Fire stepped out of the house, the sounds of Drandin once again surrounded him. He and the others had put on the grey nether wool clothes that all drandinians wore, freeZe and Shadow were still wearing their black robes since they hadn't been damaged in the fight.

Drandin was located in a crater-like valley on a mountain peak, the meal hall was near the mineshaft in its center, which was where they were headed now. The excess heat produced by the central engine was also what was used for cooking, nothing was wasted in Drandin.

Shadow looked around and chuckled. "Wodahs seems to be off to somewhere. She really loves Drandin."

freeZe said: "It's not like anyone would notice that you lack a shadow with all of this fog around. I don't think that anyone here would care either."

Shadow replied: "Correct."

They made their way down the streets of Drandin in silence, the closer to the central mineshaft they got the thicker the fog was. The streets near the center had glowstone pieces in them so that you wouldn't accidentally leave them. The stomping and hissing of the steam engine was the predominant sound, the metalworking noises were drowned out by the fog.

Ambigious asked: "Who else will be at the meal hall?"

Fire replied: "A lot of people, I only know that Stream will be there, we'll sit down at a table with her and a few others."

Ambigious said: "Hmm… on that note, how do you know if you are talking to a male or female Mencur-Besh? If Stream is any indication, both look pretty much the same."

"If you aren't a Mencur-Besh yourself, you don't."

"That will get confusing really quickly though."

Fire explained: "If there is an occasion where lots of humans and Mencur-Besh are in one place outside of Drandin we wear face paint, if you know what the different colors and patterns mean you can find out a lot about a Mencur-Besh by just looking at them. If there is no face paint, just refer to them by name. Or just ask if you really need to know, the question is expected."

Ambigious nodded. "Okay, I'll keep that in mind."

When they reached the meal hall the fog was at its densest, everything had some form of glowstone indicator to stop people from bumping into walls. The entrance door to the hall itself was artfully ornamented with glowing lines that all gravitated towards the door handle.

The inside of the meal hall was free of fog and noise, the hall itself was an expansive stone building. The support beams and the rest of the wood in the interior were blueish-grey. On the far end of the hall was something that looked like a bar, dozens of humans and Mencur-Besh were lined up to get today's meal. Next to the food, drinks were served.

Unchosen asked: "That's steelwood, right? I thought all of it was gone."

Shadow explained: "This was built before the quake that made the caverns collapse."

Fire showed them the way to the table where Stream was sitting, to her left was a green-eyed Mencur-Besh, to her right was a man.

The earth Mencur-Besh was even taller and a lot bulkier than other kinds of Mencur-Besh, towering an additional meter above the others and requiring twice the space on the bench.

Even next to such a behemoth the man was a sight to behold, his head and face were covered in scars, so many that in some spots they had entirely driven out his brown hair and beard. The man's left eye was gone, in its place a blue gem sat in his eye socket, his healthy eye was unnaturally dark. His right hand was also missing, replaced by a spiked hook. He wore the usual grey clothes but his right foot was clad in runic steel armor.

freeZe looked to Fire questioningly.

Fire said: "Yes, that's him."

The man got up from the cushioned bench and walked up to greet them. He said in a rumbling voice: "Fire! Good to see you."

Fire replied: "Good to see you too Andras." After a slight pause Fire looked to freeZe, then back to Andras and said: "You have a fan."

freeZe slowly said: "I read your books about monsters."

Andras walked up to her and roughly pat her on the back. He simply said: "Good."

They all sat down at the table, the earth Mencur-Besh called Dust had picked up meals for all of them in the meantime. Today's meal consisted of a hearty meat stew.

Dust had an even deeper voice than Andras. If mountains could talk, this would be how they sounded. Dust said: "We got a delivery of meat from overseas a few days ago, half of it was preserved and half of it is being used right now."

Between bites TehLulz asked: "How do supplies get here?"

Dust explained: "Usually by train, more recently by airship."

"I didn't know you had airships, I read nothing about those in the history books."

Stream said: "That's because they are a recent invention and they are still in development. They are one of the major Eye-and-Claws projects right now, the other one being a bedrock-breaking drill."

Fire interrupted: "On that topic, how is the drill coming along?"

Stream said: "Slowly, but it definitely is coming along. We finally figured out the right mixture and crystallization method, the prototype could already make scratches. Now we just need a bigger one, much bigger. It should be ready in a couple of weeks if everything goes according to plan."

Shadow asked: "What about the shielding? Do you have a way to make a permanent barrier to keep the Void from devouring everything?"

"One of our Rockhaven contacts said that there are a group of mages in the Mage Guild who could project such a barrier, they can work together with our own mages. We just need to make sure they are trustworthy."

In the meantime freeZe was talking to Andras. She asked: "What's with your eye?"

Andras laughed. "Oh, this? That's a funny story. So one day someone contracted me with getting the crown of some old-era king that was buried in some desert. Getting there was easy enough but that tomb of his was something else. I would describe the amount of traps as paranoid but not even that is enough. I was careful so I made it to the burial chamber without a scratch. The chamber itself was worse than the rest of the damn tomb, makes me wonder how they actually managed to place that king in there. So, after I opened the sarcophagus there was one last trap. That way I ended up with a hooked bolt in my eye and the crown in my hands. Now, I couldn't leave that bolt in my skull, might be poisoned. So I yanked it out, along with my eye."

freeZe cringed at the thought.

Andras continued: "So I was sitting there with only one eye and not a lot of options. I got up and looked at the dead king again, then I noticed the gem in his eye socket. Smashed his skull and put the gem where my own eye used to be, my thought back then was to just plug the wound with something that fit. Turns out that that gem was enchanted, I got my sight back, or something close to it. My left eye was still blind in the regular sense but I could see magic stuff with it now, you can imagine how useful that is for an artefact hunter. Depth perception against mundane things is gone but that's nothing a lot of experience can't replace."

freeZe asked: "Have you ever thought about using magic or potions to heal yourself?"

Andras said: "Even if I tried it wouldn't work, I got a couple too many curses in me. That and Tursnak wouldn't like it."

"Who's that?"

"Who's that?" Andras laughed. "The best demon in the history of demons, that's who that is. He used to live in a set of armor but ended up replacing my leg."

He knocked against the runic armor on his right leg, it rang hollow.

Ambigious interrupted: "How can you talk about those things when there is this masterpiece of a stew right in front of you on the table?"

Andras laughed. "I like your brother."

After they all had eaten their stew, Dust brought over a variety of bottles.

Unchosen asked: "What's in those?"

Andras said: "Another reason to live in Drandin."

Shadow took one of the bottles and said to Ambigious: "I'm pretty sure you'll like this one."

The liquid in the bottle was glowing bright green and smelled sweetly.

Fire explained: "That's glowing wine, it's made by mixing water and Shineroot essence with Heavybrew. Shineroot essence is normally a deadly poison but the Brew neutralizes it and amplifies its glow. Take care, it's strong."

Ambigious carefully took a sip and then made a surprised look. "It's good." He said.

They spent hours sitting at that table, drinking and exchanging tales, by the end of it everyone was drunk, save for Shadow and the Mencur-Besh. Andras proposed to go down into the mineshaft to kill some depth monsters and Ambigious, Unchosen, TehLulz and even freeZe fervently agreed. Fortunately Fire managed to dissuade them, after another round of drinks they instead decided to just go to their respective homes.

Fire and Dust carried the very drunk humans to their home while Stream made sure that Andras didn't go through with his plan, she said that she was used to it at this point. When they arrived at the house, they put everyone in their beds, Fire thanked Dust for the assistance and then went to sleep himself. They would stay in Drandin for a few more days before continuing to Rockhaven.