When they had nearly gotten to the forge buildings, they heard an infernal racket coming from inside the second of the buildings that stood in a row. The sounds of things being thrown and smashed as well as a fair amount of cursing and screams of pain and shock.
"I don't care how talented you think your children are, I will carry out my testing my own way and if I make a choice you don't agree with then you can go f*ck yourself! I may have been ordered to come here but I will not have my choices beyond that dictated to me!"
With the sounds of more throwing and cursing three adults and two children were driven from the forge covering their heads with their hands and moving as fast as their legs could carry.
Gunnar and Cassie looked at each other and slowly made their way to the forge the group was just driven from, slowly peering trough the door and seeing what the cause of the commotion might be.
Ironbellows was standing next to another dwarf, blonde with dark skin, who was still huffing and red-faced from anger and exertion. The former was covering his mouth with his hand looking slightly away and seemed to be in a coughing fit.
The other dwarf seemed to get mad all over again. "Are you laughing you blockheaded, sun walking idiot?!" The other man grabbed Ironbellows by his collar and began to shake him back and forth. "You decided to take the clans inheritance trial, but walked out of the clan to find your apprentice rather than foster one of our own!"
Ironbellows grinned as his head bobbed back and forth. "I'll tell you like I told dad and my uncles, the greater challenge to the inheritance would be to walk among the surface dwellers and teaching one of them of the craft! Now, you know full well that I won't teach our material forging skills without permission from the clan, and I seriously doubt that I would find someone among the tall folk that I would like enough and would trust enough to want to teach those techniques. So all I have to do is teach regular forging for a while as well as my hunters course till I can find a student to teach the body forging method of our clan and walk them to a good enough level to reenter the clan."
Removing the other dwarf's hand from his collar he turned to Gunnar and Cassie. "As for you Rennor, these two brats coming in now should give you and Narick some joy before they rotate to the advanced course. The boy is a fantastic jewel smith and has a love for axes and knives just like Narick. His attitude is his only detriment, but I think that he will get along with you two well. The girl is a natural born shortswords forger and has shown a bit of skill at armor forging so she should be a delight for that elf who's getting ready to rotate back."
Ironbellows turned back towards the blonde dwarf. "You take care of these two, Rennor and they will make you proud."
As Cassie and their parents began to chat with the dwarves, Gunnar walked through the room and began to look at the wall filled with every tool imaginable, a veritable candy store of blacksmithing tools and materials.
He ran his hand over the pock marked anvil and took a deep breath in of the metallic and smoky air before letting out a sigh of pleasure.
'I'm looking forward to the work we will do here.' He thought. 'I just have to get through the mandatory period of training before I can test into the Refined classes and really get started on my path forward.'
"You look a little too happy to be in a mediocre forge like this one." A quiet voice came from behind Gunnar. The voice was low and dry, as if it hadn't had a drink in ages. As Gunnar turned around he looked for the source of the voice and saw a man wearing a bear fur lined jerkin stretched taunt over well muscled shoulders. The man's blue eyes shone over beard the same color as the fur but had on a woolen cap pulled down to his ears that covered any hair he might have.
Gunnar stepped forward and nodded his head while extending a hand to the tall man without a shred of fear in his eyes, a fact noticed by the tall man. "I am Gunnar Everforge, Son of the Forge clan and I am indeed happy to be in a well made if plain smithy such as this. I am most at home here among the tools and materials, it feels like a sanctuary of craftsmanship."
The man raised his eyebrows slightly. "Everforge? Another of Risa Everforge's children huh? Then that old hag Sheila must be nearby as well huh? Or that pompous ass Bladder or something or other?"
Gunnar almost choked on his laughter as his gramma Sheila seemed to appear next to him, a cool look on her face but with a bloodvellsel seeming to pulse on her temple. "Narrick you are older than I am by two hundred years, if I am a hag then you are a fossil. Gunnar is my Grandson and his mother's son alone. His father is such a man that "Bladder" might be a fitting name."
Narrick smiled slightly and nodded. "If he was raised with you and is Risa's son with his name and apparent size, then he must have at least partially inherited his Grandpa's blood huh?"
Risa stepped forward and nodded. "He also has the same temperment, stubborn and tough as an iron rhino hide. we hoped he would be able to meet you in the Refined area so you could test him and see if that blood could be unlocked in him. So we ask that you look after him and train him as you would one of your own."