Interlude 4. What Are The Dwarves Doing?

Rory frowned. The newest batch of notes from Chosen One was extensive and complicated. They had a lot of luck and profit with the previous batch, as it detailed on a dizzying array of kitchen and household utensils, many of which were novel to the point of being bought by nobles simply for the sake of being the first to own. Obviously, duke Gillespie's household got the first pick on everything they devised, but other than that, they made quite a bit of extra cash by auctioning the first piece to be sold, and opening the rest of the market a week later.

This particular batch, however, was beyond what he had expected. Apparently, it was prompted by them reporting the housing and the construction of the first forging hall had been largely finished. This was true - while furniture was still a work in progress, everyone had proper stone walls and clay roofs to shelter themselves from the elements. The hall itself had no roof so far, they simply covered the arches of the future ceiling with a tarp and called it good enough. The heat from smelters definitely made heat insulation a non-issue. So, what they got back is the plans for a much bigger furnace, one that would have to be built outside the hall, because it was to be taller than the hall. It would need a ramp... Rory briefly toyed with the idea of sinking the whole thing into the ground, but that would make pouring metal out a very complicated process. No, better construct ramps to wheel the barrows on top. Or, maybe... Oh, yes, that could work. The Smelting Wall.

Before long, he was sitting next to Geoff, showing him the plans. Elder had been lacking energy lately, so he was by necessity confined to chair most of the days. "Tricky, but worth the effort." - the elder rasped eventually, as he considered the plans Rory made - "Four smelters this huge? What did she call them... Vagrans? Yes... Four Vagrans. And if the instructions she gave us are doable as they are given, it will give us what... Twelve quintals of pig iron per hour? Obviously, we can not run all four now, but having one of them smelting at all times, others being maintained and readied? Eventually maybe two at a time, though I don't hope to see the time when all four are going at it... But this is marvelous. The smelter that does not stop... Rory, we need to build this. Start on this. Wall can wait, build us one... one Vagran, and have a ramp to it. Maybe use those cranks we had for pulling the earth out of foundations to haul the iron and coal topside."

"I understand, but why so much hurry? We can take our time to build a wall first..." - Rory began, trailing off as he considered just WHAT they might have - "I'm honestly a bit concerned about the output. Mere clay doesn't seem to be enough to hold the veritable river of metal, treated or not..." Both of them grew silent, as the phrase clicked.

"Elder...?" - Rory whispered with wonder. Geoff nodded and grinned, his teeth gleaming in the flickering torchlight. "...where rivers of metal will run on the shores of clay..." - he quoted - "Go, Rory. Make our dreams come true."