that I think you’d find some of the bookshops in Isra most interesting to visit.”

Grandma hadn’t expected the dwarf to give her something else for no additional cost. It seemed she had underestimated how much they valued the teleportation magic, being used to living in Isra where such things could be acquired much more easily. She certainly wasn’t going to say no to his gift, however, especially when she saw what it was.

“The Tome of Monsters you say? It is certainly one of the larger books I’ve seen and I’ve seen a lot of books. If only ten copies were ever made and you have three of them… Do you perhaps know the author of this work?”

While she spoke, Grandma carefully opened the tome, her wizened old finger moving under lines of text as she read it. What secrets did this book possess exactly?

If this book was what it appeared to be, then it was exceptionally valuable, especially to Grandma. She had to compose herself, but found it hard, her hand shaking slightly as it held the massive tome. It had been a long time since she had felt this excited about something, a long time indeed…

“I’m surprised this book is so well intact if you found it in a ruin. You truly had a very fortunate find here. I must offer you my thanks for this book, it seems like exactly the type of thing I’m looking for.”

Placing one hand on the shelf of books she purchased, the dwarf would surely notice that the shelf began slowly sinking into the floor. Within a few moments, the entire cabinet with the books Grandma had purchased was gone, yet there was no hole in the floor or any other sign of damage.

“I can bring the cabinet back to you if you wish, I simply need to wait for my servants on the other side to get all the books off of it. For now, however, I shall bid you a good day. I think I will certainly be back here in a decade or so to see what new books you’ve picked up in that time.”

Unless the dwarf had any other questions, Grandma departed from his store, heading towards the city entrance. She intended to return to this city and set up some larger trade deals, but the book of monsters had eclipsed her other plans for the present.