"Not going to hear that from me." Edrin said. "However,
they are tradesmen, and travel great distances across the deserts.
They trade with just about every race. Word of this will spread
fast and curious treasure seekers will be here soon. I want
to have a chance to study the dragon and any writings we might
be able to find before they are destroyed by amateurs."
"Good enough for me." Tordek said, wrapping his cubes
of food in soft cloth and stowing them in his pack. "You
ready to get inside there?"
Edrin tossed the remains of his pear into the rocks and grabbed
his pack. "Right behind you." Just then, what sounded
like a large rock smashed into the pile a few yards to Edrin's
left. The elf dropped prone covering his head with his arms,
Tordek did the same with surprising speed. The sound of falling
dirt slipping through the rubble followed, and then silence.
Tordek lifted his head and listened. "Probably from the
ceiling." he said, standing up and looking at the rocks
around them.
"Sounded large." Edrin said, standing up and adjusting
his pack.
"Large enough. Answers the question about the ceiling
though. It is probably still in tack, but much thinner and very
unstable. Might even be able to see daylight through it in some
places. Sure you want to continue?" Tordek asked.
"Yes. If it gets too bad I can get us out of here."
Edrin said.
"A rock like that could take you out before you saw it
coming." Tordek responded, but turned and started making
his way through the boulders and rocks that covered the bridge
to the dragon temple.
Edrin nodded his head in agreement, but said nothing, just
followed the dwarf as he guided him through the rubble of stone
and dirt. He could at any moment grab the dwarf and jump into
the world of Shadow, allowing them safe passage back to the
City of Shelzar. However Tordek was right. A rock in the head
from a ceiling 500' above would not give him much of a chance
to cast spells.
After crawling though some tight places and listening to a
few more rocks meteor in from the ceiling above, Tordek found
the Adamantine door that covered the hole leading down into
the temple. Another few hours of carefully clearing stones from
the door face, and arranging them so that they braced the precarious
ceiling of rubble above them, Tordek announced he had the door
ready to be opened.
They sat and ate again, looking at the dark metal of the door.
There was no doubt that it was Adamantine. Not in Edrin's mind.
Looking at the dwarf he asked. "What do you think about
it?"
"I don't know really." Tordek said. "It is Adamantine,
but I'm not sure of the quality. To tell the truth I've never
seen Adamantine in its raw form. I've only seen it already smelted
and worked into swords and armor. The quality is always very
high because only the best craftsmen are allowed to work with
the ore. But this, this looks like ... well it is Adamantine."
He said standing up and walking over to the portal. He gave
the door a ringing thump with his pick axe, and seemed to listen
as a musician might listen to a harp string he was trying to
tune. As expected his pick axe didn't mar the surface of the
door at all.
Tordek lifted an eyebrow and looked over at Edrin.
"Well?" Edrin asked.
"Baring in mind that I'm not a metallurgist of any measure,
I would say this door is iron, with Adamantine mixed in."
He grumbled as if he just discovered lice in his beard. "I've
never heard of such a practice."
Edrin nodded and looked at the portal. "Makes more sense
though. Look at the craftsmanship, the simple ring handle to
pull it open, and the lack of any locks. You would think that
a people able to work Adamantine would also work it with more
refinement. But this is as simple as it comes."
Tordek looked at the door and then back to Edrin. "I don't
think I'm making myself clear here. It is still Adamantine.
Mixed with iron or not, you still have to be able to work Adamantine.
Adamantine isn't like mixing tin with iron and getting better
steal. It isn't even like working with Mithril. If you know
what you are doing you can melt Mithril back down and forge
something else with the metal. You can't do that with Adamantine.
It goes from ore to product, and once it is cooled from the
forge, nothing short of the fires of Mordant are going to melt
it down again."
Edrin looked at him and then back at the door. "I guess
what I'm saying Edrin," Tordek continued, "is that
the same amount of skill and knowledge is required to make something
poor as it is to make something fine. I just can't see a primitive
people doing this on any level. The forge requirements are more
than enough to prove that. You just don't throw a bunch of ore
in a kettle and hope it melts with Adamantine. Only ten forges
in Burok Torn can work Adamantine. The rest of the forges would
melt before the Adamantine would."
"So you can't toss a few chunks of Adamantine in molten
iron to improve its strength?" Edrin asked, watching his
theory get shot to Hades.
Tordek laughed. "Sure you can, if you want a sheet of
iron with chunks of Adamantine in it, but it's never going to
be an alloy for iron. Which is what makes this door a near impossibility."
"How's that." Edrin asked, sitting down on a rock
and looking at the doorway again.
"Because iron vaporizes at the heat needed to work Adamantine,
which is why you don't see swords and armor made from anything
except pure Adamantine. At the heat Adamantine is worked, everything
else simply disappears into the air, literally. One of the hardest
chores associated with Adamantine forges is cleaning out the
exhaust shoots from the collected metallic vapors that condense
and clog them up. You work the Adamantine one day and for the
next five you are cleaning the exhaust shoots."
Edrin made some notes about this and put is notebook away.
"Ok, enough about the door. I wish there was a way to take
a sample back to Shelzar and let a metallurgist take a look
at it, but I don't suppose that is possible either."
"Doubt it. Doubt I want to try before we are ready to
leave either. I have something that might blast the door to
pieces, but with these rocks above us, I'm not sure that is
a wise idea."
Edrin looked at the rubble above him. "Agreed. Let's get
down and take a look at what we came to see."
The door pulled open with ease. As strong and hard as Adamantine
was, it was much lighter than iron or steal. Tordek took some
time to look over hinges as he went down the steps, but only
gave a grunt as to what he might have thought of them.
The stairs were clear of rubble and the hallway as well. Edrin
held up his sunrod and looked down the hallway.
"What's the matter?" Tordek asked, seeing his facial
expression. "You don't think there might be traps still
working in this mess do you?"
"No," Edrin answered. "I just expected to see
the obsidian tower blocking the way for some reason."
"Glad its not." Tordek said and continued down the
hallway to the next set of stairs.
Edrin shrugged his shoulders and looked at the pictograms written
on the sides of the hallway. They were simple enough. A primitive
language. Human certainly. Finding some passages that looked
more interesting than others, he pulled some large paper out
of his pack and made rubbings. Storing them carefully in a map
case, he continued down the hallway to where Tordek waited.
"Can you read this stuff?" Tordek asked.
"Nope. But I will learn enough to see what it says later."
Edrin said confidently.
