City visit

When they told them they had prepared rooms for them, our heroes didn't have very high expectations. They were adventurers, and adventurers got very quickly used to… well, adventuring. And as it happens, during adventuring, a warm bed, bath, or even meals are rather rare. It's hard to find a bathtub in the middle of the dark, evil-occupied forest after all. Sometimes there are dragons, so at least the warm part is doable… sadly dragons aren't known to have a good knob to regulate the temperature. "Medium rare" and "extra crispy" were generally the only settings available.

So, Ben, Ola, and Seth were fully prepared that, at best, they would get a bed. Maybe one with only minor bloodstains if they were particularly fortunate. What they didn't expect was how much more developed the goblin-folk hospitality industry was than that of humans. Human inns tended to operate on the principle that customers should be grateful for any accommodation that didn't actively try to kill them.

The building they were led to was much taller than those around it. Rather squarish and full of orderly placed windows that gleamed in the afternoon glow of crystals. The entrance was simply stunning. (It was called "lobby," as was explained to them later; humans at that point had not discovered lobbies and the concept of being impressed yet.) The ceiling was so tall that they could see through the roof. There were flat windows instead of wood or bricks, so even some light came in from the top, casting geometric patterns across the polished stone floor.

There was a huge crystal in the center, reaching as high as three men standing on each other's shoulders, it was glittering and shining through the light from the top. Below was a wide polished table, behind which sat a smiling goblin. He had a strange hat, sort of a squarish one with a small roof in front. As Seth looked around, he realized all the goblins working there wore the same hat. The goblin put down the book he was reading as he saw them approach and broadened his smile. Sadly, the smile's advertising effect was somewhat diminished by his fangs.

The goblin clerk conversed with Blurtius while Ben nodded along, occasionally translating fragments for Seth and Ola.

"He says we each get our own room," Ben said.

"Each?" Seth raised an eyebrow. "Even you and me?"

Ben shrugged, but nodded, "That's what they said."

Ola crossed her arms and frowned at the goblins. "Why are they giving it to us? Will we have to pay? Are the rooms filled with experimental creatures or something?"Blurtius adjusted his glasses and spoke to Ben.

"He says we don't have to pay anything," Ben translated. "Just goblin hospitality.

Soon, three goblin attendants appeared and led them up the spiraling staircase. Each was shown to a separate door along a well-lit hallway.

Ben's room featured a plush bed with emerald sheets that seemed to shimmer in the crystal light. A strange machine stood in a side room—sort of a metal pipe extending from the wall with a flat disc at the end.

Seth's quarters were similar but decorated in deep blues. He also had the machine and tried to carefully approach it, turning a knob beneath it. Water sprayed from the disc overhead, causing him to leap back.

"Whats-" he yelped, quickly turning the knob back.

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Ola's room was painted in the warm amber tones. She moved around the room, looking for traps or artefacts… anything that would justify her suspicion. In the end, she didn't find anything. Were the goblins actually being this nice to them? She sat down and sank several inches into the plush surface.

"This is... nice," she muttered to herself. How long was it, since she could relax in such a nice place? Was it eve-

A knock came at her door. It was Ben, grinning widely.

"Have you seen the water thing? Blurtius calls it a 'shower.' You stand under it and it rains on you!"

"Are you saying…" Ola frowned, "The goblins have warm rain indoors? For bathing?"

"Yep!" Ben nodded enthusiastically. "Seth already tried his and got his hair all wet. He looks like a drowned rat."

Seth appeared in the doorway behind Ben, his hair indeed dripping.

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The next morning, Blurtius came again to speak more with them. Ola didn't understand a word he said. Her face moved through various stages of confusion, eventually settling on a polite but rather confused smile as the goblins' growls and snarls washed over her. She glanced at Seth, who was nodding along as if he could understand Blurtius perfectly.

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"Can you understand?" she whispered, elbowing Seth in the ribs.

Seth shrugged, "More or less," then he said something to Blurtius and turned to Ola. "It's better than yesterday, I think I can hold a conversation now. Can you…?"

"Not a world," Ola shook her head. "To me, he sounds like a regular goblin."

"Well," Seth hesitated. "He is a regular goblin… From what he told me, they were always like this. We just couldn't communicate before."

But Ola just shrugged and went back towards the stairs leading back to her room. Seth frowned after her, but then remembered Blurtius and quickly turned back to him, about to apologize for ignoring him. As it turned out, no apology was needed. Blurtius meanwhile got himself some snacks from the reception and happily fed himself.

In the end, Blurtius invited Seth for a walk through the city, which he happily accepted.

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They walked through the Amber-city. It was unlike any city Seth had ever seen. More than anything, there was a sense of calmness and peace. Genius Loci—Seth remembered the term his tutors tried to beat into him. He tried his best to forget, but it seemed like they won after all. This was the first time he really understood what the words meant. He visited many cities and he knew each had a different feeling to them…

Irana was a university city, full of taverns and nightlife. There was a known rule in Irana, for every 10 square meters of university, there had to be built a tavern of at least half the size. Nobody knew where that rule came from, but equally, nobody was about to break it.

Dren, a military outpost, that over the years turned into a full-fledged city. Houses and craftsmen slowly growing around the city walls until they formed another layer into a second part of the city around the knight's citadel.

Even the royal city of Atur, rumored to have been built thousands of years ago, didn't have this sense of peace. It was glorious and awe-inspiring, statues and monuments framing even the smallest of streets, but it never gave you a sense of peace and safety as he felt here in Amber-city.

As they passed the buildings, Seth could hear laughter and giggling from the flat-roofed buildings. He saw children playing on the streets; one goblin-girl was so occupied by her toy, she hadn't noticed them coming until Seth stood right above her. She then looked up, her hands still on a wooden doll. Her eyes widened as she realized Seth wasn't a goblin. She yelped and hurried back, in her haste dropping the doll. She ran towards the closest building and was about to disappear inside when she realized she had dropped the doll.

She turned, her huge yellow eyes watering. She hesitated, looking between Seth and the doll. Seth picked up the doll, he moved slowly, so not to spook her. He tried to smile, but she moved back inside when she saw his teeth.

He stopped, holding the doll in front of him. Soon, she returned from the darkness of the house and took a hesitant step towards him. Seth took a step towards and waited, until she took the next step. They continued like this, the girl's face slowly losing the fear she wore since she saw the human.

Finally, they were close enough for Seth to reach out and offer the doll to her. She took it, her eyes always watching Seth, making sure he isn't trying any trick. Finally the doll was back in her hands, she took a few steps back and then, slightly, slowly… she smiled. Seth smiled back and waved after her as she run back inside.

"You have a kind heart, friend," Blurtius said from behind him. "But…" he hesitated. "Mayhap, smile won't be the right thing…"

"Thing?" Seth repeated, walking back to him.

"Hmm," Blurtius molded his words. Sometimes the words Blurtius said didn't quite translate into their real meaning. "Action or expression…"

"I shouldn't have smiled?" Seth raised his eyebrow.

"Yes," Blurtius nodded gratefully. "Your human smile is… scary, unnerving, strange… You miss the right teeth to make it feel good." Blurtius grinned, his fangs reminding Seth of a wild beast.

"Ah," Seth scratched his head. "That's… I see... Goblins use their fangs when they smile?"

"Not quite, no. It just sort of doesn't look right—friendly when you smile, and we don't see fangs."

Seth had to hold himself not to laugh, "it's the exact opposite for us. To humans, seeing fangs is very scary."

"Really?" Blurtius gaped at him.

"It really is." Seth couldn't hold the laughter in anymore. He patted Blurtius on the back as they continued their stroll. The goblin was mumbling something about cultural differences and that he would have to write a paper on the subject.

"I was meaning to ask," Seth interrupted, pointing at the lines between buildings. "What are those?"

"Amber-lines?" Blurtius raised an eyebrow, but then he shook his head. "I am sorry, I forgot you humans haven't discovered amber-power yet."

"So what is it?"

Blurtius hesitated, "We have decided not to share what we discover with less civilized societies…" The goblin looked at him. "We are planning to share it, once you reach appropriate level of technological advancement."

"What?" Seth caught maybe the third word.

They stared at each other. After a few long seconds, Blurtius burst out laughing. Seth was completely lost.

"Can you imagine?" Blurtius got out between laughs. "I read this in one novel. It's about a race of goblins that travel around and refuse to help if you aren't at least as smart as they are."

Finally, Blurtius calmed himself and went on, "those lines, let us transfer amber-energy. We have discovered, that we can make—produce energy and store it. Have you seen lightning?"

"Of course," Seth nodded, still rather lost.

"Right, the lighting is energy—pure energy. But it's not very useful because it's gone right away… You could maybe cast a lightning spell to start a fire, but it's a lot of energy, and most of it just disappears." Seth nodded slowly.

"So," Blurtius continued. "What we discovered is that we can store this energy in some crystals and use it later. Different crystals do different things when you pour the energy into them. For example," Blurtius pointed at the light crystals high above them. "It's brighter now than it was when we started, right?"

"Right," Seth nodded, realizing that he did notice the change in light, but didn't pay much attention to it.

"It's because there is more energy in them now. Those crystals are brighter, the more energy we pump into them-"

"To make a sun underground!" Seth interrupted him. "It's brightest in the day and least bright in the night. You make it as if there were sun above the city."

"Exactly," Blurtius grinned at him.

"So…" Seth continued, looking up at the lines between houses. "…these Amber-lines. They move the energy to the houses?"

"Very good," Blurtius patted him on the shoulder. "You would have made a good goblin."

Seth took it as a compliment and grinned back at Blurtius. They went on through the city. Talking about all sorts of changes the amber-power brought to the goblin society. Seth learned that Amber-city was built only after they discovered the amber-power; before that, goblins were forced to hide in caves, and because they refused to fight, they never organized until now. Since the formation of the city, more and more goblins could spend time experimenting with amber-power in safety, which led to more discoveries in the last century than in the whole rest of goblin-folk time before. It was truly golden, no amber time for goblinkind.